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What if you started to believe that progress over perfection was the way you were going to live your life? How would that mindset shift change the way you move through your life? On this episode of The Branded Cowgirl Podcast I had the incredible opportunity to speak with Emily Reuschel who is the ultimate hype woman and can help you accomplish exactly this.

Emily is a mother of 2, living on her husband’s family farm in West Central Illinois. Together, they raise corn, soy beans, some chickens, their kiddos, and their good ol’ farm dog. Professionally, Emily is a former school teacher turned non profit leader and now an entrepreneur. She is deeply passionate about serving rural women and giving them the tools to become everything they want to be and more.

From Education To Farm Wife And Life Coach

Emily found a lot of joy in working with kids and helping them reach potential. But all along she felt like she was missing something. In 2017, she saw a posting for the local YMCA and had a heart to heart moment with herself. On a whim she decided to apply and got the job. She really loved the opportunities and relationships that job brought her and she stayed there for several years. She said it was an eye opening experience for her. Through working at the YMCA she learned so many skills, and realized that there was so much potential in the world for everyone. You just need to know how to find it.

Reuschel got to a point where she felt called to start posting online under the account @raisingreuschel. It was a play on words for women who are raising crops, raising babies, and raising themselves. And in that moment, Emily’s life trajectory took an amazing turn. She started helping women, specifically in rural communities navigate their lives and find find their God given purposes.

Why Rural Women?

Growing up, Emily always thought she lived in a small town but after meeting her husband, she realized her town wasn’t so small after all. He told her that if they got married, they would have to move back to his family farm and Emily was totally on board for the adventure. Now she truly lives in the middle of nowhere and is living the dream. But while living on dirt roads surrounded by corn fields can be a beautiful lifestyle, it’s also a lonely place to be.

Emily knew this from her own personal experiences and also knew that there had to be other women out there who felt the same as her. Rural women are a different breed. They are strong, build tough, but also some of the most tender hearted people you will meet. Reuschel wanted to help these types of women understand the important role they play on the farm/ranch but also be able to channel other passions they have.

Social media has been a huge part of what Emily does and how she is able to create community amongst rural women. When you live in the middle of no where, sometimes your online friends can become your best resources and best partners to walk through life with. Platforms like Instagram helped Emily fall in love with learning the stories of women and helping them sort through the pieces of their lives and give them action steps to move towards something greater.

The #YouDoYou82 Challenge

Emily’s signature challenge, the #YouDoYou82 challenge has been one of her favorite ways to bring rural women together and help them strive towards their potential. It allows a space for women across the country to connect, offer advice, and give support. She decided on the name because statistics show that it takes about 82 days to create a habit. However, the challenge is intended to be a move at your own pace system and you can jump in at any time. It doesn’t have to be new years or a Monday to begin something new!

Women especially tend to hold themselves to a high standard in all aspects of their lives. Whether it be motherhood, their jobs, or their marriages. We as women think we need to get an A+ or else we are failures. This is where Emily really emphasizes the idea of progress over perfection. She encourages women to stand back up after they fail, and do it again. Life is a journey, not an all or nothing. If things get hard thats okay, you can pick it back up and start over again. One baby step at a time.

Most of the women in the challenge group are small town girls, women in Agriculture, and rural wives. If you are looking for some accountability to take the steps towards your goals this challenge is for you. You can join the group / challenge by clicking the link below.

Join the challenge here

Emily’s Tips For Achieving Progress Over Perfection

• Get clear on what you want! Keeping promises to yourself is how to build confidence.

• Take action on the things you want to do. Learn what is best for you and your family. This will make it easier to say no to the things that don’t make you better.

• The things that people say to us that hurt the most is when they are a reflection of our own insecurities. Your chances of avoiding these feelings will get better the more you steps you take to get confident.

How Do You Find Balance In Your Life?

As a farm wife, mom and entrepreneur, Emily is a busy lady. Yet, somehow she manages to find balance in her day to day life, but maybe not how you are thinking. Reuschel says she has a lot of help. Her and her husband’s moms are very involved and help a lot with the kids. She is really intentional about making home time feel like home and work time feel like work. Coming from an education background as a teacher, work would tend to come home with Emily. As she has stepped into this next chapter, she really wanted to focus on work time being work time and mom time being mom time. This has helped her avoid things like mom guilt. Emily says a lot of times we rob ourselves of present moments because we cant stop thinking about other categories of our lives. When we pour into ourselves first, we can pour into others better.

Morning Routines

One of Emily’s key tickets for setting your day up for success is having a solid morning routine. I asked her to elaborate on why she thinks creating a morning system can change your life. At first, Emily said she really had no interest in morning routines. But then she heard someone talk about how the most high achieving people had solid morning routines. Previously she was the “hit the snooze” button kind of person.

Though, after a while she decide to try it as a part of the habit challenge (#YouDoYou82). In the beginning she was not thriving at it. But now it’s her favorite part of the day. Reuschel pops out of bed and grabs a cold brew, a banana, and her journal. She writes 5 pieces of gratitude, 6 habits she is currently working towards and 10 goals or affirmations as if they have already happened.

After journalling, she reads a book related to personal growth without setting any kind of limit on herself. Emily even joked how usually by this point her kids are up and their feet are in her face during this process. But she still does her best to get it done. Progress over perfection.

Resources

Emily’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raisingreuschel/

Join The #YouDoYou82 Challenge: https://www.facebook.com/groups/raisingreuschelyoudoyou82/

BCP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandedcowgirlpodcast/

Sarah’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrssarahelrod/

BCP FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/brandedcowgirlpodcast

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