Ever felt like technology is sprinting ahead while you're tying your shoelaces? That's been the story of my year, but guess what? I've turned those tech hurdles into personal growth triumphs, and I'm eager to take you through this journey on today's podcast. As we continue our festive 12 Days of Christmas series, we're embracing the theme of "Eight Maids a Milking," which translates into the nurturing and care we must give ourselves. It's about self-sustenance, and in today's episode, I, Terri Kellums, am flying solo to share these insights and extend a special invitation to my pre-launch book club – your ticket to a complimentary sneak peek at my upcoming book.
Our conversation might be missing Amanda Keeper's vibrant presence today, but it's packed with reflections on the six essential elements for enduring happiness we adored from season one. Revisiting this favorite moment ties beautifully into our focus on personal growth, a value close to my heart. So, as you tune in, picture this – a space where we explore what it means to nurture your well-being, develop a sustainable sense of joy, and maybe even get a free copy of a book that could add a new chapter to your life. Join me as we honor ourselves this holiday season, and let's make personal growth more than just a New Year's resolution.
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Speaker 1:
You're listening to the what Women Want Today podcast. If you love the idea of being part of a community of women who are looking to thrive, not just survive, you're in the right place. Join hosts Terry Cullums and Amanda Keeper each week, as they bring you topics and guests to help you improve your relationships, your health and your emotional and spiritual well-being.
Speaker 2:
Hello and welcome to today's episode of what Women Want Today podcast. I am your host, terry Cullums. We are on day eight of the 12 Days of Christmas and today we are talking about one of my favorite topics, which is personal growth. So I feel like this year has been a lot of personal growth, but mainly in the area of technology. And I don't know about you, but as I've gotten older, the technology thing seems to be getting more and more complicated. I actually kind of like it, so I don't complain too much about it. It might take me a little bit longer but eventually I get it. I switched podcast platforms this year so that I could do the YouTube thing, and Amanda and I had some glitches. But all in all, personal growth to me, I find it challenging and I actually enjoy the challenge.
Speaker 2:
Ironically, the book that I've been talking about, that I wrote this year, or in the progress of writing, is on personal growth. So there'll be three elements of personal growth in that book and I should probably mention that here. I'll put a little plug in for my books and this is my podcast. So I am going to be looking for a team to be a part of my pre-launch for the book and there's really not a lot involved on your part. I'm mostly just being someone who's willing to read the book and leave a review, and I will give you a free copy of that book. If you decide you want to be on the pre-launch team, I'm going to set up an email subscription just for those people that want to be on the book club launch. So if you're already subscribed to the podcast email list, this will be a separate list and I hope to have all that put together before the end of the 12 Days of Christmas series. If not, I will make sure to communicate with you. I'll do it here and through social media, so keep that in mind. If you are someone that is interested in personal growth and you would like a free copy of my book, look out for that announcement in the future. I'm hoping to have it out first quarter of 2024. I feel very passionate about personal growth.
Speaker 2:
I was thinking about today's episode and I remembered that I went into it quite a bit in season one in the happiness series. That I did, in fact, I believe it is season one, episode 82. And in the spirit of working smarter, not harder, I'm just going to plop that episode right in here for you today. I hope you enjoy, but before I do, I do want to give you the eight days of Christmas eight Mades of Milking. Definition Mades of milking can symbolize nurturing and sustenance. So today you should reflect on self care and nurturing oneself and emphasizing the importance of maintaining your well-being. So that's your reflection today. Thank you for being here with me. I'm going to go ahead and switch over to that prerecorded episode, so for those of you watching on YouTube, there will be no video for that portion. But thank you again for being here with me and I'll see you all tomorrow.
Speaker 2:
You know, a couple of weeks ago, on episode 80, which was titled Are we Happy Yet, I explored the idea of the two types of happiness that experts say that we experience, which is hedonic and oedemonic, and since that episode is aired, I have talked about this subject more than I ever imagined I would. I want to revisit the six elements the expert identified as crucial to sustaining oedemonic happiness. Remember that hedonic happiness is easily accessed but doesn't necessarily last. If we're going to choose happiness as our guiding emotion, we need oedemonic happiness for sustainability. So those elements are personal growth, environmental mastery, positive relations, self-acceptance, purpose in life and autonomy. So today is part one of the series where I'm going to dive into each one of these elements. We're going to start with personal growth.
Speaker 2:
Personal growth has been a value of mine for a long time. But I'll be honest here, it took really quite a while for me to realize that personal growth isn't a passive thing. For me at that point in life it was kind of like information in and information out. When you hear the expression that knowledge is power, it's not true. We can know a lot of things, but if we don't know how to apply them and put them into action, well then we just know a lot of things. Application of the knowledge is power. So several years back I managed a team that gave the employees an opportunity to anonymously give feedback once you're to their leadership, and one of the managers put on their survey talking about me she reads a lot of books but she really doesn't do anything with what she learns. Ouch, ouch, ouch. It was great feedback, even if at the time it was really hard to hear. It was exactly what propelled me to hire a coach and get me on the right track for my personal growth journey.
Speaker 2:
I know I'm not alone in my desire to grow personally. The data says that Americans are spending an estimated $9.9 billion annually on self-improvement products, which sounds pretty impressive until you compare it with what we're spending on music and film, which come in at a whopping $61 billion combined, or the beauty industry at a huge $265 billion annually. So what those numbers indicate to me is that we are really a society that leans heavily on hedonic happiness. I wonder what we spend on dining out each year, but I'm digressing If we go back to what we learned. Music, film and beauty does not show up in our list of things that bring the lasting happiness that we've been talking about. Personal growth has impacts on things other than happiness. Studies show that the impact of personal growth reach our relationships, our stress levels, our health, our productivity, the amount of income we're able to earn, our parenting and our resilience, just to name a few.
Speaker 2:
So if you've never done any kind of personal development, this might be a good place to start. What kind of feedback? Whether it's intentional, like the surveys that my employees were able to fill out about me, or unintentional, just everyday things that you're hearing repetitively, there are no shortage of topics to choose from. Where you get started? There's time management and productivity, and habits and vulnerability, and meditation and influence. Now I know people who honestly think they are good communicators, that are just really good at talking. To be a good communicator, you should really focus on two things your ears Okay, I'm kind of kidding, but I'm kind of not Really. If you are doing a lot of talking but the responses that you're getting don't match, you probably need to focus more on developing your listening skills. Everyone listening today has influence in their environment. How you choose to influence will come directly from your level of personal growth.
Speaker 2:
If you are like me and you've been working on personal growth for a while and you heard what my manager had to say about me and you thought, oh no, that could be me too, and you don't know where to go next, go to your bookshelf. Go to your Audible library, your podcast list. Do you see anything? Themes amongst those. Have you read the books, listened to the podcast and you still feel like you're not quite there? I'm going to give you four things today that you can do to take your personal growth to the next level, and this includes the novice personal growth person just starting out.
Speaker 2:
So it doesn't matter where your learning comes from, whether it's podcast, book, ted Talks, youtube, instagram, your wise Aunt Betty having a notebook, a separate notebook from your journal, to write down your thoughts. After reading whatever it is, you decide you can read 10 pages, you can listen for 10 minutes, whatever you're committed to do so that you have a chance to go back and reflect on what you learned and how you can apply it. Those should be the questions that you ask yourself at the end of your learning what did I learn and how can I apply this? This should be a separate entry from your journal, because you actually want to go back and read it again and see if you want to add anything to it after you've had a little bit of time in between the listening and the writing, and maybe you want to re-listen or reread it again just to make sure that you're ready to move on to the next section. Really grasp the concepts before you move on.
Speaker 2:
Okay, the next one an accountability partner. Do you have a co-worker, a friend or family member who is also interested in growth? You can set up a time whether it's once a week or whatever fits into your, your lives to discuss these ideas together. You know what I find when you're talking to a group of people, you know there's there's your, your voice inside your head, your thoughts, your experiences that when you read something or take in information, you're applying everything about your life into that, and that's exactly what the other person is doing as well. So when you come together and you share your ideas, you're going to come from different perspectives. They're going to pick up on things that maybe you didn't, and vice versa. So I love the idea of an accountability partner.
Speaker 2:
Okay, the next one join a group, a growth group, and if you can't find one, create one. When I lived in Phoenix, you could find a group on meetupcom for a ton of things you might be interested in, from learning to invest in real estate, a creative writing group or even a hiking group. So if you can't find a growth group and there's not one already existing on meetupcom, create a new one. You'll be surprised at how many like-minded people there are out there in the world. Okay, my last one hire a coach. A coach can be very effective in helping you uncover areas where growth is needed and help move you towards your goals.
Speaker 2:
Okay, friend, our time together has come to an end for today. Thank you so much for being here with me. I look forward to the next five topics in this series and until next time we're together, remember to take good care of you. Hey friend, I hope you enjoyed our time together today and found the information valuable. Remember you are officially invited to join our Facebook group and private group. I will put the links in today's show notes. If you are interested in exploring coaching, you can email me at terryterricom or private message me on Facebook or Instagram. If you're enjoying the content of the podcast, remember to share with a friend or on social media it really does help other women find the podcast and if you have yet to leave a rating and review, you can do that on your favorite platform. Okay, remember you are not alone. You are worthy of love and a fulfilled life. Now it's time to go after it.