Mindful in 5 Podcast

Happy New Year!

• Spiwe Jefferson • Season 5 • Episode 157

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Happy New Year's Eve!

What if the key to thriving in your career and personal life lies in just five minutes a day? As we wrap up an incredible year, Mindful in 5 offers a treasure trove of mindfulness practices designed specifically for busy professionals. Join the Mindful Ninjas through a joyful celebration of the past year's accomplishments and challenges. With our podcast reaching 1,800 downloads across 28 countries, we reflect on the growth of our Mindful Ninjas community and highlight transformative moments like the Mindful Summer Zen series and the introduction of our God Lovers Journal.

As the New Year approaches, let's engage in a mindful reflection party. Toast your personal wins, shimmy through the lessons learned, and set your intentions for 2025. Spiwe shares her own triumphs and challenges, and invites you to connect with your inner aspirations. Write down your intentions to make them more tangible, and perhaps share them with Spiwe as a commitment to yourself.

Whether you're sipping champagne or nibbling on snacks, this episode is a celebration of growth, resilience, and the mindful journey we continue together.


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Mindful in 5, where busy professionals find your peaceful oasis to thrive in complex work environments. I am Spiwa Jefferson, attorney, certified mindfulness practitioner and author of the Mindful in 5 book series, here to guide you to a clearer, softer and more supported life. Join me and your fellow Mindful Ninjas as we explore science-backed mindfulness strategies for successful leaders that you can implement, starting with just five minutes a day. Elevate your work, empower your life, work higher, live stronger. Let's go.

Speaker 2:

Happy New Year.

Speaker 1:

Do you find yourself rushing into the new year with a clouded mind, missing the opportunity for peaceful reflection on your professional journey? Well, it is New Year's Eve. Who cares? Happy New Year's Eve. Who cares? Happy New Year's Eve, yes, well, okay. This is a mindfulness podcast, so I suppose that we should do some reflection.

Speaker 1:

Today, let's see, we are throwing a mindful party to celebrate an incredible year of growth, transformation and, yes, even our challenges. Can you believe it? Our Mindful in 5 community has grown to 1,800 downloads across 28 countries. I am celebrating that today. Wow, that is 1,800 beautiful souls, on one or more occasions, choosing mindfulness. One five-minute practice at a time. Now, that is deserving of a celebration. Let's take a moment to appreciate some 2024 highlights. So we launched the Mindful Summer Zen series, the launch of our Mindful in 5 blueprints and the birth of our newest family member, the Mindful in 5 God Lovers Journal.

Speaker 1:

Now, before you run off to your New Year's Eve festivities, let's do something special together. I call it our party mindful reflection. That's a thing now? Well, okay, at least it is today. So here is your three-step celebration guide. First, toast your wins. Raise your glass. If you ever watched Hamilton, you will remember raise your glass to freedom. I'm not a singer, so that's the best it's going to be. Raise your glass water, champagne, whatever you are drinking, whatever brings you joy, and name three amazing things that you accomplished this year. So that's step one. Think of three things that you were proud to accomplish. They don't have to be big things, they don't have to be small things, just three things that you look back and say, gosh, I'm really pleased that I did that. So that's thing one. Step two dance through the lessons for every challenge you faced. Do a little shimmy because you survived and thrived. So go on, think of at least one challenge. Just start with one big challenge that you faced in 2024. You are still here. If you are within the sound of my voice, you have survived it and hopefully you are thriving. So think of that and just do your little shimmy in your space, wherever you are, because you are here and you made it through.

Speaker 1:

And then the third thing mindful midnight wishes. Set three heartfelt intentions for 2025. Bonus points if you write them down between party snacks. You can even send your three heartfelt intentions to me, can even send your three heartfelt intentions to me. You can email them to me using the link in the notes and tell me what your heartfelt 2025 wishes are for yourself, not for your husband, not for your wife, not for your partner, not for that person you've been dating forever that you wish would become a spouse. No things just for you that are directly within your control. Write them down, because they're much more likely to happen and you're more likely to make them happen if you write them down.

Speaker 1:

Today is not goal setting day. This is just lighthearted blink reaction. What do you wish for? Okay, and so let us continue our celebration. I suppose I should share with you some of my things, since I just told you to think about those three things, so let me think Things that I am proud of in 2024.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know what? Actually, 2024 started with me starting a new role. How about that? I landed a role as general counsel, chief of staff, and then I was later appointed as corporate secretary of my company. So I was very proud of that and actually I was very pleased because that job search process involved strategies that I have never used before that actually were incredibly successful and, as a result, I have counseled a lot of people over the course of the past year.

Speaker 1:

I spent two hours with my son going over his job search strategy and we completely transformed what he was doing and he wound up not only getting an amazing summer internship at a company where I in fact used to work at, and he was in the legal department, he was in the government relations department. He had a blast. But then he hasn't even graduated from college yet and he got a permanent offer for a role and he also, I think, got an internship. So you know my baby's doing great. But all of that work was because he and I were just refining and reiterating on what is the best way to land a job search and to like really stand out from, you know, other candidates, and how do you even get the attention of these busy employers who have hundreds of applications at a time? So what are the strategies? So I was very proud that not only was I able to get the job of my dreams but certainly helped my son land multiple offers even so. That was exciting. I was very proud of that work and I also ooh, I went to Harvard. I got to go to Harvard in 2024. I went for a chief of staff certification through the Chief of Staff Association, certification through the Chief of Staff Association.

Speaker 1:

I spent a week at Harvard Business School with about 60 of my new best friends, who are all chiefs of staff, and there is nothing like hanging out with your tribe to learn different things and to discover that there are certain things that you know. You're looking at your own role and you're like am I the crazy one? Is this strange? Is this unique to me? And then you find out that actually no, it's not unique to you. It is shared experience because of the role that you are in. So shout out to cohort eight with the chief of staff association and thank you to the chief of Staff Association. Because of you, I wound up having this incredibly transformational experience at Harvard. And shout out to all my Harvard professors you all rock and you know it. So that was another wonderful thing that I did this year that I was really happy about.

Speaker 1:

And you know, on a personal level, I have adult kids now and I felt like 2024 was a year when we got even closer. And my daughters and my son oh my goodness, I love these kids absolutely to bits and we spend Thanksgiving together, we spent was it the end of last year together, and I am just, you know in joy every single time these kids show up and we have, whether it's one kid who comes to visit for a minute or all of them who come to visit it is just always such a delight. And so, as a mom and as an empty nester who's practicing all of that, I feel, like you know, from a personal perspective I am just so grateful. Grateful for my relationships. Oh, I joined a sorority this year. Ooh, wait, was that a lot of work, but once I did it, it was fantastic. Shout out to my sisters at Delta, Sigma, theta, sorority, e-incorporated. That was exciting because then I came into this family of over 170, 175 sisters in the Twin Cities. So that was another exciting thing that happened this year.

Speaker 1:

And I am blessed because I also have the most amazing neighbors that a woman can have. Shout out to Rita Ridge and all of my friends and neighbors and all of the friendships that I have developed over the years living in this amazing neighborhood and this amazing community. You all are wonderful and delightful. I mean, this is the kind of neighborhood where you're not just borrowing sugar from your neighbors. We borrow weed whackers, we borrow safety pins so we can make saris, so we can wrap saris, we borrow. Just you know somebody one of my neighbor's sons takes care of our dogs when we're not here. I mean, this is the kind of place that I have always dreamed of living and these are the kinds of neighbors that I've always dreamed of having. I have my Bible study. I started Bible study on one night a week at my neighbor's house, and so shout out to my Bible study group because you all rock and you know it Well. I hope you know it Well, now you know. So these are some of the highlights, just the personal highlights of my 2024 and just delightful things that have happened to me this year.

Speaker 1:

And were there challenges? Sure, you know, every new job brings new challenges. You have to learn new things, you have to learn a new vocabulary, you have to learn new personalities. You've got to figure out how to navigate your role and how to bring forward all the things that you know and all your experience to apply to this particular company in the way that is going to be best for your colleagues, your boss, all of the things. So those were challenges, and I have had times where I've said to my boss why, my goodness, this is an intellectually stimulating challenge. And he looked at me like I'm not sure. He felt like that was intellectually stimulating, like this is going to be so much fun because this is such hard work and we've got to figure this out. But you know, this is the resilience that I choose to bring to the job and I have an amazing boss who's absolutely wonderful. I personally think he's a genius. I don't know that he knows that he's a genius, but I certainly think he is a genius and I have a tremendous amount of respect to him. So shout out to my boss and my crew at work Y'all know who you are to my boss and my crew at work y'all know who you are. And so you know my three heartfelt intentions for 2025,.

Speaker 1:

You know, I'm excited. I'm excited to publish the first Mindful in 5 practice guide. It's going to be a job seeker's guide, y'all. I am so excited about putting this out into the world because I really do believe, just based on the results that I have seen with my friends and the conversations that I have had with my family members and all of the people that I have helped to refine their job searches, I'm a certified prompt engineer. That is one of the things I'm excited about.

Speaker 1:

I published a number of articles with the Association of Corporate Counsel, which is the largest association of in-house lawyers across the globe. We have tens of thousands of members I can't remember what the number is like 40, 45,000 members. I mean it's a big number and I have published articles in 2024, on the rise of chat GPT started last year and AI and how it is transforming, in particular, the legal community, and so I'm excited to do more of that kind of collaboration in 2025, as all of us are working to figure out, you know, how is AI useful to us, how do we use it, how do we make it useful and how do we not feel frightened of it? Either because we think it might yield inaccurate results, or because we are just afraid that it might come and take our jobs, or because we're afraid of the zombie apocalypse, because now, all of a sudden, we think it might be the AI robot apocalypse. So excited to see what 2025 brings for all of us on the professional stage and where technology goes this year, because, wherever it is, it's going to be leaps and bounds ahead of where we are today, even so. So, all that to say, I'm excited, I hope you are excited and I hope, as I've been talking, you've been thinking about your own journey and the things that have challenged you and that you have been grateful for in 2024.

Speaker 1:

And, you know, some of it is like real challenge. I've had family members who've had some real health scares in 2024. Some of it hasn't quite been resolved yet. We're still exploring to try and figure out what's happening and I've had some family challenges over my mother's estate. Even I'm still working through those challenges. I'm still working through those challenges, and so it's you know, it's a bit of it's joy and a sadness. Went home to Zimbabwe and saw my auntie and we celebrated the life of my uncle, who passed away two days before my mother in 2021. So, as you can imagine, that was bittersweet. So those are some of the things that have been, you know, challenging, bittersweet, happy, sad, nostalgic. In 2024, I am hopeful that I get to see more of my family, in fact, in 2025, which would be awesome, and so these are the kinds of things that are on my mind as we are turning the page into 2025.

Speaker 1:

So, if you haven't already, I encourage you to pick up a copy of one of the Mindful in Five books. You can get Mindful in Five meditations for people with a year of meditations for people with no time off of. You can find it on Amazon, or Mindful in five, the God Lovers edition. Both of them have accompanying journals. So there are four Mindful in five books that you can choose from on Amazon today or you can pick them up at spewardjeffersoncom if you want a signed copy.

Speaker 1:

But remember that even as we celebrate, you know we can still stay present, feel the joy of this moment, notice the excitement bubbling up. So back to the present moment. Remember that even as we celebrate the end of 2024, we can stay present, feel the joy of this moment, notice the excitement bubbling up, embrace the hope of new beginnings. So into 2025, I wish you a mindful, magical and absolutely fabulous New Year's celebration. Keep shining, keep growing and don't forget to dance a little as you enter 2025. Shimmy out of anything that has caused you heartache and fear and stress in 2024 and make your commitment. Decide that you are going to make 2025 an amazing year for you, no matter what. So until next year, this is Spiwe saying be mindful and happy new year. Happy new year.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for listening to Mindful in 5. If you enjoyed it, share it with a friend, follow and rate it on your favorite podcast platform. Pick up your signed copy of the book and journal from SpeedwayJeffersoncom, or unsigned copies from Amazon, barnes, noble or wherever you get your books. Visit SpeedwayJeffersoncom to download sample chapters of the book, watch videos and become a mindful ninja. Join us on the LinkedIn Mindful in 5 group and share your thoughts. Until next time, be mindful and be well.