Purposeful Steps: Aligning Your Thoughts and Actions for Success

Your Dream Business

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Aneta Ardelian Kuzma, where we are talking all about how can we align our daily choices in order to help us achieve our goals.

Aneta is a holistic life coach, executive coach, wellness expert, and yoga, meditation, and breathwork teacher. She is the host of the podcast Live the Width of Your Life. On her show, she explores what it means to live life more fully, with intention, gratitude, and joy. She also recently published her first book, titled Live the Width of Your Life: 365 Daily Meditations on living with purpose, passion, and peace. Her passion is helping others to create lives of purpose, passion, and peace.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

1. Productivity habits and rituals to help you be more successful
2. Setting boundaries and protecting your energy as a busy business owner
3. How to know when you're being kind to yourself and when you're self sabotaging

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE

Check out Aneta's website Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook

Transcript

Teresa: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. How are you doing? So I hope you've had a good week and actually by the time this recording comes out, it's really early January. So I'm wondering whether you've done your goals, whether you've sorted out what you're going to do for this year. If so, and even if you haven't, this is going to be a great episode for you because my amazing guest today is going to be talking about how we can break down those Goals so that we can create daily actions to align with what we want from our dream life and what we want from our dream business. So I am very excited to introduce today Aneta Kuzma. How are you doing Aneta? Aneta: I'm so well, Teresa. Thank you so much for having me on the show. Teresa: My pleasure. So I was introduced to you cause I did your podcast and it's always so lovely when we can do like a podcast swap because it's like. You don't just get to have one conversation. You get to have a couple and that's really, really nice. Aneta: I love it. And I love that our communities get to participate in these conversations with us as they listen afterwards. Teresa: Yes. Do you know what I did once that was such a good thing? And I should really do it again. I did a two part podcast with someone else. So part one was on mine and part two was on theirs. That's such a cool idea. Aneta: I love it. Such a great idea. Teresa: It was really, really good. And again, introducing people to each other's podcasts and stuff. It was really cool. Anyway. Anyway. And this, I would like you to introduce yourself and explain to us how you got to do what you do today. Aneta: Sure. So, and that's a Kuzma and, it's interesting. I used to be in banking. So I would say the short story of my life is that I was the type of person who just followed all the rules. I did what I thought was expected, you know, went to the right school and got a good education and started my family and found a great job. And I wanted to work for a company that I could grow into the company and my career and raise a family. And, at some point during that time, I recognized that this was probably not where I wanted to finish my career. I still had another chapter in me. So. In my mid forties, I hired a coach and I really wanted to figure out what do I want to do? What is my purpose? What is my mission? And I say purpose with a little P it doesn't have to be a big one. We typically get overwhelmed with that. And so, I started my own coaching and consulting business. And when I started my business, I said, I want to build a business that is so aligned to who I am, that is just allows me to take all the things I'm super passionate about and pull them all together. So I do a lot of one on one coaching, my, I do group coaching. I also teach yoga, meditation, and breath work. I think I continue to expand and add to the things that I do. And as Teresa mentioned, I have a podcast and, I'm also also an author and, Really what I love to do is I help people, typically professionals and entrepreneurs identify what is it that is a successful life for them? How do you redefine success? And then as you said, what we're gonna talk about today is how do you take daily aligned actions to build that life and help you achieve all of your goals? Teresa: Love it. Love it. Love it. So a couple of things. Banking to breathwork, it's not a natural alignment really, is it? Or does it appear to be? Was that like, did it feel like when you were in banking that something was not right? Aneta: Yeah. So I've been a yoga practitioner since, you know, my twenties, so for a very long time. And so definitely early adopter of that and meditation, always very interested in spirituality and took a lot of comparative religion courses in college. And so I always felt like there were two separate parts of me and now I get to integrate them, which is, you know, the spiritual inquisitive, curious part, and then also the professional part. And what I love to share with people is that it's not either, or it could be, and, and you can build an integrated and balanced life. And you get to define what that looks like. So while I was in banking, people knew that I was going through yoga teacher training and that if I had the door closed, I was meditating. So it definitely wasn't a secret towards the end. It was at the beginning, but once I knew I was going to be leaving, eventually, I just started to bring more of myself to where I was. Teresa: Yeah, I love that. And I love the fact of sometimes the, what would appear the polar ends of the spectrum, there is space for all of it. And, yes. And I guess we need to get into a position and a confidence within ourselves that actually we can show up as those alternate versions of us, and that's okay, you know, we are complex human beings and it doesn't actually matter if we like one thing, but it means that we like another that isn't normally associated or seen as a natural fit with the other, we can be complex in that way. Aneta: We can and, and we get to redefine what's okay. Right? Like, I remember, you know, there was no issue with people talking about training for a marathon and, and running, you know, and so there are certain things that they were okay with, or if people were part of a, you know a sports team or something like that, but there are certain things that, especially on the spirituality side, where we just sort of didn't necessarily talk about it. And I do see that now people are much more curious and open to talking about all kinds of different things. Teresa: And I love that you use the word curious and you've used it a couple of times, because that's how I see it. Right. So like, I quite like to dabble into that side of the world. And my thing is, I'm just interested and I'm curious about it. And if it helps or benefits me in some way, then great. let's, you know, I am happy to go with it. Like I don't need all the explanations. I don't need to the debate of it. I don't necessarily need, I do like the science of stuff and I do like to research that. However, I'm also just open to going, Oh, let's see what happens. That's cool. You know? And there's something really nice about that. Aneta: Oh, I agree. And I do think that in society, we're starting to see, as you said, the science, connecting to some of these ancient practices that work, but even as we think about breaking things into action plans, for example, right? That used to be maybe under a self help stage or something that was considered a little bit different. And I do think that people are starting to say, what are the practices that can help me? And, let me see what works as you said. Teresa: Yeah, exactly. And as far as I'm concerned, you know, if it doesn't harm anybody else and you're enjoying it, then do what the hell you want, you know, go with it, go with it. I just want to touch on as well, your book and, tell us what the title of your book is. Aneta: Yeah, it's right there. It's called Live the Width of Your Life: 365 Daily Meditation on Living with Purpose, Passion, and Peace. And, I wrote the book because one of the things that I discovered and even about myself is so many of us read books, we consume a lot of data and information and we have bookshelves filled with them and we don't necessarily take the daily action then to apply those things to our life. And so when I was writing a book, I said, you know, I love reading. Daily devotionals or reading my daily stoic or reading, just inspirational books, whether they're secular or not. And, so I wanted to write something that was easily digestible. And so every day there is a content maybe 1 page worth, and then there's a journal prompt or a challenge so that you can do something with the information to spend some time in reflection or even take an action. So if the theme is gratitude, you could do a great gratitude practice, or maybe reach out to someone, tell them what they mean to you, et cetera. And over the course of the year, you should have seen a transformational shift in your life. Teresa: Love it. That's so good. And you're right. I, I inhale books, but I remember a little bit small of them, but have they, they had a profound effect on the point in which I was reading them. And then you put them down and you move on to the next one. Also, I'd like you just explain your title, what you mean by living the width of your life. Aneta: Yeah, that's a great question. So, it came, it comes from a quote by Diane Ackerman. And when I first saw the quote, I thought, wow, what does she mean by living the width? And so I defined it, for myself, although I think everyone has a different definition. For me, it means that we do not get to control how many days we are alive. We don't, we do not know we can do the things to try to create this beautiful, long life. But we can control what we do with the width of every single day. And so you can be, you know, go through the day super present and mindful and curious and filled with gratitude and thanks and all these things that are beautiful. Or you can wish the day away and wait for the weekend or your next vacation or things, you know, these big moments in life. So I think living the width means treating every single day, just like you would, any of the big moments in life that we sometimes wait for or plan. Teresa: Yeah. I love that so much. Like, You know exactly what you've said. You dunno how long you're on here. Yeah. You know, you don't know. We do wish so much of our lives away. We do think, oh, when I just get here or when I just get that, or if I can just have this. Yeah. And the truth is the way humans are designed, we get there and we want something else and there's Mm-Hmm. in one way. There's nothing wrong with that. Like, I like having an ambitious side of me. However, it's that taking in the moment and going, but look at where we are here and look at how this is. And yeah, I just love that. There's a quote that I should actually remember. I was a co author in a book, right? And I had to, and I wrote this chapter on basically what? What creating their dream business looks like and what it means for them. And I use this quote, which I found on a podcast or I heard on a podcast and basically it was something along the lines of, and I'm going to make sure we, I'm in the show notes cause I do a terrible job with it every time, but it was something like if this was all my life was, could I be okay with that? And basically like the podcast episode was around happiness and it was, it's basically saying, so if this is all that it was like, if, if my life didn't move on from here, if I never got a bigger house, if I didn't get a bigger garden, I really want a bigger garden. I want lots of land. I grew vegetables. But like, if this was it. Would I be okay with it? And the truth is, I absolutely would. Like, it doesn't mean I don't want more. It doesn't mean that I haven't got the ambition for more. But I would be okay. And it, that quote seems to sit really nicely with the, the concept of enjoying it and taking it in and making it as wonderful as possible. But knowing and being okay with the fact that we want to move on and do other things, but we're taking, we're not taking now for granted. We're not taking every day for granted. We're not wishing our life away or thinking we will be different. Life will be different. Something else will be different if, and when we get to the next big thing. Aneta: Oh my gosh. I love everything you said about that. And, when I talk to people and I ask them, do you feel like your life is in balance, or do you feel like you're living this integrated life? Many people can say no, but they don't necessarily have a definition of what that is. And that's where I said, and I recognize with my clients, it's you will be in balance when your daily choices align to your life values. And I think that goes back to what you were saying is, do you fill each day with joy? Do you, spend time with the people that you care about? Do you make time for self care things that make you feel good? Do you spend enough time in quiet and reflection or resting if you need to? And when you start to think about being able to incorporate more of the things that you seek, that you need, that you want, that you value every day, and you're not going to have the same amount of time every day. You will then be able to say, yeah, this is a pretty good life. Teresa: Yeah. And I think as well, like some people might be listening to this going, Oh, it's okay for you to say that you've got blah, blah, blah, but that's the beauty of it. It's not about, you know, it's about being able to recognize that, you know, other people might have what I want. You know, someone out there has a four acres of land and a pig and some chickens, and I really want that. But it doesn't mean that my life now isn't amazing and beautiful and lovely as it is right now, you know, it's, it's appreciating that. And I think doing that more and more, and I try and teach my daughter gratitude all the time. Because I think there, especially in a world where, Well, just the fact the world they're brought up in is you deserve more. You should have more. Everything is immediate. You get it straight away. And I just think sometimes slowing her down and going, do you know how much we have, do you know how amazing it is that we've got what we've got? And, you know, I think is, is a good thing. Anyway. So I'm so glad I asked that question about the title, because it's such a good point. And, and even if you take nothing else from this podcast, which I know you will, that is exactly the point to take. So obviously. The amazing people who listen to me and have done for years know, I am all about the goal setting and I, my November and December are always very busy filled with walking people through processes and different things in order to get them ready to do their goals and to help them with their goals. And one of the things that people really struggle with is turning those goals into actual things or creating the life that is going to get them or help them get close to that goals. And one of the things that we do and I do is I help them break it down into actions. But I'm really fascinated to understand your point of view on how can we align our daily choices in order to help us get towards those goals. Aneta: Yes. Oh my gosh. I love talking about this. This is something I do with my clients. I always start with a vision. I always say start big and work backwards. And so I love starting with a vision. And I take people through a vision of what do you want your life to look like? And this is looking at not just your career or maybe just relationships or because we typically focus on a couple of areas of our life, but we really, we could expand beyond that. Look at our health, which is mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, look at relationships, look at your home environment, look at you know, your career, your finances, growth and development, whatever is really important to you. And let's just define what that looks like. What is the life you really want to live and allow yourself to dream? Like I always say, dream big. Better to start there. And then we work backwards about five years and then one to three years. And then we start getting into more, tactical plans and saying, what are the goals that, or the steps that will get you to that vision? And so once we do that and we kind of have the steps that we need to get there and becomes more granular, there are a couple of things that I always tell people is that. We have to show up every day and we have to show up in with the aligned choices. Now, I love using a planner and I'm gonna get real tactical here because I use my planner, I write in it every day and you know, there's so many good ones out there. I will create my own one day. Teresa: That's on my list too. Aneta: That's on my list. But we should talk about it. We should. So I love starting with, you know, as you work backwards, I always do a month ahead and take a look and say, what are the big goals that I have for the month? Realistic, we have to get very smart about setting realistic goals in terms of what we're capable of achieving. And then when we get to the week, I use my Friday afternoons as an opportunity to do a reflection on the week before. Yeah. And then to say, did I hit my goals? How did I feel? Was it sustainable did my schedule support me, did allow me to be successful and then I do a look ahead and so I don't have to go into the weekend worrying. I do like, let's Friday afternoons. Let's look ahead and see what is the upcoming week coming up? What are my priorities? Do I have the right meetings on my calendar? Do I need to create some more space and time? And do I have time for all those things that I said were important? So that's where. You know,

Aneta: making sure you plug in the time to spend with family, making sure that you're not going out for a work event every single night. And then you feel exhausted and you're not sleeping properly. Right? And so making sure that works out. And then Monday morning is a time just to check in again and just say, okay. What am I going to do? And then I use the planner every day for top priorities, you know, maybe three of them. What are the tasks? And I always track all the self care, you know, am I drinking my water? How did I sleep?