Make Your Damn Bed

Good morning sunshine!

Hope today is magic for you.

Today's (and tomorrow's) episode references: https://time.com/4116259/google-search-2/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/11/02/expert-tips-for-google-search/4113013002/

MEDIA BIAS CHART EXPLANATION: https://adfontesmedia.com/how-ad-fontes-ranks-news-sources/

https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-rating-methods

1. Language is important. You don’t want to write when did such and such start if you really want to know when something was founded vs. established, or published vs. written. Figure out what you REALLY, specifically are looking to find out, and choose the appropriate (but fewest possible) words to get you there. 

2. Don’t lead the witness. When asking a question, google for the answer don’t ask if your answer is right - you may just find other people who agreed with you confidently enough to publish a website but not enough to figure out you’re both incorrect. 

3. Use quotation marks to get results with those exact key word phrases included in the results. Choosing and putting quotes around important contextual words can help get you more useful results, more efficiently. 

According to USA Today article, Google’s advice is to add or remove words in your query to see different results, starting out with a broad search and narrowing it down as you go.

The word order matters in your searches, so try one way then the other if you’re not getting the results you want. 

4. In addition to quotation marks, you can also add - minus sign to your search to remove things you don’t want to see in the results. Like if you’re looking for a new car but don’t want a certain type, you can put -convertible so you don’t have to see convertibles show up in your results. There needs to be a space before the minus sign and then not before the word you’d like to exclude. The opposite is true for the + plus sign to ensure anything you add after MUST be included in the search results. Similar to the “quotation mark” strategy but this one is more for single keywords. 

5. You can also use an asterisk * if you forget a word in a quote or a common sentence that is essential for the search. 

6. I am personally a huge fan of image search. I find a lot of things I need, like resume examples, quotes, scripts, etc. are created in PDF or visual form and you don’t have to scroll through all the various webpages seeing if the information you want even exists. Just scroll through images quickly to see if it’s there. 

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I feel the need to remind us all that truly unbiased humans don’t exist so truly unbiased news sources can’t exist either. Buuuuuut, luckily there are some resources that don’t explicitly sell out to advertisers, politicians, agendas or whatever else people get brainwashed by or choose to sell their souls for and fortunately for us - that means there are the occasional resources that opt for good journalism and with that, we have something to work with! 

 By now you may have seen the media bias chart by Vanessa Otero to see how 104 news outlets rank on reliability and bias.

When we’re consuming content of any kind, but especially informational or educational stuff, and especially especially the news, we should not only be very conscious of the reliability of our sources but also become more selective and choosy about WHAT we’re consuming from those sources, how we’re consuming that information, how often we’re consuming it. 

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sometimes when I am really missing the beach - and I can’t make it to the lake because it’s 17 degrees outside - I put on my insight timer to beach sounds, get a lil high, put the fan on full blast and the heater on my toes and I imagine that I am on the beach while I meditate. In the summer, I go to the lake and sincerely pretend it’s Florida. And I gotta say - pretending works. Plus, when you do inside beach, you don’t have the fish smell or the seagulls so I mean - there are bright sides to everything.

Ever since I did the episodes on the power of imagination I have been finding ways to lean into my best life EVEN if I have to imagine it. I set up my environment as effectively as possible and I imagine it as well as I can fulfilling my wildest fantasies in the most vivid way possible. 

It’s helping too - it made me realize I was under optimizing my home environment, which is making me appreciate what I already have available, a lot more. 

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I don’t think there is any industry that people discourage more immediately and blindly than they do of anyone pursuing a life in the arts. 

People are happy to tell you how hard it is - but they’ve never tried. They claim safer industries and careers and condescendingly claim to admire your passion while silently offering fearful judgements and thinly veiled disappointment in you. 

Being someone who has chased both a “safe” and a “risky” career - I can honestly say - art is an admirable field partially because of all the doubt we face. But it’s not as impossible as people make it out to be. Sure immediate overnight success and becoming a millionaire may be a bit out of touch as far as goals go - but making a sustainable career in the arts is not only possible - but it’s commonly done. I’m not saying it’s easy - but dammit I am so tired of people pretending it’s not something that is even possible. 

Art is a billion dollar industry - Creativity is all around us - we’re all consuming it all the time - almost every industry needs and pays a creative of some kind and regardless - so it’s wild to me that people are so discouraging about those of us who want to pursue something creative or out of the ordinary as a career. 

There are thousands of actors we don’t know the names of - who are happily making a solid career doing what they love on a smaller scale. And I’m sure they feel like they aren’t successful if the relative scale is Meryl Streep but if the regular scale is real life- people who hate their cubicle jobs and make the same amount as he does - I’d say that he was actually incredible successful. 

Sure, art a very difficult career trajectory for a lot of reasons - but let’s not forget a lot of “safe paths” are difficult as hell to become successful in, too. 

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Do the prep work, then forget about it. You’re more likely to be able to handle whatever the universe throws at you if you’re already ready to handle what was expected. 

It’s less stress to prepare for a mess than it is to be surprised by one.

Most of the time, I am proud to be the prepared friend. My official @MYDBPodcast tote bag is never lacking on snacks, lotions, hot sauces, or pens. I carry a sewing kit, and I’ve typically mapped the place and scoped the menu a few times before we arrive. If they do reservations, I will call them on the way to make sure we’re not forced to wait any more than we have to. 

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SPECIAL EPISODE: Evening wind down guided meditation. Take and adapt this lil wind-down to fit your needs!

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SPECIAL EPISODE: this is an adaptable guided meditation to help you wake up in the morning and recharge with positive, warm energy for the best possible start to your day!

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if you’re like me - and you have ever felt resistance or a sense of overwhelm with trying to convince yourself that you need to meditate and seem to struggle sitting down for three to five minutes at a time, and cant quite understand why? I get it, bc I’ve been there. Quite a bit. 

And in my experience, the best way around that resistance is to remind yourself that meditation is not a time to DO meditation and all the other pre-assigned definitions of the word - you’re kinda defeating the purpose of the damn practice in itself, which is to release expectations.

So, instead of stressing out finding the right insight timer, or worrying about how hard it’s gonna be to clear your head, or how much you don’t feel like focusing on your breathing, drop all that shit and just focus on showing up as you are. 

Switch from “damn, i should get up and go meditate” towards “I love the time and peace I get to create through taking time and space for myself by doing and being nothing for a few moments every day.” 

For me, personally, when even the idea of meditating is off-putting, i don’t tempt fate by wrestling with finding the right guided voice - I simply turn on the timer on my phone and breathe. If I struggle to focus on my breath and it’s not a good vibe - I toggle between two mindfulness strategies that my friend Casey introduced me. 

Because typically if I am unable to focus on my breath for more than a minute it’s a signal for me that it’s a good time to either release something or fill my cup up a bit cuz I am running on empty. Depending on what I need more of in that moment, I kinda vibe with an internal guided monologue which I want to encourage you to listen through the one I will be sharing with you so you can create your own version that feels right.

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In my opinion, the only true, long term solution to not wanting to stay in bed all day, and that is to create genuine motivation to get your ass out of bed and begin your day. 

Obviously knowing you have to do taxes wont get you out of bed but knowing you have a zoom friend date with some grocery store sushi and a bestie from middle school this evening is far more likely to get your ass amped for making moves. 

Focus on the parts that sound good. I don’t like making my bed but I love having a tidy space, so I focus on that. I don’t like showering but I like feeling clean and smelling good, so I focus on that. I don’t like making breakfast but I love housing it. So I focus on that. 

Figuring out what truly gets you going, isn’t easy. It’s a lifelong journey of trial and error and a bit of discomfort for most people - but a good place to start is anywhere. So just start looking, figure out what works and try to have a bit of fun in the process. 

Life is not meant to be all work and no play. But if you’ve ever done too much play and not enough quality work - you know you can also get burnt out with that too. Find your balance. Ideally you can work towards creating work and play that suits you in a way that makes it easier to get out of bed and get your day started. When we create a good mix of both fun and purpose, we feel more balanced in general and less resentful that one isn’t the other.

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When it’s time to start moving there are a variety of tactics I find myself cycling through to effectively get myself off my ass and in a better energetic mindset for the day. 

Some ways to help you get out of bed: 

1. MYDB PODCAST: Listen to the Make Your Damn Bed Podcast + practice associating it with starting your day.
2. PLAYLIST: Put on a hype up/game day playlist and blast it. 
3. BLAST OFF: count down 3-2-1 and bounce up on the 1. 
4. BUG DROP: Imagine bug on you, get up with a jolt + scream. 
5. SHAKE OUT: Start shaking + wiggling until your energy rises. 

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

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Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

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