51 - The Importance of Celebrating Small Wins

When you're going through something hard, it's all about chasing and clinging to those small wins. Recognize them, appreciate them, and plan for them! In this episode Christina and Meghan share the importance of celebrating little wins, how it helped them through hard things, and easy ways you can incorporate it into your life too. Oh, and Garage Kitty makes an appearance.


Full Book Cup Club Book of the Month:
Each month we choose a book to read together. Join us in reading this month's Full Book Cup Club book of the month: You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

Previous FBCC books:

• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth  
• The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor
• Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg
• The Hot Young Widows Club: Lessons on Survival from the Front Lines of Grief by Nora McInerny

Transcript

00;00;00;03 - 00;00;25;10
Meghan
So I met a friend for lunch. And I have a handful of friends like local here. A lot of my friends are long distance. Like you, though. But I met a friend for lunch and this was the last Christmas present I had, like Christmas exchange to do, you know? And the funny thing is that this friend. Have you seen those planters that are shaped like a woman's body?

00;00;25;19 - 00;00;27;24
Meghan
So it's like. Have you seen those?

00;00;27;25 - 00;00;28;04
Christina
Yeah.

00;00;28;05 - 00;00;54;18
Meghan
Okay. Well, she gave me one of those, which is awesome. But what's funny is the friend I met a month ago for Christmas also gave me one of those Furby. So that's pretty funny. Yeah, they are cute. And yeah, it's a they're one of them is a little more voluptuous than the other one, I think, which is it's pretty funny, but I thought I was like, wow, guys, great job.

00;00;54;25 - 00;01;06;16
Meghan
They're not friends with each other. Oh, like, this isn't. So there was no preconceived conversation. Just a very funny y. You guys really know me because this is a rad thing.

00;01;08;03 - 00;01;11;07
Christina
That's cool. Hi, I'm Christina.

00;01;11;08 - 00;01;14;13
Meghan
And I'm Megan, and this is the Full Cup Club podcast.

00;01;14;16 - 00;01;17;19
Christina
If you've been knocked down, we're here to cheer you on as you get back up.

00;01;17;20 - 00;01;20;21
Meghan
So whether your cup has coffee, tea or vodka in it.

00;01;20;25 - 00;01;34;12
Christina
Welcome to the Full Cup Club. Hey, friends. On today's podcast we are talking about celebrating quick wins. But before we get started, Megan, what is selling your cup and what is bringing joy?

00;01;34;20 - 00;01;58;08
Meghan
I am drinking a brown sugar milk tea today with boba and I really love them. I don't get them all the time. It's like a fun little treat, like Starbucks, you know? So I was out today. I went to the grocery store and it was awful because it was just really crowded and I had to wait in a very long line.

00;01;58;08 - 00;02;04;10
Meghan
So on my way home, I was like, You know what? I deserve a bubble tea.

00;02;06;28 - 00;02;36;21
Meghan
So but I will say that I went to H-E-B and they have a lot of pre-made meals or family sized premade meals for the week. So I have meals for most of the week. Like most of our dinner's ready. I don't have to cook. It saves me lots of time. So that is that's what's giving me life is knowing that I have dinner sorted, not just planned, but like handled.

00;02;36;21 - 00;02;38;22
Meghan
All I have to do is put it in the oven, you know?

00;02;39;01 - 00;02;50;24
Christina
I like it. Oh, that's so cool. I'm happy for you because I know, like, all the stuff in your life. And so I'm happy. Hear like that. That's going to be a weight off of your shoulders this week. That's cool.

00;02;51;10 - 00;02;54;16
Meghan
Yeah, for sure. Thanks. What is. What's filling your cup?

00;02;55;20 - 00;03;18;00
Christina
I am. I am drinking a Lacroix. I mean, is it the key lime? It is. It is. It makes my mouth happy. So there we go. Is that does that make sense at all? So that and then also recently I took up playing pickleball. And so that is really filling my cup right now. I played tennis in high school.

00;03;18;14 - 00;03;47;26
Christina
That's been 30 years and I was searching for community here locally and I thought, I wonder if I can play. And because my right hand, as I've shared before, is kind of jacked up from overuse over the years and I have actually been able to play. It's been really fun and the people are so kind and they've been so helpful with learning and it's just a lot of fun and it's bring me a lot of joy.

00;03;47;27 - 00;03;51;26
Christina
And so that is what is filling my cup big time right now.

00;03;52;05 - 00;03;55;22
Meghan
So that's awesome. I love it. My dad plays pickleball.

00;03;58;03 - 00;03;58;17
Christina
Every year for.

00;03;58;17 - 00;04;01;09
Meghan
Christmas. I get him like pickleball accessories.

00;04;02;03 - 00;04;26;06
Christina
So for people who don't know, they're like, if you ever go out to play pickleball and you're like, I'm 35, I'm going to go out here, I'm going to play Pickleball, my friends, you will be humbled like no other way. 70 year old women and men walk onto the court and, like, whip your butt all over the place like it is.

00;04;26;13 - 00;04;37;23
Christina
Yeah, it's humbling. So, yes, I imagine that your dad is is that that. Yeah, that that older gentleman who kicked my butt. Yes.

00;04;38;13 - 00;04;46;22
Meghan
Yeah, he is. He's pretty he's pretty aggressive, pretty rowdy at the pickleball court.

00;04;46;22 - 00;04;49;15
Christina
But I just think I'm just going.

00;04;49;15 - 00;05;13;26
Christina
To stop commenting because. Yeah, sir, it's brutal out there like everybody was so kind and like, they're so helpful. And then I went and played with a group of people that didn't know me, and so I don't think they knew that I was new and they were not. I didn't realize people who were holding back and these people they did not hold back and.

00;05;13;28 - 00;05;47;07
Christina
Mm yeah, it's brutal out there but it's so much fun. So if you've ever been thinking about playing, please consider it. Go out. It is. It's fun. So yeah. Okay. So on today's podcast we are talking about celebrating quick wins. And when you first go through maybe it's loss as far as like you've lost a person or you've lost your job, you've lost your community, whatever that is that you're maybe starting to pick yourself back up.

00;05;47;23 - 00;06;11;24
Christina
It can be really like hard. Like you're in bed like, oh, like you just you're doing good to get out of bed maybe. Or you're just you feel like, let's be honest. Sometimes when you are in different things, you feel like, man, I'm such a failure. Whatever that looks like. I feel like most people have been there. And and we want to talk about, as always, like getting back up from that.

00;06;11;24 - 00;06;37;05
Christina
And one way that Megan and I have found that for us both that was helpful is having these quick little wins in our life. And one thing that we have found is that there's this really great chemical hormone. It's a hormone in our body called dopamine. And when you get a head of dopamine, this is very helpful. It's the feel good chemical in your body.

00;06;37;19 - 00;06;49;28
Christina
And so one of the ways that you can get that hit of dopamine is from having a quick win. So what are some other ways, Megan, that you can get ahead of dopamine.

00;06;50;09 - 00;06;52;02
Meghan
Doing drugs and having sex?

00;06;52;02 - 00;06;53;20
Christina
Oh, there you go. Yeah.

00;06;55;10 - 00;07;16;18
Meghan
I mean, it's true. But there are, you know, also eating that eating that food you've been craving or doing self-care, completing a task, things like that. Those are those really are all ways that you get dopamine. We are talking about celebrating those little wins, also completing a task because those those kind of go hand and hand what we're talking about here.

00;07;16;22 - 00;07;53;11
Meghan
Yes. So so what do we mean by celebrating little wins? So there's I mean, we have a handful of examples. So it could be a steppingstones to a larger goal you have. If we go back to setting goals, then all of those little little things, little tasks you have to do before you get to that goal. Maybe they're milestones or maybe you're just checking something off your list that you need, like Christina, you just started playing Pickleball, so I'm buying, figuring out what brand, where to buy pickleball shoes and getting those that is checking it off the list, right?

00;07;53;11 - 00;07;53;28
Christina
Yes.

00;07;54;26 - 00;08;16;17
Meghan
Yes. Or sorting ideas for a new project. I remember back to when we were thinking about starting this podcast, sorting those ideas on Post-it notes, or we used a spreadsheet just like seeing it all come together. That was that was definitely a hit of dopamine.

00;08;16;20 - 00;08;35;21
Christina
Megan likes to cross a line through it. So we have like a listed she like put lines through all of the things. And that is one way people get a hit of dopamine as crossing a task off. Look at her. Her face just lit up. I just saw it like she's about to tell you about her list. I can see it in her face.

00;08;35;21 - 00;08;42;00
Meghan
I listen. Can you hear my cat in the background?

00;08;42;00 - 00;08;45;11
Christina
Just. She started.

00;08;45;11 - 00;08;53;05
Christina
This out. People need it. This is real life. This is a cat. Coffee, you know, hairball. This, ladies and gentlemen, is my dogs. And not that.

00;08;55;19 - 00;09;04;03
Meghan
Her name is Garage Kitty. She just showed up one day and never left. That was like, let's see, six years ago.

00;09;05;13 - 00;09;07;02
Christina
She's a good looking cat, too.

00;09;07;12 - 00;09;08;09
Meghan
She's beautiful.

00;09;08;15 - 00;09;31;07
Christina
She is. I always wanted a cat until I found out about hairballs. And I woke up in the middle of the night to my parents cat coughing up a hairball. And I thought somebody was throwing a baseball at the wall, honest to God. Like it sounded like somebody was like and I was like, okay, or or nope. That's not happening.

00;09;31;07 - 00;09;33;16
Christina
That's. Yeah, no.

00;09;33;25 - 00;09;39;17
Meghan
Thank you. Yeah. I didn't even know she was in here until she started making her presence known.

00;09;39;17 - 00;09;44;06
Christina
Welcome to the show, Kitty. You now are special Mouse.

00;09;44;12 - 00;09;45;15
Meghan
What's the question?

00;09;45;24 - 00;09;58;24
Christina
Okay, where are you going back to? We saw well, I got to see that everybody else didn't get to see her face that I talked about. I knew I knew the look on your face task of marking off tasks like marking up the checklist.

00;09;58;29 - 00;10;05;21
Meghan
Oh, my gosh. If Billy or here on this episode, I make us a weekend list.

00;10;06;16 - 00;10;11;28
Christina
Everyone can be like this nightmare of somebody to be in a relationship with.

00;10;12;05 - 00;10;13;10
Christina
No kidding.

00;10;13;23 - 00;10;38;10
Meghan
Stuff to happen. And it's like. It's like normal stuff that happens every weekend and somehow. Okay. Related to a project that we're working on, but it'll be like laundry vacuum. Oh, and then maybe, you know, but, but we do, we do a lot of projects like we recently renovated his whole office. So it was like, you know, things related to that, like buying the baseboards, getting caught cleaning whenever.

00;10;39;07 - 00;10;44;29
Meghan
So, yeah, checking off a list. Listen, I'm going to plug this app again one day. They'll pay us.

00;10;45;09 - 00;10;51;24
Christina
But if today is not the day.

00;10;51;24 - 00;11;18;14
Meghan
But it's an app called Our List and it is literally all it is is a list making app, but you can share it with people. So that's clear list between the two of us. So we can like both add to the grocery list and then nice. So it gets updated automatically. It's fantastic. So recent. Lee I don't mean to brag, but I got my car inspected and the car registration like filled out on the same day.

00;11;18;14 - 00;11;19;06
Meghan
Do you have to do that?

00;11;19;06 - 00;11;27;20
Christina
And I was going to say you need to explain that because I know that that's a Texas thing and that's not in other states. Y'all care about your state more than we do now. Just kidding.

00;11;27;29 - 00;11;31;09
Christina
Checking. I'm joking.

00;11;31;09 - 00;11;40;06
Christina
I'm joking. Your roads. Your roads are so nice. Oregon roads are nice too, but California roads are jacked and so. Oh, really? That's what I'm.

00;11;40;06 - 00;11;40;29
Meghan
Thinking. Interesting.

00;11;41;08 - 00;11;52;11
Christina
Because I know a lot of people just moved from California to Texas. So for those that and all of the other states and, you know, countries that listen, explain what that looks like.

00;11;53;07 - 00;12;04;16
Meghan
Yeah. So we have to get our cars inspected. And so that's it's like emissions related, making sure everything well, partly emissions, but partly like making sure your brake lights and your trunk blinkers and everything interesting.

00;12;04;26 - 00;12;05;17
Christina
Oh, wow.

00;12;05;17 - 00;12;12;27
Meghan
Okay, we have to do it annually and then we also have to register our cars so that I don't know, I guess they know who's driving them.

00;12;12;27 - 00;12;25;02
Christina
So one of the big things in Oregon is that our registration is so cheap and it last several years. And that's the thing that shocks people when they move from California. Yeah, like.

00;12;25;02 - 00;12;27;06
Meghan
What do you mean? How much does it cost? Like there's like a few.

00;12;27;07 - 00;12;35;12
Christina
Hundred dollars a year for a new car versus in California, it can be close to like $1,000 a year for. Oh, and they do it like every year.

00;12;36;11 - 00;12;40;07
Meghan
How much? It's it's cheaper than that here. It's like $75 a year.

00;12;40;11 - 00;12;46;27
Christina
This is not an advertised meant to move to Texas, by the way. There are a lot of people move in there. Slow down.

00;12;46;28 - 00;12;48;27
Meghan
Yeah, there are. We have space story.

00;12;49;11 - 00;12;52;24
Christina
Okay. Okay. I didn't know if you're still working people.

00;12;53;01 - 00;12;57;20
Meghan
But stop shopping at grocery stores because it's miserable.

00;12;59;06 - 00;12;59;17
Christina
Weather.

00;13;00;06 - 00;13;05;22
Christina
Like I'm all about the clicklist order and I live in a small town. I'm just like, I know.

00;13;06;03 - 00;13;24;13
Meghan
I love the click. Yeah, I, I don't dislike it. I prefer to see it because sometimes part of, like, I make a grocery list, but part of remembering what I need is seeing it being like, Oh yeah, I'm out of that or I want to try that. I can't really do that on the app, but I do online orders a lot too.

00;13;24;21 - 00;13;51;10
Meghan
Hmm. Okay. Bringing it back. Bringing it back, celebrating. What do we mean by celebrating little wins that's, you know, celebrating those steppingstones to your larger goal? Maybe it's completing a task on your to do list or maybe it's doing something for a future you. So that's like meal prepping or exercise or going to sleep early instead of watching one more episode on Netflix.

00;13;51;10 - 00;13;55;09
Meghan
So you get a good night's sleep. So what's a small when you've had today?

00;13;55;15 - 00;14;06;13
Christina
Cristina not crying when a man hit my hand really hard with the pickleball that was away like I didn't cry. That was really good.

00;14;06;13 - 00;14;13;17
Christina
I think, you know, I love I sucked it up.

00;14;14;27 - 00;14;16;04
Meghan
Suck it up, buttercup.

00;14;16;09 - 00;14;17;15
Christina
Yep, exactly.

00;14;17;24 - 00;14;48;18
Meghan
I made my bed. I make it every day. It's actually something I. I have done it for a long time. When Jason was alive, he woke up after me. So the bed was never made because I would leave, and, you know, it wouldn't get made because he didn't value that like I did. But after he died making the bed and opening the curtains, we talked about, oh, yes, I love that.

00;14;48;19 - 00;15;21;29
Meghan
I'm letting the light in. And I call it waking up my house, but making the bed and opening the curtains or blinds in your bedroom. Such a quick and yes. When. Yeah. First thing in the morning and your bed is the largest piece of furniture in the room. So it just makes your room feel so put together, even if you like most people have that chair in your room that's just like full of laundry or like random things on the floor or just stuff that's not put away.

00;15;21;29 - 00;15;28;23
Meghan
Maybe your nightstand is a little unkempt. If your bed is made just makes the room feel, does more put together.

00;15;28;26 - 00;15;32;06
Christina
Yes, it is a very nice quick when in the morning.

00;15;32;16 - 00;15;55;10
Meghan
Yeah. And then the other, the other one I had today is I bought those pre-made meals so that's giving me time back this in the evenings this week it's like something fully off my plate. While it's off my plate was going to be on my plate. And the day you go. So and then once you've identified those wins, take a minute and show gratitude.

00;15;55;19 - 00;16;21;07
Meghan
I'm like, Yeah, I did that. I do that for me. I crushed it. So we talked about this a little bit, but integrating those little quick wins into your routine, if you kick off your day with making your bed, you it's like it's almost like I don't know if you work from home. I know a lot of people have transitioned to working from home or at least a hybrid schedule, right?

00;16;21;07 - 00;16;43;13
Meghan
Since yes, since 2020. So when you work from home. So after so many days of just like wearing yoga pants or pajamas and not doing your hair or your makeup, like when's the last time I showered? Who knows? And then you get dressed up, right? You get dressed up, you do your hair, you put on some mascara or whatever.

00;16;43;19 - 00;17;00;19
Meghan
You feel so put together and you're like, Why don't I do this more often? And so when you're working from home, if you if you like, get dressed and consciously, intentionally make that choice, that's when. Why are you laughing?

00;17;01;19 - 00;17;04;01
Christina
Because I'm going into this.

00;17;04;08 - 00;17;19;10
Christina
I literally just earlier was like, when was the last time I wore underwear? Because seriously, you guys, I live in either workout clothes now or I live in pajamas and they don't require underwear.

00;17;19;10 - 00;17;21;00
Christina
Since, like, you know, was the.

00;17;21;00 - 00;17;32;16
Christina
Last time I wear a real underwear. I don't know. No, seriously, I'm sure I did in the last week. But yeah, it's like, okay, I'm putting on real clothes and going somewhere and yeah, yeah.

00;17;32;16 - 00;17;35;11
Meghan
And you're like, Wow, this is what I look like.

00;17;35;22 - 00;17;36;04
Christina
Okay.

00;17;37;25 - 00;17;56;18
Meghan
Yeah, yeah. That's a win. So on those work from home days, if you still get dressed, you still do your hair, wash it, whatever it is, however you get ready, that's a win that is celebrating a small win and then that's setting yourself up for success too. So what are other little wins in your routine?

00;17;56;27 - 00;18;25;20
Christina
So for me, I, I've done the bed making thing for quite a while and I do the coffee thing in the morning, but recently I've added to my routine. It's just such a big win for me because I realize this is pretty quick is prepping my mini pig's food for the day. I do that while I make my coffee and so they have they get a banana first thing in the morning, but then they get a warm meal.

00;18;25;29 - 00;18;48;19
Christina
I know, I know. Reached through and punched me. It's ridiculous, but they get like so I have to prep that so it soaks and all that stuff. And then also if I have time, like being able to unload the dishwasher just kind of stacking those things of I'm already doing. Adding another quick win in the process has been like, yeah, extra special lately.

00;18;48;19 - 00;19;11;03
Meghan
So yeah, yeah, for sure. In the morning if I can load the dishwasher, it's my son's job to unload it. So if it's at a point where like it can accept dirty dishes, you know, loading the handful of things that are in the sink, usually it's not usually a full sink in the morning, but like, maybe that's a few dishes, right?

00;19;11;16 - 00;19;44;27
Meghan
That's awesome. When I pack our lunches the night before and it's just like, done in the morning, such a win, all you have to do is put the ice pack in. Are you kidding me? Fantastic. I have to do that. Half asleep. That's awesome. And then, you know, another thing that I do, and this is kind of along the lines of meal prep, but I will like chop up the fruit or the vegetables or whatever is going to go in this lunch in bulk so that I'm not having to do it every morning.

00;19;44;27 - 00;20;03;25
Meghan
Like I make five sandwiches and put them in the fridge on Sundays. And so that way I'm just having a I'm just grabbing those nice not having to like make a sandwich every single day. So those are little ones that I do just because I'm so busy and it just saves me time. And I've already got the bread, peanut butter and jelly out.

00;20;03;25 - 00;20;04;16
Meghan
Like, why am I getting it.

00;20;04;18 - 00;20;05;04
Christina
Every day.

00;20;05;10 - 00;20;10;18
Meghan
You know? So those are some ideas about like kicking your day off with a win.

00;20;11;08 - 00;20;37;16
Christina
So let's talk about nighttime routines we've talked about like those wins in the daytime, in the morning. But nighttime is kind of a good time to think about what you have accomplished during your day. That's really it's just like a great time to reevaluate. I know I've gone through something really hard several years ago and that was part of my practice at a gratitude practice in the morning.

00;20;37;16 - 00;20;56;27
Christina
But in the evening was like this practice of evaluating because I feel like sometimes as the day goes on, you can forget all of you know, you forget all of this little extra. You might have have a to do list, but then you're like, Oh, wait a second. Like, I did this. I hung this picture. I took care of this task outside that I needed to do.

00;20;56;27 - 00;21;22;19
Christina
So really, like going through and looking at what I had accomplished was really helpful for me because I was like, Wow, I got a lot more done. And I think we've talked about this even before is making a list. That was something that for Megan and I was really helpful. I actually learned it from option B, from Sheryl Sandberg's book Option B, where after she lost her husband, she started making a list of at the end of the day.

00;21;22;19 - 00;21;45;22
Christina
So maybe at the beginning of the day or throughout the day, you're not to the place in in this adventure that you're ready to mark off task. But sometimes what's helpful is, at the end of the day to go, hey, wow, I got 20 things done today. And I really, you know, sometimes you just feel like when your brain is offline, you don't necessarily recognize, you feel like, you know, I didn't accomplish anything.

00;21;45;22 - 00;22;10;23
Christina
But when you stop and really think about it, you actually did. You maybe took a shower. You signed paperwork for your kids school stuff, you had the oil change and you're like, Oh, wait a second, I really am killing it over here. So it's a good time to reevaluate. I remember those days and it really is. It's just it is a when it's a huge win to to even do one thing.

00;22;11;10 - 00;22;32;19
Meghan
Sorry, I have a side note. Okay. Earlier we all were introduced to garage kitty. She is like she's so hungry. She is pawing at me. She wants my attention so bad she's just, like, circling my feet, trying to get up for a lap. But if I try to scooper, she'll run away. She doesn't like to be held, but she is just.

00;22;32;19 - 00;22;37;16
Meghan
I just want everybody to know that she is, like, fully in the podcast now. She is right here.

00;22;37;25 - 00;22;40;16
Christina
She has joined the chat, officially joining the chat.

00;22;42;04 - 00;22;42;14
Christina
Okay.

00;22;42;14 - 00;23;03;15
Christina
So recently I started doing kind of a fun thing for me. I frame it as something fun is completing one task a day. I don't know about you guys, but I have like this mental load list that's in the back of my head of like all of these things that need to be done. But I've kind of reframed it in my brain as some little fun thing to do every day.

00;23;03;15 - 00;23;31;15
Christina
Like I had a rain gauge that needed to be hung. I had a couple of paintings that I had done that needed to be hung. And part of the adventure, the excitement of doing that for me is that I give myself permission, that it doesn't have to be perfect. So for example, the paintings normally with a painting you're either going to frame it or the edges of the canvas need to be painted for it to be like officially how you would hang it.

00;23;32;04 - 00;23;55;25
Christina
And so for me, I know that. But you know what? I let go of that and I hung to paintings this week and that was fun. It's out of the way. They're not going to be damaged. I hung them up. I can take them down and do the edges of them later. It's stuff like that. Somebody had told me a rain gauge needed to go in a specific spot and I was like, Who cares?

00;23;55;25 - 00;24;09;26
Christina
This is where I want my rain gauge. And so I hung the get rain gauge where I wanted. That is something that I'm finding exciting to do. Find those fun little things. I mean, maybe they're not fun to you, but.

00;24;10;11 - 00;24;36;10
Meghan
But what is fun? Is it being done right? So like instance, putting away your Christmas stuff, the task is done, your house is back to normal. You know, just take the afternoon or depends on how heavily you decorate something I did recently as I framed some artwork that I had gotten my son for Christmas. It was like sitting on the kitchen table for a while and I was like, I just need to do it.

00;24;36;10 - 00;24;54;10
Meghan
I just need to sit down. Took me like 10 minutes to frame two prints, you know, and it's done like Project Complete check in on the list. So just little things like that to thing of one, one thing a day outside your normal routine to do it. And it doesn't have to be a big thing.

00;24;54;26 - 00;25;19;28
Christina
Exactly. Exactly. It can be the smallest thing. But just try to find those and see if you can find something every day to bring you joy that you completed the small little task. Yeah, you and I talked about earlier. I love this idea of breaking down really big projects. So one of the things I saw my friend Stacey do years ago, she went through her house and just like made a list of projects that needed to be completed.

00;25;20;03 - 00;25;48;01
Christina
And I always thought that was really cool. But for me, sometimes a big project can be overwhelming. I have A.D.D., I take medication for it. It can tasking it to be where it's like I freeze it because it gets overwhelming. So one of the things recently that's been helpful for me is that if I have a really big task, like let's say it's cleaning my closet, I have a walk in closet and I needs to be very organized.

00;25;48;19 - 00;26;10;01
Christina
And instead of saying, okay, I'm going to just, you know, this is going to be hours and hours worth of project. I will just do organize one, reorganize one shelf at a time, like, okay, I'm going to do this shelf. It's going to take me 20 minutes and then it's and then I feel like I completed a task and it's one hit.

00;26;10;01 - 00;26;19;12
Christina
So instead of it being a several hour project, it's 20 minutes over the course of several days. So that's something that I'm finding helpful.

00;26;20;03 - 00;26;20;15
Meghan
Yeah.

00;26;21;01 - 00;26;23;24
Christina
What about you?

00;26;23;24 - 00;26;27;13
Meghan
The more I can check off on my to do list, the better.

00;26;29;18 - 00;26;35;11
Christina
It gives you more lines. It's not just like one line. We're going to break this one line into 20 projects.

00;26;36;04 - 00;26;52;09
Meghan
That don't mean because one big project is like it's overwhelming. It can I mean, it's exciting when you finally get to check it off. But there are oftentimes a lot of little moving parts and pieces to a big project.

00;26;52;17 - 00;26;52;22
Christina
Like.

00;26;52;29 - 00;26;58;20
Meghan
When when I made our website Full Cup Club podcast dot com.

00;26;59;28 - 00;27;01;03
Christina
Shameless plug.

00;27;01;10 - 00;27;22;13
Meghan
I had, you know, I had like, okay, get the domain name pointed in the right direction, set up the base website, set up this page, this page and this page, set up a forum, set up this other forum. I had all of these checkboxes that ultimately led to the final project, but it was like checking off each little thing as I went, you know?

00;27;23;00 - 00;27;48;25
Meghan
So yeah, I am here for it. So for me, it's like you know, also just around the house and stuff like, oh, if we think about separating projects out into time based lists, you know, like framing the artwork took me 10 minutes or something. I can do pretty much, you know, any day, but like painting a mural wall that is going to take me longer.

00;27;48;25 - 00;28;19;10
Meghan
It's a project that's on my list, but it's going to take me longer, so I'm gonna need at least half a day for that. Probably full day or, you know, we recently arranged our garage gym, so we have a gym kind of set up in the garage. And number one, setting it up, getting it usable, huge win because now again, this is an exercise that is a win, but we kind of both needed to be there because the equipment's heavy.

00;28;19;24 - 00;28;47;08
Meghan
And also we both needed like a say in how the flow of everything would go. So it had to happen on like a weekend afternoon, you know, it took an afternoon, but it's done. So it's like that was an afternoon project doing a mural wall that's a full day project, reframing or reframing a picture 10 minutes. So these are all things that are on my list, but what are the things that I can do right now?

00;28;47;08 - 00;28;50;26
Meghan
Do I have half a day today? No, but I have 10 minutes. Yeah.

00;28;51;02 - 00;29;13;11
Christina
One of the things recently and this is just a side note, something as a parent I found helpful was this idea of instead of telling my son like, Hey, can you unload the dishwasher? I would go to him with a time, Hey, can you unload the dishwasher? It's going to take you 3 minutes. Mm. Something like that to add a time to it.

00;29;13;11 - 00;29;32;21
Christina
Because I feel like sometimes we mentally will get overwhelmed with the idea of a task rather than going like, you know what, really about a three minute task. And that's silly that I keep putting off a three minute task. So yeah, I have found that helpful. I don't know if that will help anybody else, but it's been very helpful for me and my son.

00;29;32;21 - 00;29;34;25
Christina
So yeah, yeah. Starting that out, that is.

00;29;35;02 - 00;30;00;29
Meghan
Well, that is that's exactly right. You know, sometimes you get held up on those things and you're like, I, I have time. But then if you do it time yourself while you're doing it. So in the future, you know, unloading the dishwasher takes 3 minutes. If we if we talk about those, you know, projects that we all have, you know, the goals and aspirations and we all have I, I, maybe everybody is, but I shouldn't say we all have it because everybody's brain does not work like mine.

00;30;01;06 - 00;30;21;21
Meghan
But I have a constant list in my head, you know, of all of the things that need to happen around my house and in my business and goals I have and things I need to do for this and grocery list, like just constant lists, the things that you can check off your list, think about how much that decreases your mental load to yes.

00;30;21;21 - 00;30;41;03
Meghan
If you are struggling like struggling with loss, struggling with depression, struggling with going through something hard, what better way to decrease your mental load than by checking a small thing off your list celebrating this small win, you know? So why do we celebrate them?

00;30;41;12 - 00;31;06;08
Christina
One thing that I found is it gives me confidence to do bigger things. And one of the things that I noticed the other day, I can get really intimidated watching on Facebook, Megan introduced me to the Handy Women page and I look at them and I think, Oh my goodness, look at her. She just did this huge thing.

00;31;06;08 - 00;31;30;19
Christina
And it occurred to me the other day she did not she did not start out remodeling her home. She started out just doing one small project, something really small. And that gave this woman the confidence to do the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. And that's like these little ones are so important because they give us confidence.

00;31;31;03 - 00;31;55;20
Christina
It's not just the dopamine. It gives you the confidence to say, you know what? Like, I can do that. I can do that. Next thing, like and looking back, one of the things that I read while I was in college was that if you before your child walks out the door to take a test in the morning, if you will remind them of how well they've done in the past, it actually increases their scores.

00;31;56;12 - 00;32;24;22
Christina
And so for me, when I would walk out the door right before I would take a test and I was really intimidated by the test I was about to take, I would lay out all of my previous test and say, Hey, look like you're stressed, but look how well you've done before. And so I think that when we accomplish these, I can now say, you know what, you're you're thinking that this next thing's intimidating, but look back, look, you just hung that mirror by yourself a few weeks ago.

00;32;25;01 - 00;32;30;00
Christina
And so that's why I think it's so important to celebrate all the small ones. How about you?

00;32;30;06 - 00;32;57;13
Meghan
Yeah, I agree. I mean, that is absolutely it. I didn't start off by, you know, building events. I started with small things, too, you know, I started with figuring out how to hang a picture frame level, you know, buying a ladder like, you know, just like things like that. What, what are all of these different tools? Like when we're talking about handy stuff?

00;32;57;13 - 00;33;20;03
Meghan
Yeah, I and I think that over time, over the years, that has given me the confidence to be like, well, why couldn't I, why couldn't I start a podcast? You know, why can't I write a book? Of course I can have done all of this other stuff, you know. So yeah, that is that is absolutely it for me too.

00;33;21;00 - 00;33;31;21
Meghan
But I also think that that, you know, I've kind of had that when why couldn't I do that? I see all these other people doing it kind of a mindset to since I was a kid.

00;33;32;01 - 00;33;50;10
Christina
You talk about writing a book and like just something like really quick to point out to people is that you feel like a book is overwhelming. And I have never written a book and it does seem overwhelming to me. But if you really think about it, like we started out writing words when we were little and then we learned to write a sentence, and then we learned to write paragraphs and short stories.

00;33;50;21 - 00;34;15;14
Christina
And my family members who have written books and I know for my dad, he said, like he started out by writing blogs and then basically a book is a bunch of blogs that you put together. So it's just literally the stones that you put one on top of the other. And it's, it's like that for everything. So I hope that those little quick ones are actually you building a book there.

00;34;15;14 - 00;34;19;17
Christina
Actually, you building a house. There you are, you know, climbing a mountain.

00;34;19;24 - 00;34;22;00
Meghan
I love it. Do you have anything else to add?

00;34;22;11 - 00;34;48;16
Christina
Just always thanking everyone for listening and writing. I love again hearing from all of you and, you know, shout out to a lot of people. This is January. And I know a lot of you have recently lost family members. This is really common in January. And so I just want to shout out, I know we have listeners right now that have just experienced their first anniversary of loss.

00;34;48;16 - 00;35;16;21
Christina
And so we just want to send big hugs to all of you wherever you are on that grief journey. And of getting back up. And I just want to say, like I yet to follow you guys and interact with you guys and I am so proud of you watching you and how you have navigated this and some of you guys going back to school and going on trips and raising your kids after such a hard thing.

00;35;16;21 - 00;35;19;10
Christina
So I just want to shout you guys out today.

00;35;19;17 - 00;35;52;11
Meghan
Yeah, I love that. We're both proud of you. Okay, friends, whether your cup is empty, half full or overflowing, raise it up. Here's to getting back up after being knocked down. Cheers. Thank you so much for being here with us. Please subscribe to our podcast if you found it helpful and you can also find us on social media, on Instagram, at Full Cop Club podcast, and if you search Full Club Club podcast on Facebook again, thanks friends and we'll see you next time.