This podcast episode emphasizes the importance of learning to start and stop as essential components of personal growth and fulfillment. The host encourages listeners to be intentional about their actions, likening life to a garden where every thought and habit is a seed that can either flourish or become a weed. Individuals can expand their potential and enhance their well-being by starting new, positive habits and letting go of limiting beliefs, toxic relationships, and harmful patterns. The conversation also highlights the significance of choosing wisely and steering one’s life towards desired outcomes, reinforcing that each day is a new opportunity for positive change. Through practical insights and personal anecdotes, the host aims to inspire listeners to cultivate a life that aligns with their true aspirations.

A rich exploration of personal growth takes center stage as the host articulates a passionate vision for life as a series of intentional choices. The discussion revolves around two pivotal actions: starting and stopping. By drawing on personal experiences and relatable metaphors, the host illustrates how embracing new beginnings can lead to profound transformations. The gardening analogy serves as a powerful backdrop for this exploration, likening life to a garden where thoughtful planting of positive habits and uprooting of negative behaviors can yield fruitful outcomes.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their lives, considering what seeds they are planting and what weeds they need to remove. The host provides practical insights on identifying and eliminating toxic relationships, harmful habits, and limiting beliefs that stifle growth. This episode resonates deeply with anyone seeking to enhance their well-being, offering not just theoretical guidance but actionable steps to cultivate a fulfilling life. By the end, the message is clear: taking the initiative to start new habits while simultaneously stopping detrimental ones can catalyze significant change, empowering listeners to create a life aligned with their true selves.

Takeaways:

• This year, focus on two key actions: learning to start new habits and stopping unproductive behaviors.
• Being intentional about starting and stopping is crucial for personal growth and fulfillment.
• Consider your life as a garden, where every thought and action is a seed planted.
• To truly grow, you must uproot toxic relationships and harmful habits from your life.
• Embrace change by starting new endeavors that align with your aspirations and values.
• Letting go of past grudges is essential for creating space for future growth and opportunities.

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Well, hello and welcome to Blank Pages, the podcast.

A podcast for people who are appreciate the new beginnings of a clean slate, but strive for the courage, willingness, curiosity and creativity available only on the blank pages of new possibilities.

It's the potential to move beyond and move forward where people are willing to make new decisions from fresh perspectives and are ready to write in a much better way. So the world is waiting and nothing listens better than a blank piece of paper. So hello, hello. It's so good to see you guys.

It's a happy, happy day, great day for me. You know why? Because how about Go Irish. How about it? Hey, they did beat them dogs. They did.

So I got a lot of friends in South Georgia and I just want to say sorry. Not sorry, go Irish. You guys went all the way up to South Bend some years back and you beat us by one point. But that's okay, we got you by many.

It was a great game. That was hard hitting game. I'm just looking forward to seeing Notre Dame advance. Got Penn State Nittany Lions coming up next.

That's going to be a bruiser. But anyways, what, what a great game that was. Made me so happy also. Just don't want to forget be praying for the people in Louisiana.

A terrible, terrible thing happened on Bourbon street obviously, as you know, senseless violence, terrible, terrible, terrible stuff. So just be praying man. Pray for, pray where we are. That's why I do what I do. I try to help people get better at being human.

I try to help provide comfort when I can and help and help people to see things a little different.

So thank you for listening to the show and if since you are listening, you're either listening on Apple podcasts or Spotify Podcast, Odyssey, Audible substack, Amazon Music, and if so if you would just follow the show. That way you're always updated whenever the show's coming out. And I have to tell you, something new is coming up. Changes, some changes are coming.

So nothing that will affect you, but just some changes that you're gonna be aware about. And it's just more of getting things aligned in what I'm doing and I cannot wait to do it.

I just had a call with one of my team members for what we're gonna be doing and then I talked to some. Well, I had two, well one, two, three, talked to three team members. I had to talk to them separate because I couldn't get them all together.

And I still have one last one to talk to you, but I believe this is gonna be rolling out next week, what I'm gonna be doing. And I'm so excited about it because it is cr. So also, the community that I launched is going great. We had our kickoff on January 1st.

We did the first hour just setting the tone and the theme for the month and what we're working on together. Man, it's so good. It is so good.

And if you're interested and you're someone that says, man, I'd like to know more about a community like that, just go to theuphill community. That's all you need to do. Type in your browser theuphill t h e u p h I l l.community so let's jump into today's episode. All right.

I'm not going to take a whole lot of time on this, but if you only do two things this year, two things the entire year, I hope that you will, you will learn to start stuff and learn to stop stuff. Because here's the thing, it's kind of like yes and no. You learn to say yes. You say yes.

In order to say yes to things, you gotta say no to some things. And if you're gonna say no to things, it's because you wanna say yes to some things.

So I'll continue on with this, but no matter what today is about, if you do, if you don't do. So next week I'll talk about, you know, what I said I'm gonna talk about, but next week you're gonna hear me continue this on.

But if you only grab anything for the whole year, do these two things. That's it, two things. Oh, and don't let me forget, you can follow me on Instagram, IM Pecoraro.

You can go to my bio and there's a link tree link in there. You can see all the things that pertain to me and my world. You can join my newsletter, which only goes out once a month.

I would love for you to do that. I just give you some updates, things that are going on, share some information. Simple, simple stuff.

I post in the Instagram and I app and then I also post on LinkedIn. Those are pretty much the only places I'm at. And again, I will be getting my substack rolling soon. So anyways, back to what we're talking about.

I'd like to have a conversation with you around the critical importance of just making sure that not only that you learn to start and stop, but you're intentional about starting and stopping. Like being very intentional about it. So I took down some trusty notes here and to keep myself from. Because I get excited over this.

But what I want to do is I want you to get to do it on purpose, you know, to be intentional, to do it on purpose. But this concept of it's about being deliberate in your living. What I want to do, this starting and stopping concept.

And so it's not just following a self help trend. I don't want to do that either. I want you to have a fundamental approach to creating a life on purpose for your growth and fulfillment.

I want you to live on purpose. I want you to have life on purpose.

So this whole thing about this being intentional, about this doing it on purpose, learning to start and stop, so imagine or just consider your life is just like a garden. One of my favorite psalms in the Bible is Psalm 1.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor does he sit in the seat of the mocker, nor does he stand in the way of the sinner. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in season. And whatsoever he does shall prosper, says the Lord. And so there's that planting, right?

There's that planting that, that you're, you're embedded, you're planted down in something. So it's that garden, the idea of something.

So I want you to understand that every thought, every action, every habit that you cultivate is that seed that's planted.

So where are you planted, first of all, and maybe also another thing I'll talk about is like, where are you planted, you know, and are you digging deep enough to be planted? What seeds are you planting? And then what are the sources that you're around? What are the supplies and sources that are feeding you in your planting?

Okay, and where you're planted? So some seeds, they grow into these beautiful things, right? They grow into like, I mean, obviously you.

I mean, pretty much if you plant it, it grows, right? If it has a see going to grow. So poison oak can grow, poison ivy can grow, kudzu can grow. Some things are not so pretty, okay?

But they all have a point. They're useful in some way, shape or form. Obviously kudzu for me is not. And neither is poison oak or poison ivy.

But there is a hole in this big world that I believe God created in this ecosystem. These things serve purposes.

But when you plant seeds and things that you're thinking that you want them to grow beautiful, like Tulips or roses or you're going to plant apples or, you know, oranges, whatever you want to do. Fruitful plants, right? Things that are going to do what, Nourish life. You're planting things to nourish life. So I want you to imagine that. So.

But if you. If you're not careful and you're planting things, you're going to grow into weeds, right? Things that choke out the good and hinder your growth.

You got to be careful that you're not getting things mixed in there, like guarding what it is that you're doing. Because, remember, life is about going, starting, and stopping. That's what it. That's what I want you to get good at.

These two things, even if you're driving a car, you need to know how to. I mean, obviously you got to know how to drive. But starting is a big thing. Stopping is a big thing, right? If you get momentum, starting is big thing.

Stopping is a big thing, right? You have to know when to take breaks. You have to know these things. Start, stop. Those are big things. Okay?

So I want you to be intentional, do it on purpose. Be more deliberate about what you start and stop. Okay. And I want you to imagine that as being almost like. Like a skilled gardener. Okay.

Starting and stopping like a skilled gardener. Carefully selecting what to plant and what to uproot. That's what we're going to look at. What are you going to plant? What are you going to uproot?

What are you going to start? What are you going to stop? All right, so why. Why start? Well, when you're starting, it's the new positive habits.

When you're starting, it's, to me, almost indicative of new thoughts and behaviors that are crucial for the growth that you're pursuing. Right. So what is starting about? And once again, I'll carry on with this in the next episode. But what is starting? What is this about?

It's crucial to you growing for me. So in the community that we just launched, we're doing a much more. It's a lot more in depth, but just taking this.

Just this idea of starting and stopping, and we're advancing it more with some other framework, and we're working on things together. People are bringing in the things that they're starting and stopping and so forth. So what's it about? It's about expanding your potential.

When you're starting, your mindset should be, I'm planting this seed of start as the gardener to expand my potential. What else am I doing? I'm also starting something because I'm going to adapt to change.

That's why I'm starting something new, because there's a change needed. And listen, things are changing all around us, and change is inevitable, so we might as well get better at it.

And so that's where, you know, you see people talk about pivoting and transitions and all this stuff that you have to do. But listen, seeds that you plant when you're starting new seeds, those are also seeds for adapting to change. Also.

It's about when, when, when you're doing these, when you're starting these new things, it's. It's about pursuing your dreams. And so sometimes some people are sitting here going, man, I feel like my dreams are gone.

I don't know what happened to them. I mean, they're, they're lost or whatever. No, it's. You can start now, you can start today. It's never too late to start.

One of my favorite comedians, she's really cool. Her name is Leanne Morgan, and I went to go see her. My wife took us to go, got us tickets, and we went to go see her. And, man, she is awesome.

Go check her out. I like her. She's simple. But just hearing her story that she got started late in life and she's just a simple comedian. Simple.

She's not, you know, she's witty, obviously, she's funny. She's funny in her own way. But I like her. I like her because she's humble. She started from small beginnings. She really has a lot of gratitude.

And she's funny. She's funny in her way. Okay, people. So you can say, well, I don't think that's funny. I don't think. Look, I'm not asking you. Find your own person.

That's funny. That's simple. That's like that. But look for people that are giving you examples of pursuing their dreams.

So rather than go, I don't think they're funny, just, I'm trying to point out that here's a person who started late in life pursuing their dreams, and guess what? They're getting them. It's never too late to start. And that's a seed. It's a mindset. You know, why start? Why is starting important?

Because when it comes to, you want to expand your potential, you want to be able to adapt to change, you want to be able to pursue your dreams. You also want to plant and start new ways for your relationships to improve relationships.

I want to get better at being human so that I can do better with my relationships. I want to Connect better with people. Is that you? I know it's me. I want to get so much better connecting with people.

And then also this, what I'm talking about is all about when you start. It brings in this new, this air, this fresh air when you start. And it'll enhance your well being. It'll enhance the way you're feeling.

It'll give you a little bit of feel good. It'll release the right chemicals in you that just energizes you, that hope. A little bit of hope. Now here's the thing.

If you're just a person that sticks a seed in the ground and says it's not going to grow, you're going to 100% probably get everything that you've asked for. And here's the bad part about that. Just your statement of it won't grow.

That's you taking your faith and putting it towards a negative thing that you're going to prove is going to happen because you won't care enough to tend to it. And therefore when it doesn't, it just springs up a little bit and it dies or it doesn't produce what you want. You can say, see, I told you so.

So now you show that your faith does do exactly what you said it would do. It produces the negative. What would happen if you raised your expectations so your faith has somewhere to go? It could enhance your wellbeing.

So when you, when you consciously, okay, when you're conscious, or I, when we consciously choose to start something that's beneficial, valuable, in alignment with our future self, or to help bring better things or to improve stuff, oh man, it makes all the difference in the world. I mean, it's one of those things that it gives you that newness, that spark that we need sometimes. Here's the thing about fire. You need a spark.

You need some kindling, you need fuel, right? Wood. You need the kindling just to get it going, but you need the spark. You need those three things together.

So I just want to encourage you that when you're doing things, learn to get your start going. Get into the start. You know, there are books, the Art of the Start. Learn to start. Let's not talk about finishing right now.

I just want you to be healthy in your start as a gardener. Plant. Be deliberate about what you're sticking in the ground. Remember, you're this person, you're this gardener.

What seed are you putting in the soil? I shared Psalm 1. That blessed is the man, right, who, who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor does he sit in the seat of the mocker.

Nor does he stand in the way of the sinner. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates day and night. So what it is, is from that law what he's meditating on.

That's the seed that's going into his person. And because of that, the result of his life will be like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit.

That's the whole thing. The water, the supply, where it's planted, the seed. It's the seed, it's in the ground and then where it's planted and what it produces.

That's what I'm talking about. The start. The start. Get the courage to start, start again, start over, start. But now let's talk about if you're going to start something.

Typically that means I got to stop something. All right.

Equally important in your decisions is to stop certain behaviors or patterns or things that, yeah, things that, you know, have a negative impact in your life. So here it involves.

If you're going to stop some things, right, just like starting some stuff, you have to understand, you're going to have to expand your potential, pursue your dreams, adapt to some change, improve your relationships and enhance your well being. That's what's going to be needed to start. Here's what you're going to need in order to stop.

When you stop some things, you're going to need to break free from limiting beliefs. You're going to have to do this whole identify that limiting belief and you're going to have to remove that sucker.

You're going to have to snatch that thing right up. And don't just stump, grind it down and leave the roots.

No, pull the whole thing up where the hole is there because you're going to need to fill it, right? You're going to have to remove and replace in order to start. The second thing is you're going to need to end toxic relationships.

I mean, that's where we need to be now, toxic relationships. I'm not talking about people that don't agree politically. Democrat, Republican, I'm not talking about that crap.

If you're going to disown people over political things, that's a different problem.

You know, we talk about being open minded, but people can't even let someone else have another opinion without getting mad because they don't see things your way. Go your own way then. But that's a. Don't bring toxicity into a relationship. You know, people can have great relationships and think differently.

And there's nothing wrong with that. I have friends from other countries. I'm a Christian, I have friends that are Sikh. I have friends that are Buddhist.

I have friends, they're my friends. They don't believe everything I believe. But what. They're my friends though, and I can get along with them. You know why?

Because I choose to do relationship with them, not convert them into my belief system. And if we disagree on things, what we do is we focus on what we value. So you want to get over this toxic garbage in relationships, find value.

Find the thing that you value. The third thing that you're going to need to do to stop is you're going to have to quit. Harmful habits. What are the things that are harming you?

What are the habits that are just. Just tearing you down, breaking you down? What are they? Is it drinking? Partying too much? Is it being lazy? Procrastinating?

I mean, I don't know, you need to quit and then. Unproductive. You need to cease unproductive activities. In order for you to do truly start, you're going to have to stop unproductive activities.

Things that do not yield results. Kind of like this. Meditating on people, thinking about people who've upset you or hurt you.

One of the things I went through, person did me wrong, right? Completely, totally lied to my face in front of some other people. I mean, it's just terrible.

And they got busted in the room and still didn't want to admit it. Okay. However, I can let that live in my mind, occupy my mind and live there rent free. Or I can evict that thought.

I can evict it and go into another place. Did it happen? Yes. Fact is, it happened. Fact is it hurt. Fact is they lied. Fact, I can go through all the facts.

The truth is, it's up to me to what I'm going to do next. The truth is that's all subject to change. If I'm willing to change, that's all that matters. Now if I'm.

If you're just looking for vengeance and all that stuff, then you will not start. You will always stay stuck. Do you hear me?

You either, if you want to start, you're going to have to learn to stop some things because if you don't stop those things that you will be stuck and you won't be able to start the things because you won't stop. I know that was a little tongue twister, but if you back it up and listen to it several times, you'll get that? And that leads me into that fifth one.

Letting go of past grudges. That's some of the things you have to stop if you really want to advance this year, right? Let go of things.

There's another scripture that I'm really keeping in my head is forget the former things. Don't dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing. Can you not see it? That is where I'm at.

When you intentionally stop what doesn't serve you, your purpose, your value, your worth, where you want to go, then you're going to create that space for the growth that you want, for new opportunities. So that's it. I want you to do two things this year of these two things, and I'll continue this next week.

But look, two things I want you to be able to start and I want you to be able to stop.

Two things I want you to start and realize when starting you're doing it to expand your potential, help yourself adapt to change, pursue your dreams, improve on your relationships and enhance your well being. But in order to do that, you're going to have to stop some stuff. You have to break free from limiting beliefs.

You're going to have to end toxic relationships. You have to quit harmful habits. You're gonna have to cease from unproductive activities and you're gonna have to let go of past grudges. Huh?

So remember, each day, guys. Each day I wrote down this thought. Each day presents a new opportunity to make choices that align with your values and your aspirations.

Will you leave your life up to chance or fate? Or will you take those reins and steer yourself? Remember, steer. Put your hands on the wheel and steer toward what your future is and what you desire.

The choice is yours. Remember, no one can take your choice. It's your free will. Choice is yours.

So choose wisely, choose intentionally, and watch as your life transforms into an incredible masterpiece. A masterpiece that I believe it was meant to be. I want you to get better at being human, just like I'm trying to.

And so thank you all for listening and until next time. We'll talk soon.