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Episode 0: Reimagining Success: An Introduction Listen here >>
Episode 1: Why redefine ‘success’ Listen here >>
Episode 2: Beyond professional success: The 5Ls model Listen here >>
Episode 3: 3 exercises to help you find out what ‘success’ looks like for you Listen here >>
Episode 77: Writing a business plan Listen here >>
Episode 50: Getting ready for 2020 Listen here >>
Episode 64: Trusting your intuition Listen here >>
Episode 21: Creating systems in your business Listen here >>
Episode 66: Overcoming ‘comparanoia’ Listen here >>
Episode 61: How to not lose sight of your big picture vision Listen here >>
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Transcript:
Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Reimagining Success podcast, where we are celebrating 100 episodes. Woo hoo. Pop the champagne. So exciting. I hope you are, too. I’m very excited. Now, in all seriousness, I really am thrilled to have come this far. I hear from many people, and I see it happening in real life that starting a podcast is a big undertaking. It can be quite overwhelming, and off-putting perhaps when you’re constantly checking the number of listeners and downloads and so on, and a lot of people give up. So, the fact that I’ve made it through actually almost two years now and a hundred episodes – it’s a new episode every week, every Thursday, since I started in December 2018 – is already a big accomplishment for me. But, this is not about me, it’s really about you guys. And as cheesy as it sounds, I just want to say a massive thank you so much for taking the time to follow me, to listen to me, to engage in the community.
And, I just love getting feedback from you guys, whether you’re probably part of another community, so hopefully, you’ve joined the Facebook group, you’re maybe in one of my programmes – I know a lot of my clients listen to this podcast – or you’ve found me via listening to perhaps an interview on someone else’s podcast… So, I also want to say thank you so much to those of you who certainly in the early days of my business and the early days of my podcast, really went out on a limb and invited me onto their own sacred podcast ecosystem, I guess, their platform, and really let me come on and speak to you guys. So, thank you to all of you, all the podcast hosts, and those of you, above all, the listeners.
Now, I don’t usually listen, or rather I don’t usually check the stats on how many downloads and so on. So, that’s not something that has been concerning me. However, I did check the numbers for the hundredth episode, because what I wanted to do today was actually refer you to the top episodes so far. I want to talk you through the 10 most popular episodes.
So, if you are new to the Reimagining Success with Anna Lundberg podcast, hopefully, this will be a good place for you to start. You can listen to, trust maybe some other people’s recommendations, and begin with those episodes. Some of them, to be honest, are pretty straightforward. I can see why they’re popular. Others, a little bit more surprising. So, really interesting to see where the interest is, what’s really gained the most traction. And again, hopefully, it will be a good place for you guys to start, either to discover these episodes for the first time, or perhaps be reminded and go back and listen to them again.
Now, of course, I’d also love to hear what your favourite episode is. So, do get in touch. You can connect with me on any of my social channels where we’re already connected, or you can email at podcast@onestepoutside.com.
But again, massive thank you to all of you listening, and now watching now as we begin to create this video podcast, which is very exciting. We’ll see how that goes. A big thank you to everyone who’s had me on their podcast, and a big thank you to Elvis. No, that’s not his real name, but Elvis is the incredible editor extraordinaire who is editing, and has been editing since almost the beginning now, these episodes. And, I often get compliments on the sound quality, so this is all thanks to Elvis who’s over in Sri Lanka and say a massive thank you to you, Elvis, as well for playing such an important part here.
So without further ado, and I’m going to have to refer to my notes here, but I want to take you through the most popular episodes to date. And I’ve taken the top 10 out of the hundreds. It’s the top 10%. And we’ll start at the beginning, start at the top in fact, rather than do a reverse countdown starting with in fact, the first four episodes, because the first four episodes have just about pipped the others to the post. And I’m not surprised, perhaps because they’ve been around the longest, but also because it’s really setting the framework, setting the philosophy of the whole podcast. It’s all around introducing the podcast, why I’m such a strong believer in this idea of reimagining, redefining success using my five Ls model, which may be new to you, or it may be something you’ve come across in my community. It’s certainly something I’ve revisited over the last couple of years here on the podcast. And also, there’s an episode which is three exercises to help you find out what success looks like for you.
So, without repeating what I said back then, and probably as for everybody, it’s a bit cringe-worthy to go back and listen to your very first episode, so certainly I’m probably going to want to re-record my introduction episode. But, just to give you a little bit of, I guess, of an updated glimpse into why I believe this is so important and I hope you agree, I hope you share this belief, this philosophy, this mission, because that’s why you’re here, you’re listening and you’re hoping to do the same.
So, fast forward? No, what’s the opposite of fast forward? Fast backing? Backing up. Rewinding, I think, is the technical term from the VHS days. Rewinding back to 2013. That’s when I quit my corporate job. But I know, I may sort of bashed this drum again and again. Obviously it’s an important message for me. It really was a pivotal moment for me, because before then I’d really been that proverbial good girl. I talk about the good girl syndrome, the achiever syndrome. I’d followed that conventional path, conventional at least in my part of society, in my family schooling, and so on. So, good school, good grades, more or less did what I was told, good university, good job.
And there was nothing for anyone to suspect, least of all myself, that I would go off and do something crazy like quit my job without a plan. I didn’t feel like a risk taker. I wasn’t entrepreneurial, whatever that means. And, it was something that just happened organically for me.
So, the stars aligned somehow. I asked my boss for a sabbatical. I travelled three months across South America, which was a massive step outside my comfort zone. After Paradise Falls, as I was saying then at the time of Pixar’s Up. If you haven’t seen that film, at least watch the first five minutes and you’ll be balling if you’re an emotional wreck, like I was at least. But it’s all about this widow, I guess, who wants to fly to South America. He’s got his house with the balloons, and that was sort of the vision I had for myself when I headed off to South America.
That was the beginning for me of questioning, I guess, what I’d be conditioned, what I inherited in terms of beliefs of, hang on a second, I’m now outside of my bubble. I’m no longer in this very comfortable zone of having a steady salary, a generous salary, living in a very nice part of the world, a very good quality of life, lovely friends, good company, and so on. And I met all sorts of people from diverse backgrounds, unemployed, people who’d chosen to quit, people who are also on sabbaticals, pensioners, single, couples, young, old. All sorts, right? And I met all these people who had such different backgrounds and plans, I guess, for the future, or lack of plans, in fact. And it was just very refreshing to come across people with different definitions of success.
And although it took me some time to arrive at this phrasing, and of course the Reimagine Success podcast only came out a couple of years ago in 2018, it’s something that when I look back on my blog posts and my musings, and so on, it is something that I touch on. It’s something I began to talk about. So in fact, the way my business started was that I started that travel blog while I was away in South America that gradually gave way to more and more personal development, musings on my career, and ultimately became a platform for my business. So, reimagining success for me has been all around questioning some of those inherited expectations and the traditional path of having a good job, good salary, getting information, 2.4 children, the house, the mortgage, the dog, the Volvo, the American dream, whatever you want to call it. So whatever that looks like, in fact, in your part of the world, and maybe it’s different for you, but the point is we haven’t necessarily questioned what it is we’re working towards.
And so, when we one day wake up and look, hey, I’ve achieved what I thought I was supposed to achieve, and we feel that’s a little bit empty, we’re lacking meaning, we’re not feeling like we’re making the impact we want to be making, we don’t have the time for the young family, or for our hobbies, or for our dreams and passions, then that’s a little bit unsettling, and that’s when we can begin to strip away, question all those shoulds, only start with a blank page, which is quite scary in itself, and begin to redefine or define for the very first time what success looks like for you.
And the key thing is, and the thing that I’ve been saying since the beginning, is that success, if you Google it, and the definition is really the accomplishment of an aim or a purpose. So it’s not about fame and fortune, although that’s in there somewhere in the definition too, it’s not about the job and the salary and so on. It really is that you’ve accomplished an aim or a purpose. And for me, therefore, it’s very important for you to know what the aim or purpose is. And that as Viktor Frankl said in Man’s Search for Meaning, which is a fantastic book that I definitely recommend, is the point. We need to realise, we need to recognise, the question is not what is the meaning of life, capital M, capital L, but rather we are being asked, what is the meaning for us? And that’s what’s so empowering. And again, perhaps a little bit scary, but also very exciting that we now get to ask that of ourselves, and decide how that’s going to look moving forwards.
So that was a little bit about why I talk about redefining success. And again, the most popular episodes, if you go back right to the beginning, maybe skip the intro one, but one, two and three, it’s why we define success beyond professional success. I already talked about the Five Ls model, which I won’t go into here because again, I’ve talked about it many times. But for me, that’s the model that I evolved again quite organically.
I came up with it when I was presenting at a digital nomad conference for Seven and Seven, so shout out to you guys over in Barcelona a few years ago. And it was really intended to shift the focus away from just looking at work. Just having that conventional focus on the career path, and thinking about your wellness and wellbeing, relationships and romance, career and development, because yes, career is a big part of … I’m sorry, it’s called career and impact, making an impact, making a difference, leaving a legacy, learning, growing and so on, not just having the career path. Learning and development, which is a big value for me, lifelong learning and getting on that steep learning curve and so on, and also fun and spontaneity. So those five Ls are live, love, learn, lead, laugh.
And again, it’s shifting away from just looking at success being in the work domain, and considering different areas. And this is sort of my antidote to the idea of work, life, balance, which I’ve also talked about many times. For me, it’s not about work over here versus life over there. Work is one part. In my model, it’s one fifth of life, but of course there are many other things that are important to you as well. So, if you’re new to the podcast, do head back to episodes one, two, and three, and I think that’s a great place to start.
The third one is giving you a few exercises, including creating a vision board for defining success for you. But of course it’s a big endeavour, I guess. It’s not something you can do in an afternoon, or just with a bit of pen and paper write away in an hour or so. It’s something that can take time, and it can and will evolve as well. But that’s a great place to start.
Now, for the next one, we’re going to fast forward to more recently, we’re at episode 77, which is all about Writing a Business Plan. So for me, redefining success in the work [inaudible 00:11:47] has meant defining success away from the corporate nine to five. I write the book Leaving the Corporate 9 to 5. I left the corporate nine to five. And for me, my belief really is that working for yourself is the best way to have the freedom, the flexibility, the fulfilment that so many of us long for. It works with having a young family. It’s something that you can do if you want to have that location, independent digital nomad existence, and it’s incredibly empowering. And if anything, it’s actually more diverse in terms of income streams. It’s more secure and stable ironically than being completely reliant on a full time employer.
So, Writing a Business Plan, in that episode, episode 77, if this is interesting for you, I go through three very common, very important and useful business plan templates. I go through the Sequoia flow. Sequoia is a big VC firm. There’s the business model canvas, and then the lean model canvas as well. The lean business model, I believe it’s called the lean canvas, which is a leaner startup version of the business model as well. So again, I won’t get into that, but if you’re interested in writing you’re in business plan, do check out episode 77.
Now, again a bit of a shift, episode 50 is all around Getting Ready for 2020, which perhaps is a little bit ironic. I’d have to listen to that again and see, did I really set the stage for what was going to happen in 2020? Maybe not. I think a few things have happened this year that perhaps we couldn’t predict, and certainly I’m going to be updating that of course very soon for getting ready for 2021. So, whatever’s happened for you in 2020, may be this one isn’t one that you need to go back and listen to unless you want to be amused by how perhaps I got it wrong. But I think the general principles still apply.
And of course, getting ready for the new year, it’s not about that New Year’s day hangover, when you decide on your resolutions. It really takes a bit more time, a bit more groundwork. So starting now, I’m already thinking about what has worked this year, what has worked less well this year, what’s in our zone of influence, what can we controlled, and thinking about what we actually want to put in place for the next year as well for 2021. And let’s hope it’s a better one for all of us.
The next one is episode 64 and this is an interesting one, because it’s not something I talk about a lot, but it’s Trusting Your Intuition. And perhaps because I have that good girl academic, rational, Western European, Northern hemisphere, kind of background upbringing, I’ve always been very analytical, and it’s pros and cons and it’s rational, it’s reasoning, it’s persuading. And what’s interesting and powerful, I think, is that the best decision I ever made, as I said at the beginning, was quitting my job, which was not a very rational decision. I didn’t have a backup plan. I didn’t do a lot of the work that I now help my clients do. I hadn’t gone through the financials. I hadn’t got a business idea. I hadn’t really planned, hadn’t looked at what success looked like for me, and so on.
However, there was something that I just knew deep down, whether you call it your gut, your heart, my natural instinct, my intuition, that was so powerful and overcame the, I guess, lack of rationality in my thinking. And the truth is you’ll never have all the information you need. So actually being able to trust your intuition, I think deep down, you do know what’s the right answer. And in fact, the other thing I’ve learned is that there is no right answer. So, really being able to shut out the noise, take a deep breath, and feel. Get away from all the hubbub, and all these pros and cons lists, and so on, and really feel what does feel intuitively like the right decision for you. Whether it’s about leaving your job, it’s about a relationship, it’s about which business to start, it’s about a client saying yes or no to project the price, intuition is something that’s a bit counterintuitive to those of us who again, come from this kind of academic or rational background. But something that’s so, so powerful and something I’ve wanted to work on, and listening to more, and trusting more.
Again, the next one is shifting up a little bit. So, episode 21, going back a little bit earlier, was all around Creating Systems in Your Business. So maybe not a sexy topic, but clearly a popular one with you all. And it’s all around tools and systems and things that can help you actually get the freedom and flexibility that you want for your business. So it’s pretty sexy. It’s things that automate. It schedules. It takes away the adminy stuff.
And then another episode, which I’m sure is up there as well, if not in the top 10, is all around Outsourcing. Getting support, whether it’s a freelancer, a contractor, a virtual assistant, someone to take that sort of adminy, repetitive, more monotonous work, I guess, or work that isn’t in your own genius zone, the zone of genius, as they say, and allowing you really to be the CEO in your business to focus on business development, actually your craft, whether you’re a designer, or a writer, or a coach, or whatever, and be able to look at the strategy and the big picture and so on.
So, Systems in Your Business. That’s something that then allows you to take parental leave. In my case, I was able to take paternity, maternity in my case, that’s very agenda. So, I took maternity leave. Or if you want to go on holiday, or you just want to have a bit of a break. Having those systems, and again, allowing you to focus on what’s really important in the business.
Episode 66, another such an important one, an interesting one, Overcoming Comparanoia. Comparanoia is apparently the excessive comparison with other people, and I think we all struggle with this. And in business in particular, we compare our year one, our day one, to someone else’s year five, year 10. We unfortunately see so much in social media now. Oh my goodness, that person has so many more followers than me. They’re launching this programme that looks similar to mine. They’re charging more. It sounds like they have so many clients. They’ve got all this engagement. And that can be really stressful. And it’s not useful, it’s not helpful to compare ourselves to anybody at the best of times, but certainly comparing yourself to someone based on a superficial veneer from social media. You don’t know, as much as we are now most of us being more vulnerable, more honest and open, and authentic, and all those buzz words, we don’t know from someone’s post, someone’s advert, someone’s lovely Instagram visual, what’s actually behind that.
And, it’s important to recognise that, and perhaps sometimes turn off social media. I use it very actively for business, but I do try to limit that to certain times of day, be intentional with looking for specific purposes, or engaging with potential clients, and responding and posting content. And not getting into that deep dark place where we’re sort of just mindlessly scrolling, getting stressed because inevitably there’s going to be someone as well, who’s getting engaged, getting married, publishing a book, doing a Ted Talk on an amazing luxurious holiday. Whatever it is, launching a programme, taking a break. If you add all that together, it becomes an impossible amalgamation of success that isn’t even our definition of success, and that’s the point. So, Overcoming Comparanoia, really important one to listen to, episode 66.
And then finally, the 10th one was episode 61, which is How to Not Lose Sight of Your Big Picture Vision. And this is something I’d like to dig into again, actually, because it comes up again and again with my clients. But this idea we have this massive vision of incredible bestselling author status by the ocean, as I always say. Or, I’m going to have the successful business doing X, Y, Z, and I’m going to have a Ted Talk, and a book, and be a speaker, and all these things, and whatever else. You have the podcast, the successful group, and a community, and living your best life on the one hand.
In the meantime, let’s face it, we all have bills to pay. We are ill. I get migraines. We have children. We have COVID. We have whatever it is. And the real work, the real success, comes from somehow managing to balance the big picture vision, the longterm ideal that is absolutely possible. It’s just a question of when, rather than if, with the immediate short term needs of what’s in front of us. So, being pragmatic, making some pragmatic choices, focusing on the day to day and just surviving sometimes, while also making sure that we keep one eye on that vision in the future, that we keep taking little steps, however slowly, so that we don’t regret it. Five years, 10 years from now, we look back and think, actually we’re no closer than we were before.
So yes, it’s frustrating when we get all these curve balls, COVID, whatever else it is. However, if we can take a little bit of break, come back when we’re ready, or if we can take teeny tiny steps, even if it’s just listening to a podcast, or reading something, or now and then having a bit of a think about what the next step might be. If we can keep things ticking over again, maybe taking on projects for clients that we don’t want to be doing in the longer term, but in the meantime, that can allow us to have a bit more financial security so that we free up time, emotional energy, to focus on the big picture vision for the longer term. That’s really key for success.
And again, people give up too soon I think. So if we can stay pragmatic, [inaudible 00:21:03] our ego a little bit to make some choices that perhaps aren’t ideal for the future, but allow us then to continue plodding along, slugging away, whatever the words are towards the future. I think slogging is rather the word rather than slugging. So, How Not to Lose Sight of Your Big Picture Vision, episode 61.
So, those are the top 10 episodes. So again, the first set all around redefining success, there was episode 77, which is Writing a Business Plan, episode 50, Getting Ready for 2020, maybe not so useful right now, but I promise I’ll come with a 2021 update. 64, Trusting Your Intuition. 21, Creating Systems in Your Business. 66, Overcoming Comparanoia, and 61, Not Losing Sight of Your Big Picture Vision in the Day to Day. So, those were the top 10 as voted for by the popular public.
I’d love to hear what your favourite episode is, so do get in touch at podcastatonestepoutside.com. Or again, you can contact me on any of the social platforms where we’re connected. YouTube, Facebook Group, Facebook Page, Instagram, wherever else, LinkedIn. I’d love to hear what your insights have been from the podcast. And of course, if you know somebody who could benefit them, please do share your favourite episode with them as well. And to make sure that we can keep growing the podcast, reaching more people and making a big impact with this important message, I hope you agree, of redefining success.
So again, woo hoo, thank you so much to all my listeners, to everybody who’s been involved, and here’s to the next 100 episodes. Let’s keep going. I’ll do my best to keep going. I’ve enjoyed it so much. I’m a massive fan of podcasts, myself. It’s such a great way to listen to bite size episode, on the go while you’re doing the dishes, while you’re going for a walk, whatever it is. And I hope you agree, too. So it’s just one more channel where you can really immerse yourself, learn so much from incredible people from all around the world, experts and all sorts of communities and so on. So again, I’m honoured that you’re choosing to listen to me every week, and I look forward to bringing more content to you in the coming weeks and months. Thanks so much for listening and I’ll see you next week for episode 101. Bye for now.
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