Episode 24 - What's Another Year - Season Finale

What We Learned

Also available on:

Episode Overview

Season 2 finale! Karina and Maria reflect on an intense, creative, and educational season where real life happened – house purchases, new computers, psychology studies, music releases, and tech crashes. They share what they’re keeping from the season, get honest about what flopped, and give a sneak peek into Season 3. This is the podcast for creative souls building their dreams messily, imperfectly, but persistently and from the heart.

Topics Covered

  • The Power of Community – Why the Bloomsbury Group episode changed everything and the science behind why we need each other (mirror neurons, 50% survival rate increase)
  • The Amber Effect – How the conversation with voice coach Amber McCathy inspired both hosts to sing more and launch creative projects
  • Victory Dance Science – Why celebrating small wins builds momentum for bigger success
  • Mindfulness & Flow – Maria’s upcoming book “The Mindful Songwriter” and creating space for creativity
  • Tiny Experiments – Small steps that lead to big changes (reading, guitar, sketching, Christmas calendar)
  • Workshop Honesty – The flop: 30 people signed up, 3 showed up, and what they learned
  • Season 3 Preview – New guests, new look, and the name change from Ekta to Big Dreams and Little Things Community
  • Real Talk on Balance – How accountability meetings pulled them out of a creative slump this week

Time Stamps

  • 00:00 – Welcome to Season 2 finale
  • 00:19 – Real life happened: Maria’s house, horse & book + Karina’s computer & psychology studies
  • 01:21 – 24 episodes later – proud but tired
  • 02:53 – Community: hands down the most important theme
  • 03:07 – The Bloomsbury Group with Virginia Woolf as inspiration
  • 04:01 – The science: 50% higher survival rate in community
  • 04:30 – Real example: This week’s accountability check-in that saved them
  • 06:11 – Mirror neurons and the Zeigarnic effect
  • 06:34 – The Amber Effect (Episode 20 recap)
  • 08:22 – Audio clip from Amber Mogg Cathey interview
  • 09:52 – Victory Dance science (Episode 21)
  • 10:03 – Plus + plus + plus = success formula
  • 10:32 – Small wins count too
  • 10:46 – Mindfulness & Flow
  • 11:00 – Maria’s book “The Mindful Songwriter” releases before year-end!
  • 11:36 – Creating space for creativity through presence
  • 12:12 – Laughing meditation clip (20 seconds of pure joy)
  • 13:24 – Tiny Experiments segment
  • 14:38 – Maria’s sketching & Karina’s unpretentious Christmas calendar
  • 16:50 – Why it’s important to talk about failures
  • 17:25 – What they learned: free workshops, email overload, Meta struggles
  • 18:39 – Season 3 preview (staying mysterious!)
  • 19:28 – Big announcement: ECtA becomes Big Dreams and Little Things Community
  • 19:51 – New look, new colors, new Instagram coming
  • 20:23 – Thank you & goodbye until January

References & further reading

This Episode

Big Dreams Community

Previous Episodes Referenced

Best Quotes

“Big Dreams and Little Things is for creatives who are building things messily, imperfectly, but persistently and heartfelt.” – Karina”We become who we surround ourselves with. Mirror neurons literally make your brain reflect the people around you.” – Maria
“Is it bad business to admit when things flop? I think we can because we want to be authentic and honest.” – Maria
“Not everything is crumbling. Just the things that aren’t working. We need to do this and this instead.” – Karina (after their accountability check-in)
“Show up. Speak up. Celebrate like a rebel. And don’t forget the victory dance – you deserve it!” – Karina & Maria
“Community is what we want to create. It is what we want to build.” – Maria
“It’s not about being perfect. That’s exactly just our starting scrappy theme, but sometimes it’s really hard to take it on.” – Maria
“You become who you surround yourself with.” – Maria

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in January with Season 3! 🎄✨

Scroll to Top