001Hi, welcome to the podcast here. My name is Nancy Caner and this is about being a chief dream officer of your own life. And from furthermore, we're going to call it being a CDO of your own life. That you're here to think about what is it that you dream about? What's your purpose and vision? How do you put that together? Gain clarity, have a vision, and then move that forward. In terms of being a co, there's actually four elements to it. It's being a visionary, an organizer, a self-transformer, and a community leader. So, in our first podcast, I gave you a little background as to how this all came about because I do lead CDO training. And the first part of it is having that vision. So, we did a guided visualization. We looked at
002what was your purpose and how did you visualize yourself fulfilling that now at this point in your life. So hopefully you tuned in last time and you did a little work on that because we're in the process of putting together a dream creation plan and it starts with the vision. So the next component would be being an organizer. So in this process of being a chief dream officer, you can think about it. You have a vision how it's going to how is it going to become a reality. So the next piece of it would be that you would create some sort of a plan. But in terms of creating a plan, I always suggest it's important to create like an I am creating statement. We call it a CDO statement before you do that. And
003that will help you look to see what are the appropriate goals and actions as you move forward. So I'm going to read you a little bit about that. And I do have a guest here today, Ann Newberry, who is from Smooth Transitions of Massachusetts. And she is a great organizer. So, we're going to shift from the co component of what we're doing to talk to her about how she helps people organize particularly when they move things, but it's a general it'll be a general program on how do you deal with the concrete stuff of your life, right? And how do you move it from one place to the next correct? Okay, good. Uh, which can apply to a lot of different situations in life. So in terms of having this statement and then I'm going
004to talk about the goals and actions then we will move to what Yan's going to be speaking about. So in our workbook it talks about get organized around your dream. You're creating a dream creation plan and your plan will include a chief dream officer statement plus three goals and three actions for each goal. So this is what is a co statement. It's a future-based statement that would inspire actions consistent with the dream you are creating. For example, my co statement would be, I'm creating leaders who are generating vibrant communities of people who support one another in living their personal and professional dreams. So, that can apply in a lot of different ways. Um, I I am the chief dream officer of the Dream Factory community and we've had several communities in our history, but I
005also work in corporations and I work with teams of people that work together and I actually use this training inside of corporations to help people clarify their vision for themselves, but then also what's the vision for the team or the company. So this this material works very well whether it's personally or professionally in how you apply yourself to having visions and moving things forward. So I'm going to start out by asking an what is your co statement? Well, I happen to bring it with me. That's a good that's a good sign. We work together pretty well here. So, um, what I'm creating is an environment where I can feel purposeful through helping others with my move management business, creating functional pottery, and enjoying activities with friends and family. And through that, I'm incorporating uh workrelated
006things, play related things, and social things. So, I've kind of merged all of that into one vision for the life that I want. And as you mentioned in an earlier conversation, it's like my personal vis vision statement for my life as compared to a company that has a vision statement for how they're going to function. Yeah. Exactly. And I think I like the way because I always say like being a chief dream officer, it's taking on it's a proactive approach to taking on your life, your work, and your world. And I think you incorporated all that in your in your CDO statement nicely. Thank you. Yeah. And and some people want to do a co statement for their life. They might want to do one for their work or their business or how they want
007to be philanthropic and impact the world. So people can use it in a lot of different ways. It's just an or it really is an organizing statement. Yep. And by having it all together, it's easier to find and to move forward with it because it's a statement that encompasses everything. Yeah. You know, I very efficient as I would think you would be because you're very organized. Okay. So you come up with your statement and we have my example and your example and then you move to creating goals and actions which I know you've done like one of the things that we do within the dream factories we have circles and that the workbook that I have has accountability in it. So every month you would meet and how long were you in a circle? you
008were in one for several years, quite a long time. And it was, you know, we we supported each other with different um aspects of our lives. And we helped each other understand that sometimes if you had a month that you didn't meet your goals for the month, it was okay. And other times, uh there would be things you did that you didn't recognize were working towards your goals. And so it was just a way to support each other, encourage each other, and help each other meet our individual uh statements. Yeah. Yeah. And it's kind of nice to have a group of people like it is a lot about community that you have people that know what your statement is and can and know what your vision is and they are there to support you. And
009if you meet on a regular basis, it's great for support and accountability. And it's a safe environment. Yeah. You know, so you could say things that you wouldn't tell anyone else, but you knew it stayed in the circle and everyone was very understanding and sharing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and and it's funny, one of the women in in your uh in your group, in your circle, Anna, um I was talking with her one time when she first joined the Dream Factory, and she was saying that uh she would go out with her friends, and it was always like everybody wanted to get away from the kids and go out with the friends. So, but what did they do when they went to their little gathering is they talk about their kids. And I mean, not that
010it's bad to talk about your kids. It's totally wonderful. But I like where this kind of accountability circle has more of a focus. Like it's about you and it's about what you want to create and that you have a team of people or group of people or community of people who actually know what that is and can cheer you on as you move forward. Mhm. And I think it's important because uh a lot of people focus on helping others and don't take the time to help encourage themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I would say I don't want to I don't want to just pick on women, but I would say women in general are very tied up in they have a lot to take care of. You know, in the sandwich generation, they could be taking
011care of their business. that could be taking care of their kids, their, you know, their nuclear family, and then their parents. So, it can get pretty overwhelming sometimes. So, it's nice to actually have some time where you think about yourself, what's important to you, and how do you move things forward, and what kind of support do you need to have that happen? That's kind of a good question to ask. Well, and that's where the goals come in. Yes. You know, you set up the goals and the corollary of setting up the goals is what support do you think you need in order to meet those goals? Yes. So, the statement points to the goals and then the goals point to the actions and then it also points to the support you need in order to
012stay accountable for what you say you want to do. Correct. It's funny how it all works. It's so organized. I love that. So I just want to say in terms of the goals. So we say smart goals which is pretty common in a lot of cases. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound. And all that means is specific, you know, can't just be airy fury in general. It's got to be targeted at something. If you look at your statement, it pretty much lends itself like do you remember early on? I mean it's hard to say this but do you remember with your statement I mean that statement has passed the test of time wouldn't you say it's it's evolved over time and um I mean initially uh I had some other directions I was trying
013and it didn't work for me and then I tried something else and it didn't work for me and then I finally came up with a statement that kind of truly encompassed what I was aiming towards. Yeah. And once you have the statement, it really helps point you in a direction. Yeah. And once you're pointed in a direction, things sometimes just fall into place or you kind of manifest that you want to go in that direction and uh it helps you focus and organize. Yes. Uh to to get you that 20 times a minute. Yeah. And um so again you know having the goals you know a lot of times people will say oh you know my goal is world peace. Well it's something that is lovely to aspire towards but how do you measure that?
014How do you take steps towards it? Can you as an individual create world peace or do you need a lot of other people helping? So um you know by having the sm requirements it takes it down to a level that you can impact. You know maybe you want to make sure that figure out a way that your family can survive for a week without any arguments and then you've kind of narrowed it down to something that's doable. Uh, a lot of times when I'm working with people helping them sort through their lifetime of treasures, y uh, I tell I equate it to eating an elephant. If you look at your household of treasures, you're going to be like a deer in headlights, frozen going, "Oh my lord, I'm never going to get through all this.
015I can't. I won't. I don't." But if you take it one bite at a time. Yep. And don't look at the big picture beyond knowing where you want to go as an ultimate goal. You get there without realizing all the work that you've done to get there. Yes. Well, also too that um you know this might be a good way to look at this because you work with clients, right? I mean I I don't want to say right like I know you do. I'm not questioning that. And so I would imagine they have a vision that by a certain time they want to create something or they want to have a smaller home of their dreams in a certain location or you know can you give me example of a vision one of your clients
016has. Um sometimes it's more of a requirement than a vision. Well but I I want you to play around with looking at it from a vision. And I get sometimes things come down certain ages, you got to do certain things. But if you're going to look at from as a vision like a purpose, a vision which is a dream, what could it look like? And and I do say to them in a perfect world, what are you looking to accomplish? And um you know, they will say that you know mostly they start off by saying I want everything in my big four-bedroom house to fit in my one-bedroom apartment. Okay. Uh then we have conversations about the fact that no matter how big my shoe horn is, it's not going to fit it and decisions
017have to be made and we need to find the essence of what it is that's important. So, so it could be something like you know if they were going to do a co statement like their vision is to go from here to here. Yes. Right. So it could be in some way that their vision, you know, their co statement could be, I'm creating a livable small space that encompasses all the things that I treasure or the most important things that I treasure, something of that nature. Yeah. Yeah. And most of them that that in encompasses what it is they're trying to do. They're trying to uh live smaller. maintain the same essence of the home. Yeah. Yeah. And at the same time have it be more suitable for their future lifestyle and physical capabilities. Yeah.
018Like I'm I'm creating a space that supports the future vision of what my lifestyle is becoming. Yes. Okay. So that's pretty simple, but that's it. So, if that's what they're doing, you can see that lends itself pretty well to some goals and actions. Like, give me an example of like when one of your clients comes up with that, how would they pick a goal and then what might be some actions that would fit underneath that? Well, I mean, we would start off with the goal of figuring out what furniture they would like to take and apply that to what furniture will fit in the existing space. Okay. So, it could be a goal to find fittable, desirable furniture. Mhm. Uh, another goal would be to uh adjust their mindset because a lot of times when
019they're moving, they're retiring from cooking, okay? They're moving to a location where meals are provided, okay? But they'll still have a kitchen, okay? And so the mindset is think about the lifestyle you're going to have. Are you still going to have your entire family over for Thanksgiving in your one-bedroom apartment? Uh so when you apply the future lifestyle and change the mindset, then it becomes a little easier to figure out what kitchen items you can say goodbye to. Yeah. And what ones you need to hang on to. And this applies to whether it's your good china. Yeah. Your uh you know, eight sets of silverware, your pots and pans, everything. And so when you think about your lifestyle, the goal is to envision your future lifestyle and then properly anoint your home with the things
020you need for that lifestyle. Yeah. So that's so you can even see the visioning comes into it like it's really kind of an interesting puzzle that with what you do you just do that like you know how to do that and you might not think of all those elements but all those like it seems like that's the beginning part like that envisioning part is so that they can actually see I mean once they get over the upset of I've got to move or you know this is a bummer right like it's too bad uh or my kids want me to do this or whatever I'm sure there's a lot of different um upsets and concerns, but once it gets down to like, well, how let's envision the future of what it might look like and
021then from there it's a lot more helpful to get organized. Mhm. And the um you know the steps that you need to take uh really are interesting to look at from the uh CDO perspective. Yeah. So say more about that. Well, so you know, again, coming up with the I am creating, you know, most of my clients are creating a functional living space that still encompasses the things that they value most. Yeah. Uh then from the vision statement comes the smart goals. Yeah. And so, you know, the smart goals include selecting that which is the most important. Okay. Uh being willing to uh say goodbye to things that do not fall into that category. Yeah. uh you know actually uh working one on-one with myself and my staff to make the hard decisions of you
022know this knickknack that chachki how you know having conversations figuring out what the next what the lifestyle going forward will be so that you can look forward to the move rather than dreading the move. Yeah. Yeah. And that's really what the goals help you do. The goals help you look forward with a smile rather than looking backwards all the time. And that's something that, you know, as we get older, it becomes harder and harder to look forward with a smile instead of reminiscing on what was. Yeah. And moving, you know, moving is one of the top three most stressful things a person can do in their life. Yeah. And so to make it happen and enjoy the process as when you were a child and you your family moved it was like oh new friends
023new excite schools new environment new places to play. When you get older, 20s, 30s, 40s, 80s, 90s, it's not so much viewed as a fun adventure and it's viewed more as a chore and a task, but it should be a fun adventure. Well, I think that's why it's great if people work with you because you can make it a fun adventure. Like, you have enough insight into this process to know it's not just about moving furniture and let's get down to task. I mean not like you can't you don't eventually get to the goals and actions which are really important but I think you mentioned earlier that you mentioned mindset like how people are thinking about this and I know a lot of times when I've led the co training um you know I I
024did a brief stint with uh Drake Beam and Mour and they do outsourcing you know what and out I guess outsourcing is what they call it but if people are laid off they get some programming that would help them move forward and they had me come in to lead the co training and it was so interesting that um these were people that worked someplace for 25 30 years and one day somebody just walked in and said clean out your desk it's over and I can't even imagine what that's like you know and I think sometimes like if you're talking about people who are older who have to move it's the same thing like they didn't imagine that was going to happen but after they did some of the envisioning ex we do a guided visualization
025which we did in the last podcast. It was so helpful and people came out of that podcast kind of excited like oh you know one one gentleman was saying I know what I want to do and he'd been like an executive at you know some kind of big company I want to teach junior high math I mean you know in a million years I wouldn't have said that's what you should do but he that's what he saw in the visualization that he wanted to teach and take care of kids and like and then it was like he had this future in front of him of like how could he do that and what would happen? And there were other people that had the same thing where, you know, first it was a bummer and then
026it was like, oh, I could actually do this or I've always wanted to do that. So, I think bringing it back to possibility like it's a possibility or an opportunity makes a huge difference and then people can go through the steps and it sounds like you very organically walk them through. So, on the other side of not like you're going we're going to handle your mindset. You don't say that. But and I think with some of the tools from this, like create a picture, create a vision. And I think that's true in life in general, if you have to do stuff, it never feels like a lot of fun. But if you have a vision of where you're going and you start to see the natural process of how you could get there and then
027you get some support and accountability through and we're going to go through like your private sabotur that always comes up once you have the vision and the goals, you know, we'll go through that. But really, it all ties itself up with that you have a community of support because there's times that things come up and you need and I love that you seem very very compassionate and empathetic that you get this. You've done How long have you been doing your business? 13 years. So 13 years you've been talking to people who might seem to them that they have to move. Mhm. But you're turning it into an you you shift you allow them and you work with them till they see like, "Oh, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, I could
028do it this way." And then, you know, dropping a few things along the way. It's not a bad thing if you see it that way. Yeah. Yeah. And I I tell people, you know, that it's not a lot of decisions. It's keeping goodbye. Yeah. I mean, it's really just a yes or no. Okay. You can have a little I can't decide right now. But as you go through the steps of this, as you start realizing you're getting closer and closer to your goal and you're getting closer and closer to accomplishing your vision, it becomes a little easier to look again at some of the I don't think I can make a decisions. And also, you know, sometimes people revisit the things that they absolutely thought they needed and they say, you know, I don't really
029need this. Yeah. I don't really So, it's it's an evolution. It's a process. You know, that's why with the CDO training and with the um accountability groups, that's why there's goals one month at a time. Yes. And so you set the goals for the year, but then you are accountable one month at a time on mini goals. Yep. And sometimes when you revisit the goal at the end of the month, you say, "Okay, I want to continue doing that." Or you say, "You know, that wasn't exactly what I thought. I need to go back and and think it again." Yep. And so it's, you know, it's part of the organization. It's part of the visualizing. It's part of the accountability. And basically in my business, we provide the accountability to the clients. We hold their
030feet to the fire. And when they stumble and run across a drawer full of love notes from from their spouse from years gone by and need to read every single letter, we can still continue through the rest of the living room to ask, "What about this? Do you need that? Do you have to keep this?" And by the time they're finished that shoe bo box full of letters, they look up and they're like, "Oh, we haven't gotten anything done." And I turn to them and I say, "No, we're done the entire living room." So, it's you are a great partner to have. It's it's because, you know, we're not as attached. And that's the thing when you have circle groups and you have accountability partners, they're not as attached to the direction and the decisions
031you as a person are making. Yeah. And that detachment allows them to guide you with less pain and anxiety than uh even if you had a family member trying to help you, you know, because they have perceived notions about how you're thinking and what you're doing. Yeah. And their own attachment to things. Yes. And so by having a detached accountability partner uh you know they are able to keep you on track and keep you on the path. Yeah. To success. To success. Okay. So I mean we've related this to your business and you're a very good example of how it plays itself out in your business. So you're a natural coach for people about how do you go from vision to reality? you know because that's a step you know people like to talk about
032visions a lot well but that you know till you pick a time until you pick a you know the goals and the actions it doesn't necessarily happen so it's very important to have that bigger picture more of that lofty view that shows up in your co statement that feels really good so if you want to get there you got to go here and that if you have accountability along the way it really helps now I know I've invited you to speak at the Dream Factory Gathering on April 17th. This is 2025. Um, I want you to relate to what we're talking here like what are you going to talk about there that people would want and it's going to be on Zoom plus in person at the Waterview Terrace Apartments. What are you going to
033offer people on that? Like this is more you're move you're older, you're moving. That's the business you run. I'm sure you could move younger people and do the same thing, right? Oh, we we do all ages. You do all ages. Okay. You know, the frequency of people who are moving to a larger living space and actually decluttering and downsizing is a lot lower than the people who are moving to a smaller living space and need to declutter and downsize. Okay, that well that's a good distinction. But we we do all ages. We've done uh people from uh early 20s to I think 97 is the oldest client we've had so far, but there's no limit. Okay, good. Well, miss. Well, good to know. I appreciate you telling me and everybody that, but I want to
034get back to So, you will be speaking. It'll be a general population uh you know I'm sure it'll be mostly women uh of different ages but what would you you know what's the advice you would give to the general population who isn't moving well I mean the focus is the focus is organization and I mean I think the key is you need to have a plan okay you need to have uh actionable able targets to accomplish that plan. Okay? And you need to I tell people even when they're sorting, I tell them, you know, you need to remember your organizational plan. Okay? If you're going to put dots on things you want to keep, then write it down somewhere because uh I learned early on, I don't even know how young I was when it
035was first driven home to me. If it's not written, it's not real. Okay? So, write it down. Make sure your plan is something you can go back to if you forget it. If you have a certain way, you're going to organize, you're going to put things in piles, you're going to put labels on things, you're going to uh have bags or buckets, whatever it is, whether it's mental or physical, you need to know what each bag or bucket or compartmentalized item. You need to know the identity of each compartment. If you forget halfway along the way, then you've kind of undone all the good work you've done so far. Yeah. So, that's why it's important to write it down and be consistent. And those are kind of the keys on organization. Uh, and find someone
036who is not emotionally tied to the project you're working on who can be a sounding board. Okay. What is what is one of your bigger challenges that you've met with people who are trying to organize? Any thoughts on that? Uh there are some people who believe they thrive on chaos. Okay. And um you know organized chaos is a thing. And so if you thrive, if you think you thrive on chaos, but you can organize your chaos into those piles that are written down so you know what those piles are, it's okay. Less is more. Okay. Um but that's one of the challenges is just getting past the again it's mindset. Get getting past the mindset of um you know, do I really want to do this? Do I really want to be organized? Okay. And
037uh and the flip of that is the attitude of I can do it on my own. We all need help doing everything. I mean it you don't need someone holding your hand and telling you how to do it. But the key is there's a difference between guiding and telling. Okay. And um one of the big issues I have is a lot of times when I'm working with families, the families the the children will come to me and say, you know, how did you get mom or dad to do that and to move forward? We've been struggling with that. And it doesn't matter whether it's a filing cabinet or a china cabinet or a uh kitchen cabinet or someone's uh plan for the future. You know, we haven't been able to get them to approach that
038and deal with that and make the decisions we think they should make. and they've already highlighted the key issues in that because they're not listening to what the individual or the couple wants. They're imposing their views and their values. Yeah. And so you need someone who can be a sounding board and be an assistant and be a guide who is not going to tell you what to do but is going to ask you what you think you might need to do. Okay. And to guide you along the way. And it seems like getting back to the plan would be really important. like when you see what might you need to do, you can reference it off of the plan or the vision or however you phrase it, you know, or the co statement or, you
039know, people don't all have to do co statements. I understand, but there's some essence in that that's really helpful. So when you ask that question, they have something to reference that off of. And I I use a lot of analogies, but I love analogies. But um another analogy I was told ages ago is, you know, this whole process is like trying to get from Massachusetts to Florida, if you use a map and you map out your path, you're more likely to get there than to just hop in the car and say, I'm going to aim south. And so this whole process, the whole CDO process and uh setting the goals and everything else is basically your map. You know where you're going. You're mapping out how to get there. And yeah, you can take some
040sightseeing detours along the way, but you'll still eventually get there. Yeah. without having that map, the probability of you arriving there is much much slimmer. Yeah, I would totally agree. And I liked what you said before when you're in the circle sometimes, you know, when you go monthly and you look at your goals and sometimes you say that goal is not quite right, you know, and then you can change it. It's not like everything's etched in stone and you set it and you have to do it. You know, it really is about keep mapping to the plan and keep looking to see what are what are the best possible goals. But at least when you set goals, it gets you on the map like you've written something down and you're on the map. You're on
041the road. So, it it kind of helps and like, oh well, I don't really want to go there. I think this is a straighter location. I just checked Google and they said this. I think I'm gonna go this way. That's totally fine. But goals and actions keep you on the map. They keep you on the road, on the map, or however you want to say it. Like you've got a logical plan. Yeah. And if you if you want to keep to your navigation Yeah. We've got the philosophy. You know, you'll notice when you're using your navigation system, when you make a turn different than the navigation system thinks you want, it reroutes you to ultimately keep getting you to your final goal. Yes. And so that's the point. You can change your goal or you
042can change your route. Y um but if you're looking at it, if it's written, if it's uh tangible, yeah, you're able to adjust and know what the consequences are of any decision you make. That sounds fantastic. But that's good. You put it into a logical plan and then you get support around following that plan. Yeah. And it doesn't matter whether you're talking about moving to a smaller living space, right? Or trying to create a new business after you've been laid off. Yeah. Or uh you know, designing a piece of artwork. You know, you still have a destination and a path to take. Yeah. And it's all and I keep reminding myself like and it's tied into a bigger vision, you know. So it isn't just goals and actions, but it's tied into a bigger vision
043that's inspiring and something you truly want. I think it's great. So I think you've given some really good ideas. I mean, with the podcast, I I think the whole point of it is I do want people to map through what the CDO training looks like in reality. So, it's not just a concept, but it gives you some ideas of how you can utilize it. And then, you know, that I wasn't planning on necessarily having a guest that's going to speak at a gathering, but we do have one on April 17th. And so, I feel like I would imagine when people come to that and we will get a, you know, we will have some sort of print out about that. And with the podcast, I am going to put them on the website for Caner
044Consulting that what do you think people will get for will if they show up for that whether it's on Zoom or in person? Is there one last thing you want to say about what people will walk away with from participating in that? Well, hopefully they'll walk away with being a little more organized. Okay. And some tips on how to get there. Okay, great. I think that sounds wonderful. I mean, Ann, I think you've really demonstrated the power of what you do and how you do it. It's important and we all need to get more organized in a lot of areas, but I love that you have a very concrete business that serves uh, you know, serves in a particular way and it's such I love to see somebody who really loves what they do because
045I know you do and who's really good at what they do. So, I really appreciate your time today. Oh, thank you. and I appreciate you inviting me to talk. Yeah. Well, we've had this good relationship for a long time and uh it's nice to have that mutual appreciation. So, thank you for being here today. If people are interested in moving smooth move transitions of Massachusetts and Ann Newberry would be a great opportunity for you. I'm Nancy Caner and I'm the one who developed the co training of what we're talking about today. And as always, really what I hope for you is that you live your dreams, and I'm here to help you do that. Thank you so much.