0:00

Hey there , curious minds and self-improvement

0:02

dabblers , welcome to me , myself

0:04

and my best self . The

0:07

podcast where we casually navigate

0:09

the maze of personal growth without the hype

0:11

, no promises of overnight

0:13

transformations or grand life

0:15

revelations here , just

0:17

real talk , relatable stories and

0:19

a few laughs as we figure out this whole

0:22

becoming our best selves thing . I'm

0:25

Claire Bennett , your guide through the maze

0:27

of life's quirks and challenges . Let's

0:29

wander through it together . No pressure

0:31

, no perfection , just a touch

0:33

of curiosity . This

0:36

is my very first me myself and

0:39

my best self podcast . To

0:41

be honest , it's my first ever podcast full

0:43

stop . I decided that

0:46

the first episode will be a

0:48

little bit of an insight into what the podcast

0:50

is about and I thought I'd

0:52

take the opportunity to tell you a little

0:54

bit about me . It's going to be very brief

0:56

and I'm sure you'll learn more about me as

0:58

time goes on . So

1:00

where do I start ? I'm 43

1:02

, I live just outside London with my

1:05

husband and four dogs . Yes

1:07

, I said that right , four dogs . I

1:09

have two cockapoo's and two Labradors

1:12

and , yes , I do walk them all

1:14

at once . And yes , I do constantly

1:16

get mistaken for a dog walker . And

1:19

yes , my house is mad , especially

1:21

when the doorbell goes . I even

1:23

bought my current house because it had

1:25

a shower on the ground floor , which

1:27

meant I no longer had to take muddy dogs

1:29

upstairs to the bath . So

1:32

what else ? I started my

1:34

work life in insurance . I

1:37

actually liked my job , but

1:39

just a year after meeting

1:41

my husband , in 2009 , he

1:44

got offered a job in Madrid and

1:46

, to my luck , I got offered

1:48

redundancy at the same time , after

1:51

working for the company for 10 years . It

1:53

was one of those seven dippidus moments

1:55

when the stars align . We

1:58

lived in Madrid for four and a half years . I

2:00

loved living there

2:02

, but it was a huge life change . I

2:05

didn't speak the language , I had

2:07

no friends there and no job

2:09

, but I learnt a lot about myself

2:11

and I made some great friends and I did manage

2:13

to learn a bit of the lingo . Then

2:16

we came back from Madrid , both of us homeless

2:18

and jobless . I quickly got

2:20

another job , this time working for a bank , but

2:23

after two years realised the corporate

2:25

world was not for me . I

2:27

then left and did a year of study . I'm

2:30

now what I like to call a

2:33

multi-job professional , so I

2:35

do more than one job . Ideally

2:38

, I'd love to make enough money teaching

2:40

people about self-improvement . I

2:42

am a qualified life coach and I do work

2:44

with people on a one-to-one and

2:46

a group coaching basis . I'm

2:49

also trying to launch a social enterprise that

2:51

is focused on social safety , but

2:54

that's a whole other topic . I

2:56

also do projects for other companies ad

2:58

hoc , sometimes involving staff improvements

3:00

, staff wellbeing . Sometimes

3:03

it's more business focused . I

3:05

love having the flexibility I

3:08

do work from home and majority at the time

3:11

, but I

3:13

would love a bit more master of one

3:15

rather than jack of all trades . I

3:19

hope that's a little bit of an intro to me and

3:21

we'll get back to why

3:23

we're here . The podcast and

3:25

I'm going to kick it off with a little truth bomb . I

3:28

am a total self-improvement nerd

3:31

. I'm not saying that I know

3:33

everything , but I am hooked on all

3:35

things self-help and improvement and

3:37

, if I'm being completely honest , I'm

3:40

also the person that's trying to find

3:42

a shortcut . I'm generally fascinated

3:44

by this stuff . I even snagged a degree

3:47

in psychology and a master's in

3:49

positive psychology and coaching . But

3:52

here's the kicker I'm still on this wild

3:54

journey , figuring out how to lock the

3:56

best version of me . So

4:00

the real deal behind me launching this

4:02

podcast is not because my friends

4:04

have hit their limit with my ramblings and

4:07

it is a selfish reason

4:09

. I needed a

4:12

space to clear the mental

4:14

clutter and find a way to

4:16

document my thoughts on

4:19

positive improvement , and

4:21

I'm hoping that by

4:23

doing this podcast , it will help me

4:25

close some of those tabs . Okay

4:28

, so , what do I mean by tabs ? Okay , so

4:31

my tabs are all those things

4:33

personal improvement that

4:35

I want to know more about , or that

4:37

I want to buy , or

4:39

that I want to do , or

4:42

that I want to research

4:44

, or it's just those random

4:46

ideas that come into my head . More

4:50

often than not , I'll actually open

4:52

a tab on my computer or

4:54

my phone and I start digging into a particular

4:56

subject , but then reality

4:59

calls and you're back to your day job

5:01

and instead of closing

5:04

that tab , I leave it hanging , thinking

5:06

I'll swing back to it later . Except

5:09

nine times out of ten that later

5:11

never comes . Before I know it , I've

5:13

got a whole chaotic sea of open

5:16

tabs with zero follow through . Or

5:18

the other example is

5:20

if you , like me , have a million

5:23

Insta or Facebook and posts

5:25

and videos saved for later except

5:28

in later never materializes

5:30

. I

5:33

also have another example , and this one I'm bad

5:35

at . So you know those free

5:37

personal development tech lists or information

5:40

. You know the ones where you

5:43

join their mailing list for

5:45

a freebie , and the thing

5:47

is is that I save all of

5:49

these into a read

5:51

later folder on my

5:53

computer and guess what , yeah , I

5:56

never open it again . I

5:58

hope I'm making sense , who knows . But

6:00

what I'm trying to say , badly

6:02

, is that this podcast has selfishly

6:05

been created to keep myself

6:07

accountable to my personal development

6:09

, and hopefully all

6:11

those tabs and downloads will give me some inspiration

6:14

for future episodes . I

6:16

also hope that you guys learned

6:19

something and that you enjoy it , and

6:21

this podcast will cover

6:24

a multitude of personal improvement topics

6:26

, from fundamental to the bizarre . Hopefully

6:29

we can get some guests if it's popular

6:31

, or I can ask a few friends , and

6:34

it will talk about topics that I'm passionate

6:36

about , such as simplify my life

6:38

, goal setting , self love

6:41

and care , positive psychology

6:43

, being the authentic you

6:45

, but also with a sprinkle of how

6:47

you can make it as easy as possible . But

6:51

it also talk about new trends in personal

6:53

improvement , research and

6:55

anything in between . And

6:57

but if you want to suggest any topics

7:00

, share your stories or even want to come

7:02

and speak on the podcast and just get in contact

7:04

, I'd love to interact with as many of you

7:06

as possible . So

7:08

, as I said , I'm a complete

7:10

personal improvement junkie , and

7:13

this has been for as long as I

7:15

can remember . I'm

7:17

also very lazy , and

7:19

so always looking for ways

7:22

I can improve without it costing

7:24

me too much time or too much energy

7:26

. But , in all seriousness , I

7:28

have learned a lot about myself , and I do

7:30

have some insights about self improvement

7:33

, and so , as

7:35

my first podcast , I'm going to share with

7:37

you five of

7:39

what I think are the key points to

7:42

when you're starting

7:44

to make any kind of change , and

7:47

so those five

7:50

key points that I think are important

7:52

is number one you

7:55

need to be realistic about

7:57

where you are now , and

8:00

what I mean is that if you , for

8:02

example , want to start running 5k

8:05

three times a week and , like

8:07

me , have only ever run for a bus , then

8:10

you are going to have to start running one

8:12

minute at a time . There

8:15

will be a few of you out there that

8:17

say I'm going to run

8:19

5k three times a week

8:21

and , straight off , you're running

8:23

5k , but for us

8:25

, mere mortals , the truth is we're

8:27

going to have to take it one step at a time

8:30

. Also , being realistic

8:32

about where you started helps

8:35

later on down the track , because

8:37

it helps you to track your progress

8:40

. Especially at those times when you feel like

8:42

it's an uphill battle , you can look

8:44

back and be proud of how far

8:46

you've come . Okay

8:49

, number two research

8:51

and plan . So

8:54

let's take a look at again at their 5k

8:56

running example Research

8:59

, how others have done it . You

9:02

are not the first person to run 5k

9:04

, so how have others gone

9:06

from zero to 5k ? What

9:09

do the experts say about running your 5k

9:11

? Also , how

9:13

do these people stay motivated

9:16

? Even tricks to getting

9:18

you in your running gear . So when I

9:21

started , I worked out

9:23

that I had to be in my running

9:25

gear before I even thought about it . So

9:27

I used to get up , brush my

9:29

teeth and put my running gear on

9:31

. If I didn't do that nine

9:33

times , that in the run didn't happen

9:36

. And then , and also

9:38

taking that first step

9:40

, how are you gonna open that door and

9:42

take that first step ? Plan

9:46

, okay . So plan

9:48

everything when are you gonna run

9:50

, what time , what days , also

9:53

the route you're gonna take . Research

9:56

, what you are gonna wear and if

9:58

and what music you're gonna listen to . The

10:00

more decisions that you can pre-empt

10:02

, the less obstacles on mainly

10:05

mental that you can eliminate . Okay

10:08

. So , number three Plan

10:11

to fail . And what

10:13

I mean is there is gonna be a point

10:15

when you give up . So

10:18

plan this If you stop running

10:20

for a week , how are you gonna remotivate

10:23

yourself to get back out there ? It

10:25

is a fundamental part of self-improvement

10:28

. This is also where you can look

10:30

at how to keep yourself accountable

10:32

. There are loads of options , and

10:35

5k example would

10:38

could be join a running club

10:40

, do a park run with

10:42

a friend , sign up for a 5k

10:45

, and if you add to that you

10:47

get charity money from your friends

10:49

and family to run the 5k , you're more

10:51

than likely gonna do it . Tell

10:53

friends and family what you're doing . Or

10:56

maybe you have to stop because life

10:58

changes . So you're

11:00

meant to run on a Monday , wednesday and Friday

11:03

and suddenly you can't run on a Monday anymore

11:05

. So , but instead of giving up

11:07

, change the plan Run on Tuesday

11:09

, run on Saturday , whatever it

11:11

is , plan to fail

11:13

. Number

11:15

four Don't be a

11:17

perfectionist and accept being

11:20

uncomfortable . This is probably

11:22

one of the hardest , but probably

11:25

one of the most important points . When

11:27

starting anything new , you are not

11:29

going to be great at it . You

11:32

may even look stupid . For

11:34

example , me for the first . First

11:36

two years of yoga . Yes

11:38

, two years of feeling stupid . Four

11:41

years on , I am much more confident

11:43

, but I'm still not that flexible . But

11:46

you are going to have good days

11:48

and you're going to have bad days . You're

11:51

going to have days when you achieve the unexpected

11:54

and days when you

11:56

are just well . Let's face it , you are shiked

11:58

. But the key thing on those

12:00

shiked days is to be grateful that

12:02

you tried . And even when you can comfortably

12:05

run 5k , you are going to have good days

12:07

and bad days . It's

12:09

just at the beginning . More

12:13

likely than not , the bad days

12:15

will outweigh the good . So

12:17

just measure yourself on effort

12:19

rather than distance or speed

12:21

. And my number five

12:24

is that you need to do

12:26

things that you enjoy and sometimes

12:28

you may need to change direction

12:30

. As I said , I

12:32

have on more than

12:34

one occasion , tried

12:37

to run 5K three times

12:39

a week . So that was my goal on

12:41

more than one occasion , and on more

12:43

than one occasion I've given up . My

12:47

most successful attempt was when I joined

12:49

a couch to 5K community group

12:51

and I lasted , I

12:53

think , about nine runs . I think I

12:55

got to that point of where you run for five

12:57

minutes and walk for three minutes and you

12:59

repeat it like six times . Anyway

13:02

, I finally admitted to myself

13:04

that I do not like

13:06

running and the effort was not

13:08

worth the reward . I really looked

13:11

at why I wanted to run

13:13

, and I realized that my

13:15

goal was to get fitter and to

13:17

connect more with my body

13:19

. So , though I quit

13:21

running , I didn't quit the goal

13:24

. Does that make sense

13:26

? So I quit running , but I didn't

13:28

quit the one in to get fit and

13:30

the one in to connect with my body . Instead

13:34

, I found an activity that I enjoyed

13:36

, and it

13:38

was yoga . I now do yoga

13:40

three to five times a week , and , yes

13:42

, I still have those weeks where I do

13:45

not go . Actually , I just did

13:47

my first yoga class a day in like two

13:49

weeks , but I always swing

13:51

back to it . I also still have good

13:53

days and I still have bad days , but

13:55

luckily , the good days definitely

13:58

outweigh the bad . You

14:01

could say well , you weren't

14:03

very good at number three . You plan to fail , as

14:06

you technically failed at running , but

14:08

in my reality , or my perspective , or

14:10

the way I am going to choose

14:12

to look at it , is , I change

14:14

direction to get to the same

14:16

destination . So I have

14:19

achieved my goal . I am fitter

14:21

and I definitely am more connected

14:23

to my body . I just used

14:26

a different route . So

14:28

there are five points that I wanted to discuss

14:31

today about self-improvement and what I've

14:33

learned along the way . I also wanted to

14:35

give you an example of something that I didn't achieve

14:37

, but when I look back , I have something even

14:39

better , on

14:42

a kind of separate but same theme

14:44

, and it will also

14:46

be a good time to mention here . Something

14:49

that I kind of feel is important

14:51

is personal . Improvement is

14:54

just that . It's personal

14:56

, and you should never judge

14:58

yourself against anyone else's standards

15:00

. Your life , your situation

15:03

is different to everyone else . So

15:05

when you're looking to make improvements

15:07

, do it for you and do it your

15:09

way . I've done many

15:12

self-improvement methods over the years

15:14

that just did not

15:16

make me happy , and in some

15:18

cases they did work , but

15:21

to me the effort was not worth the

15:23

result or the result meant that

15:25

other areas of my life suffered . For

15:27

example , high intensity exercise

15:30

plans really

15:32

result in me feeling tired

15:34

and less productive and

15:37

I eat a lot more . They do bring

15:39

results , but for me , the lack of productivity

15:41

in other areas of my life are just

15:43

not worth the payoff . So

15:45

what I'm trying to say is don't listen

15:48

to anything . No , what I'm trying to say is

15:50

is take an idea and

15:52

make it your own , personalize it

15:54

to your life and your goals

15:56

and your situation . So

16:00

maybe go back after

16:02

listening to this podcast . Maybe go

16:04

back and really look at a goal that you've been pursuing

16:07

or maybe something that you'd like to start doing

16:09

. Be realistic about where

16:11

you are starting , then research

16:13

and plan how you're gonna implement the change

16:15

, and then plan to fail and

16:18

find a way to keep yourself accountable

16:20

. Again , do

16:22

not be discouraged by not being perfect

16:25

and get comfortable with discomfort

16:27

. And finally , if it

16:29

doesn't quite work out as planned , maybe

16:31

change direction rather than

16:33

quitting . So

16:37

my fellow curious minds and

16:39

self-improvement dabblers , that's

16:41

going to be a wrap for today's episode

16:43

of me myself and my best self . I

16:46

hope you enjoyed our quick dive into the world

16:48

of personal growth , messy tabs

16:50

and the art of embracing imperfection

16:52

. It was a very

16:54

quick dabble , but we will re-look

16:56

at some of these things in more detail in future

16:59

episodes . I just wanted to introduce

17:01

myself and the podcast and

17:03

, to be honest , I'm not planning on

17:05

making any of the episodes too

17:07

long . I am aiming

17:10

to keep them short and sweet . I do like to

17:12

be efficient and quick

17:14

wins are always preferred . Now

17:16

I'd love to hear from you . What topics

17:19

would you want us to explore

17:21

in future episodes ? Do you have any personal

17:23

stories or experiences you'd like to share

17:25

on the podcast ? Whether it's a

17:28

success story or a learning moment

17:30

or just a funny out-of-date , I'm all ears

17:32

. You can connect with

17:35

me on Instagram at Claire4Living

17:38

that is Claire4Living , so

17:40

it's my name C-L-A-I-R-E

17:43

, claire , and then full F-U-L-L

17:46

, and then live in L-I-V-I-N-G

17:49

and it's all our word . Or send

17:51

me an email at hello at ClaireBennettcom

17:54

. Don't be shy , let's make this

17:56

a two-way conversation . After

17:59

all , we're in this journey of self-discovery

18:01

together . Remember , it's

18:03

not about perfection , it's about progress

18:06

. Take me in this podcast . I

18:08

am definitely in discomfort , but

18:11

it was my first ever podcast and

18:13

it can only get better from here . I

18:15

hope Well , I hope it wasn't too

18:18

bad and that you will join me again

18:20

. Until next time , stay

18:22

curious , stay true to yourself and

18:24

please keep wandering through the maze

18:26

with me . Cheers , bye

18:29

.