60: New Year = New Priorities. Saying YES to What Serves YOU in 2025!

Designing Your Best Year: Embracing Purpose, Progress, and Peace in 2025

In this episode of the Designer Within Podcast, host John McClain explores the crucial difference between being busy and being productive. He introduces the concept of aligning tasks with one's goals through a decision filter focusing on purpose, progress, and peace. 

John explains the revamped podcast format, which will now cater to interior designers, homeowners, and general listeners, offering insights for improving both personal and professional lives. 

The episode emphasizes the importance of intentionality, self-care, and thoughtfully selecting commitments that truly serve one's wellbeing and objectives. John also shares practical tips for prioritizing tasks, delegating effectively, and maintaining a balanced, fulfilling life. 

Join John in making 2025 a year where you say yes to what serves you and no to what doesn't.

00:00 Introduction: Busy vs. Productive

00:30 Welcome to The Designer Within Podcast

01:23 Podcast Evolution and New Format

03:29 Exciting New Content and YouTube Plans

06:05 Episode Focus: New Year, New Priorities

07:14 Decision Filter: Purpose, Progress, and Peace

17:36 Real-Life Application of the Decision Filter

22:06 Prioritizing Tasks and Avoiding Busy-ness

26:34 Self-Care and Personal Well-being

37:07 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

🌟 For all things John: www.johnmcclain.co

📝 For more information on my online Courses & Coaching Program for Interior Designers, visit: https://designsuccessacademy.com/

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Transcript

Let me just tell you that being busy is not the same as being productive. You can run around like a chicken with your head cut off all day and you feel like you've accomplished something because you were, quote, busy. Busy is not being productive if you are not moving that scale closer to your goals.

So ask yourself, are you really focusing on tasks that are meaningful to you and that align with your goals? Don't just be busy, be productive. If you're going to give your time to something, you should have a productive outcome to that. Hey y'all. You're listening to the designer within podcast, episode number 60.

Welcome to the designer within podcast, the podcast where creativity meets intention and great design in your home and life. Goes way beyond aesthetics. I'm your host, John McLean, an interior designer, business advisor, and full believer in the power of intentional design to inspire a better way of living.

Whether you're a homeowner looking to elevate your space, a design professional striving to grow your business, or someone ready to create a more fulfilling life, This podcast is for you. We're here to explore the art of design, the business behind it, and the mindset that fuels it all. Because great design isn't just about what's on the outside.

It starts from within. So let's dive in and discover the designer within you. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the designer within podcast. I'm your host, John McClain, and you might've noticed a little something different about the intro. If you've been listening to this podcast for a minute, we are slightly changing the podcast to something that I originally had planned from the beginning, and we are going to still call it the designer within podcasts, but there are going to be episodes that are catered to the interior design business owner, to the homeowner.

And then also some episodes just for everyone. And I will always let you know which episode is which when we start the podcast, but I wanted to adapt the podcast to really be able to give something to everyone. I've long been asked by homeowners to please create a podcast. Please give me some tips.

Please give me some advice on what to do in my home. And of course, I love coaching the interior design business owners with best business practices, processes, all those fun things. So I wanted to really come up with a podcast that was catered to what everyone could need. So we're going to have all the same topics that you loved before, all of the information about how to run your business, how to start your business, how to grow your business.

As an interior designer and creative, but we're also going to have lots of impactful episodes for the homeowner or just anyone who lives in a home or an apartment or anywhere to better your life and better your home. And the funny thing is a lot of the topics are going to cross over from one side to the other.

So each episode will cater to the homeowner or the interior design professional or to everyone. But you will always find something in every single episode that you can apply to your life and your home and your business. And again, I'm going to tell you at the beginning of the episode, which episodes are catered to the homeowner and which episodes are catered to the interior designer, because we are going to call the episodes, the designer within homeowner edition, the designer within designer edition.

And then my favorite is the designer within everyone edition, where Everybody can benefit. And you'll notice that in the social media posts that I post as well, it'll have that label on there. And again, we will also list that at the beginning of every episode. And I'm also excited about increasing my YouTube videos.

You're going to see so much more YouTube content from me this year with actionable advice, with tips for your home, with tips for your business. And we're going to talk about all the ways to create a beautiful life for yourself, including travel, including recipes, including party planning, including lifestyle tips.

It is just going to be a blast, so please follow me, John McClain, on YouTube as well, because I'm going to be uploading a video once per week. Yes, I'm committed to once per week. It's going to be a lot, but I'm really excited about 2025 and adding this other avenue of giving back to all of you via YouTube and via video content.

So please head over to YouTube and find me at John McClain, and there's a link in the show notes as well to do that. So nothing really is changing drastically. If you are an interior designer, you're going to see still get the same great content that you got before. It's just now we're going to bring in our homeowners and anyone who wants to better their lives in their homes by giving tips for you as well.

So this is going to be an all inclusive podcast. You guys know I'm pretty much an open book and anything that I say to you as an interior designer on this podcast, I also am very happy for homeowners to hear because I'm trying to bridge that gap. between the interior design community and homeowners and really just marry us all together in a warm and happy environment so that we can help each other out.

I feel that when there's openness and honesty between a business owner and a homeowner, it aligns us all better and it removes those gray areas that we tend to find when someone is looking for an interior designer by not understanding fully about what we do and as well as an interior designer not understanding fully what the homeowner needs.

And the goal of this podcast now is again to bridge that gap, bring us all together, create excitement in our homes, in our lives, and really look within. So the Designer Within Now is truly an open armed podcast with our arms extended out to everyone. And I know you're going to love the new content that we have planned.

And again, if you're an interior design business owner, Keep coming back because there are so many interviews I have already for you to hear this year from other designers, from public relations experts, so many things I have lined up for you. And for anyone looking for design tips, such as homeowners, we are also going to have great design tips, design advice, renovation advice, all the things that you need to really make your home a better place to be.

I'm truly excited about this new avenue that we're going with the podcast, and I hope that you continue along the journey with me. All right. All that being said, today's episode is really a great episode. I'm so happy about this episode because it does bring us all together and bridge that gap. And it really is something that we all need to think about, and that is the new year.

So I'm calling this episode New Year, New Priorities, saying yes to what serves you in 2025. Probably a question that Has crossed our minds at some times, but maybe we've not really delved into it enough. So today we're going to dive into a topic that feels perfectly timed as we enter and welcome in this new year, and that is how to make 2025 the year that you say yes to only what serves you.

Big ask, I know. This is a time of year when we feel the pull to set goals, fill our calendars, and say yes to every opportunity. I know you, I know you've been there, done that, whether it's a personal opportunity or a professional. We sometimes feel that we have to say yes to those, but this year, I want to encourage you to think differently.

I want to encourage you to focus not on doing more, but on doing better. Yes, aligning our actions with what truly matters in our life. And in this episode, we're going to discuss how to filter the tasks and commitments through a simple decision framework that I use every single time and I can tell you it works.

We're also going to talk about prioritizing what truly serves you and why taking time for yourself is critical to achieving your goals. Whether you are a design professional, or a homeowner, or simply someone looking for a more intentional life, this episode is packed with insights to help you make 2025 your best year yet.

And this is a solo episode with just me. I wanted to start the year off with this solo episode, so that I could truly connect with you on what my intentions are for this year, and how to help you set better intentions that align with your goals in your life and your business. So first of all, let's start by defining what it means for something to, quote, serve you.

This is not about being selfish, first of all. It's about aligning your energy with what truly matters. Every time you say yes to something that doesn't serve you, you're saying no to something that could. Let me repeat that again. Every time you say yes to something that does not serve you, You are saying no to something that could serve you, and serving you means focusing on tasks and commitments that align with your personal or professional goals.

And with that, you of course need to know what those personal or professional goals are. If you don't have goals in mind for yourself this year, sit down and write those out for yourself and for your business if you have one and really ask yourself what are you looking to accomplish this year and write those down.

Because when we set this filter very soon, you're going to filter everything towards what aligns with those personal or professional goals that you have set. So it's really important. That you understand what those are. We also want to focus on tasks and commitments that energize you rather than drain you, right?

So many things that we do that we don't want to do. We say yes to, and it really does drain your energy. Sometimes even just thinking about it drains your energy. Sometimes even just thinking about going to an event or thinking about having a party or thinking about having people over or whatever your plans are that you have said yes to that you really didn't want to.

It will drain you, and I've been there, done that. I have overcommitted myself. I have said yes to so many things without putting them through the filter. And when you do that, it is just going to be something that you're not going to look forward to. And if you do have something on your calendar, you should look forward to it.

It should not be something that sucks the energy out of you. Lastly, I want you to understand that serving you means supporting your well being and peace of mind. So, any commitment, any task that you have to do, whether it be professional with your clients, or whether it be as a homeowner, or a mom, or a dad, or anyone who is, you know, You know, running your home as well.

Everything that you do needs to support your wellbeing and peace of mind. There is not a price tag on peace of mind. I can tell you that if you've ever had a cluttered mind, a mind that is running in all different directions, you know, that you would give almost anything to press a button and have that peace of mind.

I've been there as well. So I want you to always think about your wellbeing and your peace of mind. And if something comes in the way, an obstacle. That is going to clutter your mind and remove the peace that you have in your own mind. I want you to consider removing that. Think of it as designing a space, right?

You wouldn't clutter a room with things that don't serve its purpose. You wouldn't just fill a room with a bunch of things that don't really help that room to function well. And the same thing applies to your time and energy. You want to fill your life with things that serve its purpose and things that really give you more energy and more peace of mind.

And I mentioned earlier that It's a simple decision filter that I use, and it's really easy. It's three P's, right? Purpose, progress, and peace. Whenever you're faced with a new task or an opportunity, I want you to ask yourself this. Does this bring me purpose? Does this bring me progress? And does this bring me peace?

So purpose, progress, and peace. First of all, purpose. Does it align with these long term goals that we talked about setting earlier, right, or your values that you have? I have something that I call a golden thread of value, and I teach this in all of my programs. And it is basically understanding what the values are that mean the most to you.

And everything that you do in your life should have something on that golden thread of value. It's a golden thread on a beautiful gold needle, and that thread is weaving its way through your life, through your personal life, through your business life, and it is a thread that you will be unwavering on.

It is something that you do not compromise. And when you look at bringing everything through this decision filter of purpose, progress, and peace, I want you to on the purpose note. Ask yourself, does it align with your goals and your values? Progress is the second one. The question that I want you to ask yourself here is, will it move you closer to the life or the career that you want?

So if you're looking at an opportunity and considering saying yes or no. On the progress portion of the filter, ask yourself, does this move you closer to the end goal that you're looking to achieve? Again, this could be in your personal life, this could be in your career, whatever your goal is, ask yourself, is this going to progress you moving forward to that?

And lastly is peace. This is probably the one that matters the most. To me, because I've had a cluttered mind, and a very busy mind, and a racing mind full of client meetings, and obligations, and speaking engagements, and parties, and I have to ask myself, when I say yes to this obligation or this ask, is it going to bring calm and clarity, or will it add unnecessary stress, right?

So, if by saying yes to something brings you stress that you did not have before, That's a pretty simple way to know that you need to say no to it. But as well, it should also bring you calm and clarity. Nothing that you say yes to should make you unnerved or unsettled. It should bring you calmness. It should bring you clarity and it should never add more stress.

to your life. Now that's not saying that you should not be excited about some things. Don't confuse stress with butterflies in your stomach or with the general excitement of doing something. Don't confuse those two, right? Because there's good stress and bad stress, of course, but I want you to understand if this is bringing you unnecessary bad stress, then you should probably say no to it.

Okay, so the way you're going to look at this decision filter purpose, progress, and peace is, first of all, To know that it is there to help you evaluate opportunities, or tasks, or ask, but the answer doesn't necessarily need or have to be yes to all three questions. So here is how you can use this filter effectively.

First of all, You need to know the three components, as we said, purpose, progress, and peace. But, when the answers vary, when you're looking at an opportunity, and if only one or two are yeses to the question, it's okay to say yes to something that still aligns with your purpose or progress, but doesn't necessarily bring you immediate peace.

For example, taking on a challenging project that will help you grow professionally, right? So, that could be purpose and progress checked off with a yes. But it doesn't bring immediate peace. On that same vein, something that offers peace but not very much progress, let's say like a weekend getaway, can still be valuable to your well being.

Now, if none of your answers are yes, it is a very clear indicator that you need to say no. And if that task or opportunity doesn't align with any of the three, purpose, progress, and peace, it's probably a distraction and a waste of your time. Now, If all three are yes, ding, ding, ding, this is the ideal situation, because that task or opportunity is aligning with your purpose, it's contributing to your progress, and it's bringing you peace, so that is a no brainer to say yes to.

Now here is an example of using that decision filter in context. So let's say you have a small task, a short term task, like reorganizing your workspace. That might not contribute to progress on a big project, But it could bring you peace by creating a more functional environment. I can attest to this because I just cleaned my desk for the beginning of the new year.

I wanted to remove papers and post it notes and anything that was on my desk that was just basically cluttering my space. I cleaned my desk and that immediately brought me peace because I could work better and it was bringing progress down the road because I know that I would work better with that.

So even your short term simple things can be brought through this filter. Now long term opportunities, let's say you might have a major project that does align with your purpose, right? The purpose that you've set and the progress that you want to make toward that goal. But, it could disrupt your sense of peace temporarily.

And this is what I was referring to earlier when you might have butterflies in your stomach or there might be something that's not exactly peaceful. But it's checking off the other two boxes of purpose and progress. In this case, it's Weigh the trade offs and decide for yourself if the benefits outweigh the challenges.

If the benefits of looking at the purpose and the progress that you're making with that project is going to outweigh the challenges of losing peace temporarily, but bringing you more peace later on with financial security, any of those things like that. If that's going to bring you peace because that is something that you have valued, then you can say yes to that and move forward.

Also think about time considerations and ask yourself, is this opportunity for me right now? Maybe it's something that you could wait until later to do and know that it could still be there. And if you look at that and say, nope, this is not right for me right now, but you decide a year later, That that opportunity is right for you.

You can take advantage of it then. So timing is important and your workload and how much you just basically have going on in your life with your family, with your professional life. Ask yourself, is this a good opportunity? But perhaps the timing is just a bit off and I want to reassess this later.

Remember this. Ultimately, the decision filter is a guide. It's not a rigid rule, but I promise you it will help you create intentionality. It will help you focus on what matters the most, and it will help you let go of what does not serve you. I'm going to give you a real life scenario that could happen to someone, and see how we could filter this opportunity through our decision filter.

All right, let's say you are a working professional and you have two kids and a very busy household and you have been invited to join a local networking group, right? This local professional networking group that meets every week in the evenings for two hours. You're interested in expanding your network, of course.

You want to grow your business and your professional life. But, you also already have a very packed schedule managing your current job, your kids activities, and just general household responsibilities. So you're torn, right? You're torn about whether to commit to this professional networking group. Now, let's apply that through the decision filter.

First, purpose. Ask yourself, Does joining this group align with those values, that golden thread of values, or your professional goals? And let's say the answer is yes. Let's say yes. By joining this networking group, this professional networking group, it does align with your goal to advance your career and stay connected to your industry.

So, purpose is a yes. It does give us purpose towards our goals. Progress. Will this move you closer to achieving a specific goal or a specific milestone? Let's say maybe, right? So it's a maybe. And it's going to depend on whether that networking group is well suited to your specific professional field and whether you can use all the connections that you make in this group to leverage progress in your career.

So, progress is a maybe. Will this commitment bring calmness, satisfaction, or fulfillment, or is it going to add stress to your life? And the answer is no. Adding another weekly evening commitment will probably disrupt your family dinner time. It will probably cause stress in juggling kids homework and activities, and it's going to, of course, take away time from your personal downtime.

So here is the decision that we looked at based upon the answers that I sort of made up in my head. It is going to say yes to purpose. Yes, it does align with your professional values. Progress is a maybe. The benefits are kind of uncertain. You don't really know how it's going to work out, and it's going to depend upon how well the group fits your needs.

And on the piece part of the filter, it is a no. It disrupts your family routine, and it may cause you a little more stress because your time is limited at home. So in this case, you might decide to decline the invitation for now, but look at other alternatives that fit better into your schedule, such as, let's say, a monthly networking event instead of a weekly one.

Maybe the monthly one you can swing, it doesn't disrupt your peace. And it does move you towards the purpose and the progress. Or maybe you could join an online group that allows more flexible participation, one that doesn't require you to physically go somewhere, but just go to your home office and chime in on an online call.

Or you could just commit to this specific group that you've already looked at at a later time when your schedule is less hectic. Maybe there's a certain time of the year with your career that you're not so busy, or a certain time of the year when the kids don't have as many extracurricular activities going on.

that you could commit to this specific group at a later time if you want to. So the moral of the story is, you used the decision filter to decide that this opportunity to join this group was best for you. And by using the filter, it made sure that you did not overextend yourself, but you still stayed aligned with your professional goals and your family priorities.

Essentially, what all of this does is encourages thoughtful decision making. You're looking at every opportunity through this filter. You're thinking about it rather than just jumping on board and saying yes to something. It's going to respect your professional ambitions and mostly it's going to respect your well being.

I hope this has helped you to see how you can run a specific situation through this filter of purpose, progress, and peace. And if you have a situation that you're weighing right now of saying yes or no to, Run it through this filter. It will help you understand if it meets all or some or maybe none of the goals that you have with purpose, progress, and peace.

And if it does not, then you know that you need to say no. But if there is some gray areas with maybe two yeses and one no, look at that specifically and decide if there's other alternatives that you can do to still capitalize on the ones that are a yes and then remove that negative one that is a no.

Next, I want to talk about prioritizing the tasks that serve you, and we're going to start with that by categorizing your commitments. At the start of every week, I want you to list out all the tasks that you have for that week and categorize them in the following way. First of all, urgent and important.

Ask yourself, is this an urgent and important task? Urgent and important tasks are the tasks that align, again, with those goals that you have set and they need immediate action. They need to be taken care of right now because they are urgent and important. So the first category that you're going to ask yourself is, are these commitments falling in the urgent and important category?

The second category is important tasks. And these are tasks that are important, they are valuable, but they don't require that immediate attention. These are things that you can reschedule and add to your calendar for the following week or make time for it somewhere else on your calendar. But you do need to proactively schedule these, don't just let them fall to the wayside.

Make sure that you do put them on a date that works for you. And lastly, the category to categorize your commitments is neither urgent nor important. And these are essentially time wasters. These are distractions, and I want you to eliminate these or delegate these to someone else. Or if there's something that is not important to you, not urgent to you, is wasting your time.

It's just basically a distraction. You dread doing it. Get rid of it. Remove it from your calendar. Remove it from your tasks. That could be the task for the week, or that could be the task for the year. Whatever you're looking at, ask yourself, Is this a time waster? Is it something that is a distraction? Is it something that I'm dreading to do because it does not light me up?

You need to eliminate that, take it completely away, and take it off, and say no to it. Or, delegate that to someone who does that better, and someone who, on your team perhaps, or in your home, who will take better control of that, and maybe even enjoys doing that. I did this with my business, and even my personal life.

There are things around our home that I don't enjoy doing. Laundry, for one of them. But my husband does enjoy doing that. So we have a understanding that he will do that and I will do other things in the house. And then also in my business, I don't enjoy doing certain things. I don't enjoy accounting so much.

I don't enjoy AutoCAD at all. So I've allowed myself to delegate those to people who are better at those. And who do actually enjoy those. Number two, avoid the trap of busyness. Let me just tell you that being busy is not the same as being productive. You can run around like a chicken with your head cut off all day and you feel like you've accomplished something because you were, quote, busy.

Busy is not being productive if you are not moving that scale closer to your goals. So ask yourself, are you really focusing on tasks that are meaningful to you and that align with your goals? Don't just be busy. Be productive. If you're going to give your time to something, you should have a productive outcome to that.

Number three, as I said, learn to delegate. If a task does not require you specifically to do that, or this unique skill set that you have, delegate it, my friend. Delegate that to someone who is better at it, someone who does enjoy doing it. As I said, this will free you up to focus on what truly matters to you, and this could be anything around your house.

If you hate cleaning your house and you really dread it and you're not good at it, hire a housekeeper, right? They can come in one day a week, one day a month, whatever you're looking for, but it could really free up the time for you to focus on things that is moving that needle to being more productive and towards your goals.

Other things like grocery delivery, that really does free up a lot of time if you count the time that you're spending pushing that cart around the grocery store. Set up your grocery delivery, put your favorite things on there, and just reorder that when you need to. Or if you have kids, you could carpool with other parents and understand that everyone is going to take some of the obligation and remove the stress from everyone else.

So look through your list of things to do, ask yourself what you don't enjoy doing, what is not in your best skill set, and delegate that to someone else. And lastly, number four, at the end of each week, I want you to look back and reflect on those tasks that really did align with your purpose, your progress, or your piece, that filter that we had earlier, and celebrate those successes, and this is going to build momentum for your next week.

So look back at the week, say, Oh, wow, I really did do well on this task. I really did move the needle towards my goals, and in my filter, I accomplished purpose. I accomplished progress and I accomplished peace. Now, I also want to remind you that you have to take care of yourself. And this is something that you probably hear a lot of in the new year, but it's truly, truly important.

My friend, you cannot pour from an empty cup. And your energy is like a bank account. Every commitment or task that you do withdraws from it. It takes away from it. And without adding more deposits back into it, like rest or self care or just taking a walk, you risk running on empty. As I said, you cannot pour from an empty cup.

You also need to boost your productivity and creativity, and on that same note, by giving to yourself, you're boosting your productivity and your creativity. I love giving myself time to dream and plan and just innocently think about what I want to do for the future around my house, around my life, around my marriage, around my business, and by giving yourself time to freely think and be creative about it, I want to remind you that this downtime that you are doing is not a waste.

It is necessary for recharging and necessary for fostering that creativity and focus. So give yourself time to think, give yourself time to be creative, and give yourself time to have some downtime. Because when your schedule is packed, there is no room for reflection. Taking time for yourself. Helps you reassess your goals and adjust your actions.

As I mentioned before, on a previous podcast, I took a trip to Italy and it was a restorative trip. It was a beautiful trip. It was a solo trip. I did not go with anyone but myself. That's what a solo trip is, John. And it was wonderful. And it really did allow me to just rest with my own thoughts and be creative in my thinking and plan for myself and for my life and my business on my own schedule.

I came back with such a go getter attitude. I came back with such clarity on what I wanted to accomplish, but I would not have had that had I not taken this time for myself. And of course, I'm not saying you have to go to Italy to do this. But for me, that was something that was so glaringly obvious that really helped me.

And I loved giving myself that downtime to create space for clarity. So in wrapping all of this up, I want to give you some practical self care tips. First of all, schedule your me time. Schedule it in your calendar. Block off that time in your calendar for yourself, and you need to treat that like a doctor's appointment, a client meeting, anything that you value, you need to treat that as a non negotiable.

This is your time that you have put into your calendar, and I can attest to you that if you do not put it into your calendar, then it will not exist, and you will not make yourself do that. So put it in your calendar right now. And if you have to move it to a different day as the year goes along, if you find another day that's better for your walk, or another day that's better for your gym time, or another day that's better for a long bath, ask yourself what day is best and put that on your calendar and treat it as a non negotiable.

That is your time for you and I will not allow you to take that away from your calendar and away from your life. Start the day with intention. This is important too. I love to start my day slow. As you guys know, I don't want to jump into a meeting or a phone call or any activity like that. Ask yourself what's important for you to start your day with intention.

And this could be spending five to ten minutes journaling in your phone, on your notes, or in an actual journal book. I think actually writing it out is helpful with a pen. pencil or pen. But if you are someone who just wants to use your iPad or your phone, you can also journal in that as well. There are so many journaling apps that you can download, and I believe iPhone has one that's actually part of the phone where it will remind you to journal if you set that up.

Or maybe you want to start your day with meditation. And meditation does not have to be some crazy, long, complicated process. Meditation can simply be breathing in and out for two to three minutes. If you breathe in and breathe out and you listen to your breath and there are sounds around you that you hear nature and you hear birds chirping or you just hear your breath only, I can tell you this simple meditation is something that will center you and you do not have to make it any more complicated than just a few minutes of your day.

To breathe in and breathe out and notice the breath and the sound of your breath. It will recenter you and is a great way to start the day or break up the day. And lastly, you can visualize your day, right? Visualize what you want your day to be. Visualize what you want to accomplish that day. Visualize what you want your attitude to be.

Visualize how you want to interact with people. Visualize a smile on your face throughout the day. Visualize yourself going through the day, being productive, and making progress, and having peace of mind, and visualize these things happening. It sounds corny, but by visualizing yourself, doing all the things that you constitute as a successful day will allow you to move towards that.

It truly, truly does. Number three say no gracefully. I know a lot of us have such a hard time with saying no It should not be that way and I think the older I get the easier it is for me to say no to things Because I know that it is taking time away from other things that I could be doing or want to be doing so learn how To say no gracefully if you have a hard time with it I want you to run it through that filter, of course, first, but you need to decline any commitments that do not serve you by just offering polite alternatives or even an explanation if you feel you need to do so.

I honestly just am fine with saying no, because no is a complete sentence in my book. But if you are learning to do this on your own account, it might make you feel better to give an alternative to someone. If you have a client that you are saying no to, maybe refer another interior designer to them. Or if you have an ask for your own personal life, you could say, I'm really busy this week.

Let's talk about doing this later. If that is an easier way for you to do that, then feel free to do so. However, I want to remind you that you do not have to have an exclamation for your nose. Because no is a complete sentence. No is the answer. And you can say, I'm so sorry, I'm just not available to do that.

Or I'm so sorry, I'm going to have to decline your offer. Or you can just say, I'm sorry, I can't say yes to that right now. My schedule doesn't permit it. Whatever you need to do to say no to that gracefully, find the way that works for you, that you're most comfortable with. But don't procrastinate saying no.

This is something that I learned as well. If you know that you're going to say no, N O, to something, go ahead and do it right away. Do not waste your time spinning in your head and making the other person wait. If there's a party that you're invited to and you know that you're not going to that party, and you know that you don't want to go to that party for whatever reason, Go ahead and say no.

It is okay to do that, because you're just going to waste that precious time in your mind and in your life by procrastinating saying no to something that you know you're going to end up saying no to at the end of the day. Number four, invest in joy. Prioritize activities that bring you fulfillment, whether that's reading or exercising or, I don't know, spending time with your family and your friends.

Put those first. Put those at the top of your list. Do not forget to put those on your calendar and prioritize them. If something is bringing you joy and fulfilling you in your life, you need to keep doing that. And that could be anything. I love long walks. I love taking walks with just a little bit of music on, and then I find a point in the walk where I turn the music off and just live with my own thoughts.

And by doing that, it allows me to expand my thoughts and to think about new things for my business, and to think about new things for my home and my life. And by not putting that on your own calendar and prioritizing those activities, you're not investing in your own joy. So invest in your own joy.

Number five, evaluate your wins every week. As I mentioned before, reflect on what worked well with you during that week. Reflect on what aligned with your goals and celebrate those moments. Give yourself a cocktail, watch a fun show on Netflix, whatever it is that feels like a celebration to you, do that.

You have to celebrate your own wins because you're the person who is monitoring what those wins are and you are going to be responsible for celebrating those. So give yourself some sort of reward for accomplishing your weekly wins. And lastly, give yourself grace to adapt to all of these, right? If this is new to you, if you've not given yourself time to have self care moments, you need to give yourself grace if you don't achieve them right away.

If you have a little bump in the road, if you have something that does move or is removed from your calendar, It's okay. Take a breath, put it back on your calendar the next time, and give yourself some grace to do that because it won't be easy to do this if you've never done it before, right? If you've never given yourself time to run everything through a filter, to consider saying no to things that don't light you up, it's not going to be an automatic win every time, but it will be worth it.

That's the point. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it. When I first started saying no, it was so easy. It was so awkward for me because I just felt like I had to say yes to advance my career. And maybe there was an opportunity here to do this that would be better for me. That would move my career along.

But when I started saying yes to things all the time, and then there was something wonderful that came along that was on the same date, or that was during the same time. I was booked, right? I had no time on my calendar because I said yes to some mediocre commitment, and then some fabulous commitment opened up, and I couldn't say yes to that because I was already booked with something that I was not excited about.

So, it won't be easy, but you'll get used to it, and once you do, it's just going to become second nature, and you're going to really love it. Here is something I want you to remember. You are the architect of your time and your energy. By choosing those tasks that serve your purpose, your progress, and your peace, those three Ps, you are designing a life that's not just busy, but a life that is meaningful.

As we step into 2025, Let's all hold hands and make a commitment together to say yes to only what serves us and no to what doesn't. Take a few moments after this episode to reflect on what your priorities are. I want you to ask yourself, what commitments or habits can I let go of? And, what actions can I take to make more space for what truly serves me?

By answering those questions, it's going to allow you to learn what serves you and what does not. So, those questions again, what commitments or habits can I let go of? And what actions can I take to make space for what truly serves me? And that is the end of this episode for today. I hope it has helped you to understand that it is vital to think about what is serving you and that it is okay to say no to the things that do not.

And if this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend, send it to someone who could benefit from it as well. And also, don't forget to connect with me on Instagram. And if you have not added this podcast in your automatic downloads, I encourage you to do so, because this year is going to be full of so much great content on this podcast.

You're going to love it. And as I said before, Head over to my YouTube channel. It's just John McClain, M C C L A I N, and follow me there because you're going to see fun and amazing videos that are going to further your career and your life. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you enjoyed the new format for the podcast.

I'm really super excited about it. And here's to a year of purpose, progress, and to peace. Make it a great day, my friend, and I'll see you next time on the Designer Within Podcast. Thanks for tuning in to the Designer Within Podcast. I hope you found today's episode inspiring and full of actionable ideas to help you design a better home, a thriving career, or simply a more intentional life.

For more tips, resources, and free downloads to support the design of your home or the design of your career, head on over to johnmcclain. co. That's johnmcclain. co. And remember, to make big changes on the outside, you need to start within. Until next time, I'm John McClain. Stay creative and stay inspired.