In this final episode of the three-part series, we explore one of the most critical but overlooked steps in personal growth: deciding what to do with what you’ve learned. It’s not enough to expand your awareness or gain new insights—real change happens when you give your brain a clear directive on how you want to move forward.

Through a replay of a screen recording originally shared on LinkedIn, I walk you through what I do after a ChatGPT session to keep the momentum going. This isn’t about accumulating more knowledge; it’s about choosing a focus, creating clarity, and setting the tone for how you’ll apply what you’ve learned in your life.

The episode also touches on how narrowing your focus to what’s actionable and within your control helps filter out the noise, avoid overwhelm, and direct your energy where it can have the most impact.

Key Highlights:

• From Awareness to Action: Why gaining insight is only the first step toward transformation.
• Giving Your Brain a Directive: How to decide what you want to focus on and what to keep in mind moving forward.
• Narrowing the Scope: The power of focusing on what’s actionable to avoid stagnation and overwhelm.
• Using ChatGPT for Momentum: How AI can help spark ideas and clarify your next steps.

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Links to screen recordings referenced in this episode (originally published on LinkedIn):

-- Episode 76

-- Episode 77

-- Episode 78

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Recommended resource:

Book | A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control
by Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez

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Life isn't meant to feel so hard. See how your thinking is keeping you from the life you want. $39 coaching sessions. To book a call, visit KariWatterson.com.

Website
Instagram:  @kari_mindsetcoach
LinkedIn

In this episode, I continue exploring how ChatGPT can serve as a powerful tool for personal growth. By refining prompts, I’ve discovered how it can help us prime our brains for tasks, expand our thinking, and uncover insights we might not reach on our own.

Building on Episode 76, where I explored psychology terms beginning with "self," this episode dives into words starting with "under," such as "underachieving," "underearning," and "undervalued." These explorations are about bringing new language into awareness to trigger fresh insights and open doors to deeper understanding.

Key Highlights:

• How refining ChatGPT prompts can unlock unexpected insights and expand our thinking.
• The power of "under" words like "underperforming" and "underdeveloped" to identify areas where we may be limiting our potential.
• Practical strategies for reframing limiting beliefs through self-reflection and focusing on what we can control.

Coming Up Next:

In the next episode, we’ll wrap up this three-part series with a quick segment on taking insights to the next level. We’ll explore Stoic philosophy to train our minds to focus on what’s within our control and discuss how this mindset shift is the key to transforming insight into meaningful action.

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Resources cited in this episode:

- Link to screenrecording of this episode (first posted on LinkedIn)

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Life isn't meant to feel so hard. See how your thinking is keeping you from the life you want. $39 coaching sessions. To book a call, visit KariWatterson.com.

Website
Instagram:  @kari_mindsetcoach
LinkedIn

Do you use ChatGPT in your self-development journey? Over the next three episodes, I’ll share screen recordings of my recent explorations with ChatGPT, where I use it to find fresh ways to talk about tools and concepts that can help us move forward in life. I believe many of us need to hear things more than once, and in different ways, before we have that "aha" moment that helps us break through our limitations.

Instead of resisting or judging AI, I decided to embrace ChatGPT with curiosity and explore how it can help us understand the lessons we need to learn—faster.

Key Highlights:

• Shifting from fear or judgment of AI to curiosity and exploration
• Using ChatGPT to reveal insights that reframe limiting beliefs
• How radical ownership and focusing on what’s within our control open the door to self-development

In the next episode, I’ll share how I used ChatGPT to explore ways we might be falling short of our potential—and how to use that knowledge to gain traction in our lives.

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Resources cited in this episode:

- Link to screenrecording of this episode (first posted on LinkedIn)

- Link to ChatGPT conversation (how I used ChatGPT to gain clarity on Viktor Frankl's response to the age-old question, "What is the meaning of life?")

- Article: The Nerdy Dopamine Pathway by Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D.

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To see how 1:1 mindset coaching can help you to think differently so you can start to live differently, book a free coaching call this week. Visit my website or email me at [email protected] with the subject line: "Book a Call".

Website
Instagram:  @kari_mindsetcoach
LinkedIn

In this episode, we shed light on a very real but little talked about struggle of those suffering with burnout: the challenge of embracing effort again after burnout.

For many, words like “effort” or “hard work” trigger resistance. But what if effort could energize you instead of draining you? When we redefine effort as lively, healthy, and purposeful, it shifts from something to fear into something that makes you feel alive again.

Key Takeaways:

• Burnout and the Nervous System: After burnout, your body may resist effort because it associates it with harm. Drawing from the work of trauma-informed somatic practitioner Sarah Baldwin, I explain how you can show your nervous system that it's safe to move toward your goals by reconnecting with effort in a supportive and healthy way.
• Redefining Effort: How to Make It Energizing, Not Draining: Using first principles thinking, we break down the concept of "effort" and redefine it as something life-giving and energizing. When effort is rooted in purpose and vitality, it can propel you forward without the fear of burnout.
• Heartfelt Effort vs. Half-Hearted Effort: True effort comes from the heart, fueled by energy and engagement. When effort is half-hearted, it drains you. But when it’s heartfelt, it helps you feel fully alive and ready to take action.
• Consistency and Success: Struggling with effort often leads to fearing inconsistency. Successful people say what sets them apart is their commitment to stay consistent, no matter how long it takes. As Marie Forleo says, “Success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally. It comes from what you do consistently.” In this episode, we explore how, when effort is aligned with heart and purpose, consistency naturally follows, making progress energizing, rewarding, and inevitable.

Could falling back in love with effort be the key you've been looking for to unlock consistency?

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe and share with someone who needs this message!

Resources and references:

Quoted: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” -  Marcus Aurelius
.

Sarah Baldwin, Trauma Informed Somatic Practitioner | 

Website:  https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/
.

Ryan Holiday | The Daily Stoic Podcast | The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumphs
.

James Clear | Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
.

Greg McKeown |  Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
.

If you want to take this work deeper:

The End of the Day Podcast |  Episode 26: Perfectionist Trauma

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To see how 1:1 mindset coaching can help you to think differently so you can start to live differently, book a free coaching call this week. Visit my website or email me at [email protected] with the subject line: "Book a Call".

Website
Instagram:  @kari_mindsetcoach
LinkedIn

Welcome back to The End of the Day Podcast—a mindset podcast on a mission to help you think differently so you can start living differently.

In this episode:

• New Series Launch: Introducing The Daily Shift—quick episodes (20 minutes or less) designed to deliver a single thought, tool, or insight to help shift your mindset and keep you moving forward.

Today’s Focus:

• Key Insight: "Most people give up on what they truly desire because they start believing their thoughts."

What We Unpack:

• The Power of Awareness: Recognizing this insight can be a game-changer. If you've ever felt like giving up (or quietly quitting), it’s a cue to pause and check in on what thoughts and beliefs might be steering your actions.
• Mindset Check: When you're struggling, it's likely that the quality of your inner dialogue has shifted. Our thoughts and beliefs are just words in our heads, but they shape our emotions, actions, and ultimately, our life's direction.
• Course Correction: Remember, you have the power to course correct at any time. By regularly bringing mindful attention to your thoughts, you can reclaim your sense of agency and influence your life's path.

The Bottom Line:

• Taking Action: When we become aware of our thoughts, we reduce unnecessary emotional pain and get to where we want to go much faster.

Questions to Help You Think Differently:

•  What thoughts, when you believe them, slow your progress or make you want to give up? It's important to know what these are and to not be afraid of them. Beliefs, positive or negative/helpful or limiting, are equal in that they are just words. How much power we give them is up to us. These thoughts can serve as the cue to pause and reflect on the next question.
  
  
• What thoughts, if you believed them, would ignite your desire to get back on track? These are thoughts that make you excited to march toward the steps ahead because you know where those steps are going to take you. Think about it, write them down, and review them daily. They will become brain shortcuts and will be lifesavers when you’re struggling to stay on track.

Episodes that partner with this one:

• Episode 32: Choosing Motivational Quotes with Intention (as a tool for personal growth)
• Episode 35: Giving Yourself the Permission You've Been Waiting For

Quotes in this episode:

"If nothing changes, nothing changes." - Courtney C. Stevens

"No one is coming to save you." - Mel Robbins

"You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending." - C.S. Lewis

"Live in the present, but from your future.  Most people live in the present, but from their past." - Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan (10x Is Easier Than 2x)

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To see how 1:1 mindset coaching with me will help you to think differently so you can live differently, visit my website to book a coaching call this week, or email me at [email protected] with the subject line: 'Book a Call to Experience Mindset Work"

Website
Instagram:  @kari_mindsetcoach
LinkedIn

In this week's episode, I share how I went from being completely overwhelmed and depressed by the state of my home to being almost 80% decluttered and organized and still excited and motivated to keep going.

While I love a good decluttering story, I recorded this episode to share the mindset work that allowed me to take the first small step, and how I used that first small step to keep the momentum going.

The biggest shift this time around was my compelling reason to start in the first place: I wanted the capacity to focus on the rest of my life. As I alluded to in episodes 70, 71, and 72, I finally gave myself permission to ask what area of my life, if transformed, would most free me up to go after my deepest yearnings. In essence, if I were to look at what most triggered my self-sabotaging behavior in my adult life, what would that be and what would life be like if that was an area I finally got under control?

I share my journey because I know how it feels to think you're the only one with secret, shameful struggles. While household management might not be your Achilles' heel, I know each of us have something we long to work through so that it's no longer hanging over us, taking up precious time, energy and bandwidth that we could be using for seeing what life could be like without all the cognitive load.

Even if decluttering and organizing is not your struggle, you'll get actionable mindset shifts and tools that will help you in whatever task or project you want to start, continue and finish.
 
Cited in this episode:

Dan Sullivan |  Podcasts

Lisa Woodruff of Organize 365  |  Research  |  Organize 365 Podcast

Quotes:

By Dan Sullivan: “If we were meeting here three years from today—and you were to look back over those three years to today—what has to have happened during that period, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy about your progress?”

By Lisa Woodruff of Organize 365 (paraphrased): "Declutter so you can organize because when you're organized you can be more productive. And when you're more productive, you unlock time and capacity which you can put toward impact (or what you feel you're uniquely created to do)." Bottom line: we're organizing our households and ourselves not to do more dusting, dishes or laundry, but to reclaim our capacity so we can explore what it is we want for our lives.

By Gustave Flaubert: "Be steady and well-ordered in your life so you can be fierce and original in your work."

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To learn more about 1:1 mindset coaching with me:

Website
Instagram:  @_thisonelife
LinkedIn

In this week's episode, I share what it's like to do this work in real-time, when you're actually in the muck of your own mind. How do you navigate through those dark periods when you're believing the worst about yourself, and how can you use the power of active language to initiate the second part of pattern recognition -- the inevitable rally.

Cited in this episode:

Book  |  Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach

Tara Brach Podcast (on Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

The ADHD Experts Podcast  |  Ep. 501 - ADHD & Procrastivity: How to Outsmart Procrastination and Improve Productivity with Dr. Russell Ramsay

The Weekend University Podcast  |  Rethinking ADHD - Dr. Russell Ramsay

Article  |  Thinking Through Adult ADHD: Change Your Outlook and Cope Better with ADHD by Dr. J. Russell Ramsay (Psychologist, ADHD expert, speaker, author of several books on ADHD, including Rethinking Adult ADHD: Helping Clients Turn Intentions Into Actions)

Article  |  What is Self-Efficacy? by Jabeen Begum, M.D.

Quotes:

By Brene Brown: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. Language is our portal to meaning-making, connection, healing, learning, and self-awareness. Having access to the right words can open up entire universes."

By Tara Brach: “Fear of being a flawed person lay at the root of my trance, and I had sacrificed many moments over the years in trying to prove my worth. Like the tiger Mohini, I inhabited a self-made prison that stopped me from living fully.”

By Tara Brach: “As a friend of mine put it, “Feeling that something is wrong with me is the invisible and toxic gas I am always breathing.” When we experience our lives through this lens of personal insufficiency, we are imprisoned in what I call the trance of unworthiness. Trapped in this trance, we are unable to perceive the truth of who we really are.”

Exercise  |  Asking "What do I know to be true about me?" to rally out of dark moments

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To learn more about 1:1 mindset coaching with me:

Website
Instagram:  @_thisonelife
LinkedIn

Last week we talked about harnessing the emotional intensity of your deepest yearning to 'hush' or quiet the areas of your life that are 'yelling' at you, This week we talk about channeling that deep motivation into action and how to avoid the common pitfall of gaining your reward from planning and thinking (and more planning and more thinking) versus from taking actual steps toward the change you want.

If you have a cognitive bias toward thinking versus action, and you feel like you can't get beyond a certain point, this podcast episode is for you.

Cited in this episode:

Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Dr. Kristin Neff

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach (also: the Tara Brach podcast on all major platforms)

Dr. J. Russell Ramsay (Psychologist, ADHD expert, speaker, author of several books on ADHD, including Rethinking Adult ADHD: Helping Clients Turn Intentions Into Actions)

The 'Wanting vs. Yearning' Exercise

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1:1 mindset coaching is for anyone who loves the idea of spending the next 6 to 12 months actively working through the thoughts and beliefs that have been keeping them from living and loving life. Part mindset, part habits, part identity, part self-talk, each week you'll learn tools and concepts that will help you clean up your thinking and deepen your belief in your ability to use your own mind to direct your own life.

If this work feels like exactly what you've been missing, head on over to my website to sign up for my free offering (a 90-minute deep-dive coaching call) so you can experience firsthand how learning to direct your own mind will forever change your life.

You'll walk away from the call with tools and resources that will have you looking at yourself and your life with fresh eyes and an empowered mindset.

How long have you been struggling with the same thoughts and beliefs?

And are you ready to fight for something different?

To book your free call, visit KariWatterson.com.

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Let's connect:

Website
Instagram:  @_thisonelife
LinkedIn

If you've ever turned down the radio to think, or decluttered before tackling a project or new task, you'll want to learn about house hushing. Coined by home decor author, Myquillyn Smith, house hushing is the act of "quieting" a physical space of visual clutter for 24 hours so the brain can experience what a room could be like without everything in it. Smith calls this "backwards decluttering" because you get to experience the emotional and visual benefit of decluttering right away without the decision fatigue of actual decluttering. The idea is once your brain knows that it's possible to feel peace, calm and order in your space again, it will yearn for simplicity and be very protective and intentional about what gets let back in.

You can see the parallels between house hushing and mind hushing.

By the end of this episode, you'll be itching to use Myquillyn Smith's concept to not only hush your physical spaces but the areas of your life that feel like are always yelling at you.

Imagine what your present and future could be like if you did the work to quiet the noisiest aspects of your life.

Cited in this episode:

Terrence Bradshaw (@xterrencebjr)

Article: "House Hushing and Why You Need It" by Myquillyn Smith of The Nester

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The 'Wanting vs. Yearning' Exercise

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1:1 mindset coaching is for anyone who loves the idea of spending the next 6 to 12 months actively working through the thoughts and beliefs that have been keeping them from living and loving life. Part mindset, part habits, part identity, part self-talk, each week you'll learn tools and concepts that will help you clean up your thinking and deepen your belief in your ability to use your own mind to direct your own life.

If this work feels like exactly what you've been missing, head on over to my website to sign up for my free offering (a 90-minute deep-dive coaching call) so you can experience firsthand how learning to direct your own mind will forever change your life.

You'll walk away from the call with tools and resources that will have you looking at yourself and your life with fresh eyes and an empowered mindset.

How long have you been struggling with the same thoughts and beliefs?

And are you ready to fight for something different?

To book your free call, visit KariWatterson.com.

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Let's connect:

Website
Instagram:  @_thisonelife
LinkedIn

As we near the end of the first quarter, I'm reminded of how fast time passes. Hours become days, days become weeks. Without a system in place to track progress, it's easy to see how quickly we lose control of our goals.

To combat goal slide, I've started tracking my behavior around my goals. Inspired by the book, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, I'm documenting my behavior around my daily deliverables for my business so I can: 1) keep my goals top of mind each day; 2) course-correct my behavior in real time; 3) spot patterns in my thinking that lead me off path; 4) reinforce the identity of the person I want to be moving forward (someone who loves to set stretch goals and then does the work to achieve them).

Join me as I share the details of how I'm using daily tracking to make this year different from every other year that I've attempted to achieve big goals.

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Cited in this episode:

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

Episode 55: How to Help Yourself When You Feel Stuck in Life

Episode 67: Calm & Focus: How Mastery of the Fundamentals Can Break the Cycle of Procrastination with Nerijus Antanavicius

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1:1 mindset coaching is for anyone who wants to ask more of themselves but knows their thinking is getting in the way.

If this is work you’re excited to do, sign up for my free offering (a 90-minute deep dive coaching call) so you can experience firsthand how managing your mind can bring more peace, happiness, and success into your life.

To book your free call, visit KariWatterson.com.

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Let's connect:

Website
Instagram:  @_thisonelife
LinkedIn