Susan Evans:
[0:16] Hey, welcome to Monsters of Curiosity. I'm Susan Evans and I'm here with some
Susan Evans:
[0:21] of the smartest and most curious people I know, Jenny Evans and Paul Conrardi. If you want to know more about us, hit monstersofcuriosity.com and read about us in the bios. Today, we are going to tackle a question and a thought about kind of goals and success. What gets in your way of celebrating the accomplishment of a goal or reaching a point of success, which may be I just trained my dog to sit? Success. So whatever it may be, but what gets in your way of celebrating? And then we're going to talk a little bit about not like why it's important because it is important, but ways to celebrate that god that just sounds all kumbaya but it's not really so
Jenny Evans:
[1:13] Well i think you i think you've hit on something because when you propose this question i was like oh yeah let's do this um because i know i have that tendency to always be looking forward at the next goal you accomplish the goal, you celebrate it for about 10 seconds, and then you're on to the next thing, which is a really kind of sad, depressing way to live your life if you're not really taking a moment to celebrate. And I don't know, sometimes I'm like, okay, but if you have a growth mindset, it's always about the next thing that I get to accomplish. That is not a bad thing. Um, but I, I have been learning to celebrate things more of like milk, that fricking celebration for all it's worth. It's so much more fun.
Susan Evans:
[2:13] So what do you do? Because I don't do this. It's like something else, like, great, that's done. It's like the celebration is more of a, or the goal of reaching it is like, that's a to-do list, done. Okay, even if it's like, that was three years in the making, check, done, next. Yeah, I mean, I literally do nothing. It doesn't even dawn on me. So this was, that's why I was like, this is really interesting. I didn't know it was possible.
Jenny Evans:
[2:35] Champagne. Having a champagne moment.
Paul Konrardy:
[2:38] That's exactly what we do we have a case we have a case of bubbly in the house that when something amazing great happens we pop the bubbly and have a nice little toast.
Susan Evans:
[2:51] Oh I love that oh okay yeah I will start doing that
Paul Konrardy:
[2:58] Ironically whenever the Costco rebate comes in That's what we buy with it. So does that tell you we only have 12 successes in a year? I don't know. One a month? I don't know. But we never see...
Jenny Evans:
[3:14] If there's a sale, there's probably a lot more successes being celebrated.
Paul Konrardy:
[3:18] I think you're right. I think you're right. Well, aside from that actual task, though... It makes me think about, you know, celebrating in a different sense of being, mindful and in the moment. And if you've reached that goal, is it, you know, that, gosh, I'm not articulating well today, sorry. Is it the kind of thing where you go, yay, and then it just kind of moots because you're trying to keep an even level in staying in the moment and, oh, okay, and this moment passes and you go on to the next thing? Or is it more in a mindfulness way of saying, yeah, let's be mindful and be positive about this very moment that I'm excited about the goal of just to achieve? So it seems to me that there might be some brain function in there, too, and some of the modulation that you're trying to accomplish, within staying in the present rather than over-anticipating the future. And maybe that's, Susan, what's going on with maybe not celebrating because there's always something else that needs to be done. And then I think your mindset can get into a ridge of thinking, of thinking, oh, great, I got this done. Now I got 15 other things to accomplish. Which I think why Jen and I pop a bobble in that we can forget about it for the moment.
Jenny Evans:
[4:46] Well, I was going to say, Susan, like, this is making sense because, like, your brain is constant, constant, constant. That it is just moving from one thing to the next so quickly. That you are like on to that next thing, maybe even before you even realize this thing was a success, this next thing. Or you just, you feel it so quickly and then you're on to the next thing or
Jenny Evans:
[5:11] your brain is on to the next thing or you're distracted by the next thing. I mean, Paul, I think you're right. Like the mindfulness piece of this.
Susan Evans:
[5:20] Yeah.
Jenny Evans:
[5:21] Almost even makes me think of having a gratitude practice where you force yourself. To slow down and actually pay attention to there are things that are working. There were great things about this day. There are things that I can celebrate, but in the pace of life now, it's so easy to just get, you get sucked into the slipstream and then off you go.
Susan Evans:
[5:50] Yep there's something interesting in this too that in and i've talked to other people about this that you've got your to-do list and in the in and i'm thinking everybody has their to-do list but what you guys are saying the mindfulness and in the moment of it means you better identify on that list, the thing you want to celebrate? Because as you're talking to, it's like, oh, we did it. I'm like, and I was like, what on my list would I say that you hit this benchmark, it's time to acknowledge it. And so I was like, oh, I've never done that. It's always been a to-do list. Then I look back going, that was kind of big, but that was like three years ago. So yeah, I missed the mark.
Paul Konrardy:
[6:38] Never too late for bubbly.
Susan Evans:
[6:39] No, exactly.
Susan Evans:
[6:40] I was going to say, retroactive celebration is a thing.
Susan Evans:
[6:44] What are we celebrating now? Well, in 1912.
Paul Konrardy:
[6:47] Let me get my list.
Paul Konrardy:
[6:48] I got my driver's license.
Susan Evans:
[6:50] Exactly. I did not get arrested that day. Oh, my God.
Paul Konrardy:
[6:59] That's very true, though. I don't know. When I have, like, on a weekend, I've got a task list of things, you know, the honey-do list. And, you know, checking those things off. Well, they're, you know, usually mundane domestic tasks. And lately it's been all movie-related. You know, find this thing I can't find because I packed it away so well. But those are those day-to-day little goals that you achieve. And there is something really satisfying about checking the box. In fact, I put it in my notes with little checkboxes so I can punch it just to get that little squirt of brain juice to make me feel like I accomplished something. Um but you know those are those little celebrations that i think, could increase someone's overall happiness and joy if they focused on that, and i like that gratitude practice that's kind of a fun way to think through it um, but when they're bigger goals susan i think there are there are other things it's like when you complete a contract and and you you get you get the you get the outcome that you had hoped that you were going to get from that contract and so you're happy your clients happy.
Paul Konrardy:
[8:11] Maybe that leads to more or maybe it's just a successful conclusion but um i think at some point there is some value in celebrating those, which is supposed to be how it works you know when you have a business relationship i would imagine that after you're done with the keynote.
Paul Konrardy:
[8:32] There's some follow-up that happens, but there has to be some celebration about completing that piece of it.
Paul Konrardy:
[8:40] It has to be part of that, otherwise you will then sit there and observe. Hopefully you're not thinking too much about, oh, now I've got to get on the plane and I've got to do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like taking that time to enjoy yourself.
Jenny Evans:
[8:54] Twizzlers at the airport, man. Yeah, that's my treat.
Paul Konrardy:
[8:59] That's a...
Paul Konrardy:
[9:00] That's good.
Susan Evans:
[9:01] Oh, I like that. I like that.
Jenny Evans:
[9:03] I think, Susan, I kind of heard something that made my ears perk up of so often we have a goal that is big and it's complex and it takes a lot of time. Like, first of all, how sad is it if like you've worked on this thing for a year and a half and then you celebrate it for five minutes and then you move on to the next thing? Yeah. Of breaking it down of like this goal has certain steps to it and celebrating those milestones along the way. This makes me think the biggest contract to date that I had a client sign. OK, when they it took forever, but when they first verbally said yes, oh, my God, we had the champagne. Then when they sent over the contract, we had champagne again. When they signed the contract, we had some more champagne because it just it took forever, you know, and I think especially in.
Jenny Evans:
[10:12] If you are a knowledge worker where your job is a lot of these things that you don't visually see, it's easy to just be like, I don't know, what did I produce today? What change did I make? It's fine. I think you need to be more of like a glutton of like, where can I rationalize some champagne? Where can I justify a celebration?
Jenny Evans:
[10:38] Oh, my God.
Susan Evans:
[10:39] I am I'm going to bring in what I'm I'm going to because I'm using Claude co-work to do personal you know streamlining things that I have to do I'm going to plug in there please identify the areas I should be celebrating.
Paul Konrardy:
[10:59] Well, it's part of awareness.
Susan Evans:
[11:01] Isn't it?
Paul Konrardy:
[11:02] I mean, whenever you're trying to affect change in your thoughts, you have to identify what's potentially there or missing. And I think you're identifying something.
Susan Evans:
[11:12] There's a gap here.
Paul Konrardy:
[11:14] That would be really helpful, I think. I think there's another kind of celebration that I think we could talk about because I'm thinking about you, Susan, when you celebrated 25 years of your agency. Before you sold and moved on. But that was a big damn event. And... That was a party, for sure. But at the same time, that was reachieving a goal that deserved a party, in my view. But did the party turn into more work? So then you would have to have another goal to achieve in order to successfully celebrate it. You know, so it's kind of like, let's celebrate one thing, and then, oh, there's another project to do that I can celebrate. Multiply the bottles of champagne, or what does it do? You don't really know.
Susan Evans:
[12:06] I will say that Ariana did all of that because everybody was so good that I was like, yeah, let's do that because I wasn't going to do it. I think everybody said, no, you should. I'm like, okay.
Susan Evans:
[12:16] Oh, well, there's peer pressure.
Paul Konrardy:
[12:18] There was peer pressure to make you celebrate. But, you know, there's a lot of celebrating going on. Oh, yeah. And there's a lot of people who are celebrating you for this.
Susan Evans:
[12:26] Well, I think it was.
Paul Konrardy:
[12:27] Because not many businesses make it that far. And not many businesses are able to grow and achieve that. So that is a piece of celebrating that I think maybe had a different feel for you then because you ended up.
Susan Evans:
[12:44] I did because everybody wanted to. And it was good. It was good because we wouldn't have gotten there without the people who I sucked in along the way. So it was really more of a celebration of everybody. Interestingly, I ate there last night for dinner. Isn't that funny? Yeah.
Paul Konrardy:
[13:05] Very, very positive.
Paul Konrardy:
[13:06] Well, there was a lot of fun to be had at that event. But I think you have a little bit of modesty on what an achievement it is. And it's hard to hear that. In some ways, it's hard to hear that positivity because you know what goes into making that happen. And you also know it's a team effort, but ultimately somebody has to drive it. And so I think it's, it's a hard thing sometimes to celebrate your own personal contribution to it when there's, there's this, um, I don't even know the word. There's a word for this, but there's a modesty or a...
Jenny Evans:
[13:48] That midwestern, don't brag. Don't get too big for your britches.
Paul Konrardy:
[13:54] Yeah, exactly.
Paul Konrardy:
[13:54] Don't you dare to toot your own horn.
Susan Evans:
[14:01] That was the first few years of the company. Everyone said, well, what drives you? What's the vision? What keeps you going? And I was like, well, there's a line that Han Solo says to Luke Skywalker. That's great, kid. Don't get cocky. And then it was Indiana Jones. And it was, what's the plan? I don't know. I'm making this up as I go along. And so those two things for 25, 30 years, whatever it was, it was literally those two things. We'd get something. I'm like, that's great, kid. Don't get cocky. Because I would see people think, oh, I'm the best. And it's like, no, you're not.
Susan Evans:
[14:43] I think there's a difference between that and celebrating a success of an outcome.
Susan Evans:
[14:50] Yep. I think, yeah.
Paul Konrardy:
[14:52] And I think there is something to that, Jen, that midwestern, you know, don't brag. That's a lot of self-talk from some voice that came from someone else. Not your own voice coming to saying, yeah, I achieved something and I have every right to be proud of that.
Susan Evans:
[15:15] Well, I think we all have too. It's just how do we celebrate it and what's in the way of that celebrating, which is acknowledging the success. Um, And what was the bar you had for success? And so I think it's, you know, if you didn't reach the bar, do you celebrate? But I think, Jen, to your point, we had a verbal and then we signed it. It's like each one of those steps is worth celebrating to say. And I think just even in a workplace,
Susan Evans:
[15:53] I handled this meeting well. You know, it's like things that are challenging because everybody gets nervous before I got to present this to the team, the board, the whatever. You're like, you get a little bit, OK, let's get through this thing. And at the end of that, is there a celebration? And it might just be we're hitting happy hour and we're doing it right now because we made it through. And that's, I think, that acknowledgement of team effort or family effort or whatever it is, does need to be recognized. Identified beforehand, I think, is if we get through this, we're going to celebrate it. The identified beforehand process. Is really hard because it's not the end. It's probably the midpoint or an early part of the marathon. And so it's hard to identify, do we celebrate at mile one or mile six? I'm not sure.
Jenny Evans:
[16:45] The answer is always yes.
Paul Konrardy:
[16:48] Well, this came to mind. So last night we had a couple of new neighbors. I now consider them friends over for a dinner. And, you know, the whole getting to know you, all that stuff. Well, one of them, I mean, I'd seen this person once, met them in the street, and they had accomplished something yesterday that I don't know that they were necessarily celebrating for what it was. It was their studying and learning to be a financial planner. And as you know, there's a lot of credentialing that has to happen with that. And they got their first test that they had to take that allows you to get that sponsorship to get your license. So while you're not at the finish line to be able to sell securities you are, in that place before you get it and they had just accomplished it took the test that day yesterday and, passed it which usually takes people three four times to pass it so they had this amazing outcome and yet they still came over to our house to strangers place to to meet somebody new and so it was like it was a great opportunity maybe for us to celebrate with them. And, you know, it was one of those, I don't really know what this means, but I'm really happy for you, so let's celebrate. Here, have another glass of sangria. No bubbles, but you know, it's okay.
Paul Konrardy:
[18:08] It was one of those things of an unexpected opportunity to celebrate someone else. And I think that if we stay open to that, is another way that we can help people recognize those things in their life that could be celebrated.
Susan Evans:
[18:25] Do you know what Eric does really well? Whenever we see people, yeah, there's that. Whenever we see people that we haven't seen for a while or we get together with a group, he always does a toast that says, we are all here together and we made it. Because that belonging, because it is actually hard to do that. People are like, no, I'm out of town. I'm traveling. I'm doing this. I've got a work thing that night. It's like, okay, how do we feel about March 2021? You know and so when we finally do get it's either planned super far ahead we found or it's a i'm going to be there for happy hour can you drop what we're doing now and get there it's like yes they can it's not this in between thing two or three weeks from now seems to be impossible it's really weird yeah in the moment or four weeks from now it's just like the calendar of whatever so we're trying to do in the moment more um and he celebrates that he's like we're all here we're all together which is a different kind it's not a goal celebration it's just more of a people celebration of acknowledging the success of we've all made it this far all the usual scars and free condition place but we've made it yeah and so
Paul Konrardy:
[19:37] That is definitely a living in the moment celebration that's definitely a yeah this is amazing.
Susan Evans:
[19:43] Yeah he's he's good at the non-work celebration stuff.
Jenny Evans:
[19:48] Yeah
Jenny Evans:
[19:48] I think another thing that prevents people from celebrating success more often or even recognizing success is that Just the primitive part of our brain is hardwired to pay more attention to things that are negative, that are not working, that could be dangerous. That's not really our brain's default setting. You know, it's always looking for the problem, what hasn't been done yet, what still needs to be done.
Susan Evans:
[20:17] Yes, my brain. Yeah.
Jenny Evans:
[20:20] Take some training to just be like, okay, well, that's my brain's default. But that doesn't mean that it's not capable of of more? And how can I just give my advanced brain, which is, you know, logical, can recognize these things, give that an opportunity to look over this past week or this past month or today?
Susan Evans:
[20:44] I think the opportunity part of my brain has been held hostage for quite some time now. Because we get things and it works. And I just go, okay, got that now. How can I prevent something from going wr ong these are the seven things and so that's- it's literally not... it's we got it good and it's not that i'm discounting it it's good but then it's like okay next and so there is that i don't hit pause very well at all at all so that
Jenny Evans:
[21:15] Probably makes you very good at your job of help helping people manage crisis because typically a crisis is just not one thing there are all of these repercussions and the fact that your brain is really good at that is really great for that. Not so great about the celebration.
Susan Evans:
[21:32] So good for me.
Paul Konrardy:
[21:36] And I honestly think that's probably why I go back to that celebration of your 25th. Because you carried on for quite many years after. But at the same time, it's like that was a milestone. And that is a business milestone that not many people reach. And I think that's why you were getting a lot of pressure to celebrate it from outside yourself. Because I'm sure you could have just gone on and said, yep, this is just another day of the week.
Susan Evans:
[22:03] Yeah. Oh, I was. I was planning it.
Paul Konrardy:
[22:04] 25 years ago, I got my LLC lined up or whatever, you know, official documents you needed. So that's, I do. And actually, I think I remember that because we had to, we were creating some platform account that I needed your incorporation date. And it was ironically like a day or two after your 25th. And that's, that's when I saw that one. Are you kidding me? It's amazing! Congratulations! And you're like yeah okay yeah that was a tuesday and whatever uh so i know for myself i was like so proud of you for making that happen and proud of being part of your your your company .
Susan Evans:
[22:50] I will say though yeah i and and i get that and thank you in my midwestern way.
Paul Konrardy:
[22:56] See how difficult this is for you.
Jenny Evans:
[22:59] I know. Look at her. Her skin's crawling.
Paul Konrardy:
[23:01] I know I'm sorry she's off camera now. I'm really sorry Susan i don't.
Susan Evans:
[23:04] No but i i don't underestimate and and i mean it it's like i hired people to who were smarter than me and who could do things that i couldn't do it never would have happened without like i said sucking people in and it just..
Jenny Evans:
[23:20] You're the person that found the person
Susan Evans:
[23:22] We have to stop this conversation.
Paul Konrardy:
[23:26] Well, I think the bottom line.
Susan Evans:
[23:28] This isn't helping anybody. This is like a therapy session.
Paul Konrardy:
[23:30] No, I don't mean it like that. Okay. I didn't mean to take us down that road. Bottom line is, is just, I think there's, there's, um, There are opportunities to celebrate incredible achievements, and yet there are opportunities to celebrate even a step towards an incredible achievement. Yeah. So it's a matter of where's your capacity for celebration going to be in that given moment?
Jenny Evans:
[23:59] Yeah.
Paul Konrardy:
[24:00] So that's, I guess, the takeaway, maybe.
Susan Evans:
[24:03] I am going to plug it into my Claude Co-work and see what happens, because now I'm fascinated. And it's like, how can I make this a logical step?
Paul Konrardy:
[24:11] I think that's a really smart move, actually. I want to see what that is.
Susan Evans:
[24:14] Yeah, I want to see
Paul Konrardy:
[24:16] See what AI comes in. And you could even ask them, you know, Claude, what do you celebrate?
Susan Evans:
[24:23] And the self-actualization has begun.
Paul Konrardy:
[24:27] When I've taken over North Korea.
Susan Evans:
[24:29] Exactly.
Jenny Evans:
[24:33] Another thing that I do to celebrate, I don't know, towards the end of the year, I do get really reflective, and I really start thinking about the future. What I've done for probably the last... 10 years, is at the end of the year, I think back, and most of the time I actually have to look back at my calendar of like, what were the big things that happened this year? And literally write them out on a piece of paper. And I am always surprised at how much success or things that there were to celebrate and it twinged me i'm like oh my god i'm pregging but again of just how quickly we will forget and move on and forget yeah and move on um i also wonder if the entrepreneur mindset lends itself to that because you're always so looking forward and your job is to be solving problems. Notice problems and solve problems. It's not notice success and celebrate success. I don't know. I wonder if it's easier to celebrate success if maybe you work inside of a corporation.
Susan Evans:
[26:02] It's interesting because we would celebrate we always had a good news section what'd you get done? I mean there's always a celebration I look back and don't know if anybody actually worked there were so many celebrations and parties and happy hours and lunches out and lunches in and practical jokes and I don't think that would fly in a large company according to my I don't know what you're talking about but I think I do think It would be interesting to have a bunch of entrepreneurs or founders in and say, you probably didn't celebrate yourself, but you probably had a culture that celebrated everyone else. Or you should have, for Christ's sake.
Paul Konrardy:
[26:50] Possibly.
Susan Evans:
[26:51] Yeah, because I didn't celebrate stuff that I did. It was more of a, thank God that didn't blow up kind of thing. But we celebrated. and even when I've been in companies, there was a celebration of the team or the division all the time because I know people are working as hard as they can. No one's there out to sabotage you unless they're your boss because sometimes that's a thing. But I think that in large companies β
Susan Evans:
[27:28] The sub-teams, which sounds weird, the teams within a division probably celebrate each other. But again, that goes back to culture. I don't know how workplaces. It's a culture thing on how you celebrate the success or goal or the progress of a project.
Paul Konrardy:
[27:46] Well, and even that's within a division or whatever, if it's a large enough company. It depends if that company has put together a recognition type process. And if people buy into it, is it real or not? It often boils down to, I think, the individual and their relationship. And that relationship is what drives what they celebrate. And I know I've worked on teams where we celebrate it a lot. And I've also worked on teams where if you mention one thing positive about somebody else, it's like, everyone was suspect. What are you trying to get? What are you trying to do? So I think a lot of that is just culture but then again you don't want to get it in to be such a prevalent celebration it's a participation trophy either so I mean, there's got to be a line of genuineness that I think it's, it's hard to know it until you've experienced it and yeah you can put everything in place but until it's real - not necessary.
Jenny Evans:
[28:58] So Susan, you... Oh, go ahead.
Susan Evans:
[29:00] No, I was going to say, it's like, I think it's interesting because I originally had the thing on the docket was what's in your succeeding, what's in your way? And I think it's like, is it, you know, your organizational structure? But I always like, how are you celebrating? How are you not celebrating success? And I think it is really identifying how you want to celebrate and what you want to celebrate and plugging that in. Because it may not be that one specific thing, but it's like, when I feel like I'm halfway through, I'm going to celebrate. If I get this, I'm going to celebrate. Yeah, that kind of thing. Because I think I'm not good at celebrating myself because I think I should have been much farther along than I am. So that's my benchmark. So it's just like, yeah, screw that one up. Yeah.
Jenny Evans:
[29:53] That was the question.
Jenny Evans:
[29:55] Yeah. That was a question I was going to ask you, Susan, because you just talked about how often you would celebrate in the office. So you recognized success and you celebrated success. So I was going to ask you of like, well, what's your own personal definition of success? And what does celebrating success to you as an individual, like, what does that honestly look like?
Susan Evans:
[30:21] Right.
Susan Evans:
[30:23] Well, I think it's a good question that everybody should ask themselves. There's this line from Broadcast News, a movie everyone should see, where at the very end they talk about journalistic ethics and this character says, well, they keep moving that line, don't they? You know, and I feel like that's the line for success. It's like, okay, you got there, but you can just keep moving that line to an unrealistic place if you don't celebrate mile one, mile six, mile two, three, four. You know, it's like, so I think for me...
Susan Evans:
[31:06] Most of the things I do that aren't work are like admin things to me, like update the insurance, move, find a new place, move into the new place. You know, it's just like, yeah, this is just stuff that you do during the day. This is not. I will say I do celebrate because I can't do it at all. If I make and I did this, I have a very low bar for many things, apparently. I rearranged the office where I am and it's a much better room and I told everybody. I was like, I rearranged it. Oh, the flow is fabulous. You couldn't stop me from talking about it. And so that I did celebrate quite a bit, much to the horror of probably everyone. So they're like, really? This is what you're celebrating? But I do. And I just found another little piece of furniture. I'm like, oh my God. And so I think I celebrate the things that are like playing hooky to me instead of real-life things.
Paul Konrardy:
[32:08] It's not hooky in my book.
Susan Evans:
[32:09] Oh, no, it is for me. It's like I can do whatever I want. That's interesting.
Jenny Evans:
[32:15] Guess what, Susan? You can do whatever you want.
Susan Evans:
[32:18] I can do whatever I want anywhere. Not just this room. Yeah.
Paul Konrardy:
[32:28] That kind of brings it back to another type of celebration about self, which is birthdays. Some people celebrate birthdays, and they have excellent times. And then there's another type of person who hates it. They just hate the spotlight. They hate that they've grown another year older. They hate just that whole notion of having to acknowledge that people are acknowledging them. So, which, you know, I fall into that category frequently. I don't particularly care for that type of attention. But in the flip side of it, it's like that's a self-annihilating behavior. And not to disclose too much of my couch time, but that is one of those things of like, if you really buy into that, then you're missing the opportunity to figure out yourself. You're also missing the opportunity to figure out why you should be celebrating the fact that you got to another year. And in this world, it feels like 10 for everyone. So, um.
Susan Evans:
[33:35] We are living dog years now. That's what's happening.
Paul Konrardy:
[33:38] Yeah. It just feels like there are many opportunities to not. That's a double negative, right? Self-annihilate your own self. Success and i think that can fall into business practice as well because you're so concerned about other things rather than celebrating that achievement that you've made, yep like i said whether that's successful ending of a contract or getting another contract or getting another gag or whatever that is um, there's always something else to focus on instead of, that's It's an entrepreneurial curse, isn't it? You've got to just keep moving forward. But if you can train yourself to accept and celebrate those successes, I think you have a higher likelihood of attracting more. Because isn't that the universal law of attraction?
Susan Evans:
[34:34] Open.
Susan Evans:
[34:34] Yep.
Paul Konrardy:
[34:35] Yeah.
Jenny Evans:
[34:36] You know, this is also making, when you say like birthday and Susan, you're talking about how much celebration you would have in the office. Is i do think like unless you really hate somebody or you're very very jealous uh it's fun to celebrate other people's successes and things and like you know when it's somebody's birthday to me genuinely i'm so happy your parents had sex you know like i'm so happy you're on this planet
Susan Evans:
[35:08] That you're my friend.
Jenny Evans:
[35:10] God, I hope you have like the best possible year. Like it's fun to celebrate other people.
Susan Evans:
[35:17] Oh, I love celebrating other people. You can't stop me from doing that.
Jenny Evans:
[35:21] But that also means that you need to be accepting of this. It is a two-way street.
Susan Evans:
[35:27] Oh yeah.
Paul Konrardy:
[35:29] Yeah. And there's no logic with the not wanting to celebrate yourself. It's not a lot of logic. It's a lot of old voices speaking. But, you know, to that point, though, Jen, I have a friend who have had since college days where we celebrate our conception days.
Susan Evans:
[35:48] I was going to say.
Susan Evans:
[35:51] I think we have really missed the nugget of this conversation was the card that Jen has created. Yes. Thank God your parents have sex, Happy Birthday! That is a card somewhere. It must be out there somewhere.
Jenny Evans:
[36:11] I do. I sometimes literally write that in the card or in a text message. Like yeah i'm so glad your parents got it on because otherwise you wouldn't be here.
Susan Evans:
[36:20] Exactly
Paul Konrardy:
[36:21] Brilliant
Susan Evans:
[36:22] God please
Paul Konrardy:
[36:24] Probably triggering for some people but still it's brilliant because the.
Jenny Evans:
[36:28] Well yeah maybe
Paul Konrardy:
[36:29] Mechanics of it are absolutely true.
Susan Evans:
[36:31] If it's triggering for some people i can see well i can't go down that dark road but
Susan Evans:
[36:34] Yeah
Paul Konrardy:
[36:34] yeah there's some dark roads for that.
Jenny Evans:
[36:36] But also if it's triggering we're probably not friends so you know
Paul Konrardy:
[36:40] You know what? You're right. You're absolutely right or that's a deep, dark secret they would never, ever share with you. So they're going to play along.
Susan Evans:
[36:46] Oh, my God.
Jenny Evans:
[36:49] Oh, God.
Susan Evans:
[36:49] I'm telling you. No, that is a great card. I think this has been really interesting, trying to figure out success, how to celebrate it, when to celebrate it, what you're identifying it as, and how to take the time to do it. Because you guys have said, and it's true, it's not a five-minute thing. You have to stop and go, that was really cool. And walk outside, do something different. and take yourself out of the path and go, I deserve that. Thank you very much. Okay, now go back in. Yeah, I mean, just to give yourself that. Okay, that was cool.
Jenny Evans:
[37:21] And even to do it multiple times. Like, why does it just have to be one celebration? Why can't like later in the day, you just acknowledge it again and you're like, that was fucking awesome. And then a day later, bring it up again where you're like, like there's so much joy and fulfillment to be had. And we're really kind of only robbing ourselves.
Susan Evans:
[37:44] Yes.
Jenny Evans:
[37:46] That it's only one time. You know, what can I celebrate? I should be a celebration coach. I think I've maybe found my second career.
Susan Evans:
[37:55] Love that.
Susan Evans:
[37:56] Love that.
Paul Konrardy:
[37:57] I think the spirits industry would love you because you talk about day drinking a lot. That'll be good.
Jenny Evans:
[38:02] Okay, so now I have a sponsor.
Jenny Evans:
[38:04] I've got...
Susan Evans:
[38:05] Several sponsors. You can have sponsors for every hour of the day at this point.
Paul Konrardy:
[38:09] I'm loving this. Now I have to buy two cases instead of one.
Susan Evans:
[38:12] Exactly.
Jenny Evans:
[38:13] Of course we can celebrate without alcohol.
Paul Konrardy:
[38:16] Of course we can. I'm just playing around, for heaven's sake.
Susan Evans:
[38:20] I cannot. So there we have it. I've planted that flag.
Susan Evans:
[38:25] Yeah, I think that celebration piece, and I can't remember if we've talked about this or not, but it's like that thing I heard from Michael Phelps, a gratification for yourself when you walk through a door.
Paul Konrardy:
[38:40] Oh, the affirmations.
Susan Evans:
[38:41] Yeah, and it's just like, that's it's like yeah keep the thoughts positive so
Paul Konrardy:
[38:46] yeah...
Susan Evans:
[38:48] yeah
Jenny Evans:
[38:49] Okay on that note Susan i think the next the one more task you need to plug into Claude um once they recognize your successes and accomplishments there will be an automatic like delivery of champagne to the house you know like or a delivery of something or a booking of a massage or like whatever your jam is you know so So, like, take it all the way.
Susan Evans:
[39:11] I am going to plug in Total Wines API, and, yeah, that'll happen. So, I...
Paul Konrardy:
[39:19] Or just get yourself a vending machine.
Susan Evans:
[39:22] Yeah, exactly.
Paul Konrardy:
[39:24] We knew a company that had that.
Susan Evans:
[39:25] Those little tiny bottles that come in with Vouv in it or something. Yes.
Paul Konrardy:
[39:30] A Vouv. That'd be nice. Yes.
Susan Evans:
[39:32] Now there's a bucket list item.
Paul Konrardy:
[39:33] I like this one. It's a sparkling conversation.
Jenny Evans:
[39:37] Now when you say bucket list, I'm thinking champagne bucket.
Susan Evans:
[39:41] Yeah. So much better. I was thinking the machine where you just plug and get one of those little bottles out. But yeah, I like a bucket of coming out. That's a bigger machine and a lot more gratification.
Jenny Evans:
[39:52] Okay, we actually have some of those small bottles in our refrigerator because in our bathroom, there is a fancy frame with like a doorbell on it and it says press for champagne. And it actually makes it. So whenever we have people over and we can hear it, like we'll be standing outside the door with a bottle of chilled champagne.
Paul Konrardy:
[40:14] I love it. I love it.
Jenny Evans:
[40:16] Because that's rude.
Jenny Evans:
[40:16] Dude, like, don't tell people they can have it and then not be able to deliver.
Jenny Evans:
[40:19] Come on.
Paul Konrardy:
[40:20] Can I just steal that idea?
Susan Evans:
[40:21] I'm totally stealing that.
Susan Evans:
[40:23] I am totally stealing that.
Susan Evans:
[40:25] Oh, my God. That's brilliant.
Paul Konrardy:
[40:27] Okay. Now, though, Susan, if anyone hears this, they're going to come to our house if we don't get it in place right away.
Jenny Evans:
[40:34] I will have them shipped to your house.
Paul Konrardy:
[40:38] It's that API again. Just, you know, tap into it.
Paul Konrardy:
[40:41] Boom.
Susan Evans:
[40:41] Where did you get the doorbell?
Jenny Evans:
[40:46] It came. Like it. I got it off of like Etsy or whatever. Like it's super fancy.
Susan Evans:
[40:51] Cool. I'm going to find one.
Jenny Evans:
[40:53] No, I'll send you. I'll send you the one I have.
Susan Evans:
[40:56] Send me the link. Yeah, send me the link and I'll get it. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be cool. Okay. I love this.
Jenny Evans:
[41:01] I got a boogie.
Susan Evans:
[41:02] I'm celebrating that.
Jenny Evans:
[41:03] That hopefully I will have a lot to celebrate afterwards.
Susan Evans:
[41:06] Yes, you will. I know you will. I know you will.
Paul Konrardy:
[41:08] Yeah, it's going to go great. It's going to go great. Thank you for this fun sparkling conversation. Haha. Bye.
Jenny Evans:
[41:15] Cheers.
[41:16] Before you go, a friendly reminder that the people on this podcast are curious, not certified. Nothing you just heard is professional legal, financial, or business advice. It was a conversation. A good one, but still just a conversation. And if something they said makes you want to rethink your entire business model, maybe you should sleep on it first and then call someone with a license. The hosts bring the ideas and you bring the judgment. And if it all works out, they'd love to hear about it. If it doesn't, well, then they've never met you. All content is copyright monsters of curiosity and may not be reproduced or distributed without permission.
