Clean Your F*cking House B*tch
Our minds are like houses. When they're new, they're empty. As we live our lives we acquire treasures that eventually turn into shit that creates clutter. Some of this stuff is useful, while some of it is simply junk which just creates obstacles for us. What if we could eliminate the nonsense we don't need, and create more room for useful things? Join us on this podcast where we discuss removing what we don't need, implementing beneficial changes to our minds, bodies and souls, to create a life of abundance and fulfillment.
Clean Your F*cking House B*tch
Ep. 103 - What Would Your Future Self Thank You For Doing Today?
"Why do I keep putting this off?" It's the question we all ask ourselves when facing tasks we know we should tackle but somehow never do. In this candid conversation, we dive deep into the psychology of procrastination and share battle-tested strategies to finally break through.
The struggle is real: we maintain structure at work because others depend on us, but when it comes to personal goals, we often lack the same accountability systems. Kevin opens up about wanting to apply his professional discipline to personal goals like growing the podcast's social media presence. "After working all day, I don't want to do much, but I also have goals that require effort," he admits, capturing that universal tension between relaxation and growth.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is our focus on practical, immediately applicable solutions. We explore how setting aside just 15 minutes daily can build momentum for even your most neglected projects. Nancy shares her old-school paper calendar technique that provides visual cues for commitments, while Lou discusses how the right mindset can transform burdensome tasks into acts of self-respect.
By the episode's end, we each make public declarations for the coming week - specific, achievable goals with clear action steps. From creating business materials to establishing consistent exercise routines, we demonstrate how to turn vague intentions into concrete plans. The power of these declarations lies in their specificity and the accountability we create by sharing them.
Try this yourself: choose one personal goal you've been postponing, break it down into a 15-minute daily action, add it to your calendar, and tell someone who'll check in on your progress. Your future self will thank you for the positive changes these small steps will create. What declaration will you make today?
Hello and welcome to Clean your Fucking House, bitch, with Nancy, kevin and Lou. In our program we get real about the challenges of life and living. Your mind is the most powerful tool you have to ensure you are on your desired path for success and satisfaction. Yet from the day you are born, you gradually and subconsciously fill it with tons of useless shit that gets in your way. Why is that? How can you clean that mess up? We'll show you how. Get ready to clean your fucking house.
Speaker 2:We decided today to just open up completely loosely with conversation about where we're at in the day, what we want to talk about for this episode and where life takes us.
Speaker 3:I have some things that come to mind. Actually, guys, if you don't mind me hopping, hopping on board here, I don't know, Give me your feedback also.
Speaker 2:So uh, just I love it.
Speaker 3:Just got back from vacation and I was just thinking about like trying to have a little bit more structure to the things that I and like put things in your calendar that you know you should be doing and set, you know, action goals, essentially to achieve those bigger result goals.
Speaker 3:So that's what I'm like feeling very adamant about doing in my own life, like I have structure, but there's always, there's always more that I can be doing. So I do kind of struggle with how was it put. It was like feeling like I add value by doing things. Like internally, I look at getting a lot done as how I bring value like into my own life. So I'm trying to find balance with just valuing myself in general, not associating that with getting things done. But there are always things like that I know I want to improve on or add into my life or remove out of my life into my life or remove out of my life. So I was going to try to create just a more structured plan. You know, like we talked about building growing social media with the podcast, like just yeah, right.
Speaker 2:Right, I was going to say right now, like all of that sounds like work and life are mixed together, so which and it sounds like you have structure at work and you can speak about structure at work Are you wanting to put more of that in your personal life?
Speaker 3:Yeah, pretty much. Okay, yeah, and then like hold myself accountable, because after you work all day, it's like I don't want to really do much, but I also have goals that I want to achieve that will require me to put in effort, and so that is the thing. So like, as an example, social media with the podcast, like throwing 15 minutes at some point in the evening every day, like I'm not going to get a lot done in 15 minutes, but I'm going to build momentum, I'm going to get better and find some type of methodology that works well for me, and so I want to do that with like a few things. So, yeah, like kind of executing how I do at work in my personal life and then just knowing that I'm not going to feel like doing a lot of it, given the time of day and at the end of the day, which is really when I have my free time, because my morning is, all you know, all my my self-improvement stuff, going to the gym and whatnot that counts, though, that is structure, self-improvement so, folks, um, in case you're wondering, that was actually kevin's statement was directed at me as dude, get off your ass and do what I told you to do not at all dude, no, actually I I
Speaker 1:is that how you took it? No, no, not completely, but I appreciate it for that reason because, um, it actually is right in line what you said and literally one of those things where, the minute you start it and you kind of keep it going like you said, I'm putting it on my calendar. And you know what's funny, this is how old school I am. I still have paper calendar that I tape up. Actually it's magnetized up on my fridge. Just a little bit of old school here, but I'm like, oh my God, I should just put that on the calendar and that would be the visual Nancy's holding one up, and that would be a visual.
Speaker 1:It's not on my fridge, but yes, with Kevin and Nancy earlier, before we started recording that fuck, I forgot to do a specific, quick and easy and, you know, not mindless, but very easy in this day with technology. We just got to click a few things to get something done. I'm like shit, I didn't do it, you know, and I'm making excuses. Well, I was traveling last week and this and that, but you know, yeah, that's an excuse. The only reason is it didn't click until we just got on today. I'm like damn, I forgot about it. How do I remember about it? I got to give myself a visual cue, writing it down like Kevin was sharing, in terms of something to make it stick Put it on the calendar 15 minutes a day, even you know to start 15 minutes a week.
Speaker 3:Isn't that funny? Like just that example alone, like it's not hard, it's not hard, there's no mental barrier of fear, like you know, it's not a big anxiety inducing thing. And how many of those items do we each have in our own lives where it just? And how many of those items do we each have in our own lives where it just like it doesn't click, no, and it just gets pushed back for a week and then a month and you're like, why am I not just doing?
Speaker 1:it. We get so stuck in our routines oftentimes especially like as you shared about work where there's such a routine at work that when we are not on the clock, it's easy to say, oh, I just want to relax, I don't want and, to use a word you use, I don't want the structure, because I had so much damn structure all day. I don't want to be tethered to deadlines and this, and that, Of course, the irony of it is. That is what would also help us in our personal life.
Speaker 3:The next challenge, too, is that we typically have people depending on us. That holds us accountable for getting things done, like whether it's reporting to somebody or working with clients. Like there's accountability there.
Speaker 1:A meeting. You know, when you have a business meeting on the calendar boy, you make darn sure you're ready for it, even if it's 6 am.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly, and so with these items, it's like we do. You know, there are things in all of our lives, all of our listeners' lives, that we want to do. We know we should. It's just, you know, a matter of breaking some of those habits. Or, again, like anything in the beginning, anything that's different, it's going to be more challenging to even get started on, because it's not habitual at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, creating a new pathway.
Speaker 3:So you have to be like very, very aware and present in order to do that. But then once you do it like even the little baby steps I feel like you throw those little reminders in your calendar and you're like, okay, well, there's step one is that I have to stick to the calendar, no matter how I'm feeling, and I'm going to be tired and I'm not going to feel like doing it, but I know that in a month, if I don't do it, then that little feeling of regret of not doing it's going to creep up. So what's more uncomfortable, like the actual doing it, spending the half hour or whatever. Or a month later you're like I wasted another month.
Speaker 1:I could have been doing this shit, Especially when you finally have that 15 minutes or 30 minutes become a regular part of your routine, how you're like, well, damn, that you know wasn't so bad, and I'm completely able to fit that in with everything else in my life.
Speaker 3:And then hopefully by then there's some, some type of reward or something you can kind of celebrate. I guess even getting it done there's, there's reason for celebration there. Or ice cream, ice cream yeah, ice cream.
Speaker 3:But then once you get to that point and you maybe feel a little bit of a payoff or some result or something has changed or whatever the case is, you can kind of hold on to that and that can be somewhat motivating for you to continue on, continue executing you know what drives me or pulls me forward, I guess is if I have plans with people, if I have any kind of event, it doesn't matter what it is.
Speaker 2:If I'm going to be with people, then I have more incentive to do the things that make me feel good about myself. Because then I can feel good about myself when I get time with them. And so I keep plans so that when I get to being with these people I feel good that I exercised or that I ate right or didn't, you know, just eat the junk or drink too much every night or whatever. You know, like I, I kind of reduce, drink too much every night or whatever. You know, like I, I kind of reduce. Can't say eliminate. Who's perfect, right, nobody. But I reduce the regrets. But holding myself, pulling myself forward by plans with people helps.
Speaker 3:That's a good focus.
Speaker 1:And right in line with the work analogy, meaning there's people we're accountable to at work and that is a major driving force. You know none of us want to let down someone else, to avoid letting someone down when it's at work, because our livelihood depends on that and you know there's some attachments to it. But when it's family or friends or anything like that, the satisfaction element comes into play and that's just as gratifying and priceless.
Speaker 3:You know what's interesting? You just made me think of this. I wasn't sure if this is where you were going with it, but we always talk about filling up our own cups and like, I agree, lou, like we are, you know, seemingly more motivated to to do things when others are depending on us, and like we are selfless in that way and we, you know, we put others before ourselves. But really we should look at the things we want to execute as self-care and prioritizing it enough. Like that's something that I need to do to benefit myself. My future self is like do these things now to make future me feel good about it.
Speaker 1:Excellent point.
Speaker 3:And Nancy, what you made me think of also is like going out with friends, having something planned. If you're able to check these things off your list, like you'll feel good but you'll also likely be able to be more present and you won't have these things that left, that were left undone, like lingering in the back of your mind, like, oh shit, now I got to do that tomorrow or whatever that happens to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because they don't have to. Even the things you want to do don't have to be relative to the event. They just are things you want to do before that event.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good point too. You know how often do we find ourselves at gatherings where all we're thinking about is shit. Did I get that report done? Did I complete that Excel file? Did I do this? Then, all of a sudden, not only are you not enjoying yourself, but you're kind of being disrespectful to others at the event who may be wanting to socialize with you.
Speaker 2:That's huge that you say that, because I think it sounds. At first when you said it I thought, wow, that sounds a little bit harsh, but there's truth in it, and if you've ever been with friends who you felt like they weren't really there and they didn't pay attention, you're like, do they even care? Why am I wasting my time? And people do feel it, whether they ever say so or not, and so there is value in just clearing your mind of the things that cause spin value and just clearing your mind of the things that cause spin.
Speaker 3:That's a good point. Most, most of us will assume. If we're getting some type of picking up on, some type of vibe from a person, don't we typically assume it has something to do with us? Yeah, what did I do wrong? Right, are they mad at me, type of thing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not you.
Speaker 3:We're paying in the ass, but it's not you.
Speaker 2:We just need to get in the ass, but it's not you right yeah, no, it's right in line with just not knowing what's going on in someone else's life and you assume or interpret or take it a different yeah, a way that wasn't intended yeah, and I just said that, like kevin's never been a pain in the ass, like I spoke to him like I would one of my brothers but, um, and they probably are a pain, but kevin's never been a pain in the ass.
Speaker 2:So let me just say that out loud melissa would disagree well, maybe in her that was gonna come out right, so we'll stop there, yeah no, I came back and then on vacation, I don't know.
Speaker 3:You know, vacations are good to get away and reset and it was good, it was relaxing, we did a lot of fun stuff. But, like I was just at a point where I was excited to get back and start trying to just prioritize certain things a little bit more, are you going to work on a friday?
Speaker 2:yeah like you've been on vacation and then you're going to come in and do a friday yeah, wow okay important meetings it's so funny.
Speaker 1:We get back to the office, we can't wait for the next vacation. We go on vacation, we can't like, oh god, I need to get back to my routine. I, I kind of know that cycle I. I it's weird how sometimes although, boy, you know when you are on vacation and you do get those things accomplished, nancy, like you shared before you go away just at least major things. Doesn't have to be everything, just major things um, how much more enjoyable it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, how much more enjoyable it is. Yeah, so we all have things always pending in our lives that we feel like we need to force ourselves to do, and you guys named it so just, and it's all things we've talked about before. But, as you were talking, the things that you named are to set an action goal, to write it on your calendar, to create visual cues like visual cues to me, you know, notes in places or a sticky note or a highlight color, you know, but write it down and then commit at the time. If we can do those things to help ourselves, we can make small steps forward.
Speaker 1:And you know it's interesting, some of the things that I have in my own I'll call it a bucket list only because the things that I have yet to finish or accomplish or Dive into are much more easier to accomplish these days and years ago, just as a very easy example is learning, say, learning a foreign language, where you got Babbel or what all of these different apps are and things like that.
Speaker 1:So I know, recently, because AI is the big thing now, I'm like you know what? I think I want to take an AI course, but you know I don't want to have to either pay a lot of money for one or or be subjected to exam like I'd like to do a little bit on my own time. And of course, I just used AI to search for AI and, uh, you know, came up with some good resources to um, free, free resources. I'm like there's just a lot of things out there to help for sure. So I'm sure in many ways that probably could also be used for exactly for what we're talking about. You know I'd be. I haven't done that exercise yet, but I'm a little curious to put that in chat GPT and see what it comes up with.
Speaker 2:I mean my Google gives an AI answer first, before the Google searches come up, and I feel like they're succinct and tight, tight, whereas chat gpt seems to have all these over. Go on and on, okay yeah, so if you want something succinct, cool, keep it tight. So we need to hold ourselves accountable. Who wants to? Let's set um god what we used to call them. I used to work with this group and at the end of every session, we would ask people to make declarations.
Speaker 1:What's a?
Speaker 2:declaration that we each want to make. What's something hanging out there that you need to set time for? Create an action plan, put on your calendar.
Speaker 3:I have a lot I actually wrote in my journal while I was away, like just to get some shit out there into the ether. I think the biggest one for me right now is just my coaching business and getting clients like it's something I've really put off, especially as I've gotten busier at work and I've made more progress in the past like two months than I have in years, but I still am not keeping that momentum. So that's like I just want to spend some time every day doing something, because it's multifaceted. There's always something you can be doing, so I just want to try to dial it in there. That's my main. What will that look like when we talk next? So we're trying to try to dial it in there.
Speaker 2:That's my main. What will that look like when we talk next? So we're trying to commit to ourselves. We put it on the calendar and we're holding ourselves accountable to meet weekly. All right, we now meet next. What do you want to do?
Speaker 3:So by our next meeting, I want to have my brochures, my new brochures, printed out.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay. What do you need to do to do that?
Speaker 3:I need a new headshot and then I need to get them printed. They're done. Besides that, Okay, cool.
Speaker 2:Where can you get a headshot?
Speaker 1:AI.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm going to have we have a camera, like a nice camera, so I'm going to like do my hair and stuff and then it's not a big, I just haven't done it Right. Not a big deal I can do, it Doesn't take much.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things when does it fit? Is it going to happen on between now and Monday?
Speaker 3:Yeah, tomorrow, headshot tomorrow. And then I got to figure out where I'm gonna get them printed. I forget where I did them last time, but then I'll get that done this weekend. Okay, so hopefully I have them in hand by next time we meet cool nancy and I are writing these down. At least I see nancy is so my accountability buddy is over here well, lou what do?
Speaker 1:you want to make yeah, you know what I have three one and as far as there, I think you can consider them all rather low-hanging fruit, because there's, there are things I've done before that I just stopped doing and I need to get back to. One is getting back to a regular workout routine. I had many starts since taking on the new job and haven't made it stick, so there's that. And from doing this before, so there's that. And from doing this before, some years ago, where both of you, I think, may recall back in 1819, where I lost a good amount of weight, and actually not about the weight, it was just about the energy and the feeling better aspect of it, that it was a great routine to be on, um, anyway. So there's that.
Speaker 1:And I think, as far as say, by next week, keeping in in line with to try to make it stick is starting small and not getting overwhelmed. Is you know what I'll? Um, uh, over the course of the next week, walk at least three days, cool, uh. The other is our social media project program, whatever we want to call it, where it's expanding our brand, our name. We'd like our beautiful listeners to share who we are with the world and where you know their reach can, wherever it goes, great. We're going to take it even further through social media posts, so I will um have at least a 15 minute.
Speaker 2:Spend 15 to 30 minutes on that okay, so one at least one time 15 minutes for social media yeah, because I, because I think sorry and only because this is the first time through.
Speaker 1:So sometimes the first time through is just a matter of getting myself set up.
Speaker 2:Yeah Cool.
Speaker 3:I can say three right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then the walking three days. Is that 10 minutes, 15 minutes, one mile? What is it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, what's funny is I'm going to say 30 minutes. I was doing both distance and time goals, but I'm going to do for this 30 minutes each time. Oh, okay, and what was the? This is so weird. I thought I had a third one, but maybe I don't.
Speaker 2:Well, it was to build a workout routine, so the two kind of support each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think, well, and it's really more a health goal because there's also a diet aspect to that diet and exercise, because I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. This is sadly one of the reasons why, as I was doing a pre-check-in questionnaire, it had me answer different questions that were it's not time for a pre-diabetes screening and I, for lack of a better way to put it, failed. So I'm thinking, oh shit, let's see how my numbers turn out. You know I hate to have to be scared into working out and eating better, but sometimes that's what it takes we're human, you're human, yeah so that that's, it all right, so maybe no ice cream then, or fat-free is there fat-free ice cream
Speaker 1:some fro-yo but you know, what's funny is I was about to go, oh, and I'd like to do this. I'd like to do that because I do have the learning AI is actually an item on my list too, and I wanted to explore their YouTube video or whatever something to help with that Coursera, udemy. But I'm like you know what, if I start now having a 30 item list, probably nothing will get done, so I'm going to keep it short.
Speaker 3:Yep, keep it tight, there you go. Realistic goals.
Speaker 1:Yep, short yep. Keep in check. There you go. Realistic goals yep, and enough to fit on my little old school paper calendar, because the little squares can only hold so much text, so I can't overcrowd it well, I've already done started.
Speaker 2:What I want to continue, and I'll share that, that is, I'm holding myself accountable to a minimum of five minutes a day for a combination of squats and arm toning with weights. So if I combine and mix all that up and I do a minimum of five minutes one time a day sometimes more, sometimes longer all the better. But and I've marked it on my calendar in a certain color so that it shows up and I check it when I've accomplished it. So I just want to keep working toward that. I've made a note for it every day, but it hasn't happened every day this week.
Speaker 3:I'll just keep trying we're gonna get it all. We're gonna going to succeed. We are, yeah. Report back.
Speaker 1:Yes, and you know what I, where I remember I will actually send a little how's it going text to each of you. Love that, wow. So, nancy, I really like the word you use to explain this entire activity that I'm very excited about now Declarations. Was that a declaration? Ok, so I do declare to these activities, but, yeah, no, that's perfect. And you know what folks, our listeners out there make your own declarations and do it now. Don't wait. You know, oftentimes we talk about the whole January 1st or this or that beginning of the month. Screw that. Make one or just one declaration over the next week. Have an accountability buddy, write it down and make it happen, and we'd like to hear from you how that works out for you, because we'll certainly be sharing with you how it works out for us. Thank you all for listening and we look forward to you joining us on our next episode. Bye for now.