Life is not about working till you die! But so many of us think of it that way. What if we could design a life in which we own our day, we take back out time and we could still accomplish all the things on our to do list with ample time for play?

Listen in as I talk with Jevon Wooden, a mindset and business coach to discuss how we can Own Our Time and spend more time living not working.

Drink of the week….The Fisher’s Mezcal Old Fashioned 

If you liked what you heard today, please leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. Also, please remember to share the podcast to help it reach a larger audience.

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Own Your Time Checklist

Life is not about working until you die.

Do things that you love with people you love.

Create memories, laugh, live, not love.

That is the mantra of my guest today.

Welcome to episode 1 39 of This Shit Works podcast, dedicated to

all things networking, relationship building, and business development.

I'm your host, Julie Brown, speaker, author, and networking coaching.

Today I am joined by Jevon.

A mindset and business coach as well as an author and professional

speaker, which is how we met.

And today he is joining us to discuss how we can own our time and spend

more time living, not working.

Welcome to This Shit Works, your Weekly No Nonsense Guide to networking your way

to More friends, more adventures, and way more success with your host, Julie Brown.

Here we go.

Jovan and I met at a networking event.

I know.

Shocker.

We were both in line for the bar again.

I know.

Shocker.

And before we get into the meat of why Jovan is here, and because this is a

networking podcast and you all presumably want to get better at networking,

that's why you tune in every week.

This is how you do it.

You strike up a conversation with someone in line at.

You joke back and forth about how the bartender cannot make an

old fashioned to save his life.

You discover that your energies and vibes are really similar.

You exchange business cards and promise to reach out to them the next day.

This is where most of these chance networking encounters end because people

don't follow up and follow through.

And if that were the case with my interaction with Jovan, I would've

missed out on the opportunity to become friends with him, to learn

from him, to collaborate with him.

And it would've been a damn shame because my friends Jovan is fucking amazing.

Java's childhood was marked with struggle, and he will be the first to

admit that he took a few wrong turns.

At 17, he was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison.

This experience was a profound wake up call that shifted everything

for him, his perspective, his values, and his goals for his life.

When he was released, he earned a Master's degree and an M B A, and if

that wasn't enough, he joined the US Army Reserves, served for 12 years, and

was awarded a bronze star for his heroic acts during his deployment in Afghani.

From prison to university to the army.

All of his experiences taught him the importance of mindset when facing

what seems like impossible odds.

And honestly, I can't wait to talk to him.

I can't wait for you to learn about him.

Javon, welcome to the podcast.

Hey, thanks for having me, Julie.

Man, thank it is an honor and a pleasure and a privilege.

I can't wait to get some of that energy of yours.

My energy.

. Yes, it's contagious.

Uh, you know, I don't even know where to start.

There's so many parts of your life that we could hone in on.

Let's go back to when you were 17.

You were arrested, sentenced to seven years, and according to studies, An

estimated 68% of released prisoners were arrested again within three

years, 79% within six years, and 83% will be rearrested within nine years.

How did you beat the statistic?

Sure.

Well, I truly believe that that was really just a wake up call.

Uh, that was my awakening.

That was my time to sit in that cell and really ask myself,

is this the life that I want?

And when I was in there, my mother and my sister came to visit

me, and this was probably like two weeks after I got arrested.

And my mother told me that she put the house up for me to get a lawyer.

Now this is the same home.

My three sisters and my brother and my mother stayed in.

So if anything happened that went awry, she would've lost that home.

Mm-hmm.

, meaning I would've still been in jail and sh they would've been homeless.

Mm-hmm.

. So that gave me a sense of value.

So that same day is the same is the day I decided to change my life.

It's the day I decided that I would rather work two jobs.

I would rather try going to school.

I would rather do anything I could in a legal.

To avoid putting my, my family through that again.

Right?

At that time, I didn't understand my value.

I didn't feel like I cared that much about myself, which is where the

story of live, not loath comes from.

Mm-hmm.

. That's why I chose the word loath, because I loathed life.

I was, I just didn't like where I was.

I hated myself.

Um, I hated my cir circumstances, hated being poor, hated wearing the

same two pairs of sneakers, three pairs of jeans, and five shirts

for the year, the school year.

But I knew that wasn't.

So lo and behold, you know, I was released.

I didn't have to do all the time.

Okay.

And when I got out, I decided that, hey, you know, I'm gonna finish school

and I'm gonna do whatever it takes.

So I started searching within myself.

I started asking, what do I have to offer?

Because money, of course, we didn't have any of that.

Mm-hmm.

. But that as I started researching and listening more to self-help,

doing more reading, doing all those things, It opened my eyes, , right?

It opened my eyes.

Now things didn't go all, all happy and sweet.

Of course, , right?

Mm-hmm.

, as you said, I made some mistakes along the way, but I just learned

so much through that experience and thankfully I was able to, uh,

get my record expunged so I could join the military and do some good.

Oh, that's interesting.

I didn't even think about having to have done that in order to get in the military.

Yes.

Tell me about your military experience and then we'll get into like how

you translate that into business.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So as you mentioned, 12 years, um, army Reserve three tours.

I went in at 22.

I didn't want to go in at first.

That was not my first choice.

People.

I think my first choice was, was to go to college, but I just couldn't afford it.

Mm-hmm.

and looking to afford it.

I found myself going down that wrong path again, so I just was like, you know what?

I'm gonna back outta college right now.

I don't want to go through that to pay for this, because I may

not make it through anyway.

So I ended up joining at 22.

Prior to that, I worked two full-time jobs just to, you know, afford

some type of quality of life.

Um, I worked as a card attendant and cashier, and, uh, then I worked

at as environmental services, which is a glorified housekeeper, right.

at the hospital.

Okay.

Okay.

So I did what I took and then, uh, the military just showed me so much about

who I was and the capabilities I had.

So I was able to identify leadership skills.

I identified resilience.

I identified the tenacity I had, I was able to connect with people

I wouldn't otherwise had, uh, you know, connected with networking.

The first time I realized the power of networking right, was

when I came into the military.

Cuz when you join a new unit, you don't know anyone.

Mm-hmm.

, you come in there, you're like, uh, Let me look around, see who I can talk

to, and you just naturally start making these connections, forming these bonds.

And these are people, when you go overseas, you look

to your left and your right.

Those are the people you have to depend on, right?

Mm-hmm.

, it doesn't matter your backgrounds, it doesn't matter you know what

job you have or how you came up.

What matters is you have to be at a depend on that person.

You have to be able to connect with that person so that it

is just taught me the power of communication, collaboration, and then.

You mentioned communication.

So for the listeners, everybody who fills out a form to be on the podcast,

I ask them what their favorite episode of the podcast is so far.

And you put that your favorite episode so far was how to Be a Top Communicator,

and that was with Brendan Kumar Sammi.

And you chose it because you think effective communication is a lost

art that needs to be reestablished.

Do you mean by that?

Yeah, I just feel like, you know, with social media and phones and

all these other things mm-hmm.

, we're so used to being behind screens.

We're not used to making those connections in person, that eye

to eye connection, those mm-hmm.

. Non-verbal skills.

Yeah.

We don't have that.

We don't have active listening skills because we're used to not talking.

Right.

, everything's next nowadays.

So we lose that.

We lose the power to really form deep bonds with people that we don't know.

You know, we lose the power to, to listen, to understand, not to respond.

We lose the power to, you know, get out of our comfort zones

a little bit and say hello.

The folks that we don't, you know, normally talk to.

Mm-hmm.

. So it's just.

Those things that we used to have those things that were a necessity when we were

living and in business prior to computers.

We're losing them.

We're losing all those social skills.

Mm-hmm.

, one thing I read in your material, so you, one thing the listeners should know

is you have a shit ton of materials.

You have a shit ton of free offerings.

I would suggest you go to the website, which I'll put in the show notes

for all of the these great tips.

One thing that I read in your materials was that you help people.

Design a life that's purposeful, passionate, and profitable.

But in order to do that, we need to understand that after a certain

point, success does not come from pouring even more time and effort

and resources into something.

And I think that's where a lot of especially entrepreneurs fall, that

we just feel like if we just work harder and work harder and work

harder and, you know, more hours, more effort should mean more success.

And it doesn't, it doesn't translate into that.

You say it's about creating a strategy and a focus and focusing your energy.

Tell me a little bit how you work with people to do that.

Absolutely.

So one of the first things we look at is their calendar, their schedule.

What are they doing with their time?

Because a lot of folks are like, Hey, I'm so, so busy.

You know, I'm doing this, I'm doing that.

I'm like, you're busy, but you're not purposeful.

Mm-hmm.

, right?

You're, you're spending your time doing things that really don't move the needle

forward towards your goals if you even know your goals in the first place.

So we look at what they truly value.

, you know, what really matters to them?

What are they going for?

You know, that's purpose.

Purpose gives you a direction.

So many people are, if you use a sailboat metaphor like we, we like to

do in coaching and psychology, they're floating in the water aimlessly, right?

. They have no purpose, no direction, so they're going fast in the wrong way.

Or they just sit title.

So what we do is we look at what really matters.

We do, uh, um, exercises to find their values, and we rank them, right?

We gotta prioritize those values, and then we look at their

goals, and then we rank those.

And I only recommend doing three main goals for a year, right?

Three main goals at any level, because if you do too many, you overwhelm.

Right.

You're gonna try to do too much too fast and you're not gonna get as much done.

Right?

So we look at that, and then we look at how they spend their days.

Right?

Are those days aligning with the life they want and the business they want?

Mm-hmm.

, chances are they're not right.

A lot of people come home, they're like, woo.

Tired.

Let me sit and watch five hours of tv.

Right.

, let me, I might do that sometimes.

Social media.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ok.

Sometimes, right?

But you know, if that's your everyday routine and then you're wondering why

things aren't working the way you want, that's a, a issue or the opposite.

People wanna work 16, 17 hours a day.

, there's a law diminishing returns.

Yeah.

It's like that means that your systems, your processes in the way

you're doing things isn't working.

Right.

So that's why I always recommend that folks look at things, get posted

notes, get something that reminds you what you need to be focused on.

Mm-hmm.

. And at the end of your day look at that and say, okay, what's left over?

What did I accomplish?

Right.

Do an inventory.

Mm-hmm.

because, That'll keep you on task.

You can write out, okay, next day I need to do this.

And you build that habit of doing that.

Now you remain uber focused.

You are in what Cal Newport calls your deep work, right?

Mm-hmm.

, so you get.

Remove all the distractions, all those notifications.

You know how much time that takes from you A day.

Yes.

Notification.

I don't have any of the on my phone, no dings, no, none of that, right?

None of that pops up, right?

And the reason why is because when you look, you may think you're

multitasking, but there's no such thing.

Right, and it takes you at least 10 minutes to get back into the mind

to refocus on whatever you had.

So if you think about that, right, every time you go scroll or, or reach

for your phone or any of that stuff, it's taking that much longer to

accomplish the task you need to get done.

So I always recommend people have clean spaces and then there's a arms reach rule.

So if my phone is in arms reach, it's proven that I'm going to go for

that, like thousands of times a day.

Mm-hmm.

. So put your phone somewhere else if you know you need to, uh, really a

attack something and get something done, put your phone somewhere else.

Turn off all the notifications.

Yeah.

Don't have those beeps and dings going off.

Right.

Really focus on what you need to focus on and you will cut your time to

complete something down tremendously.

I believe that so strongly.

Yes.

Yes.

And there's so many tools that help you.

Like if you know that you're one of those people like squirrel mindset, , you know,

you like the squirrel mindset is more like it . You know, you get shiny object

you like, everything distracts you.

You know, make sure you set your life up for in your business, up for success.

It has a flow of success.

Make it easy for yourself.

I always say success should be lazy.

You know, you wanna do it as easy as possible.

You don't wanna make it difficult.

We already have enough distractions and things become inundated with

all this negativity and stuff.

Make it easier on yourself.

Right.

I remem the days where I am disciplined enough to shut off all

my notifications, which I, it's not every day, but I do accomplish so much

more on those days because my brain is not switching between activities.

Mm-hmm.

You've said something right at the beginning of the answer of this question.

You talked about goals and only having three goals per year, so I have a

couple follow up questions on that.

Is there a size limitation or a, or should they be a certain size of a goal?

Like a big, hairy, audacious goal?

You hear that all?

Like what's your big, hairy, audacious goal?

Like are they supposed to be small goals or supposed to be like those

big hairy goals and why only three?

Yep.

So I do three big goals.

Okay.

Uh, I like the challenge.

You only grow when you challenge yourself.

Mm-hmm.

. So I want goals that's going to stress me, not the ones I know.

I'm not gonna say if I've already been hitting.

A hundred thousand dollars a year, I'm not gonna say, oh, I wanna hit

a hundred thousand dollars a year.

Again.

I wanna stretch that.

Right?

And I want to times that.

So you want to do something you haven't done yet.

Mm-hmm.

. And then what you do with those three bigger goals is you set milestones, right?

And those milestones are your smaller goals, your intermediaries.

Mm-hmm.

, the ones you wanna accomplish in six.

Then you have your short-term goals in a month.

You know, things like that.

Mm-hmm.

and you're just gonna work it back, reverse engineer those major goals into

smaller things so you can celebrate.

You hit something.

Mm-hmm.

that moves you closer.

And that's the key.

You always wanna make sure you celebrate.

It doesn't have to be having a glass of wine or dinner, but make

sure you acknowledge it in some way, shape, or form that you've

gotten closer to that main goal.

Right?

Yeah.

Of course, there's projects, trackers, you know, you got Asanas and the

Mondays and all those other things.

You can just use your phone, right?

Hey, I hit this , you know?

Mm-hmm.

, you're gonna have an accountability partner.

Let them know where you are.

But three.

Is my number because I noticed that if I try to do too much more than that major

goals, then I, I just get overwhelmed.

Yeah.

And I'm a, I'm like you, you're high performer.

I want to get things done.

Yep.

But it, we have to realize that it is okay if we don't accomplish those.

Right.

It's okay if we get close and no cigar because you grew and you

have lessons learned from it.

Now if you hit one of those goals mm-hmm.

, right.

And you start working toward those other, And then you can add another

after you knock those out if you surprise yourself and you get there sooner.

Right.

Yeah.

So, so you make room for something else as you accomplish, but you

don't want to do too much at once.

Do you suggest that people put their goals somewhere that

they can see them every day?

Is that like, is that helpful or, it depends on the person.

Okay.

Some people don't need to do that.

Right.

But again, if you're one of those people who become distracted and

you forgot your purpose or forgot your direction, yeah, then I would

say list those things everywhere.

You could do David Goggins.

See, he wrote Can't Hurt Me.

He talks about the accountability mirror, right?

The post-it notes on wherever you get dressed at or get ready at, right?

You put that Post-it note, say, this is what I want to hit.

Am I on track?

Check in with yourself.

Be honest.

Mm-hmm.

, you know, be honest with yourself.

It's off too often that it's easy for us to make a promise

to ourselves that we break.

But if we do it to someone else, we feel so bad, why can't we do that to ourselves?

Hold ourselves accountable, be our own best friend, and

say, listen, I'm not on track.

What am I doing wrong?

What do I need to replace?

Because success, I mean, we talk about balancing all

those things, let's be honest.

Mm-hmm.

, there's something that's going to de to be sacrificed to hit where you want to hit.

And we have to be okay with that.

Right.

And that's why it's important to have those values.

So when we do our check-ins, we're gonna ask, okay, what am I doing in my day?

You know, if I want to make a million this year, yeah.

What am I doing in my day?

Am I spending too much time?

Uh, I think it's Brian Tracy.

He talks about education versus entertainment, right?

He talks about that quotient, and that's when you know if you're on track or if

you're, uh, really doing what you need to.

So am I spending my time entertaining myself?

Right?

Scrolling on social media.

Mm-hmm.

watching tv, listening to the music, or am I educating myself becoming better?

Am I investing in my programs?

Mm-hmm.

, investing in making sure my business is flowing and operating.

Do I have the infrastructure?

Those are questions you really have to ask yourself, right?

Right.

Am I investing in my physical health?

And that will tell you if you're really doing everything

you can do to hit those goals.

So also going through your material.

There's a term that you use that I love, and when I saw it in your

materials, I knew I had to talk about it.

So you say you can offer your clients a mis plus.

Level of organization for their entire life.

So, which I find fascinating, I love this term and for the listeners who may

not have heard this term, it's a French term, which is actually comes from

French culinary school, which literally means to have everything in place

before you start cooking, it literally translates into everything in its place.

Mm-hmm.

. And it's so like before you start cooking, you have all of your

ingredients ready at the go.

If you're not like running over to get flour or do whatever, Tell me

about you using that terminology, this French cooking terminology, which I

love in business and with your clients.

Absolutely.

So thanks for asking this.

So I talked about making success easier earlier, and what we like to

look at is how you have things set up.

Like that could be your office, your home.

Do you have clutter everywhere?

Right?

Because clutter space was cluttered mine.

Mm-hmm.

, right?

So we really want to know like, okay, is everything I have set up if I know

I want to hit the gym in the morning?

Do I have my workout clothes picked up?

Do I have my, my pre-workout set up already?

You know, those are the types of things we're looking at.

If I journal every day, is my journal or my nightstand or is it

at my office, depending on the time.

Mm-hmm.

. So we want to look at how you are operating holistically

in business and personally.

Because one can't be be good without the other.

Right?

You're going to have issues if you have any, anything out of whack.

So we want to look at how you're doing things on a daily basis.

So I have my clients track what they're doing, right?

How many times they check, become mindful.

Mm-hmm.

, that's it's awareness, right?

When you're aware.

You can actively think, you can respond versus react.

And that's where I want to get my clients.

I want them to actually respond.

I want them to be mindful of what they're doing, how they're spending their time.

Do they have a habit?

Pay attention to your habits.

Right?

Like we talked about social media, a lot of people just have a habit

when they're not doing anything.

Yeah.

Or they're procrastinating to try to distract themselves.

Mm-hmm.

. We wanna make sure that we're tracking all of that stuff.

And we do it for, we, we try to do 30 days.

A lot of people, they, they break down around like the, the

two week mark, which is fine.

Right.

Okay.

But because that gives us some data, everything's about data, right?

Yeah.

So, well, there's data behind it.

New year's resolutions last 13 days.

Exactly.

So there's like science behind that two week . Like you, like if you

could break that two week mindset, like you'd be like the best ever.

Exactly.

Like exactly.

I'll thank you.

Of the two week mindset . Right, right.

And, but that's the key of having coach, right?

Because the coach we can see things that you don't see.

So a lot of times when my clients don't accomplish something, it tells

me more data than what they did.

Yeah.

So I can ask them like, okay, what came up for you when you stopped doing it?

You know, and a lot of them are like, man, I, I see what I'm doing.

It's like tracking your budget, right?

. Yeah.

A lot of people are like, man, I see my spending, huh?

I just couldn't see it anymore, man.

And maybe, you know, so it's the same way with habits, it's the same

way with, with your processes and your daily attitudes and everything.

So once we can do that, now we start, I know what I need to do, what extra decided

they need to accomplish, how we can come up with an action plan for their success.

Mm-hmm.

. So we just have to be able to see it first.

Right.

Because once we can see it, we can put that plan in place specific to

that person, cuz everyone's different.

Yeah.

So we also do like a personality test.

We do an Enneagram test to see, oh, I, okay.

What are you, what number are you?

I'm actually a two.

I'm an eight.

You're an eight?

Mm-hmm.

. Oh, okay.

I, I can see that.

I can, I can see that it is something that shows up in my life all the time.

I was born on March.

My life path number is a seven, but I was told by my life path coach that I've been

living it as an eight my entire life.

And my life would be a lot easier if I lived it as a seven and not an eight.

And then, cause I'm like fighting my natural like instinct.

And then my en Enneagram came back as an eight.

Wow.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Cause you know, Enneagram also have what you show up as, right.

So you couldn't be at one number and you more, you show up more on the other side.

So, yeah.

Yeah, it's just interesting ways, so to get people to see like,

okay, yeah, I can see that me being that a two or three mm-hmm.

you know, I can see me, you know, being aggressive or whatever.

Mm-hmm.

. So it just, it just helps.

Identify like their, some of their strengths help them become

more mindful, like why they struggle with certain things.

So we just really want to give enough data where they can say,

all right, this is what I need to do because I'm not gonna tell you

something that doesn't align with you.

Right, right.

I'm not gonna have you do something that doesn't align.

So I'm more inclined to ask you a lot of questions.

I'm more inclined to help you discover what you need to do.

That's actually the true definition of a coach.

Mm-hmm.

. And then when I need to, I switch to that consulting hat and be like,

Just do this, just try this out.

right?

We're gonna see how this works.

Here's your plan.

And I just check in, right?

That accountability is important.

So I also ask like, how can I help?

You know, how can I support you along this?

And then I have this concept, the 360 support system.

So I also want you to have people in your life that you can

count on for different things.

So that could be your significant other, your friends, you know, somebody, what

I call a goal buddy, someone who's trying to accomplish the same thing.

Mm-hmm.

, right?

So you just have to look at that.

A little a, a couple minutes ago you mentioned journaling.

You said maybe you write it in your journal and I know that

that's part of your own your time.

Take control of your day tactic, one of your tactics.

Mm-hmm.

. But I think a lot of people who are listening just like their eye just

rolled like real heavy cuz they're really fucking sick of being told to journal.

How can you make journaling more appealing so that people will actually do it?

? Absolutely.

So this is a key I find helps a lot of folks that I work with.

Journaling does not have to be writing.

Okay.

You could journal in your own way.

Right.

Some people prefer voice notes.

Some people prefer do videos.

Some people write, some people, you know, journaling has to be for you.

Mm-hmm.

. It's not for everyone else.

It is yours.

Right.

It is your record of what happened, so you could do it however you want

and it shouldn't be hard because you don't have to sit there and

think about it and make it right.

It doesn't have automatically correct.

You could write whatever the heck you want.

You can say whatever the heck.

Like, don't overthink it.

It doesn't have to be this long book that I'm writing.

Alright.

. Literally like, Hey, today suck.

And then I have people number it one to 10, why did it suck?

You know, find those types of things.

It doesn't have to be complicated.

It could literally be like a one minute exercise.

Mm-hmm.

. And another key is to talk to yourself how you actually talk.

Right.

You know, don't do it as if you're writing all form.

Yeah.

You know, if you are like Julian, you say, Hey, this shit works.

Then you write that in your notebook, right?

Yep.

You want . You know, I think that's where a lot of entrepreneurs, or

even business people, they struggle with how they're supposed to sound.

And I know this because I did it, you know, my company.

I don't know.

It was like three years old.

It's seven years now.

But I was like three or four years old before I actually embraced the fact that

I'm crass, I'm crass, and this is the way this shit's gonna come out and this

is the way I deliver it, and it's my most comfortable way of delivering it.

And so every single thing I do is in this fashion.

Now it's, it was my book.

It's my newsletter.

It's my podcast, you know, and it was just, Relaxing.

I don't even, that's not even the right word.

It was just so freeing, I think, to be like, you know what, this is me.

And you must get that a lot with people who are, maybe they're struggling

under the veil of what, what a business person is supposed to look like.

Absolutely.

And that's what I was gonna say.

Like a lot of people, we, we hear the term unique selling proposition all

the time, or unique selling point.

Your uniqueness is your authenticity, right?

Especially if you're a personal brand, right?

. If you're a personal brand, that is your unique selling proposition.

You think about the Gary Vayner checks of the world, I mean, he's,

every other word is the F bomb.

Every other word.

You don't have to fit into someone's mode.

You know, before it was everyone wore business suits and all this other stuff.

Then Zuckerberg came in as his Facebook, c e o.

He wears hoodies now.

You know?

So you have to be you.

You cannot let someone else's definition of what a successful

person looks like or sounds like.

Mm-hmm.

heck over because then you are gonna be drained.

The people you really wanna work with aren't gonna align with you, so you're

just not going to be successful.

So you have to take the veil off, take the facade off, and be.

Yeah, so I wanna get back to one thing about the goals, cuz I

forgot to ask this question cuz I got sidetracked by something.

Goals.

I wanted to ask , what if you're working with somebody and they're like,

I actually dunno what my goals are.

Like, do you help people sort of look holistically at their

business and tell them what is possible, what should be goals?

because I think I could come up with one big goal.

Like I had a goal of writing a book.

I had a goal of launching a podcast.

Now I have a goal of doing a TED Talk, which hasn't happened yet, but I think

that it would be helpful for someone else from the outside looking at my business,

cuz we can't see what we can't see.

You know, a butterfly can't see its own wings, you know?

So can you look at people's businesses and say, actually, I think this

would be an amazing goal for you?

Or do you kind of let them find that the.

There's a couple answers.

I can do that.

But what I typically do like is that that values assessment, a lot of

people forgot what matters to 'em.

Mm-hmm.

, and that's why they can't identify goals.

Right?

So I like to do that first, and I like for them to really rediscover themselves.

Because once you rediscover yourselves, not a fun starts.

Mm-hmm.

, right?

That means if you don't know what you like, you don't know what.

Then how are you enjoying life or business?

Right?

That means you've been sad, that you've been drained, right?

And you've probably been lost for a while.

Mm-hmm.

. So I like to do a, what do I call, the root cause analysis.

Okay?

Why are you struggling with identifying your goals?

Why are you struggling with joy?

Right.

And that's why I always say mindset is everything.

Right on the back of my hoodie, it says, control your mindset.

Control your.

Right.

To control your mindset.

We have to really do that introspection that everyone hates to do . Right?

Especially as business owners we're like, oh, I can't, I ain't got time for that.

Right?

I can't sit here and think about what matters, but that's the only

way you're going to be able to ascend to the levels you want to hit.

Mm-hmm.

is when you really identify what matters.

and what your purpose is, it changes, right?

Mm-hmm.

, so you have to do this, you know, ever so often, at least once a year, I'm gonna

check in and say, okay, does that really align with who I am and who I wanna be?

Or has it changed?

Have I gone to the point where I've outgrown that part?

Mm-hmm.

. So we really have to do that work before we can move forward into anything.

Or else you're just gonna, everything's gonna be a goal.

You see someone else doing something, you're like, that's my goal.

Mm-hmm.

, and we don't want.

Yeah.

That is funny.

I can, I can see that too.

Like you seeing as somebody else who's successful and sudden you're like,

oh, that should be my goal, because obviously it's worked for them.

When it's not your goal, it's somebody else's goal.

Yep.

That is so interesting.

Since we met at the nsa, and you're a speaker, obviously as well as

me, not just a coach, tell me.

When you're talking to a group, you have so much information.

So how are you putting it into a 60 minute keynote, which is, I'm assuming

is the length of your keynote, like what resonates the most with the audiences

that you're speaking in front of?

So there's a talk I like to do, it's called How to Go From Distress to Success.

Okay.

And, and this resonates a lot with folks because I talk about the concept of label.

And I talk about how labels really are the reason why a lot of us struggle.

Mm-hmm.

, we want a certain label or someone has placed a label on us, or we place

the label on ourselves and we hold that weight and it really stifles us.

Mm-hmm.

. And that is important because when you think about going through life,

You know, you said earlier it took you three years to discover yourself, right?

Mm-hmm.

, because you had this label.

Yep.

You maybe had the label of professional.

Yep.

And then with that label comes what professional looks like or what at least

a lot of us think it looks like, right?

Mm-hmm.

. So we have to be mindful of what we're calling and telling ourselves, and then

what we're allowing people to put on us.

Mm-hmm.

. And that's why they talk resonates.

Cause it, there's a mindset.

There's a concept, you know, you see my sweatshirt says On your kingdom.

On your kingdom, I'll talk about how there's three things, the

physical, mental, and emotional.

And if any of those are outta whack, that means our triad is off.

And that means you're not focused and you can't be centered.

If you're not focused, now you're stressed.

Now you're overwhelmed, now you're procrastinating.

And now just everything starts to unravel.

Mm-hmm.

. So we have to take that time to see what labels are being placed on.

you know, that's the pressures.

And once we understand that, we do not have to live to that.

We are free and we can do what Julie does, and we can be ourselves , and

that's, that's really why that resonates with a lot of folks.

It frees you.

Mm-hmm.

. I also want the listeners to also understand that even though I'm a hundred

percent comfortable in this skin and the way that I talk in my business and

the clients hire me because of my brand.

I still check myself all the time and wonder like, have I gone too far?

Is it like, is the shine gonna rub off?

Like, is this gonna get old?

Like I still think about it all the time.

Like sometimes when I'm not as busy as I feel like I should

be, I'm like, oh shit, is it?

Because I swear all the time, you know, being comfortable and it is

like an ongoing process, I think.

Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

I mean that, and that's the thing, right?

You may not be comfortable all the.

But you feel better because you're able to be you.

I don't want to be hired by a company that says, Hey, you need to be this.

And it's, yeah, it has nothing to do with who I am.

Mm-hmm.

, I don't wanna do that.

Right.

Yeah.

I don't wanna do it for the money because at a certain point, you know, what

is your, again, what are your values?

Mm-hmm.

and there, those have to be non-negotiables.

You have to stand for something.

Yeah.

And that's how I look at it.

You have to stand for something.

You know, of course there's some adjustments, especially as a speaker

that we make when a, you know, a company wants us to hit on certain things or

maybe there's certain topics they don't want us to touch on, and that's fine.

But it has to align with who you are.

What do you wanna be known for?

What legacy do you want to leave?

Yeah, so Jevon, if you had one.

All right, we're gonna wrap up soon, , and I'm gonna put everything Jevon in

the show notes and your website and.

Links to the checklists that I think that they should download.

One being the own your time checklist, because I think that's

gonna change people's lives.

Is there any one last thing that you wanna say to the listeners before we sign off?

Yeah.

I, I think the, the theme on this conversation has been

living authentically, right?

Make sure that everything you do aligns with who you want to be

and the life you want to live.

Mm-hmm.

always think about legacy.

And once you think about legacy, then you can think about goals.

And once you think about goals, you can think about actions, right?

Yep.

So they all feed into one another, but live authentically.

And I was gonna add.

Follow up with people when you meet them at networking events,

Yes.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And you know why this place in the, in the networking is because when you come in

and you try to come with a predetermined script, you know, it just doesn't work.

It feels off.

The vibe is off.

Yeah.

And you're not gonna connect with people and be like, man,

I, I have all these people.

No one really wants to have a call with me.

No one wants to meet up with me.

It's cause mm-hmm.

people feel that.

Your clients feel it.

, your customers feel it, so just be you.

Right?

And it'll take a while.

It may take a while, especially if you're new to it or mm-hmm.

, you know, you're not all the way comfortable.

You're an introvert.

Maybe just find your way.

But it's better to attempt and show up as yourself than it is Yeah.

To show up as someone else and just never be happy at all.

Right.

Yeah.

Will I see you in Orlando in.

Uh, I'm not gonna be there.

I don't think so.

I haven't decided quite yet, but I don't, I dunno.

Well, I hope you go so that we can see each other again in person.

We can get an old fashioned, that actually is good, right?

? We Yeah.

No more shitty old fashioned for us, man.

We're gonna go to a hotel bar and not like the line at the convention center . Right?

Right.

But hey.

But it brought us together, right?

it.

I know.

Listen, we are brought together by shitty old fashions . Seriously, this episode

brought together by shitty old fashions . Thank you so much for being here.

It was so great talking to you.

Yeah, my pleasure, Julie.

Thanks for having me.

Well, Jevon is kind of fucking amazing, isn't he?

And to think, if it weren't for networking, I might never have met

him, or worse, I might have met him, but let our chance meeting

be nothing more than a fleeting.

If I had put his business card in my pocket and not reached out to

him the next day, I would not know all those amazing things about him.

I wouldn't be able to call him my friend.

He wouldn't, wouldn't have been here with us today, and I wouldn't

have been able to collaborate with him on his million dollar marketing

summer that happened in February.

Jovan is part of my network now firmly entrenched.

We will collaborate together again.

I've already recommended him as a speaker to some of my past

clients, and our relationship will grow in the years to come.

There are two lessons to be learned in this episode.

One of putting yourself out there, meeting someone new, and doing what it takes

to follow through with that person to build a relationship, to learn more about

them, to understand how varied their past is and what they've been through.

The other lessons are the ones Javon taught us about mindset, visioning

something better for yourself, and creating the environment around you that

allows you to be your best self to take back, not just your day, but your life.

I encourage you to visit live, not loath, and download some of

his free guides and checklists.

There's something there for everyone, I'm sure of it.

Okay.

Onto the drink of the week, which just had to be a riff on an old fashioned,

because you know, that's how we met.

We were both ordering old fashions at the bar and we were like, do you think this

guy knows how to make an old fashioned?

I don't think this guy knows how to make an old fashioned.

Anyways, so, This is not an old fashioned, it's a riff on an old fashioned.

This particular version comes to us from the cocktail menu at Sawyer

in Seattle, which was a 2019 James Beard semi-finalist for best new

restaurant, and it's called the Fishers Mezcal Old Fashioned, which blends.

Mezcal instead of bourbon, which is still smoky.

You know, you get that s smokey flavor to it, or b you know, it's instead of

bourbon or whiskey with Italian tomorrow, which I actually love Italian tomorrow,

and there's so many different kinds of it, and, and they go from like herbal to

fruity and they're just funky and fun.

So here's what you're gonna need.

One and a half ounces of mescal, three Fri, fourth ounce of chink.

Now we've talked about chink on the program before.

That is one of the amaras.

Uh, there's, again, there's all different kinds.

A quarter ounce of demo Marra syrup, two dashes of Angus stir bitters,

and two jases of orange bitters.

Stir all ingredients together with ice to chill.

Start stir, stir, stir and strain into a rocks glass with

one of them fun ice cubes.

You know, the ones that I like to use my, uh, brander on . Ok.

And, uh, I mean, I guess he would garnish it with like an orange twist.

That's what I normally do for my old fashions or like, you know,

one of those fun cherries too.

I dunno.

Do whatever you.

It's your drink.

All right, friends, that's all for this week.

If you like what you heard today, please leave a review

and subscribe to the podcast.

Also, please remember to share the podcast to help it reach a larger audience.

If you want more of me, Julie Brown, you can find my book.

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You can find me on LinkedIn, Julie Brown, bd.

Just let me know where you found me.

If you wanna link in with me, and I am Julie Brown,

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Or you could just pop on over to my website, Julie

Brown bd.com Until next week.

Cheers.

Hey, thanks for taking the time to listen.

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And remember, you can unapologetically be who you authentically are

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That's a fact.