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have you ever wondered why you feel
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drained and frustrated when you sit down
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at your computer it might not be the
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volume of your workload it could be your
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digital clutter I'm talking Untitled
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files strewn everywhere hundreds of
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unread emails a to-do list that feels
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never ending in this video I'll show you
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how to hit the reset button on your
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digital
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[Music]
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life now let's get started when do you
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need a reset here here are three
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indicators that your Digital Life is
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ready for a hard reset first visual
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clutter when you look at your digital
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workspace your computer is it messy your
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desktop and your download folders are
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full of random files your notetaking app
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is a burning trash heat your task
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manager your to-do list gives you
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anxiety instead of clarity this is not a
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pleasant environment to work in second a
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lack of clarity at any given moment you
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can't tell what's important right now
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you're not sure what to work on and
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don't know what's coming up next in the
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next hour in the next day in the next
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week that leads to a lot of doubt and
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confusion when it comes to making
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decisions you end up wasting a lot of
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time going in circles again and again
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always second guessing what you should
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be doing third energy drain clutter and
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confusion are painful to the brain and
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eventually you'll develop a kind of
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aversion to it you don't want to look at
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or interact with your digital world
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because it's overwhelming when that
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starts to happen your work work becomes
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a SLO you'd rather do anything else
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which isn't great for your career
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prospects your professional growth or
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your income here's how to do a complete
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digital reset in four steps the first
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two will declutter your workspace and
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the final two steps will set you up for
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Action step number one archive
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everything move the files on your
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desktop or in your downloads folder or
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in your documents folder move them all
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into one giant folder with the name
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archive and today's date the great thing
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about this is it only takes a minute or
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two and you're really not deleting
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anything do the same thing in your cloud
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storage Drive such as Dropbox or Google
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Drive and then do the same thing in your
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note taking app move all those notes
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into one folder titled archive with
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today's date finally do it in your task
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manager I know this might feel like the
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hardest one because every single to do
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feels urgent or important but the truth
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is if everything is equally important
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then nothing is important you have to
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clear the decks and start fresh move all
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your to-dos into the
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archive this shouldn't take more than 5
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to 10 minutes total across all platforms
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just archive and move on step number two
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clear your inboxes let's start with
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email the most straightforward solution
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is to Archive them all and start fresh
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now remember you'll always be able to
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find a certain email again using the
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search function it all remains available
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you might not be comfortable with this
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seemingly radical approach because you
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feel there are still actionable items or
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useful information lingering in your
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email inbox in this case I recommend
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just deciding how far back your emails
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are still actionable that might be a
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week or a month or so and then focus on
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clearing those emails one by one
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everything older than that can go
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straight into the archive bonus points
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if you're taking this opportunity to
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unsubscribe from any newsletters or
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promotions or other emails that aren't
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adding value to your life anymore While
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most people have basically given up and
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surrendered and just let their email
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pile up endlessly I really believe
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there's tremendous value and peace of
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mind in keeping a clean inbox and by the
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way I have another video that teaches
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you my exact system for reaching inbox
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zero consistently and almost
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effortlessly other inboxes that you
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might want to clear are your note taking
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app inbox your messaging app such as
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slack or WhatsApp and your social media
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direct messages take a moment to mark
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all messages as read and remember not
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all messages require a response if
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they're not making your life better they
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need to go step number three create your
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project list now what qualifies as a
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project it's anything that you're
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working on or working toward with a
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concrete outcome that you want to or
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need to get done by a certain date and
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crucially it's something that can't be
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completed in just one sitting otherwise
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it's just a simple to-do the simple Act
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of writing this down will give you
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instant Clarity and reduce your stress I
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promise your project list list is like a
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dashboard of all your current
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commitments everything that's going on
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right now in your life having it front
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and center helps you focus your time and
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energy on the right things at any given
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time I have around 10 to 15 active
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projects that's enough that if I get
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stuck on one I can immediately turn to
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multiple other projects I have going on
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instead of getting completely bogged
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down and losing my momentum this is my
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10-minute challenge for you make a list
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of all the projects every single one
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that you're actively working on right
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[Music]
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now now how should you use your project
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list I keep my task manager my
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notetaking app and my cloud storage
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organized by my active projects that way
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all the information and the files and
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the to-dos that are relevant for a given
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project have a single home if you want
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to maintain an organized digital
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workspace check out my video on the par
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method the p and per stands for PR
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projects by the way I'll teach you my
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simple intuitive system to store and
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find any information you need right when
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you need it step four turn off
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notifications I'm talking incoming
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emails slack messages other app
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notifications none of those should
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interrupt you unless it's critically
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important remember that every time you
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give into a distraction you're actually
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training your brain to be more likely to
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give into the next distraction what I
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recommend doing is setting up designated
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times throughout the day or throughout
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the week to to check your emails your
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instant messages make sure that you are
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the one deciding when it's time to give
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them your attention finally how often
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should you do this reset of your digital
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world I do a version of the reset I
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described every week as part of my
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weekly review it's a quick standardized
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process I follow every Sunday to clear
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all the accumulated information and to
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set priorities for the coming week a
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weekly reset will make sure that you
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don't end up rolling over all the
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digital clutter from one week to the
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next to the next to the next like a
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accumulating snowball check out the blog
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post I'm linking in the video
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description below for a walk through of
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how I do my weekly review you might also
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want to do a more fundamental reset
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about once a year or so or whenever you
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feel like the indicators that I
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discussed earlier in the video Start
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creeping up again if you found this
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helpful you can get more tips like these
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every Tuesday in your email inbox by
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subscribing to our newsletter follow the
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link in the description have you ever
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looked back at the end of the year and
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wondered where did all the time go an
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annual review is one of the most
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powerful ways to not just reflect on the
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past year but to truly figure out what
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matters for the coming year it's a
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chance to identify patterns that are
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holding you back to celebrate your wins
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and most importantly of all to set a
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clear direction for where you want to go
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next I'm incredibly excited to share
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that I am teaching a live comprehensive
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program this December and January
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guiding you through the entire process
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process I've refined for myself for the
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last 15 plus years if you'd like to
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start your new year with Clarity and
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intention and purpose I invite you to
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join us
