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"A LOT with Audra" is the podcast for women juggling big dreams and full lives. Each episode, host, Audra Dinell, Midwestern wife, mom and neurodivergent multi-six figure entrepreneur encourages women to embrace their many roles holistically by living a values-based life with confidence and joy. Through candid discussions, practical strategies and inspiring stories, this podcast is your guide to designing and achieving success without losing yourself in the process.
Ep77
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Midsummer Pep Talk
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[00:00:00]
Audra Dinell: [00:01:00] Hey, welcome back to A Lot with Audra. This week's gonna be a little bit different. It's summer, the days are longer, we're having fun, so we're gonna do a short pep talk this week, and I'm calling it "Do the Thing," and this is why.
Dreams Stuck on Hold
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Audra Dinell: Over the past week, in my world, I've had the same conversation with different women multiple times, and that is this: they have a dream.
They know what they want to do. They have their heart set on a thing. And when I ask them about their next step or their timeline or financing if it's a business, I've been getting the same answer, [00:02:00] and that answer is, "Now is not the right time," or, "Maybe in five years," or something that feels safe. And I want to challenge us, myself included.
When we are clear on what we really want, what we want to go do in the world, we have to do the thing, and here's what I mean by that.
Danger Zone Perfection
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Audra Dinell: If you know what your dream is, the most dangerous place for that dream to be, to live, is inside your mind or inside your Canva account or inside your journal or inside the Notes app on your phone.
And here's why I believe that is the most dangerous place for that dream to live: because you've been audacious enough to, like, claim that dream for yourself already. You've written it down or you've taken some level [00:03:00] of action on it. However, the action you have taken on it is not associated with any sort of risk.
And so when we let these dreams stay in the danger zones, not associated with any risk, they can be perfect. They can be perfect. We haven't put them out there into the world yet. We haven't had to work on our messy first draft. They can be perfect in our Notes app, in our mind, in our Canva account.
Take One Risky Step
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Audra Dinell: But the thing is, if you actually truly have this dream and want to do the thing, you need to take one messy, risky action step.
It doesn't have to be big. You don't have to know the whole plan. But you do have to do something bold, something that makes your [00:04:00] stomach feel a little anxious Here's a tip.
Shorten the Timeline
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Audra Dinell: If you're in that place, I want to challenge you to shorten that timeline. And listen, I am just coming here today being a person who has been in this over and over again.
If you know what the thing is and you're clear on what you wanna do, shorten the timeline. You don't need five years. What can you do in the next year? When we're sitting here in June of 2027, what could you have done on the thing? So I think sometimes we pick these long timelines because, you know, we're trying to be realistic, right?
But when it comes to chasing dreams, when it comes to putting something out in the world, reality has its place. There are finances to consider and seasons of life But that should not be the only thing that has its [00:05:00] place. You are going to want to tap into that bold, audacious part of yourself to get it out there, even if it feels maybe a little unrealistic.
And here's why. Because it's not gonna be perfect. It's gonna be messy. It's gonna get criticized. But you'll never get it out into the world and actually get it into motion if it stays in this perfect zone of in five years or in Canva. Now, here's the thing.
When Clarity Is Missing
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Audra Dinell: You might not know what that thing is. You might feel a stirring and, like, a, a belief that something is coming, but you just don't have it really, really clear, and that's okay.
I think that there's a messy middle to the creative process that sometimes we just have to sit in, and it sucks. I, myself, have had something brewing. You know, you've [00:06:00] followed me listening to the podcast, and that was my messy draft, getting action out into the world before I actually knew where I wanted to go with it.
That was my experiment.
Messy Middle Momentum
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Audra Dinell: But if you don't have clarity on the thing, I do think you have to have patience, and you have to keep the motion going. You have to keep taking next steps, but you also have to release the timeline because until you are clear on what it is that you want to do, you want to put out into the world, who you wanna be, that's part of the process.
Sitting in the mess, taking a step, taking another one, maybe taking a couple steps back because that was the wrong direction, asking questions, experimenting. It's kind of a slug. As someone who really, really likes a clear vision for her life and her vocation, I [00:07:00] get it. It is a slug to be in the messy middle and not have clarity.
But when you get that clarity, gosh, it is your responsibility to take some risky action, to maybe shorten your timeline, to push yourself to, step by step, put a thing out into the world that isn't gonna be perfect, that may be criticized, but that is the dream of your heart.
Regret and Courage
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Audra Dinell: And here's why I think this is so important.
I always think about the quote from The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware. Is it Ware? Is it Ware? I don't know. The quote is, "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life that is true to myself, not the life others expected of me." And I think this is exactly what she's talking about. If you know what you want, you have to go for it.
That doesn't mean it's gonna work out. [00:08:00] That doesn't gonna mean it gets to be your job. Maybe it ends up just being a thing you do because it makes you feel alive, and it's a hobby. But it's your job to try because I don't know about you, but the one feeling I do not want to battle with is regret that I could have avoided.
Do the Thing Today
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Audra Dinell: So this is just a little pep talk, a little midsummer pep talk. We're getting ready to start the second half of 2026. I want to encourage you to go do the thing. Take one action step that feels risky, that feels bold to you, that is associated with one step closer to actually making the thing become reality.
All right, let's do this. Happy second half of 2026
[00:09:00]