Biggest Best Life

Four Questions to Find Your Purpose

• Lauren Chapnick • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Lauren Chapnick shares her transformative journey from feeling stuck at 40 to living her purpose as a nurse, speaker, and podcast host. She introduces Biggest Best Life as your permission slip to pursue dreams while providing practical strategies to quiet life's noise and reconnect with your fearless inner seven-year-old self.

• Four questions to simplify decision-making and amplify your inner voice
• How asking "How can this be easy?" creates momentum without overwhelm
• Using "Is it a hell yes?" to eliminate decision fatigue and obligation
• The power of "acting as if" to build confidence and motivation
• Why creating more fun transforms energy and ignites creativity
• Reconnecting with your uninhibited seven-year-old self who knows what you want

Text BESTLIFE to 833-681-6463 for Lauren's weekly dose of motivation straight to your phone. Please follow, review, and share this podcast with someone who needs this spark!


Announcer:

Welcome to Biggest, Best Life, the podcast that dares you to dream big, live louder and step fully into the rock star life you are made for. You're not too late, You're right on time and we're just getting started. Here's your host, Lauren Chapnick. Lauren Chapnick.

Lauren Chapnick:

Hey friends, I'm Lauren Chapnick and this is Biggest Best Life. Think of this show like having coffee with your best friend, that kind of friend who sees you and all the magic that you are, and when you leave the conversation you feel charged up and inspired and ready to take on the world. A little bit about me I'm a registered nurse, a speaker, a mom, a wife, minivan driver, popcorn addict and former Billy Idol lip-syncing champion. I am not famous by any means. I am just living proof that it's never too late to make big changes in your life and to be happy. At 40, I went from overweight, depressed, lonely and just generally feeling like it was too late to go after the things that I wanted. I felt stuck. I felt like I didn't quite know what to do. First To now I feel strong, empowered, healthy and in alignment with my true purpose, and this podcast is how I got there and how I continue every day to live that biggest best life.

Lauren Chapnick:

Every episode, it will either be me or some of my most favorite people in the world, my special guests, who will share their stories and our tips and hacks to make this whole process of change and transformation and purpose and all of these things that you think are for other people, we can make them reality for you, and do it simply and have fun while doing it. Because these things, those big words happiness, change, transformation, they're not just for other people. And this show is your permission slip to say, hey, whatever it is that's been calling to you, that voice that's been whispering to you, those big, crazy, wild dreams, you get to have them. This is your permission slip, and it's also the kick in the butt that you need, because these things are not just going to come knocking at your door. You have to take action. You have to take that first step towards that life that you want.

Lauren Chapnick:

And I know a lot of you out there just don't know exactly what you want, and that's okay. It's totally fine if your future looks foggy and you don't quite know what it is that you want. Maybe you don't know what your passion is. It's enough to say I want more. I want to feel more than what I'm feeling right now. I want to be in alignment with my true purpose. Whatever that first domino is that one decision to say I'm going to make a change. That one domino creates this unstoppable force, this unstoppable energy that leads to one decision and the next, and the next, and the next, and it creates this momentum, this energy, and sets you on a path towards a life that you were always meant to have. But how do we get there? That voice, that voice that we all have inside of us, it's been whispering something to you for years. For me, it was saying to me you are a nurse, go back to school. So at 40, I finally listened and I went back to school and I became a nurse. That's what I do now. But it was never just about going back to school. I wasn't just changing my career, I changed my entire life. I changed my outlook on life. I changed all of my daily habits, because when you change one thing in your life, you're not just changing one thing, you're changing everything.

Lauren Chapnick:

And listening to that inner voice, I call it your inner seven-year-old self because, think about it, your seven-year-old self, she was uninhibited. She didn't care what other people thought. Imagine that. She was just psyched out of her mind to get out of bed in the morning and to go watch Saturday morning cartoons or have those Cocoa Krispies or make up a dance routine. She did not care what other people thought. She didn't think she was too old, too fat, too poor. None of that mattered. She believed she could do anything, become a rock star and the president all in the same day, right?

Lauren Chapnick:

So how do we quiet things down just enough to hear that voice? Because whatever that voice is that's been calling to you and saying go back to school, or go on that dream trip you've been dreaming about, or lose 50 pounds or move cities, that is your inner seven-year-old, and she is exactly right. Whatever that voice is that's been whispering to you, it's time to listen. But maybe you don't even know what that voice is saying or maybe you can't quite trust it yet. The trick is to quiet down everything else so that you can hear what that voice is telling you and you can start taking action towards getting there. And we will get into the how, into all of those things and the neuroscience behind it as we dive deeper into these episodes and have some of my special guests.

Lauren Chapnick:

But I'm going to leave you with four questions, four questions to ask yourself every day that will help you quiet down the noise and hear that inner seven-year-old self so you can start listening. These are four questions that simplify your life and that lead you to answering that question what do I want? Why am I waiting and why do I want it? Number one how can this be easy? Now, easy doesn't mean lazy guys. Easy means you're in control and you are in the driver's seat and you finally get to start living the life that you want.

Lauren Chapnick:

Let me give you an example. If you can just boil things down to their simplest form, that is going to put you on the right path. How can this be easy? I wanted to start exercising, but I hated the word exercise. How many of you hear the word exercise and you start cringing and you don't want to do it. You reject it, but ask yourself how can this be easy? Maybe you throw the word exercise out of your vocabulary and maybe for five minutes a day, you put on your favorite song, maybe something from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. That's what I like to do. But you put on a song for five minutes a day and you simply move. You dance, maybe with your kids, and that leads to wanting to move more, and more and more. How can this be easy? And you can use it with everything you need to make dinner. How can this be easy? Well, maybe tonight you order DoorDash and you make it a salad night, or maybe you put out a grazing board with cheese and fruit and everything that you have in your house. Maybe you don't need to make dinner so complicated that night. How can this be easy? Number two is it a hell yes. If not, it's a no.

Lauren Chapnick:

We are inundated with decisions and decision fatigue every single day, and if it doesn't get you screaming, jumping up and down, hell yes, it's a no, because it is time to start choosing yourself, because when we are filled with these stressful obligations and things that we don't want to do, the noise gets turned up and our inner seven-year-old self gets silenced. Now, I'm not talking about things that you absolutely have to do, like go to work and pay your taxes and things like that, but how many things are you invited to that you could say no and maybe spend some time with yourself that you simply say yes to out of obligation, and even simple decisions every day, like what do you want to wear, or what color nail polish are you going to get, or what do you want to order. If it's not saying, hell yes, I want to do that. Guess what it's a no, and see how your life starts unfolding and see how that inner seven-year-old self starts getting a little bit louder, so that you can hear her.

Lauren Chapnick:

Number three ask yourself who do I want to be? And act as if. This works, with motivation, with confidence. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed out or unmotivated and you simply don't want to do something, try this. Ask yourself what would a successful entrepreneur do? Or fill in the blank. What would a blank blank do? What would a confident mom do? What would a successful businesswoman do, confident mom do? What would a successful businesswoman do? What would an inspired writer do? And start acting as if, because action creates our identity.

Lauren Chapnick:

I use this at work a lot. I'm a nurse, I work in a busy emergency room and I can't tell you how many times I am overwhelmed and pulled in a million different directions. Everybody's having an emergency, every family member needs me. But if I take a split second and I say what would a confident nurse do? And I start acting as if I step into it, I start doing the thing and in seconds, in milliseconds, I become that confident nurse because I took action. So are you feeling overwhelmed at the pile of dishes? What would a fun mom do? Maybe she cranks up the music and gets her kids involved and hands them some towels and they help her dry. I don't know what would a blank blank do? What does that mean to you? What would a fun dad do? What would a confident entrepreneur do? Try it and act as if Pretend. Pretend to be the thing and you will become that thing, the thing and you will become that thing. It's a simple little hack, but it works.

Lauren Chapnick:

Number four how can this be more fun? Life is not going to hand you more fun. You have to create it. Play is something that neuroscience proves over and over again is key in not only our childhood development but our adult brains. When you play, it ignites the neural pathways for creativity and productivity. So what can be more fun in your life? Simple little things like, let's say, your kids leave a wet towel on the floor after you've told them 50 million times not to leave them. Leave a wet towel on the floor after you've told them 50 million times not to leave the wet towel on the floor.

Lauren Chapnick:

Do you start yelling and generally get stressed out about leaving the towel on the floor and throw a hissy fit, or do you flip the script? Maybe you throw the towel on your head and start running around like a superhero and get everybody laughing. Maybe everybody's driving you nuts in the car on a car trip. You pull over and you say, all right, everybody out of the car. We're doing 10 jumping jacks right now and you pull everybody out of their funk and you make the fun happen. What is fun? What do you like to do? That's fun. Or how can you take a stressful moment and flip the script and instead of crying or yelling about something or starting a fight with your spouse over something so stupid because you're running on fumes, take a breath, stop and take everybody out for ice cream or put on a crazy silly song and just start dancing like a total crazy person. Get everybody laughing. When you create the fun in your life, you will change the energy around you and I promise you that seven-year-old self will start speaking up and amplifying and getting louder.

Lauren Chapnick:

So this week, ask yourself the four questions and let me know how it goes. Just to recap number one how can this be easy? Number two is it a hell? Yes, if not, it's a no. Number three ask yourself who do I want to be? What would a blank blank do and act as if? Number four how can this be more fun? And let me know how it goes? Because, guys, what these four questions really do. The point is they cut through the bullshit, they quiet the noise and they allow you to hear that inner seven-year-old and ask the most important question what do I really want and why do I want it and why am I waiting? I'll see you the next time. Please give us a rating and a review. I would appreciate it so much. And if you would like a weekly dose of motivation texted straight to your phone from me, please text the word best life. That's one word to 833-681-6463. Again, that's best life to 833-681-6463. Make today awesome. I'll see you the next time. Bye-bye.

Announcer:

Thanks for tuning in to Biggest Best Life. If today lit a fire in you, follow, review and share it with someone who needs the spark, and remember to text BESTLIFE one word to 833-681-6463 to get Lauren's weekly dose of motivation straight to your phone. Now go out there, live boldly, love wildly and never settle for less than your biggest best life.