How To Plan Your Perfect Week with Lauren Nicole Peters

SPEAKER_01 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast. A show that goes way beyond the story. And now, the best. Hey, what's happening everybody? Welcome to the show. I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to listen to me. Chat about things that I find interesting that I hope you'll find interesting. The show is brought to you by my friends at Self Publishingschool.com. I'm currently writing my second book with Self Publishing School. They've got an incredible program. They put over 2,000 people a year through their program. That means 2,000 people a year are writing a book with their proven system and program. You too can write a book just like I am. Find out more information. Schedule a free consultation call with a book launch specialist just like I did. And uh you too could be making your book dreams come true. More information at self publishing school.com forward slash beyond the story. Lauren Nicole Peters, what's up, girl? Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Thanks for making some time out of your busy schedule. Well, we're we're recording right now during a holiday, so it's a little less busy, but uh I always see you. You're you're you're doing something to continue to move the ball forward and move the ball down the field every day. In fact, that's how you and I connected. I was like, who is this bright, smiling, pretty face in my timeline? You always showed up to other people's content, you know? Well, the social media is and uh you I told you you got that certain ority that kind of reaches out and grabs you and says, Hey, I want to have a conversation. I think I should know this person. So that's exactly how we got to this very moment right here. Uh, we've known each other for like two weeks. So, you know, welcome to the show. That's why I podcast, because we'll be BFFs by the end of the episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Yeah, absolutely. No, I'm very busy this week, actually. It's New Year's in a few days, but because of the last couple of weeks and some client work slowed down, now I have to catch up. So I'm back to back for the next week and a half.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Good. So you're right. Busy busy's good. It's better than sitting around wondering, you know, what, well, what's next? I mean, then again, your your primary focus is helping female entrepreneurs manage their time better. So with that being said, let's just let's just dive right into that for a second and talk about how you actually got to present day where we're at right now, with actually being able to help female entrepreneurs better manage their time. So let's back up all the way to like high school and then we'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

High school. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

So we I always start at high school because it's either you went to college, didn't go to college, military job, and whatever, whatever it was, but it's always a good starting point. So we back up there and that helps us and that helps us uh get to modern day entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Okay. So high school, wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Well, post-high school. So graduated from high school, then what?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Oh, well.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

You're like, I had a locker and a locker. I was very popular. I was a cheerleader.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

No, I'm gonna I was not popular. I was I had I was friends with everyone, but uh like from far away, they all liked me, but I wasn't really super close with anyone but one person. But anyways, graduated high school um when I was 17 a year early, because I'm like, I want to do this life, I want to go for it. I started college a week later at a community college, and then a couple years, about a year and a half later, went into a private college down in Savannah, Georgia. And it was art school, art and design school. Yeah, I know. And up until SCAD, no? Up un huh? Yeah, SCAD. Yeah. So up until design school, I was a badass at anything I did. I was better than everyone.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Oh one of those.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

It was so easy. Right. It was so easy. And then I joined design school and everyone was better than me. And I was like, oh I don't like it here. So undergrad, as this relates to how I help women with time and freedom right now. Undergrad, I did see a lot of people around me super stressed out about handing in their assignments and being good. They were better than me, but I was always handing in my assignments, getting A's, handing in good stuff. I was never stressed out about time. I would wake up when I wanted to, go to class, leave class, do some homework here and there, go and hang out with my friends. And at the end of the four years, I'm like, well, that was that was tough at times, but I always got to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Which is priceless.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Yeah, and it felt good the whole time. I even chose to do all nighters. Like, when's the last time you did an all-nighter?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

On drugs? Oh, you mean work? Oh, you mean work, work, work. Okay, got it. I'm like, well, this is Miami.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

I mean a Ranger.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Right, right. Capital R.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Seriously, though. When's the last time you did like a work all-nighter?

SPEAKER_01 5:03

A long time.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Long time. Yeah. So I made I thought it was cool. I would do it all the time with my friends, but I did it because I chose to do it. Right. So I entered grad school after that, and I said, I promise myself I'm not gonna pull one all-nighter in the next three or four years. And I did not do that. I didn't have to. There's just something about what I know about time and management and freedom and productivity and and how I want to feel that just works in my life. And so graduated college, graduated grad school. Actually, I did not graduate grad school. I finished the program, and then they wanted me to write a dissertation like thing, and I'm like, absolutely not. So I left.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Um, I'm not doing that. I'm out of here.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

No, I finished the program, but I'm like, I don't need a degree to do this. So I start working. I can't do the nine to five. I really tried. I really tried. Um, then I started.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

But did you know did you know when you went into it, you're like, this isn't gonna fucking work, but I'm gonna try it.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Oh man, in the interview, I was sitting there in front of the the general manager of the design firm. And he's like, All right, this is great. You know, we're doing this and that, we're gonna pay you this. Second he said what we he was gonna pay me, I was like, I'm out of here as soon as I can be out of here.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Yeah. And okay, are we done?

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah, I gave good value to the company while I was there. I I value working hard and doing it right, but the second I could leave, I left. I started coaching women. Um, and then at one point, here's a big part of the story.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

So hold on a second. So so you started so you immediately left left the whole the idea of the nine to five thing and started coaching people immediately.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Okay. And where were these people coming from? Were they in your existing network already?

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah. What the last year I was in nine to five, I spent a lot of time getting into my network. I joined a mastermind online, got to know a lot of online entrepreneurs. Um, I went to a festival called AFest by Mind Valley. Are you aware of that?

SPEAKER_01 7:08

No, I'm not, but it sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Oh banned. We went to Costa Rica for five days and just imagine. And it's like it's like TED Talks and Burning Man in one.

unknown 7:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

I've heard a bit the Baby Bathwater Institute.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

I've heard that's an amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

They go to Croatia and Vale and all kinds of crazy places, and you're there with like-minded individuals, and you're just you're just jiving and creating for a week.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah, that's what it was. It was so good. One of the coolest experiences I've ever done. And it expanded my network. When I went home, I had two new clients, two new two coaching clients. Didn't even try. They were just like, I don't know what you were doing at the festival, but I need to work with you.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Okay, so I ended up finding an opportunity at a tech company. They asked me to become a chief product officer. So what this meant is I was at an executive level handling client accounts, but also handling the releases of the app that we were building. Um, and partially leading the developers. And so here's the kicker. Our CEO was a very uh um how shall I say this? A very uptight micromanaging certain personality, maybe multiple personality type of maybe. Maybe and I'm I'm being very generous with my words right now. But what's more important here is the experience. So at one point in working at the startup, he requested by 9 a.m. every single morning, Monday to Friday, that I text him my schedule and everyone on my team's schedule from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. 15-minute increments of what we were doing. And the certainty level that I needed to have in those 15-minute increments was at 100%. He wanted to know exactly what we were doing the entire day. And I accomplished that.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Where was he?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

He was at home doing calls, allegedly hair done. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Allegedly.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

He would he would come in at 10:30 every morning. The second he would come in, it was like that movie, The Devil Wears Prada, where everyone's like phoning each other. Right, right, right. She's here, right? Get ready. That's what it was. That's all. Yeah, yeah. Except for him, he would not do that. He'd be like, come here and tell me what you're not doing right. Um so I accomplished that. The second thing here is that he asked me to figure out a system to track everyone's productivity and everyone's performance on a week by week basis and report that back to him as well. So I would create these systems of tracking our people and our performance, and they would work. And I'd be so excited because I like this kind of stuff. I like planning. Then after three months, he'd be like, Nope, that's not working anymore. Scrap the whole thing, create a brand new system. This continued on for a year. So when I left, if you can imagine my cultivation of time management and productivity and systems and what worked, yeah. What worked and what didn't work for me, for my team, for the company, the company lost a lot of money by working that way. So I was able to see on multiple levels from a business perspective, but also a personal and a professional and a team building perspective what was going to work and what didn't. So after I left, this is three years ago, after I left, I focused the last three years of my time on understanding me as a woman and a full-time entrepreneur about what about these rigid planning systems work and don't work for me as a woman. And so most recently, my life coaching certification is more on the neuroscience side. So I'm very fascinated with how the brain works and how the brain is incentivized to grow and learn and repattern itself. And more recently, I'm like, okay, there's a lot of women around me and a lot of woman clients that I'm working with that say, this system I've been using doesn't work anymore. And I'm I was asking the question, why doesn't it work anymore? Why are you burned out? Why are you still desperate to do these things that you say you want to do that you never get to? And then that's where I came to the work that I do today is working with women and saying, okay, here are the more rigid planning systems that we're used to using. And then here is a type of planning system for you that you could use that works more with the female brain and how we pay attention to information in our world and how we track information, which is very different from what most planning systems do. So that excites me the most today. That's that's how I got to this point.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

That's outstanding. So a quick question before we get into that, I want some examples of of some of the work you do and some of the things you you you lay out. But why do you think that micromanaging does not work?

SPEAKER_00 12:25

I love that question. I you might not expect this answer. Micromanaging does work only for a certain amount of time. So it depends on who you're working with. If you're hiring somebody who knows exactly what they're doing, you got the money to hire someone at that level, you don't need to micromanage them. But if you're hiring somebody who has a learning curve, there are gonna be phases in which they learn what they're learning, to where in the beginning, you're gonna need to give them the right tools and checklists to make sure that they know how to do the job. Because at the end of the day, it matters if they're doing their job. The business still needs them to do their job, whether they know how to do it or not. So if they don't know how to do it, you have to sit there and say, okay, here's A, B, and C. By 5 p.m. today, I'm gonna check to see if you did A, B, and C right. And if you didn't, then we're gonna need to teach you better for tomorrow. That's still considered micromanaging. Right. But if after four months they're not they're not able to do A, B, and C, then you might need to hire someone new or change up your system. So micromanaging works up until a certain point, until it doesn't work anymore.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Right. It works until it doesn't, like a lot of things in life, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

That's very interesting. And that makes a ton of sense. So, okay, so let's say that I am a uh mover and shaker, uh, female entrepreneur, or just a female entrepreneur in general. We'll keep it real simple here. And we connect, I meet you in an event, I saw you online, I was I listened to your podcast, whatever it was, and I decided that you know what, I can be and I need to be more productive. And Lauren's my girl, I'm gonna hire her. What are some of the things we're gonna work on?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

All right, good question. Um one of the things I do is basic coaching consulting model. I just ask questions. I start asking, all right, what does your schedule look like right now? Who are the people in your life that depend on you to get things done? How do you feel about that? How do you feel about the things that you've agreed to doing? What do you actually desire to feel? A lot of the places where these women are disconnected from is what she actually wants. So she's built this life and this business and this schedule based off of all the things that she doesn't actually want. And it's piled on top of each other over time.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Why do you think people do that?

SPEAKER_00 14:51

It's it's the it's the rush of life. It's it's the daily grind. It's just the way our society is is works. Right. Unfortunately. Fortunately, but unfortunately, when you when you don't actually catch yourself doing these types of things. And so it takes someone like me or another coach to be like, hey, let's slow down and let's go back to the basics and ask everything that you've created, is this actually what you want? And every woman.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

What don't you get responses like, um, if what is what is is is what you've created, you know, do you feel good about it? Is it what you want? And does some people say, no, it's not what I want, but who else is going to do it? I mean, I'm the mom, I'm the wife, or you know, what is is is that a common response? I mean, I I would think that it would be initially, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Yeah. Depending on the woman, I've got half half of the women I work with are like, they're like, I don't care. I don't have that excuse anymore. Just please tell me what to do. Right, right. And then the other half still has that that thinking, like, who else is gonna do it? And I'm and I look at them and I go, You're you're really right. That's a great question. Who else is gonna do it? And they just sit there and they're like, uh And I'm like, this the question still stands. What do you want? You can sit there and ask who else is gonna do it all day long, but is that gonna get you closer to what you want? Or like I let them sit in that inquiry of who else is gonna do it, because at the end of the day, the inquiry is not the thing that's actually getting in the way of what you want.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Right. So um you help them formulate a plan that works for them. So when they initially, when you initially sit down, their program's not working. That's why they hired you. So after some further investigation, if you will, and probing around a little bit to better understand where they're really at, you can then custom formulate a program. Or do you just have a set program that works for most of the clients you're working with?

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Well, I have a framework that any woman can plug themselves into the framework and develop the weekly plan that is going to work for them, what they desire, who depends on them, the appointments they need to make, and then also how to fit in their self-care and how to make that work in a way that's flexible. Because as a female entrepreneur, our weeks change week by week. And a lot of the times when something changes, it can really throw us off. And so this framework works with that as well. So, yes, it's custom when every woman comes in. We we create a weekly plan that works for them based off of several factors that we uncover.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Amazing. So, what's next? You're working with clients right now, you're helping them, you know, get their time cut time management game uh in check. What are some other things you've been working on?

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Well, I'm launching a group program on February 1st.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Uh it's called Plan Your Perfect Week.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

I love that. And I love that because you can't argue. Who's gonna argue with that? Like, hey, you want to plan your perfect week? If you say no, then you know that's another, that's another workshop.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Yeah, it's gonna be really fun. I haven't, I I changed up my my model for getting women into the program. Instead of reaching out or telling them this is available, I have an invitation pro, like an invitation approach. So I developed this really beautiful document of an invitation for women who feel like they really want to do this type of work. And it's it's almost like getting a wedding invitation and a layout of what the program's gonna be about and what your issues might be right now, and then how we're gonna move through those issues. So um, I've set up an invitation on my website for women. I'm I want 12 women in this program, and we're just gonna take the next five weeks. And the first week, we're gonna delve into the concepts that I talked to you about. And then the last four weeks, we're gonna plan, we're gonna have each week planned out, and we have these group work sessions, which I'm really excited about.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

And is all that information available on your perfectweek.com?

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Yeah, it's your perfectweek.com slash invitation.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

And by the way, if you're driving or at the gym or just listening and have no way to, well, nobody writes anything down anymore, but not to worry. Uh, that link is gonna be available in the show notes. That's the description of this podcast episode you're listening to, wherever you're consuming podcasts. So, as well as all of Lauren's contact information to be able to get in touch with her. If you're a female entrepreneur and you're listening to this right now and you're thinking, my time management is an absolute shit show, and this girl sounds exactly like what I need, then you're gonna have the opportunity to connect with her and have a conversation moving forward. May very well be able to help you get your time management uh stuff in check. Well, I love that uh I love I love what you're doing for female entrepreneurs. Um, time is the only thing they're not making more of. So how we manage it is extremely important, especially in a year like 2020 where things have just been like you don't like you know, people don't know whether to what are we doing today? I'm not really sure what we're doing today. It's it's groundhog day. So for a lot of people. So I can imagine you are, and I it it it makes complete sense why you're uh as as as busy as you are. So let's switch gears a little bit. Let's let's talk a little bit about life. Uh you and I were talking before we started to record the the episode here, we were talking a little, you know, a lot about um a lot about faith. Um we're we're we're both Christians, and uh we were also talking about doing the work as an actual human being. So doing work on ourselves and emotional healing and certain things, breath work and certain things that actually can can contribute to that. And one thing that caught my caught my attention while we were having that conversation is that you said that, you know, I I I I'm a Christian too, and I, you know, I I believe in Jesus, and there's a ceiling to the the things of what the world offers and the tools that you can utilize. And I found that absolutely fascinating. So maybe you can walk us through that real quick. Of if you're listening to this right now and you've got a specific faith that you believe in, yet there's all kinds of opportunities like you know, breath work and healing and yoga and Reiki and all these other things that are available in the world, but do they do they go against what you believe in and what your thought process is? So if maybe you can maybe you can help us better understand your your thought process on that.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Wow, we're going into that one right now. This is so good. I'm glad you brought this up. Um, so yeah, I I grew up Christian, a non-denominational Christian, didn't really pay attention a lot. There was a lot of hypocrisy around me. So I I'm a very skeptical person as it is, but a healthy skeptic. Um, truth is one of my top values. And there was a lot of non-truth in what I was hearing in the church I grew up in. It was very, very Armageddon-like to me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Brimstone and fire.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Brimstone and fire, very, you know, you you were born in sin, you're not worthy. You have to prove yourself that you're gonna be saved.

unknown 21:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

So it's like a non saved model of Christianity. Um, like you you've got to do all these works, right? You gotta do all these things to get saved. And at the end, you're not really sure until you end up there. Um and I'm like, this just doesn't feel right to me. Even at five years old, I was like looking up. At the the minister, and I'm like, what? And uh, so actually left that church when I was 22. Stayed in it a while because I loved my family, I needed my family. And I went straight into spirituality, new age, law of attraction, spirit guides, oracle decks, psychics, wow, channeling aliens. I'm so embarrassed to say some of this stuff. Um, and by the way, I have a lot of friends who still work with that kind of stuff, and I love them, and they've got their systems and they work for them. But for me, what ended up happening after several years of being in this world of exploration is, and this is what I told you right before our podcast, I got to a point where meaning and my my value and my inner worth I was putting outside of me in these cards, in these spirit guides, in grasping at something that I didn't have, things that I wanted, that I wanted to attain, but really I wasn't looking inside. And so just by synchronicity, I got introduced to a Christian mentor and he brought me back into the word and the Bible, but in his own way too, it was still off for me. Right. I appreciated being brought back to the word and Christianity because what Christianity does for me is it brings a simplicity, it brings an ease, it brings a grace that I could not find in the new age world. I actually unraveled too much in the new age world, and I got a little unstable. And it was not fun. So I'm like, there's something that's gotta be here. Something and I and I went, yeah, I went to churches for a couple years, and I'm like, even even what these guys are talking about on stage, I'm like, this still isn't it. This still isn't it. I gotta repent for my sins. I gotta get baptized in water. Like I just why does it why do I have to do these things in order to be saved? Just something. So um and again, if you guys believe that, that's totally you, right? Like I'm I'm from a I'm I work with the human brain, the human psyche. I realize different people need different systems in order to operate differently. Um so I came to this version of Christianity where you're saved. Jesus died for our sins. We're saved. I don't have to do anything. The end.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

The end. No, really, the end. Like no rosary, no communion, no, like, you know, I mean, I guess communion is a part of part of the faith. I'm just referring to, you know, the the ritualistic bullshit that has nothing to do with Christianity. It's a failed attempt at behavior modification.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Yeah, that's a great, that is a great perspective there. And I'm just like deep, deep, deep down into my heart, I know that when I align myself with the grace model, the work is done. Right. It's been done, was said by Jesus. Right. It's been done. I died for your sins. There's nothing you have to do anymore. Right. I choose to believe in Jesus because what he does for me in the way that I live my life and I feel my feelings, and I step up as a human being for those around me. And and when I lose faith, I find that faith through through Jesus' faith, right? I don't have to have my own faith. I I rely on Jesus to give that to me.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Thank God, my goodness. Could you imagine how exhausting that would be?

SPEAKER_00 25:38

And it was, and it was. And every time I even forget that very simple truth for myself, because I still forget it. I come back to this very simple, almost too simple for a lot of people, truth for me that the work's been done, I'm saved. I don't have to do anything. I'm good. I'm I'm good as I am. Yeah. I don't have to overexert myself and find this version of myself that I'll never attain. Um, because that's exhausting.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

So that said, we were also talking about, okay, then where does personal growth come into the come into this?

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Sure. Becoming the best version of yourself, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yeah. When I'm when it's Christmas Day and I'm keeled over on the floor, sobbing my face off because I, you know, interacted with my friends in a way that I feel shame about. I don't know if it was okay because we also talked about this. Like on Christmas Day, I freaked out on on someone in my life.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

And I'm like, oh my god, they're gonna leave me. And that person did not. And I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Um we have days where what did you say? Funny how things work out sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah. We have days where that we're really terrible, we're really not okay. And where do we reach out for help? Where do we go and find work to to better ourselves? And there's a whole wide world out there of tools and techniques and people that we could work with. And as a Christian, I think it's important for me to have discernment about who I choose to work with because there are people outside of Christianity who bring a different level of awareness and a different type of energy that I don't always want in my life.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

And vice versa. There are people who have energy and beliefs where I'm like, definitely come into my life, let's work together. This feels good. This feels an integrity. This feels like I'm gonna benefit, you're gonna benefit. It's aligned. Yeah. It's it's it's a type of clean integrity that I've personally really love to feel in the Christian faith.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Sure. I feel a lot more fake in that world than I do, not me being fake, but like, you know, I haven't been to church in a couple of years for for that specific reason. You know, it just doesn't feel like as an authentic environment where I'm thriving and growing my faith. It's it's still based on, you know, you're you're still on the hook for a couple things. Thanks for being here. But and then, you know, I don't know. That's again a whole nother podcast, the modern world of of church these days. I mean, I'm a recovered Baptist, so I mean it doesn't get worse than being raised in a Southern Baptist church. I mean, maybe you know, Pentecostal would be slightly worse. But um, you know, I I look at it this way is that I I know I was tapped out to do some incredible work, and I don't know what that work is yet, I know, but I know it's in some form of being able to serve people. And I'm I'm I'm pretty clear it's the podcasting world is the is the path to that because what I do is so much more than just like you, you what you do is so much more than just create a better time management solution for your clients. You are able to hear their stories, um, empathize with them, uh, and and and and and you become a better person because you had the opportunity to work with these people and these are offline conversations, online conversations, you know, conversations that happen during the the work that's actually being done. But when we look at you know, the Bible speaks clearly about what you know our mission is to is to go, you know, make fishers of men, right? Disciples, like, but how is that done these days, really? Because it's not done the way we were raised, with brimstone and fire, and this is the way it is, and you know, you're a sinner, and all this this guilt, right? And uh in in in rituals still, the ritualistic stuff on here. I I bel I firmly believe, and I I tried to start a church. In fact, I got the reminder of a picture of it in the arts district like six years ago. I had a wild idea. I had a buddy who was a pastor, and I'm like, let's go rent out a bar, let's convince the bar owner that nobody's here on Sunday morning. Place smells like booze, but they can clean it up. We can totally they have audio lights, the whole nine. Let's just do church here. Bar culture.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Shots in uh in a town called Winwood here, which is our arts district. And uh yeah, we did we did church at uh Shots Bar, which, you know, the previous night, people were raging, losing their mind, and probably drinking entirely too much. And we were having church there. Well, needless to say, the idea failed miserably because, you know, in order to start a church, you need a couple of things. First being a lot of money. Second of all, uh, you know, a a good core group of people that are willing to commit to this and and actually go and do it. And that's, you know, a lot of people and a lot of commitment. And unfortunately, it didn't work out. But I'm glad that it didn't because I later saw the vision come to life in that same specific never neighborhood. And there's there's a few different churches in the area now that are just exploding with this whole modern movement of church and it's you know skinny jeans and tattoos, and everybody's pretty, and you know, that's just that's a whole nother conversation, too. But that that seems to be the current pulse of the modern church. But that still wasn't enough for me because every time I showed up there, I thought everybody here is already here. They're already searching. They either are they they either have established their faith or trying to figure it out, they're already here. So am I trying to talk to the people that are already here or am I trying to find people that aren't here? They're trying to figure out because I consider myself a a vehicle to the foot of the cross. So that doesn't, that's as far off woo-woo as it possibly gets. And that simply means that I'm willing to tell you my story and share my faith with you. Um, and if that seems to impact or interest you in some form or fashion, we can have more of a conversation about that. But never will I be the one to tell you what you should or should not believe. Another thing, very common thing that happened in the church growing up is that, you know, these are, you know, the the the the different lifestyles and people and ways of thinking and believe all that was wrong if it wasn't what we are being taught here. And we don't, we don't, you know, we don't even have to worry about what they're not doing. We only have to do what Christians do. And, you know, I always used to tell my dad that it was like, you know, it's not a very Christian thing to do. And I one day, when I was grown, I said, you know what, dad? Christians don't tell other Christians that Christians don't do that. So, so just try that on for size. And once I started to adapt this new thought process of, I don't know who the fuck you are telling me that I'm doing something wrong when we believe the same thing and we're all doing something wrong, allegedly, right? Um, I found that my battlefield, my battlefield, my mission field, if you battlefield, definitely a battlefield, uh, but my my mission field is is is my business. My my mission field is is the street, is, are the stages, are the books I write, are the conversations I have, are the connections I make, are the interviews I have, because that's the opportunity to be able to get to know someone, to be able to share a story on what takes place. I can't tell you countless times be like, oh, you're really religious, huh, Sebastian? I'm not religious at all. In fact, I hate religion, and I I firmly believe Jesus did too. Religion divides, relationship grows, and in my opinion, as far as as far as how I see it. But as things start to take by, because I'm thinking, like, why have I been going to church so I've been atto a girl scout, and then I walked away a little bit, and then I found it again, and I was kind of over it. And now I'm kind of like, eh, what's really going on with this world? But my faith has stayed grounded in all this. And I think that is the fact that, you know, what people in the past have had made fun of or a comment about. I've literally had people reach out, and never in a million years would I want them to or ask them to or hope that they did, but say, hey, you know, remember that one conversation we had in the bar that night? Yeah. And I was telling you, ah, it's not for me, this side, and the other. Well, you know, you know, life showed up. And um, I decided to pick up a Bible. And uh let me tell you something. Things have never been the same again. And it was because that conversation at two o'clock in the morning in a bar we had about you just being as authentic and raw as possible and just telling me who, you know, where you felt you were, and that my mission field is in the bar and is in business, it's on the stages I share and on the airplanes that I'm on, etc. So anyway, that was a bit of a tangent tangent that I that I went on here, but I it was some similar upbringing and some similar thought process that we were taught early on that needed to change in order to tweak without shifting away from the the core, which which is Jesus. That's that's the focus in being able to model his life, right? I don't think there's anybody being like, I don't want to be like him. Um, I wake up every day striving to be more like it because what did he do? He served people, and that's all that he knew, and that's all that he wanted to do, and also all that he continues to do, in my opinion. So anyway, yeah, long tangent there, but I'd love your feedback on that.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Yeah, well, I've it's really interesting that, you know, I think we're all we all have divine roles. And just listening to you just now, it just sounds like where your heart loves to be is out at the bar, out on the street, knowing that your story, your testimony is going to impact whoever it impacts. Right. I think the really cool thing about your person what you're saying here is like you don't have it a need for it to impact other people. You just know that by being who you are, it's going to impact who it does, and it's not going to impact who it doesn't.

unknown 35:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

And that there's this there's this higher trust in God. Like God is using you, Holy Spirits in your heart, sharing your experiences that God has put you through in your life for a reason.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Right. Right. Exactly. Bingo.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Sometimes that's the best gospel.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

And I wouldn't trade it for, you know, and my and my daughter is like just like next level on like the whole legitimate faith tip. Like she's dad, that's like this, and that that wasn't an upbringing of we're going to church, like I had. Like she would go to Iwana's, like with my sister when she would go visit her. And like we'd go to church here and there, but like she called me when she was five years old, and she's like, So I just went to Iwana's, Dad, and I came back. When I was there, they were like, if you want Jesus to be in your heart, put your hand in the air. Dad, I put my hand so high in the air and I kept it there because my goodness, I wanted my heart forever, dad. And she called me at five, I'll never forget that phone call at five years old and said that to me. It had nothing to do with how I was raised, which was get in the car. We're going to church, whether you like it or not. But I'm sick. Well, puke and get in the car. We're going to church. Um, so it's just been incredible to be able to, she's 19 now, and uh to you know, to be able to go through life with her and see what her perspective is and see how really tuned in she is on her own, you know, her own journey of of of having faith, uh, which is she's kind of another reminder to me, like, okay, cool. Because there's been times where, you know, I've doubted my faith and questioned it, and we get into these really gnarly spaces in life, and you're like, yeah, what faith? Yeah, what God? And it's like, you know, the devil likes to have a field day in those spaces. So um, you know, it's it's it's up to us to make decisions on how our faith will, you know, continue to guide us. But I got a nice little reminder through through my mini me. Um that uh you know, until further notice, this is this is the real deal. So, and I don't know what until further notice is. And I the the rapture, I don't know, the three horses.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Yeah, that's what I'm gonna the actual brimstone and fire.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Yeah. I mean, I I hardcore studied the Bible and I still study it. And the rapture is not something I've gotten. I just haven't gotten to that part yet. Um, but I mean, what originally got us into this conversation is you were talking about the moon. Remember that?

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Yeah, it was a full moon. So yeah, I was seeing I've seen all these posts on Instagram because, well, you know, the social media is and that tomorrow's a new moon and that you should set some crystals out and take a salt bath and leave water, but this was the most interesting. Leave a cup of water outside during the full moon and then come in and throw that cup of water all over your house.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

I think it was more of like sprinkle the water that was there so you can get like moon juice all over your house. Um juice. I'm not doing that shit. Just not doing that.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Wow. Well, here's so here's my personality. Yeah. You know, you've got your role. I've got mine. My role is I'm obsessed with science. And I guess I could use the word physics, metaphysics more accurately. Not necessarily science, like it's there's a scientific proof that this is true, that this is real, but it fascinates me to think of the moon and what it does to our magnetic field when it's around, what it does to the ocean, what it does to changing the magnetic field of the rocks, to changing the magnetic field of our emotions, right? I do think that that's a thing. As far as a lot of the um rituals, the meaning of what yeah, rituals. I don't do rituals, but I can see where the moon being full could change who we are on a physical level, and and to pay attention to that. So if someone says, you know, leave your crystals out to bathe in the moon, the moonlight, I'm like, okay, I could see how that would be a thing to where it would change the energy of the crystals, and I don't I don't know if it's a negative or a positive way that's gonna benefit my life in any way. So on the foundation, I think that way first. It's like on the bottom, I think from from a physics or a metaphysics perspective. Then on the top, I think of you know, a meaning perspective. Like, is this meaning gonna benefit my life or is it just gonna confuse the hell out of me?

SPEAKER_01 39:18

Oh, that's good. That's real good.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

So, no, I don't put my crystals out in the moonlight. Um there is so astrology, it's like a number one no-no for very devout Christians who rely on the Bible and uh a lot of the literal meanings in the Bible, and so I'm still not decided on astrology, um, but what I do observe in my world is how how the different zodiacs and the characteristics of each zodiac is actually very, very, it's pretty accurate to my different friends and family members.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Right. That's I'm on the same page with that too. I I am. And there's nine astrological signs, nine planets, and there were nine Wu-Tang members. So I figured that out during an acid trip when I was a teenager.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Wait, I thought there were 12 as there's 12 zodiac signs. There's definitely 12.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

Okay, I was way off. See, drugs are bad. Drugs are bad, kids.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

We need to Google this. Hold on a second. How many zodiac signs are there? There are 12.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Okay, there's no, I'm sorry. It had nothing to do with it had nothing to do with zodiac signs. It was planets, Wu-Tang members, and any number, any number plus nine, the sum of it will always equal nine. That's what it was. Those were some deep, deep LSD thoughts back in the day. Yeah. That's what it was. Got it. Okay. So yeah, any number plus nine, the sum of it will always equal nine. Six plus nine, fifty four. Yeah, it's not fifty-four, fifty. Anyway, I'm way off there. Anyway, horrible example. I just derailed the whole fucking conversation. Anyway, so so um I I agree. The ritual stuff, I've tried to do it. The as close as I come to rituals is meditating is extremely powerful. That's something that's taken me a long, long time to get to. There's tools these days like Headspace and Calm that make it very, very easy to these, these, these, these. So I found that and the most important part of meditation I've found is that, and I don't do it every day, I should be, but I don't do it every day. Uh, but when I do do it, I do find that I'm able to create margin in my brain and in my head to allow me to do things I wouldn't ordinarily be open to doing. Um just for the simple fact that I haven't taken time to allow those things to show up. And um, you know, my I do a lot of breath work. We were talking about this, you know, prior to the interview. And my breath work coach always says, you know, you fear is at the core of everything that could potentially be holding us back or preventing things that are taking place. And my number one question is like, great, so how do you find out where the fear comes from? She goes, She was in my studio, she goes, You come in here in the morning, you sit down right here on the step rug in silence for 20 minutes, and you ask, Where's the fear coming from? You sit there in quiet silence until you have your answer. And I'm like, gosh, prayer. Like a whole like 20 minutes, like a whole yeah. I mean, I'm like, that sounds crazy. She's like that, or just don't don't get to the to the core of it. I mean, those are your options. Like kind of mind-blocked, but meditation, there's this close up come to ritual stuff, and then um, I will do a little yoga here and there, mainly stretching, not really like yoga, because I'm not looking to do, but I do feel incredible when I have done yoga before. I've done it like four times.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yoga, the and this is not gonna be like super accurate, but the where the word yoga comes from is to yoke with to be in communion with something. And so whether you want to see that as being in communion with your body or with a god or another being, that's like I don't know, you can you just Google it really quickly. Um, but I just I just stretches, I meditate, I do breath work, and I mainly do these things, not like I said, because of the meaning of being with something or something or other, but it's to just be healthy.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. Well, well, healthy in a in a in a physical aspect, but also the the mental health aspect, which is extremely important. I mean, you gotta figure it, I mean, I think it's every human being is is is up against a mental health battle of some form or fashion. And being able to do things that serve us, like breath work and meditation, I think really help contribute to that process.

SPEAKER_00 43:54

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

So such a great conversation. I'm glad we uh, you know, I was like, like I said, I said I have no agenda for this interview at all, other than to get to know you better and better understand what you got going on brand and business-wise. And let's mix it up and chop it up a little bit and talk about life, which which exactly which is exactly uh what we've done. So you'll have to come back on the show again. I really enjoyed our time.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Absolutely. This was super fun.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

It totally was. And I I wanted to encourage you to continue to do what you're doing, even though you and I have known each other for like five nanoseconds, it's extremely clear that you are doing work that matters and you're helping people.

SPEAKER_00 44:27

And I love, yeah, I love that the time we've known each other just keeps getting shorter and shorter and shorter.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

Well, yeah, exactly. It's not like we go way back, or like we go way back to like beginning of December this year on here. So if you're listening to this right now and you're thinking, I'm a female entrepreneur, this has been a great conversation. I know Sebastian or I don't know Sebastian, but I know the show. And wow, this Lauren seems absolutely amazing. I want to connect with her. Be sure to do that. All of her contact information and how to connect with her online is going to be available in the show notes. Her website is your perfectweek.com. That's also going to be included in the show notes to reach out, connect with her, and go, hey, I heard John that that guy Sebastian's podcast. Uh, and let her know. Uh, I sent her that way. I I I'm not a I'm not a female entrepreneur that's hired her, but I could venture to believe that in the event you're in a time management challenge, uh, Lauren is somebody that can help um you know help you get on the track that that works for you. I don't want to just say works, right? But that works for you. Lauren, thank you so much. I'm wishing you an absolutely incredible 2021, even better than 2020. I think everybody's looking for that. But um, thanks again for your time. You're a rock star, and it's uh it's a privilege to call you a friend now, even though we've known each other one nanosecond.

SPEAKER_00 45:38

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Thanks again, Lauren. All right, friends, we'll talk to you next time. I'm out of here. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Be sure to appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. I'll talk to you next time.