21 days (Monday to Friday) of waking up at 4:30 am, with the intention to create the space to get things done, that you otherwise put off. If you’ve been following me on social media, you’ll know that recently I have been sharing some of my favourite teachings from this Damn Early Days program. And friends have noticed!
Some of my recent posts:
“Noticing all inspirational posts these days! Love it :)”
I’ve been on this self-awareness and development journey since I started my Bucketlist-style blog, and wanting to share my learnings with others. Anything from Hang-gliding in Rio, to stepping out of my comfort zone with a Bodybuilding competition and most recently, organizing my very own Young Professionals Event Series that brings people together in a warm and welcoming space to connect 🙂
Attend my next one on February 6th, link here: https://yvrwintermingler.eventbrite.com
Read about previous events here.
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I’m thrilled for the line up of speakers that includes one of the Co-Founders of Chasing Sunrise and the Damn Early Days Program!
Here’s a recap of DAY 22 – when many of us met for coffee for a REAL TALKS Session
On Thursday, the entire cohort of 350+ people that signed on for the January Program were invited to meet up at 5:30 AM at Milanos’ Coffee for a Real Talks Session.
I loved that people were there to celebrate that they signed up, and went through the program the best that they could. But even more importantly, that they were vulnerable enough to share that they still had a long way to go.
Co-Founders, Julian and Gordon have created a great program with daily check-in reminders and a hugely supportive community, and also curated some amazing content including TED talks and articles. Countless people have expressed their gratitude to this program and I love that both of these guys admit that even with all these accolades and positive feedback, that they still don’t have all the answers. And that, they’re not here to give you answers, rather, share content and harness the brain trust in the room.
They opened up the floor to questions to stimulate conversation and the first question was along the lines, of, “What did you achieve that you didn’t think was possible at the start of the program”?
EVERYTHING! One person said enthusiastically!
Which is great!
But what I really LOVED was when one person said, “I realized my Summit [a goal you state at the beginning of the program] was bullshit”.
And then someone else chimed that, yeah, their summit was bullshit too.
It takes courage to admit that you don’t have the answers.
There was conversation around, “What is a good life?” “Is it who we surround ourselves with?” “Is it, not being afraid?” “Knowing we can be in control?”
Julian made a funny comparison to saving money and how we all know we should pay ourselves first!
So why don’t we do that with our time?
We often think, “I’ll get to the stuff I care about later!”
Well, if you really care, why don’t you make time for it now?
One premise behind the Damn Early Days program was that if you can’t commit to putting time into it for 21 days, do you really care at all?
Julian: We all struggle. This thing [life..waking up early] literally sucks every day! But the narrative is we build a society where this is hidden. and we don’t share this.
He then lead us into some group facilitation where we partnered with strangers and shared our experiences.
A few ground rules: Number one value is respect. Everyone is different with a significantly deeper backstory. Be curious/Share from your experience, DON’T give advice. Simply get to know them. Don’t use “should”. Be willing to be open.
Some memorable takeaways from the crowd:
One person said they had done this program 6 times now! And each time they take away something different.
Someone else felt like they were going into work everyday as if they had “a secret”! The Secret and power of knowing that they had already been awake and ready to take on the day!
Another common theme was letting go of bad relationships.
Several people shared how they had chosen to step away from relationships, and shed away the negativity. They wanted to be around people who could support them, instead of being around people where they left encounters feeling worse.
Julian and Gordon then had a touching exchange across the room about how (clearly!) they’ve been able to support each other.
Or again, a funny way Julian put it was, “Support me, or leave me alone!”
I chatted with Julian afterwards about how much I liked the simple way he put this! I completely understand that not all my friends are going to share the same interests and enthusiasm as I do for certain things. I’m currently passionate about health and fitness, and am organizing these Young Professional’s events! And I have my bodybuilding competition in 7 weeks! I am SO grateful for the friends that have come out and attended or supported me by sharing the events with their networks. But, at the end of the day, it’s totally OK that not all of my friends are going to want to come to my events! I’m not going to expect everyone to have my exact interests! That being said, to everyone who has been come out to support: know that it means the world to me as I embark on this new journey <3
I’m excited for Julian to speak on Tuesday, Feb 6th, about finding alignment in our environments!!
The other speakers, Daniela Dib and Sergio Pereira, are going to be great too! We’re all here to learn!
On a personal note, I firmly believe that there is a huge power in diversity and learning from others. Yes, I believe in aligning with “similar” people who can support your goals. But that doesn’t mean only hanging out with a certain “type”. My events attract artists, entrepreneurs and business folks! But also health and wellness professionals, and tech geeks! Some people went to university, some are self-taught. We all can learn from each other if we share the same commonality of an openness to new ideas, and interest in self-awareness and development.
I am also excited to announce that I will be doing this Damn Early Days program all over again starting Feb 5th – until March 5th!
I will continue to share my findings so let’s connect! Either in person at my events or online over at @poymeetsworld! Go ahead and ask questions there!
BONUS to all those that come to the event, Generous Prizes from my partners!
Visit my event page to learn more: https://yvrwintermingler.eventbrite.com
