When Crystalee Beck got laid off three years ago, her first stop was to the library for some new books and then she took herself on a hike. Now as a successful entrepreneur and mother, Crystalee knows and practices the research behind how "playing" as an adult leads to far more productivity. Playing for the pure fun of it will bless anyone's lives, whether you're a stay-at-home mama or a climbing the corporate ladder. Listen to learn why this is the case and how it can translate in ways big or s...
Aug 01, 2018•37 min
I am so ecstatic to reach 100 episodes today! In honor of this wonderful number, I'm going to take you behind-the-scenes to the podcast: where the numbers are at, what's hard about it, what's wonderful, and where it's headed. This is unscripted and unedited. Stick with me through all the awkwardness, pauses, and stutters! Because friends, I'm in this for you. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE! Show Notes: 50th Episode State of the Podcast Address My interview with Unpolished Podcast My Interview with Pre...
Jul 30, 2018•41 min
"If I hadn’t made the bad paintings, then I wouldn’t have made the good paintings either.” I have three of Beth Allen's prints hanging on the walls of my home. I want about 100 more, and some of the "real thing," too. Beth amazed me during our chat not just because of this artistry she has never known life without, but because of how she has worked so hard to hone her craft, given it permission to take all sorts of forms and genres, and allowed it to teach her that she simply can't be too hard o...
Jul 25, 2018•41 min
My daughter--Bear (secret code name!)--sat down in front of my desk on Sunday morning and asked to record an episode. I happily obliged, thinking it was just for the memories. But, she actually proved to record something pretty inspiring! She turns 7 today, so as a little surprise I thought I'd share this with you. Bear is very unique. She's very bright, creative, and very sensitive. She's had to overcome a lot in her short life and I'm very proud of her. Bear is a dreamer. She is totally into k...
Jul 20, 2018•19 min
“When you think of your body in terms of what it can do and how you feel in it, instead of just how it looks, you open up this whole new world.” The past few years, there has been some shifts in how society (and by extension, advertising) is labeling "beautiful." But Doctors Lindsay and Lexie Kite of Beauty Redefined think that we can do even better. This is because even by broadening the definition of "beauty," we are still telling women that they are defined by their beauty. Lindsay and Lexie ...
Jul 18, 2018•59 min
“If you’re going to be someone who is interested in intimacy, you have to be accepting of your body as it is. If you’re going to be capable of doing that, you have to forge a kind of meaningful self acceptance and self compassion.” Good body image = good sex. Bad body image = bad sex. It’s really that simple. Because it’s never about our bodies. It’s about how we are measuring our self-worth and the meaning we have placed on our bodies as an extension of our sense of self. And that measurement a...
Jul 11, 2018•50 min
It's sad how easy it is to let our marriages slip into a place of neglect. But this needn't be if we just better prioritize our relationship and our spouse's needs! Becky Squire is here to discuss what the research shows about how putting your marriage first benefits your children and what husbands and wives need more of from each other. While the actual practice of these concepts will look different for each family, better prioritizing the most important relationship in the family will bless ev...
Jul 04, 2018•41 min
Kari Durrant is our wonderful highlight today! Kari shares boldly about how even as a health care professional, her own anxiety and depression pushed her to shift what she was doing in her life. For her, that meant admitting that the career path she was on wasn't the right thing for her, stepping back, and instead getting more honest with herself. The greatest thing about this? That meant doing things she LOVED again, including painting, hand-lettering, and even a triathlon. She has picked up so...
Jun 29, 2018•29 min
“It was when I chose to let those small pieces of criticism encompass my thoughts that I started to doubt what I was doing.” Whether you are a working professional, a stay-at-home parent, or a star athlete, we all deal with the self-doubt, especially when initiated by criticism. Kylie Chenn created a very successful company at a very young age; but she constantly dealt with--and continues to--people who pushed back on her and her ideas, or others who were impossible to please. Four years in to h...
Jun 27, 2018•34 min
“At what point do we figure out the cost is too high, and are we willing to put it down?” It's one thing to know that our devices are getting in the way of our relationships, work, and creative outlets. But it's another to successfully do something about it. Brooke White knows the struggle well. As an independent musician (she got her big break on American Idol ten years ago) and business woman ( Girls with Glasses !), social media is a big part of her creating a committed online community that ...
Jun 20, 2018•49 min
“You’re allowed to choose to love yourself. It’s not selfish, it’s not self-centered. It’s quite simple. If you’re ready, go ahead.” Part Two: Brooke talks about what her social media break taught her, including some heart-breaking lessons. She discusses the struggle she's encountered as she steps back into her online life while still trying to balance her greater priorities, and what has worked for her. Finally, she openly shares the difficult lessons she has learned the past few years about ho...
Jun 20, 2018•47 min
"We don’t want or need to be perfect all the time. We need to be open to change and learning." If you're constantly berating yourself for falling short as a parent, I have fantastic news for you: You don't have to be a perfect parent to be a very good one. Parenting expert Georgia Anderson is on the show to share how research proves that a perfectionist parent is actually an ineffective--and unhappy--one. Instead, Georgia encourages this alternative: showing our kids that we aren't perfect, but ...
Jun 13, 2018•50 min
Show Notes Joanna's Instagram and Website "Get Over Yourself" TICKETS for Perfectionism Workshop with Monica on June 21st in Utah Vibrant Bite fitness and nutrition coaching (enter the code "PROGRESS") and your FREE WEEK here Monica's Facebook and Instagram Contact Monica for coaching or podcast consulting Monat Natural, Anti-Aging Hair Care: Contact Monica to learn more, OR research via her Monat Instagram and website Related: Monica's views on Sponsorship and WHY she's partnering with Monat Fa...
Jun 08, 2018•30 min
"Action of any kind--even if it's small--makes that big difference of showing you that you're not giving your power away and your life away." We live in a world of experts, ones that make you constantly feel guilty or frazzled. But Sid Garza-Hillman is here to hold your hand, make you laugh, and somehow inspire you to be better anyway, all with the premise that doing the right things most of the time (MOTT) is a really beautiful way to live. If you're an "all-or-nothing" person and find yourself...
Jun 06, 2018•42 min
"If I try to stamp [sadness] out, then I'm cutting myself off from happiness in many ways because it's part of the spectrum. The two things are not inseparable. You cannot have one without the other." I'm sure many of us can agree that our 20s were equal parts traumatizing and memorable. Meg Fee 's writing has allowed thousands along the ride to her won experience of this transformative decade. Meg freely and beautifully shared her struggles to overcome deep sadness due to "Ned" (her Nasty Eatin...
May 30, 2018•51 min
“There are all sorts of ways for us to make a nice big mess and come out with something glorious in the end.” I knew Cori Connors growing up as the "Mom" of the neighborhood--the one always ready to laugh with instead of scold you, eager to cheer you on, and willing to sit with you when you're down. She is an angel to many, and she also has an angel voice backed by her record-selling songwriting abilities. Cori talks about how creativity cannot flourish while in the restraints of perfectionism; ...
May 23, 2018•1 hr 16 min
"Those things I’m thinking or feeling are there to guide me, and I can trust what is going on inside of me and it will lead me to good.” Two years ago, Debbie Mayes and her family moved from a 5,000 sq foot home to a 200 sq foot remodeled bus and it changed everything. Here's the thing: it's not about the bus. It's about RECONNECTION. You see, the problem the Mayes family had was that they weren't as connected as a couple, as a family, or individually as well with their own emotions. Debbie and ...
May 21, 2018•50 min
Do you know that using social media directly correlates with higher rates of depression and anxiety? I believe the root of why this is the case is COMPARISON. After all, comparison truly is the thief of joy. I hate imagining how many times in my life (both on social media and in real life) I've been too caught up in seeing what I lack in comparison to others, only to miss the incredible blessings right in front of me. I'm sure the number is countless. I know that comparison is the root of my his...
May 09, 2018•43 min
"You already have within you what you need." What's holding you back from going after a goal, business, or piece of self-improvement? I bet you a million dollars that we can take whatever reason you'd say and get it back to the real main root: FEAR. Crystalee Beck from The Mama Ladder is on the show to teach us about seven common fears people face on their way to success and how to overcome them. So whether you're a mama who wants to turn her hobby into a business, an empty nester who can't get ...
May 02, 2018•59 min
“People need three things to thrive: safe place, safe people, and safe purpose. We always forget that purpose piece” On a humanitarian trip to Ethiopia, Amber Runyon saw a big need--women and their families who were in the eleventh hour of suffering due to the effects of human trafficking. Imagine her shock when upon returning home, she discovered that her own city--Columbus, Ohio--was the fourth biggest city in the U.S. with human trafficking. What she first thought was a foreign problem was in...
Apr 25, 2018•1 hr 2 min
“The second you start doing something, you change your state.” Andi Veenker is a fitness wizard and self-help fanatic. But here's the best thing about her--she preaches that nothing will fix you (no book, no weight on the scale, no achievement, no nothing) UNTIL you love yourself first. And in order to find that self-love, you need to do something. ( Does that sound familiar? ) Andi is on the show to share how she learned to face depression head on by doing something about it as early on as poss...
Apr 18, 2018•46 min
"Joy [is] a spiritual way of engaging with the world that's connected to practicing gratitude." ~Brene Brown If you've been working on happiness, get ready to up-level it to JOY. Joy is different than happiness. It's deeper and more eternal in nature and effect. It's earned through opposition. It's chosen and cultivated. And when the going REALLY gets tough, the good news is that "joy" will be there for us. In this episode, we go deep in discussing why joy is different and longer lasting than ha...
Apr 11, 2018•45 min
"We need to create something for someone else that they might not be able to create themselves." ~Charley Jenkins Surely, we can all agree that music has defined our lives from time to time--but what about save our lives? That's exactly what the Worth of Souls project and album is trying to do. Paul Cardall and a troop of incredible artists collaborated to create a movement designed to save people who are at the brink of complete despair, to pull them back from depression, doubt, anxiety, negati...
Apr 04, 2018•59 min
"We can flip our thinking about our kids. They don't make us feel any certain way. It's us. We have that control." You want to know a magical trick for parenting? You're in charge. I know, revolutionary right? But really--you are in charge. However, not in the way you might think. Here's how: You're in charge of YOURSELF. Your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions. Regardless of what your kids do and who they are (after all you can do to teach them, of course!), only you can manage how you s...
Mar 28, 2018•48 min
“Think of your own child being that scared and how you would comfort them. Treat yourself with similar grace.” Rachel Nielson didn't realize how much her mother's long battle with cancer affected her childhood until it was affecting her adulthood, and badly. She found herself stuck in a terrible cycle of self-hatred and perfectionism, coupled with a Savior's-complex within her relationships. Years of therapy and growth taught Rachel how to move beyond the trauma of her youth and better embrace h...
Mar 21, 2018•58 min
Let me ask you this: are you happy? Why is it that most of us would have a really hard time answering that question? Well, I have a lot of theories. People too often have the wrong idea of what happiness actually looks like (it's not rainbows and butterflies, people!), and they hinge it on their circumstances or others. I've been guilty of this. Oh, have I been guilty! (Sorry, husband, for all the times I made your responsible for my happiness!) So today's podcast is devoted to my thoughts on ha...
Mar 14, 2018•38 min
“Weakness is pretending that you’re not feeling emotions, [and thereby] denying yourself of that humanity.” If you haven't heard of Preston Pugmire , get yourself acquainted quick. This "renaissance man" has a lot to say and it's going to change your life. Preston--a speaker, life coach, musician, and podcaster ( Next Level Life )--teaches us how to free ourselves from shame, guilt, and perfectionism by tearing down the facades we've created and getting to the heart of who we truly are. In other...
Mar 07, 2018•1 hr 3 min
"We have to continually have those conversations because it normalizes the idea of talking about tough topics." Dina Alexander returned to the podcast to teach parents how to talk to our children about another hard topic: pornography. We first discuss what Dina has researched are the trends in pornography, including the average age of exposure, what your children are "learning" from porn, and how they are targeted by the industry. This information is essential to knowing better what our children...
Feb 28, 2018•1 hr 4 min
As a follow-up to my interview with childbirth educator Laura Dugovic, here is the birth story of my sweet baby born on February 5th. (I share his name briefly on the interview, but won't be typing it up here as I guard my kids' names online.) You'll hear about what led up to the birth, what I did to help with the pain without using an epidural, and how Laura's resources and positive affirmations completely transformed this birth. Instead of feeling either traumatized or like a caged animal as I...
Feb 22, 2018•56 min
"I have learned that anything that I thought of myself, that I saw of myself, is not nearly the capacity that I truly am." Mikael Monson NEVER planned on homeschooling her four children; in fact, she was staunchly against it for some time. But when the inner call for her came to pull her kids out of public school and teach them from home, Mikael took a huge leap of faith and did just that. Mikael shares why homeschooling is the right fit for her family, how she does it, and what she has learned ...
Feb 14, 2018•55 min
