The Path To Leadership

Tools To Flourish: Play, Values, And Leadership

• Catalyst Development • Season 3 • Episode 7

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Burnout doesn’t fade because we work harder; it eases when we design our lives around values, play, and small, compounding wins. We unpack a realistic blueprint for thriving that starts with identity: not “What should I do this year?” but “Who do I want to become?” From there we map daily rhythms that honor sleep, movement, and connection—and we show why creative experiences lower stress and make growth stick.

We dig into the science and story behind play, including the rise of neuroaesthetics and how music, art, and aesthetic experiences measurably reduce stress. You’ll hear why a pizza party won’t fix burnout, how a simple “creative recess” can change your state, and what happens when teams swap passive perks for meaningful shared experiences. Middle managers get a candid playbook for leading without perfect conditions: set a rallying cry, translate strategy into near-term priorities, and create visible first steps your team can win this week.

Reflection runs through it all. We share how a word of the year can outperform brittle resolutions, from cultivate—therapy, boundaries, connection, and health—to flourish: growth with purpose, expand with joy, rise with confidence. If traditional journaling isn’t for you, try voice memos or a private AI workspace to name emotions, spot patterns, and turn insights into action. Make it tangible with visual cues: a desktop image of a blossoming tree or a Lego bonsai you add flowers to as you progress. Then keep momentum with habit stacking, monthly energy audits, and permission to pivot when priorities change.

If this conversation sparks a shift, help us reach more people on the path to leadership: subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a quick review telling us your word for the year. Which small step will you take today to thrive?

Follow us on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/rhondajhale/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieervin/

www.jolyean.com

www.katieervin.com

Measure what matters. Lead with purpose. Take the LEADERs Catalyst Index: https://katieervin.com/catalyst-score/


Theme music by Emma Jo https://emmajo.rocks/

Dr. Katie:

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Path to Leadership. I'm Dr. Katie Irvin. And I'm Rhonda Jolene Hale. And we are so thrilled to have you back. If you are a longtime listener or just picked us up recently, or new listeners, welcome. We're thrilled to have you join us as we talk about leadership and topics that come up throughout the work that both Rhonda and I do every day. Yes. Happy to have you here. Well, before we jump into today's topic, anything exciting or fun going on right now, Rhonda, that you're dealing with?

Rhonda Jolyean:

Oh boy, I've been working on a couple of cool creativity projects, but honestly, I'm glad we're talking about what we are discussing today about how to thrive because to be vulnerable, which is what you and I are trying to do more of, it's been a tough week. I won't get into it. There's it's some personal stuff and some stuff with friends, but this is one of those weeks where having some tools to lean on, having some things to be able to go to when it comes to planning and some tips to be able to utilize to thrive is very helpful because it's it's a really tough time right now.

Dr. Katie:

So I hate to hear that. I hate to hear that. Because we all go through these seasons and and I've shared a lot lately about, you know, I was in this season last November, December, where it was kind of like, what what's going on? And so some of the things that I'm gonna share today are tools and things that I learned to to help get me out, and I think also to really help me like stay focused and and stay going. So I hate that you've got stuff going on. I'm sorry about that. Just season of life, right?

Rhonda Jolyean:

You know, and that's that's why we're here is to connect and to learn from each other. And I'm excited to hear about some of the tips and tricks that you have and to discuss some things that I know have helped me. That's what it's all about.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I love, and we've talked about this before, like we both want to be vulnerable and share. And everything is not sunshines and roses and unicorns every day as much as fun that would be. It's that's just not the yeah, that's just not the case. So yeah, and that's why I think the topic for today, which is how to thrive in 2026. It's crazy before we hit record. Like we are, so this will be coming out, you know, and and we're two weeks into December already. And it's so goes so fast, it goes so fast.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Always does.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, and it's as I was preparing for this, you know, it it just kept resonating with me. Like the world isn't getting quieter, it's not getting easier. We talked about that when we talked about AI, you know, and how much is coming at us and how quick it is. But so our topic for today is really thrive and how do we lean into that? And you know, thriving really requires this intention. It's not gonna just happen by accident, it takes that intentional work for us to do. Yes.

Rhonda Jolyean:

I don't know about you when I think about the word thrive. I think about Oprah. But I like that you said it'll take intention. Again, we use that word a lot, and there's a reason for it. Thriving is something that we need to constantly work towards. It's not a goal to get there. From a creativity perspective, when I think about thriving, it reminds me of something that, you know, in the creativity world, I'm also a part of the play world. So I have some mentors who are very much into researching and dealing with the world of play. And I'll never forget when I heard the statement the opposite of depression is not happiness. That's what everybody thinks. Yeah, the opposite of depression is play. Ooh, I like that. Yes, and if you think about it, it makes sense because from the beginning of time as people, we have always needed play, we've always needed creativity to be able to get out of ourselves and to get out of that depressive state. So when you think about burnout, which to me, when you talk about thrive, you can't talk about thriving without talking about burnout, which a lot of us have gone through, we're going through right now. When you talk about burnout, you talk about being in a depressive, chronic stress state. How you get out of that is not just to make yourself happy, right? You have to intend, right? Just make just be happy. You have to, you know, love that advice. You have to be able to create something, you have to be able to have an action, you have to be able to change a mindset, but not just say, I'm changing a mindset. So what we do instead is say, create something, experience something in art, play, etc. And so that's the opposite of depression, that's the opposite of burnout. So when I think about this topic, when I think about thriving, you can't talk about it without talking about play and creativity. So I'll be talking about some tips that we're able to do and how I survive and thrive through times like this as well.

Dr. Katie:

Oh, yeah. Oh, I love that. I had not heard the play, but it makes so much sense. It's funny because my brain is just like thinking about like, so we're we're recording this a couple days before it comes out. And so last night I was out with a bunch of my golf girlfriends, and it's just so fun to be in a room with everybody. And and we took the this first picture, and we're all sitting at the table, and we're all just, you know, having our first drinks and just relaxing. And then at the end of the night, we took another picture, and one of my closest friends who I adore, you know, there's this big blow-up reindeer, and she's like, Huh, I think I need to get on that. And so, you know, it's just you think about these 50-year-old women that, like, you know, one of them is jumping on a blow-up reindeer and everything. And it's just, it's so much fun when you can have fun and enjoy and play around and and do. So I that is a a cool concept.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Well, and to that point, you cannot have, you cannot be in a depressive state if you are connected. I mean, you can, but to get out of a depressive state, you need to surround yourself with people, be connective. That then encourages play. There's lots of different various kinds of play, but that is a great way to get out of that depressive state. Yeah.

Dr. Katie:

I love it. And it's it's interesting, and I share this all the time. And I'm gonna actually share my word of the year for next year when we get towards the end of the podcast. But my word of the year last year was cultivate, and really it was from this reflection of it, you know, it was burnout, it was depression, it was, you know, all of the despair, all the feelings that I was feeling last November and into December. I really had to take this intentional time to first understand what was happening to me, and then understand what would help get me out of it. And so cultivate was my word of 2025, and it was about cultivating relationships, which was my my husband, my kids, my girlfriends, you know, my people that I want to spend time with. So being really intentional with that, cultivating my business, which is cultivating opportunities. So being really intentional with who I'm in the room with, with the type of businesses that I align with, knowing that I, my work thrives and I have a lot of success in industries that are typically more male-dominated. So I spent a lot of time in construction, logistics, finance, kind of construction adjacents, so electrical contractors, things like that, and nonprofits. So I had to be a lot more intentional about who I was in the room with, which would help my business grow. And then the most important was cultivating myself and having to do that reflection of I need to get to a safer and healthier mental state. So going back into therapy, I had to cut some personal relationships that were wildly toxic. And even though they were family members, they were making me mentally sick. And through those relationships, I had gained 60 pounds that I had to like get myself healthier. And so that was kind of my focus all year was how do I do these things? And when I got real intentional about it, everything, everything thrived. Like I'm I'm down 53 pounds, which is so exciting. And I feel good, yeah. But more importantly, my mental health is better, my therapist is great, my business is booming, my relationships could not be any better. And it is just it's doing that intentional work of cultivate, which was critical for me, or or I would not have my business would not have survived. You know, I probably I would have survived, but I would have been in a really dark place.

Rhonda Jolyean:

So what so many people, congratulations. I mean, I've told you that offline, but congratulations for all of that. And I don't know very many people that can't relate with where you've been, or at least to so many pieces of what you just said. What advice would you give to people, or what can people do? Because cultivate isn't gonna be a word for everybody. Yeah. So what what are the steps that people can take?

Dr. Katie:

Yeah, yeah. And you know, it's really interesting what I did was first of all, I am for most for people that know me, they know this, but people who don't know me know that I am like super proud and I'm super like I've got this under control and I can handle it and I I've got it. And, you know, what I was realizing, first of all, what I wasn't doing was asking for help. I wasn't, while I was kind of giving peeks behind the curtain of what I was going through, I wasn't being vulnerable enough to really tell people where I was struggling because people didn't know how to help me because I wasn't being really clear on my struggles. And so that was step one was surrounding myself with people that I could trust. I thought I was surrounded by people I could trust, but I wasn't. I was sharing things and it wasn't a safe environment. So I had to get myself to a safe environment where I could share, share my struggles. And I I shared this on previous podcasts. I'm not a journaler, I'm not a like brain dump type person. I I love the people that are aspire to be that. But what I did was I opened ChatGPT and I just like told it my my story. I I essentially wrote a book in Chat GPT of where I have been, what is I what I'm feeling. You know, I got real clear on, you know, what emotions I was really feeling. I wasn't hurt, it was what's the emotion wheel? So pulling out Brene Brown's beautiful book of all the emotions and really understanding what I was feeling and doing that work with my therapist to be really clear. And so then when I did that, I asked ChatGPT to help me like, what does this look like? And and so we went through many iterations to get to cultivate and what that meant. Because the other part to this was what did I want to feel at the end of 2025? You know, I wanted to feel healthier, I wanted to feel more connected, I wanted to feel successful. And we talked about success in the last podcast. These are what I wanted to feel.

Rhonda Jolyean:

I would really like to point out to everyone that you did not replace a professional with AI. It was supplementing, and I am completely for that. My therapist is also completely for that, as long as you aren't leaning on the technology for all of your results, all of your answers, absolutely doing it in conjunction. I think that's a very healthy way to utilize AI. And also to go back to something that we spoke about in the last podcast, when it comes to it's very important for you with words to have that word and to pinpoint that verbiage. When Brene Brown came out with her book, I think it's called The Atlas of Love.

Dr. Katie:

Atlas of the Heart.

Rhonda Jolyean:

We can put it in the notes. Okay, you're gonna look it up. Great. We do not have a producer, everyone. Once we get a producer, we will have somebody look it up. But what she says in that book that I love is we are feeling people, so we have to feel it in our bodies first and then name that emotion. And it is absolutely so difficult to name an emotion that isn't sad, bad, happy, cultivate. How do you how do you know that you're feeling that in your body? So it took you a lot of work to get there. And once I remembered that the word feelings comes from feel in my body, that helped me to understand how powerful of a word that is. And I think encouraging people when you are gonna continue talking about this and picking out a word, that becomes a very powerful thing because, and for me as a creativity person advocate, having something then you could visually put around everywhere that you can see visually, it is so powerful to be able to say cultivate or empower or whatever your word is gonna say. That's gonna help you reach your goals two times faster. It's been proven than if you didn't.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah, yeah. So the book is Atlas of the Heart. Atlas of the Heart.

unknown:

Okay.

Dr. Katie:

I was close. Yeah, we were both close. Um, and there's also a documentary. I've never seen the documentary, but I've heard it's it's great. So it is great. I've I watched it, it was wonderful. Very good. Yeah, so it's a great book. Uh I also a lot of times will have people inside out has a great emotion wheel. The the Pixar movie Inside Out has a great emotions wheel. And so I'll have people look at that so they can understand their emotions there.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Yes. Yes, and you can just Google emotions wheel, and it usually comes with beautiful colors. I have people do that when we're talking about experience design in spatial aspects. So absolutely.

Dr. Katie:

Well, and I think too, when we think about thriving, and we talked about values previously. We're gonna actually do a fun little micro recording on how to really lay out your your values. So we're gonna tease that at the end of this podcast. But really, that thriving is living in alignment with your values and your purpose and not just performing work. It's not just there's there's not these just plotting through the day. It's it takes that that work to do that.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Intention, intention again.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah, yeah. And it's interesting as I was preparing for the podcast, and so much of my work is really focused on, you know, the these middle managers, these these people that are are both leaders and followers. So they are not the ultimate decision makers because but they do have people that look to them. And when we think about thriving, it's really interesting because middle managers and rising leaders, they can't wait for someone else to set conditions. And so when we think about, it's really interesting as I was thinking about this, because I have someone who's in my network who is telling me that they really struggle with their teams at the beginning of the year because they're waiting for the organization to come out with their organization goals and their team goals and their all those kind of things. So when we think about our personal goals, that's wildly important. Like, what do we need to do? How do we go forward? But when we think about from the organization standpoint, we've got to set our leaders up for success because they rarely have that full authority. They have to wait for someone else to give them their focus, but their team is looking at them. Their team's not looking at the the top of the organization, their team's looking at them and saying, give me some guidance, what should I do? And they're really the bridge between strategy and execution. You know, they hopefully healthy organizations involve them in strategy conversations. If you're not involving your mental managers in strategy conversations and really your individual contributors, we should talk about that because you should be. Um but but they're the ones that have to put those goals into action. So they have to do the work, and conditions are really perfect for them to do the work. They rarely have all the budget they need, they rarely have all the tools they need. Sometimes information is incomplete, so so there's struggles there, but that that is so important because they don't always have the authority to put this in place, but they're required to put the action there. So it's just some interesting things, and I think organizations really have to set uh people leaders and individual contributors up to be successful, like they can't thrive if us decision makers, especially ultimate decision makers, are not putting them in that place to thrive.

Rhonda Jolyean:

You are so right. When I was in doing change management, huge healthcare change transformations, the number one thing besides communication that made transformations fail lack of leadership sponsorship. And it cascades from the top. So you're right, with the middle management being the people in action. If you don't have it, the decisions all the way from the top cascading down, nobody will be successful. It has to cascade from the top. You you're brilliant. It you're absolutely right. When it comes to the vision, when it comes to this communication, when it comes to thriving, it's all the same.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah, yeah, it is. And I appreciate it. Thank you. I just reached the camera on it, but it comes from seeing it. Like I've seen it over the last, you know, 26 plus years. You see where companies fail, where managers fail, you see those where you know communications and cascading fails. And shout out, I love Patrick Lancioni, I love his work. And you know, he he has organizations create rallying cries. And so it's like, what is our main main focus? And I think it's so helpful. Like what is that, you know, piece that that we're really focused on? And so I think that's where I get the inspiration to do my word of the year is what is my what is my personal rallying cry? What is my organizational rallying cry? And that gives us, as we talked about previously, you know, how we measure success. It gives us kind of those guardrails of if it doesn't fall into these parameters, then then it's not a no forever. It's just a no for this year. That's not what I'm gonna focus on. I love that. Yeah. Well, and I'm interested. I I wonder, you know, we we talk about burnout so much, both on the couple podcasts we've done together, but just when we're together, we talk about it a lot. And really moving from this kind of survival mode to really this intentional creation mode. So I wonder your kind of thoughts on that transition from maybe a fixed mindset to more of this growth, growth mindset.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Well, fixed mindset to growth mindset. One of when I learned about that theory, I I thought, well, that is absolutely true. If you are going to think that you are stuck in your ways or that you cannot learn anything or that you cannot grow, then that will be your reality. You know, what we believe in our heads will become a reality. When it comes to thriving, surviving, burnout, which is perpetual chronic stress. You can go back to what I said about depression. Most of the time when you are burnt out, there are aspects of depression in that. We have chronic burnout in the Western hemisphere, you know, in the Western societies, we have chronic loneliness. So many things that we are dealing with. And then when you think you put on top of it people who are turning into fixed mindset people because there's so much negativity, there's so much darkness, etc. Yeah. So if you put yourself into those middle managers positions, you're not only dealing with teams who are becoming burnt out, you're burnt out yourself. And then you don't have the answers, you're having people look to you for the answers, and you can't get the answers from leadership. That's a really hard place to be. And when you think about being able to thrive, you think about are you even getting your bare necessities? So we as people, if you think about the pyramid of needs, right at the foundation, we have sleep. When people talk about wellness, let's talk about the wellness industry for a second. They talk about sleep, exercise, let's eat right, meditation, which we talked about, you know, all these things that are so fabulous that we all need as human beings to quote unquote thrive. But no one until recently has actually spoken about the things that will cure or help burnout and depression. If you go back all the way to ancient times when we were just forming human society, you can see it. There's artifacts, writings on the wall, paintings on the wall, uh toys, drums, instruments. People were using uh art, music, aesthetic experiences to be able to connect, to heal themselves. It has been proven time and again that we feel better as human beings, that our stress lowers when we are participating in arts, in aesthetic experiences. And so there is this emerging field that I am, I'd like to say a part of. I don't feel I don't feel like I am near as intelligent enough to be a part of this wonderful field, but it's emerging. It's called neuroaesthetics. It is how we can measurably account for how our minds, how our brains change through aesthetics or through arts and aesthetic experiences. And they have done studies on our brains, on brain waves in huge communities across the country of how people's burnout, chronic illnesses, we're talking illnesses.

Dr. Katie:

Wow.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Get better by participating in arts, by lit even listening to concerts. It's not you creating. People say, Well, I don't want to paint, I don't want to do such and such. No, you could just listen to your favorite songs. There's a reason why at the end of life, most of the time, people are listening to music. And there's a reason why ASMR, I always use this as an example. There's a reason why ASMR videos are so popular online. It relaxes us, it makes our brain wave slow down. So then that way we can be more calm. And that is aesthetic experiences. So neuroarts measures how this lowers our stress, makes us healthier, etc. And so the goal of the researchers, the scientists, the clinicians, the artists in this field is to make at that the bottom of the pyramid is to make arts and aesthetic experiences foundational. Can you imagine when doctors, and they're already starting to do this, start to social prescribe? So instead of giving you all of this medication that you might not need, they give you a prescription to visit museums, prescriptions to go to painting classes or workshops, etc., book clubs. Yeah. And that's going to hopefully help with the loneliness epidemic, burnout. Instead of spending all of this money on uh corporate wellness programs, what if middle managers had a budget to take a field trip with their employees and have them do pottery outside? Yeah. Who's tired of a pizza party where nothing happens, you don't really meet people or connect in a meaningful way? And that's the thing is that it makes meaningful connections. We've known that forever, but it's something in which we it's like I know that walking is good for me. I know that it will help me, but it's something that I might not prioritize. And so we're really trying to push that we prioritize this. So when you think about thriving, we have to incorporate creativity. We have to incorporate, dare I say play. I mean, that is such a four-letter word to so many adults. But I'll take art and aesthetic experiences if people just start doing one little thing a week that would start lowering their stress and get them out of that burnout.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah. Oh, that is so fascinating. And you just think, I mean, think how excited we used to get for field trips. I mean, that would be so cool to do field trips or, you know, even to, you know, work outside for a little while. And yeah, that is fascinating, but it makes sense. Like you, we don't think about it unless we're we're like you and you spend so much time doing that research and work. It's it it makes, as you were talking, I was thinking, yeah, I mean, you think about it when you get in your car in the morning and you turn on the radio and a song from I'm, you know, I'm almost 50. And so, you know, anytime poison or deaf leopard or you know, pour some sugar on me comes on, it's like it's gonna be a good day, right? We are going to be just fine. And so, yeah, tying all that back and and I think it would be really interesting. We should really do a whole episode on everything you just talked about. Cause I just think the nostalgia of it all, but even the helping us get away from loneliness in the sadness, because when we are in this fixed mindset and we're starting to, you know, pull away from people and things, we get deeper into burnout, we get deeper in depression. I know listening to you talk, I'm just thinking about me last November where it was like I just wanted to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head. And that was just taking me deeper to there was a night where I was just in bed sobbing, and I just the something in me was like, Text your girls. And so I text, I have a group of five women, and I just text them and said, I'm I it's bad, I need help. Um and you know, you you that that pulling away. So oh my gosh, I think we should do a whole session or a whole podcast on that.

Rhonda Jolyean:

I would love to, and I for me, it's life is not everything in society tells us that's dumb, we don't have time. That's extra coloring books are for special occasions. You should only do play with kids. It's okay to play with kids, we shouldn't be playing at work. That's really you know, work needs to be hard. We need to be productive. Who says? Who said that? Right. And for me, it's I'll wait until we do that podcast episode, but that neuro aesthetics, I didn't know it at the time, but doing art, doing it going through aesthetic experiences is what pulled me out of clinical depression and chronic, a chronic seven-year burnout. And I can talk about that because it basically it saved my life. It saved everything it turned me around. So I would I want to tell everyone about it. Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Katie:

So I would love to, yeah. Yeah, we will definitely do that because you're talking about doing it differently. I mean, we got to do things differently. If it's not working for us, change it. You know, it's the I I always tease, you know, the great philosopher Dr. Phil says, you know, if you do things, you know, if you do things the way you've always done it, you're gonna always get what you always got. You know, the definition of insanity, right? Right. I know everyone has opinions on Dr. Phil. I haven't watched him in a hundred years, so I'm gonna caveat that. But but it's true, right? If we keep doing things. So when we think about how we want to thrive in 2026, you know, if we have had a great year, that's fantastic. Maybe it still works for you the way you've done it. Maybe you need to do things a little different. And so we we kind of talked about some different things that have worked for us or that have worked for other people. And one of the things that I think is interesting is Jenna Scott, who used to work for me, and she's so amazing and so thoughtful in the way she behaves. She doesn't do goal setting at the beginning, beginning of the year. She does it on her birthday every year. And I thought, well, that's a cool, I'd never really heard of that, but it makes sense. Like you don't have to, it's not a requirement to do it in December and January. You can do it whenever it works for you, right? So I really like that.

Rhonda Jolyean:

My birthday is at the beginning of the year. So and I know yours is in January too. It would kind of still be reflections for me. And while we're on that, or resolutions, while we're on that, I don't do resolutions, I don't do a word of the year. I we talked a little bit about this before the beginning of the podcast. I have done everything from morning pages, which Julia Cameron has recommended. I got to see her speak. This is a little bit of a tangent. I got to see her speak in 2017 at a conference. She is so wonderful. If you don't know who she is, she wrote The Artist's Way. If you've never read The Artist's Way, read The Artist's Way. It is a life-changing book. One of her big things is morning pages. It's three pages every day, stream of consciousness writing. You can learn more about that. The woman is brilliant. I've done everything from morning pages to try to figure out what I want in life, goals, etc., all the way to doing design thinking, which that's a whole podcast that we can do. I love talking about design thinking, and you can do goals based off of design thinking. I've done formal. Well, this is what do I want to achieve every month? What do what is my SMART goals? Oh, smart goals. I have issues. I could talk about smart goals rather. Yes. And then I've done just traditional, let's talk it out with friends, let's share ideas, let's make a collage. I mine are usually something in the arts of putting it on the wall. What I generally go back to every year. So this, I guess, is my staple, is a vision board because I am very visual. And for me, I have to have that visual to go back to. Right now I have the 2038 Winter Olympics on there in Salt Lake City.

unknown:

Really want to go to that.

Rhonda Jolyean:

So that's that's on there for me. So manifesting that, if anyone can hook me up there, putting that. You know what? Speak out your goals. Right. Speak it out loud. You gotta do that. It works. And I also have the Tour de France on there. We go to there every year, and so constantly want to be going there. But I also have small things. I want to redo my bedroom in all green, which you would appreciate.

Dr. Katie:

I love that.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Yes. So I was talking to you about how I feel a little flippant in that I change up what I do, but then that's okay. I can embrace that because I am a very experimental person. That's one of my values. I like to experiment and see what happens, and I do it with intent. I do it knowing that I'm experimenting to see what works for me. So if you're out there thinking I've never been able to stick to something, I've tried so many different things. Don't feel bad about that. I was feeling bad about that. And I literally just stopped before this podcast because I'm embracing that experimentation and feeling out what works for me every year.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah. And I think that's so important because what works for you may not work for me. What works for someone else? I mean, there's so many great things out there. Like how El Hal Elrod has the morning miracle. And it's, you know, here's the things you need to do. And it's a great book and it's a great idea. Um, you know, there's those books out there that are like, you won't be a millionaire unless you wake up at 5 a.m. That's BS. Like, give me a break. You know, you can you can do things at two in the afternoon that you can also do at 5 a.m. And so you got to find what what works for you. And I was always previously like a goal setter, like what it what are my goals for the year? And I really found that it they trailed off very quickly, whether they were resolutions or goals or whatever. And so I really moved to the who do I want to become at the end? And and I know I mentioned like what is what does that look like? And those affirmations and those visualizations and really bringing that all together. And so doing that reflection, but then also like, okay, what's the what's the next piece there that I think is so important? And and really those, those themes, you know, what it what is the small behaviors that I do each day to keep me to that. And so I've shared this on previous podcasts, but what I've done is, you know, I created the word cultivate, I created the activities around what does that really mean? And then at the end of each month, I do that reflection. And what I found was January, February, even to March, it was kind of this, eh, okay, we're kind of getting there. And now instead of having like three or four bullet points, it's almost a page long each month of really going into cultivate and the things that I've done because it's become those habits, you know, that I really need to do. And so that accountability for myself has really helped. And so last week, as I was kind of thinking about that, we would be doing this work, I started to do my urine reflection. And so my monthly reflection is a running document. And so I took that running document when I did my November one, and then I put it in Chat GPT and said, let's look at this. You know, where where have I really done great things? And then I started doing some of my reflections on the urine. And so I'm really excited. My word for next year, but really goes, takes the next step from cultivate. And the theme is flourish. Yes. So the theme is flourish and it continues on myself, my relationships, and my business. And so, you know, creating those really those habits, which is for myself, is those movement days, you know, the the golf, the stretching, all of those, having intentional rest moments where I'm pausing to do, taking care of those kind of things. And then the relationships, continuing those connection points. Interesting. Something I'm gonna start doing next year is these, because I'm not a journal, I'm not gonna sit and write, is doing voice memo check-ins each day.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Um we talked about that last time that I said that that was something that people could do if they weren't. But you know, I'm gonna push back just a second that you say you're not a journaler because you journal to chat GPT constantly.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah, I'm not a writer. You're right. You're right. I'm not a like sit-down and writer kind of piece, but doing those kind of things and then my business, you know, I have some different progress towards my flourish goal. So I'm really excited for for my word of 2026, which is flourish, which is taking that cultivate. And anyone who's seen like my background on my computer or anything, like cultivate, and I'm sitting here looking at it on my computer, it's a it's a sturdy tree that you can see. And so my my image for next year is the tree now has flowers on it. And so it's really that growth with purpose, expand with joy, and rise with confidence is kind of my my focus for next year. Oh my gosh, I love it. Can I give a suggestion?

Rhonda Jolyean:

Yeah, please. To make it a little bit more aesthetic and engaging. So you could, this is buying, so giving into capitalism a little bit, but to make it play as well. Lego sells a bonsai tree and another tree, a family tree too. So you could pick either one, you could do a tree, and then you can take little Lego pieces. So you could go to one of the local brick stores and then put flowers on it, and then you could I sit there and have Lego pieces on my desk. So then you could be touching and feeling it. And then you could, you know, as you're doing meetings and things like that, that's something easy that you can touch and look at so you can see when you have step up on your computer. And that's for everybody, too. It's so easy, you don't have to.

Dr. Katie:

play soccer with your kids or if you don't have kids you know find some random kid it's as easy as that just putting a toy on your desk i love that yeah that is cute well and i sit here and i'm as we're talking i'm always playing i have a little you know fidget kind of toy i'm always playing with something so i love that idea of the lego tree yeah that's cool i just i just like it too because it harkens to your visual yeah yeah so curious i mean you kind of talked about things you do but you know anything about kind of building momentum and right micro wins or creativity sessions you you mentioned a little bit of that but any other thoughts on that well I think it would be interesting to I don't think Julia Cameron would approve of this but you could take if you already do morning pages and you or you already journal taking that creativity piece and then blending it with the technology piece you could input in to AI some of your journal pages and see what maybe it could summarize or pull out some themes for you if you wanted to do some quick reflections or have it come up with some words if you're interested in doing what Katie has done for this next year.

Rhonda Jolyean:

If you've not already done a monthly reflection that could be an easy way to do it. I know that Jim and I for you Android people which I'm kind of jealous of this I think well it takes pictures you can take pictures of handwritten notes and it summarizes those things for you I'm sure there's some kind of iPhone app that does that I just need to find it because I'm a handwritten journaler I have to write everything down I think too when it comes to I encourage people when it comes to Lego you don't always have to if you're gonna do a vision board and you don't like magazines or you went digital a long time ago and you have no idea where to get magazines you can build with Lego and you can take photos of take a little minifigure and let's say flourish is your word maybe it's a little minifigure and it's just them holding a flower. Take that picture and then put it on your desktop and maybe you have another one that's in power and it's the Lego person holding up like weight or something and then take that photo you know you can make a little vision board very easily. So then that encourages play creativity visual so again you're able to reach your goals faster and it also incorporates that digital aspect that AI aspect if you need more recommendations with how to incorporate creativity play and technology you can always ask AI. Again you don't have to put in as much private information as maybe Katie and I do and we don't even put in that much private information and you can always reach out to us. I am constantly thinking about different ideas that I can put into AI last night I was taking my astrological chart and mixing it with mixing it with different ways that I would flourish if you will in doing stories in different aspects. I know that doesn't make sense but it did to me and that's how I was being creative. So it's just something I'm interested in. Yeah so if you you know want to get creative ask Katie and I for different prompts and we'd be happy to give them to you or if you have different prompts that you want to use or to share to help other people thrive please send them along because there's no wrong way to do goals or to do resolutions. I would just encourage people to as we spoke about last time try to make them values based instead of making them specifically goals based because as we have spoken about if they are goals based then you're gonna constantly want to be achieving more you're gonna be on that hamster wheel and whereas you if you live by values based life you're gonna be able to as Katie said live by who do I want to become and my identity rather than what exact what the what am I in life?

Dr. Katie:

So yeah yeah I agree I agree which ties beautifully to our discussion of success last week and what it what our definition is and you know as we're we're kind of coming to to a close we always like to share these kind of tips and tricks and tools and and things and I think there's a lot of opportunities out there. I mean you've mentioned morning pages I did a vision board for the first time a couple years ago and I was kind of poo-pooing it and I was like that was a lot of fun I really really like that you know habit stacking when we try to change our behavior like on day one it's overwhelming. So just change small behaviors and get this kind of momentum going instead of trying to everything all at once you know if it's like okay I want to lose 50 pounds you know what are all things I need to do? Well if I'm trying to meal plan and exercise and you know sleep out and all that all it gets overwhelming and that's when we stop. So what's one habit that I can change today that then next week I can add another one and I can just start kind of stacking that to where it becomes behaviors. Having these trusted voices around you I I talk about cultivate all the time because I want people to hold me accountable to it and and to know what it is and doing these kind of energy audits you know what's working for you what's what's knocking you back slowing you down what's getting in the way and and sometimes we you know I always tell people like just because you set an intention for the year we're not tattooing it on your body like things change right if if my goal for this year was to for next year was to write a book and then I got a massive client that then took a whole lot of my time it doesn't mean that I'm a failure if I didn't write my book at the end of the year. It means priority shifted because opportunity came along so it's it's okay to also pivot a little bit as you go.

Rhonda Jolyean:

That's such great advice that is such great advice because I think we all tend to do that and think oh if I didn't achieve X again that's a goals based right instead of values based.

Dr. Katie:

So yeah yeah I love it. Well and so I encourage people you know as we as we really look at you know the next part of our journey whether it's 2026 whether it's your next birth year whatever it is you know be real intentional and you know build that growth into daily rhythms use tools that support you talk to people find out what works for them try it if it doesn't work for you try something else it's it's totally fine.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Yes experiment be curious be open just do it with intent.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah yeah and most importantly you know just try something new each day whether it is I would love for our listeners to take kind of this creative recess every day like this pause and do some of these fun activities my my daughter who's 21 you know she has coloring books around her apartment and she got together with a bunch of her golf girls lately and and did cookie decorating and you know the the more we spend time together you know I just I hope she never loses that and I think you know it's an inspiration for me to do more of it.

Rhonda Jolyean:

Yes creativity brings us together it lowers stress it is scientifically proven so if people are wondering why say I'm doing it for my brain the doctor says yeah think about how your team instead of just doing another boring outing or pizza party or potluck incorporate creative activity. And if you need ideas on what to do reach out. We have a lot of suggestions and we'd be happy to help you with that.

Dr. Katie:

Yeah and you do a really cool one with Legos right you have a yeah we can do visioning we can do different team building workshops leadership workshops etc I love it so much well it we could talk about this forever I think and go on so many side tangents on this so we'll we'll add uh add some future sessions future podcasts on on some of the stuff we talked about and I'm really excited for next week because we're gonna do kind of this little micro we're trying to come up with a cute name so if anyone has a cute name yeah yeah I'm trusting your creativeness but also if someone listening there has a fun little kind of little mini podcast that we're gonna do next week and it's gonna be really practical how to set your values we've talked about that in the last couple podcasts and we're we're encouraging you to root your activities and your behaviors and your values and we probably some of us have these surface ideas of what our values are but we want you to dig deeper. So we're gonna spend some time next week really digging deeper and how you really get to you know what are your core values at this stage of life where you're at and those are going to change so we'll we'll talk about that. Yes can't wait yay yay well thank you everyone for joining us this week's Patal we're really excited for you to do some work around this be intentional we want to hear from you you know you can go to LinkedIn and be a part of the conversation if you listen to the podcast I know on Apple Podcasts it you can text us and it'll send us a send us some information but reach out to us let us know what you're doing let us know what works for you we we want to hear it from you yes please reach out and then as always you know the the more you share the podcast rate the podcast like the podcast it just really helps us get our words out there if this podcast was beneficial for you please rate and review it also send it to someone that you think would benefit from hearing it it's because of the people we we'll just keep shouting at Rhonda's mom because she keeps spreading the message but it helps with us you know get get the word out on the work that we're doing. Yep and we want to help as many people as we can we do we do so well thank you everyone and we will talk to you next week on the path to leadership bye everyone bye

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