Candice (00:00.204)

It's a new year, which means that we have a new opportunity to make some changes in your life and in your business. I love a new year. And this year I'm feeling very refreshed to make some changes in my own business. I wanted to talk to you about something that I've been thinking a lot about lately. And it's how your inputs can affect your outputs and why the information that you're consuming all the time might actually be

the thing that's holding.

You're here to grow a business, but not just any kind of business. You want to grow a profitable business with purpose, a business where you wake up every single day driven to serve your customers and make a difference in your own life. I'm Candace Coppola, published author, business coach, and your guide to building a profitable business with purpose. Join me here every single week as we explore how to build and grow your business with purpose.

Get ready to dig in and have meaningful conversations about the strategies and techniques that will help you build your dream business. This is the power in purpose.

Candice (01:19.632)

Hey there friends, Candice Coppola here, your host, your business BFF. Happy new year. Welcome to the very first episode of the Power and Purpose podcast for 2025. I'm kicking things off with a little bit of a mindset shift, a little business coaching for you today, a little personal coaching, maybe even a bit of a therapy session. We're talking about inputs and outputs and

I think this is a really important topic to start the year off with. I have this idea that I want to share with you, and it's something that I want you to just sit with and consider as we talk about it in today's episode. I will say that I think this episode is one that you might want to come back to, so definitely bookmark it. If you're driving or you're not in a position to take notes, no worries, but if you are, I think you should grab

a journal or a pen. I think maybe just open up a doc on your computer where you can take notes because there are a few things we're going to talk about today. And in fact, a few questions that I plan on asking you that I think you're going to want to write down. I think you're going to want to keep record of it. I think you're going to want to make a note so that you can come back to the idea, the question, the thing that we're discussing when you need to, when it's going to serve you best.

Now, I hope that your new year is starting off in a great place, that you're feeling creative, inspired, and ready to make 2025 a great year for yourself. I know that I felt starting off the new year, a little sluggish. I took a lot of time off for the holidays, which probably made me feel just a little sluggish.

But there's been many years where I've started off the year and didn't feel so great. So if you're in that position right now, I just want to honor the space you're in. I'm glad you're joining us today because I think this is going to help kind of pull you out of it or at least get you thinking a little bit differently. But I just want to give some, some thoughts to anybody who might be feeling like not, not new year, new me energy. I just want you to know that that's really normal. And so many of us start off a new year, not feeling the new year vibe and energy.

Candice (03:41.378)

And in fact, something that I've discovered over the years is like the older you get, the more difficult it can be to have a fresh perspective and a lot of great energy at the beginning of a new year. The truth is, is the new year is hard for a lot of people and the new year can bring up a lot of difficult emotions and it can bring up a lot of big feelings for us. We might be missing someone, longing for something. We might feel that

little tug that we didn't do all the things we thought we would do last year. We didn't make the progress we thought we would make. Maybe we set resolutions or goals and we didn't quite meet them or even get them started. So there could be a lot of guilds or feelings around that. And gosh, I just want to tell you, it's so normal to have those days, the beginning of a new year, and you have so much time to figure it out for 2025.

You have so much time to figure out what this year is going to mean for you and what kind of energy you want to bring to this year. If you're in that space, just know that the inspiration will come to you. The positive energy will meet you when you are ready to receive it. And this is only temporary. You're only on a temporary journey right now. And I promise things will look up. And in fact, you might find

that your inputs are affecting your outputs and affecting how you're feeling about 2025. So maybe some of the changes that we'll discuss in this episode will actually improve how you're feeling about the new year. In truth, this is something that I've been talking about with the women in my mastermind for a long time, about six months. We've been kind

dabbling with this idea and talking about it in our coaching calls and when I go live in the Facebook group each week and share thoughts and ideas. We've been talking a lot about this and I feel like it's time for me to bring it to you on the podcast. A lot of the stuff we talk about in the mastermind makes its way here at some point when we've workshopped out the idea or when we've seen results on the strategies that we're implementing with the women in my coaching program.

Candice (05:51.568)

All that to say, we've been workshopping out this idea and talking a lot about it because I believe that your inputs directly affect your outputs. What does this mean? What do I mean by inputs and outputs? What you feed your mind, what you feed your body, what you listen to, the books you read, the podcasts you listen to, social media, the news, TikTok.

Even the people in your life, your friends, your colleagues, your mentors, the group chats you're in, the conversations you're having with others, and also your daily habits and your routines directly affect what you output into the world. They directly affect how you think about your business. They directly affect the work that you do on your business and in it. They impact

how you serve your customers. They affect how you show up for your team, for yourself, but even so much as the ideas you have for your business, the trajectory of your company, and personally, the decisions that you make, your motivation, your mindset, all of this is affected. Your productivity, your creativity, your decision-making,

And I think your overall success in business and in life can be directly connected to what you input into yourself. Your outputs are what you produce based on the inputs that you allow. Let me repeat that. The outputs of what you produce in your business and in your life are directly based on the inputs that you

allow. And I think that sometimes we don't realize that the inputs we're consuming are actually having a negative effect and a negative output in our life and in our business. And that is the concept that we're going to explore today on the podcast. A lot of times when women hire me as their business coach, I actually tell them that they're consuming way too much information.

Candice (08:14.638)

And I encourage them to turn the volume down on a lot of stuff. When you and I meet and you're like, I want to hire Candace to help me, it's usually because you've been listening to a lot of things. You've been trying a lot of stuff. You've been exploring a lot of ideas and you are usually at a crossroads. And this is something that I've noticed with the women I coach and with my students, with you. And it's that...

we are over consuming information and that in order to get the most out of ourselves, extract the most, we actually need to turn down the volume on a lot of stuff. And recently, I have noticed this in myself. And so this is the biggest epiphany that I've had. I see it at work with a lot of women I coach, but...

I don't often look at myself and what I'm doing and how it's impacting me. And I'll share a little story about how this came to a head for me about six months ago and how I really started to think about this a lot. I noticed that I woke up in the morning like you normally do, grabbed the phone off the charger, opened it up and had some notifications while I was sleeping. And they were notifications from Twitter and notifications from...

threads, Instagram, TikTok, all these notifications bombarded me. And I opened up Twitter. The first tweet I saw was so outrageous, was so negative. And it was around housewives. It was around the Bravo sphere. It wasn't even anything like news cycle. It was silly stuff that I subscribed to that I love. But the tweet that I read was so monstrous and outrageous. I don't even want to repeat it, but it was so gross.

And was just about something that we should find enjoyment and fun. Bravo, Housewives, Vanderpump Rules, the things that I live for, the drama, the excess, the ridiculousness. But this Bravo blog account tweeted something that was so gross. And instantly I read it and it affected my mindset. And I saw the switch. I mean, literally I had just opened my eyes, rolled over, grabbed the phone.

Candice (10:32.622)

and I'm instantly consuming information that is having a negative impact on my mindset. I felt this visceral reaction to it. It was so negative, so gross, so ridiculous. And I thought to myself, why am I reading this and this is having an impact on me? Am I going to carry this negative energy with me throughout the day? Am I going to like put it on like the jacket I'm wearing and now wear it around all day and allow it to impact?

my thoughts, how I think, am I going to be in a negative mood? Am I going to be thinking negatively? Am I going to be just in this kind of nasty place for the day? And it was then that I realized that a lot of the things that we read or see or consume, whether it's passive or active, it's directly affecting how we're thinking.

a turning point for me and throughout the day I noticed all these little negative, kind of microaggressive little things that in the green scheme of my day don't really matter. They don't affect me. It's not hurting me or harming me, but they actually are hurting and harming me because it's affecting how I think and my mood. And

I've been just marinating on this for months and making changes in what I consume and how I consume it on a daily basis and eliminating things in my life that are not going to bring the energy or the information I need to help me become the person I desire to be. And that is the premise of today's episode. Maybe you

are now thinking about the information that you are consuming and how it is affecting your outputs. A couple of things that I notice for myself and just in conversations I have with business owners are the need for knowledge and how it overwhelms us. The need to consume all the things. We feel like we're so behind and we need to learn everything about everything that we're consuming all this

Candice (12:49.71)

knowledge-based information about business or about health or about pick your topic that you are just suddenly obsessed with. And now you're consuming everything. You're getting emails about it daily. You're getting Instagram reels served to you all the time, content. You're following people. Everybody's shouting at you, podcasts, YouTube videos, your TikTok algorithm. Everybody is shouting at you. And now you're suddenly overwhelmed

by all the things you're not doing. You're either not doing at all, you're not doing well that you didn't know about, and it feels so utterly overwhelming and paralyzing. There's also the fear of missing something that you should know about. So we're hoarding all these information sources, news, celebrity, podcasts, email lists. We're hoarding all these information sources

Horses we bought, bundles of things we've bought, templates we've purchased. We're just hoarding all this digital stuff, books, articles you want to go back to and read. Because we're afraid that there's something in that that we're missing. So we're saving it for a rainy day, for when we finally get to it on our to-do list. We're waiting to go back to it.

putting it in a folder in our mind or on our desktop. But really it's cluttering our lives and it's cluttering our businesses full of stuff that sure is interesting. You could learn something, but really it's not serving you right now. And you're just amassing loads of stuff. You're becoming an information hoarder, a digital hoarder. We're also retaining all of this

bad energy that's rubbing off on us. And I am especially noticing this on threads. I love a digital town square. I love conversations that are happening. But what I'm noticing is that I'm not in the mood to receive all the complaining that's going on there. Everybody's bitching about something. And like, we all have a right to bitch. I'm telling, I'm not even saying for a second.

Candice (15:14.596)

that you shouldn't go there and speak your mind. But what I'm feeling like is it's too much for me and I'm not there right now. What I noticed over winter break was that I was opening up Facebook, threads, TikTok, Instagram. I would go like in this circle. I would open things up and I would instantly feel bad about myself. I would read something so innocuous, like just a thread someone put out.

a stranger, somebody I even know. And it would suddenly make me feel like I wasn't doing enough. I didn't know enough. Or maybe I was doing something wrong. I was saying the wrong thing. I was approaching it in the wrong way. It was almost like shaming me, even though I don't think the person's intention at all was to do that. And I suddenly felt really shitty. So I'd go off and I'd go on Facebook where I felt shittier.

I felt even worse so that I'm like, I need TikTok. I'd go over to TikTok. And I would mindlessly scroll with no end in sight, consuming everything from how to make a pot roast to outfit of the day to what I eat in the days to like all this random things, which, you know, really aren't, it's not bad. It's not bad content. actually enjoy it, but it was taking me away.

from things that actually make a difference in my life. Conversations with people, thinking about things like this right now that I'm sharing with you, ideating, creative ideas, making plans for myself, reading a freaking book, cooking the food that I'm learning how to cook on TikTok, enjoying music, enjoying my pool, going out, having a life. I'm getting so warped into stuff. Maybe you are feeling the same way.

And it doesn't just stop at our online lives. I think too, the people in our lives also play a role in our outputs. Maybe you have friends, colleagues that you talk to a lot and you, it's not always positive interactions. Maybe there's somebody in your life who's always bitching about something, always complaining about something, always has something negative to say about someone. And it's like, girl, stop.

Candice (17:41.275)

You're bringing me down. You're always negative. Those people are like energy vampires. They can drain the life out of you. But it's even the comparisons that we do with our business bestie or the people we really like, that we really admire, we actually love. But we are finding that we are comparing ourselves to everything that we're doing, or we're allowing someone's negative energy to take up space in our lives.

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Candice (20:00.805)

Check it out and see what's possible. And thanks to Flowdesk for sponsoring this episode of the podcast. Now let's get back to the episode. I truly believe that positive inputs help to create positive outputs. And a lot of us have negative inputs that we actually need to let go of, hit pause on, or just turn off in our lives so that we can invite more of the positive inputs.

Positive inputs first look like consuming content that inspires you, it motivates you, it helps you get better ideas, it helps you think outside of yourself, it leads to productivity and growth. It means surrounding yourself with people who are gonna uplift you and help you stay focused and motivated. I also think positive outputs help you have better routines. So it might be reading something for pleasure.

It might be working out in the morning and subscribing to like the Peloton app or something that helps you stay focused and adds positivity to your day. Negative outputs and overexposure to negativity, toxic people, the news, comparison on social media, it is draining your energy and your creativity. And it's affecting you in ways.

that I'm not sure you quite understand. And it's leading to bad habits like procrastination, overworking, overthinking, overanalyzing, feeling like you're never doing enough, feeling like you need to do all the things. You need to be in all the places, especially when it comes to marketing, especially when it comes to marketing. It's leading you into this overwhelming cycle of never getting ahead.

and never feeling like you know enough, you have enough, you're doing enough. And it's dumbing down the quality of your work and your business. I feel like it's dimming your light. Really, truly, it's dimming your light. And we need to figure this out because you have so much to give. You have so many brilliant ideas that deserve to be

Candice (22:21.495)

explored for the sake of exploring them and created without the input of other people, without the overwhelm that you need to figure it all out before you do it. So that is the idea. And I wonder if you are now just thinking about what is negatively impacting you and also

What's positively impacting you? What are the things in your life, the people, the information sources that actually challenge you to do better, that get you thinking outside your box, that motivate you, inspire you? Let's examine that. And this is where that pen and piece of paper will come in handy. This is where I want you to jot down some of the questions I'm going to ask you and some of the ideas.

So we're gonna review your inputs and kind of figure out what we can start to mix up. Turn the volume down on some things and increase the volume on others. I want you to think of this literally like volume knobs. We're gonna turn the volume down on the shit that's getting in your head and getting in your way. And we're gonna increase the volume on the things that bring you joy, that help you feel creative, connected, inspired.

make you feel good about your work, motivate you? First question, what inputs do you think have a negative impact on your outputs? I want you to take a moment and reflect on the things that you're consuming or engaging with that are actually holding you back. And of course, these things can include social media, mindless scrolling through social media platforms. It is not helping you. It's not.

Limiting your social media time this year is probably going to be one of the biggest gifts you give yourself because you're going to gain back time to live your life, to live in the moment, to have a life, to do the things that you say you never have time to do. The time is actually in the time you're spending scrolling. Outside of that, negative influences.

Candice (24:41.999)

People who are constantly complaining, discouraging you, distracting you, draining your energy, those energy vampires, they need to go. The volume knob on that has to be reduced. Also things like unproductive habits, late nights, poor time management, not getting enough sleep, skipping whatever self-care routine helps you stay motivated or feel good about yourself. Even things like,

not getting dressed for your work day if you work from home, which pretty much all of us do. Those are things that need to change. I'm also gonna say toxic news cycle. I'm gonna share something with you. Judge me if you must, but I'm gonna be honest. I don't watch the news. I don't comment on it. I don't watch it because for my own mental health, I cannot be consumed by it. There was a time in my life where I watched the news all the time.

I was on news cycle after news cycle after news cycle after news cycle, crisis after tragedy after crisis after tragedy. And what I noticed was it was affecting me as a person. It was affecting my marriage. It was affecting my mindset. It was affecting my health. And I made the decision to turn it off. And now I do not watch the news.

I just don't. It's not that I don't care. It's actually that I care too much. I have too much empathy and I take on people's emotions too much and I wear it and it sits with me and it hurts me so much that I can't be empathetic to it all. I can't consume it all. Maybe you're feeling the same. When I tell you I don't watch the news, girl, I do not turn it on.

I don't turn it on. I don't listen to it. I don't read it. I don't watch it. The only news I consume is local news because local news directly impacts my life. And this doesn't mean that I don't care or that I don't want to be aware. I do. I feel like I am aware, but I just can't. I can't. I don't have space for it all. The news has become so toxic and so negative that you can no longer just passively watch it. It's all consuming.

Candice (27:06.263)

Maybe you feel the same way. And finally, I'll also just say low value content. Consuming content that just doesn't align with your goals or your values. And you feel like you're listening to it to get something out of it. You're watching it, but it just does not give you any benefit. And I'm going to put Housewives in the mix of this. I feel like right now I'm in a season of cleansing stuff and I need to just

turn the volume down on even my bravoness. I know, judge me if you must, but you know, it'll always be there when I'm ready to go back to it. So where are you consuming stuff that is having a negative impact on your output? So that's my first question. My second is where are you spending time unnecessarily? I want you to look at where you're spending time day to day and ask yourself, is it contributing to your goals?

Or is it taking you farther away from them? Here's a few examples. Are you endlessly checking your inbox? Are you endlessly opening up the app to check your inbox? Is the tab always open? Are you refreshing it all the time, allowing that energy to usurp whatever you're doing? You got to start managing that this year because it is having a direct effect on your outputs. Negative emails, people interrupting your day.

The please advise emails, they're fucking with your flow and you've got to batch your communication a bit better, I think. Wedding planners out there, I'm speaking to you. Disorganized workflows, are you spending so much time trying to figure out what to do next instead of following a clear path?

You need a better workflow and a good workflow is the most uncomplicated workflow ever. It is easy to execute. Are you spending too much time socializing in the name of networking? No, I don't want to discourage you from getting out there and meeting people, but sometimes I feel like we're doing too much of it. And this might be too many networking events, too many lunches, too many coffee chats, too many ...

Candice (29:21.019)

Podcast interviews you might be doing. I don't know. The list is long. That would be an example for me. Maybe you just need to start considering if these things are actually a good fit for your business and if you have the capacity for it and if it's going to get you to where you want to go. Over committing is another one. Are you saying yes to every opportunity even if it doesn't align with your priorities? You need to get clear on what is important to you. And when you do that, you naturally will have to say no.

others. You naturally just will. It's like a side effect. That's actually a good side effect, by the way. That's like the side effect we want. It's like Ozempic. It started out for diabetics, but it does all these great things for people. It's a positive side effect. Saying no to things will be a positive side effect when you get clear on what your priorities are. I have some other questions that I want you to think about.

What habits or routines feel draining or unproductive for you? Are there people in your life who are constantly discouraging you or distracting you? What type of content leaves you feeling stressed, inadequate, or unmotivated? Are there any platforms or apps that consume more of your time? More time than they should. I deleted Facebook, I deleted threads, I've deleted Twitter.

I would love to delete Instagram off my phone, but I don't, not on there as much. That's not really an app that is overwhelming to me, but I deleted those apps and I'd be honest, I don't think about it. When was the last time that you stepped away from inputs that overwhelmed you? Where are you spending time on tasks that just don't align with your goals? Probably more often than you would like.

Are you focusing on busy work instead of meaningful, high impact tasks? We gotta focus on the shit that's gonna get us to where we're going. We gotta start following the 80-20 principle where 80 % of your revenue, your magic, the things that actually bring you business, that bring you money, are actually the 20%.

Candice (31:45.019)

of your customers, the smaller group. We got to get clear on who those people are. We've got to put all of our efforts into that. We got to really start clearing away the excess shit that does not matter and start curating some more positive inputs for your life. Now, here's one lesson that I've learned over the last six months. And really since,

I stopped watching the news back in 2020. It's been four years. Five years now. Five, it's eight. We're going on five years. Wow. I am so much better off, I have to tell you. Just thinking about my mental wellness. I'm so much better off. What I don't know can't harm me. What I don't know doesn't affect me. And it's little things. Like if I don't know about some

some marketing technique that really isn't a big deal, then I don't know, I'm not gonna chase that shiny object. I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole. If I don't know that my competition is doing this thing, it's not gonna affect how I do my thing. What I don't know does not affect me, because I don't know about it. So all the complaining and all the negativity out there online, all the Amazon stuff I could be buying.

What I don't know doesn't affect me. And I want you to spend 2025 just focused on the things that you need to know and you want to know, not the stuff that creeps in and competes for your attention and actually steals your attention away. So this is where we get to make a shift now and we get to change what we're consuming.

I want you to think about what content inspires you or helps you to grow. it books? Is it meditations? Is it listening to, hopefully this podcast is that thing for you, but here's what, if it's not, you can tune us out. I'm okay with that because you have to get really clear about where you're spending your time. Are there any books, podcasts, resources that you should be turning to for motivation and insight? Are there any habits that will help you feel more

Candice (34:04.859)

productive and energized? Is there a community that you can be a part of that will help you feel more connected and that's focused on growth? But I also think that you have to self-reflect and you have to get clear on what success looks like for you. How do you want to feel on your days? Do you want to feel fulfilled, inspired, like you have white space to think? Do you want to feel creative? Do you want to feel productive?

then you need to change the inputs that will help you get there. And that likely means reducing a lot and going back to simple things like getting outside, going for a walk, switching up your routine, surrounding yourself with a small group of people who are going to lift you up and empower you, limiting how much time you spend online, all these types of things.

So I ask you final question. What is one small change that you can make today to improve your outputs? What is one small change that you can improve today? Because if you have learned anything on this episode, I want you to know that your inputs directly, directly affect and influence your outputs, both in business and in life. And it's you.

who allows the inputs, which means that it's you who gets to control the inputs and you get to make a change in your life and in your business of what you're going to allow into your mind, allow into your, what energy you're gonna allow into your space and into your heart. I want you to make 2025 the year where you safeguard what you input.

into your life and your business so that you can stay focused on what you want to achieve because you have got big goals. You have things that you want to do. You have lives you want to touch, people you want to help. And the only way that you are going to get to where you want to go is if you control how you spend your time and what you listen to and what you do with that time. All right, friends.

Candice (36:23.255)

That's it from me today. I would love to hear your feedback on today's episode. And I am just wishing you the best year for 2025. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for you. I am positive about the wedding industry this year. I'm feeling really, really energized and positive, if you can't tell. And I just feel like this is our year for us to bloom where we're planted.

for our lights to shine really bright and for us to feel that power in our purpose. All right, friends, I'll see you in the next episode. I wanna remind you there is so much power in your purpose, especially for this year and I'll see you soon. Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's episode of the Power and Purpose Podcast.

If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode and consider leaving a review. Head over to powerinpurposepodcast.com to access all of the resources and links mentioned in today's episode. That's powerinpurposepodcast.com. I'll see you next time.