IAM538- Author Helps Listeners Maximize Their 24 Hours

Meredith Atwood is an author, former attorney, speaker, coach, mom, and podcaster.

Her new book, The Year of No Nonsense: How to Get Over Yourself and On with Your Life is available December 17, 2019 (online, B&N, Target and Wal-Mart).

In her writing, Meredith conveys humor and realness, while encouraging readers to take tangible actions to change their lives—to the best versions of themselves.

Meredith inspires through her podcast, The Same 24 Hours, which aims to help the listener make the most of their 24 Hours. The podcast has over1 million downloads and is a Top 50 on iTunes (Fitness).

Based out of Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and two children, Meredith is originally from Savannah, Georgia.

• CEO Hack: Morning pages/journaling
• CEO Nugget: Move forward
• CEO Defined: Freedom to help people in the way I want to

Website: http://www.swimbikemom.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/swimbikemom
Facebook: https://facebook.com/swimbikemom
Twitter: https://twitter.com/swimbikemom
Podcast: https://www.same24hourspodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/meredithatwood

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello. Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today, I have Meredith Atwood of swimbikemom.com, Meredith, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Meredith Atwood 0:39

Hi, thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

Yeah, no problem. Super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Meredith so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Meredith is an author, former attorney, speaker, coach, mom, and podcaster her new book, The Year of No Nonsense, How to Get Over Yourself and On with Your Life is available on December 17, 2019. It's available online, at Barnes and Noble Target, and Walmart.

In our writing, Meredith conveys humor and realness while encouraging readers to take tangible actions to change their lives to the best version of themselves. Meredith inspires those through her podcasts the same 24 hours, which aims to help the listener make the most of their 24 hours.

The podcast has over a million downloads and it says to have 50 on iTunes Fitness and is based out of Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and two children. Meredith is originally from Savannah, Georgia. Meredith, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Meredith Atwood 1:34

Yes, totally.

Gresham Harkless 1:35

Awesome. Let's do it. So I want to kick everything off and hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business, your podcast, your book, and all the awesome things you're working on?

Meredith Atwood 1:43

Yeah. So when I was a young kid, I wanted to be a writer. And so I majored in English. And then I realized, because someone told me, You're not going to make any money writing for newspapers, and you're going to be dirt poor. And so that sort of freaked me out. And I've forgotten my dream, I put it aside, and I went to law school, like a lot of people do.

And so I have practiced law for almost 13 years. And I realized on the first day of law school that I made a grave error. I knew sitting in that first civil procedure class that this was that I made a mistake, but I stuck it out. I gave it a chance. I tried criminal law, I did real estate, everything.

And I was not a lawyer like I was a great lawyer, but I was not at my core lawyer. So I started blogging about 10 years ago, while I was in my law job, I started doing the sport of triathlon as a 230-pound mom of two litigating attorneys who had no endurance ability whatsoever.

And so I started writing about that. And I just kept writing, because that was where my passion was. So I had this, you know, side hustle. And then I went on to write a book, during my legal profession. And, yeah, I just kept doing the thing that made me happy the whole time.

And I did not leave the legal profession till almost eight years after I started blogging. So two years ago, I leaped to be an official writer, and I have my second book coming out. But along the way, I did some coaching, like I got some coaching certifications for triathlon and, and nutrition and that kind of stuff to, you know, put me on the path that I wanted to be on.

And so it wasn't sudden, but I went back to what I'd liked as a kid, and it was writing and so here I am, writing. Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 3:39

I appreciate that. As a fellow English major, who almost went to law school, I learned I didn't want to law school when I took the LSAT. I learned I felt like the law school didn't want me either based on my score, so yes, but,

Meredith Atwood 3:52

I had too, I had an evil LSAT, like by the skin of my teeth with a flippin' essay.

Gresham Harkless 3:57

I got, I got I think I got a bunch of rejections. But I got into one school and I got a part I got a partial scholarship. And I said, Okay, I don't think this is necessarily for me. But I appreciate hearing that because I've always loved writing too. And I was in major. And I always heard the same thing about like the newspaper industry and all these things that were coming apart.

So it kind of discouraged me from going through. But I appreciate how you said that. You went back to what you did as a kid. And that helped me kind of feel like it sounds like who you were at the core of who you are.

Meredith Atwood 4:27

Yeah, exactly, exactly. I was always a writer. And I think when people say they don't know what they want to do with their lives, like you just have to stop and think what did you like as a kid? What did you like as a teenager? There's something there. It may not. I mean, maybe you liked playing in the dirt.

And perhaps that's not going to make you any money, but maybe you like construction, you know? But I think that's a really simple tool to figure out if you're lost and you don't know which direction to go.

Gresham Harkless 4:55

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny because I did the same thing and I always say whatever you want. Even as a kid you did it because you loved to do it, you didn't do it because you wanted to procedure and do it because you were trying to make a million dollars. You did it just because this is something I'm good at. And I love doing it.

Meredith Atwood 5:08

Exactly, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 5:10

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I know you touched on it a little bit in your podcast. So can you take us through exactly what we can find out on your podcast and your book and all the awesome things you're working on?

Meredith Atwood 5:19

So my podcast is called The Same 24 Hours, meaning that we all have the same 24 hours in our day. But it's what we do in those 24 hours that leads to our greatest health, happiness, and success. And that podcast came out with the idea that I was speaking with someone and, they told me that they would love to help me.

But if they only had 33 hours in the day, and I thought, wait a minute, we all have the same 24 hours. So that's where the title came from. But I like to interview just anyone really with a great story who makes the most of their 24 hours and has some life hacks and tips and tricks on how they do it.

And so I've interviewed anywhere from Tony Hawk to Gretchen Rubin, some big names, but also some you know, people that are just everyday folks like you and I who have a great story. So if you're interested in being a guest, you can always always shout out to me, and we'll see if we can make it happen.

But that's my podcast. And then my new book is the year of no nonsense and it comes out. It'll be out by the time this podcast airs. All the major outlets and that's a book about how to get over yourself and on with your life because we are the biggest roadblocks most of the time to our success. We are the problem.

Gresham Harkless 6:34

Yeah, absolutely. And I don't know if you touched on this in your book. But I feel like a lot of times, if you can kind of at least the first step is recognizing that you are the biggest roadblock. And then you kind of figure out how exactly and what exactly to do to make that happen to reach your goals.

Meredith Atwood 6:47

Exactly. The main theme of the book is opening your eyes and seeing because once you see the truth, even if the truth about yourself is kind of rotten, and you don't like it, once you see the truth, then you can deal with it, and then you have choices.

But I think so many of us are walking around on autopilot or not even seeing the truth. And so that's a big theme of the book opening your eyes and seeing what's making you unhappy and how you can change it.

Gresham Harkless 7:12

Yeah, absolutely. It kind of sounds and definitely, correct me if I'm wrong. It sounds like that. From like a self-awareness standpoint, like even as we were talking about, law school, you have to accept maybe this isn't what you love to do.

Meredith Atwood 7:23

Right.

Gresham Harkless 7:23

But it also kind of sounds like you know, you want to also see maybe opportunities and things that are around that sometimes we miss because our eyes are closed, or we're just zoned in on a day-to-day basis.

Meredith Atwood 7:32

Absolutely. And both of those things. I think now if I went into law school, and that voice said you need to run, I would run you know, I didn't have that self-awareness as a 22-year-old. I have that now.

And so yes, it is about learning to be self-aware and teaching yourself that habit and also opening your eyes to not only the opportunities but the roadblocks because sometimes those obstacles you know, Ryan Holiday, the obstacles the way, that obstacle is the way in when you're on hard times and you're thinking this is the worst thing that could happen to me.

Sometimes it's the best thing because I had some terrible things happen in 2017. And I look back and I'm so grateful. So grateful, because they drove me in a different direction. And that's where I'm at now.

Gresham Harkless 8:16

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I appreciate you for running and reminding us of that. Because I think a lot of times, I always say it's always darkest before dawn. Yeah, times if you understand that those dark times, those really frustrating moments in our lives. Sometimes if we push forward, we go one day one inch further. A lot of times there are great things to come.

Meredith Atwood 8:34

Yeah, absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 8:35

Nice. So I know you touched on it a little bit and in kind of a different way. But I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. It could be for you personally or for everything you're working on you growing, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Meredith Atwood 8:49

So I am very, very real. I do not care about making myself look good. You will learn that if you read my book I have something happened in me about eight years ago and I realized that I had a story that would help people and it would help people learn to do a triathlon at the time, it would help miserable people, learn to move their bodies.

And I just somehow realized I didn't care if I looked dumb. I didn't care if I embarrassed myself by telling my story. It just doesn't matter to me. I mean, I'm human, of course, and I don't want to fall in a public park like that.

I care about that kind of but as far as if I can share something about my past that will help other people in their present. I will do that. That is my secret sauce. I'm I'm as real as I can be. If you ask me a question, I will answer it even if it's an embarrassing answer. And yeah, that's just that's what I decided my mission was.

Gresham Harkless 9:48

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I think it has something and correct me if I am wrong. I'm sure a lot of people tell you this just kind of so hard to kind of do that. So what do you feel kind of helps you to, I guess maintain that road? As in you kind of sound like even maybe not care about all the noise and all the things that people say and can do and things like that, which can sometimes stop us from being our best selves.

Meredith Atwood 10:09

Yeah, I think because I have been at the proverbial rock bottom. I have. I'm four years sober. So I had the darkest before the dawn, I had some really hard times. And I remember being in those really tough times and thinking no one else hurts like this. No one else has, has suffered like this.

No one else was suffering like this when my kids were super little, and I was litigating 60 hours a week and commuting, and I was tuner 50 pounds, and everything hurt. And if someone had just said, Me, too, I know how that feels, or I have been there. That's what drives me.

Because I am speaking to that person from eight years ago, like I when I talk to a crowd, I'm talking to that former version of myself, what did I need to hear what I needed to know, there was hope. And so that drives me, that drives me, because if if someone would have reached out to me 20 years ago, I wouldn't have spent 20 years doing a lot of really dumb stuff. I think.

Gresham Harkless 11:10

No, that helps us so much. I appreciate you for sharing that with us. Because I think, you know, a lot of times, we all go through difficult things. But I think there's for one, you know, to be able to go through those difficult things to get through them. And then to be able to even say, This is how I did it.

And this is my story. no bars, no punches thrown or anything like that, or fill out or anything like that. This is who I am. This is what I went through. And I think it empowers so many other people. Because a lot of times when you are in those dark moments, you feel like you're by yourself, you feel like there's no way out. So to hear that helps out a ton.

Meredith Atwood 11:40

Yeah, yeah.

Gresham Harkless 11:42

Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So these might be some of the hacks that you hear on your podcast. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Meredith Atwood 11:54

Absolutely. So a lot of people will say meditation, and I did meditation, it's okay, it has the benefits, I can see it. But the thing that is been beneficial for me is I do morning pages. So Julia Cameron has probably talked about this in her book, the Artist Way, I think is the title.

But, when you get up in the morning, you write three stream-of-consciousness pages, whatever's on your mind, it can start with your grocery list, and it can finish with childhood rage. I mean, really, you don't know where it's gonna go.

But it's just a stream of consciousness. It's not for posterity, you don't even need to keep it you can throw it out when you're done with it. But I do that every morning. And that has been so beneficial. Because it's a brain dump, I can get out kind of the anxiety.

And it also sometimes there's little gems in there for the day. I'm like, Oh, this was pretty good. I could write an article about this, or that is bad. No one should see that ever. So that is my number one life hack is journaling, for sure.

Gresham Harkless 12:53

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. Especially it might be the English major MA. But I think that I always felt like writing was such a therapeutic thing. And that kind of to make sure that you're doing that regularly. I think sometimes we don't realize how much stuff we have pent up inside of us.

Meredith Atwood 13:07

Right.

Gresham Harkless 13:07

That'd be good ideas, bad ideas in the middle, it is sometimes you know, experiences that we have for good or bad and the ugly that we want to kind of get out. And I think writing at least for me, and it sounds like for you as well, too, as a way to kind of do that.

Meredith Atwood 13:20

Yeah, absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 13:21

Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Meredith Atwood 13:31

Well, I always my mantra is just to keep moving forward. I use that in triathlon, I use it in life, like to the point where if we're driving down the road, and we pass something, and I'm like, Oh, I want to see that. And my husband says, Oh, well go back. I'm like, Ah, I don't know, because I liked the idea of moving forward.

Gresham Harkless 13:50

I truly appreciate that. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote on CEOs on this show. So Meredith has been a CEO mean to you?

Meredith Atwood 14:01

Being a CEO means to me the freedom to help people in the way that I want to, honestly, like just to, you know, a lot of people say it's to run your own business to make your schedule. But even when you work for a company that's helping people, you have parameters, and you have guidelines, and you have, you know, bureaucracy and legal and all that.

When I'm the CEO of my own company and myself, I'm able to help people how they need it, and how I can do it best, you know, according to my standards.

Gresham Harkless 14:33

Yeah, absolutely. And that's what I love, you know, about, you know, having, you know, podcasts and books, and you know, blogs and so many different platforms that we now have to kind of, you know, tell our stories to speak on what we've overcome and things that we're able to do is it gives us that opportunity to lead how we want to lead to be a CEO, how we want to be a CEO, not how we should be a CEO, but that we want to do it and I think a lot of times that helps impact people more than anything else.

Meredith Atwood 14:56

Right.

Gresham Harkless 14:58

Awesome. Well, Meredith Thank you. So, So much for that definition. Thank you so much again for your time. And what I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just see if there's anything additional.

You want to let our readers and listeners know, then, of course, how best they can get hold of you to get a copy of your book and find out all the exciting and fun things you're working on.

Meredith Atwood 15:12

Yeah, absolutely. So the one thing I would say to your audience is just don't ever give up on your dream. My favorite quote is never give up on a dream because of the time it takes to accomplish it. And because the time is going to pass anyway.

And that's Earl Nightingale, and that has been a big guiding force. So even if you say, Oh, this is going to take me 10 years, don't give up on it. Just keep pushing forward. Just keep moving forward. And you can follow me everywhere @swimbikemom, that's Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, my websites swimbikemom.com.

And my new book, The Year of No Nonsense is available everywhere you buy your books. So I look forward to hearing from some of you. I know. I'll get some podcast guests too.

Gresham Harkless 15:12

Definitely, definitely I truly appreciate you and I appreciate that reminder, I think sometimes we forget we think about the pain we don't think as much about the regret. So sometimes that regret is a lot more painful than the pain we sometimes think we feel.

So I definitely appreciate you for that reminder, we will have the links and information in the show notes as well so that people can be podcast guests get a copy or download the podcast. But thank you so much again and I hope you have a phenomenal rest today.

Outro 16:18

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 media tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE And leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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