Imagine combining the fun and excitement of Summer with purposeful actions that set you up for success in the second half of the year! If this sounds amazing, then you’re in the right place! Summer Fun is in Session!

Who Is This For?

This episode is designed for those who want to make the most of their summer by aligning their seasonal activities with their long-term goals. Whether you're looking to make a career change, improve your health, or simply become a better version of yourself, this episode provides actionable steps to ensure your summer is both enjoyable and productive.

What's This All About?

We are kicking off our Summer Series by helping you transform your summer into a launch pad for success in the second half of 2024! We are diving into strategies for using the summer months to propel you towards your year-end goals.

Host Kevin Lowe shares his unique insights on how to balance fun and productivity, ensuring you make an epic splash in the second half of the year. From setting clear goals to stealing moments for personal growth amidst your summer plans, this episode is packed with tips to help you achieve more while still enjoying the magic of summer.

Some Key Takeaways:

1. Goal Setting and Planning: Learn how to set and break down your year-end goals into manageable steps that fit seamlessly into your summer activities.
2. Balancing Fun and Productivity: Discover ways to incorporate personal growth into your summer plans without sacrificing the enjoyment of the season.
3. Practical Tips for Daily Progress: Get actionable advice on how to make small but significant steps towards your goals, even during the busiest summer days.

Don’t let this summer slip away—press play now and discover how to turn your summertime fun into purposeful progress!

ALL THE WAYS WE CAN CONNECT

GET IN TOUCH

PODCAST HOST: KEVIN LOWE

• Schedule a Call with Kevin
• Visit Our Website
• Become a Grit, Grace, & Inspiration Insider
• Follow Kevin's LinkedIn Newsletter
• SEND KEVIN A VOICE MESSAGE

Guided by Faith. Inspired by life itself.

© 2024 Grit, Grace, & Inspiration

:: 00:00

What if this summer could be the turning point you've been looking for?

:: 00:04

What I'm talking about is what if we could combine the fun of summer,

:: 00:10

the stuff that you look forward to, the stuff you get excited about when the summer comes around,

:: 00:16

but combine that with purposeful action that's going to lead you to success

:: 00:21

in the second half of the year.

:: 00:23

If this sounds amazing, then you are in the right spot, because this is exactly

:: 00:28

what we are diving into inside of today's episode.

:: 00:32

My friend, I welcome you to episode 293, your summertime diving board,

:: 00:38

to set you up for making one epic splash on the second half of this year.

:: 00:44

If you're ready, then let's dive in.

:: 00:49

What's up, my friend, and welcome to Grit Graceland Inspiration.

:: 00:53

I am your host, Kevin Lowe. 20 years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery

:: 00:58

only to find that I was left completely blind.

:: 01:01

And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

:: 01:06

And here on this podcast, I wanna share those insights with you.

:: 01:10

Because friend, if you are still searching for your purpose,

:: 01:14

still trying to understand why,

:: 01:16

or still left searching for that next right path to take, well,

:: 01:21

consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

:: 01:28

The way I feel like we need to start today's conversation off is being sure

:: 01:33

that we're both kind of on the same page when we're talking about summer and

:: 01:38

what we think of when we think about summer.

:: 01:41

If I'm the one painting the picture, well, it's going to be sunny skies, warm weather.

:: 01:48

If you're down in my neck of the woods in Florida, It's going to be humidity

:: 01:51

so hot you swear you could cut it with a knife.

:: 01:55

You're going to have some afternoon thunderstorms, but those just make the summer

:: 01:59

experience that much more amazing.

:: 02:02

It's going to be summer vacations to the beach, boating out on the lake,

:: 02:06

barbecues and pool parties.

:: 02:08

That is summer at its best.

:: 02:11

So basically, summertime, it's magical for so many reasons. It's time spent with family.

:: 02:18

It's time spent outdoors. It's time just letting loose and having fun.

:: 02:24

But as I said earlier, it's magical for another reason,

:: 02:28

in that it's a little block of time set apart from the rest of the year that

:: 02:34

you can utilize to your advantage so that you can be set up,

:: 02:38

so that you can have a head start on making this year absolutely epic.

:: 02:45

So what I've done inside of today's episode is I've laid it out because I want

:: 02:51

you to come away with your own plan,

:: 02:53

your own map to realize that how you can indeed make this summer truly amazing.

:: 03:01

The first step in what we're talking about today is getting clear on your end of year goals.

:: 03:07

Yeah, I understand we're just at the beginning of summer, but I'm asking you

:: 03:12

to think big, to dream big. What are the big things that you really hope to

:: 03:17

have accomplished before the year ends?

:: 03:21

Maybe that's making a big career transition. You were really hoping by the fall

:: 03:26

to be embarking on a new endeavor,

:: 03:30

maybe starting your own business, or maybe it's just getting in shape and getting a lot healthier.

:: 03:36

Whatever your big goal is, your dream is, I want you to go ahead and write that down.

:: 03:42

Yeah, hopefully you got a pad and pen handy, but go ahead and jot down some

:: 03:48

of those big dreams and goals, the things that you really want to accomplish this year.

:: 03:54

Now we start getting a little bit smaller and how we start incorporating summer into this game plan.

:: 04:01

As I said, I'm starting big picture and we're getting smaller and smaller down

:: 04:06

to literally your everyday routine.

:: 04:10

Right now, we're taking that big goal you had and we're breaking it down into

:: 04:15

some smaller goals. Now, obviously, the summer is typically pretty busy with

:: 04:21

family, with friends, with going places, enjoying life.

:: 04:25

And I don't want you to sacrifice that at all.

:: 04:29

Instead, we are helping you to set goals that align with all of that.

:: 04:36

Because I want you to not only move the needle in maybe your professional life,

:: 04:42

but also in just becoming a better version of you.

:: 04:46

And that starts by you being sure that you're enjoying every single day.

:: 04:51

So right now, if you have those big goals written down, or at least maybe that

:: 04:56

one big goal, start to think how you could break down that big goal into smaller little goals.

:: 05:03

Because if you have something big you want to accomplish, well,

:: 05:08

just kind of like the rungs of a ladder, there's steps you have to take to get there.

:: 05:13

You're not just going to all of a sudden, wham, bam, thank you,

:: 05:17

ma'am, and this big goal be complete.

:: 05:20

No, you've had to do little things here and there.

:: 05:23

Well, go ahead and jot those down and think about how this could line up with this summer.

:: 05:30

I don't want you to overload yourself. I don't want this to be something that

:: 05:34

makes your summer stressful.

:: 05:35

No, I just want you to see that, hey, I've got the next three months that I

:: 05:42

can really utilize to my advantage.

:: 05:45

By the end of these three months, I can already have accomplished this goal,

:: 05:50

that goal, and maybe a third one.

:: 05:54

So now that you have the big goal broken down into little goals,

:: 05:57

I want you to get out your calendar.

:: 05:59

I'm telling you, today's episode is having you work.

:: 06:03

Get out your calendar because we're going to start mapping stuff out real quick.

:: 06:08

I want you to pull up the calendar for the next three months,

:: 06:11

June, July, August. We're going to consider those our main summer months.

:: 06:16

I want you to look at the calendar and figure out when are you going on vacation?

:: 06:21

Exactly when are the kids out of school? When are they not away at summer camp?

:: 06:26

When can you block off time?

:: 06:29

And I'm not talking about days. I'm just talking about time,

:: 06:34

hours, even minutes throughout the summer.

:: 06:38

When can you devote to you?

:: 06:40

Now, I understand you're probably already saying, but Kevin,

:: 06:44

I don't have any extra time.

:: 06:47

Well, maybe you don't. But I'm going to challenge that because I tend to believe

:: 06:56

that you're probably not running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

:: 07:01

I have a feeling that there's probably an hour you can steal here or there.

:: 07:06

As I said, I'm talking about incorporating this into your summer.

:: 07:11

I'm going to get to examples of what I'm talking about.

:: 07:15

But right now, we're just trying to figure out what our goals are,

:: 07:19

how we can break those goals down into smaller,

:: 07:22

easy to accomplish goals this summer, and then to put some time on the calendar,

:: 07:28

if nothing else, but to remind you each time you pull open your calendar that,

:: 07:34

oh, I'm supposed to be working on that goal that Kevin had me set.

:: 07:40

All right. As I said, here comes how we can incorporate all of this that I'm

:: 07:45

having you do into your summertime plans.

:: 07:49

First thing that you're going to tell me is I can't because I'm going on vacation. vacation?

:: 07:55

Well, I'm going to tell you, you can, because going on vacation is a perfect

:: 08:00

opportunity for you to focus on you.

:: 08:04

Depending upon where your vacation is, let's just say you're headed with the family to the beach.

:: 08:10

You guys have rented a big house on the beach, and you're going to be there

:: 08:14

for a week with all your family and friends. It's going to be an awesome time.

:: 08:19

And you think to to yourself, there's no possible time in this week that I can devote to just me.

:: 08:28

But I, again, am going to challenge that. Because what if each morning you made

:: 08:34

it a point that you get up before everybody else and you go outside and you

:: 08:40

sit out on the pool deck overlooking the beach and you

:: 08:44

watch the sunrise and as you sit there in the quiet, maybe a cup of coffee in

:: 08:50

hand, have your journal handy.

:: 08:53

Maybe jot down a few notes, how you're feeling, what you're worried about,

:: 08:57

what you're excited about.

:: 08:59

Kind of plan out life. Sitting in this moment where worries seem to float away

:: 09:06

with the breeze, when everything is right, we're on vacation and life is easy.

:: 09:12

It's a perfect opportunity for you to really identify what really and truly matters in your life.

:: 09:19

What do you really want? What do you really dream for?

:: 09:22

Steal that moment to yourself each morning watching that sunrise. rise.

:: 09:27

Other ways to accomplish this while on family vacations is a lot of what I'm

:: 09:33

talking about today is honestly just your own personal growth and development.

:: 09:38

It doesn't matter how old we are, we can all continue to grow as people,

:: 09:43

continue to learn, continue to experience new things.

:: 09:47

So maybe do something out of the norm.

:: 09:51

Yeah, you got little kids, they want to do something, but instead of doing what

:: 09:55

you've always done or what everybody else does, maybe taking the kids to the water park.

:: 10:01

Instead, get a little creative. Get outside of the comfort zone.

:: 10:05

Instead, go exploring maybe a new beach somewhere.

:: 10:09

Go find a lake where you live, where you've never gone to before.

:: 10:14

Get out and experience nature with your family.

:: 10:18

It's going to have you growing just as much as it is your children.

:: 10:23

These experiences, these are things that honestly shape us into the people we become.

:: 10:30

All right, now, what about when you are at home this summer,

:: 10:34

when you're not on vacation and life is kind of hectic?

:: 10:39

The children are home from school, life is going berserk. Well,

:: 10:44

I want you to get creative.

:: 10:46

I want you to get scrappy. I

:: 10:48

want you to figure out how you can steal a moment here and there for you.

:: 10:55

Maybe you've got young kids and there's a time in the afternoon where they lay down to take a nap.

:: 11:00

You take that moment to start working on the stuff that you want to,

:: 11:05

to start working on yourself. It's a perfect opportunity.

:: 11:09

All you need is maybe a little 30-minute block and then the hectic chaos of life can pursue. sue.

:: 11:16

Also, just think about things like picking up a good book that you've been wanting to read.

:: 11:22

I'm talking about simple things here.

:: 11:24

Simple things, but when added up together, they really make an impact on the

:: 11:32

person you will become at the end of this summer.

:: 11:35

Somebody who didn't just waste these summer months, but instead utilized them

:: 11:39

to really make the second half of the year One for the books.

:: 11:46

Now I want to get to my next little section of today's episode in which we're

:: 11:51

going to talk about a few more tips to help you through this process.

:: 11:54

So, so far, just to recap, I've had you set your big goal for this year.

:: 12:00

I've had you break it down into smaller goals.

:: 12:03

I then had you pull out your calendar and I've had you try to figure out when you could focus on you.

:: 12:10

And then we even talked about a little bit of scenarios when you're either on

:: 12:15

vacation or at home, the kind of stuff I'm talking about.

:: 12:18

I'm not talking about big stuff here.

:: 12:20

No, I'm just talking about little things because I want you to enjoy this time of year.

:: 12:25

And with all of that accomplished, well, let's give you some more tips,

:: 12:31

more advice to help make all of this a little bit easier to manage.

:: 12:36

I want you to remember to stay flexible. It is good to have a plan,

:: 12:41

but it's even better to realize that plans change and that's all right.

:: 12:46

Remember, this is the summer. It's easy as the breeze. You don't have to get stressed out.

:: 12:53

Just let things flow as they flow. Go with the flow. I want you to focus on

:: 12:58

celebrating the little wins.

:: 13:01

Depending upon what you're working on this summer, you're going to have things

:: 13:04

that you're going to accomplish. little micro goals that you're going to get

:: 13:09

done. You're going to cross off the list.

:: 13:12

And I want you to celebrate yourself. I want you to be sure that you're reminding

:: 13:19

yourself why you're doing this in the first place.

:: 13:22

And well, I hope a big reason is because you know that you are capable,

:: 13:28

you're able, and you're deserving of having more in this life.

:: 13:33

That's what it's all about. out. So be sure that you celebrate yourself.

:: 13:38

You give yourself that pat on the back and you remind yourself,

:: 13:41

I've done this one. Let's keep going.

:: 13:45

My next little tip is one that maybe isn't so easy to do,

:: 13:51

especially in the summer when kids are home from school, but that is trying

:: 13:56

to get plugged in with a community of people who are on the same kind of journey as you.

:: 14:02

What I've really found to be helpful for this is Facebook groups.

:: 14:07

Facebook can sometimes get this bad rap of all kind of drama,

:: 14:11

but where I find the real magic is inside of the Facebook groups.

:: 14:16

Whatever season of life you're in, whatever goal you're pursuing,

:: 14:20

go into Facebook and do a search and filter that search by groups.

:: 14:25

Chances are you're going to find a group of people from all over this world

:: 14:30

in the same chapter of life that you're in.

:: 14:33

And it really helps to be there to have support because a lot of times we feel all alone.

:: 14:40

I mean, yeah, we may tell our family about what we're doing,

:: 14:44

but honest to goodness, we're kind of embarrassed to admit it because what if we fail?

:: 14:52

Isn't that the truth of it all? Well, find a support group, people who can be

:: 14:57

there for you, who are on the same journey as you. My next practice is I want

:: 15:03

you to be sure that you're reflecting regularly.

:: 15:07

Every week, I want you to reflect on what happened this past week.

:: 15:12

What did you get accomplished?

:: 15:13

What went right? What went wrong? And what fun did you have in between?

:: 15:19

Give yourself time to just acknowledge it all, to reflect on it.

:: 15:24

And that way, well, maybe you can course correct for this coming week or be

:: 15:29

sure that you stay the course because last week was awesome.

:: 15:33

Most importantly is I want you to remember that I want you to make this summer fun.

:: 15:40

I want you to enjoy the time with your family.

:: 15:44

And so find little ways of fitting in your little goals in with all these activities

:: 15:52

you do during the days of summer.

:: 15:56

Yeah, maybe you're at a barbecue, at a pool party, and maybe you're really actually,

:: 16:02

though, trying to work on your own physical health.

:: 16:06

Well, dive in the pool, do some kicks while leaning on the ledge,

:: 16:10

swim a lap, do whatever you want.

:: 16:13

Grab one of those noodles and float around, kicking your legs.

:: 16:17

It's exercise, but it's also fun.

:: 16:20

You get to be there with everybody while also focusing on you at the same time.

:: 16:25

I basically want you to remember that to make a summer purposeful,

:: 16:31

it basically means to have a summer of balance because I believe a purposeful summer,

:: 16:39

I view it as enjoying the season,

:: 16:41

doing things out of the ordinary,

:: 16:44

spending time with loved ones, and all at the same time, finding little ways

:: 16:51

of integrating little things here and there that are going going to move the

:: 16:55

needle forward on your big goals in life.

:: 16:58

Don't let the summer months be months to derail your progress.

:: 17:04

No, use the summer months as a launch pad to send you forward into the rest of this year.

:: 17:11

While others are slacking off, you can get the upper hand because you have been

:: 17:18

focusing on you and your goals over the summer months.

:: 17:22

As I mentioned at the beginning of today's episode, be sure in amongst your

:: 17:27

busy summer to check back on the podcast each week.

:: 17:31

I'm going to give you new tips, tricks, pieces of advice,

:: 17:35

fun things to do, all in helping you to make this a summer that is not only

:: 17:42

fun, but moves the needle forward in you pursuing your goals.

:: 17:47

My friend, I'm Kevin Lowe. Get out there and enjoy this summer.

:: 17:52

Music.