Brandi: 00:00:01 Yeah, they do. Yeah. They have like, um, they have like capsules. They have the little capsule that they sent like a monkey up to space and before they sent a human and

Michelle: 00:00:11 Oh my God.

Brandi: 00:00:12 Lots of different. It’s like pretty cool.

Michelle: 00:00:14 That poor monkey was probably so scared.

Brandi: 00:00:16 I know. “What’s happening?” Oh, they didn’t train them, but he survived and he was okay. He lived to a ripe old age and with like buried someplace special for his contributions to space. That’s

Michelle: 00:00:27 Good for him.

Intro dude: 00:00:31 Welcome to design speaks. This lovely podcast is brought to you by a graphic design geek and a regular human being. We’re here to chat about music, pop culture, cool places or basically whatever we feel is relevant.

Brandi: 00:00:47 I’m Brandi Sea

Michelle: 00:00:48 And I’m Michelle

Brandi: 00:00:49 And you’re listening to episode 79 of Design Speaks.

Michelle: 00:00:53 On this episode we are going to be talking about our goals for this year. Hashtag goals,

Brandi: 00:01:00 Hashtag goal setters, goal-getters, goal diggers. I saw that one on Instagram the other day. I was like, I like that.

Michelle: 00:01:12 That sounds nice.

Brandi: 00:01:13 I’ll be a goal digger.

Michelle: 00:01:14 Yeah, I mean I’m always looking for another way to get money. So.

Brandi: 00:01:19 I mean, goal reaching goals could make you more money maybe.

Michelle: 00:01:23 Exactly. So I’m hoping

Brandi: 00:01:27 So, Um, it was, it was another bit of a strange weekend for us, so we didn’t get a chance to record. Um, so Michelle is recording from her house and I’m recording at my house so we’re over facetime. If she couldn’t tell.

Michelle: 00:01:43 We’re not in front of each other today. I mean kind of, we are

Brandi: 00:01:46 Ish. You can see like half of my left eye

Michelle: 00:01:49 And you can see half of my right eye, so, which isn’t far from how we record at your house either

Brandi: 00:01:54 I know. It’s true. Let’s be real. It’s true. So what was your, what was your weekend like? What was your week like?

Michelle: 00:02:03 Oh Man. Well, I, it was like really fun like earlier because we got, we were off of work. I was off of work for it felt like ever. Um, which I ended up using in the most adult way in I was sick and so I spent my entire time just kind of like,

Brandi: 00:02:24 You saved all your sickness for a year for vacation.

Michelle: 00:02:28 Ugh! It was so sad. It was so sad. Um.

Brandi: 00:02:33 You were very sick.

Michelle: 00:02:34 Yeah. But like the adult side of me was like, well at least I didn’t have to use vacation and vacation time and sick time.

Brandi: 00:02:43 That you didn’t have anyway.

Michelle: 00:02:45 I didn’t have it anyway. I used it all like in February, um,

Brandi: 00:02:53 Last February

Michelle: 00:02:53 Last February. So it’s been a long time. Um, but then  it snowed a bunch and so we to like go sledding and hang out with. I went to my dad’s house and we finally did a Christmas up there because my dad was like, why don’t you just stay at your house while you’re sick and then come up when you’re better.

Brandi: 00:03:11 He also lives in the mountains?

Michelle: 00:03:13 Yes. And he’s like a super homebody, so he was just like, I’m not going anywhere. Just come up whenever you’re better.

Brandi: 00:03:22 So you got like late Christmas presents.

Michelle: 00:03:23 I know, I mean, yeah, I did. It was mostly, honestly, I feel like it was mostly for the kids and that’s fine. I’m not disappointed. I just like, like we

Brandi: 00:03:33 That’s kinda stuff for you too because that’s stuff you don’t have to buy them.

Michelle: 00:03:36 Oh totally. That’s very true. And I just, we had like posole and enjoyed each other’s company and that was pretty much

Brandi: 00:03:46 Don’t be modest. You said you made the best posole  like, of your life.

Michelle: 00:03:50 Okay, I don’t want to brag, but I really did like my brother.

Brandi: 00:03:53 I put you on the spot so it’s not bragging.

Michelle: 00:03:56 My brother was like, listen, this is the best posole I’ve ever had in my life and it’s changing the way I posole.

Brandi: 00:04:05 What was that?

Michelle: 00:04:05 Well because like, I, I know it sounds so weird. And for those of you who don’t know, and Posole is a Mexican dish. It’s like a soup-ish type of thing, a stew. And um, so we make it in New Mexico around the holidays a lot. Um,

Brandi: 00:04:21 It’s like boiled corn nuts.

Michelle: 00:04:23 Yeah, it’s hominy. And some people make it with pork. Some people make it with chicken, pinto beans and spices. We top it with lime and sour cream and red Chili or green chili

Brandi: 00:04:39 And this is what you did, this was your recipe?

Michelle: 00:04:39 While these things that you’re saying. So five, about five and a half years ago I went to Mexico and I had the best posole I’ve ever had in my life. And it

Brandi: 00:04:54 Until now.

Michelle: 00:04:55 was like, now I know. Well, I like compare it like this is my inspiration.

Brandi: 00:04:59 Oh, okay.

Michelle: 00:05:00 Because I went to Mexico, we had this posole and it was like the dead of summer when you don’t want to be eating hot. Things like it was disgusting but this was so good and they had sour cream and like I’ve never put the stuff in my posole before and tons of lime and then like the regular, like hominy and pork and everything. Oh my gosh. It is so good. It is stupid. Good. And

Brandi: 00:05:31 Look guys, you’re even getting some recipes on Design Speaks now. Bonus content.

Michelle: 00:05:39 You’re welcome.

Brandi: 00:05:39 For free.

Michelle: 00:05:39 We’re going to start a blog now and it’s going to be

Brandi: 00:05:41 Design Eats?

Michelle: 00:05:44 Design Eats aren’t going to be anything special. Either of us are really cooks.

Brandi: 00:05:52 Designers eat.

Michelle: 00:05:53 Designers eat. It’s what we do.

Brandi: 00:05:55 Yes, we do.

Michelle: 00:05:58 Oh that’s great.

Brandi: 00:05:59 That’s awesome.

Michelle: 00:06:00 So honestly like I just like chilled throughout my weekend. I did have to work a little bit because we got some time off. Thanks to the snow

Brandi: 00:06:07 You got a day off but you had to make it up because of the snow.

Michelle: 00:06:10 You know, they’re like, they’re like work was like, we’re wanting to give you this day off because it’s dangerous outside and if you don’t know anything about Albuquerque, the one big thing is that this city shuts down over

Brandi: 00:06:23 If there is any moisture whatsoever.

Michelle: 00:06:24 Anything, anything like one we’re afraid of it. And also we just know that we, like our city can’t handle it. Like I don’t. I was looking at everybody plowing the roads with the snowplow and I’m like, these people have probably never driven these things in their life.

Brandi: 00:06:38 I know they have rest, like rest because they’re like, what? My job has to do with snow plowing in the winter, but I’ve never had to do this before.

Michelle: 00:06:47 Yeah. So I was just, it was really funny. But anyway, so we got that day off and they were just like, but you’re going to have to make it up. And I was like, oh.

Brandi: 00:06:57 Oh thanks?

Michelle: 00:06:57 Okay.

Brandi: 00:06:58 Thanks for keeping me alive. But yeah, I guess I have to work more on the weekend.

Michelle: 00:07:04 I worked on Friday which I normally don’t do. Yeah. So he went to and then I worked on Sunday, so it was just like a weird weekend and I feel like I’ve just been kind of going the entire time.

Brandi: 00:07:14 Yeah, like you’ve already been at work for a few days.

Michelle: 00:07:15 Yeah, totally. And I’ve spent so many hours looking at a computer screen. So. But that’s like honestly been my week thus far. It’s Tuesday, so.

Brandi: 00:07:26 Oh my goodness. Um, yeah, it’s, it’s been kind of wacky because the kids were off of school. This was our last weekend to ourselves. Um, so we, we took the kids to go see Mary Poppins, uh, which I won’t get off on too big of a rant on that one. It was good, but I don’t think it was great. Um, the kids absolutely loved it, um, that that’s become the new Greatest Showman. Like they, when they saw the Greatest Showman, especially Kayden just that’s all he wanted to listen to for probably three months.

Michelle: 00:08:00 Which is great.

Brandi: 00:08:01 So now we’re on Mary Poppins returns and it’s going to screw up my algorithm on Spotify like crazy

Michelle: 00:08:07 Oh gosh, it’s so funny.

Brandi: 00:08:08 It’s all that’s playing right now. Um, uh, we went to Ruidoso this past weekend. We have some friends who have a cabin there and they let us use it for just about free, not quite free, but almost um, and got

Michelle: 00:08:23 What did you have to pay for?

Brandi: 00:08:24 Um, they basically just asked that we just pay for like the propane.

Michelle: 00:08:29 Oh that makes sense.

Brandi: 00:08:29 Like to keep it hot, like.

Michelle: 00:08:32 That makes sense.

Brandi: 00:08:32 That’s pretty much it.

Michelle: 00:08:32 Propane is so much more expensive.

Brandi: 00:08:35 I know. And then we um, we bought  firewood and um, I don’t, I don’t know how to make regular normal people coffee. Um, eh, with a filter and all this stuff. So

Michelle: 00:08:52 The old fashioned way

Brandi: 00:08:54 We bought him a little Keurig to keep there.

Michelle: 00:08:57 Oh, fun.

Brandi: 00:08:57 Even though I’m not a huge fan of Keurig anymore. Like it’s, it’s good for like a cabin type situation. Um, so basically like not much that we had to pay for that we usually buy groceries to make like  breakfast anda dinner there and then we eat out a couple of times. Um, so that was a lot of fun. Played in lots of snow because Ruidoso is in the mountains as well. It’s, it’s near White Sands. Um, didn’t get to go to White Sands. Thank you government shut down.

Michelle: 00:09:29 No, I totally forgot about that.

Brandi: 00:09:31 I was so sad, but we ended up going to the, Oh, I’m going to get this wrong. National Space History Museum or something in Alamogordo.

Michelle: 00:09:40 Yeah.

Brandi: 00:09:41 Which was really fun and really cool. Um, so uh,

Michelle: 00:09:46 Cuz they have like real stuff out there, right?

Brandi: 00:09:47 Yeah, they do. Yeah. They have like, um, they have like capsules, they have parts of rockets, they have full rockets. I have like a rocket engine. They have a piece of moon rock and I’m like clothing that’s been to space. They have like the little capsule that they sent like a monkey up to space in before they sent a human.

Michelle: 00:10:09 Oh my gosh.

Brandi: 00:10:09 Lots of different things. It’s like pretty cool. Especially for

Michelle: 00:10:12 That poor monkey was probably so scared.

Brandi: 00:10:14 I know “what’s happening?” Well, they did train them. I mean they did, they did them.

Michelle: 00:10:19 They did,

Brandi: 00:10:21 But I don’t, you know, they can’t comprehend it. They’re not humans.

Michelle: 00:10:23 I know.

Brandi: 00:10:24 But he survived and he was okay. He lived to like a ripe old age and was like buried someplace special for his contribution to space exploration.

Michelle: 00:10:32 Good for him. Good for him.

Brandi: 00:10:35 Yeah. Um, the other, the other big thing that I did finally finish before, I think I finished it before the year was over, it might’ve been just the beginning of 2019. I finally got around to finishing my daughters, um, fashion line logo.

Michelle: 00:10:53 Yay!

Brandi: 00:10:53 So we can finally launch her Kickstarter. So then we’re going to try and launch that in February. That’s our big goal for that.

Michelle: 00:11:00 Oh my gosh!

Brandi: 00:11:02 So, yeah. So a couple of things and I’m basically just been trying to figure out, I’m reflecting on last year and I’ll talk more about that and um deciding, deciding on like what things I want to focus on this year on a business level and on a personal like home life level. And um, I just thought that it would be a good topic for today, but before we go on, I wanted to share a song.

Michelle: 00:11:28 Yes, what song is it?

Brandi: 00:11:29 Switchfoot came out with a few new songs. They released two at once about a, I don’t know, maybe a month ago, maybe two weeks ago. Um, and this was one of the first ones that they released. It’s called voices and I really like it.

Brandi: 00:12:34 That was Switchfoot, Voices. Um, I really liked the vibe of it. It’s, I mean, it’s very Switchfoot. It’s, um, it’s upbeat. It’s kind of like encouraging. It’s a little introspective, um, but it’s, it’s sort of a motivating song. And I really, I just really liked it a lot. I’ve always been a fan of Switchfoot. Um, I like that they kind of stay true to their style while, while always like having really great lyrics. Um, sidebar. The same band members have been together like years and years and years, which is something I super respect because that means that they value each other so much. They’re like family, um, which is cool. So anyway, um, I’ve been listening to a lot of such, but um, yes, not yesterday, maybe Friday night, um, they released two more songs. Um, so now they have like four songs out, then their guess that I’m guessing they’re just building up to like a full album.

Michelle: 00:13:30 Uh, I’ve always been confused when artists do that, but I guess it’s also like really smart because then we listened to the entire album.

Brandi: 00:13:37 Right.

Michelle: 00:13:37 Some people don’t.

Brandi: 00:13:38 Yeah, yeah, exactly. Instead of doing the whole album and then releasing a single, it’s like, oh, everyone just listens to the single as opposed to like, here’s two, here’s one.

Michelle: 00:13:46 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And like don’t tell me, don’t ask me what else is on a few, a few of their albums because I just haven’t listened, but like their first albums I love.

Brandi: 00:13:56 Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, good stuff. Good music. Um, I think I have a lot to say on today’s topic. Um, I basically, I basically wanted to, um, usually you bring the questions, but I was, I’ve been doing so much kind of work on this the past few days and over the weekend.

Michelle: 00:14:15 Yeah, it’s been like going through your Instagram too.

Brandi: 00:14:18 I and I haven’t even shared a whole, I haven’t even shared fully what, what I want to do on Instagram. Um, but I wanted to talk about like the goals that we have for the year. Um, talk about the kind of things that I do. Um, I know that last year on New Year’s we sorta did practical tips for reaching your goals. And this is, I mean, I feel like every January there’s going to be some variation on this because it’s what we do. It’s not that you can’t, you know, do goals and do things like that any other time of year, but it always just feels so fresh and so new and like

Michelle: 00:14:53 It’s  timely.

Brandi: 00:14:55 Yeah, it’s the perfect time to do it. So, um, I’m gonna ask you like, do you have, do you have any goals for, for this New Year?

Michelle: 00:15:07 So yeah. And like before you even suggested that this be our topic for this episode, I had really been, um, kind of like going over this in my head and it’s something I’ve really been striving for at work already and it’s gonna sound ridiculous. But I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you why I am literally focusing on one word and the word is focus.

Brandi: 00:15:35 It doesn’t sound ridiculous.

Michelle: 00:15:38 Well, it sounds, it sounds ridiculous to say focusing this year on focusing.

Brandi: 00:15:42 You can just say, you can just do like your theme for this year is, focus.

Michelle: 00:15:48 Yeah, it is. It’s totally a theme where I have been and honestly a whole lot more that goes into it than I intended. Um, so I have a really bad habit of basically just doing anything besides what I’m supposed to do.

Brandi: 00:16:06 It’s like you have A.D.D but you don’t.

Michelle: 00:16:09 Yeah, exactly. It’s like, and it’s, it’s like I know that I’m supposed to be focusing on this one thing, but all of the other things around it that surrounded, just seem a whole lot more one interesting and doable. Like I could finish that faster, but I know that like, I really just need to get this done and it becomes like a burden and it becomes like a weight that I don’t want to carry. Um, whatever it is, it, it literally doesn’t matter what it is. It could be folding the laundry, it could be going shopping, it could be doing the podcast, it doesn’t matter what it is. Um, so I carry that with me like everywhere I go. And I think the biggest place I carry it with me, his work. Um, and so I’ve been really intentional this past, today, yesterday, this weekend when I had to work in just making sure that I am present with where I am because I tend to just, I dunno, I just drift off and um,

Brandi: 00:17:14 You have tabs open and it’s still in all your energy.

Michelle: 00:17:19 All the tabs open and then I will drift off into my brain and just think about anything else besides what I’m supposed to be doing. And so, um, I, I mean I never had like a good gauge on how long it takes me to do a project because I pick up my phone every five minutes and sure I pick it up for 30 seconds.

Brandi: 00:17:39 Right.

Michelle: 00:17:40 But that takes me out of it for sure.

Brandi: 00:17:43 Does that screen screentime APP feature help you? Has that helped you at all where it tells you whether your screen time usage has gone up or down? Like every week?

Michelle: 00:17:54 It does. So I don’t have the update on my phone, which I’ve just been not doing because it drains my battery. But the biggest APP that I use is Instagram and Instagram has that feature built in. And so it’s, I’ve asked it to let me know when I’ve been on for a certain amount of time and like, just like total that day and not like a big thing pops up on my screen is you’ve been on for one hour today and I have to like hang my head in shame

Brandi: 00:18:24 Hangs head in shame.

Michelle: 00:18:24 Okay. And um, the first few days were rough because I’d hit one hour by 11:00 in the morning and like going and watching dumb videos, you know, and doing anything besides what I’m supposed to be doing.

Brandi: 00:18:42 Right, right.

Michelle: 00:18:44 And so that’s been really helpful. Um, I legit the other day at work, hid my phone from myself

Brandi: 00:18:53 How does that work?

Michelle: 00:18:53 Because I usually keep it. Yeah. I usually keep it to the left of me. Like it has a place on my desk and um, I, it’s not like, it’s not like I need to see my phone because it doesn’t light up because I have my watch on, I have an apple watch. Right. Um, and so I hid my phone from myself and I found myself forgetting that I hid it and looking for it. Like where did it go? What the heck? And I realized, Oh Gosh, I put it in my drawer like I hid it from me and I’m like, it was, it wasn’t like so I could not find it. It was so I’d become aware of how often I was looking for my phone.

Brandi: 00:19:32 That’s a good idea.

Michelle: 00:19:34 And it worked, like, it’s weird to say, but it worked and I’ve never really done something like this. It’s, I’ve always been like, you know,

Brandi: 00:19:44 I don’t have a problem.

Michelle: 00:19:45 Stage 1 is denial. I don’t have a problem. I’m fine.

Brandi: 00:19:47 I could stop when I want.

Michelle: 00:19:49 I guess if I wanted. Yeah. And it was really rough and it wasn’t like I was craving to like go look at people’s posts. I was just craving to do anything besides what I’m supposed to be doing. And the phone was, the phone was easy.

Brandi: 00:20:04 It is, it is. It’s an easy, it’s an easy excuse. It’s just like, you know, being a person that works from home, you know, the TV’s right there all the time. I’m like, I have on my iPad, I, I have done this before and that’s why I have watched things is I’ll just set up the TV or my iPad or my laptop or whatever next to something else I’m working on and neither of those things is getting my full attention, whether it’s something I’m trying to get done or actually try to invest in like a decent movie or show.

Michelle: 00:20:39 Right. And I mean, for you is it, could it also be like you want to say that you, you binged the show, but like.

Brandi: 00:20:47 It’s that I want to say I binged the show. It’s um, I, I, I, I think I always had fomo before I knew fomo was a thing. Like um, it’s not, I don’t know that it’s so much that I fear missing out as um, I, I don’t want to feel like I don’t have something to contribute when people are talking about anything

Michelle: 00:21:13 Right.

Brandi: 00:21:13 And there are, there are topics that I just, I don’t care enough about. Like I don’t know anything about pop music and I don’t really care and I don’t want to invest my time there. But if it’s like a show that I know I would like and it’s also something that I know friends that I, I have would be talking about or would like also I want to be able to, to contribute something of value to that conversation and I think that’s where it kind of trips me up because I want to be creating things of value on my own, but I also want to be consuming things that one could either give myself value or give me value that I can then share with others if that makes sense.

Michelle: 00:21:55 Yeah.

Brandi: 00:21:55 So it’s like I want all the things so it’s not so much that I don’t want to be focusing on something because I’m pretty good at focusing when I want to. It’s that I, I want to use my time like double.

Michelle: 00:22:10 Yeah. And see that I just. And I, I wish, I, I almost wish I had that because I just want to use my time well, and I’m not. I’m, because I’m just not like I haven’t, I, I want to say like if we’re, if we’re looking at by years, I want to say that 2018 was a bust for me in that I don’t feel like I grew as much as I could have, um, professionally or just even like in the talents that I, I’ve been wanting to get better at. So like really this, this year I want to focus on focusing.

Brandi: 00:22:51 That’s good. I like that.

Michelle: 00:22:53 See where it takes me.

Brandi: 00:22:55 So, um, a couple of things that I was thinking about I want to do is, you know, I’m, I’m a hardcore supporter of the Ink&Volt planner and it’s something that has, has kind of, since I started using it two years ago, um, the very beginning part of the planner is like the most important part to kind of get you going. So I’ve answered some of the questions and I can read my answers and I think it’d be, it’d be fun and if you’d be willing to go out on a limb and be surprised by these questions and kind of answer on air, it might be fun to do it.

Michelle: 00:23:27 Oh I’ll do it. You have to say like interviewing.

Brandi: 00:23:30 Yeah, New Year’s New Year’s new interview with Michelle knew Michelle

Michelle: 00:23:35 Just the guest.

Brandi: 00:23:36 So um their first little section called like bringing your year into focus and I did some, I did those sheets. Did you do those sheets? Did you ever look at those sheets?

Michelle: 00:23:45 I looked at them but I didn’t say I didn’t do them. I didn’t print them.

Brandi: 00:23:48 Yeah. So I printed them out. Of course, it’s what I do and um, I did them while I was in Ruidoso. So it’s like a really in-depth thing but the ones that I’ll tell you or just kind of like a shorter version of those. So the first question is what do you want to leave behind this year? Um, and also I’ll read what I put first and then, um, I’ll let you answer. So um

Michelle: 00:24:08 Okay.

Brandi: 00:24:09 Ref reflecting on last year was really hard for me as an achiever and um a doer because as you know, as everybody knows by now, and maybe not for you new listeners, but I’m 2018 was the year that my lung collapsed and I had to have two surgeries. And um, you said it was a bust for you. It was a major bust for me because of that. And I, I looked back at that

Michelle: 00:24:34 Cuz that took like six months

Brandi: 00:24:36 Like nine. Yeah, I mean it happened. I was in the hospital for all of March. um had my last surgery in July. Um, yeah, and I’ve just been healing and moving and trying to figure things out all basically the whole year like pretty much the whole year was gone. So, um, it was really hard for me to look back on the year. Um, I, I looked back at my goals that I had set for last year and did like one. And it’s hard for me even though I, I know that the reason that that happened was because of this thing I could not have foreseen.

Michelle: 00:25:09 Right.

Brandi: 00:25:10 But there was still all this regret and sadness and disappointment in myself, um, because I felt like I needed to do it and I have an amazing husband, an amazing support team and everyone’s like, you know, he couldn’t help it. There’s nothing you can do, but.

Michelle: 00:25:26 Right.

Brandi: 00:25:26 Um, it was hard.

Michelle: 00:25:28 Which is true.

Brandi: 00:25:28 It was hard. So, um, when I was reflecting on what do I want to leave behind this year, um, that’s, you’ll, you’ll kind of understand these answers a little better with that context. Um, so the first one I said was regret for, for things undone. Like I want to leave that behind, um, sadness over things that I lost. I’m like, parts of my body, things like emotionally that I just have to deal with. Disappointment in myself for not reaching goals that I couldn’t because of circumstances I had no control over. Um, so those were the things I wanted to leave behind. I think in past years those answers would be different. Um, so what sorts of things would you like to leave behind?

Michelle: 00:26:14 I’d say that, I mean, just off the top of my head, some of the things I’d like to leave behind are, um kind of the opposite, but I guess maybe along the same lines and that I want to leave things like my apathy behind. I’m like, I, I could just not care about anything

Brandi: 00:26:39 And I don’t know how to do that. I would say we’re like a good balance because like sometimes wish I could just not care

Michelle: 00:26:45 Yeah.

Brandi: 00:26:45 Because it would make things so much easier sometimes

Michelle: 00:26:48 And sometimes you like, but this and I’m like, but it’s really not a big deal. And, and sometimes I’m right, sometimes it’s not a big deal, but there are things that like I know at my core that I should be caring about, that I should be focusing on, that I should be putting more effort or time into and I just don’t. And it’s okay with me and I don’t want to be okay with that. Um,

Brandi: 00:27:12 That makes sense.

Michelle: 00:27:13 That’s something that’s really liked to say ado to.

Brandi: 00:27:17 Hey, that’s a good one. I like it. Um, okay. So this other one is kind of more on the positive end. So basically what I’m doing is I’m gonna read these questions and then we’ll kind of get to my theme and I want to, I, I always have specific goals, so I have a theme and then I have specific goals and I really liked to share those because hashtag accountability once

Michelle: 00:27:43 It’s good because once it’s out there.

Brandi: 00:27:45 Yep, once you say it, you have to do it. And um, for people like me that’s a good thing. Um, because I don’t want to disappoint people. I want to reach those goals and I know that once I speak it, it’s got to happen. Um, if it’s something I can help. Lord willing all that stuff. So,

Michelle: 00:28:03 and we’ll understand something.

Brandi: 00:28:05 I know you guys will, I have a harder time. Um, okay. So the next one is, uh, what are things you want to learn this year? Any books you want to read. How will you improve yourself in the year ahead? So you kind of touched on it a little bit, but go ahead. Um, so you said books and you said what are things you want to learn or books you want to read? How will you improve yourself this year? So I really, so I’m really excited for, um, our little, for lack of a better term book club thing that we’re doing, like where we have decided to start reading a book and reviewing it as design speaks because I do want to read more. I don’t feel like I get into the Bible Bible, which is also true. Um, I don’t feel like I get into books enough. Um, I am reading the Bible chronologically this year. I’m on day eight. Nice happening. Holy Moly, you guys. It’s, that sounds intense. I have, I have a sub small goal that I’m doing sort of that, but like small bits, I have this Bible that takes you like an overview of things chronologically.

Michelle: 00:29:19 Thirty thousand feet.

Brandi: 00:29:20 Yeah.

Michelle: 00:29:20 Yeah.

Brandi: 00:29:20 Yeah.

Michelle: 00:29:21 It’s, it’s wild. And there’s a lot of people lived a long time so far. Lots of babies being had anyway. Um, I been screenshotting books that people post on Instagram. So I’m gathering a lot of books that had really liked to read this year and nothing like super intense because they know that if it’s too intense I’m just going to

Brandi: 00:29:48 Give up.

Michelle: 00:29:48 And then you can pick it up again. So like, honestly, this year I want to, I want to read things like Becoming Michelle Obama by Michelle Obama.

Brandi: 00:29:57 That’s the one that I know a lot of people are reading right now. If people that I, that I know and that I follow.

Michelle: 00:30:03 Yeah. And so like, I’ve seen it so many times that like finally I’m ready, I’m hooked. I’m like, okay, I want to read this. And then I’m reading enneagram books. I want to tap into some fiction. Um, so I guess that’s like my longer answer, but

Brandi: 00:30:20 That’s good.

Michelle: 00:30:21 There are things that I want to read.

Brandi: 00:30:22 Those are great. Yeah. Um, so I wrote down, um, I want to read more books on creativity. I want to learn a bit of creative writing. Um, that might be, that might be a lot, but I want to learn more French. I’m determined to be able to somewhat communicate in French by the time I go to Paris in October, so that’s a big one. Um, I want to learn better ways to finish imperfectly, which I’ll explain. Um, I want to exercise 30 to 60 minutes five times a week, so that’s some way to better myself. I want to travel and use what I find as inspiration to create and then actually create. So I’m

Michelle: 00:31:06 That’s good.

Brandi: 00:31:07 I’m really good at getting inspiration and getting ideas of what to create. But um, sometimes I just don’t do anything with it. Like I don’t actually make the thing I think I can make. I just go, Oh man, that’s awesome. I could make this with that and use these colors, the end.

Michelle: 00:31:23 And let it float into outer space.

Brandi: 00:31:25 And then it, yeah, into the ether.

Michelle: 00:31:27 It’s gone, yeah into the ether. Um, similarly I totally spaced and I don’t know how because it’s been such a big part of my life since Christmas. I got a guitar for Christmas.

Brandi: 00:31:38 I was waiting. I’m like, when are you going to say

Michelle: 00:31:42 It’s all I asked for and it, it. I didn’t even ask for it. I kind of demanded it

Brandi: 00:31:47 Every year Michelle just tells her husband, I want this one thing I want. If you don’t get it, you fail.

Michelle: 00:31:53 If I don’t get this one thing, I don’t want whatever you got me.

Brandi: 00:31:59 So every year he gets it for you and you’re happy. Happy, happy.

Michelle: 00:32:04 Yes. Um, so it’s not a surprise, but I’m probably more excited. Um, and so I asked for a specific guitar which surprised I didn’t get that specific guitar.

Brandi: 00:32:16 Did He get a better one.

Michelle: 00:32:18 I think you got me just as good one. I love it so much.

Brandi: 00:32:22 What’s her name?

Michelle: 00:32:24 Huh?

Brandi: 00:32:24 What’s her name?

Michelle: 00:32:26 I haven’t named her yet. I should. She’s just hanging on my wall. Nameless, but it’s a T tone guitar and it’s a brand I honestly had never heard of. I never, I haven’t done a whole bunch of research on guitars, but I did a lot of research on this guitar once I got it and I can truly say I love it. It smells great too, by the way.

Brandi: 00:32:49 Don’t think you’ve ever smelled a guitar.

Michelle: 00:32:51 It’s, it’s a spruce top. So it’s like real wood. It’s good stuff.

Brandi: 00:32:57 Does it smell like the future?

Michelle: 00:32:59 It smells like the future. It smells like my future. Um, but with that, I have been really, um, I’ve been focusing on practicing.

Brandi: 00:33:10 Hey!

Michelle: 00:33:10 And so, so specific over the,

Brandi: 00:33:13 Like a song or just like chords?

Michelle: 00:33:16 Well, here’s the thing, I have spent the last, I want to say like 13 years, just learning chords and not doing anything with them. It’s kind of like I have this really good idea and then that’s it.

Brandi: 00:33:31 Yeah. Right.

Michelle: 00:33:32 So it’s like, it’s like comparable to that of like I know these chords, I just don’t know what to do with them. And so I have been really focusing on strumming patterns and transitions. I look up youtube videos and sometimes I let my husband teaches me things.

Brandi: 00:33:50 No matter that he’s, he’s like put out a couple albums. He leads, leads, worship. That’s his job.

Michelle: 00:33:58 I don’t want him, I don’t want him to teach me. And so finally the other day I was like, okay, you can teach me. Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright, that’s what you can teach me, and so we went over the chords and I was able to like get some of the strumming down and then finally start singing along.

Brandi: 00:34:15 That’s fantastic.

Michelle: 00:34:18 Yeah, and so my fingers are finally starting to go numb. It’s a weird thing to want, but

Brandi: 00:34:23 I hear that’s the thing. I hear that the thing that you want.

Michelle: 00:34:27 Yeah, so they hurt sometimes.

Brandi: 00:34:30 So when you learn to play it, are you going to play it for us on the podcast?

Michelle: 00:34:35 Oh Gosh, no, no.

Brandi: 00:34:39 Accountability. Accountability, Michelle.

Michelle: 00:34:41 I won’t put you through that. No, I. it’s so funny because I was listening to a podcast the other day where they were talking, it was like a panel of dudes talking and then at the end of the podcast this guy played a song and I felt so awkward listening to it.

Brandi: 00:34:55 Was it one of those ones where you feel embarrassed for them and it’s hard to listen?

Michelle: 00:34:58 Yeah, and it’s not like he was bad. It was just like, this is weird. I think I like it. Like why come on? Like it’d be one thing if you’re really playing a recording of you.

Brandi: 00:35:08 It could just be like, maybe that’ll be like a super bonus content for our Patreon supporters.

Michelle: 00:35:14 Yeah, exactly. Maybe, maybe I will write a song and it will have four chords and me singing for the experience

Brandi: 00:35:22 And it’ll be called, Thank you for your Patronage.

Michelle: 00:35:26 Thank you. It’ll be, it’ll be called Patreon better,

Brandi: 00:35:31 Even better. That’s great. Anyway, sorry, I totally interrupted you because I, I just remembered that. Oh, you did. I don’t think I felt like I was being interrupted, but that’s fine.

Michelle: 00:35:39 Oh, good.

Brandi: 00:35:40 Yeah. No, that’s great. I’m so glad you talked about the guitar. I was like, waiting for that to come up. I wasn’t going to blow your surprise for you. Be like, um, remember you got a guitar.

Michelle: 00:35:49 Yes. I forgot, but I remember now.

Brandi: 00:35:52 Um, so. Okay. So the last, the last official question was what would it look like if this year went perfectly? What would you have to be slash do?

Michelle: 00:36:05 Oh Gosh.

Brandi: 00:36:06 I’ll answer first if you want.

Michelle: 00:36:08 Yeah.

Brandi: 00:36:08 Um, so I wrote perfect for me, quote unquote perfect has ended up as unfinished, so a successful year would look like traveling, creating finished products, exercising regularly, teaching and sharing with others and making memories with the ones who matter to me and also to helping the people that I care about reach their goals too.

Michelle: 00:36:34 That’s good. Look at you. That’s really good.

Brandi: 00:36:38 I had a little bit of time to think. So I get it if you’re like on the spot.

Michelle: 00:36:42 Um, no, I feel pretty like good about what I, I’d like my year to look like. Um, I, I feel like the question was more like how would I feel successful?

Brandi: 00:36:53 Yeah.

Michelle: 00:36:54 Basically.

Brandi: 00:36:54 Yeah. Basically. How would, how would it feel like, what would this year have to look like or what would you have to do in order for it to feel like a success for you?

Michelle: 00:37:02 Um, so I really feel like it’d be a success for me if I felt like I did everything to the best of my ability and with integrity. Like I, I don’t, looking back last year, I don’t feel like I got through much stuff while feeling like while giving it my all, um, and to me that lacks integrity because I’m getting paid for that stuff, you know, especially within work, um, or like I don’t know, it’s just not the best use of my time. So I feel like at the end of this year, if I can, I don’t know, even just feel good about the progress I’ve made and how I’ve made it, it will be a success. It doesn’t matter how far I get, but as long as I really tried, without excuses.

Brandi: 00:37:56 I think that’s doable. Um, so some of the points that I wrote down on, um, ways to reflect on the year before is to look at the time you spent, um, the goals that you met or not and what worked and didn’t work. Um, so I hope by next year like if you’re keeping track, like that’s something to do to is make sure that you’re putting everything that you do into your calendar so that, you know, come next December 15th or 20th or whatever or the week in between Christmas and New Years, which is usually a good reflection time. You can look back at your calendar and be like, okay, did I actually spend my time, was this where I wanted to spend my time and did this or that work out for me, kind of look at the things that you did and um, mark the things that took the most time and like think about, did those things also bring me joy because I spent a lot of time on them and that can kind of help you feel more fulfilled or you know, feel good about the things that you did.

Michelle: 00:39:04 That’s really good. I did put a lot of stuff in my calendar this past year, so I don’t know if it’s too late, but maybe I’ll go back and do that anyway.

Brandi: 00:39:10 It’s never too late.

Michelle: 00:39:12 It’s never too late.

Brandi: 00:39:13 Not as long as the January. Just kidding. Once January is over your adult life. Just kidding.

Michelle: 00:39:19 Yeah, it’s over. Then it’s tax season and focuses on getting your tax here.

Brandi: 00:39:24 Oh, I don’t want to hear the t-word.

Michelle: 00:39:25 Oh Gosh.

Brandi: 00:39:27 Let’s, let’s not talking about that. This is a fun time.

Michelle: 00:39:30 I’m just really hoping that I get nothing. Nevermind. Sorry.

Brandi: 00:39:33 Get a refund. Me Too.

Michelle: 00:39:34 I really hope last year we didn’t say it was a nightmare.

Brandi: 00:39:38 Same. Okay. So the other thing,

Michelle: 00:39:40 Like, what do you mean I owe you? I’m broke?

Brandi: 00:39:43 I know, how can I owe you money? Don’t, don’t have anything to pay you. So you, you said that your theme for this year was to focus and mine is finished and in parentheses imperfectly. Um, and I, I kind of hit on it a little bit that um, the whole idea of um, you know, perfect not being a thing. Um, so something that I. Speaking of finish, um, I finally completed reading Jon Acuff’s book Finish. It took me, it took me since last January to finish it because life, because life because this year, but honestly the kind of stuff he was talking about, um, when on finishing your goals and all the stuff that he had to say, I’m just couldn’t resonate with me while I was in a position to finish nothing.

Michelle: 00:40:42 Yeah. That makes sense

Brandi: 00:40:43 And every time I would pick it up and try to read it, I’d get through like three pages and be like, I can’t finish anything right now. Why am I reading this? So finally over the weekend, um, I was finally in a spot to really like be mindful and be there and think about things right. And I finished the book. And so, um, I’ve been thinking a lot about like what I want my theme to be this year and what makes sense to me. And I hadn’t, I hadn’t really, I didn’t really have a good answer until I finished reading the book. And, um, I was thinking about the word completion. Um, as I was reading the book but then, the more I got down to it. I’m like, I don’t have to sound all fancy, just say finish. It’s okay. He won’t sue you for using the word finish. Um, so

Michelle: 00:41:30 So defeated.

Brandi: 00:41:30 I know, so, um, so finish imperfectly and I wanted to share like just a few of the little, the little takeaways like the major takeaways that I got from his book and I realized that I actually talked about this book on last year’s New Year’s podcasts because

Michelle: 00:41:45 You did, I remember

Brandi: 00:41:47 Yeah, I, I was looking back at our show and going, oh man, that’s a long time to, to be on the same book, but um, you know, I think it was the right time. It resonates with me now and this is my theme for the year. So I think it was okay. Um, this one quote that he said that really stuck with me was the less people aim for perfect, the more productive they become because there’s no such thing as perfection. Like it’s a myth. There’s, you know, you can always do more to something. You can always make your design better. You can always, you know, you can overproduce, you can over edit, you can over, over  because you have this mindset of, you know, I can’t put this out in the world until it’s perfect and that paralyzes me and I don’t think that I realized that until I finished reading, you know, got through all the chapters and really went back and looked through the chapters. I’ve already read in like marked the stuff because it’s like I have this idea, you know, you want everything. I try not to over curate, but I am not in not curating I’m still concerned very much about how it looks, whether that, whether that looks good in my feet or not. Yeah, I don’t really care so much about how it looks in my feed, but I very much care about how it will be perceived. Um, but

Michelle: 00:43:05 Yeah.

Brandi: 00:43:06 And so, um, the other thing that he said was to develop a tolerance for imperfection. And that is something that I like really needed to hear. Um, you can always try again, like if you put something out and it’s not perfect, nobody really cares but you.

Michelle: 00:43:23 It’s, it’s true. But also I liked that he used that you need to develop a tolerance. It’s, it’s like acquired.

Brandi: 00:43:30 Right? It’s something that you have to, like, it grows. Um,

Michelle: 00:43:34 Yeah.

Brandi: 00:43:35 And then, uh, we, I sort of talked about like, I’m really good at starting things, starting ideas, starting things. Um, I don’t have a problem with starting. I have, I have developed a problem for finishing things. And so, um,

Michelle: 00:43:49 That’s why it’s kind of such a big deal that you finally finished your daughter’s logo and.

Brandi: 00:43:55 Three years in the making, which is devastating to me to hear it out loud because the fact that I didn’t finish her logo has put off our launching her Kickstarter because honestly, because that was the thing that I put on myself, we can’t launch our Kickstarter until she has a logo because I want it to look legit. But I, I can’t put out a logo until it looks absolutely perfect and matches her personality and matches her brand and matches and can be timeless and all the things that a logo should be. But because it was so personal to me, it took me, well, let’s just knock out this year and pretend that year didn’t happen because I couldn’t work on new thing this year, two years even. It’s not okay.

Michelle: 00:44:35 Right.

Brandi: 00:44:36 So this, this drive and this thought about not putting things out until they are absolutely 100 percent exactly what I feel like they should be, just shouldn’t be a thing. And it’s, it’s hindering my progress and I’ve seen that.

Michelle: 00:44:52 But I think. I think even though it’s like disheartening to see for you, maybe it was important that it happened. Otherwise, you would think this isn’t something you struggle with.

Brandi: 00:45:02 Right? Yeah. And I think that that wasa huge. That was a huge eyeopener for me. I’m in finishing that book and hearing these quotes and, and figuring out that this needed to be my theme for my business and my personal and I won’t go too much into it, but my personal theme, um, that I really felt for this year is his patients. Um, last year was be still, I had a lot of that.

Michelle: 00:45:27 Yeah you did.

Brandi: 00:45:27 The year before that was be faithful in the little things. Um, and this year is to be patient and I don’t know what that means yet, but that’s my personal, my personal phrase or word or whatever for this year.

Michelle: 00:45:41 That word that word stresses out.

Brandi: 00:45:43 I know same, but it is what it is. So um, so I’m just going to share real. I’m just gonna read through quickly my, let’s see. I don’t know how many there are. There’s, I have some big hairy audacious a business-y goals for this year.

Michelle: 00:46:01 Oh boy.

Brandi: 00:46:01 And there are a lot of them are, are just kind of rolled over from last year because I didn’t get to do them. But um, so some of them, yes, some of them are new. So one is a design six to 12 book covers classics or not, I don’t know yet. Um, crafted doable social media plan where I can have something to post every day and not like wonder what I’m going to post. Um, design five to 10 posters. I don’t know of what a, figure out a MailChimp newsletter, um, sponsors get sponsors and affiliate marketing for the blog and the podcast. A Honey and the Bug Kickstarter campaign for Jasmine in February. I wrote a date, so I have a goal.

Michelle: 00:46:44 Is it her birthday?

Brandi: 00:46:45 Well, it won’t be for her birthday.

Brandi: 00:46:46 It’s by the end of February. We want to have it up by the end. Yeah,

Michelle: 00:46:50 Still cool.

Brandi: 00:46:50 Yeah. Her birthday is in the beginning. Um, and so is yours. Book more workshops and speaking gigs. Write for blog and podcast two times a month. So I wrote two blog posts last year. Obviously we’ve discussed everything but still, that’s, and the year before that wasn’t that much better. So I need, I need to get back on the blog train and start like repurposing my content. So that’s kind of what that’s about. Or um, yeah. I want to paint screenprint and do some wood burning. I got a wood burning tool two years ago for Christmas that’s still in the box that needs to happen. Um, my beauty commentary project that I’ve been wanting to do forever, where I do, you know, for those of you who don’t know what this is, I want to do lettering on women’s faces about beauty and take pictures and do something with it. I haven’t fully flushed out And uh, well launch Patreon that’s done. Um, you guys, by the time you hear this podcast will be able to go onto our Patrion and search Design Speaks patrion.com and search Design Speaks and be able to support us. And uh, maybe our next episode we can, we can look at all know, talk a little bit about all the rewards we have and all the cool stuff that, that you can get by being a Patreon of ours.

Michelle: 00:48:18 We’re really excited.

Brandi: 00:48:18 Yeah, me too. Me Too. Me Too. Um the last two are like sort of these would be nice but not 100% necessary because I’m very ambitious and there may be too many things on this list already, but um, develop a course and maybe figure out some other sort of passive income, um, whether it’s like downloads or some sort of workshop that people can like just watch on, you know, a course type thing and update my website because I noticed the other day when I went on there that there’s a bunch of little things here and there that are like, this plugin is not active and learning at this thing isn’t working. And I’m like, Oh man, I got to do that. There has to be maintenance on this thing. Dang, it.

Michelle: 00:49:03 Dang it. I hate that. I, it’s like I cleaned the house once why won’t it stay clean.

Brandi: 00:49:10 I know it’s like on the Incredibles, no matter how many times have you saved the city always needs saving again.

Michelle: 00:49:16 Yes, exactly.

Brandi: 00:49:18 Didn’t I clean this mess up? So, um, so those are like, those are like the big things. Um, I went to a Tuesdays Together which is the rising tide society meeting today and they, um, they were basically talking about, um, sort of like reaching your goals. Um, and there was a couple of really cool things that I kind of wanted to share that really big thing, but just some really small tips that could possibly make a big difference. I’m one of them is writing down your goals.

Michelle: 00:49:49 Important. Lists are good.

Brandi: 00:49:50 Yeah. Like actually physically writing them down makes them more likely that they will happen.

Michelle: 00:49:56 It’s kind of like saying it out loud.

Brandi: 00:49:59 Exactly. Not that I believe this necessarily, but kind of like speaking it into existence because once it’s out there like you can’t take it back like we just talked about. And something that I think that I’m going to do is to actually. So I have them written in my planner, but I think I’m going to either photocopy it or rewrite them and put them on my wall in my office or where you know, if, if you work at an office or if you work out of your home or you stand front of your bathroom mirror a lot, put it on your bathroom mirror, put it where you will see all the time so that you have a visual of when those things get checked off and you can kind of feel that satisfaction and always be reminded of the things you’re sort of like working towards.

Michelle: 00:50:42 That’s so good.

Brandi: 00:50:43 Um, the other one is a, and I think I already said this, like share it with somebody and I don’t know exactly how many of you are out there. For all I know, I’m just sharing this with Michelle, but I don’t think that’s true. So I wanted to put up, put it out there and um, you know, for you guys to be on the lookout for things that I’m saying makes me feel like a little bit more good pressure to kind of make sure those things get finished, not just started. So those were, those are just some ideas. So how, what, what is like something practical that, you know, besides putting your phone away that you think that you’re going to be able to try to keep the focus on? Whatever you want to keep the focus on this year.

Michelle: 00:51:33 Um, I have to think about that like, like in regards to like in regards to work or?

Brandi: 00:51:45 Anything because if you don’t have a strategy for how you’re going to make it happen.

Michelle: 00:51:49 Oh yeah.

Brandi: 00:51:50 Like.

Michelle: 00:51:50 I think I think this is so funny and you’re going to like want to slap me through the computer, but I don’t have a process for a lot of what I do.

Brandi: 00:52:02 Travesty. I

Michelle: 00:52:05 know, I know, but it’s really affected. It’s really affected how I don’t get things done because it just seems like I’m going over here and then I’m over there and then I’m right here and then I’m going to go over there again and see if I can figure something. He’s kind of like going to the refrigerator and opening it and just hoping that food will have appeared, you know?

Brandi: 00:52:29 Yeah, like the, like the third time he opened it, maybe something will have changed.

Michelle: 00:52:33 Yeah. It’s just like maybe I missed something, but no, no, there’s just nothing in the refrigerator.

Brandi: 00:52:39 Oh my goodness.

Michelle: 00:52:39 And, or maybe there is something but you haven’t thought about anything besides hoping that a full meal will be prepared in their next time you open it. So, um, I think something practical would be implementing a process within how I edit. Um, I mean I kind of have a thing down for the, for the podcast, but it could be much better.

Brandi: 00:53:05 Yeah. I actually did write down, this wasn’t like in my goals, this was just, this is like, so they have the yearly goals and then they have weekly goals and just it wasn’t necessarily a goal, just like on the to-do list that I want to put together like a, um, a workflow.

Michelle: 00:53:23 Workflow.

Brandi: 00:53:24 A workflow list for the podcasts, like, because now, now that um, you know, we have you and we have Joelle, it’s like we record and it goes to you and then it goes to Joelle and then it comes to me and I feel like in order for this wheel to keep, you know, rolling in a really good way, we’ve got to start getting that a little bit more organized. So that makes total sense that you want to try and figure out more processes, is that right?

Michelle: 00:53:52 Yeah, yeah. I think.

Brandi: 00:53:53 Processes?

Michelle: 00:53:54 Process, processes, process-i?

Brandi: 00:53:56 I, I’m pretty sure it’s not process-i, but you never know.

Michelle: 00:54:00 Let’s just go with it.

Brandi: 00:54:02 Why not we do what we want here

Michelle: 00:54:04 We, we do what we want. Whatever we want. Um, so yeah, that’s just like, that’s a big deal. Um, and one thing that I never factored into anything I’ve ever done is that creating a workflow takes time.

Brandi: 00:54:19 It does, but it saves you time later.

Michelle: 00:54:23 Yeah. And that’s not, it’s, it’s an investment.

Brandi: 00:54:26 In you.

Michelle: 00:54:28 In your sanity.

Brandi: 00:54:28 It’s an investment in you.

Michelle: 00:54:31 Yes. And so I’m taking that time could really be a game changer in the long run for me.

Brandi: 00:54:37 Yeah. And I think that’s part of part of this is like I would say like maybe, maybe if not the biggest takeaway, if you could take something away from this episode, it’s one of the takeaways is that taking the time to look at how you spend your time and how you want to spend your time will make every other minute that you spend much better. Like, does that make sense?

Michelle: 00:55:05 Yeah. That’s the new quote for next week.

Brandi: 00:55:12 For out Insta-story?

Michelle: 00:55:13 Yeah.

Brandi: 00:55:13 I feel like it’s a little like discombobulated, but basically like if you can, if you can take a little bit of time to reflect on, on what you’re doing and figure out how you can do that better, everything will run so much smoother and you will be, you will be so much happier.

Michelle: 00:55:28 I love it. I love it.

Brandi: 00:55:31 So, ah, that was, that was a really long episode, you guys and I feel like I talked a lot about me, but I hope that some of the things that I had to say and that Michelle had to say were, were helpful and you guys, I’m hopefully getting a theme and reaching your own big hairy audacious goals as our pastor likes to say. I guess he says prayers, but we’ll say goals.

Michelle: 00:55:53 I think I, here’s the thing, in past years it’s always been super motivational, like what are you going to do? And, and you know, the, you just want to feel motivated to do what you, like, What others are wanting you to do.

Brandi: 00:56:05 Well, it’s easy to feel motivated.

Michelle: 00:56:08 Yeah. Um, but this year it’s really for me not about feeling motivated, it, it’s so different this year. It’s like a, it’s, the focus is so much different. It’s, it’s intentional, it’s, I want to be better, I know that I can be better and I really just don’t want to waste my time or anybody else’s time. Like I deserve more, they deserve more, you know, so I mean, if I hope, if anything like that is communicated clearly that like, this isn’t like supposed to be. Like last year we did motivational tips. This year maybe it’s, it’s not so much motivational, it’s just getting out there and being like the best that you can be.

Brandi: 00:56:57 Yeah, and sharing, sharing like your real struggles with goal setting and goal meeting is hard because it’s not going to have to like do a lot of introspection, I think maybe possibly part of this for you. And I was um, you know, learning a little bit more of our, about ourselves this year, me through what I went through. Um, in addition to, you know, like figuring out the enneagram thing. But I think it was um, I had lots of time to be still and kind of figure out a lot of things and so, uh, being able to be in that place is not easy, but you know, it’s good for us and honestly I feel like this podcast has just been like a phone conversation between us. I just called Michelle up and we just talked about what we want to do this year. Like we would like we would normally talk like, I mean we do anyways, but I don’t know. Do you feel like that, like this just felt like a phone call?

Michelle: 00:57:59 A little bit? Maybe because

Brandi: 00:58:01 We are on Facetime? I don’t know.

Michelle: 00:58:03 I know seriously. Maybe to make it feel less like a phone call. We should end it. How he normally. I know. Let’s do that. let’s do that, okay, so.

Brandi: 00:58:11 So Michelle, where can people find us?

Michelle: 00:58:15 You. Well, people can find us on all forms of social media. They can find us on Instagram, facebook, twitter, via @brandisea. Spell your name.

Brandi: 00:58:22 B R A N D I S E A

Michelle: 00:58:25 And we have an Instagram, @designspeakspodcast. Go give us a follow and keep updated with us.

Brandi: 00:58:33 And our Patreon.

Michelle: 00:58:34 Oh my gosh, it is time.

Brandi: 00:58:37 Now we have to add that to our script.

Michelle: 00:58:39 Yes. Our Patrion. It’s up and running. Crossing our fingers. It’s up and running nowbecause, because it’s Thursday.

Brandi: 00:58:48 It is Thursday to you. So it is up and running. Yes.

Michelle: 00:58:53 So, we will talk next week about um, incentives and all the fun things that come along with being a supporter of Design Speaks and we’ve just got some cool things in store and we’re excited for you to join us. Um, if that’s something you want to do. And right now we are asking you also to continue sharing if you get any use out of this podcast.

Brandi: 00:59:15 Any value.

Michelle: 00:59:16 Any value. Value, use, value. Value is a big word. I like that one, but share it with your friends and give us a rating on iTunes. We’d love to hear feedback. And again, if you have any questions, shoot them our way. You can also email us brandi@brandisea.com. And a huge shout out to Vesperteen, for allowing us to use his song shatter in the night as the intro and outro to Design Speaks.

Brandi: 00:59:40 And check out his new music ps.

Michelle: 00:59:42 Yes. Oh Gosh. Yes. Always good. Always impressing me. And He, he is a lover of,

Brandi: 00:59:51 Cats with mustaches.

Michelle: 00:59:53 Oh my gosh, that cat is so cute. I was messaging his wife and I was just like, I could cry by how cute this cat is, but the cat and also lover, which I was really going to say of just like good music, good stuff. So I appreciate how much he loves what he does.

Brandi: 01:00:16 Which must mean that he thinks that we have good staff if he allows his music to kind of be a spokes-thing for us. A shout out to Colin.

Michelle: 01:00:25 Thanks Vesperteen.

Brandi: 01:00:26 And um, until next week.