0:15

Welcome to The Drummer and the Great

0:18

Mountain, a podcast where we

0:20

share effective tips and practices for

0:22

working with adults ADD, ADHD in

0:24

a natural effective way without the

0:27

use of medications. Each

0:29

episode join me, your host, Batman Saram, along with

0:31

the author of The Drummer and the Great Mountain,

0:34

Michael Joseph Ferguson. Join

0:37

Michael and myself in an interactive discussion

0:39

of sharing our stories as we journey

0:41

together in transforming what can be the

0:43

gift of being what we call hunter

0:46

types. This podcast is

0:48

intended to be your audio companion to the book

0:50

written by Michael, who joins

0:52

me each episode where we both will

0:54

strive to foster dialogue, give you our

0:57

personal insights and share both

0:59

of our experiences on this similar path

1:01

that we are all on. Our

1:04

intention and hope is that along with the

1:06

book, this podcast gives you an additional perspective

1:08

as you listen to us delve deeper into each

1:10

chapter of the book to give you even more

1:13

tools to go along with what it is that

1:15

you are reading. Visit

1:17

us at drummerandthegreatmountain.com to

1:19

purchase the book and look for more tools,

1:22

tips and updates, as well as

1:24

giving us feedback on this podcast. Join

1:27

our growing global community of creative

1:29

types, entrepreneurs and out of the

1:31

box thinkers on our shared journey.

1:35

Welcome to the Drummer in the Great Mountain

1:38

podcast. Welcome

1:53

everyone. Thanks for tuning in. I'm your host,

1:55

Michael Joseph Ferguson. How are you all doing?

1:58

We are wrapping up 2023. And

2:01

so for many of us, this was a great year.

2:04

And for some of us, it was a really

2:06

challenging year. And for most of us, it was

2:08

probably somewhere in the middle. So

2:11

taking time at the end of

2:13

the year for reflection can really

2:15

support our personal growth. It

2:17

helps us get set up for a really

2:19

good upcoming year. And

2:21

as we talk about a lot on this podcast, if

2:24

we celebrate our wins, if we stop and

2:26

take a breath and go, here's what I

2:28

accomplished. Here's what worked. Here's what

2:30

was achieved. This supports our

2:32

overall mental health. It inspires us. It

2:35

keeps us going because we all have

2:37

a tendency to stay stuck on the

2:39

next thing and what I'm reacting to.

2:42

And this isn't working. So when we

2:44

celebrate our wins, it supports us in

2:46

feeling stronger, healthier, inspired. And it's sometimes

2:49

it takes a little effort. But

2:51

when we do it, we feel better and

2:53

we get clear about what's working. And

2:56

equally important is to name our

2:58

challenges, to specifically say, this is

3:00

a challenge and noting the places

3:02

where we can improve. This is also

3:04

essential. They need to go together. You

3:07

need both. So in this episode,

3:09

we'll be working with a free PDF

3:11

worksheet to do this really simple but

3:13

really powerful end of year reflection. So

3:16

to get the PDF, click on the

3:18

link in the description or just go

3:21

to drummerinthegreatmountain.com forward

3:23

slash episode 103, all

3:25

lowercase, no space. And

3:27

we will be continuing the money

3:30

series in the new year. So

3:32

part two will be all about

3:34

how do we maximize our creativity,

3:36

leaning on our creativity to increase

3:38

our income, to create more prosperity

3:40

and to start building systems that

3:42

support us in the way that

3:44

we're wired so that we can

3:46

have prosperity both in the short term and

3:48

in the long term. Okay,

3:51

one quick announcement before we get into it. In

3:54

January, we will be doing another life

3:56

visioning workshop. We have done this every

3:58

year since 2015. We

4:01

used to do it within our live online

4:03

workshops and then we split that out last

4:05

year into individual workshops. So

4:08

it'll be January 20th and

4:10

January 27th and we try to get

4:12

a time that would work for most

4:14

of you. So check it out. We

4:17

do this every year. We get together

4:19

as a community. We go through a

4:21

life visioning exercise where we actually go

4:23

through some worksheets and plan out our

4:25

goals. What are we wanting to do

4:27

for the upcoming year? And then in

4:29

the second session, we really distill it

4:31

down and say, okay, what's most important?

4:34

Let's create some realistic milestones. Let's create

4:36

some doable actions. We get to do

4:38

it together as a team. And

4:40

most of all, it's just really fun. A lot

4:42

of people will call a friend or a family

4:44

member in and they'll do it together in different

4:47

parts of the world and they go through this

4:49

exercise together and plan out their new year. It's

4:52

super fun. I hope you

4:54

can join us. Go to

4:56

drummerinthegreatmountain.com/workshop for more information or

4:58

click the link in the description.

5:01

All right, so let's get into

5:03

our year end reflection exercise.

5:06

Okay, so the only clear direction I

5:08

want to give you in filling this

5:10

out is use bullet points. Don't

5:13

try to write long answers. See if you can

5:15

distill it down to a couple words just so

5:17

you can cue that part of your memory of

5:19

like, okay, that was a win. That was something

5:21

that worked or this is something that didn't work.

5:24

Okay, so use bullet points. If

5:26

you're having a hard time doing that, maybe

5:29

flip the sheet over in journal a little

5:31

bit or open up your journal and then

5:33

come back and see if you can just

5:35

get to some simple bullet points on each

5:37

of those questions. Okay, so let's start with

5:39

question number one. In

5:41

2023, what were your

5:43

wins and what worked? Okay,

5:46

so let's take a step back and

5:48

discuss what that means. So a win

5:50

can be anything. It could

5:52

be a goal that you achieved. It could

5:54

be something that you felt really good about.

5:57

It's something that worked and maybe it was something

5:59

that matched. magically happened that you're like, wow,

6:01

I can't believe that happened. The

6:04

win category can be just

6:06

about anything positive. So

6:08

start with what are your wins? Maybe those

6:11

are accomplished goals, things that you set out

6:13

to do. Even if

6:15

you didn't put really conscious energy into

6:17

it, if it still happened, it counts

6:19

as a win. And it

6:21

could be wins within your family as well. Maybe

6:25

the win could be your child

6:27

won some award or your children

6:29

are healthy. Maybe if you're having

6:31

a hard time writing your wins, go

6:34

into gratitude. What are you grateful for?

6:37

Those are clearly wins. Anything that's a

6:39

gratitude is a win. So if you're

6:41

like, God, it was just such a

6:43

miserable year, you still had

6:45

wins. And if you can't think

6:48

of a win, think of something you're grateful for.

6:50

I just spoke to a client recently

6:52

that said, I am so glad I'm

6:55

still alive because of the things that

6:57

happened to them during 2023. So

7:00

take a moment and write what are

7:02

your wins and what worked. So the

7:04

second part of that is what

7:07

habits did you form? What did you note?

7:09

What things did you shift either

7:12

consciously or semi-consciously in 2023 that

7:14

you've noticed has

7:16

made a difference in your life? So if

7:18

you listen to this podcast for a while,

7:20

maybe you've integrated some of these things in,

7:22

it may not be perfect, but you're like,

7:24

Oh, you know what? That's now working. I'm

7:26

now exercising three times a week, or I've

7:28

changed this thing in my diet and I'm

7:30

feeling better. So for that first question, what

7:33

are your wins? What worked? And

7:36

if you need to think about what am I

7:38

grateful for? What is going well?

7:41

And to think back, you might want to

7:43

start at January and start just playing back

7:46

the year and going, okay, what happened in

7:48

January? What happened in February? What happened in

7:50

March? Skip around.

7:53

There's no particular order. So once

7:55

you hit pause, Finish that first

7:57

section and then we'll come back. Okay,

8:02

so before we continue. Take

8:04

a breath and since celebrate. Those.

8:07

Happened that's going on no matter how

8:09

bad maybe your life is going right

8:12

now. There were some good

8:14

things that happen. There's always some good

8:16

things that happened our lives and the

8:19

more we focus on them the more

8:21

they expand And they talk about this

8:23

in the science of happiness that this

8:25

practice as savoring is so important for

8:28

our mental health To sit back and

8:30

get this is going well. Taking your

8:32

time to really focus your consciousness on

8:35

these things happen. This is going well

8:37

this habit and you know what? I

8:39

can do that again. so especially when

8:42

you look at those. Wins Remind yourself

8:44

of kids that happens. There was some

8:46

effort involved in many of those and

8:48

you can make that happen again and

8:50

even him in a more focus way.

8:52

Going into Twenty Twenty Four. Okay,

8:55

so let's move on to question

8:57

number to your challenges and what

8:59

didn't work. So for many of

9:01

us this is super easy. Will

9:03

dislike Zoc. That's easy. I know

9:05

all the stuff. So okay, so

9:07

it's great. Said, let's take a

9:09

moment and define what a challenges.

9:11

I specifically use that term for

9:13

reasons: A challenge is not a

9:15

loss, a challenge, or something that

9:17

you are challenged by something that

9:19

you're struggling with, Something he wants

9:21

to be different than what it

9:23

is. Okay, so. That's pretty self

9:26

explanatory and also what worked,

9:28

What didn't work like okay

9:30

in specially look it's or

9:32

habits, what kind habits or

9:34

tendencies that you were practicing.

9:36

During. twenty twenty three didn't didn't eat

9:39

him feel like it moved you forward

9:41

it may be didn't you didn't support

9:43

the people around you so let's make

9:45

note of it with soft self acceptance

9:47

we're not going to be the harshly

9:49

like thought just don't does this is

9:51

terrible and i just take a breath

9:53

and just go countless node it passively

9:55

and to say of kittens that is

9:57

one area of my life where i

9:59

know i can improve. So take

10:01

a moment and write out what were your

10:03

challenges in 2023 and what didn't

10:07

work? What are those parts of your

10:09

life where you feel like that's this

10:12

needs help, this needs support, this needs

10:14

some energy so that the next year

10:17

can go better. So

10:19

hit pause, fill that out, and then we'll come

10:21

back. Okay,

10:24

and sometimes it's really helpful. It can

10:26

be cathartic to just write that out

10:28

because sometimes these little gremlins, these demons

10:30

are like, you know,

10:33

they just take over our consciousness because

10:35

we're not looking directly at them. And

10:37

so they just kind of hover in

10:39

the background, right? And so they

10:41

get us in the middle of the night

10:43

when we wake up in the middle of

10:45

the night, or when we wake up in

10:47

the morning, we feel crappy. It's usually that

10:49

stuff that's on that challenges what didn't work

10:51

list. Okay, so naming it is

10:53

so important as well because then we

10:56

can say what do we want to

10:58

do going into 24 that can potentially

11:00

make a difference. Okay,

11:03

so let's move on to question number three, which is

11:06

what am I committed to going into

11:08

the new year? What am I committed

11:11

to? What is it that I want

11:13

to be doing? Where do I want

11:15

to put my focus, my energy going

11:17

into 2024? So what does

11:19

this look like? This could be just about

11:21

anything. It could be something like, I want

11:25

my health to be better. I'm not feeling

11:27

good. I feel like I'm kind of fuzzy,

11:29

and I'm not exercising, and I feel blah.

11:31

So maybe what you're committed to is committing

11:34

to increasing your exercise on

11:36

a daily basis in 2024.

11:39

That could be what you write. Or you

11:41

can maybe committed to a specific project that

11:43

you really care about that you haven't put

11:46

any energy towards lately. Maybe

11:48

that's one of the things that you're committed to

11:50

doing. Maybe when you look back and go, man,

11:52

I did not spend really quality

11:54

time with my children in 2023. I was so wrapped up

11:58

in other things, or I'm constantly on my

12:00

phone and I'm sort of halfway present with

12:02

them but not fully present. So maybe one

12:05

of your commitments is to be more present

12:07

with your family, to not have your phone

12:09

with you when you're engaging with your children.

12:12

That's something that comes up a lot when I'm working

12:14

with coaching clients. Maybe you

12:16

haven't spent enough time fostering

12:19

and supporting your creativity. Maybe there's

12:21

some creative aspects of your life

12:23

that they've just gotten totally gobbled

12:26

up by just getting

12:28

things done and handling

12:30

all the commitments that you have. So maybe your

12:32

focus in 2024 is to

12:35

go back to playing music again

12:37

or maybe it's to focus on

12:39

your art or maybe there's some

12:41

specific thing, some specific project,

12:44

some creative project that you really want to

12:46

accomplish in 2024. So

12:48

whatever it is, take

12:51

what you've written from the wins and

12:53

the challenges. Let those be directors

12:55

for you. Let those set

12:57

a direction for you and take a moment

13:00

and write out some bullets of what

13:02

are you committed to doing in 2024? How

13:05

do you make 2024 even better than 2023? So

13:10

hit pause and then we'll come back. So

13:13

first off, if you did that, congratulations. That's

13:16

awesome. Just doing that

13:18

exercise drops some things into

13:20

your subconscious. This has

13:22

an impact just by doing the

13:24

exercise, just by going through that

13:26

without even doing any actions, just

13:28

taking that time. Does

13:31

some magic. It drops some things into

13:33

your subconscious. It gives you some clarity

13:36

and sometimes, especially as you go through

13:38

the holidays or maybe you're doing this

13:40

right going into 2024, it's

13:43

going to bubble up. You're going to be thinking about something

13:45

else and then you're going to come back to this exercise

13:47

and go, oh, you know what? I could do this. It's

13:50

going to start directing your steps in ways that

13:52

maybe you might not even see right now. And

13:55

I've heard this from a lot of people

13:58

that have gone through our workshops and and

14:00

gone through some of the exercises in the book,

14:02

The Derm and the Great Mountain, and they said,

14:04

you know what, I did that exercise and I

14:06

completely forgot about it, but then when

14:08

I looked back at the year, I accomplished

14:10

like half the things on the list, but

14:13

they weren't even directing their

14:15

energy specifically in that direction. So

14:18

our subconscious is so powerful, and

14:20

when we give it these exercises

14:22

where we can sit down and

14:24

consciously, and without having a

14:26

lot of extra details, just sitting down

14:28

and going, okay, here are my wins,

14:30

here are my challenges, here's the direction

14:32

I wanna move, those three questions are

14:34

so powerful, that's why they're such a

14:36

key part of my coaching practice. So

14:39

I hope that was helpful. What I wanna

14:41

encourage you to do moving forward is keep

14:43

that sheet out with you, and if

14:45

you can, look at it every day or every

14:47

couple days between now and the beginning of the

14:50

year so you can kinda get a sense of

14:52

like, okay, this is the direction I wanna move.

14:55

Then you may wanna go, okay, in the

14:57

beginning of the new year, you might wanna

14:59

sit down and really spell out, here's the

15:01

goals that I have going into the new

15:03

year. So you can really say, here's my

15:05

goal, and here's some actions I can take

15:08

to make that happen. And as

15:10

important as doing all that is

15:13

to find the support you need

15:15

to make those happen. We can't,

15:17

we're communal animals, we need community,

15:19

we should not exist on our

15:21

own, we don't do well just

15:23

doing things on our own willpower.

15:25

We need support. So I wanna

15:28

encourage you to take those ideas,

15:30

let them kinda roll

15:32

around in your head for a little bit. And

15:35

going into 2024, either you can join us in

15:38

the Life Visioning Workshop, or you can just do it on

15:40

your own, spend some time

15:42

really fleshing out that third section

15:45

and ask yourself, how do I

15:47

turn some of these into habits?

15:49

What can I do so that

15:51

my goal for this creative project

15:54

is not just on my own

15:56

willpower, I have scheduled sessions with

15:58

other people, I've scheduled to... you