Podcasts about toastmasters

On this episode, Linda and Dana discuss the benefits of being a presenter or trainer, including increasing your validity in your field, generating leads, and improving brain health. They share how presenting is also considered a high-risk situation that can help you learn faster. They also emphasize the importance of learning for brain health longevity.  Linda suggests ways to improve your presentation skills, such as doing ten-minute talks or joining Toastmasters. She also advises being open to feedback and creating your own material by outlining what you want to teach and using personal stories. Dana shares Amy Porterfield's six questions as helpful prompts for creating content. Get Your Episode Guide here: https://courses.lindamckissack.com/elar-episode-guide And sign up for our live course here: https://www.everythinglifeandinfluence.com/optin168114342479616825156848431682515792652

Mohnish Pabrai's Q&A session with students at the JNV Pune on December 25, 2022.  (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:51) - Be a continuous learning machine (00:04:09) - Entrepreneurs do not take risk (00:14:12) - MLK: I have a dream (00:17:59) - What happens if I lose all my money today? (00:28:48) - Inspiration for Dakshana (00:34:36) - Super 30: Anand Kumar (00:39:48) - Toastmasters (00:44:56) - Giving back to society (00:49:15) - Buddha: The key to happiness is elimination of desire (00:54:38) - You are who your friends are

I am a seasoned Toastmaster Competent Communicator. I learned how to adapt to the needs and tastes of each audience I serve. Toastmasters has some of the best professional development out there! Helping people gain new skills and knowledge isn't only a commitment, but also a passion of mine. To be able to deliver training that MAKES A DIFFERENCE is what drives me! With over 20 years of training and development experience, I am passionate about helping you improve your relationships and effectiveness- both personal and professional. That's exactly why I've become a certified Color Code trainer – and can't wait to talk with you about this practical and EFFECTIVE analysis. HER BOOK: CHIN HAIRS AND OTHER THINGSMAMA DIDN'T TELL YOU I used to think I had a regular life. In reality, none of us have a regular life. We all have stories that have shaped us into who we are. Mine did not begin with my first chin hair – but this book does. CONTACT HER AT Home - Kelly L. Knowles (kellyknowles.net) HOST CONTACT INFORMATION: WWW.DRAJRBUTLER.COM --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/momentsofgrace/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/momentsofgrace/support

Are you tired of being told to "just practice" to improve your public speaking and podcasting confidence, only to see zero results? Public speaking is the number one phobia worldwide. What if you put yourself out there, conquered your fear, and attended a Toastmasters meeting? After experiencing the benefits of Toastmasters firsthand, I knew it was time to dare the Do The Thing community to attend a meeting. Today, I invited three Toastmasters onto the show: Gregory, Shannon, and Francine. We explore how to overcome fear and master impromptu speaking to achieve personal growth in a positive environment. Will you be ready for the next table topic? Here's how the Do The Thing Toastmasters Dare will hone your public speaking skills, push you to do hard things, and connect you with an amazing community. Connect with these fellowToastmasters: Shannon Keating: Visit shannonkeating.com, follow @shannonkeating on Instagram, and listen to the Unmasked & Open Hearted podcast. Gregory Russell Benedikt: Learn more about Gregory's coaching at gregoryrussellbenedikt.com, and remember to check out the Dare To Dream Podcast. Francine Turtz: Reach out at intervalsofgrace@gmail.com.

Brenden is going to take us into the art of public speaking and how it can help you achieve your desired outcomes! Do you want to create a lasting impact with your words and make a difference in people's lives? If so, then public speaking may be the answer you're looking for! In this episode, we'll delve into the system of becoming a great speaker or presenter and show you how to unlock your potential. We'll share practical tips and techniques to help you overcome your fear of public speaking and engage your audience like never before. From crafting persuasive messages to delivering them with confidence, we'll cover everything you need to know to become a master communicator. Our experts will guide you through the process of creating powerful presentations that resonate with your audience, leaving a lasting impression and achieving your desired outcomes. So if you're ready to take your public speaking skills to the next level and become a true influencer, tune in to our podcast and start unlocking your potential today! Links and Resources: Website: https://www.mastertalk.ca LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendenkumarasamy Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MasterTalks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/masteryourtalk Twitter: https://twitter.com/masteryourtalks Wanted to just extend a little bit of gratitude today to all of our listeners. Thank you for tuning in to Invest in Square Feet. We put in a lot of effort, a lot of work into trying to put this together and answer people's questions that they might have. I was talking to one of our guests this week and he asked a little bit of information about our listeners, and I realized that I don't necessarily know all that terribly much about who you might be. So I wanted to extend an invitation to feel free to email us at matt.shields@investinsqft.com, that is invest sq ft.com. So it's the short form of square feet. When you email us, just let us know a little bit about you and what types of things you're interested in learning more about.  All right, and so on. Invest in square feet, we unlock the secrets of wealthy entrepreneurship. I'm Matt Shields and my goal is to help you and your business protect your wealth so that you can invest passively into multi-family real estate. Today we are going to be learning from Brenden Kumarasamy. One of the most important things about being an entrepreneur, the ability to be able to communicate effectively. Brenden has some amazing tips and strategies that we're going to go over here today. These are the exact same tips and strategies that high level. Entrepreneurs, CEOs and managers all use to be able to better their ability to communicate. So no matter if you're looking to be a better presenter, a better speaker, or just a better communicator to everyone in your life in general, these are going to be some tips and strategies that you're going to be able to use to easily perfect your ability to communicate. So with that, let's get onto the tips.  For sure Matt. Excellent question. So, so for me, just to paint the picture, I'm a 22 year old kid. I'm broke, I have a phone, I have no, that's it, to record videos. I don't have no experience editing videos. I actually didn't edit any videos for the first year of, of Master Truck. It wasn't a business. I never knew you could get paid to be a coach. And the reason is not because I'm some philanthropist. It's because IBM was paying me a lot of money to work there and I was going, oh my God, like this is my future. Well, I wasn't thinking Master Talk was going to be a business. I was thinking it was going to be a hobby because that, because at the end of the day, it's like, okay, I don't have time to coach these students anymore cuz I have to work a a 70 hour a week job and provide for my family. It's time for me to go into the real world. So I'm not, I'm just making videos to just support the next generation of students and I got a crooked left arm and I start making videos in my mom's basement. That's basically how Master Talk started. So at the beginning there was no traction, but the reason I got to a thousand subscribers really quickly was because of Goodwill. Since I'd coached 70 people from the ages of 19 to 20 to a business school and I was super involved in in my community in Montreal. Everyone knew about the channel, even if it was terrible because they knew about the, the coaching I had done, and they were like, oh, well if you're making free videos. So that's really the first piece of advice comes from, I made content to solve a problem. I never created master talk to make myself famous or something I had done far from it even today. But it was more from saying, Hey, like. This small community of 70 case competition, people need this content. So if the next 10 years is another group of 70 who joined the program, there's probably 700 people who are gonna watch my stuff. I just didn't expect it to be more. And then later in life, probably nine months into Master Talk, I got really lucky, Matt. I went to Columbus, Ohio for Summative Greatness, which is a, an event that Louis, hows a podcaster, hosts in his hometown. And I met my business partner there who's 20 years older than me, and he's the one who helped me turn this into a business. Talk a little bit about, you know, some of your, your techniques, your strategies that you feel a lot of people may not necessarily understand when they, when they're looking to, to be able to speak or present or, or anything like that. Like what's, what's some of your tips to be able to make better speakers?  For sure, Matt. You know, I think what was missing in the space largely falls under three categories, and then we'll get into the tips, simplicity, practicality, and generosity. When I started Master Talk, my thought at the time, obviously I don't, I didn't articulate it as well as I do now, but at the time it was okay. The tips aren't simple enough. Because a lot of PhDs are coaching on communication and the lingo is too complicated. The second one's practicality, like how do we make communication tangible? Let's say we wanna lose weight, which isn't the case for both of us. Let's use that as an analogy. The steps are pretty simple. Eat less food. Less junk food, less soft drinks exercise regularly. If you do that for two weeks, you'll probably lose one pound, like most likely. So when you weigh yourself on that scale and you see a one pound goes down, you, you, that creates momentum. You go, wow, this is working. And then you accelerate results. That little win, that burst of energy does not exist in the communication field or at the time it wasn't communicated well and generosity, just sharing the tips for free just to help people who can't afford a coach. Which is the aim. So for me, what this boiled down to is communication is like juggling 18 balls at the same time. One of those balls is body language, one of them eye context and facial expressions. So for me, the question has simply been what are the three easiest balls to juggle? So let's start with number one. Number one is the random word exercise. Pick a word like headset, like phone, like wall, like home, and create random presentations out of thin air. And this serves two main purposes, Matt. Number one is it helps you deal with uncertainty. Life is filled with it when you go to a networking event, when you meet new people. So if you can't deal with uncertainty, it's hard for you to make an impact. And the second piece that people can write down if they want is if you can make sense out of nonsense. You can make sense out of anything. So if you can take about avocados for 30 seconds, it's really easy for you to talk about your subject matter expertise when it's time. I, I, yeah. I  love that. I love that advice. And out of curiosity, have you ever taken any, um, like improv classes or anything like that? Uh, out of curiosity,  I've done some, I'm not professionally trained or anything. Yeah. But I've probably done maybe five or six sessions, but I've definitely an amateur.  Yeah. Yeah. And the reason why I ask, ask that is because, I got probably 10 years ago now for this too, 10 maybe, maybe longer ago than that. I, I also took an improve class for sales and very much so the same thing. And I'm curious what your perspective is on this. The, the way that the improv training works is essentially, um, We, we, as people get in our head too much, right? And we, we start trying to think through all of the sentences and everything and trying to talk about the, the next sentence that I'm, or thinking about the next sentence that I need to say, and it just slows everything down, right? Whereas with improv, It teaches you to get rid of all of that and just sort of go with your subconscious and just, just speak, just get the, get the stuff out there. Um, and it, it was the, the results were profound. They recorded us before and we just did, I don't remember what the presentation was, but just something on, you know, some, some short presentation and then they recorded us afterwards. And I think this was a week long presenta, or a week long seminar. Um, we, we did another recording afterwards and I mean, there were people that were bashful who, you know, weren't confident up there. Um, this completely opened them up and I'm, I'm curious from your perspective, um, you know, is that, is that, you know, part of it is, Getting out of your own mental way, if you will, right. Where, you know, again, you're a subject matter expert. You know, stop trying to think about every little thing that you need to say and just, you know, let your subconscious take over and, and, and say it. Is that, is that kind of part of this?  Absolutely. Matt and I, and I love the story that you told and, and great to see the transformation that people are going through and those facilitators are right. You know, at the end of the day, it's about really focusing on the system. The system of how to get better. So if I exercise every day, I'll naturally get healthier, but we just don't apply that same logic to communication. And what that one week training did is it forced people to do the reps. The only caveat I'll add to, to your share. Is the version that I like to teach is maybe people might be afraid to go to a seven day seminar unless they're really talented executives and those, those are usually the cases where they get placed into these corporate trainings. So those people already have a strong foundation. But the argument that behind what I'm building is 90% of people won't even go to a Toastmaster's meeting. They'll go like, oh my God, I don't want to attend the meeting, let alone speak. So for me it's about doing what you said, but the easier version first, which is the ranked and word express in my opinion. And the reason is because you don't really have to do it in front of every anybody. You could do it alone in your basement when nobody's watching. Nobody's listening to you. And it's very easy to get the momentum started. So in the example you gave, it might take five to seven days for people to get results, but with a random word exercise, it could take as little as 60 minutes if you're really intense about it. If you do the random word exercise like 40 times in an hour, in the second hour, you'll go, wow, this is really easy. And then you'll start to apply that logic and communication mastery in general. Yeah. Yeah.  This reminds me, your random word reminds me of. Uh, another game that we played at that seminar was called Ding. And you had, you know, one of those little countertop, you know, bells that you ding normally for service, right? Uh, and every time you, you were basically given a, a subject and you had to start presenting on the subject, and there was someone with one of those bells and every time they had, every time they rang the bell, you had to completely change. Your story, but you wanted the story to be able to, you know, kind of flow together, right? Where, you know, it's not like a completely different direction that doesn't make any sense, but like, you automatically make that shift and, and again, subconsciously making that shift, not thinking about where this story is going. Um, you know, you're gonna make this change into a completely different, Different realm, but that, that transition makes sense. So again, it's like you said, you know, getting the reps in and understanding, uh, you know, what happens when you kind of just let go if you will. Right. You know, that's, uh, incredibly, incredibly powerful. Um, talk a little bit about what your students have done once they've. Understood the power of being able to, to speak publicly and, and, you know, present well. What, what are some of those results? What have, what have you seen from, from your, uh,  customers? Yeah, for sure, man, you know, you know the way I like to see it. Is that the principles are the same, but the con, the context and how that advice is applied is different for everybody. That's why for me, the question for everyone listening is a simple one. It's just one that we never really think about cuz no one's asked it. How would your life change if you were an exceptional communicator? But what's fascinating about that question, Matt, is the answer for all of us is very different. So if we take my three niches and the people who invest in communication who are generally high level executives, Or managers and above, they're coaches who are already doing six figures in their business, and they see it as a vehicle to close more sales present. We better in webinar formats to, to get more business and create more impact. And the third one is the entrepreneur who's either raising capital or is, is really bad at sales presentations, but the product's excellent. He's just, he or she is just really bad at, at convincing other people that it's just as amazing as, as they've built it or, or created it to be. So in that context, they'll all do the hunter, they'll all do the random word exercise a hundred times in two weeks. I'll force them to do it. That's the difference between, I guess, a personal trainer like me, quote unquote, and, and just listening to the information as a result is forced. So then what happens? But the way that that result gets contextualized, that person changes. Example. For the executive, because I'm doing so many random word exercises when my boss in a corporate meeting is asking me a question, or when I'm being interviewed for another role, I'm a lot less anxious about it because I'm not being asked what my favorite color is. I'm not being asked to talk about the color blue in a presentation. I'm just focused on what I'm doing and the role and responsibilities I'm delivering back to the company. And the second area is the entrepreneur. So if I'm doing a lot of random word exercises, if I go to a networking cocktail or I go to an event where there might be key relationships that I could build, it's going to be really easy for me to make small talk because I've talked about avocado toast, so I. Regardless of how that conversation's going to go, I'm gonna be a lot better at thinking on my feet. Same thing with coaches, let's say on a strategy call. We've all had that weird call where they just ask you bizarre questions, have nothing to do with the service you provide, and you have to just pivot. You know, they might ask you about your grandmother, they might ask you about your life, and your job is to build a rapport with them. So the random, the random word exercise becomes really helpful. So the answer in a short format is the same principles are taught, but the application is completely different.  That is really, really interesting. And I, I picked up on something that I wasn't necessarily thinking of. With this, you know, when we started this, the, this talk, I was expecting this to be about getting up and standing up in front of people, and obviously there's a big element of, you know, making that presentation right? But, but you just said you know how to be a better communicator, right? So this, this is, this is sort of going through all areas of life because again, communication is everywhere, right? So,  Uh,  do you have a different approach if someone's goal is to be able to be a better presenter, um, and like, you know, tips or tricks for the person who, who's looking at presenting things, uh, versus the the person who just wants to be a better communicator to everyone in their life? Does that make sense?  Absolutely Matt, right? Because it's nuanced, the difference between public speaking and communication. And in my view, you know, I'm sure other people who are more technical than I am at this, they'll, they'll draw differentiations between both. Honestly, I'm not one of those people. For me, it's all one and the same. It's you learn the principles, you build up a stack of foundation, so you just get better over time, whether you're speaking on a stage or honestly, with most of my clients, they're not even speaking on a stage. They're ace in corporate boardroom meetings. That's actually the main idea. Or they're crushing sales calls. Cuz at the end of the day, for me, and it would be great to define us, actually, for me, the definition of communication is the same as public speaking, which is, How do we convey an idea in a way that achieves a specific outcome for a specific audience? For me, communication once again is how do we convey an idea in a way that achieves a specific outcome for a specific audience? But that could mean a plethora of things. That could mean, hey, go on a stage and sell $50,000 worth of product. But that could also mean, Hey, convince your wife or husband that, hey, Let's have Mexican food tonight and not Chinese food. That's all communication, but then the way we learn it changes. It's not going to your nuanced question. I'll quickly cover ball two in the three, which is ball number two is the question drill. So the question drill is we get asked questions all the time in our life, man, on a podcast, at school, at work. Most of us are not ready for those questions. I'll give you an example with me. When I started guessing on podcasts, I wasn't this slick. I was a kid, remember? And I still am one technically. And I remember some guy asked me, Hey Brendan, where does the fear of communication come from? And I looked at the guy and I was like, I don't know, man. Los Angeles, New York City. You tell me. So how did I get better? All I did, man, is every single day for five minutes, I answered one question that I thought the world would ask me about my expertise. So day one was how do you overcome your fear of communication? Day two was what tips do you got for introverts? Day three is how do I improve my eye contact? But if you do that every day for a year, just with five minutes, man, you'll have answer 365 questions about your industry. But what's amazing about this exercise, Is it's multipurpose. It doesn't just help you with boardroom questions that you get. It doesn't just help you with a podcast or a sales call. It also helps you prep better in a presentation. Cuz if you can guess ahead of time and just reflect what are 50 questions that my audience will ask about my topic and you re-answer them, that q and a period in your presentation will be a joke. Mm-hmm. Interesting. Interesting. Um,  you said that there is three, three balls, right? Like you're juggling the three balls. Did we do the third ball yet? I don't think we did the third ball yet, right? Yeah. You're a great listener. You know, the reason I always stop after two is cause I don't wanna monologue for 15 minutes, but you're absolutely right Beth. No, I love it. I love it. So look, ball number three is the video message. So make a list of three people that you love the most in your life. It could be a spouse, it could be a a friend. It could be a client. And send them a 22nd, not a 20 minute. But a 22nd video message to just show how much you appreciate having them in your life. What's great about this exercise, it has one key rule. The rule is you're not allowed to retake the video. So if you do this three times a day with a group of different people or the same people, you'll have sent a thousand video messages after a year. And one thing I do, which is a little bit extreme but it helps me stand out, is I have a Google calendar that tells me when it's my client's birthday or a dear friend's birthday. So literally when it's their birthday, I put a stupid birthday hat on that I bought for 15 bucks on Amazon. I take up my phone and I go, guess who's birthday it is? It's yours. I hope you have a wonderful day. And it always, it always makes people's day. Cause I'm pretty much the only dufus who's sending them a crazy birthday video message. Yeah. Out of everyone in their life. But, but it  also is, uh, endearing you to them as well, right? You're, you're helping build that relationship cuz again, that not very many people do that at all. Um, what, so what are some of the common, um, I guess challenges that people come to you with, you know, when it comes to communication, right? Like some, some specific types of things, like what are, what are some of the, uh, you know, obviously everyone has, uh, a fear of public speaking at one point in their life or another, and, you know, some people get over it, but what are, what are some of the other challenges besides, you know, the fear side of things that you. Help people get over, uh, to be able to become a better communicator?  Yeah, for sure, for sure. Matt. So for, for me, the perspective has always been, there's an infinite amount of challenges, but there's a finite set of solutions. So, for example, let's say somebody could say something, Hey, uh, I'm struggling with a keynote. I've coming up. And that's their problem, but the solution is still the same. Work on the fundamentals. Do the random word exercise, and then as they get better, then the, the feedback becomes more contextual. So then it says, okay, so now we've done the random word ex. Now let me take a look at your keynote and see what we can work on better. And then that could, that's one way. The other way, which is a lot more complex is, and I don't do a lot of this, I only do it if I really love the client, which is high stakes communication. So high stakes comms just means a publicly traded C-suite executive who, sorry, a C-suite executive works at a publicly traded company, might come in, have me sign an NDA and go, these are the 17 things that are happening right now for this earnings call I need to take, or this boardroom meeting I need to do. So I'll listen to all of the information and then I'll go, this is how you solve the problem, based on my understanding of it. And then they'll go in with that specific solution and then, and then get the result that they're looking for, whether it's more capital, whether it's satisfying their shareholders, et cetera. That's a lot more complicated, I guess, for today's purpose. But I think the, the idea here, the general idea is, What I've found is it doesn't really matter what the challenge is. The answer's almost the same. The real challenge that matters actually isn't the fear. I would argue. There's a, there's a, there's a challenge even greater than fear, which is motivation. There's so many things in our life, Matt, that we've accomplished. Getting married, having children, asking somebody on a date, applying for college, starting a podcast, getting a job, making a business, starting one yet, Every single thing that we've accomplished in our life is attached to fear. So there's nothing that we're proud of that has zero fear attached to it. Yet when it comes to communication, we go, oh, I'm scared, so I'm just going to sit here and do nothing. But we don't apply that, that logic in anything else in our life. That's why, for me, the biggest challenge that I, that I get clients to focus on, it's not the fear, but rather is your motivation great enough to even work on the, the communication skills in the first place? Because all the tips I've taught today, especially the way I teach it, it's really simple. It's not like I went into a super complicated high stakes communication framework today. It said, do the random word exercise, send a few video messages, and just answer two or three questions, even one every day that you think somebody will ask you. But nobody does that consistently for 30, 60, 90 days. And if you just did that, you'd be a lot better at communication. That's why the frame becomes. Take some time to reflect on how would your life change if you were an exceptional communicator, because if you do that, you'll find a reason that's greater than your fear, and you'll just do it. Yeah. Do, do you have any tips on sort of automating that workflow into your daily routines, your, you know, routine cycles and all of that to make sure that, you know, it's always in front of your face, you don't forget to do it. You get those reps in, you know, any, any thoughts there?  For sure. So, so let me give you the easy one, which is obviously pay for the accountability. So then you're just forced to do it. But for those of you who can't afford a coach, what I've found is that the best way to automate this is often integrating it into your family life. So let me give you an example. Let's say you're somebody listening. They might have children, uh, a significant other. They might have a few nieces and cousins who are nephews rather, who live nearby. It's always better to practice with them. So lemme give you the, the context for somebody, let's say in their thirties, forties, fifties, they have two kids, let's say five years old. Nine years old. And here's what you do. You just go up to them and say, let's play a game called the random word exercise. And you have them give you a word, you do the random word exercise, and then you give them a word. So then it doesn't feel like practice anymore, doesn't feel like a chore. It feels more like family bonding time. And that's a lot of the feedback I've gotten with executives, which is, you know, Brendan, when I go home, My family's just watching tv, so when I do the random word exercise, it gives me an excuse to talk to them and build a relationship with them. That's also true when, let's say they're picking their kids to and from school. Don't put any music, just do the random word exercise five times or six times, and that's the best way to integrate it outside of hiring a coach that will get you results. One other thing that I always like to say as well is everybody showers. Hopefully people are listening to this podcast. You got 15 minutes there in the shower, you're not doing anything, so do the random word exercise there. That's another easy way to implement it in your daily routine without it taking even a minute extra of your time.  Yeah, I, and I love that one too because, uh, you, you kind of have to get over the embarrassment of anyone else who might hear you, right? Like, there's, there's something to be said about like, singing in the shower, talking in the shower, where, you know, you have this, this sort of pent up. Uh, you know, pent up anxiety about, you know, letting anybody hear you. But if this is something that you wanna get over, you know, that's a perfect opportunity to be able to, to, you know, get over that as well to, you know, just, just get out there and, and, uh, you know, kind of make a fool of yourself. I mean, so simple. I would've never thought to, you know, incorporate the other people in my life into the practice of, you know, bettering my communication. So I love that. I love that. Um, is there any, are there any other tips or anything like that, that you can think of that. We, we can employ again into our daily lives or daily routines to be able to again, become a better communicator. Absolutely Matt. So I'll give you both four and five. So Ball four is more of a PR message I always like to send, which is the best way to speak is to speak. So if you wanna get the result from this podcast than listen to, it's very simple. Here's all you have to do, and most people won't do it. Book, 15 minutes in your calendar every single day to do the random word exercise, to do the question drill, and to do the video message. The problem, always when I'm on a show, Matt, is people listen to me and they go, wow, where'd you get this kid, Matt? He's so cool. He's like sharing all these. Really cool tips and then they don't do 'em. And that's why the Balfour is the best way to speak, is to speak. You can listen to me and you talk all day, but the reason you're such a great communicator, Matt, is not cuz you listen to me. It's because you, you had the courage to start the podcast, whether it was a year ago, five years ago, whenever you started it. And that's why you're great at it. And I'm sure the inter you're, the way you interview people today is significantly better than episode one. Right. And that's really the key. You get, you get rewarded to take action, not just by listening to the show. That's four. And ball number five is called the puzzle. So communication, Matt, is like a jigsaw puzzle. You know, those, uh, toys used to play as kids, got like 500 pieces, put 'em all together. So now the question becomes, when we work on a jigsaw puzzle, which pieces do we start with first and why? And the answer is, The edges because the E, the edges are easier to find in the box. Just pull 'em out of the box, get those little edges to them. Work your way to the middle after that. Why am I bringing that up? I'm bringing that up because when we prepare for our presentation, unfortunately we do the opposite. We shove a bunch of content into our presentations. We ramble throughout the whole thing. And then the last slide sounds something like this. Um, uh, ma'am, uh, thanks. Not the right approach. So instead, what you want to do, Is practice your presentations like a jigsaw puzzle. Start with the edges first. Do the introduction 10 times, 15 times until it's perfect. I know that sounds like a big number, but it actually isn't because your introduction's two minutes. So this is a 30 minute exercise. Same thing with the conclusion. What's a great movie with the terrible ending ending? Last time I checked, terrible movie. Same thing for the conclusion. 15 minutes at the end, excuse me. 10, 15 times, two minutes each. 30 minutes total. After an hour, you'll feel like you have the best introduction and conclusion in your life. Then work your way into the middle and you'll do just fine in your next presentation. Yeah, I love  it. And I'm curious, do you. Uh, do you recommend that people record themselves with this as well? And the reason why I ask that is because in your, your Ball four, um, you know, you, you mentioned how, you know, taking the podcast, for instance, the original podcasts were completely different than what, what they are right now. And, and same thing was true with the, uh, with the, uh, the, uh, Um, improv class that I took as well. Right. Big improvement from, you know, where I started to where we ended. So everyone is so instant gratification. Everyone needs instant gratification today, right? So this is a way to be able to see your progress, measure your progress, be able to see, okay, you know, a week ago, a month ago, this is the way that I was presenting. This is the way that I'm thinking about things. Now, today, this is the way that things are, you know, being presented. I've made such huge progress. Just in that short amount of time. And then, you know, again, you can check in on yourself every month, every six months, whatever it is. But is there, is there an element to, you know, again, getting that gratification, seeing that progress, seeing how, how much you've improved from when you started to where you are today. Uh, you know, is there, is there something there as well to be able to kind of ingrain this in, in people as  well? For sure, Matt. Here's the nuanced answer I'll give you, cuz the answer is both. It's yes and no. So what do I mean by this? Yes, in the sense, you're right. And I get my clients to do this, right? You record yourself. That's how you get the result. You see the progress of meaning, you get excited. But the reason I'm saying no as well is because I'm very cognizant of the audience listening. Most people are listening to this podcast. Matt don't even wanna do the random word exercise once, whether it's recorded or not, just based on the hundreds of. Conversations I've had with my audience, maybe even thousands at this point. So here's where I'll draw the line ball. Number one, the random word exercise. That's there's a reason. That's ball number one, not ball number three. So start there, kind of like a diet plan, a fitness plan. Start there and don't even move on to ball number two, until you've done a hundred random work. Exercise, not 10. Not a million. A hundred. A hundred sounds like a big number, but it really isn't because the random word exercise only takes a minute to do. Five minutes a day, you're done in three weeks. Or if you're intense, you do it 10, 20 times. You're done in like a few days. And the point here that I'm driving, Is we do not get points for doing the exercise well. We get points for doing the exercise a lot, and I have never met a single human being in my life. Matt, who comes up to me and says, you know, Brendan, the first time I did the random word exercise was a lot better than my hundredth time. Could I get a refund? I. On my time that I spent. Nobody has said that to me every single time. Matt, even if you never record yourself, you never look at yourself, you never get feedback from a coach. I can swear in blood that if you do this a hundred times guaranteed, you will see some level of improvement and the level will differ. Differ based on the person, but you'll see clear improvement. That's the first piece. Then we go to ball number two. So ball number two is we don't move on to the video message until we've done a hundred question drills. And what's great about this exercise is you don't even need to come up with the questions. I'm practicing the question drill right now because you're asking me questions. And I always say this to every host, like, you don't have to send me the questions. It's fine. Just send me, just throw anything my way and I'm practicing it. So it's nice is you can go back to your audience or colleagues of yours and have them supply the questions and just do one every day if you wanna get it done in three months. But if you're crazy like me, you do 20 a day, you'll be done in five days. Then you go to the video message. So that's really what I'm pushing Matt. Is when we are doing this a lot, then we gain momentum and then your advice becomes really good at this point. Because when you get to ball number three, your mindset around communication is very different from experience. It's like, oh, I've done the random verdicts says a hundred times question drills really easy. I'm so much more comfortable in the boardroom. Now I have the base level confidence to say I can totally record myself and do this. And then that's when your advice is really keen.   All right. My notebook is full after this episode, so we're gonna go through how we learned to be able to be a better speaker. And I'd love the analogy that Brenden used with being able to juggle these various different balls, and he gave us the top five balls that we should be focused in on. So I'm not gonna go through. Each one of these and explain them again because we just went through all of them in the episode. So we'll just go through and name each one of them. So if you remember, ball number one was the random word exercise that can be done with friends, family, your kids. So great way to be able to involve the family into your betterment. Next ball number two was the question game, and that was where you thought up. Of all of the possible questions that someone may ask about your business, product, or service. And what that does is it allows you to be able to think through the answers to all of those questions. So as you are presenting this, you're going to be much, much quicker with all of those. Questions, and obviously if you do this one, one question a day for a year. By the time the year passes, you've compiled and practiced the answers to 365 possible questions that people might ask you into bald number three. That was the video that you were going to send out to friends, family, and colleagues. And the most important part of this ball was to make sure that you understand that you can't redo the recording. It's one go and you have to use whatever it is that you come up with so that remember, this is prepping you so that when you are in front of people, And you're doing this live, you can't take that back again. You have to go with whatever it was that came out of your mouth. So that is preparing you for that type of situation. Don't try to make it perfect. Everyone screws up a little bit when they are up there presenting and communicating with people, but the, the goal is, the tip is to be able to make sure that you don't get distracted by. That thing that you might have not delivered exactly the way that you had thought it would be delivered. Ball four was pretty easy. We just wanna schedule time on the calendar every single day to do the random word exercise and doing the question drill and also the video that you're going to deliver to someone. And again, I love the analogies ball number five included another one. When you're preparing a speech or a presentation, there's obviously a structure that you typically go through, just like when you're putting together a puzzle. And this was a great framework that Brenden used to be able to explain this part of the process. He equated this to a puzzle because the way that you typically. Work on a puzzle is you find all of the edges, you find all of the straight lines, and you do that first. So just like a puzzle you're, you're putting together that outside edge. You want to put together your intro and your outro first, and that sets up the. Tone for the rest of the presentation. What most people don't understand is they'll concentrate so much on whatever the content is, and maybe that content is great, maybe it's okay, but if you start really strong and you end really strong, those are the things that people are going to really, really remember. And. Even if your presentation was not that terribly great in the middle, but again, you end strong, they're going to consider that being a successful presentation. So those are some tips from Brenden and I know that I'm starting to incorporate some of these into my schedule to be able to mic myself a better presenter and speaker. If you want to learn more from Brenden, head over to YouTube and search for Master Talk. He has hundreds of videos there that can help you learn to speak and present. You can also head to rockstar communicator.com and join a live session where Brenden leads a group of people for free through some of these different training exercises. And remember, if you want to understand what the wealthy do, head over to invest in square feet.com and sign up for our newsletter. We release some unheard of tips from our various different speakers, and we also will publish all of the investment opportunities that we may have available there to our listeners so that you can understand what type of passive investment opportunities we may have running at any one time. Invest in square feet, drops every Wednesday on whatever podcast platform it is that you use.

Market Proof Marketing · Ep 277: Should Targeted Ads Target You?Andrew Peek, Jackie Lipinski and Julie Jarnagin start the podcast by asking “What one thing makes you start immediately looking at homes in order to move?” And give various answers on what it was for them. They discuss Andrew's controversial takes on dashboard usage, share advice on builder website content, and the future of ai in regards to targeted ads.  Story Time (04:36)Andrew believes that dashboards should not be used by individuals with “marketing” in their titleJulie hired someone to help her pick out some paint for the exterior of her homeJackie is thinking about how to instruct builders on content for their website and the best way to prepare for future content News (21:46)Presales! Say What? (https://www.doyouconvert.com/blog/presales-say-what/)Major Facebook ad glitch has advertisers asking about refunds (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/26/meta-suffered-a-major-facebook-ad-glitch-clients-asking-about-refunds.html)Generative AI coming soon to Google Ads (https://searchengineland.com/google-integrates-generative-ai-into-ad-campaigns-395835)Entry-level home shoppers most likely to face bidding wars this spring (https://zillow.mediaroom.com/2023-04-20-Entry-level-home-shoppers-most-likely-to-face-bidding-wars-this-spring)Current Favorites (00:37:17)Jackie has been attending ToastMasters and enjoys seeing how different people analyze and present information and encourages everyone to push themselves this year. Andrew bought a piece of workout equipment for a great deal on Facebook Market Place.Julie is listening to the podcast “Smartless” and enjoys the co-hosts banter and subject matter.Questions? Comments? Email show@doyouconvert.com or call 404-369-2595 and we'll address them on the next episode. More insights, discussions, and opportunities can be found at Do You Convert All Access or on the Market Proof Marketing Facebook group.Subscribe on iTunesFollow on SpotifyListen On StitcherA weekly new home marketing podcast for home builders and developers. Each week Kevin Oakley, Andrew Peek, Jackie Lipinski, Julie Jarnagin, and other team members from Do You Convert will break down the headlines, share best practices and stories from the front line, and perform a deep dive on a relevant marketing topic. We're here to help you – not to sell you! The post Ep 277: Should Targeted Ads Target You? appeared first on Online Sales and Marketing for Home Builders - DYC.

Mohnish Pabrai's Q&A session with students at the Dakshana Valley, Pune on December 26, 2022.   (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:00:54) - Finding your calling in life (00:15:31) - Toastmasters (00:19:43) - Dakshana Scholar Satpal Singh (00:21:23) - Inspiration for starting Dakshana (00:28:22) - Anand Kumar: Super 30 (00:29:43) - The Dakshana journey (00:37:00) - The essence of life (00:45:53) - Nelson Mandela (00:50:56) - Marcus Aurelius: Stoicism (00:56:48) - Why did I choose India for Dakshana (01:10:51) - My journey – from a below average to topper student (01:19:36) - Handling adversities (01:24:33) - Dakshana Scholars T Ashok Kumar & Rajeev (01:34:46) - How to win friends and influence people – Dale Carnegie (01:37:48) - Charlie Munger's human reciprocation mental model (01:49:34) - Ben Franklin (01:53:43) - Cloning as a mental model

Today I want to witness about how God is working in my life.  I don't have any big miracles to share with you today and I think that is ok because the whole point of Witness Wednesdays is to show God working in our lives in big ways and in small ways.  I wanted to show how God is in the ordinary things in life as much as He is in the extraordinary things.  My dream for some time now is to be a speaker and to be part of a healing ministry.  I have been doing personal development for several years now and I have been motivated to change by so many speakers and one day I decided I wanted to be that person on the stage motivating others.  Except I don't want to be a personal development speaker, I want to become a speaker so I can tell everyone who will listen about God's love. I truly feel if people could learn that God is love and know this down to their core the world would be a better place.  Knowing I wanted to be a professional speaker, I joined the organization called Toastmasters because they help you become a better speaker.  If you haven't heard of Toastmasters it is a group where you can give speeches, and practice impromptu speaking each meeting.  They also have an educational component to it that teaches you have to give a good speech and also teaches you how to do different types of speeches.  It is a great program and I really learned a lot.  When I decided I wanted to be a part of a healing ministry I started reading all the books I could get my hands on about healing.  I looked into several healing programs where I could either go there to take a course or I could do it online.  However, all of them seemed a bit expensive at the time and also my family was falling apart and I needed to work on healing that before adding anything else to my plate.  My kids needed my attention and a lot of it.  It wasn't the right time.  Then I heard about this new program called Encounter Ministries, but again it was not the right time for it.  It would have been online and it would have been during a time when I was having to drive into Boston pretty regularly.  However, the next year it came to the Boston area for an in person class and things at home had improved a lot.  I was able to sign up and take the course.  During this course we had a quarter on Prophetic Words.  When doing the various activities during the prophetic quarter there were several people that told me that there was a breakthrough coming in my near future, sometime in the first half of this year.  I was excited because that confirmed what I had been hearing God tell me in my personal life as well.  I was thinking that breakthrough was going to come in the form of me talking at the retreat I planned to attend.  However, when I asked if they needed a speaker they said they were all set.  I was definitely disappointed as I felt that was what the Lord wanted me to do, but I trusted whatever His plan was, it would happen.  I kept my eyes open for other chances to give a talk.  One day in February the woman organizing the retreat said one of the speakers had to  back out and asked if I was still willing to talk.  I was so grateful.I went to adoration to ask God what He wanted me to talk about as the theme of the retreat was Christ In Me.  What does it mean for us as women to have Christ in us literally and spiritually in mass and then to take that out into the world?  While in adoration I felt the Lord tell me I needed to learn more about the Eucharist, so I did.  It was so beautiful how he lead me to exactly what He wanted me to know and how He helped me put it together in a way that taught others about the Eucharist and what it means to have Christ within me, without boring them or giving them too much technical stuff.  Everyone at the retreat loved the talk and felt they learned from it.  My friend Joan said it changed the way she interacted at mass that day.  This retreat was a breakthrough because I can finally say I am a paid speaker, because I got paid to speak at the retreat.  It was also a breakthrough because I got to tell all those who attended that I have a podcast and that I have a book.  I put 20 of my books out on the tables on the last day so that if anyone wanted to buy one, they could.  I sold all 20 of them.  There was one religious Sister who bought one book for each of the other 5 Sisters living in her house.  It was so great to share my book with others and hopefully they will enjoy it and share it with others as well!Can you see how God was working in all of that?  He was working in the details to guide me to a Toastmasters group and He was working the details to provide an in person opportunity to learn more about healing and all the other gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Through this class I have grown so much and I have also met really incredible people who are all on this journey with me.  It really is great to be surrounded by others who are also working developing the same things you are.  We can support each other along the way, especially when the enemy comes in and tries to tell us lies.  When this happens we have each other to speak truth into that lie.  This program has given me the courage to ask people if I can pray over them or to ask people if they want me to pray with them.  This was really helpful on the retreat I just attended.  I was able to ask the main keynote speaker if she wanted me to pray over her before her talk.  She then asked me to pray over her before her next talk as well.  There was one point where we were doing discernment for who will be on the next board to run the N. E. Region of the MCCW.  I was able to walk about the room and pray over everyone discerning the position.  It was a really beautiful opportunity.God is so good to us.  He guides us in the right direction and He has perfect timing.  It doesn't always feel like perfect timing when we are in it, but years later we can usually see how His timing was actually perfect timing.  I have done several witnesses lately about the amazing miracles God has done in my life or the lives of others.  I have had others witness about profound times in their life where God has shown up.  Today I wanted to share with you some of the smaller ways, some of the behind the scenes ways that God has shown up in my life.  God may not be making any giant, grand gestures in your life right now.  That doesn't mean He is not there and that doesn't mean that He is not working.  He is in every single detail of your life.  We just need to look for Him and we will find Him.We have all seen God working in our lives, however, we might not all be aware it is God who is working in our lives.  This is why it is so important we start talking about it more.  The more we share our experiences the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us.  If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or just click here.  It won't take up much of your time and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today.  Prayerfully consider sharing.  Everyone has a story and the world needs to hear them.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I. Have a blessed day!

When tragedy strikes, it rarely makes sense. Today on the show, I'm talking to my friend, Carrie Foster, who shares her personal story of loss and trauma and how she managed to find her way to a life of peace and freedom in a way she never knew existed.  Through the love and support of others mixed with a determination of her own, Carrie walks us through her journey of truly discovering her purpose in life and making sense of the pain she had to endure in order to be where she is today. Whether in the rooms of recovery or her local Toastmasters group, you can find Carrie ready to help others in need.  Support the Podcast When You Purchase Any of the Products Below!  *All products created by Barbara Guillen Always Faithful Devotional HERS Always Faithful Devotional HIS  Gratitude Journal  Affirmation Cards  Visit my website  Connect on Instagram @barbaratguillen Barbara Guillen is a Freelance Copywriter and Content Creator. She is on a  mission to help others live a life of meaning, purpose, and empowerment. In order to know who we are, we must first know WHOSE we are. When we are clear on our identity, we can achieve the unthinkable!  

How do you connect the mind, body and emotions to push your speaking skills to new heights? Movement in your body plays a huge role in how your podcasting voice gets amplified behind the mic. Becoming in tune with yourself and revealing the healing work that needs to be done, will help you discover a deeper connection with your voice as a podcaster! Holding a true passion for breaking the previously set limits of our minds, Kathryn Yarborough, the creator of Manifesting Clients Academy, talks about listening to your whole body through movement as it holds the key to freedom with our voice. Kathryn is a speaker coach, Manifesting Clients mentor, author, speaker, and event coordinator. You are going to get some new insights about your body with this episode! Dive in with Kathryn as she shares: Her top three tips for integrating the body, mind, and emotional connection How she discovered the freedom in movement How to listen when your body is speaking Links worth exploring from the episode: EP 56 Why Reliable Backups are Vital for Your Podcast Episode Production Process – https://www.organizedsound.ca/why-reliable-backups-are-vital-for-your-podcast-episode-production-process-episode-56/ Authentically Vibrant Assessment – https://www.manifestingclientsacademy.com/howvibrantami/ Toastmasters – https://www.toastmasters.org/ Engage with Kathryn Yarborough: Kathryn's website: https://www.manifestingclientsacademy.com/ Kathryn's Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vibrantentrepreneurslovelife Connect with Mary! Leave a voicemail with your feedback at https://www.speakpipe.com/VisibleVoice Or email visiblevoicepodcast@gmail.com Engage with Mary on Instagram @OrganizedSoundProductions https://www.instagram.com/organizedsoundproductions Find more secrets and the full transcript of the episode at http://www.visiblevoicepodcast.com To learn more or work with Mary, check out https://www.organizedsound.ca Podcast cover art by Emily Johnston of Artio Design Co. https://www.artiodesignco.com

“Motion creates momentum.” – Len TranToday's featured author is award-winning speaker, black belt martial artist, trainer, and career & leadership Coach, Len Tran. Len and I had a fun chat about his first book, “Split Up by the Sea: A Vietnamese Refugee's Memoir of Survival and Hope”, how joining Toastmasters amplified his personal growth, and more!! Key Things You'll Learn:The most difficult part about writing his bookHow did his Toastmasters experience play into the writing of his bookThree major lessons learned from being a martial artistThe 3 Ps for staying on track Len's Site: https://www.lenvtran.com/Len's Book: https://www.amazon.com/Split-Up-Sea-Vietnamese-refugees/dp/B0BHNFHDQ1 The opening track is titled “Check It Out” by Mountaineer from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/check-it-outLicense code: AR6DFPGVXQ9Q1SSY Please support today's podcast to keep this content coming! CashApp: $DomBrightmonDonate on PayPal: @DBrightmonBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dombrightmonGet Going North T-Shirts, Stickers, and More: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/dom-brightmon You May Also Like… Ep. 633 – “Remembering Qualities of Your Soul” with Dr. Paul Hannah: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-633-remembering-qualities-of-your-soul-with-dr-paul-hannah/ #Bonus Host2Host Ep.– “Success Happens When You Learn & Act” with Shaahin Cheyene (@shaahincheyene): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/bonus-host2host-ep-success-happens-when-you-learn-act-with-shaahin-cheyene-shaahincheyene/ Ep. 615 – “Champion Martial Artist to Award-Winning Novelist” with Danielle Orsino: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-615-champion-martial-artist-to-award-winning-novelist-with-danielle-orsino/ Ep. 463.5 – “Swordfighting, for Writers, Game Designers and Martial Artists” with Dr. Guy Windsor (@guy_windsor): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-4635-swordfighting-for-writers-game-designers-and-martial-artists-with-dr-guy-windsor-guy_windsor/ Ep. 468 – “The Power Of Mindset” with Hayk Tadevosyan (@hayktadevosyan): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-468-the-power-of-mindset-with-hayk-tadevosyan-hayktadevosyan/ Ep. 426 – “Success Left a Clue” with Robert Raymond Riopel (@RobRox69): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-426-success-left-a-clue-with-robert-raymond-riopel-robrox69/ 47 - "Black Belt Wealth" with Damion Lupo (@damionlupo): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/47-black-belt-wealth-with-damion-lupo-damionlupo/ 143 - "Financial Self-Defense" with Ken Rupert (@K_E_Rupert): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/143-financial-self-defense-with-ken-rupert-k_e_rupert/

Have you ever had sweaty palms before a speech? Have you ever felt like you could get sick before a big presentation because of nerves? If you answered yes, you are not alone. Yet, speaking in front of others is a necessary skill, especially if we want to have visibility and success at work and in life. This may sound dramatic, but I believe it's a life skill. Both of my daughters go to swimming classes because it's a life skill I want them to learn. And I talk about presenting like a boss because it is a skill I think we all should learn and continue learning throughout our lives. My guest today, Bobbie Carlton, is someone I consider to be very skilled in speaking. Bobbie and I have been running in the same circles for a while and she owns not one, two, or three businesses but FIVE of them, so I am grateful she made time to join me for this conversation. During our discussion, Bobbie and I talked about:1. How Bobbie came to own and run FIVE businesses and how she does it2. Bobbie's tips on how we can move past our fear of public speaking.3. How Toastmasters and even an improv class can help.4. Why speaking can help us up our visibility personally and professionally.5. Why waiting for someone to notice our hard work is a mistake and how we need to speak up and advocate for ourselves6. How Innovation Women can be a great way for women to dip their toes into speaking and get the exposure they need.

Today Gabby is in the interview seat. You will get to know your host of Mind the Dash, a little more. Special thanks to fellow Toastmaster, Estephany Escobar for conducting a great interview. Topics include: Origin story Being married at age 16 Homeschooling journey with 5 kids Welfare to Wealth Management Love, Loss, and Legacy building And so much more. You will hear one of Gabby's recent poems. If you have any follow up questions for Gabby or other Podcast ideas, Please reach out via email at gabby@uphamfamily.com

Ever wonder who coaches big corporations like Google, Zoom, or Toastmasters? Well, you'll get the chance to learn from someone who has on this episode Tips in 10 episode! Kirk Gimenez is the founder and host of Xizzle TV, a new innovative TV platform that makes TV in English for Latinos & all minorities. Kirk is also a former ESPN anchor, Two-time Emmy Winner, and a corporate Zoom coach who has worked with companies like Google and Toastmasters.⏰ Tune in every other Wednesday at noon EST.Connect with Kirk:

In this week's episode, Billy talks with Steven English, an ICF Professional Certified Coach, a TEDx speaker, a trained Facilitator,  and a Founder of multiple Toastmasters public speaking clubs. Throughout his 22 years in engineering, Steven served as a trainer to Fortune 500 organizations as well as influencing and managing company-wide change management activities. Steven specializes in helping introverted leaders find their voice so they can create impact and helps teams improve communication to achieve top performance. He is here today to talk about how he helps introverts find their voice as well as share his journey through finding joy in disappointing others.Billy and Steven discuss:–The social lubricating effect of drinking and his relationship with alcohol–What he means by “finding joy in disappointing others”–The strategies used to establish healthy relationships as an introvert–The double meaning of BS and how he helps others use their voice and create impact–What people get wrong about introvertsWatch his TEDx Finding Joy by Disappointing Others hereWant more from Steven English? Check out his LinkedInIf you liked this episode, check out these episodes as well:Episode 42--Trash the Checklist with Dr. Yolanda Holloway and Tiffany ByrdEpisode 43: F*ck Being Fine with Transformational Coach Lori SaitzEpisode 58--How to Make Being Selfish Work for You with Val JonesEpisode 5–Brian's Battle with BoozeEpisode 46--The Trail to Recovery and Redemption with Michael MosherEpisode 61--Question the Drink with Gray Area Expert Kari SchwearAll of our episodes are available at www.mindfulmidlifecrisis.comSign up for the Mindful Midlife Community Virtual Mindfulness Sessions!Get a free week of BetterHelp using Billy's referral code!Thank you for listening to The Mindful Midlife Crisis!We hope you enjoy this week's episode!If this episode resonates with you, please share it with your family and friends.Sign up for our newsletter!   Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Topics?Email Billy at mindfulmidlifecrisis@gmail.com.Follow us!Instagram:  @mindful_midlife_crisisTwitter:  @mindfulmidlifeFacebook: The Mindful Midlife Crisis PodcastLinkedIn: Billy LahrPlease leave us a 5-Star Review!  Doing so helps other people looking for a podcast like ours find it!We hope you enjoy this week's episode! If you're really feeling gracious, you can make a donation to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MMCpodcast.   Your donations will be used to cover all of our production costs. Thank you so much!Support the show

When John Bowe learned that his extremely reclusive cousin, who had lived for decades in his parents' basement, had moved out and gotten married at the age of fifty-nine, John was extremely surprised. What made him equally surprised was how his cousin had finally launched his life. It hadn't been meds or therapy. Instead, he had joined his local Toastmasters club.Duly intrigued, John set off on his own Toastmasters journey, as he details in his book I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection. Today on the show, John shares how he discovered that the ethos of this nonprofit organization parallels the tradition of rhetoric espoused by the ancient Greeks, especially by Aristotle, and why the ability to speak, whether in the context of giving a formal speech or simply having a conversation, continues to be such an essential skill in the modern age. In my favorite part of the show, we discuss how our ideas of authentic speech can actually get in the way of expressing our authentic selves. We then turn to the techniques for better speaking that John learned from joining Toastmasters and how Toastmasters ultimately transformed his own life.After the show is over, check out the show notes at aom.is/toastmastersResources Related to the PodcastToastmasters InternationalAoM Podcast #698: The Secrets of Public Speaking From History's Greatest OratorsAoM Article: An Introduction to Public SpeakingAoM Podcast #639: Why You Should Learn the Lost Art of RhetoricAoM series on classical rhetoricRhetoric by AristotleThe Fall of Public Man by Richard SennettAoM series on overcoming shynessAoM Article: How to Minimize Your Uh's and Um'sSunday Firesides: Want to Solve Your Social Problems? Get Over Your Self"How to Speak in Public" — article in Psyche magazine by JohnConnect With John BoweJohn's website

Who is Dorice Horenstein: Dorice Horenstein, Oy to Joy Speaker, Certified Positive Intelligence Coach, and Author of Moments of the Heart, Four Relationships Everyone Should Have to Live Wholeheartedly, is equipping us with food for thought as it relates to gossip! Connect with Dorice via her website www.doricehorenstein.com or email her at dorice@doricehorenstein.com..and if you like what you heard. Don't forget to rate and share! Dorice's Bio After serving as an officer in the Israeli army and many fulfilling years in the education field, Dorice transitioned to make the world her platform.  Her award-winning bestselling book Moments of the Heart: Four Relationships Everyone Should Have to Live Wholeheartedly was published in 2020, providing Dorice with the opportunity to use her knowledge and expertise to speak on international stages, both virtually and in person. Educating and training is Dorice's superpower. She defines T.E.A.M. as Together Everyone's Attributes (are) Magnified. Through the expertise obtained via International Coaching Federation and Positive Intelligence certifications, Dorice coaches and motivates leaders and teams to identify their strengths and improve effectiveness and become the leaders they are meant to be. She promotes healthy and positive relationships that reduce stress and helps clients achieve higher retention as well as a positive atmosphere in the workplace (and at home!). When giving keynotes, Dorice invigorates audiences using impactful stories of challenges sprinkled with tips of positivity to gain awareness. When coaching, leaders are moved to take actions that bring their potential into reality. When delivering training and workshops, Dorice enhances teams' effectiveness and promotes healthy and positive relationships by using a 4-step approach, Awareness, Mental fitness, Communication, and Resilience. Dorice is a member of the National Speaker Association, a fellow member of IOC, at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, and Past President of Toastmasters for Speaking Professionals. Dorice passionately believes that Positivity is an "inside out” practice that instills a calm, laser focused approach, produces success and growth, AND can be taught to strengthen, cultivate and inspire others to live an enjoyable, healthy, and positive life! Dorice's website: www.doricehorenstein.com

In this episode, I chat with Andre St. George, an inspirational speaker, author, youth development coach, and business owner. He recently published a book titled: Living V.I.T.A.L - (From Adversity to Advantage). He has won numerous Toastmaster competitions and has also served as the president for one of the local chapters. Andre has conducted keynotes for various schools and organizations and is the creator of “Speak 2 Educate” an educational series focused on providing teens the cognitive skills needed to create change through learning how to lead, innovate, and inspire. Through his community efforts he has shown great dedication in raising up our future leaders of tomorrow. During our conversation, we talked about the role of leadership and Andre pointed out that we are all leaders in our own rights. It is necessary then for each of us to tap into our uniqueness and to identify our superpower. Andre points out that people are drawn to our energies and that their perceptions of us will depend greatly on how we see ourselves. To that end, he stresses that we must be the leader of ourselves before attempting to lead others.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thecounternarrative/support

Alicia Butler Pierre is the founder and CEO of Equilibria, Inc., a 17-year-old operations management firm. She designs scale-ready business infrastructure for fast-growing small businesses. A chemical engineer turned entrepreneur, she's advised, designed, and optimized processes enterprises including Shell Oil, Coca-Cola, and The Home Depot. As an international speaker, Alicia hosts the weekly Business Infrastructure: Curing Back Office Blues podcast which ranks in the top 2% in the world with listeners in 60 countries. She's also an adjunct instructor of Lean Principles at Purdue University and the author of the two-time Amazon bestseller, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. Combined, her online content has over a million views and downloads across various platforms. Committed to doing the right things the right way, Alicia's mantra is "to leave it better than you found it." In this episode we talk about: [2:45] How Alicia went from being a Chemical Engineer to an Entrepreneur [6:15] Giving up everything in the pursuit of the unknown and why it led to her business [7:50] Why Alicia moved to Atlanta [13:30] How Alicia came up with her first business idea [16:40] You don't have to have it all figured out to get started [17:00] Your customers will always tell you what they want [19:00] Alicia's experience writing a book and how it lead to her launching her podcast [19:40] How Toastmasters contributed to her professional career [23:10] Sometimes people see things in you that you don't see in yourself [26:50] Push through quitter's valley [32:00] Advice for starting something new [34:20] Connect with Alicia Connect with Alicia Butler Pierre: www.aliciabutlerpierre.com Instagram @Alicia_B_Pierre LinkedIn @aliciabutlerpierre Connect with Sara Mayer: Instagram @saramayerconsulting Facebook @saracmayerconsulting LinkedIn @saramayerconsulting

Welcome to Embers and Wind!Guest Mark Walton describes his passion for Toastmasters “It's something I love to do. That's why I've gone from visiting one time a week to 4. The other thing that keeps me fascinated by Toastmasters is how effective we are in taking people who are perfectly wooden, terrified and turning them into superb public speakers. That I've been a Toastmaster for ten years. Ten years a member of 4 clubs. I've got a lot of Toastmasters experience, and yet over and over again I've seen members join Toastmasters and in 2 years, they're much better public speakers than I am. In my own, ahem not very humble opinion, I have a little bit to do with that because I can help people who are terrified of public speaking, but it is a real joy to see that happen.” I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. In this episode, guest Mark Walton notes that he considers Toastmasters his hobby during his retirement. Mark shares any one whose company struggles with an engagement problem can visit to explore how you can build communication skills and leadership skills through Toastmasters. He tells a story about recently winning Toastmaster's humorous speech at the division level. Mark invites you to visit our Columbus (Indiana) Toastmasters club's open house on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. EDT. He invites you to visit Toastmasters once. If you live in Columbus, Indiana, he encourages you to visit our open house in person at 1531 13th St., Columbus, Indiana in the 2nd floor large conference room at United Way's Doug Otto Center. If you can't visit our club's open house in Columbus, he recommends visiting our meeting on Zoom. Mark recommends that our club be selective in contemplating who to invite as a guest speaker for our open house: “You would probably want someone who's recognized as being worth listening to.” Mark also shares several inspiring stories.To stay connected with Mark through Toastmasters the Columbus (Indiana) Toastmasters club iLinkedIn pages listed as the website for this episode is the website listed for this episode. The web address for Mark's Facebook profile is: https://www.facebook.com/mark.walton.121. To explore learning from Mark, visit our Toastmasters club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Genesis Vaquero is an entrepreneur and youth motivational speaker. She joins the show to talk about:-How she discovered her passion for speaking-The impact the pandemic had on her speaking career-Her desire to have a positive impact on the mindset of the youth-Impostor syndrome-The impact Toastmasters has had on her as a speaker-And much more!  FOLLOW US AT: Instagram: connectablepodcast YouTube: Connectable Podcast Facebook: connectablepodcast Twitter: connectablepod TikTok: connectablepodcast  #connectablepodcast

“Don't wait to be perfect.” - Sabine KvenbergToday's featured bestselling bookcaster is actress, singer, songwriter, storyteller, and Mindset Success Coach, Sabine Kvenberg. Sabine and I had a chat about her books, her Toastmasters journey, and more to help you become your best possible self! Key Things You'll Learn:How she got into show businessHer advice for aspiring authors looking to publish their booksThree major lessons learned from starting her podcastsWhat setback in business led Sabine to create more success Sabine's Site: https://www.sabinekvenberg.com/resourcesSabine's Books: https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-How-Succeed-Showbiz-practical/dp/1495304787/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=Sabine's Podcast, “Become”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/become/id1565571415 The opening track is titled “Check It Out” by Mountaineer from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/check-it-outLicense code: AR6DFPGVXQ9Q1SSY Please support today's podcast to keep this content coming! CashApp: $DomBrightmonDonate on PayPal: @DBrightmonBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dombrightmonGet Going North T-Shirts, Stickers, and More: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/dom-brightmon You May Also Like… Ep. 510 - "Lights, Camera, Action" With Amy Scruggs (@amyscruggssd): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-510-lights-camera-action-with-amy-scruggs-amyscruggssd/ Ep. 609 - "The Film Director's Bag Of Tricks" With Mark W. Travis (@MarkWTravis): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/the-film-directors-bag-of-tricks-with-mark-w-travis-markwtravis/ Ep. 397 – “Make Your Own Break” with Jennifer Lieberman (@iamjenlieberman): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-397-make-your-own-break/ Ep. 433 – “Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60 Minutes” with Ira Rosen: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-433-ticking-clock-behind-the-scenes-at-60-minutes-with-ira-rosen/ Ep. 461 – “Live for Joy” with Anne Scottlin (@AnneScottlin): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-461-live-for-joy-with-anne-scottlin-annescottlin/ 86 - "Stepping Into the Spotlight" with Tsufit (@Tsufit): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/86-stepping-into-the-spotlight-with-tsufit-tsufit/ Ep. 597 – “Your Stories Don't Define You, How You Tell Them Will” with Sarah Elkins (@sarahelkins): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-597-your-stories-dont-define-you-how-you-tell-them-will-with-sarah-elkins-sarahelkins/ Ep. 332 – “Her Perfect Life” with Hank Phillippi Ryan (@HankPRyan): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-332-her-perfect-life-with-hank-phillippi-ryan-hankpryan/ Ep. 499 – “Take Center Stage” with Janelle Anderson: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-499-take-center-stage-with-janelle-anderson/ Ep. 579 – “The Power to Speak Naked” with Tyler Foley (@DropTheMicSTF): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-579-the-power-to-speak-naked-with-tyler-foley-dropthemicstf/ Ep. 382 – “Coming Out as Yourself” with Stephanie Lavigne (@stephlavigne): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-382-coming-out/ Ep. 519 – “Jonas and the Mountain” with Janis Harper (@harperjanis1): https://www.podpage.com/going-north-podcast/ep-519-jonas-and-the-mountain-with-janis-harper-harperjanis1/ 229 – “Unbroken” with Tajci Cameron (@TajciCameron): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/229-unbroken-with-tajci-cameron-tajcicameron/ Ep. 368 – “Unfailing Grace” with Julie Carrick (@julie84602521): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-368-unfailing-grace-with-julie-carrick-julie84602521/ Ep. 470 – “Holding On by Letting Go” with Heather Hutchison (@hlhutchison): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-470-holding-on-by-letting-go-with-heather-hutchison-hlhutchison/ Ep. 379 – “It Is The Pursuit That Matters” with April Metzler (@AprilDMetzler): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-379-it-is-the-pursuit-that-matters-with-april-metzler-aprildmetzler/

The energy force of the TARDIS is sucked out of the ship and put into the body of a woman. Who stole who in this Sexy episode of Doctor Who? Find out on this week's In the 'Verse podcast #2.5. FireflyDrinkingSongs.com  SHOW TIMES - Upcoming Shows, Marc and Mikey News - 5-Minute Plot Synopsis / Show Discussion - This Week's Songs SHOW NOTES MARC: Welcome to In The Verse, the podcast that makes music inspired by popular media.  I am Marc Gunn, the creator of the Firefly Drinking Songs show and host of Sci Fi Pub Songs & Stories. MIKEY: And I'm Mikey Mason, creator of the Beer Powered Time Machine Podcast and currently the MIKEYtalks podcast.  MARC: This is episode SIX of our new 10 episode season of the In The Verse Podcast. Mikey: Since we ran out of episodes of Firefly to discuss and write about, we'll be finding inspiration in episodes of other media; TV shows, Comic Books, Cartoons, but definitely not video games. MARC: As always, you can support us in this and other creative endeavors by supporting Mikey at http://patreon.com/mikeymason/  MIKEY: And by supporting Marc at http://patreon.com/celtfather  UPCOMING SHOWS & NEWS MARC GUNN APR 1-9: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX APR 6: Dragon Con Filk Music Concert with Brobdingnagian Bards @ 7 PM CST APR 20: Cat Drinking Songs on Bandcamp @ 7 PM EAST APR 21-23: Jordan Con, Atlanta, GA APR 29.  The Lost Druid Earth Day Biking Concert, Avondale Estates @ 6:30-9:30 PM MAY 13: Pontoon Brewing, Sandy Springs, GA @ 12-3 PM JUN 3-10: Celtic Invasion of County Mayo, Ireland EVERY WEDS, Coffee with The Celtfather @ 10:30 AM ET.  MIKEY MASON April 1st with The Meanies at the Second Story Lounge in Downtown Muncie, IN  Monthly online shows. April's monthly online show is set for Friday, April 7th at 8pm EST at Twitch dot tv slash comedyrockgeek.  April 28-May 21 - School of Rock at the Muncie Civic Theatre June 2-4 ConCarolinas @ Charlotte, NC June 15-17 - Fear the Con in Brentwood, MO June 23-25 Anime Festival Wichita June 30-July 2 0 Toastmaster at InConJunction in Indianapolis, IN July 7-9 Trermendicon @ Springfield, MO July 14-16 PhoenixCon @ Appleton, WI BAND NEWS Marc: My Patreons get a weekly video show, podcasts, and occasional new music. Twice monthly newsletter. Studio Days. Come Adventure With Me final edits.  Mikey: My Patreon patrons are still getting a new song EVERY Monday - that's 52 songs a year for as little as $1/month (though you're perfectly welcome to pledge more, if you can afford it and want to!) & MIKEYtalks podcast. Also Book coming out June 1st. Confessions of a Geek Bard is available through Falstaff Books beginning June 1. Book launch at ConCarolinas. Find more info about Limited edition, signed, numbered hardcover preorder on my website. PLOT SYNOPSIS & DISCUSSION (Ripped straight from Wikipedia) MIKEY The Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory follow a distress call with the identification of the Time Lord the Corsair to an asteroid outside the universe. After landing in a junkyard, the TARDIS shuts down and its matrix disappears. The asteroid, called House, removes the matrix, and places it in the body of a woman called Idris.  MARC The Doctor discovers the Corsair and hundreds of other Time Lords on the asteroid were murdered by House and that two inhabitants of the asteroid, Uncle and Auntie, are constructed from the body parts of Time Lords. Upon learning that the Doctor is the last Time Lord and that no more will ever arrive, House transfers its consciousness into the TARDIS to escape from the rift. Amy and Rory are trapped inside as the House-controlled TARDIS dematerializes. Uncle and Auntie are allowed to die. MIKEY The Doctor learns that Idris contains the personality of the TARDIS's matrix and that they can talk to each other for the first time. With minutes before her body fails, Idris reveals that House had stranded many TARDISes before, and that its pocket universe is hours away from collapsing. The Doctor and Idris work together to construct a makeshift TARDIS from scraps, and then pursue House.  MARC Aboard the Doctor's TARDIS, House threatens to kill Amy and Rory. He plays with their senses as they try to flee through the corridors, and then sends an Ood called Nephew after them. Idris makes a psychic connection with Rory to give him directions to a secondary control room, where he and Amy are able to lower the TARDIS shields. This allows the Doctor to land the makeshift TARDIS in the secondary control room, which atomises Nephew.  MIKEY House deletes the secondary control room as he prepares to break through the rift to the main universe, which the Doctor anticipates. The TARDIS's safety protocols transfer them to the main control room, where the dying Idris releases the TARDIS's matrix back to the TARDIS, destroying House.  MARC A remnant of the TARDIS's matrix, in Idris' body, states that she will not be able to speak to the Doctor again but will be there for him. Idris's body then disappears as the TARDIS matrix is fully restored.  THANK YOU PATRONS Mikey: Marc and I make our living as full-time musicians. We love creating this podcast and sharing our music for you. But it would be near impossible to release as much great music and podcasts if it wasn't for the generosity of people just like you. Marc: So if you enjoyed this show, please support what you love. Your generosity pays for the production and promotion of our music and this podcast.  Mikey: Thank you so very much to the amazing Patreon patrons who help keep the music being made, my incredible Misfits, especially Ora M., Rev Chris Adotta Smith, Drk Unicorn, Amy Stuart, Michael Khandelwal, Josh Logan, Ame Morris, Les Howard, Brian Jackey, Jon Haight, Strahd von Zarovich, Scot Mealy, Scott & Melanie Wienhusen, Matt & Tracy Jackson, and the Hobbits: Jeremy D Jackson and Jennifer Lewis. Marc: I am extremely grateful to everyone who supports my Gunn Runners Club on Patreon. You are all so generous with your support. Thanks to my newest Patron: Not Higgins, C.J. Taylor, Sarah Crockett, Bill Mandeville , William McKissack, Brian Morin, Carol Baril, Kurt Goodyear, Miranda Nelson, Jan Czenkusch, Luke Miller, Josh Brown, Scott & Melanie Wienhusen, Doris Lane, Alexis , James ODell, Eric Ray, Marie Alm, James Regan, Les Howard, Cary Whitney, Tim M. O'Brien, Troy Rodgers WHAT'S NEXT? Mandalorian S1:E8 The Redemption CLOSING NOTES Marc: Thanks so much for listening. You can download many of our songs when you sign up on our Patreon pages. Find out more about Marc Gunn and Mikey Mason and how to support our music on Patreon.  Mikey: We would love your comments, suggestions, songs and lyrics or links to videos to share in the next show. Use the hashtag #InTheVerse. You can post them on the Blue Sun Tour Facebook page or email mikey@mikeymason.com  Marc: In the ‘Verse was produced by Marc Gunn and Mikey Mason. Sign up on our website and find out more about us and the show at http://fireflydrinkingsongs.com 

Discover Rising Tides discusses Cooking with Chef Mary Lummerding Discovering Guest Mary Lummerding Mary Lummerding is an accredited Chef and a Cooking Coach As a personal chef, Mary helps busy people make healthy, easy, cost effective meals and have FUN in the kitchen. Music selection like Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars is very helpful. Occasionally we pause for some dancing. Good Food helps us to be healthy so we can enjoy our lives. Mary works with clients individually and in small groups. Mary graduated from Culinary Management at George Brown College in Toronto She worked professionally at various restaurants for 10 years. Mary taught her son to cook. At age 32, he happily makes most of his own meals. She has been active in Toastmasters, helping people to develop their public speaking skills. Mary loves finding solutions - especially in the kitchen. Mary has developed many ways to create easy meals. Occasionally she spends a few hours in the kitchen making dishes like a Slow Cooker Pulled Pork. The extra meals go into the freezer to use as a ‘heat and serve' meal. She also grows a wide variety of vegetables and berries. With her husband, Mary grew and sold vegetables at a farm market for 3 years. How the Outside Makes the Inside Better Through conversations with female business owners, we explore the benefits of time spent outside to maintain life balance. The time outside and activity may differ in each conversation, but we delve into the subject to find the commonality that drives us all.  As a business owner, I find myself outside to balance the challenges of every day Submit Questions  hello@discoverrisingtides.com Podcast page: https://discoverrisingtides.com/offerings  

Some reflection on my birthday weekend before I chat with Jordan Grumet, long time friend of the show from the personal finance community, host of the Earn and Invest podcast, and author of Taking Stock: A Hospice Doctor's Advice on Financial Independence, Building Wealth, and Living a Regret-Free Life.   Toastmasters - Giving a talk at 730am PT on April 12th at the weekly Toastmasters meeting I attend. I haven't spoken about it much, but it's helped me become a better speaker and podcast host. At this meeting, I'll be talking about how to start a podcast. So visit tmws.co/toastmaster to register for the session and see an example of Toastmasters in action.   

In 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, Tetiana Fomenko's life changed forever.   A qualified pharmcist, she had forged a successful career as a sales leader for global pharmaceutical companies and had recently launched her own business as a health coach whilst living in Kiev with her husband and son.   It soon became clear that remaining in Kiev wasn't an option and so eventually Tetiana and her son moved to the UK which is where I met her at a Toastmasters meeting in Oxfordshire.   Listening to her stand up at the front of the room and share not only her story but the philosophy and mindset she embraced was inspiring and moving and I'm delighted to have her on the podcast as a guest to explore this more.   In our conversation Tetiana shares what it was like to move out of her family home and to leave behind the life and goals she had, and start again in rural England.   We talk about control, change, stress, mindset, motivation and goals, all set against the backdrop of some of the most significant world events in the 21st century.   Tetiana has a masters degree in pharmacy and is currently studying naturopathic medicine at the London College whilst working as a pharmacy specialist as part of her goal of launching her health coaching business here in the UK.   You can follow Tetiana's journey via her Instagram and LinkedIn profiles: https://www.instagram.com/tetiana_s_fomenko https://www.linkedin.com/in/tetiana-fomenko-8b01691b8  

Jane Bartho and Linda Dorn of the Northfield Community Toastmasters Club discuss an upcoming 8-week series “Toastmaster Speechcraft Series” to help individuals become a more confident speaker and presenter. For more information and to register, visit northfieldmn.toastmasterclubs.org/speechcraft.

Welcome back to the Millionaire Real Estate Podcast! Today, we sat down with special guest Andres Bustamante to discuss marketing tactics, and more.    -   Born in El Paso, TX, Andres studied at the University of Texas at Austin and got his Real Estate License at 19 in order to pay for College. His 1st ever sale was a $1M Condo at the age of 21. Upon graduating he got Rookie of the Year selling 21 homes ($6.8M Volume).    Andres is now 26 years old and Year to date has sold 100+ homes, $50M + in volume and owns 3 rental properties. He also mentors several agents on his team which is composed of 10 agents and 2 transaction coordinators. Social Media has played a big role in helping him achieve this and he has a combined 30k+ followers across Instagram and TikTok (@andresbustatx).    Outside of Real Estate, Andres lived in France when he was 16 for a full year with a host family and speaks French, Spanish and English. During his off time he enjoys playing soccer, reading, exercising and attending ToastMasters.    Website:     -   This episode is sponsored by CanZell Realty. CanZell is one of the fastest-growing virtual/hybrid companies with a focus on providing local leadership, revenue share opportunities, and top technology for agents. Learn how you can keep more of your commission and sell more real estate at joincanzell.com - Join CanZell HERE: https://joincanzell.com/

Inside of this solo episode, I share about my recent process of sharing a speech in my Toastmasters club titled Honoring My Heart's Desire. I reveal my behind-the-scenes process preparing to share this romantic speech in front of a live audience. I also go into the vulnerability and importance of sharing our dreams before/as they become a reality for us and more peeks into my journey of desiring a partner by my side in this life.   Original blog post that I turned into a speech: I Finally Feel Good Enough for the Romantic Love I Desire The podcast episode where I read it out loud: 106. (Romantic) Love, I'm Ready For Ya   To connect about my recent program, Aligning to You, email me: hello@shannonkeating.com Connect with me on Instagram: @shannonkeating Explore my Website: www.shannonkeating.com Human Design Readings: Book here! Intuitive Readings: Book here! Check out the BabesRising Website: www.babesrising.co    Podcast Sponsored by: Ayurvedic Protein (the best vegan protein powder in the world + a woman founded company!). Use the code: SHANNON at check-out for 10% off your order!

Our featured interview tonight is with Neville Smith. This is the fourth in our series of interviews with “Journeymen Pipe Smokers” – guys that have been smoking pipes between five and 10 years. Neville is from Perth, Australia and is a Senior Consultant with The Illuminate Group. He is a company director with over ten years working in the corporate training and speaking industry. He is a renowned public speaker and an award winning Toastmaster. At the top of the show our segment will feature pipe artisan Jeff Gracik with another installment of “Ask the Pipemaker”.

Kathryn Johnson says that she is “an expert at turning obstacles into joy”. I believe it especially after interviewing her for this episode of Unstoppable Mindset. Born with the disability cerebral palsy, Kathryn constantly faced challenges growing up as a person with a disability. Like most of us, her biggest challenges were the people who thought they knew much more about what she needed than she did herself. She will tell you stories about this and how she worked to make her life an example of how to turn “no you can't” to “yes I can”. Kathryn represented Canada in what we now know as the Para Olympics where she won in Germany two bronze metals. She has three college degrees. She worked as an accountant for more than 15 years before deciding to write her first book and begin her own coaching business. Kathryn is by any definition unstoppable as you will see. She points out that being unstoppable is really a matter of choice; a choice we all can make. About the Guest: As an expert in turning obstacles into joy, Kathryn can help you find the gift in any situation. Born with the disability cerebral palsy, Kathryn overcomes a lifetime of “no you can't” to “yes, I can”. With 3 degrees, 2 world championship bronze metals, a best-selling book, multiple awards, and certifications; her life's journey has prepared her to help YOU navigate and succeed on your life's road. Kathryn's integrated open-door coaching programs utilize both analytical left-brain thinking (she spent over 20 years as a certified accountant) and intuitive right-brain thinking (she is a certified life coach and spiritual intuitive) to gather deep insight into your life. This whole brain combination of left and right brain thinking comes together in one-of-a-kind open-door coaching programs that range from 8 weeks to one year. Book a FREE online discovery session to talk with her about how she can help YOU turn your everyday obstacles into greatest joys! How to Connect with Kathryn : Website: www.inspiredbykathryn.com Email: kathryn@inspiredbykathryn.com Inspired by Kathryn (@inspiredbykathrynjohnson) • Instagram photos and videos Facebook (20+) Inspired By Kathryn | Vancouver BC | Facebook LinkedIn: (99+) Kathryn Johnson | LinkedIn Link to Free Gift for your audience Link to my special gift for your audience: Joy of Obstacles Workbook Contains questions to help you overcome your obstacles as well as additional quotes not in the book. https://inspiredbykathryn.com/shop/#33-principles-living-joyfully Coupon Code: JOY About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:21 Welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to talk to Kathryn Johnson. And she will tell you that one of the things that she gets to do is turning obstacles into joy. And you know, you can't get any better than that. So I'm not going to give her any more of an introduction than that. Except I expect this to be a good fun interview. And that's what we want to do here at unstoppable mindset is have fun anyway. So with that in mind, Kathryn, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Kathryn Johnson  01:54 Oh, thank you so much for having me, Michael, I'm so happy to be with you today. Looking forward to chatting with your listeners.   Michael Hingson  02:02 Well, I appreciate that. And yeah, they're, they're as much a part of this as anything. So I appreciate all the background that you gave me to help me prepare, and at the same time, you taking the time to do this. So let's start this way. I love to start this way. Tell me a little about you growing up and sort of your, your earlier years before we get into everything that's going on today.   Kathryn Johnson  02:27 Well, my earlier years actually set the stage for where I am today, I had the interesting experience of being born with something called cerebral palsy. And that is a neuromuscular disorder disability that causes difficulty in my case with walking and coordination. And so I actually view that as my greatest gift. Because it's shaped by perspective of everything I do shape my perspective of the world. I realized it simply being alive is a privilege because sometimes people you know, they don't make it as much as to live as many years as I have. And being able to move freedom to move is also a privilege. And there's a lot of people that aren't as able as I am. So I see very much as a privilege rather than what I've lost.   Michael Hingson  03:25 So, you you grew up with cerebral palsy, do you walk at all? Or do you watch here or what?   Kathryn Johnson  03:33 No, I walk with two walking canes. And when I am at home, I don't use my canes at all I just I basically use my canes for being outside of my home.   Michael Hingson  03:45 That stability, better balance.   Kathryn Johnson  03:49 Yes. You know, there aren't there things like walls and stuff like that they don't hang on to side so. So I need some support. But otherwise, I'm self sufficient on home and I just find it easier because I have full of use of my hands that way so   Michael Hingson  04:07 well, you know, that's as good as it gets. So do you have any children? No, I know. If you did, so you got your hands you can beat him up and all that sort of stuff. And you know, whatever it takes I don't and I mean that facetiously of course but still. That is great. So you grew up with cerebral palsy?   Kathryn Johnson  04:26 Yes, I did. And so how   Michael Hingson  04:31 did that affect you in school? What was it like going to school and being it definitely in a minority from that standpoint? Oh,   Kathryn Johnson  04:41 for sure I'm gonna date myself a little bit. I started school right at the end of the end of I think what they called segregation or the beginning of mainstreaming, which means they used to, they used to send people like me A quote unquote, too special school with people with disabilities. What your what year was that? What year was that? I started kindergarten not 1978. Okay. So yeah, by the time I was in first grade, that was 1980. And it was just they were just starting to realize that maybe we can put these kids with, with the normal kids.   Michael Hingson  05:26 Yeah, the whole concept of normal. So. So you were, you were mainstreamed as it were? Yes. And how did that all work out for you?   Kathryn Johnson  05:36 Oh, you know, I feel as an adult now, looking back, I feel bad for my teachers. They had no idea what to do. And, you know, the truth is, they didn't need to do anything. They just needed to treat me like anybody else. Because fortunately, cognitively. I'm just as smart as my peers, if not towards the top end of my class. But they just thought, what are we going to do? Like, it was always a question of what are we going to do with Katherine because she's different. And I, I've spent my whole life I think, with this message of whoever I talked to that, you know, you really don't need to do much differently. If I, if I would like help, I will ask you directly. Because I know my limitations. So if you, if I don't ask, don't worry about it. I've got this handled. I've dealt with this my whole life. I've find that people see me, I walk into your room, and the first thing they think is, how can we help. And it comes from a place of having good heart, but also a lack of awareness, that somehow, maybe like, things are hard. And I don't I don't think that things are hard. And things are just different. Because like I said, I'm used to this dealing with this every day all day 24/7 I don't get a day off. So I got it handled. The best thing to do for me personally, is if you want help me ask me how I need help. Because often, people tend to just kind of take over and think they know what I need. And then and then we end up kind of literally tripping over each other. And it becomes this awkward mess of how to help Katharine and I just, I just want to be with people, you know, just be with me just get to know me and be with me and learn all the interesting things there is to get get to know me, because there's really a lot of things that I've accomplished   Michael Hingson  08:01 as school progress did. Did life in a sense, get any easier? Did did teachers improve it all the more they got to see you and see that? Gee, maybe it isn't really as bad as we thought.   Kathryn Johnson  08:17 Absolutely. And I think I think there's two reasons for that. I think one society changed over time, thank goodness. And I think also, you know, I matured, so I was able to communicate better, and people got to know me over time. So they just learned they learned my observation that you know, all this worrying we've been doing about Katherine really is not an issue. I remember in the 10th grade in high school that that this isn't the 90s, early 90s The teachers had this great idea that I needed a escort from from, you know, grade 12 to help me get from the front door to where the bus Mia at the end of the parking lot. Because what if I fail? What if I fell on the ice in the wintertime? And I thought for goodness sake. I'm 15 years old. Are you serious? But you know it just my request to be left to my own independence fell on deaf ears. Until one day, my buddy my bus Buddy was walking along with me on the ice. And she slept and I didn't. And that was the end of that. And they left me to my own devices after that.   Michael Hingson  09:50 So where were you going to school by the way geographically.   Kathryn Johnson  09:53 I went to school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is north of North Dakota. So I see pictures are are a definite thing. We've got snow from November to February at least Yeah.   Michael Hingson  10:06 Yeah. Do you live there now or where do you live now?   Kathryn Johnson  10:09 No. Now I'm very fortunate to live in beautiful British Columbia on the on the West Coast. Less snow. Almost no snow. However, we do have snow today. It's snowing today.   Michael Hingson  10:23 Yeah, we might live south of you in Victorville California. I don't think we'll get snow. We live in a valley. So the snow usually goes over us but places around us get snow. We won't. But we'll be getting rain later this week. So that's fine.   Kathryn Johnson  10:37 Oh, good for you. California. Rain.   Michael Hingson  10:40 We live up in the mountains. And it is true. You can go from the beach to skiing in a couple of hours. And we're closer to the skiing than the beach. But still. It's nice. And we enjoy Well, that's great that you're living in British Columbia? Yes. Much better than a little bit more climate friendly place to be?   Kathryn Johnson  10:59 Yes, it is. I moved for a lot of reasons I like that the city is that things are closer together than in the West, the western provinces of Canada, and it's just easier to get where I need to go. So that's why I moved.   Michael Hingson  11:16 So you went to high school? And eventually they they left you alone a little bit more and left you to your own devices? Yeah. Did you ever slip in the snow or on the ice?   Kathryn Johnson  11:27 Oh, sir. But I got up. I mean, you know, people keep that. So people say what if you fall? What if you fall? And I say well get up? To me, it's such an obvious answer. Because what am I gonna do sit, like, sit there and cry about it? You know? No, I'm gonna get out because I know how to fall so that I don't I don't hurt myself. You know, I don't do it dangerously. And I just I know, I also know how to get up because they don't let you therapists don't let you leave. Don't live. Don't let you go home with a pair of crutches unless you know how to get up from them. When he got home, so So you are you are well prepared when you leave with your walking aids to use them in all aspects?   Michael Hingson  12:29 Well, you just said something very interesting to you know how to fall. Yeah, of course, a lot of people don't really learn how to do. And so they are more apt to hurt themselves than somebody who truly knows how to fall when something happens.   Kathryn Johnson  12:46 That's true. My experience is, you know, if I, when I start to fight gravity, that's when I hurt myself, when I just go with it. I'm not really falling, my knees are touching the ground, but I'm not really falling. Right. And it's, you know, I've heard I've gotten hurt more often because people try to catch me then then if I just let gravity do its thing. It's, it's so it's very interesting.   Michael Hingson  13:18 And that's an interesting way to put it that you get hurt more when people try to help. Because they don't know how to help. And we're not doing enough to educate people, we just assume that disability means lack of ability. And that's not what disability means at all. It's a characteristic and we need to somehow educate the public that the reality is you should learn what to do. And the best way to learn is to ask us,   Kathryn Johnson  13:46 yes. And everybody's different. So you know, I know what works for me and I, I always talk about my experience. And then I say, you know, in general, ask the person because I don't know what it's like for everybody on crutches. I just know what it's like for me on crutches.   Michael Hingson  14:08 Yep. Well, so you left high school after graduating and all that and then what did you do?   Kathryn Johnson  14:14 Well, then I decided to enroll in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Manitoba. i The plan was to get a Bachelor of Social Work. But you needed a year of a year of university. So I decided to study psychology. And then I didn't get into the Faculty of Social Work. So I decided to study another year of psychology. I even applied out of province. And you know, year three, I I tried two years to get in to the Faculty of Social Work, and that that didn't happen. So in year three, I finished my mice my arts degree with a major You're in psychology and a minor in sociology. And that was, that was interesting, but it was like, Okay, now what? Because an arts degree doesn't qualify you to do a lot of things in the world of work. So I took a year off. And it was kind of like Now watch, and I was training competitively for track and field at that time. At that point in my life I was, was racing competitively, in wheelchair racing. I raced anything from 100 meters to 800 meters. And I've also done some some half marathons and thing, some road races. So I took a year off, and I went actually to Vancouver to train with the national team for a few months in night, and then that summer, I went to Germany to represent Team Canada.   Michael Hingson  16:00 Now was that in Paralympics or regular non para Olympics,   Kathryn Johnson  16:04 that was what you would consider para Olympics. Okay, adaptive sports.   Michael Hingson  16:10 But still, the bottom line is you did it and you ran?   Kathryn Johnson  16:15 That's right. Well, in a wheelchair, yes. In a racing wheelchair. Okay. Yes. All right.   Michael Hingson  16:22 So you say you went and competed and,   Kathryn Johnson  16:26 and I ended up with two bronze medals in the 102 100 meters. For Team Canada, yay, lay. And then I realized something very interesting. Why am I doing this? Because at that time, I had I started racing when I was 12, or 13. At this time, I was now 20. And I, I, you know, it's it literally you're going in circles, racing around the track going in circles. And it was a lot of work. And I just thought, you know, I just, I've got all these metals. And I'm never going to be satisfied because I'm always going to be able to get faster. So I left the sport after I competed in Germany, because I felt like life was calling me to different things. And and after that, what did I do? Well, I went into, I went into business school, community college, one of the best things I ever did. I took business, majored in accounting. And my teacher said, Gosh, Katherine, you're so good at accounting, you should really finish finish your accounting, get a professional accounting designation. And I thought, My goodness, more school like this is down five years of post secondary education, more school. And so yes, I did finish and I ended up with a professional accounting designation. And then,   Michael Hingson  18:15 so what degrees did you have by this time,   Kathryn Johnson  18:17 by this time, I had a Bachelor of Arts major in psychology, a Business Administration diploma, and a CPA, which is a Chartered Professional Accountant in with a Canadian designation.   Michael Hingson  18:34 Now your first degree, the Bachelors of Arts degree, you said you got in three years, is that normal?   Kathryn Johnson  18:40 That is normal. That was the last year they offered a three year program. It's now four,   Michael Hingson  18:44 it's now four. Okay? Alright, so you now have three degrees, you have become a person very knowledgeable in accounting. And what did you do with that?   Kathryn Johnson  18:56 Well, I finally started working   Michael Hingson  19:01 to start at some point, anyway,   Kathryn Johnson  19:03 yeah, well, I had summer jobs and different things along the way. But you know, I finally started in though in the world of work, full time work and accounting, accounting, being an accounting clerk and working my way up and, you know, along the way, I work for a lot of small businesses and I tend to be very efficient at what I do. Because you know, having a disability your eye, have private I pride myself on being efficient because there are certain things I do they take longer. So I need to be more efficient at what I do right to be equal to others. And so what this did is gave me a very unique skill in that I was a lot I would it allowed me to see ways I could make companies more efficient, which was wonderful. I tended to save them. 10s of 1000s if not hundreds of 1000s of dollars a year, streamlining their processes, and making everything more efficient and making the company more profitable, and the employees happier. And in the process, I got to experience six layoffs in 20 years. Oh, boy, just because, wow, you took the job from a job and a half when you you know, you're you're doing your job, and you're working overtime over much so much because you're buried in inefficiency and pile of paper to, oh, we only need you halftime and I was like, Well, I don't want to work half time, I want to work full time. So like, I laughed, and I moved on, and I found something else. And then happened six times in a row.   Michael Hingson  20:55 So there's a there's a message there somewhere, there is a message   Kathryn Johnson  20:58 there somewhere. The sticks, layoff and the final layoff was in 2017. I chose I chose a layoff package in 2017. For several reasons, the company was going through a restructure. And I was feeling like my work at my company. As good as it was, I wasn't making the impact in the world I wanted to make. And I just thought you know, I I need to do something else. So I took a layoff package. And I went to California for six months. Right? It sounds cliche, but I honestly that's what I did. I went to California for six months to unwind, took the train from from Vancouver, all the way down to the Bay Area had a lot of fun with some friends I have there and took a bunch of personal growth retreats, I'd been studying personal growth since 2009. And my very last retreat that I was at in October of 2017 was a small meditation group of 10 people. And they all said one thing, they said, Catherine, you're brilliant, you gotta write a book. And I thought, me write a book. I'm an accountant. I don't know how to write a book. And, you know, but everybody said it. And they really meant it. I could tell and, and so I went home, and I thought about it for a while. And because I thought what am I going to do with my life, you know? And I thought, okay, if I write this book, it will change my life. I just know that I know that in my heart. And I thought, well, do I really want it? And the answer was absolutely yes. Because at the end of my life, I absolutely did not want. Somebody has shown me. Look what you could have had, if you chose to be uncomfortable for a little while. Look at the impact. But you said no, no, no, I'll stay in my comfort zone. That's okay, I'll stay in my numbers and my comfort zone and my steady paycheck. i The thought of that just made me sick. So I thought, Okay, I'm gonna write this book. And in January 8 2018, I started to write a book called The Joy of obstacles. What am I going to write about? And I thought, well write what you know, which is my life. And so my book is, is a self help memoir that takes readers from birth to present day, and different milestones in my life, different experiences, each chapter has questions where the reader can look at their own life and take the principles from the book and apply them to their own life to help them move through obstacles. Essentially, my message is this. We all have obstacles, as a vehicle for learning and growth. And there's always good in the obstacle, even though, just keep looking for that good because there's something there's something there, that's good, you're growing, you're learning, you're connecting with other people, most importantly, you're connecting with other people, if we had all the answers, we wouldn't need other people as much. We wouldn't need creativity, we wouldn't need all these things. And the world would stagnate. So really, obstacles exist to help us learn, learn and grow and connect and be a better version of ourselves through being a better version of ourselves. Everybody wins. So it's our job to him. embrace those obstacles that were given and connect and look for the good and help each other grow when we reach out to, to overcome our obstacles. We grow because we've overcome what we're struggling with, but also the person helping us grows. Now, I want to just tie that back to something I said earlier about people trying to help me and it made it a little different, a little difficult. So in that case, I would say the lesson is, for me to be communicate in a way that I don't necessarily communicate in a way so that my needs are heard. And the lesson for the other person is to understand me on a different level, and broaden their perspective about who I am. And what I'm able to do and look at me in a different way.   Michael Hingson  26:02 The other side of talking about the fact that we all face obstacles, is that we also all have gifts. And we need to recognize how to use our gifts, and we need to learn to use our gifts. And those of course, gifts that we have, can help us deal with the obstacles that are put in our path, because the obstacles that are put in our path are there because of whatever and whoever we are, right? That's right. And so it's all about learning to use the gifts that you're given. What do you think your greatest gift is gift is?   Kathryn Johnson  26:40 Well, I think, I think honestly, being born with cerebral palsy was my greatest gift. And it is my greatest gift because it it shapes that shapes by perspective of everything because I don't get a day off. As I said, I don't get a day off from this. I don't have good days and bad days. It just is. i It's impossible for me to live life without it. And I realized, like, I've learned all these skills, I've learned to be resilient. I've learned to be an excellent listener. Because when you maybe don't move like other people, you need to rely on your other senses. And for me, it's listening and speaking, as opposed to maybe running away from a difficult situation, right? Also, I've learned to be a very good problem solver, in terms of how am I going to get from A to B? How am I going to navigate this situation life? I understand. You know, I'm very resourceful. I'm very efficient. I know how to I'm organized. My time is very well organized. I'd look at people who can drive and have two legs that work like most people. And I think about how they they run their day. And I think my goodness, how do you get anything done? You're going you're going back and forth and up and up and back and inside out and like I would have that done in half the time   28:23 you drive at all?   Kathryn Johnson  28:24 Actually I do not I rely on public transit and I'm I'm okay with that. That's one of the reasons I moved to Vancouver because their transit system is   Michael Hingson  28:33 yeah, the transit system up there is really good. Didn't know whether you by any chance drove and used hand controls?   Kathryn Johnson  28:41 No, I do not. I choose not to I find it easier just to take the bus. I'm fine with that.   Michael Hingson  28:48 Well, in my opinion, it will be high time when autonomous vehicles really are perfected and we can take driving out of the hands of drivers because they certainly don't do it very well.   Kathryn Johnson  28:58 Well, that's what I've heard you know, it'll be interesting. It'll be interesting when we have those autonomous driving cars I wonder what that will be like you never know.   Michael Hingson  29:09 I I've been in many cars and I listened to the people who are driving grumble about this person cut me off or this person wasn't watching. This person is doing whatever. So I figure that there's there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to drive and I think that the Department of Motor Vehicles is very prejudiced not allowing a blind person to drive because I think we can probably drive just as well as anybody else. The way I keep hearing people drives. I don't see a problem.   Kathryn Johnson  29:38 We'll see what happens with that one. Michael? Hi. No,   Michael Hingson  29:40 no, the the time will come when we really get to. And I'm serious. Take the hands take the driving out of the hands of drivers because too many people take it way too much for granted. They're not really looking at it seriously. And as you said they they're often very disorganized and frazzled, and in what they do,   Kathryn Johnson  30:03 hmm, yeah, I, I'm fine with taking transit or taking a taxi. It's either way it works saves me a   Michael Hingson  30:12 lot of money. It does, it does in the long run, it'll save you a lot of money. We don't have really good public transit here. But I've been on the transit systems up in Vancouver, so I know how good they are and how well you can get around up there. We're using them. I lived in Boston for a while. And then Massachusetts. Boston has good public transit too, which really worked out well, for me.   Kathryn Johnson  30:40 That's good. You know, what I've noticed lately, Michael, in Vancouver is they're, they're starting to put Braille on the bus, the sign for the bus, and they put it at sort of arm height so that you can know what bus is gonna stop at the stop.   Michael Hingson  30:58 So does it change as buses are coming?   Kathryn Johnson  31:01 But it's Braille. So?   Michael Hingson  31:05 Well, what I'm getting at is that oftentimes, the signs that are available, show you what bus is coming, what the next one is, or whatever, they don't do that in Braille. They could, but that's a pretty expensive process.   Kathryn Johnson  31:18 Yeah, they don't they don't. We also have digital signs. That's what I'm getting at some, some stops have digital signs, the sky train has digital signs. The newer line has voice, as well. So it tells you what stopped it. You're at and which train is coming and all of that. Yeah. Right.   Michael Hingson  31:47 Well, so for you, having been born with cerebral palsy, and, and I can appreciate you saying that that's really your greatest gift. And we could talk about disabilities and how they are our greatest gifts. And there's a lot of merit to that, for the reasons that you said, What is your disability taught you specifically,   Kathryn Johnson  32:09 never give up. Or at least, never give up. If you want to do something. Like if you really want to do something, never give up because there's a way you know, and there comes a time in life. And I talk about this in my book, there comes a time in life when maybe it's time to move on. And that's a separate issue with a separate decision making process. But if you have some, if if somebody has the passion and the desire to do something, do not give up because you have the passion, it's yours to have. And there's a way, there's a way you'll figure it out, you'll be connected with the people to help you. You'll find the resources, you know, often people in life, they say, Well, I'd love to have this in my life. But here I am at point A and I can only see these certain things in this box. And why when I coach people to do is what would you absolutely love. Start there. And then take a step. Because as you take a step from 100%, of what you want this vision of 100% of what you want, your perspective will change just like you're walking down the street, when as you walk, you see different houses or you are aware of different things in your environment. But if you don't move, you don't see different options. So start with 100% of what you would love in your life. And take one step at a time. And eventually, you will find your way. There's a   Michael Hingson  33:55 big difference between being stubborn and being passionate, just being separate. I'm going to do this regardless, which may or may not be something that you will be able to do. And it doesn't necessarily reflect the passion of being able to do it, you're just going to do it because but if you're truly passionate, there's a whole lot more of yourself that goes into it. And as you said, you start by really envisioning what you want, and you will figure out how to get there because it's what you really want to do as opposed to just being stupid about doing.   Kathryn Johnson  34:29 That's right. And I've been both we all have. I've definitely had my stubborn moments in life which have served me you know, they've served me at the time, I think in a way they've served me how so? Um, it just yeah, it's just this idea of like, I'm not gonna let what someone else thinks, stop me, just because someone else is older, bigger, stronger. are indifferent and tells me they know. Because they don't know. If there's something in my beingness that is guiding me to do something, I'm going to do it. And nobody can tell me otherwise, even if it seems crazy to them, that I can get something done. I know I can. And that's all that matters. So what it's taught me is don't worry so much about what other people think.   Michael Hingson  35:33 When he asked you this, you said something earlier about having experienced six layoffs. Do you think that your last layoff for example, you said the company was restructuring and so on? Did any of that come about because of the things that you did to make them more efficient, and they had to change the way they were doing things?   Kathryn Johnson  35:53 That sounds like such a, like, another lifetime ago? I? Um, yeah. I mean, I think so.   Michael Hingson  36:04 It didn't hurt.   Kathryn Johnson  36:05 Yeah, it certainly didn't hurt. That's good way of putting it. I know that the majority of the other layoffs were because of efficiency because of efficiencies that I created.   Michael Hingson  36:17 Well, so you, you've been through a number of changes. Yeah. Then you didn't start decided to start writing a book? Did you publish it yourself? Or do you find a publisher to help you? Or how did that all work out?   Kathryn Johnson  36:30 It's it's self published on Amazon. Okay, it's available in ebook print and audible. It was very important to me to have an audio book because I know not everybody can use their hands. And in this case, not even be able to, you know, read text. So I wanted to have I wanted to have an audio book for people who learn differently by verbal information. Did you make Did you read it? No, no, I hired. I hired a voice, a voice when you call them?   Michael Hingson  37:11 I heard a reader   Kathryn Johnson  37:13 a voice. She's a voice actress. Beautiful job. Very, very happy with what she did. Yeah. Because again, it's not my strength. A lot of people told said all it's a self help book, you should record it would be better if it's your voice, you know. And I thought, you know, it's not that it's not as easy as people think, to record a book. Like, really, I respect that there is finesse involved. And that is not something that I have, at least not in in terms of writing of reading an entire book. And I'm so glad that I that I hired it out. Because I know people who started publishing their print book at the same time I did their print book is long published, their audio book is yet to be yet to be published. So it's still you know, in the studio. And that's too bad. Yeah, yeah.   Michael Hingson  38:25 And everyone has gifts, as I said before, and yours may very well not be in the reading of the book. I think that it is, it is very possible for most all of us to learn to tell stories and to communicate with people. But reading a book is a whole different art form. And so that that may very well not be what you should do. And that's something that only you can decide, and nobody should second guess that so I'm with you. Yeah, yeah. i When my first book thunder dog was published, people said, Are you going to record it? And I said, No, because I think there are people who could do a much better job than I and the publisher of Senator Doug Thomas Nelson publishing contracted with Oasis audio when Christopher Prince an actor out here in Los Angeles, actually read the book and did a wonderful job with it.   Kathryn Johnson  39:22 Yeah, it was, it was certainly a great investment, I think.   Michael Hingson  39:27 Yeah, but it's good that it was at least put in to into an audio format. It's on Audible and all that. So I hear exactly what you're saying. However,   Kathryn Johnson  39:38 she loved my book. You know what she said? She said, your book came to me just at the perfect time, Catherine. So it helped her.   Michael Hingson  39:47 Isn't that the way of it? A lot of times that happens? Yeah. Are you a religious person?   Kathryn Johnson  39:54 No, I'm not a religious person. I am a spiritual person though. So I don't necessarily believe in any strict dogma. But I do believe in things like divine timing. And I would say a divine intelligence. Okay.   Michael Hingson  40:15 And that is, that is as good as it gets them. And I agree with you, we all get guidance. And there is that inner voice that talks to all of us if we would but learn to listen to it.   Kathryn Johnson  40:27 That's right.   Michael Hingson  40:30 Well, you talked a lot about obstacles and dealing with obstacles. What do you think the most important important thing is? In facing obstacles, what's kind of the, the most important key to facing an obstacle that you can tell us about?   Kathryn Johnson  40:49 We always have a choice of how we respond. So remember, things don't happen to you. That's I think that's a that's a key for people to remember is, is life doesn't happen to you. Things happen. Events are neutral, we may not like them, believe me, I've had my share of doozies. But things are neutral. And they're there for our good for our growth, how we how we choose to view them is up to us. You know, they've done studies with twins that grow up in in not so pleasant environments. One of them ends up being incredibly successful. And they said, Well, why? And they said, well, because of the tough environment I grew up in, I want it to be the exact opposite. And they went off that they got to be incredibly successful, whatever that meant for them, the other twin, and basically repeating the cycle, whatever that cycle was. And so it's all a matter of perception, and like, what am I going to do with what I'm faced with? It's not the thing, it's how we respond to that thing. And that's 100% within our control. If you need help, you know, there's coaches out there, I coach people on how to overcome their obstacles. So I'm here for you, if you're looking for some support.   Michael Hingson  42:25 Well, let's talk about that a little bit. So you wrote a book. And when you were writing the book, is that all you did, or you got laid off? And you had to, I would assume figure out a way to get some sort of income. What did you do?   Kathryn Johnson  42:39 What did I do? Well, I've been, I have been building my business ever since and relying on on my resources that I've accumulated up to that point.   Michael Hingson  42:54 So tell us about that. So you decided to start your own business and exactly what is the business   Kathryn Johnson  43:00 the business is, I'm a, I'm a coach, speaker, author. So I have my book, joy of obstacles, I have a workbook that goes with it. I also have a second book called 21 simple solutions to take you from surviving to thriving, which is just as it says 21, quick one page tips, then it's a journal that you can apply those tips to your life and steps to implement them on a weekly basis. I do speaking all over virtual speaking mostly at this time. I'm based in Vancouver, and I'm also a coach. So I coach a system that was taught to me by Mary Morrissey. And like I said, I help people build a vision and then give them support for for creating a life that is in their heart, and then they would absolutely love. I'm also intuitive, so I do things like intuitive card readings or tarot readings. I do mediumship readings. And I do a process called ancestral clearing, which is great to help people overcome obstacles because what that does is it's all about what you feel in your body. I don't need to know your history. A lot of people say I don't want to talk about is too difficult. I don't need to know. All I need to know is my shoulder hurts. Or My knee hurts or oh, I have a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach or whatever. I can work with that. So you know if you've got some pattern that you'd like to resolve, you can book an appointment with me all my appointments are virtual. So it doesn't matter where you are in the World I can help you.   Michael Hingson  45:02 You can do readings virtually.   Kathryn Johnson  45:04 Yes, I can. Yeah, I can.   Michael Hingson  45:07 How did you get to be a coach?   Kathryn Johnson  45:10 I decided, yeah, I've got I've got 15 years, I've been studying personal growth since since 2009. So, so what happened is I, I finished accounting school in 2002. And then, you know, almost immediately I started to study esoteric, spiritual things consciousness, why are we here, all of those big questions. And then when I moved to Vancouver, you know, personal growth is big out here as it is in California as well. And I just got really involved with, with this whole movement of being the best person you can be. And I thought, that's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. It's not about it's not about for me, it's not about you know, going to school getting a job saving your money, so you can retire and golf. I mean, that's just, that's, that's great, if that's what you want. But for me, that wasn't the point, there was a bigger picture. And, and I saw, I just kept studying, and the more I studied, the more I loved it. So now after 15 years, I decided to coach,   Michael Hingson  46:32 you have to get a license or certification to be a coach,   Kathryn Johnson  46:36 I am certified, I did take a correspondence course. However, coaching at this point is a profession that you do not need a certification. That's not it's not a nationally standard, standardized profession.   Michael Hingson  46:54 But there is still a process behind it.   Kathryn Johnson  46:56 There is a process behind it. Yeah, they vary depending on which which school you you take your training through, I took mine through correspondence. So   Michael Hingson  47:09 you know, it's, it's interesting, what comes to mind, as you're talking about all the various aspects of things here is that we spend so much time focusing on a lot of stuff. And the real focusing of ourselves on a lot of stuff is all about, we think we have to control it, or we want to control it, then we never really learn to recognize what we really have control over and what we don't have control over, which gets back to your whole issue about choice, right? And that, in reality, we should learn to focus on what we can control and leave the rest alone. And we also seem to have a hard time doing that, don't we?   Kathryn Johnson  47:54 Yeah, we do. Um, myself included. And I think that that comes from fear, which is false evidence appearing real. It's the stories we make up in our head, you know, they get the best of us, sometimes myself included. And so you know, get information, obviously, the more information you have, the more likely those little fear Gremlins will calm down. But also, you know, trust your heart, trust your heart, I believe your heart is like your compass. That's your guiding light of what's what is right for you, or what's your path? Or, you know, what's your next move? And often it doesn't, it doesn't always make sense, you know, why would somebody with a successful accounting career after 20 years, you give it a lot? Why would somebody do that? And basically, because it felt like the right thing to do. And there's something calling me that says, I want to make a bigger impact in the world. And I think that this is a better way for me to do it. versus sitting and dealing with, you know, accounting numbers all day. I want to be talking to people and helping people directly.   Michael Hingson  49:25 Tell me your acronym again, for fear,   Kathryn Johnson  49:28 false evidence appearing real.   Michael Hingson  49:31 There you go. And it is something that we all deal with a lot. And we, again, it gets back to want to control and you're right, a lot of it is based on fear. We're actually writing a new book that is a little way away from being publishing published. We have a publisher for it. And our working title is a guide dogs Guide to Being brave because I've worked with a guide dogs over the years. But we were writing it to talk about fear, and to try to help people overcome what I call being blinded by fear. Because things happen to us, we don't expect them to happen. We've been conditioned to be afraid of those things that happen to us that are unexpected. And I suppose you could say there's some natural reaction that causes some of that. But at the same time, we can learn to let real fear be a positive influence and force in our lives rather than letting it overwhelm us. And so we're writing a book about that. And it'll be a lot of fun when we're done with it, we've got our first draft done, and hopefully it will be going to the publisher soon. And that will be fun. But fear is oftentimes false evidence appearing real. I think it was Mark Twain who said, I've had lots of fears, and most of them don't ever come true.   Kathryn Johnson  50:59 That's right, we worry. Again, myself included worry about things. And 95% of them are never going to happen. Focus on what you want, not what you're afraid to just take one step at a time. One step, just a small step makes a huge difference.   Michael Hingson  51:21 Well, for you, having come to the place where you are in the world, what do you feel your purpose or your mission is in life today.   Kathryn Johnson  51:30 My mission is to move the world together, through embracing obstacles and helping people find their joy, we're stronger together than we are separately. And as I've said, throughout this interview, obstacles are here for us to learn and grow not just the person with the obstacle, but the person helping the person with the obstacle. And all of us, you know, are meant to live our best life that I think is our sort of our personal mission. As humans on this collective Earth, Deepak Chopra describes it as we all have, we're all pieces in a puzzle. And if we're not living our best life, we're in the wrong place in the puzzle, and the other pieces don't fit together. So we all have the possible, we all have the responsibility to live our best life and be be the best version of ourselves be in the right place in our puzzle. Other people around us will then move into their right place, and the world will be so much better for everybody. And it's all about, you know, trusting our hearts, people are so caught up. And I think this is collectively we're caught up in doing what is our normal, you know, we sort of were born into circumstances, and we just go from one thing to another because we do and more comfortable and we don't know what else to do. So I'll just keep doing what I always do. But is it really? Is it? Does it really feel right? Are we really happy? Or are we just comfortable? And I think, you know, especially now with all the changes in the world, people are really starting to wake up and say, you know, there's something, there's something out there for me that is just more impactful than what I'm doing. This is great. I've learned a lot from this aspect of my life. But it doesn't, it doesn't feed me. It doesn't feed me. It I you know, there's something different that's calling me, I don't know what it is. But boy, just there's something else where my time is better spent. And people are starting to search. And so those that's those are the people that I want to draw into my community, and we can help each other overcome our obstacles and be the better version, the best version of ourselves.   Michael Hingson  54:09 Yeah, we, we oftentimes do find that we just want to stay in our comfort zone. And that is great. That's okay. It's nice to be comfortable. But if we don't learn to grow, we never will grow. And it is something that all too often people just don't want to do. I'm always fascinated when I hear that one of the top five fears that people have is public speaking. It's been considered the number one fear a lot of the time. Yeah. And I kind of think why? Because people are afraid or they're going to be criticized or they're going to be laughed at or they put all sorts of obstacles in their way. But that's the key, right? They're putting the obstacles in their way. They're not even real ops. Stickles. But the reality is that we talk to people all the time we all communicate, we don't have a problem doing that. And so why should it be any different if you're actually going to go out and be a public speaker, because what you're going to be doing is saying, essentially, hopefully the same things to now a much bigger audience. And probably if people come to hear you speak, they want to hear what you have to say. And that's really pretty good.   Kathryn Johnson  55:29 That's really powerful. Would you believe it? That I was probably the kid in the class who was the worst at public speaking?   Michael Hingson  55:38 It's hard to imagine.   Kathryn Johnson  55:40 Now I'm sitting here on the radio with you, Michael, we're having great time.   Michael Hingson  55:44 We are. And it's, it's not all that hard to do if we allow ourselves to grow and stretch and there are things that we can use to learn to speak well, did you do anything like go to Toastmasters? Or any of those sorts of things? Or how did you learn to become a good speaker?   Kathryn Johnson  56:01 Um, I got some mentoring. I did honestly go to Toastmasters. I didn't stay very long. Because I feel like the type of speaking I do is not really what Toastmasters teaches. Toastmasters is more of a business speaking organization. What I didn't realize though, is is what I'm good at was speaking. So it gave me some sort of awareness that way.   Michael Hingson  56:35 I think it's shifted some from that. I haven't heard many people today really say it's all about business speaking, because it's really about speaking, and whether it's business or something else. It's still about learning to communicate. And there's a lot of opportunity to get more information. I didn't do a lot with Toastmasters, although I've done some. But I think that for me, probably, I love to tell this that, for me, the biggest way that I learned to be a public speaker, was when I was growing up, and I had to take spelling tests in school, the teacher would hand out will everybody had their pencils and papers, and the teacher would say the words and everyone had to write the words on papers, and then you exchange them. And then the teacher would write the words on the board, so that you could grade the spelling, except when it was my class, because I wasn't going to be grading papers. And I wasn't going to be writing the words because I didn't know how to write well enough to do that. So the result was, I had to spell the words in front of the class. I remember missing one once. But the bottom line is I worked at not missing so that I could spell the words correctly, and that people could rely on me to spell them appropriately. So I usually got an A in spelling, my wife would would say today, you do a lot better with spell checker. But still, it's all about learning. And I think that helped me a lot not to be afraid to be in front of an audience. So I've kind of always rejected the concept that we have to be afraid of public speaking, we don't need to be.   Kathryn Johnson  58:22 That's true. That's absolutely true. And again, it goes back to you know, like your obstacle was not being able to write so you had to speak. So there you go, how an obstacle actually gave you a strength that is probably better than average. Right?   Michael Hingson  58:40 So and in a lot of ways because it also when I was learning to teach, I took courses and teaching from the Irvine School UC Irvine School of Education. And one of the things that I did was not write on the board for my classes, I would get a volunteer every day to write on the board. And it got to the point where everyone wanted to be the board writer that day. So they had helped me engage with the classes and establish a relationship with them, which was also a good thing. And it also meant that I was facing the class talking with the class and not staring at the board writing something down and I've been in classes where all the professor's ever did was just write on the board all day and never understood why students didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to what they did.   Kathryn Johnson  59:31 Well, isn't that interesting? Thanks for sharing, Michael. That's interesting. Yeah, that's great.   Michael Hingson  59:38 So what makes your coaching program unique and something that people should want to partake of?   Kathryn Johnson  59:45 Well, my my coaching program is unique in that it focuses on both the practical side or the right brain and the intuitive or left for Brain side. So as we've been talking, today, we've talked about how I'm very organized, and I'm gonna getting from A to B and problem solving and all that. So my coaching program helps people navigate life in that way. But it's also, it helps people connect with their intuition. And I help them connect with their hearts with their, with their passions, and their higher selves so that they can use their their inner guidance to guide them on their path. And I do readings, as well as for part of my coaching.   Michael Hingson  1:00:43 Well, if people would like to reach out to you, and I'll go ahead,   Kathryn Johnson  1:00:47 yeah, so I suppose both sides, both that intuitive side and your practical side, that's what you get with   Michael Hingson  1:00:53 me? Well, if people want to reach out to you and learn about your program, learn about the coaching and perhaps get a reading, perhaps, learn a lot of the skills and tools that you have to offer people how do they do that?   Kathryn Johnson  1:01:06 They can reach out to me on my website inspiredbykathryn .com Kathryn is K AT H R Y N.com. And you can send me a message, there's, you know, there's courses, everything's on the shop page. So inspired by katherine.com/shop that will take you directly to all the wonderful things I have. I'd love to hear from anybody. I have a wide variety of services to help you no matter where you're at. So if you're looking for support, please reach out. I know, I know I have at least something that could help you. So I'd love to say hello, and help you on your way and connect and say hi.   Michael Hingson  1:01:57 I can't resist saying that you and I met through Podapalooza and we've talked about podapalooza on this podcast often. What brought you to Podapalooza?   Kathryn Johnson  1:02:07 My, my marketing consultant is connected with with the group somehow. And she said, Hey, Catherine, you might want to try this event. What do you think? And so I signed up.   Michael Hingson  1:02:24 So did you go to be interviewed? Or did you go because you might start your own podcast? Or have you started your own podcast? That kind of thing?   Kathryn Johnson  1:02:31 No, I don't have my own podcast as yet. I've been to pod palooza. I've done two events. And I'm registered for the January one as well.   Michael Hingson  1:02:41 Yeah, as As am I. So I think that will be a lot of fun to do. Well, Kathryn, thanks again for being here. And for my with us. And I hope everyone really appreciates all that you've offered. You've offered some great insights and great lessons. And as I said, I think that the most important thing that you and I and we've shown it a lot here today, the most important thing we can say is disability does not mean lack of ability, and that people need to grow and recognize that we have talents too. We are just capable as you we may not do exactly things in the same way that you do. But it doesn't mean that we can't do them. So I hope people will reach out. I hope people will come and talk with you and learn and become better than they are.   Kathryn Johnson  1:03:35 I hope so too. I just love to help people. And it it hurts my heart to see people struggling unnecessarily. So if I've said anything at all, if you have any questions for me, I I'd love to just you know, have a chit chat and answer some questions. I offer a free 30 minute discovery call. For anyone who is just looking for information, no obligation. You can book it straight from my website. Inspiredbykryn.com Perfect. Well,   Michael Hingson  1:04:09 all of you please reach out to Kathryn hope that she'll do that. I would really appreciate it. If after listening to this you would write me personally I'd love to know what you thought of the podcast. Please give us a five star rating. If you'd like to write me, please email Michaelhi at accessibe A C C E S S I B E.com Or go to our podcast page www dot Michael hingson H i n g s o n.com/podcast. But please give us a five star rating We appreciate it. I really would love to hear your comments and your thoughts and if you know of anyone who might be a good guest for unstoppable mindset and and hopefully some of you have listened to a lot of these and so you've got a pretty good idea of what we do love to hear from you with any suggestions of people who we ought to have on the podcast. Kathryn, that goes for you as well. If you can think of anyone love to have your thoughts and suggestions about others to have on the podcast,   Kathryn Johnson  1:05:08 I sure Well, I should Well, I'm meeting a lot of people. So I'll keep you in mind Michael, this was a great time. Thank you so much.   Michael Hingson  1:05:16 Well, thank you and I really appreciate you coming on and once more thank you for being here with us. Here welcome.   Michael Hingson  1:05:27 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Today, I interview Suzannah Baum who grew up in a household where the order of things was for women to be quiet and not disrupt the status quo. She looked up to her mother and thought it was completely normal to keep her comments to herself, pushing personal opinions and emotional reactions down and bottling them up. She followed in those footsteps from a very young age. Because this was the model put before her, Suzannah was a very quiet, shy child. She tells us that she often felt ignored and overlooked, which in turn led to her preferring it that way. She never felt encouraged to speak up, so in stead she eventually preferred to be ignored and overlooked, hiding in the corner. She loved her family, but she was learning to keep her thoughts to herself, avoid conflict, and let the more opinionated family members take center stage. This nature grew in her and continued into her adult life, manifesting itself in her college experience and in her career. She avoided stepping up to present material, afraid of critical reactions from others. She says she would "cling to the quietness". She knew she was capable and qualified when it came to doing big, challenging things, but this was holding her back. She knew something had to change in her life. Shortly after graduating college, Suzannah joined Toastmasters. She was intimidated by it, and the "transformation" didn't come naturally for her. She became more and more frustrated, but forced herself to commit to it for 3 months. She realized that she alone was responsible for her life, and for taking advantage of the opportunities she was presented. She tells us about the "culture of the group", and the way it changed her. Yes, she was writing and practicing speeches, but it was more than that; people were actively engaging with her. They were focused, showing interest, and even taking notes. After realizing that people were truly, genuinely interested in what she had to say, Suzannah's self view shifted. She felt validated and affirmed by a new understanding that her thoughts were important and people wanted to acknowledge them. Today, Suzannah helps others to overcome their own fears and recognize the power of their own words. She gives credit to the powerful and kind listeners who encouraged her along the way. __________________ Suzannah Baum is a public speaking and presentation skills expert, an executive speech coach, an author, and a speaker. She works with business professionals who want to position themselves as leaders by communicating with more confidence, impact, and human connection. Suzannah is the best-selling author of "From Nervous to Nailed It: Find Your Voice, Present With Impact, and Unleash Your Ultimate Speaking Potential." Released in late 2022, it is the quintessential guide for those who are looking to speak up, share their message in a compelling and authentic way, and not feel like they have to hold themselves back anymore. On a personal note... Suzannah lives in Montreal, is Mom to a 12-year-old boy and a 2-year-old budgie, and always travels with chocolate. Find Suzannah here: https://suzannahbaum.com/https://www.youtube.com/suzannahbaum http://ca.linkedin.com/in/suzannahbaum http://www.instagram.com/suzannahbaum https://www.facebook.com/suzannahbaumpublicspeaking/_________________I'm your podcast host, Dr. Doreen Downing, and I help people find their voice so they can overcome anxiety, be confident, and speak without fear. Get started now on your journey to your authentic voice by downloading my Free 7 Step Guide to Fearless Speaking: https://www.doreen7steps.com.  

Meet Sheryl Rouch, CEO of Sparkle Presentations, author, coach, and sought-after speaker. But she wasn't always so confident and poised taking the stage. When she was younger, she struggled with her shyness and it wasn't until she accompanied her mother on Avon sales calls and joined Toastmasters that she learned to tame the butterflies in her stomach to "fly in formation" and truly shine as a speaker.   Now, Sheryl uses her skills to teach others the power and potential of crystal-clear communication. She understands that effective communication requires more than just the ability to speak well. To truly connect with others, we need to meet them where they are. Every person learns and speaks in their own unique style, and it's up to us to tap into that style if we want to get our message across.   So how do we tap into our friends, colleagues, and family members' communication style? Sheryl uses Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences in her presentations to illustrate the nuances of communication and how we interpret information. By tailoring our message to someone's individual communication style, we can create a powerful connection that transcends words and touches others on a deeper level. In this episode, Sheryl discusses the Seven Multiple Intelligences in detail: [04:24]: #1 - Linguistic [06:52]: #2 - Mathematical [08:43]: #3 - Visual [11:09]: #4 - Musical [13:15]: #5 - Kinesthetic [18:28]: #6 - Interpersonal [20:15]: #7 - Introspective As leaders, understanding the unique communication and learning preferences of others is crucial. They encompass the various ways people process and interpret information. By tuning into an individual's language, we can gain valuable insights into their communication style and build interpersonal trust by mirroring it. On this episode of Money Loves Women, join Dr. Deborah Ekstrom and Sheryl Roush to learn about the Seven Multiple Intelligences and determine how to communicate with intention and assertiveness. Don't miss out on this insightful conversation that will help you become an effective communicator with more assertiveness through intentional word choice.  Topics Discussed: Communication The Seven Intelligences Teaching Understanding others Self-confidence Self-esteem Resources:  Sheryl Roush's Website Sheryl Roush's LinkedIn Order Sheryl Roush's Books For more information on how to achieve financial freedom, personal mastery, and professional success, please visit https://moneyloveswomen.com/. 

CONQUER SHYNESS

I was with a design client yesterday. This is one where we have worked together before so he knows he likes what I do and we have a common trust as far as our design client relationship goes. Now. We had attempted to start this project before the holidays but it sort of stalled for a few reasons, many of them being me. and it's now March and we are picking it back up because he reached back out and asked if we could get together to move forward on it. I was relieved to get his message because I had been a little embarrassed that I had kind of dropped the ball there and was avoiding reaching back out thinking maybe he had finished it with someone else or even just done it himself. And it had been on my mind and kind of bothering me too. So why didn't I just reach out instead of allowing it to be an unfinished, loose end hanging out in my brain that was giving me a low level of anxiety? After analyzing it, the project is a 30 min drive there and 30 min drive back. So it's a little more inconvenient than most of my regular clients who are within a 10 or 15 minute drive. So we finally set an appointment to meet and I confessed to him that I was glad he reached out because I was embarrassed so much time had gone by without my following up. What I heard myself using as an excuse with him was the holidays, and that my brother in law had died suddenly and I've been very focused on my older sister, Heather. But as I was saying it. It felt like an excuse. And it's a good excuse. It's very very true. But my gut feeling is that I was using that excuse because it wasn't the most convenient job I have. I have been spending a day a week with Heather just helping her with life in general and that's a big change But that's one day out of my week. I had the time, it was just more convenient to not pick that project back up. This last week my husband Eric asked me about Toastmasters. I again heard myself say well when Steve (that's my brother in law) died toastmasters just fell off my radar. So there I was again, using that same excuse for the reason I dropped off going to Toastmasters. Something that really brought me joy but also a lot of discomfort. Toastmasters is on Friday mornings at 7am. Zero reason for me not to be picking that back up. Of course missing a few when my brother in law died was a must. At this point the excuse is no longer valid. I'm using it for convenience. And look. I know some of you right now are thinking lighten up. Thats hard when you lose a family member. And it is. But it makes it a lot harder when you stop the things that bring you joy and fulfillment and make your life better. I think we have forgotten that there are always going to be hard things that happen in life. Life will be hard And then it's going to be fun and easy and then it's going to be hard again. That's just what 100% of humans go through. So, If we drop good habits every time something hard happens in life, we will have no good habits left. And we will constantly feel like we are fighting an uphill battle because we stop and start good habits so they feel hard all the time. . Maybe you do this with the gym. Going to the gym used to be a chore for me. Now it's just part of my life that I cannot live without because I've done it so consistently without stopping. Even through the hard times I don't stop exercising, it's a part of my life. A lot of times it still feels like a chore but it's nonnegotiable for me. Sometimes we drop things when life gets hard because it's convenient. Like me dropping toastmasters or a project that's a little farther away then I prefer. So I'm calling myself out for using an excuse, no matter how justifiable it is....don't forget to listen to hear the entire episode...love you guys!

This month's show features a discussion with members of the local chapter of Toastmasters. We hear a clip from our other podcast, Chevrons, where we spend some time with a panel of prior enlisted company grade officers who tell us why they decided to jump from stripes to bars and what their experience was like and how it's been since they made the transition. In honor of Women's History Month, we'll learn about Frances Fortune Grimes, a Women's Airforce Service Pilot who served right here at Otis. We also asked some of our Airmen what mentorship meant to them and to get advice on finding the right person to fill that role in your career. First up, we hear the March Command Message where Colonel Enrique Dovalo, commander of the 102nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group talks about creating your own luck and using the ingredients of openness, preparation, flexibility and generosity to maximize your odds of success.

This month's show features a roundtable discussion with members of the local chapter of Toastmasters. We hear a clip from our other podcast, Chevrons, where we spend some time with a panel of prior enlisted company grade officers who tell us why they decided to jump from stripes to bars and what their experience was like and how it's been since they made the transition. In honor of Women's History Month, we'll learn about Frances Fortune Grimes, a Women's Airforce Service Pilot who served right here at Otis. We also asked some of our Airmen what mentorship meant to them and to get advice on finding the right person to fill that role in your career. First up, we hear the March Command Message where Colonel Enrique Dovalo, commander of the 102nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group talks about creating your own luck and using the ingredients of openness, preparation, flexibility and generosity to maximize your odds of success.

ChatGPT is the artificial intelligence talk of the town, and Jan and Jim have experimented with it for a few months and share the questions they asked it, and the responses ChatGPT provided. They discuss how ChatGPT can be a game-changer for leaders to spend more time doing what they do best - develop relationships and exercise judgment. Listen in for how AI can be a new tool in your toolbox, and its potential as a leadership enhancer.  https://bit.ly/TLP-348   Key Takeaways   [1:38] Jan and Jim give a big shoutout to their friend Greg Hinc of County Cork, Ireland. He wrote that he started listening to The Leadership Podcast at about Episode 150, then he went back and listened to them all. He comments on their social media posts. He's talked a lot about how much he's learned and gained from it, which means a lot to Jan and Jim. There's a little gift coming to Greg. [2:34] If you have listened to every episode like Greg, then Jan and Jim would love to hear from you, as well. [4:07] Jim's friend, Jim Mirochnik of Halock Security Labs, introduced him three months ago to ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot. After five minutes of interaction, Jim was as excited as when he first learned of the world wide web in 1992. Jim asked ChatGPT a variety of questions and he got back usually well-written answers. [5:33] To test ChatGPT on a task a human probably couldn't do quickly, Jim asked it, “Write a Java computer program that will take the input of two people's names and an adjective describing their relationship and create a poem written in Iambic Pentameter.” Within seconds, it wrote a Java program that was pretty close to being exactly what Jim had asked for. [6:17] Jim clarified his question and ChatGPT gave him a better result. Then Jim asked it to write the program in Python and it instantly supplied the Python code on half a sheet. It gave a more concise answer than a human coder might have given and it was good code. [7:01] Jim and Jan share some questions he asked and the answers from ChatGPT from about three months ago. [7:14] Q. Write a 500-word essay on leadership. The answer came in about 35 seconds and it was amazing. Then Jim asked, “How many words is that essay?” It said 532. Jim asked why it went over. It said leadership is a complex topic and hard to explain. [7:54] This morning Jim asked it the same question: Write a 500-word essay on leadership. ChatGPT has gotten a lot busier, with more users. The response today took six minutes. It was very well written again and similar to the first response but it was much more concise at 372 words. ChatGPT is having a deep impact on university students and the way they study. It is a fantastically useful and powerful tool. [8:53] Jan hears people afraid that ChatGPT will take their job. He recently demoed ChatGPT to a CEO. When the CEO asked, Why are there silos developing in my organization? It gave these answers: Lack of communication/collaboration, competition for resources, different goals and priorities, silos created by structure, or resistance to change. That gave Jan and his client five things to explore together. [10:56] If you only had pliers before, now you have a vice grip. What sticks out for Jan is that he has to ask it very good questions and then, exercise his judgment and decide what to look at. [11:27] What Jan did with his CEO client was look at different goals and priorities. They have a retreat planned where each attendee will bring a list of five important priorities and will make sure everyone is clear on roles and responsibilities and where there is overlap. Jan — not ChatGPT — will facilitate the discussion. Jan sees it as an awesome tool. [12:03] Some people get better and quicker responses than others when searching on Google because they know how to ask questions the right way for good search results. That skill is super important with ChatGPT. You get better by practicing and using it. [12:45] There are some things that it can do quickly that might take weeks for a human to do. Jim asked, What are the top five themes articulated in The Leadership Podcast? [13:41] ChatGPT answered, “As an AI language model, I don't have personal opinions but I can provide you with an overview of some of the most commonly discussed themes on The Leadership Podcast, based on the content available on their website and podcast. Here are five possible themes: Leadership …, personal development, team dynamics, innovation and disruption, business and industry insights.” [14:27] ChatGPT took about a minute to make that analysis. It had indexed and searched the entire site for The Leadership Podcast, so it knows about it. Jim had asked it the same question two months ago before it was able to search websites. Now it can. Its functionality is increasing at a geometric pace. [15:16] ChatGPT is a fun, powerful tool, and its answers are exceptionally well done. Another question was, Can you measure leadership? It came up with a similar answer to a discussion with guest Sarah Wirth - The Leadership Podcast Episode 351. [16:28] Jan asked ChatGPT When I interview Jim Vaselopulos from Rafti Advisors for my podcast, what should I ask him? ChatGPT responded, “As a business strategist and leaders consultant, Jim is able to provide valuable insights on various topics related to business management leadership. Here are some questions to ask during the interview. …” [16:51] “ … How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted business strategies in leadership and how can organizations adapt to these changes?”, “Can you share a memorable experience from your career that taught you an important lesson about leadership?”, “What inspired you to become a strategist and leadership consultant?” [17:22] “Can you share a particularly successful project you had with a client and what made it successful?” These are good generic questions. They provide a good starting point. Jim cites Atomic Habits, by James Clear. If you want to run, start by putting your shoes on. Then you generally follow through. ChatGPT is a tool to help you jumpstart a report or analysis. It can help you get moving. [18:53] Jan is working with an organization with five good values that has not articulated its values into observable behaviors. One of the values is accountability. Jan asked ChatGPT, What three observable behaviors would you assign to the value of accountability? ChatGPT's response was, “Honesty and transparency, reliability and follow through, adaptability and continuous improvement.” [19:26] Under “continuous improvement,” ChatGPT added, “They take feedback constructively, they recognize mistakes or failures can be opportunities for growth and learning, they're willing to adjust their approach …” Jan asked if you, the listeners, know what the values mean in your organization? Don't follow a robot blindly, but ChatGPT gives a great starting point for a discussion on values. [20:25] Jan says, oftentimes, those [company] values are ambiguous, the culture is by default, and the values and standards cannot be upheld because there's no agreement on what they mean. There's no common vocabulary. That's something every organization could do today. Look at your values and agree on behaviors to associate with them. Can we be more clear on what we want our folks to do? [21:12] Three years ago, Jim and Jan were asked to go out to the Air University in Montgomery, Alabama. They gave a speech summarizing The Leadership Podcast and the guests they had interviewed and the overarching theme they could find. One of the themes that still continues since then was curiosity. The most successful leaders had the trait of being curious. ChatGPT didn't come up with that! [21:59] The Leadership Podcast is about curiosity. Learning to use a tool like ChatGPT is about being curious. What are you curious about? [22:28] Jan asked When I interview Jan Rutherford from Self-reliant Leadership for my podcast, what should I ask him? ChatGPT responded “Can you tell us a bit about your background, how you became interested in self-reliant leadership?” and “What are the key traits and characteristics of self-reliant leaders?” It didn't ask a single COVID-19 question, ask about stories or mention entrepreneurs. [23:06] ChatGPT had picked up on those topics on Jim's website, not on Jan's. There were relevant questions for each Jan and Jim from their websites. [23:18] Another question for Jan was “Are there any common misconceptions or misunderstandings about self-reliant leadership that you would like to clear up?” That's a good question. During this episode, Jan and Jim were curious, tested their assumptions, and learned something! [23:40] Curiosity is such an important theme. ChatGPT is a vehicle to supercharge your curiosity and enlighten yourself in ways that you couldn't without reading books that you may not have time to read. [24:27] Simon Sinek was a guest on the show and they asked him, “Where does personal responsibility and a sense of real duty to each other start to play a role, especially now (during the pandemic)?” So Jan asked ChatGPT that question. [24:42] ChatGPT had interesting answers, ending with “To foster a sense of personal responsibility and a duty to each other, it's important to prioritize empathy, compassion, and kindness. We can start by listening to and understanding the needs and concerns of others, being willing to make personal sacrifices for the greater good, and taking action to support our communities in meaningful ways.” [25:09] Jan plays Simon's answer: “Trust is a two-way street. Just think of any relationship: friendship, marriage, or anything. Trust is always two ways. In a business context, where there's formal hierarchy, it is the leader's responsibility to create the environment in which trust can exist.” [25:41] (Simon continues) “To build a circle of safety and create an environment in which people feel safe to raise their hand and say, ‘I made a mistake,' or ‘I need help,' or ‘I don't understand,' without any fear of humiliation or retribution. Without any fear that they'll be on some shortlist by the end of the year. However, it's everyone's responsibility to step into that circle of safety.” [25:59] (Simon continues) “Compare it to a personal relationship. It's very important for at least one person in the relationship to start to create an environment in which the other person feels safe to express themselves or be themselves. But it's still the responsibility of the other person to take that risk to express themselves or be themselves.” [26:16] (Simon concludes) “It's the same in business. It's all fine and good for us to create the environment but people have to take the risk and say, ‘Hey boss, I need help,' or ‘I made a mistake,' and to realize that there's no humiliation or blowback if you do that. In fact, you get his support.” [26:36] The ChatGPT is not about to replace Simon Sinek. He's wonderful to listen to, he's articulate. He hit on a lot of the same themes that were in ChatGPT's answer. Jan finds that interesting. We know this AI today is going to be exponentially better. In less than a year, it may use a voice and cadence to come close to Simon Sinek. Leaders and business people now have another tool in their toolbox. [27:39] We're still going to need to build relationships; we're still going to need to be able to exercise judgment. If curiosity is a value in your organization, what does that mean? Are we teaching people to ask better questions and to listen better? Or are we saying go to Toastmasters to learn to be a great speaker and articulate? The emphasis has been on using our mouths instead of our ears! [28:10] To do a school term paper, you come up with an outline and then flesh it out. In practical business, people don't start with an outline. Powerpoint is the closest thing to an outline for presentations. Make one good point instead of five average points. Two good points and seven bad ones ruin a presentation. ChatGPT can help you sharpen your point and get at it. [29:38] What are the keys to having difficult conversations? ChatGPT answered with seven bullet points taking up three-quarters of a page. Jim lists the bullet points: “Prepare, choose, listen actively, be clear and direct, focus on the issue, offer solutions and options, and follow up.” The supporting information is spot-on. It doesn't have too many extra words or fluff statements. [30:23] What are the most common mistakes people make when delegating? “Not delegating at all, over-delegating, poor communication, micro-managing, lack of follow-up, not providing sufficient resources, and taking credit.” You have to recognize the efforts and achievements of the person you delegated to. [31:27] For as scary as this new technology can be, we need to adopt it, embrace it, and understand that it's going to affect all of us in some way, shape, or form. Whether you realize it or not, your employees are using it! Jim shares a client story about it. [32:14] Jan just had a conversation about trust. He cites past guest Margaret Heffernan: Social capital is what happens between people; that relationship. You want to work with people you like, people you respect, and people you trust. Trust takes time and everybody's busy. [33:28] Jan refers to Lisa McLeod, a sales thought leader, who says “If you can't understand how you're making people's lives better, you can't sell anything.” It would be so sad to go to work, with whatever tools you use, and not think at the end, “How am I making people's lives better?” See the interview here: https://selfreliantleadership.com/blog/2021/05/06/lisa-mcleod-on-selling-with-noble-purpose/.  [34:10] Jim asked a young salesman what his value proposition was. The salesman listed the product features but Jim wanted to know how the salesman was making his customer's life better. Jim tells a friend's story about the pressure-washing cheerleader who lifted his low spirit with kindness and joy. [36:55] Past guest Barry Schwartz told about cancer-ward janitors who weren't there to clean messes but to provide a better experience for patients. That floor had the best cancer-survival rates because of the janitors who brought them kindness and preserved their dignity. [37:39] Jan recalls how past guest Christophe Morin of SalesBrain uses props. As a prop, Jan holds up an insulated mug his wife got him for Valentine's Day. Jan asks ChatGPT How does a coffee mug that stays warm improve someone's life? “A mug that stays warm can be a convenient addition to a person's daily routine. They can take their time enjoying their drink without having to worry about it getting cold.” [38:53] ChatGPT also says that drinking a hot beverage has been linked to various health benefits, such as improving digestion, boosting metabolism, and reducing the risk of certain diseases. “With a mug that stays warm, one can ensure they're consuming their hot beverage at the optimal temperature to reap these benefits.” Our business is selling something. Do we understand how it improves someone's life? [39:20] Is ChatGPT a menace? It might be. Is it something that can improve our life? Jan thinks it will be able to speed up things. It will get us to a point where creating an outline or coming up with some ideas, we'll let somebody else do that and we'll focus on the things that only we can do; exercise judgment, cut and paste, modify, edit, or think, and step back. It will help us get better at asking questions. [40:11] What Jan hopes ChatGPT does is allow us to spend more time with each other and improve the relationships we have between people, not on a computer all the time. [40:54] Jim asked ChatGPT to write the Darley ad, and it did! Jim reads the ad. [41:37] Microsoft is incorporating ChatGPT into Bing. [41:51] Jan and Jim would love to hear your feedback on this episode and on ChatGPT. How are you using it? This is a game-changer. Comment on LinkedIn or on Facebook or comment on the episode page. Jan and Jim will respond. [42:28] Closing quote: Remember, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” — Arthur Schopenhauer   Quotable Quotes from ChatGPT “As an AI language model, I don't have personal opinions but I can provide you with an overview of some of the most commonly discussed themes on The Leadership Podcast, based on the content available on their website and podcast. Here are five possible themes: Leadership … , personal development, team dynamics, innovation and disruption, business and industry insights.” “As a business strategist and leaders consultant, Jim is able to provide valuable insights on various topics related to business management leadership. Here are some questions to ask during the interview.” “To foster a sense of personal responsibility and a duty to each other, it's important to prioritize empathy, compassion, and kindness. We can start by listening to and understanding the needs and concerns of others, being willing to make personal sacrifices for the greater good, and taking action to support our communities in meaningful ways.” “[Before a difficult conversation], prepare, choose, listen actively, be clear and direct, focus on the issue, offer solutions and options, and follow up..” “[Mistakes when delegating are] not delegating at all, over-delegating, poor communication, micro-managing, lack of follow-up, not providing sufficient resources, and taking credit.” Resources Mentioned Theleadershippodcast.com Sponsored by: Darley.com Rafti Advisors. LLC Self-Reliant Leadership. LLC ChatGPT Jim Mirochnik Halock Security Labs Skynet Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, by James Clear Air University, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama Sara Wirth Simon Sinek Toastmasters Margaret Heffernan Lisa McLeod Barry Schwartz Christophe Morin SalesBrain Microsoft

Carla Howard is a strategic transformation specialist, expert speaker, and dream enabler. Her passion for facilitating personal and professional transformation is the common thread that runs through her work. Whether it's assisting corporations with change management, giving keynote speeches, teaching emergent speakers how to get paid from the stage, or helping ambitious women dream bigger and reach further. Carla assists individuals in transitioning from their current situation into their desired future. People experience a significant increase in their confidence level as they learn new skills and behaviors to capitalize on their natural strengths, lead with influence and grace, and even navigate office politics.Carla was a military brat when she was growing up, which meant she traveled around a lot. She was faced with adapting to new communities constantly. Trying to identify who her people are was significantly different from having the same friends and living in the same area your whole life. Her leadership, confidence, and strategy for facing her fears and putting herself out there were all greatly influenced during this time. This taught her that you should lean into the things that make you happy because when we pursue the things that give us life and satisfy us we can create amazing lives and careers.Carla believes that Public speaking is one of the main keys to amplifying your career development and learning how to be a competent speaker will elevate you in all areas of your life. Learning to command the stage will teach you the power of a pause, collecting your thoughts, and avoiding using filler words that compromise your message. Confidence will follow you throughout your career when you learn to communicate clearly and succinctly which is incredibly attractive and something that organizations desperately want from their leaders.This single skill is the most important to develop, whether you're going down a corporate path, an entrepreneurial path, or you have ambitions to become a professional speaker. Build that package that's going to make your topics compelling and move you into that highly-paid speaking arena. Often when individuals want to be thought leaders, they don't want to offend others or see negative comments in their thread. They want everybody to like them but when you're a thought leader, everybody is not going to like you. Rather lean into your convictions and think about why you feel so strongly about them. If you aren't turning anybody off, you aren't turning anyone on, says Carla. If your thought leadership or your platform from the stage is generic, you will end up in a big pool of tens of thousands of speakers that are exactly like you and generalists don't get paid as much as people with a specific skill set. Carla's advice for becoming a great and competent speaker is simply miles under your sneakers. You have to get on that stage, stand up in front of people, and do it over and over and over again. Join an organization that's going to help you hone your speaking skills, like Toastmasters, and start raising your hand every chance you get.In this episode:[01:49] Carla shares how she was shaped through her experience as a military bratConstantly moving and having to fit into new communitiesHaving an opportunity to reinvent herself every couple of years[05:59] Making decisions that will help you capitalize on your personality from an early ageLeaning into your joy and following the things that fill you up and give you lifeCreate a career out of something that you love so that your life has meaning[08:37] Learning how to be a competent speaker will help you in every area of your lifeHelping people get from where...

Wanting to fix those you love is only human nature. But you can't save someone from drowning if your own raft is filling with water. What if you took the time to prioritize yourself? Today, I sat down with Shannon Leiderman to learn the answer. As a management consultant, she's used to helping companies define their purpose, mission, vision, and values. But along the way, she lost sight of her own personal values. Would seeing her sister struggle with alcoholism be the catalyst Shannon needed to refocus her energy on herself? Here's how a family trauma drove Shannon to build her confidence, rediscover her personal values, and join Toastmasters. Want to add Shannon to your hype squad? Follow Shannon Leiderman on LinkedIn, and connect with her consulting firm—Blue Beyond Consulting—on Google, LinkedIn, or at bluebeyondconsulting.com.

How can we find emotional healing through creativity and art? This week's amazing guest offers his insights from his personal healing journey during the process of publishing a powerful and inspiring children's book he co-authored with his late wife. Matthew Ronan likes telling good stories, helping others tell good stories, and most of all wants his life to be a good story. He is an artist, writer, and content producer who's worked in film, television, and radio. His credits include projects for Disney/Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and the Michael Jackson estate. He lives in San Francisco with his daughter Catica. Chastidy Ronan was an executive director of a family support center, a teacher, a missionary, and a nanny, but the brightest part of her life was being a mom. She taught elementary through college in Ohio, Haiti, China, and San Francisco. She knew 5 languages and always got the most blue ribbons in Toastmasters. She died in 2019 from colon cancer and is survived by her daughter Catica and her husband Matthew. Matthew shares his heart-gripping story of multiple miscarriages, his wife's diagnosis of stage four cancer when their daughter was five months old, and the simultaneous dissolution of the company he had founded during Chastidy's illness. Ronan relates the original dream he shared with his wife about writing children's books. He notes how life became too busy to follow this dream until they resurrected the idea during Chastidy's battle with cancer. Chemotherapy regimens and caring for their young daughter made writing difficult, so Ronan had to finish the book after his wife passed away. Matthew recounts the challenges of navigating life as a creative professional. He notes the fears that seized him as he worked on the book, especially after facing multiple traumatic losses with regard to his family, previous creative projects, and the dissolution of his company. Ronan details how God worked on his heart as he worked through the chapters of the book. The Lord shifted his perspective from worldly success standards toward inspiring others. The mindset change freed Matthew from worry and anxiety. We address the irony of how those who serve in the healing media of art suffer great attacks on their emotional wellbeing, identity, and discouragement. Matthew discusses the sensitivity of creatives as part of their power to offer emotionally transformative work. The emotional nature of an artist also renders them vulnerable to pain. Ronan highlights the cultural pressures and intense competition of the artistic industries. We discuss the issues of comparison and spiritual warfare faced by creatives. Matthew shares his recent encounter with a man armed with a knife who charged at Ronan and his six year-old daughter. He pointed out the incident occurred right before he was scheduled to share his testimony at an event. We also emphasize how those who do not work in creative arts industries can enjoy healing and connection with God through art. Matthew defines art as valuable to all people because it is the language of the heart. Ronan states that art is a tool that God uses for discipleship. He urges us to resist the temptation to ascribe value to our creative projects by comparing them to what others have produced. We differentiate between therapeutic art, healing art, art as worship and the art crafted as work. Matthew and Chastidy Ronan's book, The Girl With 5 Hearts, is about a girl who gives her hearts to the things that she loves, only to have them rejected and broken. It is a painfully honest, yet hopeful story about giving your heart back to the One who made it, because many things in life can break it. No stranger to heartbreak and loss Chastidy's inspiration for The Girl With 5 Hearts was autobiographic, at the same time universal. This story will inspire both young and old, and point towards healing even the deepest of wounds. Learn more and get your copy at the girlwithfivehearts.com Get your copy of a book to help you connect with the Lord's renewal through insightful study chapters, creative illustrations, and easy craft projects. Discover restoration through Upcycled: Crafted for a Purpose by Tina Yeager on Amazon, through Bold Vision Books, or wherever books are sold. https://www.amazon.com/Upcycled-Craft...

Meet Bruce, an accomplished sales professional and trainer who helps individuals and organizations improve performance, productivity, and profitability in areas such as leadership, team building, customer service, communication, and sales. As President of the oldest Toastmasters club in Nashville, Bruce has honed his leadership and communication skills to a fine art. He became obsessed with personal and professional development when he discovered the life-changing power of acquiring just one new skill. Now, he helps others transform their lives and businesses with his customized training and coaching programs. With Bruce's expertise, you can boost your team's performance, increase your productivity and profitability, or take your sales skills to the next level. =|| Books Mentioned ||= Think and Grow Rich The Black Choice - Dennis Kimbro - https://amzn.to/3jeEI0a Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. ____________ AFFILIATES/SPONSORS: DISCLAIMER: these are sponsored links in which I get paid and you can benefit for being a listener to the podcast. Get Eco Friendly Stocking stuffers with Earth Breeze Laundry Sheets: https://aboutthatwallet.com/earthbreeze Survey Junkie - Make some shmoney for the opinion!! https://aboutthatwallet.com/surveyjunkie Start your investment journey with free stocks! https://aboutthatwallet.com/webull Gain access to over 5,000 training videos on how to increase your skillset with crypto, investing, how to start a business, podcasting and much more: https://shopakanundrum.com/?ref=atw My equipment: Rode Caster Pro - https://amzn.to/3i596tF SHURE SM7B Dynamic Microphone - https://amzn.to/3AbV040 Microphone Stand - https://amzn.to/3NIeBfz Listen to the podcast on your favorite listening platforms such as Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon and more!! -- DISCLAIMER: I am not a CPA, attorney, insurance, contractor, lender, or financial advisor. The content in this audio are for educational purposes only. You must do your own research and make the best choice for you. Investing of any kind involves risk. While it is possible to minimize risk, your investments are solely your responsibility. It is imperative that you conduct your own research. I am merely sharing my opinion with no guarantee of gains or losses on investments. If you need advice, please contact a qualified CPA, CFP, an attorney, insurance agent, financial advisor, or the appropriate professional for the subject you would like help with. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/aboutthatwallet/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aboutthatwallet/support

Your business' financials tell a much bigger story than you probably realize. But you have to make sure you're capturing the correct data first. Figuring out what we should be measuring in our business (because it's more than just income and expenses) can help us find out which of our services has the most significant profit margin, how much we're really earning, and so much more. In this episode, I'm chatting with Profit Advisor Heather Zeitzwolfe about all the things that matter when it comes to money in our business. Heather is a CPA, Profit Advisor, and Money Coach that helps female entrepreneurs achieve their financial goals in their business and personal life. She describes herself as down to earth, non-judgemental, and actually enjoys all this number stuff so you don't have to. Heather is analytical and creative; she's a bundle of positive energy, far from the “boring” accountant stereotype. Heather has a strong passion for veganism, standing up for civil rights, and saving the environment. Her guilty pleasures include binge-watching RuPaul's Drag Race and scarfing down salted caramel cashew ice cream. When she's not glued to her computer, she loves creating delicious food, hanging out with her hubby, cuddling her three cats, and serving as an officer for her Toastmasters' club.  Learn more about Heather and tackle your money mindset head-on with this FREE workbook: Shift Your Mindset to Achieve More Financial Abundance in Your Business. > https://www.getthebalancerightpodcast.com/mindset Learn more about The Strategic CEO group program and get a free Strategy Session to learn how to grow to consistent $5k months at www.strategybysasha.com/the-strategic-ceoGo to https://betterhelp.com/strategy for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help.     Support the showPart of the Boundless Audio Podcast Network

Natasha Buffo is a native Californian, now residing in South Lake Tahoe, and a new puppy Mom to Poppy, a yellow lab mix. Her education was focused on sociology and mathematical sciences, but as an outdoor adventurer with a love for writing and a passion for mental health, she now spends her days as a freelance writer and instructor for Mental Health First Aid. Natasha's story is truly one of seeking and following your truth. Where you can find Dirt & Tears:- Website: http://dirtandtears.com/- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dirtandtears/- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dirtandtears/Mentions from the show:- The John Muir Trail: https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/john-muir-trail/- Toastmasters: https://www.toastmasters.org/- Kirkwood Mountain Resort: https://www.kirkwood.com/- Mental Health First Aid: https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/- Postholing: https://www.rei.com/blog/snowsports/semi-rad-the-joy-of-postholing- GearJunkie: https://gearjunkie.com/- Coalition Snow: https://www.coalitionsnow.com/- Adventure Journal: https://www.adventure-journal.com/- Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival: https://www.banffcentre.ca/banffmountainfestival- Cycle Touring: https://www.myfiveacres.com/cycle-touring/- Heavenly Mountain Resort: https://www.skiheavenly.com/Stay in touch with People, Place, & Purpose on Instagram and stay tuned for a new episode every Monday!

About Janine Bolon I am a Broadcast Producer, Author, and Speaker who helps fellow Entrepreneurs, Authors, and Creatives grow their audiences & businesses through: • Promotional podcasting & radio broadcasting • Virtual book marketing • Financial independence & spirituality PROMOTIONAL PODCASTING & RADIO BROADCASTING Want to launch your own 12-episode podcast in 30 days? Our team of experts at White Glove Broadcasting can do this for you. We'll oversee all aspects of the productions - branding, scriptwriting, interviewing, editing, & marketing - and then build out your podcast's presence on 42 platforms and 67 radio stations. VIRTUAL BOOK MARKETING Are you an author who needs to promote your latest book? I can help with that! • First-time authors: Check out my book Author Podcasting: Be A Stand-Out Guest while Taking Your Book on a Virtual Tour (https://book.authorpodcasting.com/free-sh) to learn the systems needed to market books, programs, and services consistently to podcast hosts and audiences • Experienced authors: Join The 99 Authors Project (https://authorpodcasting.com/99-authors-project/) - Answer 13 questions about marketing your book on my podcast, The Janine Bolon Show, and I'll publish your answers in the upcoming 2023 book, 99 Authors Best Advice. FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE & SPIRITUALITY • Explore our current self-paced and group coaching classes here: https://the8gates.com/ • Check out one of my 12 books here: https://the8gates.com/shop/ ABOUT ME FUN FACTS • I am a serial entrepreneur - I've launched 11 businesses (my first at age 10) • A natural introvert, I joined Toastmasters in 1992 - now you can't take a microphone out of my hands • My radio career began in 1982 - I was the host of my high school's weekly program • I worked as an analytical biochemist in the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years • I put myself through the University of Missouri by working three jobs and selling all of my possessions GET TO KNOW ME • Listen to an episode of the Janine Bolon Show: https://thejaninebolonshow.com/ • Book a Virtual Coffee with me here: https://the8gates.com/open-friday-coffee/I am a Broadcast Producer, Author, and Speaker who helps fellow Entrepreneurs, Authors,