Listen to this Podcast Episode
“If we all created space for MORE LIFE and LESS stuff or overcommitted schedules we’d feel more free, present, joyful, and focused. LIVE MORE with LESS distractions… you’ll fly higher.”
Coach Darleen Santore is on a mission to help people simplify their lives!
As an occupational therapist, her role for 22 years has been helping people live life to the fullest and reach full potential. Now more than ever, she says, she’s noticing people consuming so much that they are overwhelmed, weighed down, and exhausted.
On this 33 minute episode of Transformation Tuesday, Coach Dar shares 3 ways you can simplify your life.
And she opens up about how making these very same changes in her own life helped her transform.
Transcript
Carey Pena: What does it mean to transform? Not just how you look, but how you think. Not just losing weight, but gaining strength. The best experts, the best advice. Getting better together. Inspired Media 360 presents Transformation Tuesday.
Carey Pena: This is Transformation Tuesday. I’m your host, Carey Pena. On this show we talk about total life transformations and how we become the best versions of ourselves.
Carey Pena: Back in the studio, one of my faves, coach and author, Darleen Santore. You have so many exciting things going on.
Coach Dar: Yes.
Carey Pena: Thank you so much for coming back.
Coach Dar: Thanks, Carey, for having me on. I’m excited to be here.
Carey Pena: Today we’re talking about a post that you put up that is blowing up big. You basically said, “Simplicity is the new big,” and you said, “Follow me here for a minute. We’ve been brainwashed for years to have more, consume more, say more, do more, scroll more. Enough.”
Carey Pena: What made you want to put up that post?
Coach Dar: So many things, but in my profession as an occupational therapist for the past 22 years, my whole role has been helping people live life to the fullest, and getting them to reach their full potential. I noticed recently, more than ever, everyone is consuming so much, whether it’s mentally, physically, spiritually, scrolling more, consuming more products. Things are weighing people down, and I’m seeing people be more and more exhausted. I’ve seen more people with anxiety and depression. Suicide has been at a higher rate. Financial problems people are having, divorces, there’s just so much that’s going on.
Coach Dar: When I started to look, I was researching for my book and also looking back at patterns, because as a therapist that’s what I’ll look at to try to fix it, I noticed that it’s because we’re not simplifying. We’re taking on more than we could actually do, and that goes for mental and physical. I wanted to be able to share as a theme, almost as an anthem for the year, simplify. It’s almost like I hear in my head Justin Timberlake song, “I’m Bringing Sexy Back”. I want to bring simplicity back and simplify.
Carey Pena: By the way, for our audience, we’re going to get three great tips from you about where you begin to simplify. You had a bit of a rough year last year, and you had a health crisis. Would you take us through that?
Coach Dar: Sure.
Carey Pena: I’m sure that also played into your own personal feelings about needing to simplify.
Coach Dar: Yes. Often passions come from life experiences. Last May, this past summer, I had a stroke, and this happened to be my third stroke. Prior to that I had been traveling. I coach in sports and in business, but I was traveling all season with the Phoenix Suns. We were gone seven days a week pretty much working. I love what I do, but it was so much. Everything that I was doing that I think that’s where my body let me know that’s enough, and unfortunately had to endure that.
Coach Dar: In that time that I was healing over the summer, and also working on my book, that’s when it came to me. I thought, “This is it. This is why. This is my body telling me you have to slow down,” but look at everyone that I work with or what we’re seeing on TV and everything we’re consuming is, people are breaking down. We’re not meant to sometimes keep up to a certain pace or take on so much on our calendars and do. We have to say no so that we could say yes to the right things.
Carey Pena: This is something that you definitely identify with. I know in one of your posts you wrote, “Listen. I’ve been there, saying yes to too much or giving away so much, especially time.” This year you are sharing your ways to set healthy boundaries and operate more efficiently and more joyfully. I love this. You say, “If it’s not a heck yes, then it’s a hell no. Hell to the no.”
Coach Dar: That’s right.
Carey Pena: And this is your talking about on things, on appointments, on meetings, coffee, tea, drinks, meetups, dinners. I tend to do that. I fall into that, because I like people and I might go, “Oh, let’s just meet up for a quick …” Then all of a sudden I look at my schedule for the week and I’m wondering, “How did this happen? Why is every single moment of my day scheduled out?” That’s really not healthy.
Coach Dar: No. We need time to breathe. We need to time to reflect. You might have come out of a great meeting, but if you don’t sit and reflect on it, write notes, and you rush right into the next one, it just becomes meeting, meeting, meeting. Then at the end of the night you’re maybe with your family, and it’s 11:00 PM and you’re trying to just download what happened and reflect on it, but you’re exhausted by then. We’re putting so much on our schedule, and you really need to stop and say, “Is this something that I’m going to be able to be 110% if I show up? Is it necessary for what I’m working on?”
Coach Dar: We want to be able to be productive, but you have a gift to give and share with the world. If you’re constantly under, almost like you don’t have the oxygen, you’re on empty, you’re really not giving the best. You’re really not able to show up. We need people to stop and say, “Okay. If it is a coffee or a tea or a drink or a dinner, whatever it is, or a meeting, is this my highest and best use going? Am I going to be able to show up and be productive, and how is this going to affect my whole day?” If it’s not a heck yes, then it’s a hell no. Ask that, really try this, and we’ll get into it, but ask yourself this each time when you make a decision.
Carey Pena: You’re not necessarily talking about that everything needs to be transactional, because I pay attention to that. I don’t need to get something from every interaction. Sometimes if someone just wants to meet up and have a coffee to say hi, that’s great and I love that. I don’t want everything to be about a business transaction. You’re saying just look at the overview and how much you’re stacking up.
Coach Dar: Right, because you don’t want every day to just be booked every second, because then where you really do have that social meeting where you want to be present, you’re so rushed in your mind to get to the next thing that you can’t even enjoy the time. Really, a lot of this, too, is about being present and simplifying and taking time to enjoy what is right in front of you, the blessings that you have, even the work that you’re doing but were so rushed and it’s so booked you can’t even enjoy it. It robs us of our joy.
Carey Pena: What has been the response since you’ve put up the post, because I know a lot … This is a real hot topic.
Coach Dar: It really is. When I write something, I write because I’m so passionate about it, and I really am not sure how someone’s going to receive it, but it has been blowing up to the point where people are writing in. People have asked for interviews, and it allows me to know that this is a hot topic, but truly it’s because people are hurting. People feel like they’re drowning. They don’t know how to kind of get back their life, so hopefully by sharing this and really being able to share some tips and coach people through this, we’re going to get people so that they feel better.
Carey Pena: I sent an email blast talking about you coming on the show, and we’re going to be talking about simplicity, and I got a lot of responses. One of them came from a good friend of mine who I didn’t even know was on our email list. Her name is Lori Gentile. She’s a very successful interior designer and she writes to me saying, “Carey, this has been my motto for years now. I crave downtime at the house just doing nothing, or just puttering in my garden, and for sure meditating.”
Carey Pena: She’s a very sought after interior designer, but she immediately wrote back after she got this, so I know that the message is resonating and I love that you’re trying to bring it to more people. For folks who are listening, thinking, “Okay. I like where you ladies are going with this,” where do we begin? You gave me three steps that you think will really profoundly help people simplify, and you begin with … It seems obvious but I want to take people through it. You begin with decluttering your place to make space.
Coach Dar: Yes. If this is your workplace, or if this is your home, or even your car, because sometimes people have to travel a lot or commute a lot in their car. I need everyone to just stop and inventory their space. Is your space a space that provides flow? Is there a lot of clutter around you? Are things not put away? Is there always something that your mind subconsciously is going, “You need to get to that. You need to get to that,” or it’s kind of hovering over you, because if it is, it’s a burden. Then you cannot think clearly.
Coach Dar: If your car is always messy and you get in it you’re going to feel it. If your workspace, your desk, is constantly with a pile on it and it’s not organized, your brain is actually picking up that that is something that it has to tend to, so therefore it can’t settle. It can’t focus on what it is that you’re trying to focus on. We’ve studied this as therapists, and every time people clean up their space they start to become more efficient and more productive. Even to the point of someone’s home, your friend who just wrote in. She loves to be able to just be in her garden and be home, and if her space is inviting and she’s excited to get home, she’s going to recover. Then, when she goes out to a client, she’s going to be that much more inspired and productive.
Carey Pena: That’s right.
Coach Dar: Our space has so much to do about really our greatness and how great we’re going to show up and be more effective if we have it in order. Structure is actually good. Not everyone is gifted in being able to organize. I know it’s not my highest gift, but I actually have friends, or there are companies out there, that you can call someone that they will help create systems for you, and then you’re able to come home and just follow that system. It does a world of good, and you’ll see changes.
Coach Dar: I had a woman just even fix her car, because she kept throwing things in it. Once she fixed her home and her car, she ended up producing in her business almost a million dollars more the next year.
Carey Pena: Wow. To be clear, are you saying that it’s beneficial to organize your space, or to actually remove tangible things?
Coach Dar: Both. You want to be able to let … Everyone just goes to the obvious of your closet. Are there things that you don’t need? Shed it. In your home, if there are a lot of things, knickknacks or things that are cluttering up the space that don’t allow it to flow, remove it. If you don’t need it or it’s not bringing you joy, then you should donate it. You should give it away. Also, organizing things will allow you so that you know where things are so that you are more efficient, so both decluttering it and then creating structure to what’s there.
Carey Pena: That makes sense, though. For instance, when you say that when you look around and you see, for instance, if you’re in your office and you have a huge stack, and that includes bills, and to-do lists, and all this, your brain immediately when you look at that thinks… all those things need to be done.
Coach Dar: Right. Think about, too, when you walk into a hotel. Often hotels are streamlined, they’re clean, and everyone always feels great when they walk in the hotel room or a resort. Think about your space, your space you want to be able to … It’s inviting when you walk into those spaces. Create your space so that has that same flow, because if there is too much clutter, truly your brain cannot focus as well.
Carey Pena: What did you remove from your space as you started thinking about this?
Coach Dar: I realized how many little … I might have saved cards from people, I might have saved old programs of things, and I was thinking, “Why am I holding onto all of this?” Because they were actual … They were in baskets, but the baskets were overflowing. I was like, “Why am I keeping this stuff?” And I remembered Wayne Dyer said this one point. He told his assistant before he moved to Maui, he said, “Get rid of anything. If I can’t Google it, I don’t need it, and if I can’t scan it and it can’t be something electronic, then I don’t need it.”
Coach Dar: He said when you free your space you become lighter, and when you’re lighter you don’t feel weighed down. He says, “Anytime I had to travel for work, I had exactly what I needed and I didn’t need any more.”
Carey Pena: I love that.
Coach Dar: As he moved, he was able to move freely, and you’re more inspired. You really do think clearer when you have less.
Carey Pena: We need to create more space for creativity.
Coach Dar: Yes.
Carey Pena: Let’s go to number two, be decisive in your decision-making.
Coach Dar: Yes. This goes back to what I had put out there, if it’s not a heck yes, it’s a hell no. Every decision you make. Oftentimes you might say, “Oh, I’ll get to that later. Let me think on it,” and yes, you do absolutely have to pause, but you need time to pause and you need space to pause. You want to ask yourself, “Can I make the decision? Right now, would this be a heck yes or a hell now?”
Coach Dar: If at any moment you’re like, “I don’t really know if I should do this,” it’s probably a no. At that time in your schedule you probably shouldn’t add it on. It becomes a tool you could use to make quicker decisions, so then you could be more efficient. I keep repeating this efficiency, but really when we’re more efficient, we have greater results. Take that inventory question, that statement, and filter everything through it. Even when you’re going to just go to dinner, should you be taking on another dinner this week, or would it be better that you were at home and you just relaxed and you were with your family?
Carey Pena: Well, truly, too, I think that it’s not a service to whomever you’re going to dinner with if you really don’t want to be there.
Coach Dar: Right.
Carey Pena: That goes back to you’re not showing up at your 110%.
Coach Dar: Right.
Carey Pena: Do you also apply that to business for you as an entrepreneur? And I look at myself, as you’re saying this I’m thinking through how I dissect potential projects. I just was talking to you before we started about I love doing media coaching. I realized now as people are asking me to do the coaching, it’s a, “Yes, I love it. That’s fun. I see great results in the people I coach.” I really apply that to my business decisions.
Coach Dar: Right. You light up. You even just lit up when you just said that, but see where … Here’s your gift. You’re so gifted and talented at that. If you were able to clear your schedule so you could say yes to that more, you’re going to have a greater impact with the people that you served than saying yes to other things that, while you’ll be good at doing, this you say yes to and you’re great at it. You’re going to help.
Coach Dar: If you keep adding all these little yeses that maybe, while I could help you, but is it your highest and best use? Probably not, when you could go and do this with certain particular clients who do this media coaching, and you’re going to knock it out of the park, and they’re going to get such great results, and it’s all about the ripple effect and the impact we want to leave in this world. Carey Pena: Is that how you’ve come to run your business decisions as well?
Coach Dar: Absolutely, especially after the stroke this summer. I had to decide. A very large well-known organization in sports had called, and most people would have said yes to something to be able to be on staff with them. However, my schedule would have been 6:30 in the morning until 11:00 at night for a long time, and I had to say no because I knew I could say yes to other things and use my time more effectively. Because I had to look at my health, I had to look at also where I could put great quality of time and important to people, and where I wanted things to go.
Coach Dar: So if you know what your plan is for the year and you want to now say yes to the things that are going to use your gifts, you’re allowed to. Versus just saying yes because maybe that’s what the world thinks you should do, or because it’s glamorous. Really start to be clear on what your intention is for your life, for using your gifts, and where you want to go.
Carey Pena: With the using the hypothetical, expanding on that, I think a lot of times … You said no to a very large organization. A lot of times, though, people are afraid that, “Will that sort of opportunity come to me again?” You have to have confidence that if you make these intentional decisions and you say yes to the right things, more of the right things will come along.
Coach Dar: Right, and then you have to say, “How do you want your quality of life?” Really, because I’m watching more and more people hustling and working themselves truly to the point that their health is affected, their life is affected, their marriage is affected, they’re not able to be with their family. There’s times that, listen, business is going to ebb and flow, and you have to pour into it, but you just have to look at what’s the quality of life and what’s the impact that I want to live and lead, and then how do I want to show up doing that, and then create a schedule around that.
Carey Pena: Let’s dig a little deeper right there before we get to the third one, because you brought up a good point about the hustle. The hustle has been sold to a lot of people as, “You gotta get out there and hustle nonstop,” and some very smart people like … What’s his name? Gary V? (Vaynerchuck)
Coach Dar: Yes.
Carey Pena: And Grant Cardone, who I follow both of them.
Coach Dar: I love both of them.
Carey Pena: They are great, and hustle works for them.
Coach Dar: Right.
Carey Pena: Clearly it has worked. They’re really successful, but not everyone could duplicate. They do it so well it almost makes it look very easy, because they’re hustling all the time and every time I see Grant … He’s awesome, and his wife’s awesome, but I see him, he’s getting in his private jet, and they’re hustling, they’re speaking, and constantly creating content and all of that. That sort of feeling that you can do it 24 hours a day I think takes people down a disappointing road.
Coach Dar: The other thing, too, is not everyone is equipped the same, and I think people have to understand that. I knew coming out with this message that I was going to go up against the hustle.
Carey Pena: You’re going the opposite direction.
Coach Dar: Yes. However, I want … It’s kind of like this. One diet doesn’t fit all. Well, the same with how we go after our goals in our life, one model doesn’t fit all. There might be some people that this hustle is working for them, but there’s a lot of people that it’s not, and it’s breaking people’s backs. It’s literally breaking down their lives, their marriages, everything, so how do you balance this? There’s not a perfect zen, but you have to find what’s right for you and your family, and how you want … That’s why I said what’s the quality of life. Where do you want to go at things?
Coach Dar: Maybe you could do certain things for so many months and then you need a break. Just how do you expand this? Hustle for everyone doesn’t work, and I used to work, when … I am an occupational therapist, but I worked many years in the hospital, and we had a sleep lab. It would show we would have studies that would show people that lack of sleep was so toxic to the body. It cannot literally rebuild itself, so when people make the expressions, “You can sleep when you’re dead,” let me tell you, if you don’t get the sleep, you can end up going out of this world earlier than you should.
Coach Dar: There’s a book, “Sleep Revolution”, that Arianna Huffington wrote, and I love it, but we need to start really giving people also some sound advice on the other side effects, the side effects of hustle, and that if you don’t take care of yourself, and you don’t get the right care, you have to work out, you have to get sleep, but you have to create this balance. Otherwise you aren’t going to make it. You can’t get to the finish line. So what was it all for?
Carey Pena: Isn’t some of it, too, that you need to think through your objectives?
Coach Dar: Yes.
Carey Pena: Because not everyone wants to 10X their life. Is the objective to make a lot more money? Is the objective to move to a bigger house? It might be, and in that case you might need to really hustle, hustle, hustle until you make a certain amount. I think that’s important to think about that. Going back to my friend, Lori Gentile, a very successful interior designer, but she has worked … I’ve known her for quite a few years. She’s one of the best designers. She has worked very intentionally over the years. She does not take a ton of jobs at one time. She makes sure the clients that she works with align with her style. She has a very holistic style, and she used to drive me crazy because I would tell her, “Get on Instagram.”
Carey Pena: “I don’t want to do all that.” Now, she has now has her team a little bit on Instagram. Good job, Lori, very proud of you. I see the wisdom in what she saying, that she doesn’t want to be on Facebook. She chose one platform, that is a good platform for interior design, and she’s allowed that to grow, but she’s worked very intentionally so that gives her the time and space to have that simplicity in her life.
Coach Dar: Customize. Exactly. She’s able to customize her lifestyle to fit her needs, and that’s what everyone has … Even this, simplicity might not be for all, hustle’s not going to be for all, but you have to be able to choose what’s right for you. I could share that over thousands of people that I’ve worked with. Those that got clear on how they wanted their life and their schedule to look, and then created this efficient system around it and simplified, became more successful in the long run.
Coach Dar: I even think about how Steve Jobs wore his black crew neck shirt, because he didn’t want to have to think about what he was wearing. He was creating efficiency and simplicity, and I think Mark Zuckerberg talks about that, too. We know that there’s ways that you could create some simple tactics in your life and still do what you need to do to get the work done, but it’s going to allow you to be a lot more efficient. We don’t need more. We need better connection. If you really want to have a thriving life and one that’s fulfilled and happy, it’s about making greater connections, and it’s about quality, not quantity.
Carey Pena: I see a real passion and somewhat of an urgency in the way you’re bringing this message. Do you feel that it’s important to try to get people to think about this before they crash and burn?
Coach Dar: Yes. This has been why I actually left a high paying job as a president of a healthcare company to start my own practice years ago, because I wanted to get to people before it was too late. I’m feeling this urgency all over again, because when you watch the news or you see what’s going on, we have more and more people unhappy, depressed, anxiety. More people are on anxiety meds than they’ve ever been, so what’s going wrong? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I’m here to just say please just take this under consideration. Use this almost as a script for life. Try simplifying things and see if you feel better after this.
Carey Pena: I was in the Dominican Republic and we were down at the beach and a gentlemen, I think they were from the East Coast, a gentleman and his wife were there, and he was on his phone. His wife said, “Oh, how is everything going at your work?” So he was checking his emails, and she said to him, “Are they getting by without you?”
Carey Pena: I’ll not forget this. He said, “Barely.”
Carey Pena: I started thinking about it, how sometimes we feel, all of us, that we are so important, that if we step away for a second. That’s why I think a lot of times it’s kind of scary to simplify because you think, “I’m needed here. I have to go to that meeting. They need to talk to me. They need my input.”
Carey Pena: When in actuality, the world keeps on turning. I looked over and the wife was kind of like, “Whatever,” but it made him feel good to check in.
Coach Dar: Right.
Carey Pena: Number three on your list. This is interesting. They’re all interesting, but this stood out to me. Be a producer, not a consumer.
Coach Dar: Yes.
Carey Pena: Let’s talk about that.
Coach Dar: I am playing with words here, but so often we’re consuming. We’re consuming the next thing, we’re consuming the next feed, we’re consuming media, we’re consuming stuff mentally, physically, spiritually. We’re consuming instead of producing. When we consume a lot, it keeps weighing us down, we can’t produce. I’m talking about efficiency and your greatness, so I’m asking people to take inventory of watch what you consume in a week. From what you watch to what you buy to what you’re putting around you, negative talk even. You’re consuming things. Watch what you’re consuming and try to be a producer.
Coach Dar: How do you want to show up? How can you produce more in the sense of not producing more things that just don’t add value, but how do you produce an impact when you show up? When you’re actually simplifying and you have more peace in your mind when you sit down at a meeting or with a friend, you’re actually producing a better environment in response because you’re clear now, and you’re more effective. Versus if you’re constantly consuming, and then you have back to back to back to back meeting, or buying and buying and buying. You’re consuming and you’re not producing. You’re not showing up. You’re not as efficient. It’s a play on words here, but be a producer, not a consumer so much on what you’re taking in.
Carey Pena: How do you apply that to your own life? Give me an example.
Coach Dar: I watch what I bring in mentally, so what I consume, I don’t watch anything that’s negative.
Carey Pena: So you don’t watch any news.
Coach Dar: Truly, I really don’t.
Carey Pena: You get your news from me texting you.
Coach Dar: I do. Exactly. I get news by people tell me, or I’ll look at a newsfeed when I’m ready to look at it, but not where it’s just pouring in and I have no control or filter of it. I watch, now, how much I’m consuming as far as in a move that I’m making, my space. What do I really need? Do I need to consume anything new? If I don’t, then I’m not getting it. I watch what I consume as far as people that are around me. Are they uplifting? Are they moving in the right direction? When I have to refill myself I have to make sure that I’m consuming the right things, but by watching what I consume I now show up and I can produce better for people. When they have me come and help them I’m now giving 110% and not 50%.
Carey Pena: It strikes me that this would be important for people who, a lot of businesses that I come in contact with who are looking to articulate better, articulate their brand message. It’s not clear. It’s very fragmented, because what you’re saying really makes a lot of sense. There is a lot of things going on there. When we are so overcrowded in our heads, and then you ask someone a simple question like, “What is your brand? What is your mission? What is your why?” Which these are all some of the questions when I’m brought in to do consulting or a brand journalism project, I ask those questions. It’s not that the people aren’t smart people. They know their business, but we’re so overcrowded mentally that then we’re not able to produce a clear succinct message.
Coach Dar: Absolutely. You just hit it on the head. That’s exactly what this is all about, and when you simplify you actually make a greater impact, because when you help your clients simplify their message, now when people hear it, it’s clear and it’s effective and they’ll remember it.
Carey Pena: Yes. If people implement these three things, and let’s just review your tips here because we’re throwing out a lot of information, but declutter your place to make space, be decisive in your decision-making, and be a producer, not a consumer. Where will this lead to?
Coach Dar: When you do this you will have more clarity. You’ll actually have greater connection with people. You’ll have more focus. You’ll feel lighter and freer, and you’ll have more fulfillment enjoying your life. You’ll be healthier. As a whole, your company will be healthier when you simplify, your family becomes healthier because you simplified in your connecting more, your relationships. You will find more joy when you simplify.
Carey Pena: What has this done for you? You look amazing, and you did fight a real serious health battle, but I can just see how … You talk about free. You look free, and you look excited about what’s to come.
Coach Dar: It’s really been almost its own transformation for me, because it forced me to have to slow down and simplify things. After the stroke I couldn’t even open up things with my own hands, so I had to simplify how I even did things around the house. But it was in the process that it reignited the fire within me. I’m so passionate about helping people and businesses, and just everyone that I could touch, create better impact, create a stronger impact in this world, but have healthier, happier lives and be more fulfilled.
Coach Dar: This has really helped ignite a fire in me. It’s almost … I’m so passionate about it that there’s more joy in my life, so going through something that hit me hard again, it’s created another fire to be able to go out, back out, and share a message that I hope helps millions of lives.
Carey Pena: It strikes me, Dar, because over the years I’ve done a lot of interviews as a journalist on the news, and also working in the new media space doing podcasts and things. I’ve interviewed quite a few people, more than I would have liked to, who are facing end of life. One common thread that people always say is that, “I wish I would have just stopped to take more time.” There’s nothing more sad in this world than looking at someone whose days are numbered, and they have regrets.
Carey Pena: I worked on a story recently with a beautiful young woman located in Scottsdale here in Arizona, and she’s dying of cancer, and she’s in her 30s, and she has a little girl. She told me, she’s like, “Carey, I really would love for you to share my story because I want people to be inspired by their life.” And what you’re talking about is inspiring.
Coach Dar: Yes.
Carey Pena: Because it is allowing yourself to take time to enjoy life.
Coach Dar: That’s exactly … The hustle is about go, go, go, but where’s the enjoyment of what’s right in front of you? I am so passionate about just saying stop, and I know the expression has been used but, “Stop and smell the roses, but really stop. Breathe. Meditate. Look at what’s right in front of you and be grateful for it.’
Carey Pena: To be clear, you’re not saying, “Don’t try to go for it,” because you’re a big dream kind of person.
Coach Dar: Very much.
Carey Pena: You go out and kick some bootay. You work with big time athletes, so there is no sense of, “Hey, just be mediocre.”
Coach Dar: No.
Carey Pena: That is not the conversation we are having. I just want to make sure that people understand that.
Coach Dar: I don’t even like the word mediocre, and it’s not about settling, but it’s about if you simplify, you will show up better and you’ll be able to hit more home runs in your life. You’re going to … Really, you will fly higher when you simplify because you’ll show up better.
Carey Pena: The people who have been contacting you since you started putting this out there, they’re looking already for you to come in and coach, and I assume that this would be great training in a corporate environment as well.
Coach Dar: Yes.
Carey Pena: Because you’re going to get much healthier employees, right?
Coach Dar: Right. Let’s create a more simplified culture. Let’s streamline processes. Let’s help simplify communications. Let’s declutter the space that you’re in and make it more efficient and simplified. That, on the business standpoint, definitely. If anyone needs help with that I’d be more than happy to help.
Carey Pena: Give them your information.
Coach Dar: If you have social media, the greatest way to reach me is on Instagram or Twitter and the handle is @The, T-H-E, CoachDar, so @TheCoachDar, and you can send me a direct message.
Coach Dar: If you want to hear more about this I’m going to be setting also up an academy where you could take a six week course and go through some things on simplifying, or you could do one-on-one coaching, but go ahead and send me a message and I would be happy to follow up with you.
Carey Pena: You’re ready to light it up.
Coach Dar: Oh, yes.
Carey Pena: It is always so great to have you here. I love the interview, and I love talking to you about these subjects that I know will really help people improve their day-to-day lives, and that is what I care about so much.
Coach Dar: Which I’m grateful that you have this platform, Carey, to be able to share and have myself and others on, because what you’re doing is inspiring so many, and it is effecting lives. I know it helps my life.
Carey Pena: Give us one final thought, something you want the audience to think about as we close out here.
Coach Dar: As you go and you look at this year, just think about how you want to live your best life. Think about how you want to show up and what the impact is, and like Carey said, you don’t want to live with regrets, so think about what it is you could do to start simplifying your day, your life, your space, so that you can have a greater impact.
Carey Pena: It’s a nice feeling when you go to bed at the end of the night, and you worked hard but you managed to create space for yourself so that when you lay down at night, you’re calm.
Coach Dar: Right.
Carey Pena: That’s huge.
Coach Dar: Yes. You’ll be able to sleep better because your head’s not racing.
Carey Pena: I never have trouble with sleep. I lay down, I’m like, “Good night.” I’ll wake up when my twins come in early in the morning, but for now, “Check, please. Peace out.” Thank you so much, Dar.
Coach Dar: Thanks, Carey.
Carey Pena: And thanks for listening, everyone. You can find us online at InspiredMedia360.com and of course, you can always connect with me on Facebook and on Instagram @CareyPena. I do love to hear feedback on all of our shows and content, and I really hope that this show inspires you to live a life that is a little bit simpler, and hopefully happier. Thanks so much for listening.
