What would it feel like to achieve everything you’ve ever wanted but at a slower pace and still lead a happier life?
KC Rossi is a Mindset & Leadership Coach who helps high-achieving women go from people-pleasing burned-out perfectionists to profitable powerhouses. She’s been a full-time entrepreneur since 1991 and has built six and 7+ figure businesses. Kc is a Certified Aromatherapist, Mind-Body Eating Coach, and NLP Practitioner. This allows her to bring an integrated and intuitive approach to her coaching.
KC is the Founder of The Soulprint Method®, a system that combines energy, mindset, and spirituality. This holistic approach provides extreme clarity, dissolves limiting beliefs, improves performance, and opens the way to experience and share your full potential.
She is the host of Women Developing Brilliance® — The Spirit of Business; a show dedicated to cultivating confidence, increasing visibility, elevating vibration, and leading with purpose. When she’s offline you can find her whipping up plant-based eats or hiking the Finger Lakes Trail in Upstate, New York.
KC is an Executive Contributor of Brainz Magazine. Her work has been highlighted in ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Thrive Global, SmallBizDaily, International Journal of Professional Holistic Aromatherapists, Female Entrepreneurial Association, and The Smart Girl Tribe.
Join Amy and KC in this episode as they delve into creating the right energy, self-care and aligned action.
In this episode, you will learn:
How KC helps her clients breakthrough perfectionism and burnout
How you can shift your energy so you’re not holding on to trauma or negativity
What you can do to escape the rat race of the corporate world
The importance of making time for self-care
Quote from the show - ‘‘when your actions are aligned with who you think you are, you live a much more peaceful and happier life.’’
About the host:
Amy Lynn Durham is the Founder of Create Magic At Work™ and a Spiritual Intelligence Coach.
Amy has spent years in the corporate world successfully managing hundreds of employees for private and publicly traded companies. Amy designed Create Magic At Work™ to bring a variety of services and strategies to aid in supporting healthy leaders & workplaces through:
Speaking Internationally about Ways to Support & Create Healthy Workplace Cultures
Experiential Workshops & Keynotes
In her spare time, you can find her spending time with her Cavapoo Mr. Bingley, journaling, doing yoga or trying to master stand up paddle boarding with her boyfriend.
What would it feel like to achieve everything you’ve ever wanted but at a slower pace and still lead a happier life?
KC Rossi is a Mindset & Leadership Coach who helps high-achieving women go from people-pleasing burned-out perfectionists to profitable powerhouses. She’s been a full-time entrepreneur since 1991 and has built six and 7+ figure businesses. Kc is a Certified Aromatherapist, Mind-Body Eating Coach, and NLP Practitioner. This allows her to bring an integrated and intuitive approach to her coaching.
KC is the Founder of The Soulprint Method®, a system that combines energy, mindset, and spirituality. This holistic approach provides extreme clarity, dissolves limiting beliefs, improves performance, and opens the way to experience and share your full potential.
She is the host of Women Developing Brilliance® — The Spirit of Business; a show dedicated to cultivating confidence, increasing visibility, elevating vibration, and leading with purpose. When she’s offline you can find her whipping up plant-based eats or hiking the Finger Lakes Trail in Upstate, New York.
KC is an Executive Contributor of Brainz Magazine. Her work has been highlighted in ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Thrive Global, SmallBizDaily, International Journal of Professional Holistic Aromatherapists, Female Entrepreneurial Association, and The Smart Girl Tribe.
Join Amy and KC in this episode as they delve into creating the right energy, self-care and aligned action.
In this episode, you will learn:
How KC helps her clients breakthrough perfectionism and burnout
How you can shift your energy so you’re not holding on to trauma or negativity
What you can do to escape the rat race of the corporate world
The importance of making time for self-care
Quote from the show - ‘‘when your actions are aligned with who you think you are, you live a much more peaceful and happier life.’’
About the host:
Amy Lynn Durham is the Founder of Create Magic At Work™ and a Spiritual Intelligence Coach.
Amy has spent years in the corporate world successfully managing hundreds of employees for private and publicly traded companies. Amy designed Create Magic At Work™ to bring a variety of services and strategies to aid in supporting healthy leaders & workplaces through:
Speaking Internationally about Ways to Support & Create Healthy Workplace Cultures
Experiential Workshops & Keynotes
In her spare time, you can find her spending time with her Cavapoo Mr. Bingley, journaling, doing yoga or trying to master stand up paddle boarding with her boyfriend.
Hey everyone, it's Amy Lynn Durham and you're listening to Create Magic At Work. Create Magic At Work is on a mission to equip senior leaders with tools they need to be a true servant leader and actually understand what that means. Improve employee engagement, retain top talent and transform your workplace culture to have less stress and drama. So let's start making magic. Hi everybody. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Create Magic At Work. Today I have a very special guest Her name is KC Rossi. She's a mindset and leadership coach who helps high achieving women go from people pleasing burnout perfectionist to profitable powerhouses, I'm laughing because oh my gosh, I think I just described myself from the past of people pleasing burnt out perfectionist. So I'm really excited to have KC here today. She's a full time entrepreneur since 1991. She's built six and seven figure businesses she's a certified aromatherapist, a mind body eating coach, and NLP practitioner. This allows her to bring an integrated and intuitive approach to coaching. KC is the founder of the soul print method, a system that combines energy, mindset and spirituality. This holistic approach provides extreme clarity dissolves limiting beliefs, improves performance and opens the way to experience and share your full potential. She's the host of women developing brilliance, the spirit of business, a show dedicated to cultivating confidence, increasing visibility, elevating vibration and leading with purpose. When she's offline, you can find her whipping up plant based eats or hiking the Finger Lakes Trail in upstate New York. KC is an executive contributor of brains magazine. Her work has been highlighted in ABC NBC, CBS Fox, thrive global Small Biz daily, International Journal of professional holistic aroma therapists, female entrepreneurial Association and the smart girl tribe. KC, welcome to Create Magic At Work.
KC Rossi:
Thank you so much, Amy. It's awesome to be here.
Amy Lynn Durham:
Yeah, I'm really excited to have you here. The first sentence resonated with me already reading that you help people pleasing, burned out, perfectionists to profitable powerhouses. So I know I read your bio, but can you give the audience a little bit of a background of yourself
KC Rossi:
Yeah, absolutely. So, I love that you were able to for them? relate to that first line. And I absolutely can relate to it as well, because that was really my journey. And so it was through learning tools and techniques and the shadow side of my personality, to even be able to put that all together into words and help other people kind of get out of that hole, because it's very layered, you know, and it really stems back even as young as childhood that we kind of established these people pleasing and perfectionist tendencies, which as we become, higher achieving entrepreneurs and leaders that turns into overwork, over delivering, and exhaustion/burnout. And I've been an entrepreneur for over 30 years, and I would say for a good 20 of them, I was in that realm of those kind of three categories. And I really felt that that's what it was like to be successful. Those were the qualities that proved to myself to my family, to society that I was doing it right, you know, that hard work was honest work. And I really subscribed to that hustle culture, because that's what I saw around me, in order to get to six and seven figures that that's what it takes, you know, like you're just on call all the time. And that definitely programmed my nervous system to be on this high alert and just active and out, just ready for all the beeps and the buzzes and the notifications. Who needs me now? And I really became almost addicted to that adrenaline rush of need. And so that really can spiral into a lot of different things. But that did in the end give me a diagnosable adrenal fatigue and burnout. And so it took several years to unthread that and really get to the root of it. So it is possible, but it's very easy to see how society and generational things can lead us down that path as normal.
Amy Lynn Durham:
Okay, so I have so many thoughts on that. What is your take on perfectionism and burnout as it relates to women versus men? What are your thoughts on that?
KC Rossi:
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think that both genders can absolutely experience both perfectionism and the burnout piece. I do feel that I see it more in women. In my experience because of that generational and society expectation of what's normal. We tend to be in Superwoman mode. We have those emotional qualities dialed in of caregiving, nurturing, the natural piece of pleasing those around us. And whatever role that we are, whether it's mother, lover, you know, I mean best friend, there is this connotation that we're going to encompass everybody and hug them with this beautiful, warm embrace. And so I think sometimes when we don't put those boundaries in, it's really easy to have a vise of access in that caregiving where we forget about ourselves, you know, we're the one left with a void, and that having that self care or self love and compassion.
Amy Lynn Durham:
And I'm wondering if it came from the message that I've seen before the I can do at all? Oh, yeah, I can do it all, I can have it all, which was super empowering for women, and at the same time, it can contribute to burnout. So here, we've gone through this century where women have become more empowered in the workplace. I mean, we still have a very long way to go. But we've made some progress. And I just get this energetic feeling of it's like, I have to prove my worth. So I want everything to be perfect. And now I'm exhausted. Yes. And I don't know if it's a conscious, like, Oh, I'm proving my worth. But it's what you just mentioned is, "I want to be everything to everybody, because I can now" and so in your practice, I'm curious, what are some things that you do to help clients break through with that feeling?
KC Rossi:
Absolutely. So the first step is really acknowledging it and understanding the contrast of what's normal, because especially when you have gotten into that groove of that fight or flight, your nervous system is ready to be kicked off at any moment, it takes a little time to realize what homeostasis, balance, grounded tranquility even feels like in your brain and in your body. And so I think having the conscious intention that, okay, this feeling that I'm always late, that I'm always behind the eight ball, and I wake up, and I have like this nervous belly, or butterflies in my stomach, like I had that for years and I just thought that was normal. I didn't realize like, oh, no, that's not normal. I was in this frenetic energy and I just constantly felt like, Oh, let me go race and rush, put something on the to do list, make sure I didn't forget something. And even having anxiety with any white space on the calendar... that took me time to unthread. So some tips really is the intention, being conscious of it, making yourself a priority, just as much as you would for your child or your own client, where you would never not show up on time for an appointment that you had with them. Or you would not forget to feed your child a nourishing meal, we almost have to give that love to our own inner child and prioritize that self care of boundaries. And even being mindful several times during the day because it's not a one and done. So I think even knowing, okay, when was the last time I got up from this desk? I mean, super basic micro habits that we can dial in, like, okay, it's been 20 minutes, why don't I get up and get a glass of water? It's been a 90 minute deep work block session, why don't I go outside and gaze at the clouds or take a brisk walk? It's the simple stuff. And I often feel that we overlook simple because it's not sexy enough. But that's what's going to give us change and make us feel better.
Amy Lynn Durham:
Yeah, I love that you're talking about the simple, easy things, because I envision, maybe some of the listeners are feeling overwhelmed at work right now or in whatever space they're in. And it's like, okay, I can stop, and I can go get a glass of water, maybe every couple of hours, or you talked about nervous system regulation a little bit. So I can stop every hour and dance and shake my body a little bit. If that works for you, right? I noticed your practice in your life is that every day you meditate, and do you want to speak to how that helps you?
KC Rossi:
Oh my gosh, I do not even know who I would be or what it would be if I didn't have that as a daily practice. It's been something that has been a part of my routine since 1990. So really 31 years of being a daily meditator. And I remember one time, talking to my chiropractor, and I was just like, you know, I don't get it. I do essential oils and I meditate and I have these adjustments and I walk every day and I was kind of listing all the things that I do and I'm like, Who would I be without these things? He's like you would be a train wreck. And it kind of caught me off guard because I was not expecting a professional to say that but I it really stuck with me, I never forgot that. And I was like, yeah, we need to counterbalance all the activities that we do. I'm also a firm believer of balancing our feminine energy and our masculine essences. And again, totally gender neutral, we each have those components inside of us. And I think a lot of times, especially when we subscribe to hustle culture, or that, you know, just grinding it out, we stay often in that masculine component, where it's very linear, logical, strategic, very structured. And then we oftentimes neglect that feminine fluidity where there is that breath. I oftentimes think people feel it's indulgent to take five minutes at the top of every hour, it's like, well, I can't do that I have things to do, we oftentimes neglect that intuitive heart wisdom side of the feminine essence. And so I think really looking at that as a whole is how we're going to start shifting things in our own life and in the workplace.
Amy Lynn Durham:
Yeah, I completely agree. And I think that's what contributes to burnout is there's an imbalance in the masculine and feminine energy that we all carry. And the systems that we've worked in tend to be balanced more in the masculine energy, for sure. And that's why maybe what you were speaking to earlier, why women tend to feel more burnt out over men. I've been in that hustle culture, I've experienced it myself, the work hard, play hard mantra, if you will, is not sustainable.
KC Rossi:
It's not. And I think to the point of women trying to do it all, there's also that program, that's a lie, which is to ask for help is to display weakness. So I think a lot of it too, is recognizing that, a lot of times where people like well, why don't you ask your partner, your spouse, your friend for support? And it's like, there's some ego there. No, no, I got this. And I think even in levels of entrepreneurialism, when you really should be outsourcing things that are mundane admin tasks. But there's this perfectionist mindset coming in, like, no one can do it as good as I can do it. By the time I explained it, I can have it done. We have those tapes going on in our head. So I think it's about laying down some ego and upping our flexibility aspects in order for this to work. Because if you are still clutching on to the way that you've always done things, you are not going to make progress, it's actually going to feel harder. And I know that because I was in that stage for a very long time. And I remember equating it because I scuba dive, and I remember equating it to feeling like I hadn't crested where the waves broke, I was still in the middle of getting beaten up by the waves. And I felt like that every single day. And I knew, if I just could get past that, I would be in smooth sails. But in order to do that, I had to let go of who I thought I needed to be. And lay down the mask. I mean, there's some layers, right to get to that. So I have to say, to listeners that are going yes, I'm resonating and I'm ready for you know, I want this. There's change work involved. And there's a little bit of letting go involved in order to get past getting beaten up by the middle stage.
Amy Lynn Durham:
Right. So I'm thinking of two things here, the woman that is working as a corporate executive, I'm basically thinking of myself in the past. And, trying to lean in which I hate that phrase now, to"have a seat at the table" and prove it's all those things that you're talking about, prove that you should be there. So then you're overworking and you're perfectionist, when in reality, the systems that we're in, don't really foster that. So there's that person. And then there's the person that left the corporate executive world that might be listening, which I'm describing me again, but I know there's different listeners that went on this entrepreneurial journey. For me, I feel like it took me and I'm still not there, months of unprogramming, if you will. I totally know what you were talking about with the hypervigilance, "I need everything on my calendar, I need to be constantly doing something." And then when there is space, it's panic, like, what do I do with this space? And it was a huge transformational journey for me, moving from that corporate executive space to the entrepreneur. I'm just picturing old Amy in the car driving in the Bay Area traffic or running to get on an airplane. What would you say to that woman that's like, how am I I supposed to do all this? These women are in a different world than I am, thinking, "I can't do this. I have too much to do."
KC Rossi:
Definitely. I mean, I think one is taking a pause and taking a breath, because I think a lot of that hyper vigilance comes in when we're constricting or restricting. And so I think, to physically get your body engaged, so our physiology can inform our psychology is the easiest and fastest way to shift energy. I love that you brought up dancing before. And I think that that's fabulous, shaking it out, literally doing that, and especially a tip for anybody that maybe had a really bad meeting, or maybe like a traumatic thing was said to them, that just triggered them. That is the best way is to shake your body so you're not going to hold any trauma in your cells or imprint any negativity. So that's free, that's something you can go in a bathroom stall and just shake it out and reshift. So I think engaging your breath and body system are really excellent ways to kind of start to calm the chaos. And then I think getting really, really honest with yourself. Whose dream are you chasing? Is it yours? Your parents? Is it the society's pressure imposed on you? Because sometimes we get so involved that we lose ourselves, and we lose our identity. And then it's like, Wait, what am I fighting for? And this happens, I think, both on the fast track in the corporate world, and also for women entrepreneurs, where it's like, we've created this machine when the intention was to detach from the engine that we didn't want to be a part of anymore, yet, we created our own machine that's turned into this monster. And I think, in order for that to not happen, and this is something that is a daily practice for me, every day before I start my day, I ask myself, what identity do I want to embody? And I really consciously think about that, who do I want to be in my work life? Who do I want to be like in my energy body? And who do I want to be in my love life? And then I have to then drill down further what virtues do I need to embody in order to exemplify that identity and what actions now do I need to take in order to bring to life those virtues and identity and I make that little chart every single day and sometimes the words are the same. Sometimes it's dancer, leader lighthouse, you know, and fun, fluidity, confident, and, rate and exemplar or loving and those actions then could literally be, dancing, I do body groove every morning, love her, creating valuable content in my leader column and meditating in my spiritual love column. So it is a constant reminder, because our mindset loves to go where it's safe and comfortable. And a lot of times that's not necessarily in our comfort zone, right? And so, to be really reminded of what identity we want goes back to your initial question for that woman that's in the rat race, isn't enjoying it, but doesn't quite know how to break out of it. I think dialing it back, getting really calm, quiet and honest. And then really starting to define whose dream is it? What identity do I want? What am I willing to add? And what am I willing to delete in order to embody those qualities more efficiently and not even efficiently? Because I know a lot of the listeners are already like high producing, it's like more joyfully.
Amy Lynn Durham:
Hi, everyone, Amy here. Are you looking to create a life with more inner and outer peace regardless of the situation, gain unexpected insights into your leadership strengths through the SQ Experience. Expand your understanding of leadership skills like being a wise and effective change agent, servant leadership, and get tips to operate from a place of peace and wisdom from within. I'm a certified SQ 21. Coach, and I offer a 3 month experience that helps you have less stress, more balance and brings more value and meaning to your work in your life. Go to www.createmagic@work.net and click work with me to get started on your transformational journey. I'd love to hear from you. You can connect with me on LinkedIn under Amy Lynn Durham and send me a direct message and we can get you started that way as well. Sending magic to everyone. In SQ and in the adult development theory around your early to mid 30s is when you start (there's exceptions because we're all human) but it's when you start exploring'what is my life purpose? What are my values? Let me stack rank them and see if I'm living aligned to the stack ranking of my values.' To me, you're speaking to that. And that's just the SQ we talk about sq a lot on Create Magic At Work. But that's the SQ way of putting it. And then I love the 'Whose dream Are you chasing?' That aligns with that point in your life? Where you're starting to question, what is my life purpose? Why am I here? Am I living someone else's dream? What are my values? And to take a moment to really think about that, because you're speaking, to echo back what you're saying is, when your actions are aligned with who you think you are, you live a much more peaceful and happier life. So just taking some time to do that I think is really valuable. So thank you for sharing that.
KC Rossi:
And it is the remedy to the over acceleration of the masculine side, because alignment breeds fluidity. And fluidity is the feminine essence. So that is the surefire way to get towards holistic balance.
Amy Lynn Durham:
Yeah, I love how you tied that into that balance of the energy because I can tend to be super masculine energy in business. And then I have to dial myself totally back at home, or, you know, it's just been an interesting journey as an entrepreneur leaving that space. And wow, you're really speaking to that today. So thank you for that. Okay, so I wrap up every guest interview where I pull a card from my journal prompt card deck that I authored, it's for the workplace and for your career. Each card has an affirmation and two questions for you to answer on the fly. If they're lengthy questions, you only have to answer one. But whatever card I'm pulling right now is a message for you from the Universe and also for our listeners. Whoever's listening to this episode, you're getting this message as well, no matter when you hear it. All right. Okay, KC, you got Creativity. The artwork on the card is a little painting with a ship and a dolphin jumping in the ocean and clouds and sun. The affirmation for you and the listeners today is I make time.. Oh, my gosh, this, we can't make this up. We were just talking about this in the interview, like, I'm gonna you we can't make this stuff up. Okay, so the affirmation is, "I make time to daydream. And I let ideas take shape into reality." So KC, the question for you is, what are three ways you can empower others?
KC Rossi:
Hmm, that's so beautiful. I love that. I have to say that just really was the perfect card, and know thyself first, because it all starts with self knowledge. And that will equate to self leadership. And once we trust, because I think we're constantly looking for answers outside of ourselves. And we have given our power to other sources like Google, like social media, like everything that's outside of us. And the biggest empowerment is to know that you contain everything is already within you. And I think the other empowering piece is making time for self care, whatever that means to you, whether it's the movement piece, the meditation piece that we talked about, bringing in soothing music, something that really lights you up. So you can relish in those experiences of what joyful living even feels like.
Amy Lynn Durham:
I love it. You were so meant to be on this show today, because one of the and to get this obviously, we all know that you know, but one of the best skills in SQ is seeking guidance from your Higher Self and practicing that. I've spoken about this before. But this year has been quite a journey for me because I lost that this year, going through some different things in my life. And then I got it back. And so that second piece that you just shared, that's so empowering is the self trust. And oh my gosh, yeah, we need to access our higher self and our inner wisdom, and trust ourselves when we make decisions, rather than just running to experts and doing exactly what they say without saying, 'Hey, let me sit with this.' So thank you so much for being here today. You brought so much value to the listeners and how can anyone get a hold of you if they want to work with you? Or get more advice from your coaching etc.
Unknown:
Awesome. Thank you so much. Always a pleasure to connect with you as well. I feel like if we lived closer we would be besties because we have a lot in common. We are even both wearing the animal prints today. So I'm loving that.
Amy Lynn Durham:
it's awesome.
KC Rossi:
So yes, if the listeners are digging what we're talking about, I have a free three part video series on my website called Know thyself and lead. And it's kind of goes deeper into these aspects of giving yourself permission to dream big. Really understanding how Your mission equates with your skills and getting into that reason for being, that purpose for living. And it goes deeper into some of these topics so they can grab that at kcrossi.com/lead.
Amy Lynn Durham:
Awesome. Yay. Well, thank you so much. Creativity! I love it. Make time to daydream and let ideas take shape into reality. Thank you for sending magic to everyone today. And thanks for being on the show. Thank you. Hi everyone, it's Amy here. Thank you for listening to the latest episode of Create Magic At Work. Please come back often and subscribe, rate and review the podcast. Keep joining us for more exciting episodes where we help you transform workplace culture to systems that create less drama and stress and have high productivity and profitability. You can get your own tools for the workplace at createmagic@work.net I have a new Create Magic At Work The Journal that just released and it invites you to reflect about different themes for work and your career. Each section of The Journal contains a topic, affirmation and two prompt questions to help you in journaling your thoughts. Topics are like inspiring others, mentorship, expansion and productivity. So connect with me at createmagic@work.net. Also connect with me on LinkedIn under Amy Lynn Durham, sending magic to everyone and see you next time.