13. Small Steps, Big Changes
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Hello and welcome. Thank you so much for joining me today for another episode of the Money Clarity Podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey Ciarrocca—YNAB Certified Coach, Certified Money Coach, and the owner of The Exuberant Elephant. I'm so glad that you are joining me here today.
Today's episode is going to be a little more off the cuff because I'm recording this off the top of my head. I have just a few bullet notes prepared because I really just want to get this out of my head and out as an episode for you.
So, I'll start with a little backstory. I just got back from Orlando, Florida, where I was attending a podcasting conference. Yes, a conference for podcasting! So, if you've been on this podcast journey with me for any amount of time, you might know that I've only had this podcast since October—October of 2025. And it is currently January of 2026.
I didn't even used to listen to podcasts a few years ago. I really was trying to figure out what the heck all the hype was about. Why does everyone and their mother have a podcast, and why do so many people listen to them? So, not only did I not even use to listen to them that much or at all, I have since obviously started to listen to them, but I never thought I would have my own. But here I am now, four months in.
Right? That was just a few months ago that I started my podcast, and now I just got back from a podcasting conference. My whole point about this is: I want you to think about where you could be in just a few months with a particular goal that you are working on or you're looking to achieve.
And if you're listening to this, it's likely because you have some money goals, right? Maybe you are looking to start a budget; you know you need to start tracking expenses. Maybe you know you have more money going out than is coming in. You're making more money than you've ever made in your life, but you have nothing to show for it.
So, I want you to take a minute and just think about it: if you started taking steps today, where could you be in three months' time? And I want you to think about just the next step. This is something I tell my clients all the time: don't think about the next 47 steps. Think about the next one.
What is one thing you can start doing today to make progress with your situation? Maybe it's going back and listening to some more episodes of this podcast. Maybe it's downloading some of the free resources I have on my website. Maybe you sign up for a free trial of YNAB to start tracking your expenses. Maybe you decide you're ready to jump in and join my membership. Whatever it is, what is one thing you can start doing today to start making progress?
I do also want to caveat this by saying that, unfortunately, we're not going to solve all of your money issues in just three months. This is another thing I tell clients all the time: you didn't get here overnight. Wherever "here" is, you didn't get here overnight, and you aren't going to get out of it overnight, either. It will take time. It is a process, and you do have to be a little patient, but you can start making progress.
The other piece of that is, unfortunately, money is not really a thing that you can just check a box off and say, "Yep, check. I'm done with my money stuff," right? Unfortunately, money is always going to be part of your life, and you will likely always be uncovering new layers to your money mindset and new priorities in your budget. Money is always going to be around you.
So again, it's not one of those things we're ever going to just be able to check off a box and say we're done. It's always evolving. I'm not saying that to discourage you in any way, but again, we're not going to solve all the problems, all of the issues, all of the things in just a couple of months, but you can get started.
So think about it again: what is one thing you can start doing today to start moving yourself towards your Greatest Life? Maybe it's starting to define that Greatest Life. That is actually one of the very first exercises that I have my clients go through, and one that we recently just went through in the membership, is letting yourself dream a little bit.
It's not uncommon—I've found that we don't let ourselves dream as big as we quite could, especially women. We find that we sort of limit ourselves; we limit what our dreams could be or should be, right? We play small. So, I don't want you to play small. I want you to dream. Dream big! Define your Greatest Life. What are the biggest, wildest dreams that you have that you could make a reality? What if those actually happened? What would life be like?
Again, that's one of the first things that I have clients work on. I have a workbook that can help you with that called Align Your Money with Your Goals and Dreams. It really helps you get clarity on where you're going so that it's easier to create that roadmap to help you get there.
All right, so that's kind of the basics for today. I just wanted to keep this short and sweet, but it really just hit me when I was in Florida how wild it was that I was even there—that three months before, I didn't even have a podcast. And then there I was in the middle of this conference in Florida for podcasting, and I just thought it was pretty cool. Just pretty cool how your life can change so quickly in just a short amount of time. In this case, I didn't necessarily even intend to make this happen; my intention was just to start the podcast. But you never know where life is going to lead you.
So, my challenge for you today: pick one thing. Pick that one thing that will start moving you towards your greatest financial life. Again, it could be just listening to a few more podcast episodes, downloading a resource, or signing up for that YNAB trial (affiliate link). Come on and join me in my Skool membership—that would be going all in—but take that step. Commit to yourself to do something today to move yourself forward.
Because remember, your biggest, wildest dreams are within reach. So, let's go make some money moves so that you, too, can start to experience financial freedom. I will talk to you guys on the next episode.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Align Your Money Workbook: https://www.theexuberantelephant.com/align
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DISCLOSURES
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YNAB Disclosure: I am a YNAB Certified Budgeting Coach, which means that I have been trained to coach people on using YNAB software and the YNAB budgeting method. I have met select requirements of You Need a Budget LLC in order to receive this certification, which means that I have the ability to competently coach YNAB to others. I am not an employee of YNAB, and all non-YNAB related opinions and recommendations are my own. My views do not reflect the views of YNAB and its employees or affiliates.
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