Author: Lindsey P. Brackett

The more you practice, the better. But in any case, practice more than you play.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Lindsey wanted to talk about practice because it’s true that

You earn your trophies at practice, but you pick them up at competition.

If you want to raise the bar for myself and do better work, you have to practice.

Some things we’re okay with practicing for–sports, plays, class. But sometimes once we’ve done something–maybe even done it well–we tend to think we don’t need to practice anymore

Easier to practice for an event with a finish line, than to practice for the life skill you may never actually finish.

Does practice really make perfect?

There’s no such thing as perfect.

Practice is done so you can get better than you are.

How do we practice for these nebulous life things?

Lindsey is practicing loving someone who is hard to love. In real life, that looks like doing certain things that speak to this person’s love language.

Kristi is practicing life–forming new habits and gaining discipline. She’s learned part of the point of practice is to start with the basics and then continue to revisit those.

Just as Lindsey teaches writing students that you have to learn the rules because you can only break them for effect.

What we really want to hear is it’s okay to practice–and maybe even necessary.

Admitting we need practice is admitting we need more than talent to succeed.

The key to good practice is knowing where you’ve started and where you want to go. And remember, what’s easy to moderate for someone else may not be easy or moderate for you.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t know when you’ve gotten there.

Practice is where everything is truly formed. This requires time put in before you get to a performance stage. Sometimes you practice and then change what you’ve done but that’s not a waste of time or effort if this is getting you to the next step in your journey.

You’re going to come out of practice better than you went in. Sometimes practice brings more than achievenment:

• relationships
• connections
• other opportunities
• personal growth

Edit Your Life Challenge

Think of something you are practicing–small, big, or anywhere in between. Take a few minutes to journal or just ponder: What is the value of this season of practice?

Practice is merely saying I am not as good as I would like to be and I’m willing to do the work to get better.

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As always, find us @lindseypbrackett and @kristiannhunter on Instagram or Facebook. Follow @aroughdraftlife on Instagram or Facebook and join the community! Find out more about Lindsey’s and Kristi’s books on their websites, lindseypbrackett.com and kristiannhunter.com.

Now go, edit your life, and make tomorrow better than today!

You yourself, as much as anybody else in the universe, deserve your love and affection.

Unknown

We couldn’t find an attribution for this quote but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t Buddha. But it does beg the question, what exactly is self care?

Lindsey prefers this quote when talking about caring for ourselves:

Don’t forget to drink water and get some sun. You’re basically just a houseplant with more complicated emotions.

Unknown but found on Instagram

Is there a difference between “self care” and “me time”? Is getting a manicure an indicator that you’re practicing self care?

True indicators of taking care of yourself really should be rest, balanced meals, taking time to eat somewhere other than on-the-go, hydration, exercise–at least by Lindsey’s definition.

Self care is more than treating yourself.

Part of loving yourself is knowing yourself so you understand what you need in order to practice self care for YOU. What you need is whatever helps you to function better.

Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves–well, we get the loving our neighbor part but how kind are we to ourselves?

Self care is realizing your needs and feelings matter and you are not responsible for other people’s feelings (but you may be responsible for their needs because parenthood).

Self care is also realizing the issues you personally deal with–and then dealing with those.

Kristi practices this by reminding herself of truth–she is actually in control of her thoughts, feelings, and reactions.

Be aware of other people’s perceptions of self care. If a side hustle makes you feel good, then do it. If it doesn’t, don’t.

What you might need is something in your life that you do because you enjoy doing it.

Consider examining–what are the things that stress me out? One person’s self care list may not be yours.

Lindsey and Kristi both use the Enneagram to help foster their own personal awareness what does and does not work for them. They recommend this book.

You deserve respect and kindness. Whatever you would do for your neighbor if they are down is probably something you should do for yourself.

Love your neighbor as yourself because both of you are important.

Edit Your Life Challenge

Identify an area of your life in which you are neglecting yourself and work to change that.

Bonus Challenge!

Kristi needs a way to treat herself for making her deadlines (and other accomplishments) without food. Any suggestions?

As always, find us @lindseypbrackett and @kristiannhunter on Instagram or Facebook. Follow @aroughdraftlife on Instagram or Facebook and join the community! Find out more about Lindsey’s and Kristi’s books on their websites, lindseypbrackett.com and kristiannhunter.com.

Now go, edit your life, and make tomorrow better than today!

Age is a high price to pay for maturity.

Tom Stoppard

This podcast is for all the 1980 babies turning 40 with us this year. How are you approaching this milestone birthday? Are you excited? Depressed? Ambivalent?

Kristi was going to journal her 40 weeks to 40. Well …. she’s less than 40 weeks to 40 and her journal is blank.

Lindsey was going to make a 40×40 Bucket List. She numbered said list in her bullet journal and wrote down 5 things. For the record, she has done those five things which included buying collagen replacement to put in her coffee.

So what’s bugging you about 40?

We thought we’d have it all together. Spoiler: we don’t.

But lots of people did amazing things after 40:

• Julia Childs started her cooking show.

• Lucille Ball started on I Love Lucy.

• Betty White did not get her big break until her fifties.

• Sam Walton founded WalMart after 40.

• Delia Owens published Where the Crawdad Sings in her seventies.

We have a misconception that life is for the young. If we were plotting 40 like we do a novel (well, like our critique partners plot novels), it feels like 40 should be a climatic moment but the truth is there’s a lot more story to come.

The place we really want to get to is the milestone of being confident in our choices–knowing ourselves and knowing our passion. 40 does feel like a turning point for this.

It’s time we reframe how we feel about turning 40. This milestone is actually a beginning that comes from having a more mature perspective. 40 is a doorway we are walking through, not a gate that is shut to us just because we haven’t done all the things.

40 is a point of maturity because we actually are learning what we want and what we’re willing to sacrifice to get there.

Edit Your Life

Pick a milestone that’s coming up in your life–no matter how big or small–and let’s reframe it into something positive rather than negative. What little things can you do to make this milestone less stressful?

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy A Rough Draft Life, please follow us on social media, share with your friends, and/or leave a review in Apple podcasts. Find Lindsey and Kristi on the socials @lindseypbrackett and @kristiannhunter. Visit our websites lindseypbrackett.com and kristiannhunter.com. Follow @aroughdraftlife on Instagram and/or Facebook and tell us about your milestone.

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.

Ruth Bell Graham

This week on the podcast we brought in some special guests in honor of Valentine’s Day! Our husbands agreed to subject themselves to a fun Q&A about life with a writer (i.e. wife with a lot of ideas but poor execution skills). Hope you enjoy listening in! Here’s a few highlights:

• Find AquaNotes right here but be cautious if you’re book plotting in a shared shower.
• We don’t get to mention it but we’re Enneagram nerds and recommend The Road Back to You as well as Becoming Us: Using the Enneagram to Create a Thriving Gospel-Centered Marriage.
• An Inconvenient Beauty, the book mentioned for Kristi’s Chris Hemsworth internet search. Just picture Griffin as Chris.

Edit Your Life Challenge

Appearing on the podcast this week was definitely an act of love our husbands gave us–and we plan to make sure they hear how much we appreciate it. This week, as we approach Valentine’s Day, be sure to tell someone you love how much you appreciate all they do. Then tell us about your special person too!

Hope you enjoyed this episode. Now that we’ve made it doing this for longer than a week, we should probably occasionally mention leaving a review on Apple podcasts helps us get found. Thanks for listening!

Find Lindsey and Kristi on the socials @lindseypbrackett and @kristiannhunter. Visit our websites lindseypbrackett.com and kristiannhunter.com. Follow @aroughdraftlife on Instagram and/or Facebook and tell us about your goals.

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Regina Jennings, goal setter extraordinaire and historical romance novelist, helps Lindsey and Kristi edit their lives in this week’s episode.

Most of us wear multiple hats and it’s hard to keep everything moving forward. Regina writes down 3 main goals that she’s working toward all the time. Here are her current ones:

• Macy’s book
• mission trip
• speaking event

How do you break it down into small increments so you still get done by deadlines?

Regina writes down her big goals EVERY night so these are in her mind everyday. Then she writes the 3 smaller things she’s going to do the next day that move her toward the end of each goal.

This helps with the “I know I’m forgetting something” guilt we tend to carry. Plus, when you have a little goal you get to cross it over faster!

And at night this allows your subconscious to process so you actually wake up more focused. (We do not claim this to be a scientific study.)

However, this is not a TO-DO list or a routine. This is a way to set goals that enable you to accomplish more than your regular routine.

Regina finds 3 is her perfect number for forward-thinking goals that have an ending date. She keeps a “vision casting” list so she knows what goals she’s hoping to work toward next.

Edit Your Life (especially if you are Lindsey or Kristi)

Join us this week as we choose ONE goal and break it into manageable steps.

Watch our Instagram stories and posts as we share our goals and look forward to hearing about yours! Visit Regina Jennings at her website or on Facebook and be sure to check out her books!

Find Lindsey and Kristi on the socials @lindseypbrackett and @kristiannhunter. Visit our websites lindseypbrackett.com and kristiannhunter.com. Follow @aroughdraftlife on Instagram and/or Facebook and tell us about your goals.

Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; ²¹ glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21 (CEB)

Sometimes our expectations are, well, not what we expect.

Don’t shortchange what God can do.

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But this response is not uncommon.

The opposite is super high expectations that are unrealistic.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NKJV)

Paul (well, the translator) overuses his adverbs here—a no, no for most writers—because there was no way to convey the power of God working in this promise.

We have to redefine success—begin to see it less the world’s way and more the way God is using you.

Links mentioned:

Defining Creative Success

Magnolia Mistletoe (free novella)

God can take your obedience far beyond what you expect–did you know Kristi’s books are in Czechoslovakia?

Always sweeter to look at things from a God value perspective.

How do we manage our expectations?

• obedience
• “do the next right thing” (visit Emily P. Freeman)
• Gideon was taken step by step into God’s will.
• we have to fill ourselves up spiritually

We have to expose ourselves–be vulnerable–to help others.

Edit Your Life Challenge

Identify something you are holding to a high expectation. Consider if you need to let this go.

Remember, God has different picture of what a full life is.

Find Lindsey and Kristi on the socials @lindseypbrackett and @kristiannhunter. Visit our websites lindseypbrackett.com and kristiannhunter.com. Follow @aroughdraftlife on Instagram and/or Facebook and tell us what you’re letting go of this week.

Now go out and make tomorrow better than today.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

Albert einstein

For our second episode, we discuss the elusive idea of balance. Einstein may have been a genius, but that doesn’t mean we have to necessarily agree with this idea that perpetual motion is necessary for a balanced life.

We do agree with Einstein that:

• Physical movement is necessary to keep the bike going.
• You cannot move forward or change your life by doing nothing. 
• Important to know what level of pedaling you can do.
  • For example, mountain biking in the North Ga mountains is different than the mountain biking Kristi saw out west.
  • Some of us prefer stationary bikes–like the one at Kristi’s desk. So that’s how she writes so many books …

But we also disagree because:

You cannot stay on the bike indefinitely. 

• There are times you need to rest and recharge the batteries. 
• “Planned panic” is not a good way to live life, nor probably what Jesus meant by life more abundant (John 10:10).
• You occasionally need to do other activities like take a hike or swim or something. (Did you know Lindsey has a goal of hiking 40 miles before she turns 40?)

People always tell Lindsey she’s too busy–as if they’re riding the bike that is her life. Kristi thinks when people say busy they actually mean balance.

No one says I’ve spent too much time with my family today, need to go to work. You know unless they have toddlers. Or teenagers. But then that’s about sanity not balance. 

When life is filled with things we’ve chosen and enjoy, life does not feel frantic.

Your schedule might be full but you don’t have to be busy. Being busy is a choice just like being focused and present. pic.twitter.com/86O9pmFVPo

— levi lusko (@levilusko) August 5, 2019

That’s great, but how do we do that with our life? As people who work, how do we keep the bike balanced?

Kristi takes a walk around the house.

• Work was taking over EVERYTHING.
• Setting hours makes her more productive.

Lindsey has adjusted expectations as she enters a busy (abundant!) season: 

• Establish a routine that works for you.
• Realize the different surfaces you are biking on. An hour of mountain biking is different than biking down the street.

When people say they want balance they really want control.

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When Kristi wanted to balance her email as part of her work life she attempted to “zero inbox” like her husband does.

Gmail has a snooze feature? How does that work?

But feeling like she had to have her inbox at zero stressed Kristi out. This method didn’t work for her like it did her husband, so she tweaked her old way that did make her feel in control–and balanced.

Your schedule does not control you. You control your schedule.

It’s important to find the thing that works for you–that’s why we call this A Rough Draft Life. 

Edit Your Life Challenge

Much the way Lindsey changed her rehearsal schedule, find some small thing in your life that you can control instead of having it control you.

We want to know what you are taking control over so your life can have more balance. You can talk with us and the rest of the podcast community on Instagram @roughdraftlife or connect with us individually @LindseyPBrackett or @KristiAnnHunter. 

Go out, edit your life, and make tomorrow better than today. 

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