Welcome to the Elevated Edit Podcast.

I'm your host, Blakely Ramsey, and the goal of this podcast is to discuss all things personal development, wellness, and the art of editing your life in an elevated way.

From mastering morning routines to mastering your mindset, we're going to sift through the noise and empower you to take elevated action.

Make sure you catch the show notes for all the details.

Enjoy the show.

Welcome back to the Elevated Edit Podcast.

I'm your host, Blakely Ramsey, and I'll be quite honest, it feels like forever since I have actually recorded an episode.

I have not recorded an episode since before we went to Europe.

Everything else was pre recorded, so I feel like I'm a completely different person than the last time I recorded.

For for those of you that don't know, a couple weeks ago I went with a friend to.

We flew into Amsterdam and then we went to Paris and we went to Barcelona.

We were gone about two weeks and it was so much fun.

We're actually going to do some episodes about each country that we went to coming up soon, so be on the lookout for that.

But yeah, so I am super excited for our episode today.

I don't know about y'all, but when I read a book sometimes I like to go back and read it a couple of years later and a.

You forget so much.

Like, you can only retain so much information when you read a book.

I've got friends that will read the same book.

Like they'll read a book and finish it and then they will read it back to back.

Like they'll read it again.

And I wish I had that discipline, but I honestly get so bored by the time I get to the end of a book.

So I have to put a couple of years in between my readings.

But I love to go back and read a book that is super high quality, super valuable, and just kind of shift your perspective.

And I read a book a couple years ago.

It was called the War of Art and it is written by Steven Pressfield.

It's actually a super easy book to read.

If you sat down and gave it like a concentrated effort, you could probably get done in about two and a half, maybe three hours, depending on your read speed.

I am using this book for a course that I am coming out with in March, so I really went in depth with it this time around.

But as I was reading through it, I was like, oh my gosh, I have got to discuss this on the podcast because it's just so incredible.

So the full title of the book is the War of Art.

Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles.

And I'll be super honest, I've had this copy for about 6 years and I just read it last year because in my mind when I read the War of Art, it was for like an artist or like a musician or something like that.

But this is really for anyone that has a creative idea, that has an entrepreneurial spirit, has something, some kind of vision, mission, organization, whatever it is that they are wanting to work on.

Like, this book is so incredible.

Like I said, it's a very easy read.

It's not broken up into chapters.

There's almost like several mini stories and then the book is split into different sections.

Like I said, super easy read.

But I am going to talk about the main topic of the book today and that is resistance.

And for me, reading this book really reshaped my mindset around resistance.

And it also kind of made me self aware about some things that I've been doing that have been holding me back.

And I have felt a lot of guilt around.

And after reading this and kind of getting that refresher, it's like, oh, it's resistance.

It's not just that I'm lazy or I am inherently a procrastinator, whatever it is.

And so I want to start off with a quote from the book and it says, resistance is the most toxic force on the planet.

It is easier to start a war than to face it.

And that is so true.

Like if you really sit down and listen to people talk, or especially if you're around someone who has a dream that they're not acting on.

I feel like resistance is typically what's coming up.

And I can say that because I felt like that for a long time.

I let a lot of things that resistance shows up as that it camouflages itself as kind of hold me back.

And I'm definitely not completely away from resistance, but I am definitely working on it.

I used to think that I just had really bad habits or whatever it was.

And so now I'm self, awarely, actively working on resistance.

So if you've ever felt stuck, if you've struggled to finish a project, if you've ever doubted yourself, this episode is going to be for you.

Because you're going to be able to figure out how you can not necessarily beat resistance.

I think, at least for myself, it's always going to be there.

But you can overcome the limits when it comes to resistance and you can use it to your advantage.

So I'm going to define resistance just in terms of something that Relates to me and what makes sense to me.

It's the invisible annoying wall keeping you from doing what you actually care about.

And the good thing about it is that we've all felt it.

Like we all experience resistance every single day.

And a couple of different ways that resistance shows up, it can show up as procrastination.

I'll do it tomorrow, I'll do it next week.

Oh, I'll start on that when the kids go back to school.

Or I'll do that when we've saved a thousand dollars or when I lose 10 pounds or whatever it is.

For me that is super common.

I think for most of the women in my life it's the most common as well.

And it's something I think that so many of us feel guilt about, but we don't have to because it is resistance actively working against us.

Another way that resistance shows up is self dramatization.

So I definitely don't want to call anyone out or make anyone feel bad.

But we all have those friends, we all have those family members, those people in our lives that if things are going well for them, they're going to have a problem, they're going to get in a car wreck, they're going to have an illness, they're going to have to file bankruptcy, whatever it is.

They always seem to have this big catastrophic issue that comes up in their life.

Maybe right when they're about to have a breakthrough or open that business or you know, commit to a relationship, whatever it is, they have this big huge drama that has to happen.

And that is a form of resistance.

Like we are self sabotaging ourselves because resistance is keeping us from the thing that we're really wanting to do.

Another one.

And I also feel like this is unfortunately very common with women is criticizing others, especially the people who are actually doing the work or the people who have overcome the resistance.

And look, I'm not casting any judgment because I have been the same way.

There is this one content creator specifically that I have.

This sounds so childish, but I'm just going to be transparent with it.

I have followed her and unfollowed her so many times because I love her content.

I really look up to her.

She is very hard working, she's excellent time management, her priorities are so solid.

Her family 100% comes first.

Her wellness and wellbeing are high priorities to her.

And then her business is her business.

Like she keeps.

She, she works hard, she's very diligent, but she also has really strict boundaries around it and she doesn't Let her business slide into other parts of her life.

And I couldn't figure out why, like, her content would just sometimes just give me the ick.

Like, I could not figure out what it was.

And then one day, and especially this past weekend as I was reading this book, I was like, oh my gosh, that's why I have such an issue with her.

It's because she has, like, you can clearly tell she has her resistance under control.

She uses it to her advantage.

And that has been a trigger for me.

And you might end up finding out that that is a trigger for other people.

When you start to express your full self and you start to overcome your own resistance, you might see people being like, hold on, wait a minute, I don't like you.

I don't like this.

Why are you changing?

And it's probably because they have resistance that they need to overcome as well.

Resistance is sneaky.

Resistance like, to disguise itself.

And one of the key takeaways that I got from the book as far as that goes is resistance doesn't want to show up as fear.

Because if we feel scared, if we are fearful, we are going to act on something.

So if you are scared that your house is about to burn down, you're probably going to put the fire out.

If you are scared that you're about to like burn your hair off with the curling wand, you're probably going to pull the curling wand away from your hair.

Like, fear drives us to action.

And so resistance doesn't want to show up and make us fearful.

It wants to show up in other ways.

And that's usually distraction.

And so that's why it's really hard, I think sometimes for us to be aware of it is because it is so sneaky.

It doesn't show up in ways that we expect it to.

It shows up as a distraction.

It shows up as a notification, as a trend on TikTok that we end up going down a two hour rabbit hole.

And if you say that you haven't done it, okay, we can, we can pretend like we haven't done it.

I have.

I'll.

I'll raise my hand loud and proud.

I go down all the rabbit holes.

So let's talk about why resistance shows up.

And when, as I was reading this, I was like, oh my gosh, that is so true.

Because I feel like I am in this exact moment right now where resistance shows up.

Resistance is the strongest when you are near the finish line.

It knows when you're about to hit a breakthrough and it's going to do everything to pull you back.

Because resistance does not want to see you try new things.

It doesn't want to see you grow.

Resistance is your ego.

And egos get really comfortable.

They love a comfort zone.

They don't want to be embarrassed, they don't want to look stupid, they don't want to fail.

And so together, your ego and your resistance are going to do everything in your power to hold you back.

Another really important thing to be self aware of when it comes to that is that consumer culture thrives on this.

Consumer culture knows that resistance is actively, always trying to get us to step away from what we are really wanting to work on.

So consumer culture is going to say, okay, you can't do X, Y and Z until you've completed these 20 courses.

Or you can't do X, Y and Z until you've read these 20 books or you've listened to these four 40 podcasts, or you have lost £20, or you have a six pack, or you've done whatever it is that consumer culture is going to tell you, you need to buy this, you need to invest in this, you need to purchase this, you need to do this.

It's all distractions.

And look, I am a course taker.

I love a good course.

I love a book, an audio book, a podcast, a webinar, an in person event.

I love all these things.

I think they're great ways to grow.

But and I'm speaking from my own personal experience, in the past, I have used those to procrastinate.

I've been like, okay, well hold on.

I saw this ad for this course, or I saw this thing for this course and then I buy it and two modules in, I see another ad for another course and I go and buy it.

So keep that in the back of your head.

Be very intentional with the courses that you purchase.

Be very intentional with the books that you're reading.

Finish them before you move on.

Don't let resistance come in as like a shiny like distraction thing, because it totally will.

It's happened to me all the time.

And for me, this part of the book was like very eye opening.

Because, you know, you read the first part of the book and you're like, okay, well that stinks.

Like resistance is always going to be fighting against me.

But one thing the book also said is that you can use resistance as your guide.

So the more resistance you're feeling, the more likely it is that you are actually chasing the goal that like lights your soul on fire or that it's your true purpose or Whatever it is, that's why, why and how I know that this podcast is what I meant to be doing right now as far as, like, my creative outlet.

Because I have been met with so much resistance with this podcast.

I have technical issues and, you know, issues with people in my life and different kinds of things that have come up since I have launched the podcast.

And, you know, at first it kind of got me down, but now I'm like, oh, this is difficult because resistance is trying to keep me away.

Got it.

So with all this said, how can we overcome resistance?

I've got six.

Well, they're going to sound easy, maybe not so easy to implement, but six, six short steps that I'm going to run through really quick that might help you start on the journey to overcoming resistance.

So step one is to recognize it when you feel resistance notes a compass pointing towards what matters.

So I think being self aware of it, aware of it at all, I think self awareness is huge.

It can be the starting point to resolving a lot of issues.

But I think, especially in this scenario, to not feel that guilt when you procrastinate or not feel that guilt when you don't finish that course and you go buy another one because you can sit back and go, okay, this is resistance keeping me away from what I really need to be doing, what I need to do to get back on track.

Step number two is going to be take small actions, Just sit down and get started.

Like, for me, that is always the hardest part of anything, is to sit down and do it.

I will have, you know, three things that have been on my to do list for two weeks, and I'm just.

I'll, like, think about them at night.

I'll overthink it.

It's this whole drama.

And then when I actually sit down and do them, they take me all of 10 minutes and they weren't.

It wasn't bad at all.

It was no.

It was no issue whatsoever.

So start small.

Take teeny tiny small actions.

Some actions that I have taken lately to help overcome resistance.

I have deleted Facebook and Snapchat from my phone, which might not sound like a big deal to some people, but when you have essentially built your business off of social media and the past couple of years, your income has been dependent on people watching you, following you, trusting you, liking you, and the main channel to reach those people is social media, it is so hard to back away.

But I've noticed since I just use Facebook on my desktop that I'm very intentional when I show up.

I'm like, okay, I'm gonna get on here 20 minutes, I'm gonna see what's going on in the community.

I'm gonna network a little bit.

I'm gonna, you know, make my posts and then I'm gonna get out of there.

I'm not down a Facebook rabbit hole of what everybody and their mama was doing this past weekend and who's sleeping with who and all this unnecessary stuff that honestly, I really.

Step number three, live like a pro.

The difference between amateurs and pros.

Pros show up no matter what.

No excuses, no drama.

I think once again, especially as women, we often think about our side hustles or our passion projects as, oh, that little thing, or, oh, well, you know, it's just a little extra money or, oh, it's just a little blah, blah, blah.

And so we don't mentally give it the same energy as, say, we would a full time job or a full time commitment or a commitment that we have with someone else.

And in this book, he really emphasizes that you need to reframe that and you need to treat whatever project it is that you're working on like you're a professional, like you're a pro.

So with this podcast, for example, I have hired actually two assistants.

And if you are behind and you are struggling to catch up, this is a sidebar, please hire a virtual assistant.

I like, when I was doing my onboarding with my assistants, I thought I was going to show up and tell them what I needed and tell them how to do it.

And they were like, okay, well, we like that.

But what if you also did these 10 things?

Would that be helpful?

I'm like, yeah, I didn't even, I didn't even think about that.

I mean, like, they are so much smarter than me in certain things and so being able to delegate specific tasks to them has been phenomenal.

So that is one way that I am going to start living like a pro, treating the podcast like a pro, and overcoming resistance when it comes to that.

So step number four, focus on what matters.

Don't get caught up in details that don't move the needle.

This is.

This circles back to procrastination.

So I am the world's worst at this.

I will be like, okay, I need to.

Oh, I'll use a good example.

I had to do a press release a couple weeks ago and first off, I didn't know what a press release was until I actually did said press release.

It was one of those things.

Once again, it was on my list and I stressed about it.

And back and forth, blah, blah blah.

I ended up putting it in ChatGPT.

They gave me an outline.

I came up with a great press release.

It took me all of 10 minutes.

It was not stressful at all, but I over thought I stressed.

I worried about this piece of content that really at the end of the day the press release needed to get done.

But was it really that important?

Did it really move the needle that much?

No.

When I should have been focusing on outlining new podcast episodes, recording new episodes, researching guests, doing, you know, whatever it was that could have moved the needle, I ended up wasting a lot of time.

So focus on what matters.

Step five, build resilience through habits.

The professional is always learning and always growing.

I am semi decent with this, but one thing I have done to step it up is I have hired a business coach in 2025.

I really plan on like going all in.

I know I seem like I've always been an all in person, but I've had a lot of resistance in my life and in 2025 I'm like, you know what, we're not gonna be able to make the resistance go away completely, but we're gonna work really smart and we are going to overcome it and use it to our advantage as much as humanly possible.

So hiring a business coach, working out in some way in the morning is now not a non negotiable for me.

I used to be someone that really hated working out and now like I can, if I don't work out in the morning, I can tell the rest of the day like my mind is scattered, I'm in a bad mood, I don't make good choices, whatever it is.

And then step six, seek support.

You don't have to do it alone.

Surround yourself with people who get it.

This might not be your best friend currently.

And I'm not saying that you need to, you know, drop your friends and only hang out with new people.

That's not the case at all.

Maybe just add someone new, add an accountability partner, add, you know, a coach, join a group that of people for me would be group of entrepreneurial women who are in the same position that you're in.

You know, next year.

I'm also really focusing on attending a lot of different summits.

I've got a friend, actually the friend I went to Europe with, she is in a summit mood too.

So we're researching some things that we're going to go to.

But get, get yourself in the room with people that are doing the same thing you're doing.

Not only Will you learn from them?

Like, okay, they can teach you, okay, you need to do X, Y and Z.

But also I feel like just hearing the everyday conversations of things that you might feel are your suffering alone or, oh, I'm the only person that's having to deal with that.

And then you get in a room with someone who is going through the same thing you're going through, and you mention it and they're like, oh, I went through that three times last month.

This is what I did to eliminate that.

Like, it can happen that quick.

You can come up with a new idea, be inspired, get a solution to a problem that quick if you just get yourself in the right rooms.

So, yeah, those are six steps to help you overcome resistance.

One last note on resistance.

Resistance might trigger you.

Overcoming your resistance.

Excuse me, might trigger other people, especially if they have intense resistance that they are either not aware of or unwilling to face.

You facing your resistance and you overcoming your struggles and challenges and pushing forward might trigger some people.

My best advice on that, and this is what I'm trying to do, wouldn't say I'm great at it, but give them grace.

You changed your systems, changed your boundaries changed.

You can't expect them to automatically jump on board.

They don't ever have to jump on board if they don't want to.

Everybody has a right to their own opinion.

And yeah, you might have to just release them with love.

Or you could give grace.

They catch on to your new way of being and then yalls relationship is even stronger.

So yeah, just kind of be prepared for that.

When you start to overcome resistance, it might trigger some people, it might bother some people.

It's nothing that you're doing wrong.

It's just human psychology and it'll all work out the way it's supposed to in the end.

So hope that y'all got a little bit out of this episode.

If you are new to this podcast, I wanted to save this until the end because this is not informative at all.

This is just me rambling.

But before today, this podcast has been a Tuesday only one episode per week show, and I am switching to three episodes a week.

The plan right now is to do Monday have a solo episode of some sort.

Not all of them are going to be focused around a book unless I'm reading a really good one.

It might be random thoughts, it might be things that y'all suggest.

It might be things that are happening, current events, whatever it is.

Wednesday will be a guest episode and then Friday.

I don't exactly know what I'M gonna do yet.

I just know it's going to be like a short episode, like five to seven minutes.

So for example, this Friday I'm gonna do three intentions to set going into the holidays.

It's literally like, I think it's like a six minute episode.

Super short, super easy to ingest.

I'm just trying to diversify the podcast a little bit.

Feel like I have some listeners that love a really long format.

So Wednesdays with guests might be a little bit better for them.

Mondays are going to be 20ish minutes.

Let's see where I'm at today.

Yeah, 23 minutes.

And then Fridays are going to be obviously a little bit shorter.

Super short, super ingestible.

If you are new in listening to podcasts, that one, that episode might be the one for you.

But just trying to diversify it just a little bit.

And then like I said, I hired I actually have two assistants now virtually and like I said, they are so much smarter than me.

And one of them is he is a specifically podcast.

He is specifically a podcast assistant.

Sorry, I had to rethink how I was going to word that and he had some really exciting ideas for me.

So things might look different.

Things might change over the next couple of months, I believe.

All for the good.

They are super excited.

They love the content, they love the energy from my audience, the comments, all the things.

So yeah, lots of good coming up, but hope that y'all got a little something out of this episode and I will see you in the next one.

Thank you for tuning in to the Elevated Edit Podcast.

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