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“The best way to change life on Earth is to change the way we start.” In this episode, Nick speaks with Anne Wallen to dive into the intricate relationship between maternal health, psychological preparation for parenting, and the impact of childhood trauma on parenting styles. Anne shares her personal journey as a maternal health professional and mother of six, emphasizing the importance of meeting a baby’s needs and the psychological aspects of parenting. What to listen for: Maternal health is crucial for every human being The psychological preparation for parenting is as important as physical preparation Trauma from childhood can affect parenting styles and decisions Meeting a baby’s needs is essential for their psychological development Self-awareness is key to breaking generational trauma cycles Understanding the impact of trauma can help in parenting “Unhealed wounds don't disappear when you become a parent; they show up.” Parenting activates old patterns you didn't even know were still there Triggers often come from your past, not your child's behavior Awareness gives you a pause between reaction and response Healing yourself reduces the chance of repeating the same cycles “Safety is the foundation of healthy development.” Feeling safe shapes the brain, nervous system, and emotional regulation. Consistent responsiveness teaches a child that they matter Emotional safety supports curiosity, confidence, and resilience A regulated parent creates a regulated environment About Anne Wallen Anne is a respected figure in women's health with over 30 years of experience and is a leading voice on global change in maternity care – particularly for those at greatest risk. She continues to educate and empower birth professionals in more than 20 countries, contributes to a variety of curricula, and shapes the future of maternal health through her impactful role as a speaker and mentor. Anne is the Director and co-founder of MaternityWise International, and her legacy lies in inspiring generational changes around and elevating women’s healthcare worldwide. https://www.maternitywise.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-wallen-08478035/ https://www.instagram.com/maternitywise/ Resources: Interested in starting your own podcast or need help with one you already have? https://themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com/podcasting-services/ Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on iTunes and give us a 5-Star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindset-and-self-mastery-show/id1604262089 Listen to other episodes here: https://themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com/ Watch Clips and highlights: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk1tCM7KTe3hrq_-UAa6GHA Guest Inquiries right here: podcasts@themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com Your Friends at “The Mindset & Self-Mastery Show” Click Here To View The Episode Transcript Nick McGowan (00:00.91)Hello and welcome to the Mindset and Self Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. Today on the show we have Anne Wellen. Anne, how you doing today? I’m good. I’m really excited to get into this. I think this is going to be a different conversation than what we typically have, but we were just talking and talking and at one point you’re like, you’re not recording? I’m like, no, let’s start this now. Anne Wallen (00:10.602)I’m good, how are you? Nick McGowan (00:25.614)So this will be great. And why don’t you kick us off? Tell us what you do for a living and what’s one thing most people don’t know about you that’s maybe a little odd or bizarre. Anne Wallen (00:34.382)Okay, well, I am the director of Maternity Wise International, which what we do is we train doulas and childbirth educators and lactation support people. I’ve been doing this for 23, 24 years now, and it’s pretty much my life. I love maternal health. It’s so, important to every human on this planet. And maybe the… An interesting factoid about me is that I have six kids. A lot of people, when you tell them you have six kids, they’re like, my gosh. And yes, I birthed them all. But five of them are adults. I have a little nine-year-old as well. She was a surprise, like the best kind of surprise. But yeah, so my six kids and yes, that’s really the main reason why I got into the work that I got into when I had my first at 17. and didn’t feel like I could be the mom that she deserved, loved her so, so, so much. And I had some family friends that I grew up with who actually babysat me who had been struggling with fertility issues. And so I chose to let them adopt her. And we have had an amazing, beautiful extended family relationship. And she recently gave birth to her first daughter just this summer. So I am officially a grandma in addition to all the other things that I do, but Yeah, that’s a little factoid that most people don’t know. But she’s part of the reason she’s the main reason why I became a mental health professional or a maternal health professional. And a lot of the way things have gone through my life, not just how I was raised, but experiences thereafter have gotten me very interested in mental health. And so I like to kind of create this intersection between the both worlds. And I look at things from a very psychological perspective. So this is This is gonna be a fun one. Nick McGowan (02:29.229)Yeah, I think everything ties back into that. It’s not even just a physical thing. Like I even said to you, somebody has a baby and they go home and how their partner reacts to whatever’s going on or the chaos or whatever the thing is, how does that then tie into the baby and how does the baby move throughout life? Even with you having a kid at 17, you are a child at 17. Though I’m sure we can both think back to 17 years old and thinking I’m grown ass adult and I can do all the things in the world, but you are not. You’re a child. Anne Wallen (02:50.412)Hmm. Nick McGowan (02:59.039)And the fact that you had somebody that you could hand the baby over to that you knew, you trusted, and you were able to have a relationship, it sounds like that could almost be like an ABC sitcom, you know what I mean? Anne Wallen (03:05.325)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (03:13.356)Yeah, well, I mean, my life is, I always joke that, like, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But I always joke that, you know, Hallmark probably wouldn’t agree to make a movie because my life is so far-fetched. But yes, that’s, that was such a, such a blessing because I really knew that I was not going to be able to do what she needed as far as mothering. And I’ve, you know, hadn’t even finished high school yet. And my wonderful, wonderful and she was my next door neighbor growing up. And I just knew that they were the right people to take care of her and they raised her and she’s an amazing human being. And it’s just really wonderful to have this open relationship at this point, especially, you know, now that she’s having babies of her own. it was really cool too during COVID. She took one of my doula trainings because she was going to be a doula for a friend of hers. So Just a really cool, you know, like sometimes things just come full circle and you just, little blessings, little surprises. So. Nick McGowan (04:22.764)And you wouldn’t have been able to script that. Like, I love when that stuff happens in life where it’s like, I’m gonna have a baby, hand it over to my neighbor, because I love them. And then years later, like, really? Somebody would be like, that’s crazy. Get out of my office, you know? Anne Wallen (04:24.863)No! Anne Wallen (04:37.355)Yeah, well, I I knew that I didn’t, I knew that I probably wouldn’t be okay with just never knowing. know, some moms, and I’ve supported moms as their doula through giving their baby away. I’ve supported adopting families as well. it’s, I am really, really fortunate because I don’t think that most people could go through that experience and it would be, I mean, Don’t get me wrong, it was heartbreaking. It’s still heartbreaking that I wasn’t able to raise her myself. I mean, I’ve had five other kids since then and I know what it is to be a mom and I know what things I’ve missed out on. But being able to have an open adoption is really, really something special and I know some people don’t have that option. And so to be able to give your baby to someone that you think that you can trust and then hope that they’re doing what you would want them to do. That’s a whole level of, yeah, that’s tough, that’s hard. So, yeah. Nick McGowan (05:43.52)could only imagine. I have no idea what that would be like. I don’t have kids, not gonna have kids. And I couldn’t imagine what that’s like just handing a child over. I’ve talked to different people that have had either abortions or they’ve adopted, they’ve handed kids off to be adopted and then just haven’t ever talked to them again or people that have had some kid that are like, hey, by the way, about 30 years ago, you and my mom on a beach. And here we are, we’re like, you and my mom at a party or whatever. It’s like, but I, one of the big reason why I wanted to have you on is to be able to talk about how the psychology of that ties into not just people that have kids, but people that were kids. Cause even your emails back in the conversations, you were like, yeah, everybody was born. And then what we do from there and how that all ties into it. So why don’t, why don’t you kind of get us started off with like, not only what you see with, people that are having kids. but also the people that are concerned about having children and what that ties into just the rest of life. Anne Wallen (06:53.121)Well, kind of as we were talking about before we started recording, getting ready for having a baby, well, having a baby, you really need to put in the work, you need to prepare. And it’s not just about eating the right foods or avoiding the wrong foods and getting enough water and whatever else. There’s a lot of psychological preparation that people need to do. And we all walk around with our own traumas. We all walk around with our own disappointments and wounds. you’re gonna carry that into your parenting. And if there is one situation that you’re gonna find yourself in as kind of just this automatic robot, it’s as a parent. You don’t realize all these scripts and all this just unprepared, you know, in the moment reactions that you’re going to have to your own child until you’re there. And then you’re like, Nick McGowan (07:26.218)Hmm. Anne Wallen (07:52.961)I sound just like my mom or my dad used to say that and I still sometimes even you know I’m on kid number six at this point she’s nine and I still will say things you know two wrongs don’t make her right or whatever little sayings that you grow up with and I realize wow I got that from this scenario or I learned that during this moment when I got in trouble or whatever and it can it can really make a difference Nick McGowan (07:54.515)Ha ha. Anne Wallen (08:22.669)being aware and intentional with your parenting. And when I say aware, I just mean if you’ve got wounds or if you’ve got trauma or if your parents were abusive, if there was something else going on, you know, in those immediate, the first weeks, months of your life, it is really, really important to meet that baby’s needs immediately or as quickly as possible, right? So, There are things like crying it out. There are things like scheduled feeds. And they’re actually, we’re not just talking about a physical experience that this baby’s going through. It’s a psychological experience. And so we can get deeper into that if you want to, but a lot of people, they’ll hear from their parents when they become parents, they’ll hear things like, put the baby down, don’t spoil that baby. Or, they should be sleeping all night and they should be doing this or they should be doing that. You know, we let that baby cry it out. We gave you formula. You turned out fine. Whatever it is, right? Whatever this thing is that might be the response to whatever the parents are wanting to do. You know, the grandparents and well-meaning aunts and uncles, they’ll have some retort usually, right? And advice from your elders is always helpful. And having, just having elders around to… support your efforts is beautiful and helpful, but sometimes they don’t know what’s best for your baby. And the only person who really knows what’s best for the baby is the parent, especially the parent who’s bonded to the baby. Usually that’s the mom when they’re really, really small. And that’s usually because there’s breastfeeding going on or whatever it is, the main caretaking duties usually falls to the mother. So if that mother is well attuned to the baby, baby’s getting their needs met, this is teaching the baby that they can trust, right? It’s teaching the baby about relationships. It’s teaching the baby that I’m valuable. I am worth listening to. I am protected. I’m safe. All these different things, right? If you’ve got a baby who is routinely put down after, you fed for 15 minutes, now we put you down. You cry? Too bad, baby. We read the book that said, Anne Wallen (10:47.18)put you down, right? Or we heard from grandpa that said put you down, whatever it is. That baby crying so desperately, that’s their only way to communicate that they have a need. So if they’re crying so desperately, I’m still hungry, I’m cold, I just want to be held, I’m scared, I’m alone, whatever it is, I have gas pains, whatever it is, they’re trying to communicate that they have a need. And if we ignore that, if we say, no, I’m going to spoil the child if I pick them up again. This is programming their brain, right? This is programming their mind to say, no matter how hard I cry, I’m going to be ignored. What does that, for you, Nick, what does that translate to? What does that, what would that tell you? Nick McGowan (11:17.928)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (11:31.148)Trauma as a little kid, you’re just instantly, you’re shoved to the side it feels. And that’s, I think that’s an interesting thing to be able to point out, because look, babies are not gonna listen to this podcast. They will when they get older, but like they’re not listening right now. In fact, none of these episodes are for children at all, primarily because of my mouth at times, I’m sure. But the parents, or the new parents, or the people that are thinking about having kids. Anne Wallen (11:34.102)Yeah. Nick McGowan (11:58.088)or the people that feel like they have to have kids because the system tells them, their family system, you have to, which that’s another thing that ties into the psychology of it. Like if somebody says, you, hey, you have to have a kid because you have to keep our lineage going. You have to keep our last name going. You have to do this. You have to do that. okay. And then they go and have the kid and then put everything onto that kid or there’s already some pain that goes along with it. I think the big thing you pointed out that stood out to me and especially for the show, Anne Wallen (12:01.015)Mm. Anne Wallen (12:14.614)Hmm. Nick McGowan (12:27.61)is the work that has to be done before that. I’ve talked to different people that have had kids and they’re like, hey, we planned. We did all these things. We read all these books. We then got pregnant when we wanted to and shit was still crazy because they’re parents and like life and people and like things happen. And then there are people that just accidentally had a child and you know, it’s all, it doesn’t matter if you plan it or not plan it, it seems, but going into a big situation of having a child and Anne Wallen (12:30.572)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (12:57.552)sticking it through for at least 18 years or so, it doesn’t seem to me like a lot of people really think about the work they need to do until like after the fact. Like I met with somebody recently who’s got a young kid and he was offered to go on tour with some band and he was like, I can’t because I am attached and I can’t leave my child. And I can see that he’s such a good dad. But he had said to me, like, things changed as soon as I had the kid, as soon as the kid came into my life. And I hear that from a lot of different people. Like as soon as this happened, then I changed. I stopped smoking or I stopped doing this or I started doing more of whatever it was. And that’s great. But what about the deeper work that’s unseen? Like the trauma that comes from your parents or your parents’ parents or the things that happened that you were a kid that was just crying because you wanted to be held and your parents are like, I can’t. Shut up in there. How does that then tie into we as people that could potentially then have kids and not see that stuff needs to be worked on? Anne Wallen (13:54.688)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (14:05.161)Yeah, so having a baby is a great motivator for lifestyle changes, right? So if you are, if you have unhealthy habits, having your baby might make you think about your mortality and how, you need to eat better or stop smoking or whatever it is so that you can live longer so you can be there for your child. When you are going through pregnancy, even, you know, no matter what the family dynamic, mom, mom, mom, dad, whatever you’ve got going on. both partners, or even if you’ve got a single mom going on, the person who is in the relationship thinking about when this baby gets here, what are we gonna do? The kind of deeper work that they really need to be doing includes psychological preparation for just how they feel about themselves, number one, just simply because whether they feel worthy, whether they feel rejected by their parents, if there’s any kind of abandonment issues, Which abandonment issues start with, you know, crying it out in the crib? We, let me go, can I get a little sciency with you for just a second on that? So, crying it out, they’ve actually done brain scans and they see that crying it out creates a change in the brain structure. So our frontal lobe is the solutions, you know, forward thinking we call it, right? The creative, ambitious forebrain. The hindbrain is the survival primal, Nick McGowan (15:10.31)Please. Anne Wallen (15:30.955)aggressive, it’s the hunter-gatherer brain. And when you have a baby who is, who their needs are met consistently, their forebrain grows and their hindbrain does not grow. Not that it doesn’t grow, but it doesn’t, the balance is more forward-thinker, right? A baby who is left to cry it out, a baby whose needs are not met consistently. And that’s this, we’re not talking about a baby who has like just a crying spell and we put the baby down. for safety’s sake, you know, and we walk away so could take a breath and then we come back, you know, we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about a routinely left to cry baby. That hind brain actually grows and the forebrain can shrink. So now you’ve got a kid who’s got the more aggressive, primal survival skills, more violence prone, more prone to, you know, ADD and some other issues that are, you know, really all about them feeling that they need to survive, right? It’s just such primal, instinctual behavior. So now you have a kid who physically, chemically is growing up with this need to survive, this like fear, right? It’s like I’m on alert, I’m hypervigilant all the time. Now you make them a parent, right? They go through life and they probably have Nick McGowan (16:55.877)Hmph. Anne Wallen (16:58.187)plenty of issues, right, because of that hypervigilance, because of that, you know, fear that’s kind of like their root chakras in like a high alert mode all the time. So you get into this parenting situation, you’ve got a baby coming, right? You need to be able to say, I’m okay, I can advocate for my needs, I can prepare for the birth experience itself, because the birth experience could be traumatizing. And then, how am gonna care for this baby once it’s out, knowing that, or subconsciously, knowing that they were treated with a neglectful-ish, not that parents always are neglectful intentionally, but they don’t always know that the baby is just trying to communicate. And there’s a lot of, we’re not gonna go religion, but there’s a lot of religious. Nick McGowan (17:47.951)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (17:54.09)books out there on parenting that talk about babies, you know, being manipulators and things like that. You got to train them to be good, right? Which is ridiculous. anyway, that in itself is traumatizing just to just to read that if I was a, know. Yes. Yeah. Nick McGowan (18:09.252)Yeah, basically calling your baby a little demon. Don’t you do it little demon. It’s like, I just want some love. I don’t understand. Anne Wallen (18:17.267)Honestly, and there are books out there that have caused babies to become really, really, really sick and even pass away because they’re telling parents, like, you need to have this regimented feeding schedule and you shouldn’t be holding your baby, etc. And, you know, the abandonment issue is huge in our culture. If you go to other places in the world, you’re not going to see people with abandonment issues quite like you do in America. But in America, we have the Juvenile Manufacturing Association who really, really promoted getting babies out of your bed and using all these furniture pieces, right, for baby swings and cribs and, you know, bouncy seats and all these things that are not the mother, not the parent. And the only thing that a really a baby wants when they come out is that relationship. They are looking for a face when they come out. They’re looking for a face and if they don’t get a face to connect to, they’re three months behind in their developmental milestones on average. So the face, the connection with another human being is so important. It’s so important just to their brain development. It’s important to their psychological development. And it’s really important for the parents’ development too because when you create this bond, There’s something in you that softens. And even if you’ve had a ton of trauma, it’s like this little, I don’t know, it’s like this little knowing wakes up inside of you. And you just know, this instinct just shows up and kind of helps guide you in how to meet the baby’s needs in a way that’s healthy and appropriate for the baby. And a lot of times when you look at and you study mom-baby dyads, there’s this, unspoken language between them, right? It happens during sleep. Dr. James McKenna wrote a bunch of different studies over the last 20 to 30 years on watching moms and babies sleep. And when babies, know, vitals go too low, mom stirs and sometimes they even wake up and touch the baby and the baby perks back up again. It’s very SIDS preventive, you know? So like, Nick McGowan (20:41.197)Hmm. Anne Wallen (20:42.58)there’s these things that we have these superpower abilities to connect with other human beings and we don’t even realize it. And the thing that oftentimes gets in the way of that is trauma, other people’s well-meaning but bad advice. And how do we like get ready for all of that? So that’s where pregnancy, thank goodness we have nine months. to get ready for when the baby comes, right? We have nine months to work through our core hurts and figure out how did our parents’ parenting style affect us? And do we want to repeat that or do we want to have a different parenting style, right? And what is best for a baby? And a lot of times, you know, when you just read mainstream information, you know, there’s some real… Nick McGowan (21:10.945)Hahaha Anne Wallen (21:37.873)Sorry, Nick, I know you’re a man, but there are some masculine solutions or frameworks for very feminine processes and that’s not always the best way to go, right? And you can say your baby needs to eat every three hours. We wanna keep baby alive, right? So we’re gonna make sure baby eats every three hours. But what if baby’s hungry before that? You can’t make them wait. Hunger is one of those things that psychologically, if you are left to be hungry, Nick McGowan (21:48.419)Does it make sense? Anne Wallen (22:08.154)It actually causes so much stress on the body. Adrenaline goes up, cortisol goes up, like all these things, chemical reactions that really are trauma reactions. If you look at it that way, they happen in the body when you’re left to be hungry. So just something as simple as the baby needs to be fed can cause lifelong impairments, psychologically speaking. Nick McGowan (22:36.93)I think something to point out here for people that are listening to this, and if you’re about to have a kid, don’t let her scare you off the ledge. Like go do it because it seems like, look, no matter what happens, people are going to make the decisions they’re going to make. But I think the biggest thing you pointed out is the human aspect of it. That the mom or the parents just in general that are connected with their children can feel that, can be connected with their kids. Anne Wallen (22:39.22)Yeah. Anne Wallen (22:46.419)No! Anne Wallen (22:55.732)Yeah. Anne Wallen (23:02.664)Yes. Nick McGowan (23:05.474)The fact that you pointed out like, well, capitalistic society was like, how do we make money off this? Well, we want to get the kid out of the bed. We can get them into a whole plethora of their own little suite over here and we can make a whole bunch of money and we might as well push this thing. There’s information that comes from the external world like that. Like, oh, well, baby shouldn’t be in your bed for longer than X amount of time. We should have a crib and like all people have that stuff basically when they have their shower at this point and they get it and they… Anne Wallen (23:17.962)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (23:35.381)have like three to $10,000 worth of stuff that just sitting in there for the baby, when the baby probably needs to be deeply connected with them, but every baby is different. And it’s wild to think about how those systems, the family system that tells us, well, when you were a kid, this is what we did. You made the decisions you made. And that’s to be said that way. But then the other systems that say, you need to have this, you need to have that, you need to have that. Anne Wallen (23:47.092)Yeah. Anne Wallen (23:57.15)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (24:05.024)themselves to block all that madness out. Like, thanks for your feedback, grandma. Thanks for your feedback, Capitalistic Society. That person needs to be so deeply entwined with themselves and to understand about themselves. So based on the research you’ve done or the information that you’ve seen, how many people are actually doing that deeper work? Like, hey, I’m pregnant now. I wonder how fucked I was as a child based on the dumb things that happened. How do I not deliver that onto this child? Anne Wallen (24:10.814)Yeah. Nick McGowan (24:33.963)how many people are actually doing that work? Or is that part of the reason why we’re having the conversation? Because more people need to have that internal conversation. Anne Wallen (24:41.096)We really need our society, especially in America, to be doing that work more. Because a lot of people are just, like I was saying before, you’re kind of in this automatic robot mode. If you don’t do the work and you don’t have any kind of self-awareness, you’re just gonna do the things that you don’t even realize you learned to do. So like as an infant, even though you’re not sitting there taking notes on how your parents are parenting you, you’re learning how to be a parent by experiencing their parenting. And if you look around, we have a lot of entitled people walking around and a lot of broken people walking around who are really just living out their traumas and trauma reactions day to day, rather than looking at them, understanding that that’s what it is. You know, it took me till I was in my 40s to even understand what narcissistic abuse was, because it felt so familiar. Walking around the planet, being raised by someone who was narcissistically abusive. Now back then, 50 years ago, they didn’t have those words, right? But a lot of people have experienced that and they don’t know what it is. And they’re kind of, you know, either perpetuating it as the narcissist in their relationship or continuing to be used by the narcissist for their supply, right? And this is such a hot button, like, I don’t know, like a really popular terminology nowadays and everyone’s gonna, you know, everyone walks around kind of saying, I know a narcissist or that guy’s a narcissist or whatever, right? So it’s word that gets thrown around a lot. But the deeper issue is when you are not cared for, Nick McGowan (26:12.609)Hmm. Anne Wallen (26:36.859)in a way that shows you that you’re valuable, right? Then you grow up trying to prove to yourself how valuable you are, your whole life. And so that’s gonna put you into two camps. You’re either gonna be more like a narcissist, right? Trying to get source from people, trying to get that love and acceptance and to prove yourself worthy, right? Or you’re gonna become more of the enabler, more of the empath type. Nick McGowan (26:57.066)Yeah. Anne Wallen (27:05.925)Sometimes it’s just how we’re wired when we’re born, but a lot of it’s learned, right? And so you walk around trying to fix everybody else, trying to pre, what’s the word I’m looking for? Like you’re anticipating what they need, right? And you’re jumping in and taking care of everybody else. And neither one of those makes a good parent. So when you have a kid, you’re going to… Please don’t get me wrong, public, okay? Not all babies are coming out as narcissists, but all babies do come out needing someone to meet their needs. And so they look like little narcissists, right? Because they’re calling out, they’re crying, you you have to do everything for them. And as they’re growing, you’re trying to boost their self, right? And if you have additional kids around between age two and three, that’s a huge hit to the self-esteem of the toddler. You know, so then you’re trying to like fix that and soothe that and so there’s this whole chain of events that happens between zero and about seven, eight years old. And there’s ways to feed the little narcissist monster that you might be growing or there’s ways to help the child become self-sufficient and self… Nick McGowan (28:03.466)Yeah. Anne Wallen (28:31.529)self-aware, but also, you know, like help them to develop empathy and help them to develop compassion for others. But a lot of this is not by word. It’s in modeling. And again, we go back to if you haven’t dealt with your shit before you have your baby, it’s going to walk around showing your child how to not be a grownup, but they’re not going to know the difference. Nick McGowan (28:51.529)Yeah. Nick McGowan (28:58.527)And just keep going. Yeah. Anne Wallen (29:00.167)Right, and so even though trauma can be passed on from DNA, right, and it can be passed on cellularly, right, but it’s also passed on just by modeling. Modeling what that reactivity looks like, modeling what that unhealed wound looks like. So, go ahead. Nick McGowan (29:16.329)Yeah. Well, it’s interesting with how the, think about often how the body keeps the score. Bessel van der Kerk wrote about that and there are other people that say, I don’t agree with it and that’s fine. You can say whatever you want. I’ve experienced it. I’ve experienced what it’s like to be able to have bodily reactions at things when my mind’s going, the fuck are you doing? Like, what is this? And it’s like, that ties back literally to my mom as I was a little kid. Anne Wallen (29:24.349)Yeah. Anne Wallen (29:39.315)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (29:45.596)and watching and going, she seems to fly off the handle of things. Note to self, guess that’s how it’s done. Cool, that’s what I’m gonna do. And then you learn later and you’re like, no, that’s not it. she was coming from generational trauma and chaos and wondering how do I pay for this thing? And what the fuck are you crying about? And what’s this? And sometimes that would come out of her mouth. Like, the fuck are you crying about? To go, I don’t know. And maybe she’s just overwhelmed. So even pointing out that people will look. Anne Wallen (29:51.922)Right? Anne Wallen (29:58.568)Hmm. Anne Wallen (30:09.831)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (30:11.727)and say like, yeah, a lot of people are calling people narcissists at this point because it’s like they learned a new word and they go, well, this looks similar. I’m glad that you’re pointing out that it’s actually deeper and not exactly the same thing at all, but sure, there are tendencies to it. Like the babies need us. Aren’t we like the only organisms that really do that though? Like all other mammals basically are like, cool, you’re born, go get it, have at it. And we need people. Anne Wallen (30:26.728)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (30:38.844)Yeah. Nick McGowan (30:41.606)And those people also need the babies because of that connection. It’s wild to think about how things that’ll happen just on a day to day that a parent might think, I was just a little upset or a little cold or whatever, that could change so much with that child. And especially in the formative years. I learned a handful of years ago about a theory called the subconscious winning strategy. that we develop a strategy as a child to go, oh, note to self, this is how I win. This is how I get love. Like my core wounding personally is to not be abandoned or unloved. That comes from being a child. So I figured out, oh, I can make people laugh and I can do these different things that then show up in a certain way. And I learned that about myself, I don’t know, at 38 years old and was like, oh my God, my entire life I’ve been doing this because it just deeply ingrained in us. Anne Wallen (31:15.784)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (31:36.914)Hmm. Nick McGowan (31:39.891)You pointed out self-awareness. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve noticed in every single episode I’ve had on this show, every conversation I’ve had that’s peripheral to the show. If you’re aware of something, you can only then become more aware of it as you’re more aware of it. But you can also push things to the side. I’ve watched parents go, I can’t. I’ve had friends that are parents that they’re like, man, some nights I just fucking can’t even. Anything. Like everybody needs to leave me alone and I just need to stare at the ceiling for a little while. or they dive into some vice, alcohol or something else. So what advice do you have for people that are trying to figure out, I either have a kid and I need to and want to be a better parent, or we’re thinking about having kids, or I’m still kind of reeling from being a kid, and how do they then work through their stuff? Anne Wallen (32:33.106)So I think you could, you know. Anne Wallen (32:39.752)I’m hearing some interference. Are we still together? Nick McGowan (32:42.974)We’re good. Anne Wallen (32:45.128)Okay, this could go off on so many, you’re like the tree trunk just now and there’s so many branches and things that we could just go into off of that. I think one of the things that you have to understand is that narcissism, for example, is a spectrum, right? And so, one end is kind of it’s a healthy self-awareness, self-love, self-protecting, self-serving, right? The other end is where you’re using people in a malignant way. Now, a newborn, I always make jokes with my students, like the newborns don’t read the books, right? They don’t know what the parents think that they’re supposed to be doing. But when they are little and they’re trying to communicate, right? We can, if we’re cold, for example, we can go and manipulate the thermostat, right, to make it whatever we want. If we’re hungry, we go and manipulate the refrigerator door and get a snack. Babies can’t do those things, so they’re not manipulators, right? But what they are is desperately trying to communicate with us, and we have to put aside, and you see many a mom who’s had sleepless nights, dads too, Nick McGowan (33:41.842)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (34:04.029)where they’re just doing whatever it is that the baby seems to be needing and it might just be an overnight, know, shit fast story. You’re just, nobody’s getting sleep, everybody’s crying, like everybody’s crying. And you just have to get through it, right? But the fact that you are trying, the fact that you haven’t just put the baby away and said, I can’t do this anymore, you know, good luck kid, right? The fact that they’re not doing that, Nick McGowan (34:30.332)You Anne Wallen (34:33.224)the baby and informs the baby, I am worth trying for. And so even if they aren’t fixing it, I can see they’re trying. Right? Now, do you need to step away? Do you need to be able to eat, you know, shower, take a crap by yourself? Yeah, of course. Right? And you need to be able to take care of yourself in order to take care of somebody else. And you need to be able to set boundaries and say, you know, Nick McGowan (34:37.445)Hmm. Anne Wallen (35:02.464)I am, and we talked a little bit about personality types before, but I’m an introvert, right? And when you’re looking at the Myers-Briggs, introverts need time alone, away from everybody, away from touch, away from sound in order to rebuild their battery. Extroverts, they need other people to recharge their battery. And so if you’ve got babies who are almost all extroverts in that Nick McGowan (35:15.846)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (35:30.638)stage of their life. They need somebody else for something at all times usually. And you’ve got an introvert parent who’s like, I am all tapped out. I’m in the negative. Like kid, I can’t help you right now. I cannot do anything right now. I need to go, you know, just take a bath or something in silence. Everyone leave me alone. Knowing that about yourself and knowing that this whole scenario is going to change. Because before baby came, You probably had self-care mechanisms or habits or whatever in place that you can say like, okay, I am drained. I went to that party. I’ve been at work all day. I need to just have like an evening of quiet. Well, when you have a baby, there’s no such thing. So being able to plan ahead for stuff like that, knowing yourself, being self-aware enough to say, I know what my needs are in a general way, putting a person into this know, sphere of my everyday life, what do I need to do to keep myself sane while still caring for the needs of this other human being? And being able to build some kind of structure around that. It could be, do I need to live closer to my parents so my parents can help me? Does it mean I need to hire a postpartum doula or a nanny or somebody that’s gonna be able to help take care of the child so that I can take care of me? You know, just, and that’s not selfish. That’s not being a bad parent saying, well, I can’t always meet the baby’s needs 100 % of the time. Who can? Like we have this really unrealistic expectation, this leave it to be for mom mindset, right? Where it’s like, she’s just gonna do everything. She somehow wakes up with makeup on, with her clothes pressed and you know, like she never spent any time on that, right? Well, that’s kind of what we’re expected to do as parents is we’re expected to just be up and ready for the world and ready to take care of this baby 100 % without having any kind of prep or any kind of get ready time? No, that’s not how it really works. But then you have that expectation which makes people then feel like they’re failing. And that’s not fair either. That’s where if you look at postpartum depression, it has gone up and gone up and gone up and it’s in its highest Anne Wallen (37:57.818)in places where, or in family dynamics where nobody’s getting sleep, you know, there’s sleep deprivation going on and there’s no social support. And those are the two key factors. And a third key factor is babies who cry a lot. And babies don’t just cry a lot. So if you know how to meet your baby’s needs, you can understand your baby’s language, if you can anticipate their needs and just kind of, you know, Nick McGowan (38:04.699)Hmm. Anne Wallen (38:27.781)Be prepared as we just keep, I keep saying preparation, preparation, right? But being prepared and understanding what does this cry sound mean? Does it mean hungry? Does it mean pain? Does it mean sleepy, right? What do these cry sounds mean? And then being able to appropriately respond to the baby’s needs and making sure that the baby’s needs are met quickly. These all feed into a satisfied, healthy, happy baby, which, creates calm, satisfied, happy, healthy family, right? And then if you are dealing with trauma triggers where maybe the baby crying is a trauma trigger for you, right? And you haven’t figured out what this baby’s need is, you’re gonna be spiraling and that spiral’s gonna, you’re gonna have anxiety, you’re have the depression, you might even develop other issues. And let me just say one really quick little piece. Nick McGowan (39:08.922)Yeah. Anne Wallen (39:26.823)The news a lot of times says, you know, when a mom kills her babies, right? The news will a lot of times say, oh, she had postpartum depression. That’s not postpartum depression, that’s postpartum psychosis. So postpartum depression and anxiety and OCD and all these other different kinds of mental health disorders, they can turn into psychosis. But psychosis is when you have suspended the connection to reality in such a way that you would do that heinous act, right? And why does it get to that point? Because we’re not getting enough sleep, we’re not supporting our families, not, you know, we’re not like creating this wrap around care for families. And dads need it too, you know, like we think, mom’s got postpartum depression. Dads get postpartum depression too. Nick McGowan (40:09.091)Yeah. Anne Wallen (40:22.797)sleep deprivation will do it to anybody. You don’t even have to have a baby. You sleep deprived somebody for long enough and they’re gonna experience depression and anxiety. And so being aware, preparing for having that help afterward, understanding what is it that your personal wounding might look like and how might that affect the way you’re gonna care for your baby. So for example, you mentioned abandonment. A lot of people have… Nick McGowan (40:30.456)Yeah. Anne Wallen (40:49.807)abandonment issues because of the whole put your baby to cry it out in the bed philosophy that was taught for a long time. It’s not taught anymore, shouldn’t be taught anymore, we know better now. But there’s a lot of adults walking around that that was the way they did it and they’re gonna hear from their mom and dad and everyone, you know, that’s how you should do it. So it feels really unnatural for a reason. Nick McGowan (40:54.585)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (41:09.026)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (41:14.435)It’s that little instinct, that little knowing that awakens in us when we have a baby that tells us, no, that’s not okay. My baby needs me, my baby. That sound is really grating on me. Why? Because it’s meant for us to do something about it. And so being able to look at, there’s a tool that I sometimes will use, it’s called the self-redemption cycle. Nick McGowan (41:27.543)Yeah. Anne Wallen (41:39.705)And you’re really, it’s like this little circle, right? It informs who you are. It informs yourself about who you are. But it takes the core hurt. Have you ever heard of this? So it takes the core hurt and then it looks at what emotions are drawn from that core hurt. And then it says, what are you seeking? What do those emotions tell you about what you’re seeking? And then what kind of behaviors are you gonna do to meet the thing or find the thing that you’re seeking? And then a lot of times those are unhealthy behaviors too. Nick McGowan (41:57.016)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (42:08.398)So then you create a new core hurt for yourself, only to do it all over again. And so it’s important for us to really be aware of what are the triggers, right? What are the things that make us feel abandoned or unloved or whatever our thing is, right? And then be able to work through those things because first of all, going into a birth situation, Nick McGowan (42:08.546)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (42:36.91)You have to advocate for yourself. You have to be able to speak for yourself. You have to be informed enough because we live in a profit driven medical society and you cannot, it’s not that you can’t trust doctors as individuals, but you can’t trust the system to have your back. The system is not built to your wellness. The system is to profit and wellness doesn’t bring profit. And so, Nick McGowan (42:55.81)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (43:06.616)You have, you know, a whole system that I don’t want to say is like designed against you, but you have to be wise going into that. If you’re going to have your baby in a hospital, which not everybody’s having babies in hospitals, I’ve had three at home myself, but if you are going to go into a hospital, you have to know what you’re getting yourself into. You have to know how to handle it. And it’s not the time to be defending yourself or standing up for yourself. you have to feel so safe to be vulnerable, to be able to open your body to let your baby out. And if you don’t, your labor will be dysfunctional. And that psychological piece, which is, I was saying before, like 80 to 85 % of your whole birth experience, it’s not physical. Physically, we breathe, we digest our food, we use the bathroom. We don’t need anybody to coach us how to do those things. We don’t need to read books on how to do those things. Our bodies know how to do it. And it’s the same way with birth. Our bodies know how to give birth. But there’s safety mechanisms built into the process, survival mechanisms. And one of those survival mechanisms is, is it safe out there? Is it safe for the baby who’s super, super vulnerable? Like you said, you know, we’re the only species that’s like, our baby comes out and they are completely and utterly dependent upon us for everything. Nick McGowan (44:30.444)Yeah. Anne Wallen (44:32.068)And so if our subconscious says, it’s not safe for that little vulnerable person to come out, it will shut down labor. And you can give it all the drugs you want. You can give it all the pitocin you want. It’s not gonna receive it. Your brain’s gonna shut down those pitocin receptors and say, nope, it’s not safe out there. She doesn’t like the doctor. Or the lights are too bright. Or yeah, or whatever the reason that’s triggering her. Nick McGowan (44:51.03)Politics. Yeah. Anne Wallen (44:58.884)you know, making her feel unsafe. And it could just be there’s a male doctor and she doesn’t feel comfortable around males in that way, right? And so it could be all kinds of things. As a doula and as a doula trainer, I have seen thousands of different scenarios where, you know, she might love her doctor and feel super safe with her doctor, but she gets to the hospital and guess what? It’s the person on call and she’s never even met them. Right, and now we have a hurdle to get over. And does she feel strong enough and confident in her ability enough to not let that affect her? Or is she, or does she not feel that way? Right, and in the moment, you’re just trying to hang on for dear life. You’re just having labor. You’re just trying to get through it, right? And so all these other psychological factors are really tough to have to. Nick McGowan (45:50.678)Peace. Anne Wallen (45:54.488)navigate, that’s why you’ve got to prepare ahead of time and really have somebody there, whether it’s your partner who’s very well versed and really, you know, knows what you want and is willing to stand up for you, or a doula, or you’re home with your midwife, you know, whatever your scenario, but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but it’s also not for someone who is just kinda coming at it willy nilly like, yeah, I got pregnant, yeah, I’m gonna have a baby, and yeah, we’re gonna do this thing called parenting. I mean, you can do it that way, but you’re gonna be on autopilot the whole time. Your reactions to things are not gonna be intentional and worked through the way that they should be for the betterment of your baby, right? Nick McGowan (46:32.246)Hmm. Nick McGowan (46:41.731)yeah. Anne Wallen (46:44.803)The best way to change life on Earth is to change the way we start, right? Nick McGowan (46:50.324)Yeah, what a good way to put that. And especially all of this ties in to so many different pieces, but it’s all similar. Like you go into some big situation, you have to be prepared, but you also need to understand about yourself. And there are people I’m sure that try their best to be as prepared as they can be. Again, I’ve had a few friends that are like, I’ve read every fucking book I could. I talked to everybody I could. Anne Wallen (46:58.522)Mm. Anne Wallen (47:14.777)Yeah. Nick McGowan (47:16.278)And I still expect to screw this kid up in some sort of way, because I’m going to say something weird or whatever. it’s like totally, like you’re just going to do what you’re going to do and your kid’s going to go how they’re going to go. But that’s the sort of like anti-matter in the middle of it. That’s like, well, all that stuff is just going to happen. But as long as you’re best prepared, you’re going to do what you can. Those people that are kind of wandering around that are like, well, we had a baby and like, I still don’t know my stuff or what’s going on. That. Anne Wallen (47:36.558)Yeah! Nick McGowan (47:45.714)level of self-awareness takes many, many, many blocks to get through to be able to get to that point. So the whole purpose of this show is to be able to help people on their path towards self-mastery and really figuring themselves out and living the best life that they can. So for the people that are on that path towards self-mastery, wanting to have a kid or have a kid or are still kind of reeling through the stuff that they’ve been through as a kid, how… What’s your advice for somebody that’s on their path towards self mastery that’s kind of going throughout all that? Anne Wallen (48:19.747)So the number one thing that you can do is to just nurture yourself, right? Nurturing and making it okay to get things wrong. Having self-forgiveness, having self-grace. Because as you go through these blocks, I could tell you just from my own personal experience that going through different, you know, looking at what has happened to me and saying, okay, this event, and I’m gonna sit with how this event makes me feel. until I can take away the power from it. And some people use counseling for that, some people use EMDR. I found EMDR super helpful. I think too, know, alongside having self-grace and having self-forgiveness, being with other people who are healthy psychologically is really important. If you are in a situation or a relationship that is kind of keeping you in I don’t want to say in abuse because maybe the relationship isn’t abusive, but maybe in a situation where you are constantly triggered or you are continually kind of repeating bad habits, right? And you’re recognizing that, but then you’re in this situation where they’re just triggering you and triggering you and triggering you. You got to get away from it to be able to heal it. It’s so tough. to be able to heal something while you’re in the midst of reaction. And honestly, you know, we talked about the word narcissism and the word trauma and things like that. One of the most powerful ways that I feel like people can heal from stuff and actually keep digging into their past and finding the next thing, right? Like, okay, well, I healed from this and now what? What’s the next thing? Nick McGowan (50:17.15)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (50:17.325)You’re subconscious, two things. One, I really believe that your subconscious will always answer you. And before you even finish the sentence, right, you know the answer. That’s your intuition, you can trust it. Right, so being able to say, what’s the thing that is really holding me back right now? You know it, your subconscious just told you what it was, right? And then going through that, working on that, focusing on that. The other thing is, is that for people, A really powerful tool for us to get understanding about something is labeling. So when you are, let’s say narcissism, when you are looking at narcissism, you can say, hey, here’s a behavior. This makes me feel uncomfortable. What is this? Why does this make me feel uncomfortable? it’s gaslighting. I’ve got a word for that. Nick McGowan (50:52.861)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (51:08.148)hehe Anne Wallen (51:09.977)Right? I’ve got a word for the bandwagoning technique. I’ve got a word for flying monkeys. I’ve got a word for all these different things. Right? And so being able to look at your shit and having a label for the different things that you’re experiencing, having a label for the different reactions that you might be having. Number one, it helps you to understand it. It helps you have a little more power over those things rather than it having power over you. But then also, you know, we can Google it. If you have a word that you’re like, my goodness, you know, this thing is really just triggering me. Why does it trigger me? Okay, comes, I can see that it’s stemming back from this thing that happened to me. And like I said, just ask yourself the questions. Just keep asking yourself the questions. And when your subconscious tells you this is what it was, then you can look it up, right? One of the reasons why I learned about narcissism is because I was Googling, why doesn’t my husband like me? How sad is that that you got to ask that question? But I soon found out that it’s one of the list of things in the narcissistic playbook. And so then you start to realize, this behavior happened at this point in my life and at that point in my life and at that point in my life. And because you have a label for it, you can start to identify the root cause. And that’s where you can kind of start taking your power back. Nick McGowan (52:35.719)Yeah. Anne Wallen (52:38.456)and you can rework the programming that’s going on in your head. And so then you’re no longer a robot, just on autopilot. You can have a moment, you could take a moment to pause and say, I’m not gonna respond like that anymore. I’m gonna, I look, I see it for what it is now. And I’m not gonna let that do this thing to me. And I’m not gonna let that do that thing to my child, because I’m not gonna respond the same way anymore. Nick McGowan (52:54.547)Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (53:08.132)And I’ll tell you what, every kid, I really believe this, every child is born to bring the balance. So like if you have, and I apologize for all the noise in the background, I am in New York City. I don’t know if you hear the sirens. They’re about to come right in front of my building, I could tell. All right, they’re gone. Okay, so. Nick McGowan (53:08.231)Yeah. Nick McGowan (53:30.483)Alright. Anne Wallen (53:35.074)give them a second. So when you have, you know, these, this labeling and when you have this balance that the child is bringing into the family, you know, you, you might say, that kid’s a, that’s a wild child or whatever. A wild child compared to what? Maybe you have very placid parents, right? And then the child’s just bringing the balance. They bring in the party. Or you have parents who are, you know, maybe really Nick McGowan (53:35.155)They’re good. Nick McGowan (54:00.989)you Anne Wallen (54:05.061)just super extroverted and then you get this little introverted child because they’re bringing the balance or you have two kids, right? I’ve had my two boys, they’re kind of like in the early middle of the six of them and I had one that was like large muscle. You tell him to dig a hole, he’s gonna be like, how deep and how big and tell me where to go and I’m on it, right? And then you got the next kid. who was very small motor skills, very artistic, you know, just like super minute focus, right? And you tell him to dig a hole and he’d be like, I don’t know how to dig a hole, right? So like they’re opposites, but this is what happens in family structures. It’s like the kid comes in and they fill the gap of what’s missing. This can get tricky if you have stuff that you haven’t worked on in the past, because guess what? Nick McGowan (54:48.443)Mm-hmm. Anne Wallen (55:02.852)Kids also bring the triggers. So for example, my nine-year-old, love her to pieces, she’s really different from me. It’s a challenge sometimes to be her parent because I don’t know what to do with her half the time because she’s just so different from me. And so that in itself is a little bit of a trigger. And so as a parent, when you are trying to learn, because a lot of times we think, oh, we’re here to Nick McGowan (55:18.096)Hmm. Nick McGowan (55:24.272)Yeah. Anne Wallen (55:32.696)you know, mold and shape this person. But I want to challenge that perception. I think we’re really here to figure out who this person is and help them to be the best of whoever it is that they’re supposed to be. And we’re not really supposed to be directing that all that much at all. Right. And so that also can be really tricky if you don’t know who you are. Right. If you’re if your stuff Nick McGowan (55:57.893)Yeah. Anne Wallen (56:01.496)goes into identifying as, I worthy? Should I speak up? Do I have to fight for stuff? All the different things that go on as a child inside of you, your child, it’s gonna be mirrored back to you. And if you haven’t figured those things out, if you didn’t figure them out as a child, how are you gonna have answers for your kid when they’re going through the same thing? So. getting into and really just there’s actually a book for if you’re pregnant now or if you’re looking at getting pregnant, there’s a book called birthing from within. It’s kind of a whole system. I really like it because it kind of digs into the psychological aspect of, you know, this labyrinth of how were you created mentally, emotionally, and then how are you going to walk or step into parenthood, you know, as a person who can be there for your kid in all these different ways that you’re gonna have, it’s gonna be demanded upon you whether or not you have the skills to meet the needs or not, right? Yeah. Nick McGowan (57:05.967)Yeah, whether you like it or not. man, there’s so much to that. And again, I’m not going to have kids ever. I’m no longer equipped to. And I can think about how these things relate to us as people without kids because we were kids at one point and this ties back. Even the two kids that you have that you talked about, you literally just described my brother and myself. And my dad was like, Anne Wallen (57:25.112)Yeah. Nick McGowan (57:34.359)I understand the one who can dig the holes. I don’t understand why you’re building things and you’re painting. What the hell is this about? I’m gonna stick with the one over here because that makes sense and parents can go to that. They can look at that and they can do those things. But I really appreciate that you’re challenging people to understand the most about themselves and where their things have come from so that they don’t really bring them into anything further unless they go, hey, I learned this before cause I went through some shit. Anne Wallen (57:56.334)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (58:03.077)Here’s how you go about it a little differently, but you do you kid and I’m here to support you. I think that’s a crucial thing that you really pointed out and I appreciate you pointing that out. This has been awesome to have you on today and I appreciate you being with us. Before I let you go, where can people find you and where can they connect with you? Anne Wallen (58:08.109)Yeah. Nick McGowan (58:27.194)Did I totally cut out there? Awesome. So I’d asked where can people find you and where can they connect with you? Anne Wallen (58:36.484)Well, I am like I said the director of maternity wise you can find me there. That’s easy maternity wise calm just like that And you can also find me. I’m a contributor to brains magazine So I have several articles published there and if you want to find me on LinkedIn, I’m Anne Wallen. So hey Nick McGowan (58:58.896)Again, Ann, it’s been great having you on today. I appreciate your time. Anne Wallen (59:01.988)Thank you.

Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Do you enjoy small talk with strangers or do you do everything you can to avoid catching their eye? Type A or Type B?Right now the internet is obsessed with these labels. Personality types, birth charts, attachment styles, Myers Briggs, colour coding your aura.These days the internet is full of tests that attempt to define who you are by answering questionnaires, but the reality is more complicated. We go through these trends with Claudia Hammond, a psychologist and BBC presenter. Plus we hear from BBC colleagues in other parts of the world. Yuna Ku tells us the trends around personality types in South Korea and Makuochi Okafor in Nigeria explains how Igbo culture defines people's characteristics according to four categories.Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Video producer: Baldeep Chahal Producers: Benita Barden, Julia Ross-Roy and Rio Rennalls Editor: Emily Horler

If you want a high-performing team, you cannot ignore the language you use.In this episode of Dolly in My Pocket, I unpack Tactic 8 from my book extra-Ordinary Leaders and explore the link between language and performance. Do our words shape our behaviour, or does our behaviour shape our words? More importantly: is the language you use helping your team move, or quietly creating friction?I look at:→ Why familiar phrases like “meeting” and “we just need to communicate better” aren't specific enough for modern leadership→ How precise language transforms focus, pace and clarity→ Simple shifts you can make today to improve one-to-ones, collaboration and decision-making→ Why high-performing teams need a shared vocabulary for behaviour→ Tools that help create that shared language: Insights, DISC, Myers-Briggs, Giant and moreThink of language as WD-40 for your leadership. When you design it deliberately, every part of your organisation moves more smoothly.If this episode resonates and you want deeper, practical tactics to use with your team, you can find extra-Ordinary Leaders here: https://www.dollywaddell.com/store/p/the-extra-ordinary-leaderAnd if you'd like support applying these ideas inside your organisation, you can get in touch with me via dollywaddell.com.Listen, share, and let me know which language shifts you're taking into your week.

In this episode, you'll discover:How your soul aura reveals gifts, wounds, and lessons you're here to integrateWhy enlightenment is literally about radiating all colors of lightWhat quantum healing looks like when you work with energy directlyWhat if you're not actually a body with a soul, but light energy that temporarily took physical form?I know how that sounds. But stay with me.Most personality systems tell you what box you fit into. Myers-Briggs. Enneagram. Human Design. They're all trying to explain who you are based on behavior patterns. But Helen Plehn's Aura Color Wheel system starts with a complet ely different premise. You're not solid matter trying to be more spiritual. You're literally made of light.Modern physics backs this up. At the quantum level, everything is light, sound, vibration, frequency, and wavelength. Your body isn't solid. It's condensed light moving at different speeds. When you zoom in far enough, there's no "you" in the way you think there is. Just energy pulsing in patterns.Today our guest is Helen Plehn, creator of the Aura Color Wheel system and author of a book mapping the seven soul archetypes and their corresponding aura colors. She teaches people how to read their own energetic blueprint and consciously evolve their frequency.Links from the episode:Show Notes: mindlove.com/430Join the Mind Love Collective here: https://mindlove.com/joinSign up for The Morning Mind Love for short daily notes to wake up inspiredSupport Mind Love SponsorsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the first day of December, while many people are still digesting Thanksgiving leftovers and arguing about when it's "socially acceptable" to play Christmas music, broadcaster and performance coach Stan Hustad steps up to the microphone with something more than seasonal sentiment. In his new Monday series, Inconvenient Ideas with Stan Hustad, he invites listeners into a world where what we see, hear, and even believe may be—quite literally—too real to be fake and too fake to be real. Stan begins with a memory from his days hosting the early morning show "Morning Sound" on a large international station. Every December 1, he opened with a simple declaration—"It's the first of December, welcome to Morning Sound"—and then rolled straight into Joy to the World. It was his line in the sand: Thanksgiving had been honored, and now the Christmas season could begin. That little tradition becomes a metaphor for what he's asking us to do now—mark a moment, take stock, and decide how we're going to move forward in the days ahead. From there, Stan revisits one of his core themes: ideas matter. Interesting ideas, he reminds us, can lead to good ideas, which lead to greater insight. Insight opens the door to greater influence, influence leads to impact, and impact can lead to income. It's a kind of "good life formula" that reflects how we truly grow—personally, professionally, and even financially. But now, he's raising the stakes. It's not enough to chase interesting ideas. We have to face inconvenient ideas—those uncomfortable truths that challenge what we think we know, disturb our assumptions, and refuse to be neatly ignored. One of those inconvenient ideas came to him this weekend while watching a stunning Christmas video. The scenes were beautiful, the people were inspiring, the storytelling was moving. The whole thing, he knew, couldn't possibly be real—and yet, parts of it were so authentic and so well-crafted that it couldn't be entirely fake either. So he names the paradox: "It's too real to be a fake, and it's too fake to be real." In that sentence, Stan captures the strange territory we now live in—a world shaped by AI, deep media, and global storytelling machines. We are moved by images and messages that may be partly fabricated, partly factual, and fully influential. And that's not just an interesting observation; it's an inconvenient idea that demands a response. Stan then turns the spotlight from the screen back to the listener. In a world where so much can be generated, staged, or edited, he insists that you will need to learn new skills just to stay in the game. Like it or not, we are all now in the performance economy. You'll need to learn: - Performance marketing - Performance mentoring - Performance selling And yes, he says, you're going to have to learn how to be comfortable behind a microphone—even if it's not a golden one like the one on his desk. That might be a podcast mic, a Zoom microphone, a smartphone camera, or a stage. Either way, your voice, story, and presence will matter. This, he admits, is more than a little inconvenient—especially coming from a man who once tested as a strong introvert on the Myers-Briggs scale. Stan cheerfully confesses he's still "an off-the-wall introvert." But he also realized long ago that if he wanted to do radio, help people, and make an impact, he would have to learn to speak, perform, and be different. And that's the third inconvenient idea of the day: You will have to keep learning new ways of being different if you want to grow, contribute, and succeed. Stan then connects the dots. In this too-real-to-be-fake, too-fake-to-be-real world, it's no longer optional to think clearly and communicate well. You'll need to: - Think critically - Tell stories that are honest, human, and compelling - Stream those stories into the world - Sell your goods, services, and yourself ethically and confidently. All of that must be part of a purposeful strategy—one that you and your colleagues know, believe in, and practice together. Good is not enough. In many settings, you will need to be great. And that is another inconvenient idea. As the program closes, Stan pushes ahead to the coming year with his own playful motto: "In '26, pick up more sticks." More sticks of opportunity, creativity, service, income, and impact. More ways of making money, having fun, pleasing others—and maybe even pleasing God.   And then, as he signs off for this first Monday of December, he leaves listeners with one last, profoundly inconvenient idea: Treat every person you meet as if they were the most important person in the world. Things to Remember - Ideas must move from insight to influence, impact, and implementation. - We live in a world where content can be both real and fake at the same time. - Performance economy skills are now essential. - Even introverts can learn to communicate powerfully. - In many areas today, you will need to be great. Things to Share - "Too real to be fake, too fake to be real." - The question: "What inconvenient ideas am I avoiding?" - The reminder that everyone is now a broadcaster. - The challenge to tell honest stories in an edited world. Things to Take Note Of - Audit your media diet. - Develop your performance skills. - Invest in storytelling. - Build a purposeful communication strategy. - Practice the final inconvenient idea. A Challenging, Hopeful Ending In a world where anything can be faked and everything can be streamed, Stan Hustad's Inconvenient Ideas invites you to do something radical: Think deeply. Speak honestly. Perform boldly. Love people as if they really matter. That might be inconvenient. It might also be the most important idea you'll act on this week.  

Dave Brisbin 11.23.25 When I'd tell people the title of my book, The Fifth Way, first question was: what are the first four? That made perfect sense, because you can't understand the fifth way of Jesus until you understand how the first four operate in our lives. There are several systems that try to explain human behavior in terms of personality types, unconscious ways we process experience and approach challenges in life: Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, DiSC, Kiersey…the four ways operate similarly. In Jesus time, four sects dominated Jewish life, and each had a specific way of dealing with threats to their powerbases—specifically the Roman occupation. The Sadducees, yielded to Roman power; the Pharisees tried to influence or manipulate; the Essenes exited to build their own communities; and the Zealots tried to destroy Roman presence through rebellion. To yield, manipulate, exit, and destroy, are the north, south, east, and west of ways we can deal with challenges in life. From dysfunctional marriages to nations and armies, these four ways, with all the combinations in between, are what we have to work with, and each of us has learned to favor one as primary in our personal lives. They aren't bad or evil; they're necessary for navigating life. Only when we apply them to spiritual growth do they become limiting, destructive, never taking us where we need to go. The four ways answer physical needs we all have as humans, but until we become aware of them, they strip free will, reducing us to predictable, type-based behavior. When Jesus comes out of the wilderness, having overcome three temptations symbolic of all human need, he begins teaching a fifth way, turning the other four on their heads. Everything Jesus teaches and models is a refutation of our normal, ingrained ways of meeting our needs. Starting within and working outward, from an awareness of inexhaustible presence rather than scarcity, we realize that all we really need is not gained through acquisition but in giving away all we have. In the giving, we learn what we really possess is inexhaustible, restoring free will—our ability to choose in love, not just in need.

Dave Brisbin 11.23.25 When I'd tell people the title of my book, The Fifth Way, first question was: what are the first four? That made perfect sense, because you can't understand the fifth way of Jesus until you understand how the first four operate in our lives. There are several systems that try to explain human behavior in terms of personality types, unconscious ways we process experience and approach challenges in life: Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, DiSC, Kiersey…the four ways operate similarly. In Jesus time, four sects dominated Jewish life, and each had a specific way of dealing with threats to their powerbases—specifically the Roman occupation. The Sadducees, yielded to Roman power; the Pharisees tried to influence or manipulate; the Essenes exited to build their own communities; and the Zealots tried to destroy Roman presence through rebellion. To yield, manipulate, exit, and destroy, are the north, south, east, and west of ways we can deal with challenges in life. From dysfunctional marriages to nations and armies, these four ways, with all the combinations in between, are what we have to work with, and each of us has learned to favor one as primary in our personal lives. They aren't bad or evil; they're necessary for navigating life. Only when we apply them to spiritual growth do they become limiting, destructive, never taking us where we need to go. The four ways answer physical needs we all have as humans, but until we become aware of them, they strip free will, reducing us to predictable, type-based behavior. When Jesus comes out of the wilderness, having overcome three temptations symbolic of all human need, he begins teaching a fifth way, turning the other four on their heads. Everything Jesus teaches and models is a refutation of our normal, ingrained ways of meeting our needs. Starting within and working outward, from an awareness of inexhaustible presence rather than scarcity, we realize that all we really need is not gained through acquisition but in giving away all we have. In the giving, we learn what we really possess is inexhaustible, restoring free will—our ability to choose in love, not just in need.

If you feel amazing in a trending market but fall apart when price slows down or pulls back—welcome to the world of Momentum Marty!Just like how you've found out what your Myers-Briggs type is, or Clifton/Gallup Strengths are, you also have a Trader Personality Archetype. On this episode, join Coach Meiling as she explains the characteristics of Momentum Marty(s) when it comes to trading, what happens in their brains, and how it may impact their trading progress.If you're curious about your Trader Archetype, take this short 2-min quiz! Join my Weekly Email Series, that sends you value-packed emails stright to your inbox so that you can Grow Your Account HERE. Interested in finding out more? Check out Coach Meiling's webpage: https://meilingawcoaching.com/

If you never feel fully ready… if you keep saying ‘I just need more confirmation to be sure'… or if you hate taking losses because they feel like personal failures—you might be a Perfectionist Pat.Just like how you've found out what your Myers-Briggs type is, or Clifton/Gallup Strengths are, you also have a Trader Personality Archetype. On this episode, join Coach Meiling as she explains the characteristics of Perfectionist Pats when it comes to trading, what happens in their brains, and how it may impact their trading progress.If you're curious about your Trader Archetype, take this short 2-min quiz! Join my Weekly Email Series, that sends you value-packed emails stright to your inbox so that you can Grow Your Account HERE. Interested in finding out more? Check out Coach Meiling's webpage: https://meilingawcoaching.com/

Have you ever clicked the buy/sell button… and immediately regretted it? Do you constantly second-guess your chart levels and setups—even when they're valid? If so, you may be operating as a Doubtful Don.Just like how you've found out what your Myers-Briggs type is, or Clifton/Gallup Strengths are, you also have a Trader Personality Archetype. On this episode, join Coach Meiling as she explains the characteristics of Doubtful Dons when it comes to trading, what happens in their brains, and how it may impact their trading progress.If you're curious about your Trader Archetype, take this short 2-min quiz! Join my Weekly Email Series, that sends you value-packed emails stright to your inbox so that you can Grow Your Account HERE. Interested in finding out more? Check out Coach Meiling's webpage: https://meilingawcoaching.com/

If you've ever revenge-traded an entire red day into a total disaster… or doubled your position ‘just to make it back,' this episode might feel like I'm calling you out! Haha. Just like how you've found out what your Myers-Briggs type is, or Clifton/Gallup Strengths are, you also have a Trader Personality Archetype. On this episode, join Coach Meiling as she explains the characteristics of Reckless Ricks when it comes to trading, what happens in their brains, and how it may impact their trading progress.If you're curious about your Trader Archetype, take this short 2-min quiz! Join my Weekly Email Series, that sends you value-packed emails stright to your inbox so that you can Grow Your Account HERE. Interested in finding out more? Check out Coach Meiling's webpage: https://meilingawcoaching.com/

Today, we'll help you pick your startup's first customer segment. This decision dooms a huge percentage of first time entrepreneurs - if you don't understand what the job of your first customer segment is, you'll likely pick a customer incapable of doing it. Your first customer has a unique responsibility that no other customer will have - you need to choose them carefully.Conversely, if you choose the right first customer, you'll set yourself up for serious growth. We go through the five characteristics your first customer needs, give a preview of what your successful startup will look like, and help a listener find the first customer for their Myers Briggs startup. TackleboxGetting Real (museum curator reference)Everyman Espresso (☕️

️ Grab the 5-day INFP tutorial and join 5,000+ people getting rare weekly insights → http://geekpsychology.com/infp-5day▶️ Ready to go deeper? Check out the Evolve Community at http://evolve.geekpsychology.comMost people think they want deep connection—until old patterns show up. You chase, pull back, shut down. Sound familiar?In this conversation with neuroscientist and author Dr. Dario Nardi, we break down the 9 attachment styles (not just the basic 4) and how your Myers-Briggs type secretly influences the way you love, trust, and sabotage relationships.Whether you're an INFP stuck in the push-pull cycle, an INTJ lone wolf, or an ENFJ anxious pursuer, this video will help you finally understand why you keep repeating the same patterns—and what you can actually do about it.We cover:• The 4 classic attachment styles (and why they're incomplete)• The expanded 9-style model with your personality type's "home base"• Why gender socialization vs. type creates inner conflict• Defense mechanisms that keep you blind to your own pattern• The shocking stat about how many people struggle with this• Real therapeutic tools that work (EMDR, somatic practices, and more)If you've ever felt confused about why relationships feel so hard, this is your roadmap. Resources mentioned:• "Learning Love" by Thais Gibson (https://amzn.to/47mlBvx)• Elena Wolf (therapeutic consultant) (https://www.ilenewolf.com/) Chapters:Let's figure this out together. Drop a comment with your type and attachment style—I read them all.0:00 - Why Deep Connection Feels Impossible3:55 - What Your Ex Sees That You Don't4:51 - The One Question That Reveals Everything6:07 - The 4 Styles Everyone Gets Wrong6:25 - What Makes Someone 'Securely Attached'?8:15 - The Attachment Style That Confuses Everyone10:44 - Why You Can't See Your Own Pattern26:09 - The Lone Wolf's Secret28:31 - The Player's Secret Emotional Avoidance30:05 - Why INFPs Feel Everything (And Run Away)32:27 - When Stoic Becomes Your Survival Mode32:59 - The Controller: The Style Nobody Mentions34:40 - The Caretaker's Invisible Trap39:19 - Gender vs. Personality: Which Controls You More?41:55 - Your Type's Secret Relationship Weakness1:04:18 - How to Actually Heal (Not Just Understand)1:05:30 - The Childhood Wound You're Still Protecting1:08:34 - Why Talk Therapy Isn't Enough1:18:16 - The Stat That Changes How You Date1:19:18 - The Relationship Hierarchy That Changes EverythingTools Used (Affiliate Links):Video and audio editing is easy with Descript: https://descript.cello.so/xEAztGmHclI

Everyone loves a good personality test. Whether it is the Myers-Briggs, the Enneagram, or that quiz you took online that told you which TV character you are most like, there is something satisfying about seeing yourself neatly described in a few short sentences. But here is the question: are these tests actually telling you who you are, or just giving you a clever label? In this episode, Dr. Bray unpacks the science behind our obsession with personality tests. You will learn why we are wired to love them, how the brain's reward systems light up when we feel recognized, and why the Barnum effect makes even vague descriptions feel spot-on. We will also take a closer look at the history of personality testing, from Hippocrates and the four humors to the modern-day workplace. More importantly, you will hear why taking these tests too seriously can backfire. Neuroscience shows that personality is not fixed. The brain is plastic, meaning it is constantly adapting and capable of change. When you lock yourself into a rigid type, you may be limiting your own growth without even realizing it. Dr. Bray keeps it practical and entertaining, weaving together science, history, and a bit of humor. You will walk away with a fresh perspective on personality tests, knowing when to treat them as fun and when to be cautious about the labels they hand you. So if you have ever wondered whether your four letters define you or if you are destined to always be "the extrovert" or "the thinker," hit play. This conversation will convince you that you are far more than a type, and that the most exciting part of your personality is how it continues to grow and change. Quotes by Dr. Bray "The real danger is not in taking these tests, but in taking them too seriously." "The appeal of personality tests has less to do with their accuracy and more to do with what they promise us." "This is just who I am" — that's the fixed mindset we need to challenge." "Hold those results lightly and treat them as a starting point for exploration."

“Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes.” In this preview of our After School episode, we're reflecting on our first month with Taylor's latest album. We dive into why certain Taylor albums create earworms while others don't, how her genre-hopping creates completely different fan bases, and whether we just accidentally invented a personality test based on your top two Taylor albums (spoiler: it's better than Myers-Briggs). Plus, we debate whether "an album full of bops" can stand the test of time, or if that's exactly what we needed right now. Subscribe for free to get episode updates or upgrade to paid to get our After School premium content: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe. After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics! Stay up to date at aptaylorswift.com Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social! TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com Affiliate Codes: Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off! Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.  

How do you redefine a field that's widely misunderstood, even among its own professionals? And how can associations become essential hubs for interdisciplinary collaboration in such a space?In this episode of Associations Thrive, host Joanna Pineda interviews Nathan Victoria, Executive Director of the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) and Vice President at NextGen Association Management. Nathan discusses:Why “personality assessment” doesn't mean pop personality tests like Myers-Briggs or StrengthsFinder, but instead refers to integrated and multi-method clinical assessments used by psychologists.The clinical and legal applications of personality assessment, including for law enforcement, immigration, air traffic controllers, and reality TV casting.SPA's historical roots as the Rorschach Institute, Inc., and how it's evolving to reclaim and redefine personality assessment.The effort to define personality assessment within the organization and clarify its public perception.SPA's reinvestment in infrastructure: website, branding, database, and strategic plan.The organization's shift to AMC management through NextGen, and the benefits of a more efficient staffing model.How SPA supports international engagement with its first-ever conference outside the U.S., despite visa and travel challenges.SPA's unique conference partnerships with smaller psychology organizations to share resources and cross-pollinate ideas.Nathan's broader role in managing multiple associations simultaneously through NextGen and how technology and transparency enable success.References:SPA WebsiteNextGen AMC Website2025 Expert Insights on Personality Assessment Virtual Conference2026 SPA Convention

Schon mal gemerkt, dass in dir ein "innerer Zweifler" lebt?  Und dass dieser Zweifler dich davon abhält, deine großen Träume anzugehen?  Dieser Moment, wenn du voller Ideen bist, aber irgendwas in dir flüstert: „Das schaffst du nicht“. In dieser Folge lernst du dein inneres Team kennen – die Stimmen, die dich antreiben, bremsen, schützen oder kleinhalten. Du erkennst, wie du deinen Zweifler leiser drehst, ohne ihn zu bekämpfen. Und wie du wieder aus Liebe handelst statt aus Druck – mit dem guten Gefühl, endlich wieder am Steuer zu sitzen. — ☎️ Clarity Call mit David: Du bist nicht mehr happy in deinem Job? Lass uns gemeinsam herausfinden, welcher Job wirklich zu dir passt.

Today's episode is all about understanding the blueprint of humans, especially yourself! I talk a little bit about the significance of astrological natal charts and how that made me a believer of the woo woo before diving into Myers Briggs traits and Enneagram types. I share how understanding yourself and someone else's personality/chart/type can actually maximize your interpersonal relationship potential from work to at home. Lastly, I emphasize how you're as malleable as you want to be as nurture won't beat nature but can definitely shape you into the best version of yourself.

In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash interview Barry Wolfe, a former Fortune 500 HR leader turned consultant and author of It's All In Your Head: Why Psychology Doesn't Help Your Employees Deliver Value – And What Can (2025). Wolfe critiques the "bullshit psychology industrial complex," comparing tools like Myers-Briggs and DISC to 19th-century phrenology, arguing they're unscientific and fail to predict performance. He blames executives' desire for easy answers for their reliance on these flawed methods, even as AI risks amplifying the problem with recycled "gibberish." Instead, Wolfe's Value-Centric Leadership model urges leaders to define business value through a “same page” document and replace appraisals with “success maps” focusing on measurable deliverables. HR, he suggests, can lead by demanding clarity on 3-5 value-added results per role. The candid, humorous discussion, peppered with banter about a Napoleon-era jacket, targets HR pros and leaders, urging them to ditch platitudes for results. Wolfe plugs a free Chapter 3 at argoshr.com/book, and the hosts endorse the book as “anti-bullshit.”

In dieser Folge fliegst du mit einem Adler in deine Zukunft. Du beobachtest dein zukünftiges Ich in 5 Jahren und findest heraus, wie du lebst und arbeitest. Schnall dich an, atme tief ein und aus und genieß diese besondere Meditation.  Du möchtest die Abkürzung und diese Vision gemeinsam mit einem Profi umsetzen? Dann melde dich bei mir und ergatter einen der kostenlosen Kennenlernen Termine mit mir.  https://calendly.com/david_hold/klarheit

Irgendwas fühlt sich off an – du willst Veränderung, aber weißt nicht, wo du anfangen sollst? In dieser Folge geht's um echte Klarheit. Nicht das perfekte 5-Jahres-Ziel, sondern das gute Gefühl, wieder am Steuer zu sitzen. Du lernst, wie du deiner Vision ein Stück näherkommst – ohne Druck, ohne Chaos im Kopf. Wir sprechen über Spurenlesen statt Planen, über das Vertrauen in den nächsten Schritt und die Kunst, Lebendigkeit als Kompass zu nutzen. Am Ende wartet eine kleine Meditation auf dich – und vielleicht das erste klare Puzzlestück deiner Zukunft.

Is Human Design a shortcut to finding your purpose and becoming your authentic self? Josh Trent welcomes Emma Dunwoody, Human Design Expert, to the Wellness + Wisdom Podcast, episode 776, to reveal how Human Design helps you break free from conditioning, trust your intuition, reconnect with the subtle energy guiding your purpose, and empower you to live in full alignment with who God designed you to be. Join The Decode Your Design Masterclass You don't need another strategy or another plan: you need the truth, a breakthrough, a moment where it all clicks, and you finally understand why success has felt so hard. And that breakthrough you've been looking for? It's not outside of you. It's in your Human Design. This masterclass will shift you from burnout to alignment, from doubt to deep self-trust, and from strategy addiction to inner authority, in under 90 minutes. Because when you stop fighting against who you are and start working with your design, everything changes. Join Emma's Masterclass Today + Get 20% off with Code "JOSH20" In This Episode, Emma Dunwoody Uncovers: [01:10] Use Human Design to Become More Authentic Why Human Design serves as a permission slip to be ourselves. How Human Design bypasses the mind that tells us who we think we are. The role of neutrinos in imprinting ourselves in the moment. Why Emma used to be skeptical of Human Design. How Human Design was invented. Resources: Emma Dunwoody Human Design Made Simple by Emma Dunwoody Decode Your Design Masterclass - 20% off with Code "JOSH20" [07:50] How to Integrate What You've Learned Why transformation is not easy. How Emma's healing her childhood trauma with the help of Human Design. Why we need to integrate the information we learn about ourselves in order to transform our lives. [12:35] How to Find Your Purpose How a chart has more than 2 billion expressions. Why we don't have to change anything based on our chart reading. How Emma's son's energy helped her improve her mental health. Why our purpose is to be ourselves. [17:20] Human Design + Plant Medicine How Josh and Emma's Human Design revealed their design is to go through difficult challenges. Why manifesting generators can be seen as too much by others. What is a personal Human Design profile. The gift of gate 64. [26:10] What's Blocking Your Transformation Why only our ego can stop our transformation. How Human Design and Gene Keys show us our shadows. Why Emma never wanted to stick to one career path. How we can turn our shadows into indicators. [30:20] Learn to Listen to The Subtle Energies Why we're meant to become our own guide. How it's become very difficult to differentiate between right and wrong. Why some people are not designed to make quick decisions. How we're disconnected from the subtle energies and signals of our bodies. Why Emma can't use muscle testing on herself. [37:20] How to Trust Yourself Why we need to rise above the male and female archetypes. How Human Design taught Emma to trust herself. Why she didn't realize she was talking to God until she was in her 30s. How she struggled to find one thing to focus on. [41:40] The 5 Human Design Archetypes How we only need to understand the surface information about ourselves. Why manifestors are not designed to finish what they've started. How generators are here to build a new world. The role of manifesting generators. Why projectors are the guides that make others better. How only 1% of the population is reflectors. [49:30] The Purpose of Human Design Where the Human Design truly came from. How we're entering the gate of intimacy and abundance. Why the purpose and meaning of intimacy have been changing. How Human Design can help us evolve. [53:20] Heal Your Trauma with Human Design The issue with genetic determinism. How each Gene Key is associated with a part of the body, which is translated as "gates" in Human Design. What it was like for Emma to grow up with parents who were alcoholic and anorectic. How Human Design can help us start healing our trauma. The difference between Gene Keys and Human Design gates. Why Emma used to live in the masculine role. [01:01:50] Human Design Helps Raise Empowered Children The importance of raising our children according to their Human Design. How we're conditioned and taught to change ourselves. Why we're too attached to right and wrong. [01:07:00] Evolution of Humanity Why Emma's mission is to make Human Design mainstream. How we're moving from thinking doers to feeling be-ers. Why getting into our body is the most important thing we can do right now. How indigenous Australians pass down their knowledge through stories. What Emma does to empower her son. [01:13:50] Alignment Creates Flow Why projectors can have a bad reputation. How successful people are in alignment with who they truly are. What helped Emma to finish writing her book. How the process of writing and publishing her book was in alignment with her design. Leave Wellness + Wisdom a Review on Apple Podcasts All Resources From This Episode Emma Dunwoody Human Design Made Simple by Emma Dunwoody Decode Your Design Masterclass - 20% off with Code "JOSH20" Power Quotes From Emma Dunwoody "Human design bypasses the mind. It goes straight to the energetic blueprint that's coded in your DNA. This energetic blueprint happened at your birth, as subatomic particles moved through your body and imprinted your DNA. It's the map that's going to lead you back to the most authentic version of you." — Emma Dunwoody "We think we know who we're meant to be and what we're meant to do and we really don't. We can't see that big picture. When you start living more in alignment with your Human Design, you learn to tap into the body, and you're constantly told in every moment what is right for you and what isn't." — Emma Dunwoody "Our purpose is bigger than the job that we do. Our purpose is our energy. Our greatest purpose is just to be our most authentic self, because then we are fulfilling the puzzle piece we need to fulfill to move to this new world." — Emma Dunwoody

Irgendwas fühlt sich off an – aber du kannst nicht sagen, was? In dieser Folge findest du's raus. Ich nehme dich mit auf den ersten Schritt deiner Veränderungsreise: eine ehrliche Standortanalyse, die zeigt, wo du gerade wirklich stehst – und welcher Bereich deines Lebens jetzt den größten Hebel hat. Kein Blabla, kein Druck. Nur Klarheit, Fokus und das gute Gefühl, wieder am Steuer zu sitzen. Die heutige Folge ist der erste Teil der "Fishermen Serie" ☀️

Wie Scanner streben immer nach "mehr". Egal ob es finanzielle Freiheit ist oder das nächste Passion Project oder der Traumjob. Aber wie schaffen wir es, die großen Träume wirklich zu erreichen? Darum geht's in der heutigien Folge.  ☎️ Clarity Call mit David: Du bist nicht mehr happy in deinem Job? Lass uns gemeinsam herausfinden, welcher Job wirklich zu dir passt.

Twin Flame Fast Track Program (Reunite With Your Twin Flame The EASY Way) - https://twinflameguides.com/twin-flame-fast-track/ [Video]We're twin flames in union, and have been together for several years. We share our experiences and advice about the twin flame journey on this channel. #TwinFlames #TwinFlame #Soulmate

Start Your Transformation Now  In this thought-provoking episode, Jim sits down with Emma Dunwoody, a world-renowned Human Design expert, behavioral coach, and author of Human Design Made Simple. Emma shares how Human Design goes beyond traditional personality tests like Myers-Briggs and Enneagram, offering an energetic blueprint that reveals your authenticity, purpose, and how you're designed to thrive in relationships, business, and life.  Emma breaks down the origins of Human Design, why so many people struggle with strategies that don't work for them, and how understanding your design helps you release conditioning, honor your energy, and step into sovereignty. Through personal stories and insights, she shows how Human Design can transform everything—from relationships to decision-making—by shifting from the head to the body and uncovering your unique strategy and authority.  If you've ever felt stuck trying to “fix yourself,” exhausted by running other people's strategies, or searching for clarity in relationships and purpose, this episode will give you a roadmap to your authentic self.  What You'll Discover in This Episode:  What Human Design Really Is (01:19) Emma explains how Human Design differs from traditional personality tests and why it's the energetic roadmap to authenticity.  The Five Human Design Types (07:32) Discover the roles of Manifestors, Generators, Manifesting Generators, Projectors, and Reflectors—and what they mean for your energy and life path.  How Conditioning Shapes (and Limits) Us (12:50) Why we take on other people's energy and conditioning, and how Human Design helps you separate what's truly yours from what isn't.  Relationships and Human Design (16:27) How knowing your design—and your partner's—can transform conflict, connection, and compatibility in relationships.  The Power of Undefined Centers (22:57) How “open spaces” in your chart reveal conditioning, trauma bonding, and why we repeat painful patterns until we decondition them.  Applying Human Design to Everyday Life (30:01) From relationships to decision-making, how Human Design provides sovereignty and clarity in navigating life.  Listen, apply, and enjoy!  Transformational Takeaway  True transformation isn't about fixing yourself—it's about remembering who you already are. As Emma shares, Human Design gives you permission to step out of conditioning, stop running other people's strategies, and embody your authentic energy. When you align with your design, you gain sovereignty, clarity, and the freedom to live your potential.  Mentioned Resources: https://www.emmadunwoody.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_human_design_coach/ https://www.emmadunwoody.com/maggie Let's Connect:  Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn  LIKED THE EPISODE?  If you're the kind of person who likes to help others, then share this with your friends and family. If you have found value, they will too. Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts so we can reach more people.  Listening on Spotify? Please leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you!  With gratitude, Jim

Ever felt like so much of what happens at work is utterly meaningless, wasteful and backwards?You're not alone.In this eye-opening conversation with James Healy, founder of Behavior Boutique and author of "BS at Work," we dive deep into why modern work often feels like bullshit.What if the biggest problem in modern work isn't lack of effort, technology, strategy, or "better humans" but the simple fact that we keep designing for humans as if we were some logical machines… instead of messy, emotional, social creatures we are? James reveals the fascinating disconnect between how organizations design systems and how humans actually operate.We've built workplaces on the false assumption that humans are rational, logical beings making careful calculations, when in reality we're "social, emotional, tribal storytelling animals" who often make decisions based on context, ease, and what others are doing.Take modern communication crisis. The average worker now faces 153 Teams messages and 117 emails daily, with interruptions approximately every two minutes. This constant barrage prevents deep work, destroys focus, and fuels burnout. And with AI potentially supercharging this problem.But there's hope.James offers practical principles for creating more human-centered workplaces.What you'll learn:Why burnout is 100% preventable if we stop treating humans like machines.The shocking origin stories of tools like Myers-Briggs and DISC (and why they're no more valid than a Harry Potter quiz).Why e-learnings and endless policies fail.How context, not individual willpower, drives behavior change at scale.Why sometimes the most effective solution is illogical, creative, or has to do with removing, not adding things.The power of storytelling as a leadership tool for influence, motivation, and culture change.... and so much more!

IDRlabs is a website and online platform dedicated to individual differences research, specializing in free psychological assessments, personality tests, and quizzes. It offers tools covering topics like typology (e.g., Jungian and Myers-Briggs-inspired tests), political coordinates, gender roles, dark personality traits, team roles, and even lighter fare like animal personality matches or "simp" tendencies. The site emphasizes that its tests are created by professionals certified in personality assessment, drawing on peer-reviewed research, but results are provided "as-is" for self-exploration only—not as professional diagnoses.

Steckt in dir heimlich ein Künstler? Hast du manchmal das Gefühl, du willst heimlich auf der Bühne stehen, Bücher schreiben, Menschen zu Tränen rühren?  Dann hör unbedingt in diese Folge rein. In vielen von uns Scanner Persönlichkeiten stecken heimliche Künstler, die auf diese Welt gekommen sind, um sich auszudrücken. Hör auf, dich zu verstecken. Geh auf die Bühne der Kreativität. Und male, tanze, schreibe - mir egal. Hauptsache, du drückst dich aus! In dieser Folge zeige ich dir, wie es funktioniert.  — ☎️ Clarity Call mit David: Du willst dein Leben designen und dich erfüllter fühlen bei der Arbeit?  Lass uns gemeinsam herausfinden, welches Arbeitsmodell zu dir passt: 

Why do so many workplaces run on bullshit processes and procedures?  And how might Behavioural Science help resolve them?Episode SummaryIn this episode, I sit down with author, speaker and advisor James Healy to explore his book BS at Work — and the everyday nonsense we all recognise inside organisations.James argues that while behavioural science has transformed public policy and consumer behaviour, workplaces have lagged behind. We dig into why leaders keep choosing rituals over results, why nobody seems to ask “does this actually work?”, and how our search for simple answers can make complex systems worse.I ask James to unpack some of his favourite stories, including the strange origins of the DISC personality test — created by Wonder Woman's inventor, complete with “dominance” and “submission” baked in — and the utterly self-parodying experience he had with e-learning about not cheating on e-learning.

Immer busy, aber nie Zeit für das, was dir wirklich wichtig ist? In dieser Folge zeige ich dir 5 Hacks, wie du falsche Prioritäten killst, deine wahren Projekte endlich nach vorn bringst – und warum dein Kalender nie lügt. Praktisch, humorvoll und direkt umsetzbar, damit du nicht länger die falschen Prioritäten im Leben setzt.  — ☎️ Clarity Call mit David: Du bist nicht mehr happy in deinem Job? Lass uns gemeinsam herausfinden, welcher Job wirklich zu dir passt.

It's one thing to be busy and another to be productive – and most of us are far better at the first than the second. The reality is that architects live in a world of deadlines, meetings, and endless to-do lists, but somehow there's always time to check Instagram, rearrange your desktop icons, or spend twenty minutes deciding which playlist will help you focus before actually doing the work. Procrastination has a way of disguising itself as “just five more minutes” until suddenly tomorrow is looking a lot worse than today. This week, Andrew and I are taking a closer look at procrastination – why it happens, how it disrupts even the best-laid plans, and what you can actually do to keep it from derailing your work. Welcome to Episode 185: Procrastination: Today's Problems Tomorrow.  [Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player]  The Struggle is Real jump to 4:09 Procrastination is not about a lack of discipline or effort, it is more like a default response that shows up once the to-do list starts outpacing the hours in the day. Think of it as that urge to tidy up your inbox, check social media one more time, or find anything else to do besides the one task that really matters. It is less about bad intent and more about a short-term survival instinct. I would not describe myself as someone who avoids work, but I can admit there are times when I put things off until there is no other choice, and I suspect that puts me in the same company as most people reading this. There is research that connects personality traits with procrastination, and some of it feels uncomfortably familiar when applied to architects. People who score high in conscientiousness usually do well in professional settings, but that same trait often brings with it a strong tendency toward perfectionism. When you are wired to want things done at a very high level, it can be easy to delay getting started until you believe conditions are “just right.” The irony is that the higher the standard, the harder it becomes to begin, and procrastination finds a perfect opening. Other personality studies using Myers-Briggs categories found that INTP (Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, Perception) types were among the highest procrastinators. Those individuals tend to be analytical, independent, and comfortable living in their heads, which can be useful qualities for architects, but those same strengths can also create a pattern of putting things off. When you are wired to keep analyzing and refining your ideas, starting the work can feel less urgent than thinking about it just a little longer. There is another angle to consider, which is that procrastination can actually act as a coping mechanism. Psychologists describe it as a form of avoidance, but not always in a destructive sense. Putting something off can create short-term relief, and that breathing space can sometimes be what allows a person to function in the moment. The problem is that the stress does not go away, it simply accumulates and grows heavier with time. For some people, that mounting pressure even becomes the fuel they rely on to finally act, which is why procrastination is not only common but oddly effective for those who claim they “work best under pressure.” Architects are Busy jump to 16:03 a look at my weekly calendar for the time we recorded today's podcast episode Procrastination is not always about laziness, and more often than not it shows up as the result of overload. Nobody in this profession plans to avoid their responsibilities, but when the day fills up with meetings, deadlines, and emails, something is going to slip. That delay might look small in the moment, like moving one task to tomorrow's list, but it still qualifies as procrastination. It is not intentional avoidance, it is triage, and triage always comes with consequences. Architects are especially vulnerable to this because so much of our time is spent in coordination mode,...

Dr. Shannon Flumerfelt, Founder of Charactership Lean Consulting and Endowed Professor of Lean at Oakland University, joined host Jamie Flinchbaugh to discuss her systematic approach to coaching leaders through difficult situations and complex problem-solving challenges. Dr. Flumerfelt shared her framework for handling difficult coaching situations, which begins with understanding whether the challenge stems from external factors or internal issues. She explains that external problems—such as skill gaps or training needs—are often easier to address through coaching and mentoring. However, internal challenges require a deeper analysis using what she calls the "head, heart, and hands" approach: examining a person's knowledge, disposition, and actual capabilities. When faced with complex situations, Dr. Flumerfelt advocates for creating an Ishikawa diagram to break down all contributing factors. She emphasizes the power of co-creating these visual tools with clients, noting that self-reflection becomes most powerful when people can see their challenges mapped out concretely. This approach helps remove emotional drama from the situation and enables more logical, analytical thinking while still respecting people's feelings and perspectives. Regarding prioritization when multiple problems exist, she stresses that the approach must be organic and context-dependent, true to lean principles. She suggests several methods for determining where to start: ensuring strategic alignment with organizational goals through Hoshin Kanri planning, conducting quality function deployment analysis to understand customer requirements, or using Pareto analysis to tackle the most significant causes first. However, she cautions that sometimes the biggest problems are beyond an individual's scope of influence, requiring a more realistic assessment of what can be accomplished. Dr. Flumerfelt also recommends using interrelationship diagrams to identify which issues have the most connections to other problems, as addressing these can create the greatest ripple effect of positive change. The key is understanding your level of power, influence, and authority within the organization and working within those realistic boundaries. When discussing how to tap into people's intuition alongside analytical tools, she acknowledges that lean thinking often appears heavily engineering-focused and black-and-white. However, she emphasizes that successful lean implementation requires understanding the complete framework of lean thinking, not just selecting individual tools. She advocates for using personality assessments like Myers-Briggs to understand team members' strengths and whether they tend toward intuitive or logical approaches. She highlights the concept of social capital as a competitive advantage, referencing Michael Porter's work. She believes organizations drastically underutilize their human potential, comparing it to how individuals only use a small percentage of their brain capacity. When you multiply underutilized brains across an entire organization, the untapped potential becomes enormous. This perspective drives her approach to individualizing and customizing development for each person, recognizing that people aren't robots and have unique strengths and weaknesses that deserve respect. Throughout the conversation, the importance of visual management tools and moving beyond just thinking or journaling to drawing out and visualizing problems and solutions was emphasized. This structured approach helps transform messy, complex situations into manageable challenges that can be systematically addressed. For those interested in experiencing her approach firsthand, Dr. Flumerfelt offers consulting services through Charactership Lean Consulting and teaches in Oakland University's graduate Lean Leadership program—a rare opportunity in higher education. To learn more about Dr. Flumerfelt's work, visit charactershiplean.org or connect with her on LinkedIn

What do personality tests really tell us—and how can they transform the way we work? In this solo episode of Time to Reset, Penny Zenker explores the fascinating history of personality testing, from ancient Greek theories to modern tools like Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, and beyond.You'll discover why businesses have relied on these assessments for decades to boost productivity, team collaboration, and leadership development, and how today's personalization era—powered by AI—is reshaping the way we understand and connect with people at work.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

This week on the KORE Women podcast, Dr. Summer Watson welcomes Porschia Parker-Griffin, Founder and CEO of Fly High Coaching and host of the Career 101 Podcast. Porschia brings a powerhouse blend of coaching expertise, organizational psychology, and strategic business insight to help companies attract, engage, and retain top talent. With certifications in Myers-Briggs, Hogan Assessment, and Energy Leadership, and a background in financial consulting and leadership development, she's been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice and Career Expert. In this conversation, Porschia shares how she helps professionals unlock their full potential and how organizations can build cultures where people thrive. We dive into leadership, career pivots, and the power of self-awareness in professional growth. If you want to engage your workforce, retain top performers, and inspire better leadership– this episode is for you. You can follow Porschia Parker-Griffin on LinkedIn, on Facebook and YouTube at: FlyHighCoaching and at: fly-highcoaching.com.  Website: https://www.fly-highcoaching.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/porschiaparker/ FHC LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/64512733/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FlyHighCoaching YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@flyhighcoaching382 Thank you for taking the time to listen to the KORE Women podcast and being a part of the KORE Women experience. You can listen to The KORE Women podcast on your favorite podcast directory - Pandora, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, JioSaavn, Amazon and at: www.KOREWomen.com/podcast.  Please leave your comments and reviews about the podcast and check out KORE Women on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.  You can also learn more about Dr. Summer Watson, MHS, PhD, KORE Women, LLC, the KORE Women podcast, and her Community Empowerment and Cross-Generational Consultation Services by going to: www.korewomen.com. Thank you for listening! Please share this podcast with your family and friends. #KOREWomenPodcast #WomenInLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #EmployeeEngagement #WorkplaceCulture #RetentionStrategies

Ever wonder why some style advice feels completely wrong for you? In this episode, I dive deep into how Myers-Briggs really works—beyond the four letters most people know. Your dominant cognitive function is your personal flow state, and when you can't access it, you experience symptoms similar to depression. I share my own story of feeling invisible during a lonely, low-budget season and explain how understanding cognitive functions can transform both your energy and your personal style approach.   Download the Guide to Design Psychology. Begin your Signature Style discovery journey with your Essential Signature Style Guide. Let's connect! Download my free guide - Discover Your Style DNA: A Guide to Seasonal Energy & Personality Colors to start discovering your true colors today!   Want to learn more about how to discover your Style DNA? Visit my website. To suggest a podcast topic, send email to hello@signaturestylesystems.com.  

Danielle Burken - Danielle Burken Marketing On the How Marketing with Human Design Helps Your Business: "You're attracting the clients that you want to work with because you are showing up as the version of yourself that really trusts in the work that you're doing." We all have a voice.  In marketing our business, we often try to sugarcoat or use an inauthentic voice that may not really align with us.  Or really even sound anything like us. If you've ever wondered how to find greater alignment in your work, or felt frustrated by “cookie-cutter” marketing formulas that just don't fit for your personality, you won't want to miss this conversation. Danielle shares how she went from running a successful food blog to managing a marketing agency, and ultimately discovered the power of applying human design—a system based on your birth details—to help entrepreneurs market and run their businesses in a way that genuinely feels right for them. James and Danielle dive deep into what human design is, how it differs from traditional personality tests, and why knowing your own design can clear the noise and confusion so common in the modern marketing world. Danielle offers up real-life stories from her own journey and client work, discussing the challenges of entrepreneurship, the importance of authenticity, and even the tough conversations she faced when leaving her day job to take the leap into business ownership. Listen as Danielle explains how using Human Design can be a great way to bring your own voice into your marketing for your business. Enjoy! Visit Danielle at: https://www.danielleburken.com/   Podcast Overview: 00:00 Personalized Business Marketing Strategy 07:14 Journey from Blogger to Marketer 13:24 Human Design Holistic Wellness Success 17:06 Human Design: Understanding Your Type 24:33 "Understanding Human Design Differences" 27:20 Clarity Through Actionable Planning 36:53 "Human Design Marketing Strategy Shift" 38:16 Aligning Content with Human Design 46:23 "Attracting Genuine Marketing Enthusiasts" 52:14 Authentic Marketing through Collaboration 57:10 Entrepreneurial Loneliness and Accountability 01:03:04 Pursuing Side Business Dreams 01:05:31 Pursuing Passion Beyond Stability Podcast Transcription: Danielle Burken [00:00:00]: I do everything through the lens of human design. So for audience members who haven't heard about human design before, it is a tool similar to, let's say, Enneagram, disc assessment, Myers Briggs, those personality type tests. However, this goes a layer deeper because it's based on your birth date and time. And when we apply it to marketing, business becomes so much easier. James Kademan [00:00:28]: Oh well, easy business is best. You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. We are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link fun@drawincustomers.com and today we're welcoming preparing to learn from Daniel Burken of Daniel Burken Marketing. So Daniel, how is it going today? Danielle Burken [00:01:02]: I'm good, how are you? James Kademan [00:01:03]: I am excited because I was poking around your website. Danielle Burken [00:01:07]: Yeah. James Kademan [00:01:07]: And you do marketing, but it, it goes a little deeper than that. Danielle Burken [00:01:10]: It does a lot deeper. I do everything through the lens of human design. So. James Kademan [00:01:15]: Okay. Danielle Burken [00:01:16]: For audience members who haven't heard about human design before, it is a tool similar to, let's say, Enneagram Disc Assessment, Myers Briggs, those personality typ tests. However, this goes a layer deeper because it's based on your birth date and time. So it's not answering any questions which I feel can sometimes skew your results.

Equip your teen for the future! Julia Jinks shares how career exploration builds clarity, confidence, and real-world skills in high school. Sponsored by CTCMath.com How do you help your teen discover a career path that actually fits who they are—and saves them years of wasted time and money? In this episode, I sit down with Julia Jinks to talk about the power of intentional career exploration during the high school years. Julia shares why one short meeting with a career counselor can't compare to a semester-long class that gives teens the tools, resources, and space to dig into their strengths, interests, and values. We discuss: ✅ Why most students can only name a handful of jobs—and how that limits their options ✅ Using tools like Myers-Briggs and the Holland Code to uncover hidden strengths and career matches ✅ Helping teens think about lifestyle goals alongside career choices ✅ Preparing students for jobs that don't even exist yet (hello, 4th Industrial Revolution!) ✅ The value of job shadowing, informational interviews, and digital portfolios ✅ How entrepreneurship, emerging economies, and soft skills all play into future readiness Julia also walks us through how her class equips teens with real-world skills—like resume writing, professional interviews, and self-leadership—that prepare them for whatever comes next. If you've ever worried about your teen “figuring it out” too late in the game, this episode will give you both hope and a practical roadmap for meaningful career exploration.

Ever wonder why some jean styles feel "right" while others feel like you're wearing a costume? In this episode, I explore how your Myers-Briggs cognitive functions and body design principles reveal which jean silhouettes will make you feel most authentic. From understanding why Si types love bootcut jeans to how Ne types approach styling creatively, plus where you fall on the trend adoption curve for styles like barrel legs and wide legs. Let's connect! Download your Body Design Basics guide! Want to learn more about how to discover your Style DNA? Visit my website. To suggest a podcast topic, send email to hello@signaturestylesystems.com.

Katherine Hirsh, an INTP who has co-authored books with the Myers Briggs® company, discusses the INTP-INTJ relationship.☆Check out what I'm up to!☆Hi there! I'm Joyce, a certified MBTI® Master Practitioner, Enneagram Coach, Jungian Typology Expert, Master NLP Practitioner, and Gallup® CliftonStrengths Coach.WONDERING WHICH ONE OF THE 16 PERSONALITY TYPES YOU ARE?Book a session to get my take on your type. I'd love to help guide you on your type-discovery journey!Here is my scheduling link to arrange a time with me:https://calendly.com/joycemengcoachingI charge $85 for a typing session. Another colleague of mine certified by Personality Hacker will work alongside me and we will give you our independent assessments of you.Want to go deeper? For $97, you can purchase a typing session with 1 hour of additional coaching with me.Or maybe you know your personality type already and are seeking some type-based coaching? As a trained coach, I can help you apply type concepts to all areas of your life for lasting change. The coaching session rate is $75 per hour for a bundle of 3. :)By purchasing a session, you will help support the Type Talks channel and gain personalized mentorship and guidance from an experienced industry expert with over 12 years of experience.If you'd like to get in touch, you can email me at hello@joycemengcoaching.comFor those of you who are interested, I am also launching a website and releasing a typology book next year! Here's a link to my coaching website if you'd like to learn more about me and the services I offer: https://www.joycemengcoaching.com/Connect with me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoyceMeng22Like the show? Buy me a coffee! (it means the world to me): https://ko-fi.com/joycemengShow your support by becoming a monthly patron! https://ko-fi.com/joycemeng/tiersWant to know when the next Type Talks video is premiering? Join our Discord community for the latest updates! (Inactive now, looking for moderators) https://discord.gg/ksHb7fmMcm#INTP #INTJ #16Types #16personalities #MBTI #Katherinehirsh #personalitytypes

Katherine Hirsh, an INTP who has co-authored books with the Myers Briggs® company, discusses a common INTP struggle. ☆Check out what I'm up to!☆Hi there! I'm Joyce, a certified MBTI® Master Practitioner, Enneagram Coach, Jungian Typology Expert, Master NLP Practitioner, and Gallup® CliftonStrengths Coach.WONDERING WHICH ONE OF THE 16 PERSONALITY TYPES YOU ARE?Book a session to get my take on your type. I'd love to help guide you on your type-discovery journey!Here is my scheduling link to arrange a time with me:https://calendly.com/joycemengcoachingI charge $85 for a typing session. Another colleague of mine certified by Personality Hacker will work alongside me and we will give you our independent assessments of you.Want to go deeper? For $97, you can purchase a typing session with 1 hour of additional coaching with me.Or maybe you know your personality type already and are seeking some type-based coaching? As a trained coach, I can help you apply type concepts to all areas of your life for lasting change. The coaching session rate is $75 per hour for a bundle of 3. :)By purchasing a session, you will help support the Type Talks channel and gain personalized mentorship and guidance from an experienced industry expert with over 12 years of experience.If you'd like to get in touch, you can email me at joycemeng22@gmail.comFor those of you who are interested, I am also launching a website and releasing a typology book next year! Here's a link to my coaching website if you'd like to learn more about me and the services I offer: https://www.joycemengcoaching.com/Connect with me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoyceMeng22Like the show? Buy me a coffee! (it means the world to me): https://ko-fi.com/joycemengShow your support by becoming a monthly patron! https://ko-fi.com/joycemeng/tiersWant to know when the next Type Talks video is premiering? Join our Discord community for the latest updates! (Inactive now, looking for moderators) https://discord.gg/ksHb7fmMcm#INTP #INFJ #16Types #16personalities #MBTI #Katherinehirsh

Join me, Danielle Ireland, on this week's episode of Don't Cut Your Own Bangs as I chat with Jeanine Bobenmoyer, the founder of City Moms. Jeanine shares her journey from feeling isolated in a new city to building a thriving community for moms that is expanding nationwide. We dive into the power of community building, the importance of saying 'no,' and how City Moms grew from a local network to a national movement. This conversation is filled with heartfelt moments, laughter, and invaluable lessons on self-trust and service to others. Tune in to learn how Jeanine's mission evolved and how you can connect with this incredible community of supportive moms. Don't miss Jeanine's own 'Don't Cut Your Own Bangs' moment—it's a story of transformation you won't want to miss!   00:00 Introduction and Guest Overview 01:11 Jeanine's Background and City Moms Origin 02:46 Early Challenges and Community Building 04:39 Meeting Sarah and Business Growth 10:32 Drew Barrymore Show and Indianapolis Love 13:54 Content Strategy and Community Engagement 20:59 COVID Impact and National Expansion 23:05 Expanding the City Moms Community 24:17 Building a Female-Led Team 26:15 Listening to City Moms 28:50 Storytelling Over Sales 36:02 Launching a New Membership Experience 38:32 A Personal Story of Change 50:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts   RATE, REVIEW, SUBSCRIBE TO “DON'T CUT YOUR OWN BANGS”  Like your favorite recipe or song, the best things in life are shared. When you rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast, your engagement helps me connect  with other listeners just like you. Plus, subscriptions just make life easier for everybody. It's one less thing for you to think about and you can easily keep up to date on everything that's new. So, please rate, review, and subscribe today.    DANIELLE IRELAND, LCSW I greatly appreciate your support and engagement as part of the Don't Cut Your Own Bangs community. Feel free to reach out with questions, comments, or anything you'd like to share. You can connect with me at any of the links below.   Connect with Jeanine: Website: www.thecitymoms.org Join our membership waitlist: https://thecitymoms.org/join-waitlist  Instagram:@thecitymoms TikTok: @thecitymoms Pinterest: @thecitymoms  Connect with Danielle: Watch the show on YouTube Instagram The Treasured Journal Wrestling a Walrus Transcript [00:00:00] [00:00:08] Hello. Hello, this is Danielle Ireland and you are catching an episode of Don't Cut Your Own Bangs. [00:00:13] And today I have the opportunity to sit down with city moms founder, janine Bobmeyer. Janine is a mom of teens, a yoga addict, a Michigan native, and an avid reader. Her dream vacation includes hiking in national parks with her family and a cup of hot chai. And do we get into the tea in this episode? [00:00:34] But RT is super heartfelt, heart led, and based on community building and vulnerability. If that's the stuff that you're into, then oh, you are gonna love this conversation. Of all the things I took from this episode, what Janine embodies and what you are able to learn from as well is what it means to trust yourself, and that in the process of honoring yourself, giving a wholehearted loving no or saying yes to adventure, it is leading you to something that is not only in service of you. [00:01:09] But in service of others. Janine has founded a community city moms and started as a local community that she built based on her own need in Indianapolis. But it has grown and it is popping up in cities all over the country. We get into the early days and please stay tuned if there was ever a, don't cut your own bang moment to really not wanna miss. [00:01:31] This is a good one. It actually, it bookends the episode perfectly because we start by talking about her business and the community and company that she started, but we understand the why, the deep, profound, heartfelt, why that inspired it all. What I believe to be true that when we act in service of ourself it ultimately rises everybody up with you. [00:01:56] Everything we have leaving up to it is also just equally beautiful, sweet, funny, and endearing. [00:02:03] Thank you for being here. Thank you, Janine, for this beautiful conversation. And I can't wait for you to sit back, relax, or put in your AirPods and go for a walk however you like to listen and enjoy. ​ [00:02:18] Danielle: Janine Bobmeyer. It's such a pleasure to have you on the Don't Cut Your Own Banks podcast. You are the chief executive officer and co-founder of City Moms, and it is the largest growing lifestyle brand in the Midwest. [00:02:31] So I am just so honored to spend some time with you and share all of what you do and what you offer women and mothers in the Midwest, to the Don't Cut Your own Bangs. Listeners, thank you for being here. [00:02:43] Jeanine: Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here. [00:02:46] Danielle: Yeah, so fun fact on how we connected, if I'm remembering this correctly, a couple of years ago, city moms reached out to me to feature Don't cut your own bank podcast in, one of your, articles or newsletters just featuring local podcasts in Indie. [00:03:03] And that was so lovely. That was at a time where I was just starting and didn't know who was listening. It was such a, it was so validating and a real confidence boost for me. So I first wanna just say thank you. [00:03:14] Jeanine: Oh my gosh, I'm so glad I remember that article. We were. [00:03:18] Pulling, I think it was the top 10 podcasts you should be listening to in Indianapolis. Specifically founded by females. And you were one of the first that came to mind, because I know you were just launching at the time. You were like, well, hello. Of course you need to be listed on this. [00:03:32] Danielle: When you're just getting something off the ground, there is such a. There's so much space between where you are, right, where you imagine yourself to be or where you wanna be. [00:03:43] And whatever you can do to just keep getting one foot in front of the other, or even getting started takes so much energy and it's vulnerable. And so you and your best friend and business partner Sarah Hawker, are sitting on top of this really beautiful community that you have built. I think community building is just a magic skill. [00:04:06] And so I wanna go back to the early days of City Moms. You have some language on your site that I love. You need a village. We have it. Yeah, I was thinking that we don't need super women. We need supported women. Right. [00:04:20] I've also learned that what we offer others usually starts with the healing we need it. And so you're a mom of teens now? Yeah. So can you tell me a little bit about like the origin of city moms and how you went from I'm imagining having a good idea with your girlfriend to sitting where you're sitting today, being featured on the Drew Barrymore show. [00:04:39] Jeanine: Yeah, I was new to Indianapolis in 2011, so we had moved to the city from Detroit. I'm originally from Michigan, but my husband's from Indy. And in moving here to be closer to his family, I didn't know anybody. And you know, my husband wonderfully, having grown up here, has a lot of friends that are still here, but he's like, let's go out with Davis and let's have, lunch with Johnson. [00:05:02] I was like, I don't wanna do any of that, like . I'm a mom and at the time I had a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old. So you're just trying to keep, your life together in those moments of motherhood anyway. So to be in a new city, and just not know One Soul was really, I mean, just adds more challenges on top of what you're already facing. [00:05:20] Danielle: Mm-hmm. [00:05:20] Jeanine: So we had been here and just before I moved, a friend of mine in Detroit said, have you checked out Meetup? And I was like, no, what is this? And so she's telling me about Meetup and you can go on, you can kind of filter based on your interests and find a local community. And so I did and I found a couple moms groups that were in the Indianapolis area. [00:05:43] I found that, most of the majority of moms communities that we find really across the nation, even today, are tied to one of two things. It's churches [00:05:51] Danielle: or it's schools. [00:05:52] And we [00:05:52] Jeanine: didn't have either. I decided that that was the moment to potentially launch, my own community. [00:05:58] One that was just open to all moms across Indianapolis, that didn't have those specific kind of school or church affiliation, and we had a hundred members sign up on the first day. [00:06:09] Danielle: Whoa. I I have to pause for just a moment. Yeah. So you were seeking to meet your own need. Yes. And I find that so interesting that's really telling about you. [00:06:20] Just as a person and how you move through the world is you saw a gap for your own experience and then immediately connected it to what? Like, how do I expand this beyond me? Yes. As opposed to like, how do I find my community? How do I find my people? You're like, oh, there aren't people or communities, so I'm gonna build one. [00:06:40] That's really interesting. [00:06:42] Jeanine: Yeah. And for me it was because, I desperately needed community. I desperately was seeking that out. I had never been, shy to creating that myself in prior iterations. I was coming out of the advertising industry in Detroit and even in this really large advertising agency, had found my little corner of people. [00:07:04] At the time, had founded a tiny, I forget exactly what we called ourselves, but we were almost like our cheerleading community of the agency itself, where we started to put on little events for this large agency. And it started just because, we saw that at the workplace, it was just constant go, go, go. [00:07:21] In advertising. And there wasn't that pause to connect with, you know, your your desk mate or a team member. And so that for me, is just something that I've always loved doing. [00:07:31] But in coming to Indianapolis recognized, I also needed a community here and without kids in school, without having a church home, without even having, a neighborhood that I was close to. Just that gap existed and I realized it was something I needed to fill. [00:07:48] Danielle: Yeah. And not only did you, it sounds like fill that for yourself, but then you met a need that many other women in the community had too. Now, how did this, so was Sarah somebody that came with you from Michigan? Did you meet her here? How did that connection happen? [00:08:04] Jeanine: Yeah, so Sarah, my business partner and one of my dearest dearest, I actually met her. [00:08:08] We've known each other seven years now. [00:08:10] Danielle: Hmm. [00:08:10] Jeanine: The city moms community. And membership was running for years. [00:08:15] Danielle: Oh. [00:08:15] Jeanine: I was introduced to her, through a mutual friend. It was such a funny experience because we were at this mutual friend's house for a dinner, and immediately upon meeting her I was like, well, this is someone I obviously need to know forever. [00:08:30] She just has one of the most dynamic personalities. She's so engaging. She just pulls you right in. And she asked me a question about, a dress I was wearing. It was from anthropology. And she was like, oh yeah, I have that dress. I think I have that in black. And you're, you wearing it in like a green. [00:08:45] And I was like, boy. Yes. [00:08:47] Danielle: Yes. It's like that scene in stepbrothers, it's like 1, 2, 3 anthropology. [00:08:51] Jeanine: Yes. Exactly. [00:08:52] Danielle: Exactly. And I [00:08:53] Jeanine: was like, oh, well, we're obviously besties. Yeah. Yeah. At the time, she was in the process of, quitting her nursing job. [00:09:02] Danielle: She said, [00:09:02] Jeanine: yes, I'm really, I think my last day is going to be August 31st, and that happens to be my son's birthday. [00:09:09] And she said, I'm just, I've been working so hard, I making this change. I'm going to start my own company. And I just, I've needed this push for a long time. And I said, I am going to text or call you on August 31st and find out how it's going. And she was like, are you really? [00:09:27] And so there we are two months later. I texted her and I said, how's it going? Did you start your own company? Are you making this next move? And she was like, yes. And this is amazing that you remembered. And we just have been close ever since. So she's one of my absolute favorite people, and as the city moms has evolved, so has her role. [00:09:47] First as a member, then she was a member of our content team, which I'm sure we'll chat about here a little bit. And now she's, my business partner. [00:09:55] Danielle: Wow. That's so beautiful. I find that, women who work together, play together, raise kids alongside each other, it's like in the way that women can change hats in life. [00:10:08] They can do that within relationships. I've just seen really well, is it, I think that there's that old paradigm of which I've never really bought into, which is, check your feelings at the door or leave work at the door. It's like we're all one person. The day where we have all these different parts and that's so beautiful. [00:10:26] How. That sounds like this friendship has grown as well as the business growth. [00:10:30] Jeanine: Yes. [00:10:31] Absolutely. And, you've hinted at the Drew Barrymore Show which was an opportunity that came out in COVID complete surprise. [00:10:40] Danielle: Yeah. [00:10:40] Jeanine: To receive an email from the producers in set by, actually this was like end of July, 2021. [00:10:46] And they said, with COVID having really tampered down, a lot of the programming we're able to do for this show, we're not allowed to travel as much. We are launching a new kind of mini segment inside the show itself. We would love to chat with you about the one that we would like to do in Indianapolis. [00:11:02] We noticed that you're based there. Would you have any interest? And of course, Sarah was my first phone call because [00:11:08] I just like, ah, I need someone to scream with for a moment. Yeah. And because we had no idea or context what the segment specifically was about. And so I called and scream with her and then, immediately called the producers. [00:11:19] And they said, well, what we're looking to do is have two best friends in the city showcase the city together. And what makes your city unique? [00:11:28] Danielle: I mean, who better to do it? [00:11:30] Jeanine: And we were like, Indianapolis is such a incredible city and community to begin with. In just the 14 years that we've been here to see the growth that this area has had. [00:11:40] Just all of the changes downtown, all of these incredible like national events that they bring in, like this weekend being WNBA All Star Weekend. [00:11:49] The city has just shown up for this. They've had the final four. They've had US Olympics pre swim trials. This city knows how to put on, a really incredible display on a national level. [00:12:01] Danielle: Do you know, what you're making me think about is, so in the work I do in therapy, particularly when I'm working, with someone on their relationship, that the longer you've been with someone, or, and you could even, insert really any topic, a job, a place you live in this case, a relationship, it's easy to take for granted what you think. [00:12:23] About them and you lose access to maybe the curiosity and the wonder that allows you to continue to discover. I have lived in Indianapolis my entire life. You mentioned living here 14 years, but when I was preparing for this interview and seeing all the places that you're highlighting, there are places I have never been, and I've been here my whole entire life. [00:12:44] Just because I think I know, like this is where I live. Of course, I know there is so much that I don't know and we're talking about community and we're obviously highlighting City moms, but I think that there are takeaways that can be applied to so many walks of life, which is just when you think you know something, for sure. [00:13:02] Allow yourself a little bit more space. There's this little bit room for a little bit more wonder and curiosity. [00:13:09] Jeanine: Yeah, absolutely. I think that takes it back even to the origin of the city moms, in a big piece of that mission was I wanted to get out and explore this new city and community that we were in. [00:13:21] Just didn't have the roots quite yet to do that. And I wanted to do it alongside people [00:13:25] as opposed to on my own. And, we're talking about all these big events that the city puts on. But the other beautiful thing is that the real fabric of the city lives in its people and those that are here, we see so many that are coming in from other communities. [00:13:41] We see a lot like you that have lived here for forever. But there's such an incredible mix of people in this city that really make it as special as it is. And I love that. [00:13:51] Danielle: Thank you that's such a great response. And your love for the city is so felt. And I, I'm curious about when you're in your content, which by the way, for any, everyone listening, everything is linked in the show notes, all the social media platforms, city moms, where you can join the wait list for their membership program. [00:14:09] All of that is accessible to you in the show notes. So press pause, sign up, follow all the things and then come back. 'Cause the other thing I love about your content is you layer in a lot of humor and, even though it's not maybe spoken this way, there's this quality of, yeah, girl, I've been like, this is messy. [00:14:28] And I'm also wiping up my own mess. I also have coffee stains. I also have food in my teeth. Can we just laugh at the ridiculousness of how hard this is sometimes? And I'm curious about how intentional is it? [00:14:39] Are there like pillars that you try to hit when you put content out? Like it must hit these notes and if so, I wanna know what they are. [00:14:47] Jeanine: Yeah, we really do because I think you're absolutely right for us. And I'll just share a little bit behind the scenes for the city moms, in terms of the tone and voice that we are always after in virtually every piece of our content. [00:14:59] I think this also comes out of my marketing and advertising background, but, the voice and the tone in the brand that we are always aspiring to be. Is your best friend growing up and your best friend growing up was the person you confided everything to Similar to me, screaming at Sarah about Drew Barrymore. [00:15:18] This is the pers there's your first call, that's your first call, your first text. But your best friend's sister, her older sister growing up was the coolest girl that you ever met. She was the girl that had the full pull out posters on her wall. She had the Dr. Pepper lip smackers, she was watching the Hills, and she was the girl that you're like, I wanna be her when I grow up. [00:15:40] She's the person that is just a few steps ahead from where you are , in your current life. [00:15:45] Danielle: Yeah. [00:15:45] Jeanine: stage. And you are constantly keeping an eye on her. That voice, that older sister is the one that we always aspire our city moms brand to be. Because we have been there, we have sat in those shoes. We have experienced a lot of the mess. [00:16:00] But that doesn't mean that we are completely. Removed and away from it. It means that we are just a couple days ahead of where our city mom might be and all of our content will always ladder into that voice to say, yeah, we know it sucks 'cause we've been there. [00:16:17] For us, I think what's so critical when we're selecting what content we wanna put out, so the humor that you see in a lot of our Instagram content . Is something that really is a great way to be super relatable and just, share a lot of those similar moments. The one we posted yesterday, [00:16:33] but, in case anyone wants to go back, either the reel that we posted yesterday is from a creator named Sam, and she's sitting on her bed thinking and speaking aloud saying, why did I say that I was so busy before I had kids? What was I even doing before I was a mom? And I think all of us in motherhood and truly in adulthood [00:16:55] Danielle: mm-hmm. [00:16:56] Jeanine: Have had that moment where even like, what did I do with my time? Like, what on earth was I filling my hours with? [00:17:02] That to be able to have kind of those humorous moments, I think is really critical to making sure that we're connecting with our City mom followers and, prospective, members too. [00:17:14] Danielle: That type of humor makes you feel seen. Yes. It helps you feel seen. And I think some, especially someone who like will grab the shovel and help dig into like the pits of experience with clients, some having the levity. If there was ever a myth I wish I could bust about therapy and community, whether it's group or a community like city moms or any extension when you find that type of connection, yes, you can have like with a best friend or a best friend's older sister, you can have those moments where it may be a tear or two are shed, but when somebody sees you. [00:17:51] There's laughter that happens in every therapy session that either I've participated in my own therapy or have led somebody else through. There is something about the truth, especially the truth that you try so hard to avoid or that this is the one thing I just need to keep tucked in my drawer and never let anybody see. [00:18:07] But then you see somebody else has it and you're like, oh, , you have that dress too. Oh my God. Yes, [00:18:13] Jeanine: yes, yes. Absolutely. And I think too, what's, really critical in doing that is just knowing that you are not living a path that is completely unpaved. [00:18:25] It is so hard in. Those moments when you've had two hours of sleep. It's so hard in those moments when you're like, are we ever gonna get past this phase? But I think what brings so much comfort along the way is knowing that there are other women that have done that. [00:18:38] And for us, that's why it's so critical to have a community that is supportive of each other and really allows you to be in those vulnerable moments with others. [00:18:48] Danielle: What do you think attracts people to you and to your organization? [00:18:51] Because like anything that you're highlighting could also be Googled. Yeah. But there's a way that you offer it and there's a way that you present it that is, it simplifies. It's reliable. There's like this bubbly, sparkling champagne effervescence to it. It just makes it a little shinier. [00:19:09] Jeanine: That's such a good question. I don't, there's some days when I'm like, I have no idea. You're like, we've been doing this for so many years, what are we doing? I really think it's because, and to use your phrase, feeling seen. [00:19:20] And feeling seen and being a part of an club that is all, inclusive and allows everyone to be a part of it. Even in some of our content where we're sharing events that we might have put on for just our membership, so not even just our social media, following our, editorial readers, the people that see us and broadcast and tv, but we do have this community of members as well. [00:19:42] So when we put on these membership events, that are a little more exclusive, we love to share those out with the phrase, steal this idea, because then it becomes less, this is only available to these specific women or these specific members and make it a, this can be your idea too. So steal this idea. [00:20:02] We ordered pizza and we set up a really fun style party, or picnic set up in a park and we didn't invite kids. It was just moms and we gabbed for the entire evening and we had a blast. Yeah, and you should steal this idea too, because it doesn't need to just be ours. [00:20:19] Danielle: I can feel now how that falls. [00:20:20] So in line with your idea of, we wanna be your best friend's, big sister, because that's what they would do. Listen, just take the shirt. You can keep it. It doesn't fit me anymore. I love that. Not only is it generous, but it speaks to, I think with time and experience you realize, oh, there's always gonna be more for me. [00:20:36] So why gate keep it like there's always gonna be more. So you just have some of this. You can share some of this magic. That's so beautiful. Has your mission changed? Since you first started, has it grown or is it kind of the same? [00:20:48] Jeanine: It's evolved. I mean, initially the mission and the focus was always just to create this membership community. [00:20:55] And that would be it. And we just had this, community of women here in Indianapolis. The change happened and evolved in COVID because as everyone knows, COVID forced so many of us home. That ability to connect in person no longer existed. In COVID, we held for our membership a daily call at four o'clock on Zoom that allowed our members to just get on and just have people. [00:21:20] We had moms that were like, I've been in my backyard all day. We had moms that were like, I cannot play with Play-Doh anymore. I just need to have an adult to talk to. It started. With the realization that we couldn't be together in person any longer and we needed to make a shift. [00:21:37] And in making that shift, what we found was that our brand exploded nationally. So it went from we are moms in Indianapolis, to, we are moms that everyone across the nation can now connect with because we are all living the same life together. And it never slowed down. So when we look at the breakout of our following in our audience right now, about 30% of that is in the Midwest and very quickly growing. [00:22:03] But the other pockets are New York. Texas, California. And, it just is such an incredible realization that, what started as this very local idea became a steal. This idea, let's all do this. [00:22:17] And on a much bigger scale. So, now we have this wonderful platform. Our number one driver is certainly Instagram because that's where we, I mean, as almost all women in our age group. [00:22:30] Yeah. We live, we love it. Yeah. So Instagram's kind of our number one. A channel, I would say our second is, broadcast tv. [00:22:38] Danielle: Mm-hmm. [00:22:39] Jeanine: So in COVID, a lot of broadcast stations around the country, also had to shift to a Zoom model and Yep. Desperately needed content. and started reaching out to us because we provided a lot of lifestyle content. [00:22:51] The here tips for keeping your kids, safe in the new COVID world. Here are tips for planning kids being at home during back to school. And it, we grew from that and we are now in nine different TV broadcast markets around the Midwest. [00:23:04] Danielle: Wow. [00:23:05] Jeanine: In addition to segments we do across the country. [00:23:07] Danielle: Those segments. I mean, not only are they, fun to look at, but they also provide great information. So when everybody listening goes to city moms.org, you'll be able to see all the media outlets that they've been on. [00:23:19] All those clips are saved there. It's like in this beautiful little library bank that you can watch. So it sounds like it's changed, it's grown rapidly. Beyond, or I would say even within the container of the community that you've created in Indianapolis, there's also a growing community for the business itself. [00:23:35] There's many direct reports and people who are working within the city moms organization, and also supporting in other ways. So I'm curious, just from a business owner standpoint, how has that, 'cause that, as your community expanded, it's also like the call's coming from within the house, there's growth happening inside too. [00:23:53] What has that been like? [00:23:55] Jeanine: It's been incredible. , Because again, we really thought that, in initially creating this community, we were going to live as a micro kind of nano events community would probably be the best way to put it. Or we put on events for our members and we would just keep putting on events for members. [00:24:09] And we had our social channels to share out some of that information. But I thought for a long time that it was just gonna be isolated in this teeny circle. And now, we have a extremely popular blog. We have a digital editor, an entire writing staff that works under her. We have a completely female, based staff. [00:24:28] Every member on our team is female. We've got this digital editor writing staff under her. We have a content team separate from the writing staff. They are the ones that go out and gather a lot of the content that we put across social and broadcast. We have project management team for all of our brand sponsorships that we work on. [00:24:47] Our newest hire is a Pinterest expert, which has been so fun. Pinterest is one of those sleeper cells that, not a lot of emphasis gets put on for lifestyle media brands, and we've decided to invest a person in that. She does a wonderful job at getting our editorial and our broadcast out in Pinterest. [00:25:06] And then, there's Sarah and I who provide leadership Sarah has been a co-partner now for, four months, or we're going into our fourth months together. So we're still figuring out those little funnels right now. We're just having fun, overlapping, and living everything together. [00:25:21] And where she was that first call, I made for the Drew Barrymore show, she's now my first call literally for everything. We've got this big event coming up on Saturday. We need to figure out, the backdrop we're gonna have behind that. [00:25:31] She called me yesterday and I said, Hey, work wife, because that's, we've definitely become for each other in addition to Best Friends. [00:25:38] Danielle: Yeah. Is it an instinct? Is it research? Is it a combination thereof of how you stay connected with what moms really need? Yeah. Is because , I'm a mom of littles. I have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old and almost 2-year-old. He'll be two later in August. And I, I know my experience, but you seem to have a really strong sense based on the way people are really connected to this community, of staying connected with what mothers specifically really need. And I'm curious how you stay current with that, or is it more that the needs really haven't changed? [00:26:15] Jeanine: No, I think that, for us, because we have such a large staff, [00:26:20] and for the most part, the majority of those women are mothers. [00:26:24] Danielle: Yeah. [00:26:24] Jeanine: All of us are living a different little phase of motherhood. [00:26:28] I have teens, Sarah has 12, 10, and eight. Our photographer Brittany has four and two just like you. So everyone is living in a different stage and I think not only do we have each other from our team perspective but because we have our membership community who is most certainly living all of this. [00:26:47] We are able to lean on their experiences in addition to our own. [00:26:52] And then, one of the biggest things that I really implore our team to do is listen and constantly listen about what city mom and we call our avatar is city mom. And, regardless, again, if she's a member or if she's a follower of our brand and another channel, we call her city mom. So I'm always pushing to listen to city mom, listen to where city mom is right now, what things are the hurdles in her life, what she's up against. [00:27:19] And listening is the most important thing because the last thing that I wanna do in managing and running a brand and spearheading a brand is to not listen and just assume. I think when I also talk about voice, one of the biggest things that, we've talked about as a team as well, is I'm hearing a lot of we [00:27:39] and I'm not hearing enough of you. And by that I mean. We can't come out and say, we know that you're so tired. We know that you're doing all of these things and say, you're telling us that you're tired. You're telling us that you need some space or you need some tips on this. And by making that switch in kind of that voice that helps city mom understand that we are listening, [00:28:02] Danielle: Ooh. [00:28:03] That is a, that's a really powerful language shift. And it's amazing how adjusting a word from a we to a u can really make something washed and vague to very specific and like straight to the heart. I think that there's something too. The language of clarifying what is a really a we what is a you and it speaks straight to the heart of what I think we want, which is to be seen. [00:28:30] There's something about your community that doesn't beat you over the head with messaging. That's one thing that I was really impressed with , is that you get the sense of the essence of what you're saying, but there's not like a slogan. But the sense of the community is so clear. [00:28:47] Jeanine: Yeah. [00:28:47] Danielle: Which I find really beautiful. [00:28:49] Jeanine: I appreciate that. I think, one of the things that we've forever wrestled with was, is really that idea of sales. [00:28:56] I am, I and my team has heard me say this a number of times. I've always been a bigger fan of storytelling over sales and, storytelling kind of an experience as opposed to, you should buy in today. Deadline is this day, you gotta get in now, join here. This is the link. Because we get sold on almost everything across our lives. [00:29:18] And it's, something as little as, the gym to making a donation to a school, your kid's school to just, everything else you can think of under the sun. To me, it's important to continue promoting the essence of a community that you belong to as opposed to an idea that you need to buy into with dollars. [00:29:37] And, that's one of the reasons that we transformed the city moms into a completely free membership. [00:29:43] That also came out of COVID and hearing a lot of city moms say, I have to make some concessions right now. We had to shut off Netflix. We're not doing our Netflix subscription anymore because we're just so worried about budget. [00:29:56] And, that 9 99 a month that we were initially charging for membership, I was like, no. Done. That's out. [00:30:03] Danielle: Never [00:30:03] Jeanine: We will never go back to a paid membership. It will always be free because it needs to be accessible to everyone. [00:30:10] Danielle: So taking away a paid membership that sure, that money was budgeted and allocated for you to operate what you do, it sounded like it was absolutely the right call for your community and your business, but how did you know that that would work? [00:30:26] Or did you [00:30:27] Jeanine: It didn't. No. For a little bit it didn't work, and I'll say that because I think. A lot of us are parts of, Facebook communities that are very, spirited, maybe in some ways that, bring a lot of entertainment. And we were nervous that that would essentially be the transformation that we would undergo. [00:30:47] But, we have all members incoming. Agree to specific member guidelines. And, the number one guideline that is in there is every mom, parents in her own perfect way. And we use that specific language because, in some of similar to a lot of things that we've talked about, the fact is we're all doing our absolute best that we can. And you need to be able to have some space held for you to do that. [00:31:13] Rather than us identify our community based on your specific parenting model, we said, Hey, everyone is welcome here and we're going to honor you for being the parent that you are because we are all parenting in our own perfect way. [00:31:26] Danielle: Yeah. And nobody knows. Yes. No one has any, nobody knows. [00:31:31] That's always the gift of captain Hindsight, who comes in after a crisis and it's what should have happened? It's you know what studies are showing now. You're like, where were you before? I, I, so you talked about, advertising and with all of the products and content and methodologies that are targeted to parents, but more specifically moms, what are the values that you look for when you're filtering through? Who do you partner with? Who do you highlight? Who do you say yes to? Like, what's the value that you're really looking to offer? [00:32:02] Jeanine: I'm so glad you're asking that because, I think the space that we sit in. We often are, seeing a lot of influencers and content creators that they are really working hard to grow their brand and do that by signing with any partner that they can. And you find that there can be a real, I don't wanna say a moral gap because again, I'm just coming off saying everyone parents their own perfect way. [00:32:25] So everyone pulls content and creates content in their own perfect way. But, in, looking and evaluating the partners that we wanna work with, it's really critical to us that they offer a strong, supportive, product or experience for our members and for our followers. We do a lot of partnership with tourism, with attractions, that offer something for you to really be highlighted as the queen of your family. [00:32:51] 'cause you're like, Hey. We're gonna go to Nashville for the weekend, and I've been able to put together a whole itinerary, thanks to the city moms maybe tipping me off about a couple things. But now I've gone out and sourced this great itinerary, or I have been able to enhance our nursery because we found this one product that the city moms recommended. [00:33:09] All of that to say it's really important to us. We spend a lot of time vetting the products that we suggest we spend a lot of time working with or having conversations with the brands that we bring in. That's never just a, Hey, we want to, compensate you X and you guys promote us, and we'll be like, okay, perfect. [00:33:25] There's a lot of time that we spend really making sure that is going to make a lot of sense. In fact, one of my favorite things to say is, no, Sarah will tell everyone this. [00:33:33] Danielle: Tell me more about that. [00:33:34] Jeanine: Yes. Just did this yesterday. I love when we are being, approached by a particular brand or a client or prospective partner. [00:33:41] And I love going through that vetting process and saying, you know what? We spent some time looked into this and this isn't gonna work for us. Case in point, the brand I turned down yesterday is something that we actually use a lot. Sarah and I are big fans of a couple of their products. [00:33:57] Danielle: Mm-hmm. [00:33:58] Jeanine: And they approached us about a new launch they're doing and said, we would love to ship you, two of the new products, but we want all of this content, you need to send it to us for review. [00:34:08] You can only post on the dates that we want. You need to release it all to us that we can use it for our future advertising. By the way, the cost of the products that we're sending you in total is $300. And, the amount of media that was gonna be attached to that from our side was about $5,000. [00:34:26] We have a staff I need to pay, we have a team that, relies on us. We have a full following that relies on us to make sure that we're being authentic in what we are bringing forward. I talked to Sarah about it a little bit and I said, I'm gonna tell them no. And I'm gonna say there's a big value gap here. [00:34:41] Not just from the official bottom line kind of payment side of this, but also because I never wanna put someone into a brand consideration when that brand's not considering them. Just considering their own needs and their own drivers. [00:34:56] Danielle: Oh, that's so strong. And not an answer I expected, but when I so appreciated on a personal level, a professional level. [00:35:04] I don't know, if you've ever done Myers-Briggs, it's a test that Oh yeah. There's so many beautiful like personality assessment profiles, but I'm an extroverted, intuitive feeler perceiver, so I'm all the, ooey, gooey side, the mussies. And, when I see people who maybe from the outside seem to have a very discerning methodology for how they make decisions. [00:35:23] I find that so appealing because I'm such a heart led gut check, first kind of person, I don't always know why it's a yes or a no yet. It's like I feel it first, and then it works its way up into my brain and then whatever reasoning is sort of filtered through will come from that. [00:35:41] But I love that you saw value in yourself, how you believed in the value of what you offer, and you also saw the gap in representing that product or that brand, that didn't fully appreciate the value you were. I just, I love that answer so much. I'll be thinking about that after this, so thank you. [00:36:01] Jeanine: Yes, absolutely. [00:36:02] Danielle: Absolutely. You have a new membership experience starting. [00:36:05] We do very, very soon. This episode, I believe, will be being released mid-August, so, we could safely say it's live, what do you want people to know about what's coming and as far as what you can say, what do you want people to know so that if they wanna participate, get involved, they can. [00:36:23] Jeanine: So our new city moms membership is, officially launching to our, we will be, rolling it out to our existing members starting August 1st, and then it will be available to everyone starting, early September. [00:36:34] Danielle: Awesome. [00:36:36] Jeanine: So we are shifting into a different platform than we have used previously. It's called Circle and it's a wonderful space where we not only can have our full national city mom community, you're gonna find chat groups where you can connect with other city moms across the country there, because, me having like toddler woes in Indianapolis is no different from something having toddler woes in Seattle, Washington. [00:37:01] So why shouldn't you have access to that mom and her, lines of recommendation and such. So we'll have these national chat groups. We also have an opportunity, we'll be doing a lot of lives inside the community that are member exclusive, that we can connect you to some of these, brands and partners that we work with. [00:37:17] And then we are doing nano communities inside of that so that you can hyper connect with women inside your own city. So Indianapolis obviously will be our first big pilot there, but we have Dallas and Cincinnati that are also existing inside, that nano community area. And we have, three other cities that we think are going to be quickly following in 2026 as well. [00:37:40] Danielle: That's so incredible. Congratulations. It sounds like your own city mom social network. Yes. Yes, it totally is. I'm excited for everybody who's an existing member to get to benefit from that. And then the new members who continue to join to get involved in that. [00:37:55] That's incredible. [00:37:57] Jeanine: Thank you. Yeah, it's been one of Sarah's biggest passion projects as she's been getting her feet wet and she's done an incredible job with it. The other really exciting benefit is there are perks, not only for our national members, but then in your hyper local communities too. [00:38:11] So, here in Indianapolis, we've got some great perks with, the Ile Jordan Museum, with the Children's Museum, even dry bar, face Foundry, 'cause we need space for us too, all of those exclusive perks will be part of that too. [00:38:25] Danielle: Beautiful. So not just stuff for the family, but also like ways for moms to take care of themselves too. Exactly. Gorgeous. Yes. Well, Janine, I would be remiss if I signed off without asking you about your, don't cut your own bangs moment because I, it is good. So if you are good taking it away, I would love to hear [00:38:43] Jeanine: yeah. I just wanna tell you, I love this so much. I've listened to so many of your other podcasts and these are the moments I just feel like really are the ones that sit with me the most so I'm so thrilled that you have this as kind of just, that final vehicle to the podcast content. [00:38:59] But mine's a little different because there is, a little sadness tied to it, but it brings a great lesson. [00:39:05] Danielle: Yeah. [00:39:05] Jeanine: So I had mentioned that I worked in advertising for 10 years. I worked on the agency side and I was working in Detroit at the time. And I had a newborn. My daughter was a newborn, and then I had my son who was three years old at the time, and my client was based out of Germany. [00:39:25] It's a very large grocery chain that happens to be based in Germany and they have a lot of outputs here in the US And at the time, we were all going through just a horrible recession in the world. And I was working about 60 to 70 hours a week. Advertising is one of those, especially on agency side. [00:39:44] It's one of those industries. It is go, go, go. And it is never stopping. My husband also works in advertising. It's actually how we met. He at the time was doing about 90 hours a week. We never saw each other, we rarely saw the kids. So my day normally started around 3:00 AM because that's when the German, office was open. [00:40:03] And it normally coincided with the time I was feeding my newborn in the middle of the night. So I would have my phone with me, feeding her, scrolling through email and catching up with the German team, put her back to sleep. Then, I would get up around six when my toddler was awake and finally get the two of them off to daycare. [00:40:18] And I made the decision, which a male boss of mine later told me was selfish to go work out at a gym that was halfway between daycare and, work every day. So I didn't get into the office until around 8 45. Technically our office started at nine. I would work absolutely all day and then race out of my office at 5 51 because if I could leave at 5 51, I could literally run down the street to our parking garage, get in my car, drive as fast as I could at daycare and be there before the seven minute grace period was over. [00:40:50] Danielle: You had it down to the minute? [00:40:52] Jeanine: Down to the minute and. It was coming at a time where it was just, I was so burnt out. My husband was so burnt out this one day I got to daycare. My kids were always the final ones getting picked up. And I had a phrase for my toddler at the time where I'd always say, mommy always comes back. [00:41:11] I would say that to him every morning when I dropped him off. And I ran into daycare this day and my son was crying. I could hear him in the toddler room. So I grabbed the newborn. She was already in her carrier. And then I went in to pick him up and he's crying. And I said, honey, I'm here. [00:41:26] And I got down and gave him a hug. And I said, sweetie, what do I always say? Mommy always comes, Ooh, this makes me tear up. Even think about all this years later. And he goes Last, mommy always comes last. And that was the most soul crushing thing I had ever heard in my life. And I cried the entire way home. [00:41:47] Danielle: Mm-hmm. [00:41:48] Jeanine: And we put the kids down to bed after dinner and after their bath, and I turned to my husband, I said, we cannot do this anymore. I'm done. We're done. We can't keep this schedule going. This is just, this is not gonna sustain us anymore. And we made the decision that night that was the end of this work experience for us. [00:42:08] And, we immediately put resumes and feelers out and that is what made, the transition to Indianapolis possible. It took months, but we eventually found ourselves here and it was the best decision that we ever made. [00:42:21] And what it all came down to was in my don't cut your own bangs moment, was it is okay to say no. It is okay to take that stop. And is it okay to invest in yourself and your family if that's what really matters to you? I think maybe that's what the critical note is. It's okay to invest what matters to you. [00:42:39] To me, that has always been the moment that I have seen as a turning point and, has really been probably the most critical thing for me. [00:42:48] Danielle: Thank you so much for that story that my whole body, it was waves and waves went through, with that and you, when you said it earlier in the interview, but I can really feel the truth of that in a different way. [00:43:05] That you love saying no. Yeah, because I think what I hear in that is it's a fully embodied no is also a yes to something else. [00:43:17] Jeanine: Yes, [00:43:18] Danielle: it is its own. Yes. Like I'm saying no to this offer to position your brand. And I'm saying yes to my integrity. I'm saying no to the needs and the demands that this company and this industry has for me and my life. [00:43:35] And I'm saying yes to my son. Yeah, my infant, like I'm saying yes to me. Oh, I, that reminded me, I hadn't thought of this in so long, but it brought me back to when I. Made the decision to start my, when my husband and I made the decision to start to try to get pregnant, the journey was, knowing what I know now, far less complicated than it is for many. [00:44:01] But it didn't happen the way I thought it would. And that is almost always where suffering comes from me. When there's an unmet expectation and I could, you're taught your whole life. It's like if you look at a penis or sit on a toilet seat wrong you never know how you're gonna get pregnant. So when you first start trying it like, what do you mean it didn't happen right away? What do you mean? My first pregnancy I was a new-ish therapist. I think I had been practicing for, I'm gonna say two and a half, two and a half-ish years, three, maybe three. [00:44:28] But I had, the process of going back to grad school, finding I didn't have the credits I needed to even qualify to apply to the grad program. All of this work and effort. It was like once I set my sights on, I think this is something I want for myself, there was almost immediately after, oh my God. [00:44:46] But I figured that out so late in life and I gotta go, go, go, go, go. So I burnt myself to a crisp getting through all of the hoops I needed to get through to do the job. And I didn't realize the grind on my body, on my mind, on my life. I just didn't see it. I joked that it felt like the road runner and coyote running off the cliff and you didn't realize you were over the cliff until you looked down and my moment of looking down and falling was when I lost that first pregnancy. [00:45:14] And, I don't blame myself for it. It's not that. But there was a clarity in the grief and I think the grief I felt in my own body. Yeah. Your son spoke his truth to you. I felt like my body was, the grief in my body was revealing a truth to me that I wasn't willing to see, which was [00:45:36] there's no room for me in this life that I've built and I have to cut back. And it brought up like being a good girl, being a strong woman, being a strong feminist, being a diligent employee, being reliable, all of these roles and these external things that I was chasing in the pursuit of being really good at my job. [00:45:58] Mm-hmm. That loss was just, oh, actually none of this matters as much as I thought it did. Not that it doesn't matter, but it didn't matter because I thought it did and my hours cut dramatically back and it didn't work for the practice that I was working for before the hours that I would be willing to do. [00:46:18] But then I realized with my husband's support that, oh, I actually can go out on my own. And life has unfolded. It wasn't like magically overnight any more than city moms was created magically, overnight. But it got you to Indianapolis. Mm-hmm. It's like the breadcrumb trail that you were following to freedom led you to something so beautiful that you probably couldn't have imagined at that day at your son's daycare picking them up. [00:46:43] Jeanine: Absolutely. And I think, it's kind of the power of listening and that's one of the things I love so much about your podcast is being able to listen to the other stories that come from your guests and really, that you have the ability to tease out such a gift and clearly the path that you have followed has allowed you to be there too, in, that space of, [00:47:05] beauty and it's just, it's wonderful. [00:47:08] Danielle: Thank you. Thank you, Janine. Thank you so much. I'm going to bring us to a close 'cause we can't get any better. That was so, great. I will definitely encourage, again, for everybody listening to please visit the show notes before you click back into your life and take your AirPods out or, get off of your walk or wherever you are in life. [00:47:29] Like to hop over the show notes, check out city moms, follow them on social media. They make it very easy to find what you need to know, so all the places you can follow them. [00:47:37] But thank you again. Thank you. Thank you Janine. And, [00:47:40] Jeanine: Thank you so much for having me. [00:47:42] ​ [00:47:42] ​ [00:47:44] ​ [00:48:52] ​ [00:50:11] Thank you so much for joining me in this week's episode of Don't Cut Your Own Bangs. I hope that you enjoyed listening because I thoroughly enjoyed making it. Before you hop away, please check out the show notes, everything that we mentioned here in this conversation, as well as links that you can stay connected with me. As well as everything needed to connect with city moms. Please remember to rate and review and subscribe to the podcast. It helps the podcast grow. It helps other people find this that could benefit from it too. Thank you so much for being here. [00:50:37] Your attention means the world, and I hope you continue to have a wonderful day.

Doug Lynam is here today to share about his new book, Taming Your Money Monster. Doug shares his unconventional life journey from a Marine Corps officer to a Benedictine monk for 20 years, where he confronted the inescapability of money even in a monastery and how he later transitioned to become a professional money manager focused on teaching healthier, ethical relationships with money. He discusses how people develop "money monsters"—unhealthy money habits tied to psychological attachment styles. He stresses that while thriftiness is valuable, it should not come at the cost of compassion or love. We discuss... Doug explains his "attachment theory of money," comparing unhealthy money relationships to attachment styles in psychology, with anxious and avoidant money behaviors. He highlights how people often show mixed money attachments across the four pillars of finance: earning, saving, investing, and giving. Doug reflects on his monastic life as a quest to understand the meaning of life and spiritual unity, which influences his compassionate approach to money. They discuss the impact of upbringing on money attitudes, using Doug's father as an example of anxious earning and avoidant saving driven by early scarcity and trauma. Kirk and Doug talk about cultural and generational influences on thriftiness and money control, including weaponizing money as a form of control. They explore parenting approaches, emphasizing the importance of setting firm but loving boundaries to teach children respect for money and responsibility. Doug warns against conditional love based on behavior, advocating for unconditional affection alongside clear consequences. Doug introduces the Enneagram personality system as a key tool in understanding financial behaviors and emotional patterns related to money, promising to explain it further. Unlike the more fixed Myers-Briggs system, the Enneagram offers a fluid growth framework that guides emotional and spiritual development over time. Personal experiences with anger are shared, highlighting how generational values around toughness and self-control shape how anger is handled. The Enneagram is described as having a spiritual layer that underpins common virtues found in many religions, such as honesty and courage. Doug stresses that meaningful transformation takes effort and mental work—there are no quick fixes—and that sustained self-awareness and practice are essential. Today's Panelists: Kirk Chisholm | Innovative Wealth Barbara Friedberg | Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance Douglas Heagren | Pro College Planners Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moneytreepodcast Follow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/money-tree-investing-podcast Follow on Twitter/X: https://x.com/MTIPodcast For more information, visit the show notes at https://moneytreepodcast.com/taming-your-money-monster-doug-lynam-734 

In this episode of the FutureCraft GTM Podcast, hosts Ken Roden and Erin Mills reunite with returning favorite Liza Adams to discuss the current state of AI adoption in marketing teams. Liza shares insights on why organizations are still struggling with the same human change management challenges from a year ago, despite significant advances in AI technology. The conversation covers practical frameworks for AI implementation, the power of digital twins, and Liza's approach to building hybrid human-AI marketing teams. The episode features Liza's live demonstration in our new Gladiator segment, where she transforms a dense marketing report into an interactive Jeopardy game using Claude Artifacts. Unpacking AI's Human Challenge Liza returns with a reality check: while AI tools have dramatically improved, the fundamental challenge remains human adoption and change management. She reveals how one marketing team successfully built a 45-person organization with 25 humans and 20 AI teammates, starting with simple custom GPTs and evolving into sophisticated cross-functional workflows. The Digital Twin Strategy: Liza demonstrates how creating AI versions of yourself and key executives can improve preparation, challenge thinking, and overcome unconscious bias while providing a safe learning environment for teams. The 80% Rule for Practical Implementation: Why "good enough" AI outputs that achieve 80-85% accuracy can transform productivity when combined with human oversight, as demonstrated by real-world examples like translation and localization workflows. Prompt Strategy Over Prompt Engineering: Liza explains why following prompt frameworks isn't enough—you need strategic thinking about what questions to ask and how to challenge AI outputs for better results. 00:00 Introduction and Balance Quote 00:22 Welcome Back to FutureCraft 01:28 Introducing Liza Adams 03:58 The Unchanged AI Adoption Challenge 06:30 Building Teams of 45 (25 Humans, 20 AI) 09:06 Digital Twin Framework and Implementation 17:34 The 80% Rule and Real ROI Examples 25:31 Prompt Strategy vs Prompt Engineering 26:02 Measuring AI Impact and ROI 28:21 Handling Hallucinations and Quality Control 32:50 Gladiator Segment: Live Jeopardy Game Creation 40:00 The Future of Marketing Jobs 47:49 Why Balance Beats EQ as the Critical Skill 51:09 Rapid Fire Questions and Wrap-Up Edited Transcript: Introduction: The Balance Between AI and Human Skills As AI democratizes IQ, EQ becomes increasingly important. Critical thinking and empathy are important, but I believe as marketers, balance is actually more important. Host Updates: Leveraging AI Workflows Ken Roden shares his approach to building better AI prompts by having full conversations with ChatGPT, exporting them to Word documents, then using that content to create more comprehensive prompts. This method resulted in more thorough market analysis with fewer edits required. Erin Mills discusses implementing agentic workflows using n8n to connect different APIs and build systems where AI tools communicate with each other. The key insight: break workflows down into steps rather than having one agent handle multiple complex tasks. Guest Introduction: Liza Adams on AI Adoption Challenges Liza Adams, the AI MarketBlazer, returns to discuss the current state of AI adoption in marketing teams. Despite significant technological advances, organizations still struggle with the same human change management challenges from a year ago. The Core Problem: Change Management Over Technology The main issue isn't about AI tools or innovation - teams can't simply be given ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity and be expected to maximize their potential. Marketing teams are being handed tools while leaders expect employees to figure out implementation themselves. People need to see themselves in AI use cases that apply to their specific jobs. Joint learning sessions where teams share what works and what doesn't are essential. The focus has over-pivoted to "what's the right tool" when it should be on helping people understand, leverage, and make real impact with AI. The AI Adoption Plateau Many organizations face an AI adoption plateau where early adopters have already implemented AI, but a large group struggles with implementation. Companies attempting to "go fully agentic" or completely redo workflows in AI are taking on too much at once. Success Story: The 45-Person Hybrid Team Liza shares a case study of a marketing team with 45 members: 25 humans and 20 AI teammates that humans built, trained, and now manage. They started with simple custom GPTs, beginning with digital twins. Digital Twin Strategy for AI Implementation Digital twins are custom GPTs trained on frameworks, thinking patterns, publicly available content, and personality assessments like Myers-Briggs. These aren't designed to mimic humans but to learn about them and find blind spots, challenge thinking patterns, and overcome unconscious bias. For executive preparation, team members use digital twins of leadership to anticipate questions, identify gaps in presentations, and prepare responses before important meetings. The progression: Simple digital twins → Function-specific GPTs (pitch deck builders, content ideators, campaign analyzers) → Chained workflows across multiple departments (marketing, sales, customer success). Prompt Strategy vs. Prompt Engineering Following prompt frameworks (GRACE: Goals, Role, Action, Context, Examples) isn't enough if the underlying thinking is basic. AI magnifies existing thinking quality - good or bad. Example: Instead of asking "How do I reduce churn?" ask "Can you challenge my assumption that this is a churn problem? Could this data indicate an upsell opportunity instead?" This transforms churn problems into potential revenue opportunities through different strategic thinking. The 80% Rule for Practical AI Implementation AI outputs achieving 80-85% accuracy can transform productivity when combined with human oversight. Example: A team reduced translation and localization costs from tens of thousands of dollars monthly to $20/month using custom GPTs for eight languages, with human review for the final 15-20%. Measuring AI ROI: Three Strategic Approaches Align with Strategic Initiatives: Connect AI projects to existing company strategic initiatives that already have budgets, resources, and executive attention. Focus on Biggest Pain Points: Target areas where teams will invest resources to solve problems - excessive agency costs, overworked teams, or poor quality processes. Leverage Trailblazers: Identify curious team members already building AI solutions and scale their successful implementations. Handling AI Hallucinations and Quality Control AI models hallucinate 30-80% of the time when used as question-and-answer machines for factual queries. Hallucinations are less common with strategic questions, scenario analysis, and brainstorming. Prevention strategies: Limit conversation length and dataset size to avoid context window limitations Use multiple AI models to cross-check outputs Implement confidence checking: Ask AI to rate confidence levels (low/medium/high), explain assumptions, and identify what additional information would increase confidence Live Demo: Claude Artifacts for Interactive Content Liza demonstrates transforming the 2025 State of Marketing AI report into an interactive Jeopardy game using Claude Artifacts. The process involves uploading a PDF, providing specific prompts for game creation, and generating functional code without technical skills. This "vibe coding" approach allows users to describe desired outcomes and have AI build interactive tools, calculators, dashboards, and training materials. Future of Marketing Jobs and Skills Emerging roles: AI guides, workflow orchestrators, human-AI team managers Disappearing roles: Language editors, basic researchers, repetitive design tasks Transforming roles: Most existing positions adapting to include AI collaboration Critical skill for the future: Balance Innovation with ethics Automation with human touch Personalization with transparency Balance may be more important than emotional intelligence as AI democratizes cognitive capabilities. Key Takeaways The Gladiator segment demonstrates how dense research reports can become engaging, interactive content without engineering resources. Making AI implementation fun helps teams stay balanced and avoid overwhelm. Success comes from starting with tiny AI wins rather than comprehensive strategies, focusing on human change management over tool selection, and building systems that augment rather than replace human creativity. This version removes the conversational back-and-forth while preserving all the searchable content people would look for when researching AI implementation, digital twins, prompt strategy, change management, and practical AI use cases. Stay tuned for more insightful episodes from the FutureCraft podcast, where we continue to explore the evolving intersection of AI and GTM. Take advantage of the full episode for in-depth discussions and much more. ----more---- To listen to the full episode and stay updated on future episodes, visit the FutureCraft GTM website. Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and do not represent those of any company or business we currently work for/with or have worked for/with in the past.

On this episode of “Random Fit,” hosts, and NASM Master Instructors, Wendy Batts, and Ken Miller, dive into the fascinating intersection of fitness and personality. Have you ever wondered why some workouts leave you energized, while others feel like a chore? Or why certain clients thrive in group classes, while others prefer the peace of solo sessions? The hosts break down the science—and art—of matching movement with unique personality types. Drawing on well-known personality assessments like Myers-Briggs, the Big Five (OCEAN model), and the DISC assessment, the duo explain how understanding personal tendencies can lead to a more enjoyable and sustainable fitness journey. They share stories from their own experiences as personal trainers, including why finding the right “client-trainer match” is crucial for long-term success and motivation. Listeners will learn how traits like conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience can influence not just workout preferences but even broader lifestyle and health outcomes. With practical advice, Wendy and Ken encourage trainers and fitness enthusiasts to use personality insights to customize their fitness approaches, ensuring that workouts aren't just effective—but enjoyable. Whether you're a fitness professional looking for new tools, or just curious about your own exercise habits, this episode provides actionable tips and food for thought. Tune in and discover why the best fitness formula starts with understanding yourself from the inside out. If you like what you just consumed, leave us a 5-star review, and share this episode with a friend to help grow our NASM health and wellness community! The content shared in this podcast is solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek out the guidance of your healthcare provider or other qualified professional. Any opinions expressed by guests and hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASM. Introducing NASM One, the membership for trainers and coaches. For just $35/mo., get unlimited access to over 300 continuing education courses, 50% off additional certifications and specializations, EDGE Trainer Pro all-in-one coaching app to grow your business, unlimited exam attempts and select waived fees. Stay on top of your game and ahead of the curve as a fitness professional with NASM One. Click here to learn more. https://bit.ly/4ddsgrm

Joe Kuhn, also known as Joe Kuhn Loves Retirement on YouTube, discusses career tips, life, work, and the Myers Briggs in this interview.☆Check out what I'm up to!☆Hi there! I'm Joyce, a certified MBTI® Master Practitioner, Enneagram Coach, Jungian Typology Expert, Master NLP Practitioner, and Gallup® CliftonStrengths Coach.WONDERING WHICH ONE OF THE 16 PERSONALITY TYPES YOU ARE?Book a session to get my take on your type. I'd love to help guide you on your type-discovery journey!Here is my scheduling link to arrange a time with me:https://calendly.com/joycemengcoachingI charge $85 for a typing session. Another colleague of mine certified by Personality Hacker will work alongside me and we will give you our independent assessments of you.Want to go deeper? For $97, you can purchase a typing session with 1 hour of additional coaching with me.Or maybe you know your personality type already and are seeking some type-based coaching? As a trained coach, I can help you apply type concepts to all areas of your life for lasting change. The coaching session rate is $75 per hour for a bundle of 3. :)By purchasing a session, you will help support the Type Talks channel and gain personalized mentorship and guidance from an experienced industry expert with over 12 years of experience.If you'd like to get in touch, you can email me at joycemeng22@gmail.comFor those of you who are interested, I am also launching a website and releasing a typology book next year! Here's a link to my coaching website if you'd like to learn more about me and the services I offer: https://www.joycemengcoaching.com/Connect with me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoyceMeng22Like the show? Buy me a coffee! (it means the world to me): https://ko-fi.com/joycemengShow your support by becoming a monthly patron! https://ko-fi.com/joycemeng/tiersWant to know when the next Type Talks video is premiering? Join our Discord community for the latest updates! (Inactive now, looking for moderators) https://discord.gg/ksHb7fmMcm☆Check out @joekuhnlovesretirement ☆Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today's Business Challenges: https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Hero-Jumpstart-Reliability-Challenges/dp/B08C9CPPS6#ESTJ #16Types #16personalities #MBTI #Joekuhn #joekuhnlovesretirement

Long before Myers-Briggs, there were the Four Temperaments. From Hippocrates to the Church Fathers to the 21st century, this timeless model has helped people understand themselves (and each other) on a deeper level.Now, Art and Laraine Bennett bring this ancient wisdom into the modern world with fresh insight and real-life application. Discover your temperament, decode your child's baffling behavior, and turn your spouse's quirks into opportunities for deeper connection and communication. Plus don't miss Lila's surprising temperament reveal!Website: https://artandlarainebennett.com/Amazon Store: https://amzn.to/3UsPEKzNEW: Join our exclusive Rose Report community! https://lilaroseshow.supercast.com - We'll have BTS footage, ad-free episodes, monthly AMA, and early access to our upcoming guests.A big thanks to our partner, EWTN, the world's leading Catholic network! Discover news, entertainment and more at https://www.ewtn.com/ Check out our Sponsors:-Good Ranchers: https://go.goodranchers.com/lila Purchase your American Meat Delivered subscription today and get a free add-on of beef, chicken, or salmon! Use code LILA for $40 off! -EveryLife: https://www.everylife.com Buy diapers from an amazing pro-life diaper company and use code LILA and get 10% off!-Seven Weeks Coffee: https://www.sevenweekscoffee.com Buy your pro-life coffee with code LILA and get up to 25% off!00:00:00 - Intro00:04:50 - What are temperaments?00:07:00 - Phlegmatic00:07:46 - Melancholics00:09:37 - Sanguine00:11:06 - Good Ranchers00:12:18 - Do opposites attract?00:19:57 - EveryLife00:20:48 - Has psychology come up with anything better than temperaments?00:25:34 - Therapy and Temperaments00:29:05 - Phlegmatic II00:30:12 - Seven Weeks Coffee00:31:16 - Fixing False Notions of Others00:38:08 - Sanguine II00:40:12 - Melancholic00:46:58 - Discipline for Parents00:56:22 - Lila takes temperament test01:01:52 - Can temperament change?01:06:51 - Pairing certain temperaments for relationships

In the special segment "Today I Learned," Laura and Shanna discuss the intriguing things they have learned recently related to the world of parenting, including a mind-blowing fact about fetal DNA and the "otherworldly" origins of a popular personality assessment. Also, Shanna talks about her quest to celebrate her birthday while managing a migraine, and Laura reports on juggling work deadlines and child care during her 6-year-old's summer break. Finally, the moms share their BFPs and BFNs for the week. Shanna's kids are 6.5 and 9 years old, and Laura's kids are 6 years old and 4 years old.Topics discussed in this episode:-How to treat yourself on your birthday when you are a mom and have a migraine-Balancing work deadlines and parenting when you don't have child care-Does fetal DNA remain in a birth mom's bloodstream?-How do fetal stem cells in a birth mom's bloodstream benefit the mother?-What is the Cosmic Laboratory of Baby Training?-One of Shanna's new favorite picture books for kids-A thought-provoking idea that Laura came across in a fellow mom's SubstackProducts, links, and resources mentioned in this episode:-Burke Williams Day Spa-Non-Invasive Prenatal Test (NIPT)-The Cosmic Laboratory for Baby Training-Myers-Briggs Type Indicator-"The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing" by Merve Emre-Maintenance Phase podcast's episode on the Myers-Briggs Personality Test-"Buffalo Fluffalo" by Bess Kalb and Erin Kraan-Bess Kalb's Substack - "The Grudge Report"-Kira Cook's Substack - "The Way We Weren't"Past BFP episodes mentioned in this episode:-Ep. 367 (For Shanna's mammogram/breast biopsy check-in)This episode's full show notes can be found here.Want to get in touch with Shanna and Laura? Send us an email and follow us on social! Instagram, Facebook or TikTok at @bfppodcastJoin our Facebook community group for support and camaraderie on your parenting journey.Visit our website!Big Fat Positive: A Pregnancy and Parenting Journey is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko and Steve Yager.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What if the answer to burnout wasn't escape, but empowerment? In this transformative episode, Dr. Casey Jakubowski—educator, consultant, and founder of OK to Outstanding—joins me to unpack the real challenges and untapped potential within the profession. Together, we explore what it truly means to lead in education, even without a formal title, and how teachers can overcome imposter syndrome to embrace their inner leadership. From innovative mentoring models to creative recruitment and retention strategies, Casey shares insights that reignite purpose and inspire growth. Whether you're feeling stuck or seeking to empower those around you, this episode will challenge your thinking and elevate your leadership journey. If you're ready to go from “OK” to “outstanding,” this one's for you. About Casey Jakubowski: Dr. Casey T. Jakubowski is a dynamic leadership consultant, speaker, and educator with over two decades of experience helping individuals and organizations grow from “okay” to outstanding. Known for his passion, creativity, and unwavering commitment to servant leadership, Casey empowers teams to develop the skills, clarity, and confidence needed to lead with impact. As a nationally recognized expert in team dynamics and conflict management, Casey has successfully supported hundreds of teams—from solo entrepreneurs building their first leadership culture to large organizations navigating transformational change. His philosophy centers on one core belief: leaders grow stronger when they prioritize the growth of others. Casey has taught strategic and startup leadership at one of the top-ranked universities in the United States and has consulted across multiple industries, providing customized solutions that strengthen collaboration, boost performance, and spark innovation. A certified trainer and internationally credentialed Myers-Briggs practitioner, Casey brings research-backed strategies and real-world insight to every engagement. He is also a published author and highly regarded speaker, having presented at local, state, regional, and national events. Whether you're building leadership capacity, improving team function, or reigniting your organization's mission, Dr. Jakubowski brings the energy and expertise to guide you forward with purpose. Follow Casey Jakubowski Website: https://ctjakubowski.weebly.com/  Twitter (X): https://x.com/caseyj_edu?lang=en  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctjsolutions/?hl=en  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ctjakubowski/  ...

What Helped Me Trust My Team, Protect My Energy, and Step Into True Leadership I'll be honest—this conversation with Patrick Lencioni shook me (in the best way). If you've ever felt like running your business is way harder than it should be, or like you're carrying the weight of every single task on your back, this episode is going to be a game changer. Patrick introduces his powerful framework called the Six Types of Working Genius. It helped me understand why certain parts of my business drain me, and why trying to be “good at everything” was actually slowing me down. In this episode, we explore how to build a team that complements your strengths, how to identify the work that energizes you, and why letting go doesn't mean losing control—it means finally creating the business you thought you were building all along. If you're tired of feeling stretched thin, second-guessing your hires, or silently resenting tasks that suck the life out of you, this one's for you. HERE ARE THE 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE: 1️⃣ Your Genius Isn't What You're Good At—It's What Energizes You – Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Patrick explains how working in your genius fuels your joy, while living in your “competency” or “frustration” zones can quickly burn you out. 2️⃣ You Weren't Meant to Do It All—And That's Not a Flaw, It's the Fix – We dive into how trying to wear every hat as your business grows actually holds you back. The magic starts when you let your team do what they do best so you can lead from where you thrive. 3️⃣ Self-Awareness Is the Shortcut to Better Hires, Better Systems & Better Leadership – This framework isn't another personality quiz like Enneagram or Myers Briggs. It's a strategic tool that helps you make smarter hires, build a team that fits, and finally stop micromanaging things that were never yours to own. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Take the Working Genius Assessment: workinggenius.com Get your copy of The 6 Types of Working Genius: The Working Genius Book  Get your copy of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: The Five Dysfunctions Book MORE FROM PATRICK Learn more about Patrick tablegroup.com/pat  Follow Patrick on LinkedIn @patrick-lencioni MORE FROM ME Follow me on Instagram @amyporterfield SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Your support helps us reach more entrepreneurs who need these insights.