Keep Rising with Kristy Kuhl

In this week's episode of the Live Your Extraordinary Life podcast, I sit down with Mindset Coach Kristy Kuhl for an engaging conversation about what it means to live an extraordinary life; the role of authenticity and alignment; and how taking action is essential to success.

Kristy shares that when she left the familiar corridors of corporate America to pursue entrepreneurship, it wasn't just a career move—it was a declaration of independence. She recounts her journey through a challenging divorce and the life-changing insight that set her on a path to authenticity. Our conversation peels back the layers of living in alignment with one's true self and the unmistakable signs that either beckon you forward or warn you you're off track.

If you're feeling stuck or just need some inspiration, this episode with Kristy is a must listen!  From the non-negotiables that keep us in alignment such as gratitude rituals, physical wellness, and those precious pockets of fun and connection — to the rest that is so essential to keep us fueled — to the messy action that's needed to move us forward,  we cover it all. These insights provide a roadmap for anyone feeling adrift in the sea of day-to-day demands, longing for more balance and intention. Join us as we equip you with the tools to shake off stagnation and leap toward the life you've always imagined.

Connect with Kristy:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/kristy_kuhl/
Website: https://www.kristykuhl.com/
Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-rising-with-kristy-kuhl/id1723386662

Connect with Michelle Rios:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/michelle.rios.official/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.c.rios
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3ahwTlqiLU&list=PL-ltQ6Xzo-Ong4AXHstWTyHhvic536OuO
Website: https://michelleriosofficial.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

If you want to bring things in, it's the best way of manifesting. You need to write down what do I want to see today? I want to see a business owner who's tired of working in their business and wants to work on their business Right, Looking for that entrepreneur that's ready to take the leap.

Speaker 2: 0:13

Hi, I'm Michelle Rios, host of the Live your Extraordinary Life podcast. This podcast is built on the premise that life is meant to be joyful, but far too often we settle for less. So if you've ever thought that something is missing from your life, that you were meant for more, or you simply want to experience more joy in the everyday, then this podcast is for you. Each week, I'll bring you captivating personal stories, transformative life lessons and juicy conversations on living life to the fullest, with the hope to inspire you to create a life you love on your terms, with authenticity, purpose and connection. Together, we'll explore what it means to live an extraordinary life, the things that hold us back and the steps we all can take to start living our best lives. So come along for the journey. It's never too late to get started and the world needs your light.

Speaker 2: 1:21

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Live your Extraordinary Life podcast. I'm your host, michelle Rios, and I am thrilled to have my friend and fellow coach, christy Kuhl, on the show this week. Christy is a coach. She works with executives and entrepreneurs, women and, I believe, across the gamut and really helping to transform their mindset and create lives they really love. She's also a speaker and she's the host of the very new podcast Keep Rising. I am so thrilled to introduce my beautiful friend, christy Kuhl. Welcome to the show, christy.

Speaker 1: 1:59

Oh, thank you so much for having me. It is a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 2: 2:03

Christy, I'm going to start off where I start with all my guests, and that's with the question what does it mean to you to live your extraordinary life?

Speaker 1: 2:13

Yeah, that's such a great question, you know. I think if you were to ask me a few years ago, it would have included travel and cars, and jewelry and houses, and today it really is all about living in true alignment. For me, that is an extraordinary life being around the people that light me up, that are great for my nervous system, that make me feel amazing, that give me new perspective, but also allow me to be myself, and the places and the things that do that as well. To me, that is living your extraordinary life, and I feel like I've made it because I've designed a life to do that.

Speaker 2: 2:54

I love that. So let's talk about alignment, one of my favorite subjects, and, for our audience, explain what it is to feel in alignment. What is it like when you are walking through your day?

Speaker 1: 3:08

in alignment. Yeah, I feel like I'm floating. I feel like everything is effortless. I feel like I belong in every situation, even though it may be a hard situation, if that makes sense. I do like challenges. I feel like I'm supposed to be there and because I've had a journey, as you know and I'm very aware of myself, pain has manifested physically in me when I've not been in alignment. So I can even say that there's times where there's been pain in my hip, in my shoulder, et cetera, and that's acute in me, that I'm out of alignment.

Speaker 2: 3:40

Oh, interesting. Well, let's talk about your journey more, because you are currently living in Charlotte, north Carolina, that's right. Okay, but you were from Ohio, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 1: 3:50

Yeah, so Ohio, Wisconsin, Charlotte was my journey.

Speaker 2: 3:53

So let's talk a little bit about that journey. So you grew up and I'm going to gas like suburban Ohio, like so many of us, grew up in small towns in America and you ended up in corporate America. We have that in common and you did exceedingly well. Tell me a little bit about the decision to make such an enormous leap from a career that was incredibly lucrative you were getting the accolades of doing well and being at the front and, I'm sure, being a star while you were doing it to the saying I'm going to stage, exit left and start a business Because that's a big leap. Tell us a little bit about the journey.

Speaker 1: 4:34

So my journey started when I got divorced 10 years ago. I always say 9, 10,. In the state of North Carolina you have to be legally separated for a year before you can actually file. So about 10-ish years ago I got divorced and I started to date again and I realized that I was picking a similar type of guy and so my marriage ended because my ex had some childhood trauma that had surfaced in the marriage. There was nothing I could have done about that. But then when I started dating again, I was realizing that outside of that trauma, I was picking a similar type of man, a narcissist, et cetera. Blah, blah, blah. And I was fed up with that.

Speaker 1: 5:14

And I heard Tony Robbins talk about the story of rewiring some woman's brain. And this woman was a celebrity. She suffered from anxiety and depression and everybody's tried every modality, every pill, everything, and she was still had everything on paper but was miserable. And he's like all I did was rewire her brain. And I was like, oh my gosh, he's got to rewire my brain in this department because I keep picking the wrong type of guy. So that's what got me in the room and so I went to a Tony event and I started it for the first time here, all of these things that felt like what I was always thinking, but somebody was validating it for the first time. So I feel like I've been that person who needed the validation from somebody else to follow my intuition no longer that way in all respects, in some respects. But so I'm like okay, you got my attention, you're saying some great things, and I went there for one reason.

Speaker 1: 6:06

But he's starting to look at life in all these chapters and I thought the level of stress I was carrying was due to the amount of money I was making on the job that I had. Then I realized there's people around me that are making more money, had more responsibility, but they were so light on their feet and I thought, oh my gosh, I'm not doing life right. There's something that I need to know that I'm not doing, that I really desperately need. And it was at the end of the event where he said what makes you feel fulfilled? And it took me a long time to put anything on my paper. I don't even think I really understood what the exercise was. And then, when I realized what the exercise was, then I wrote it down and he said, okay, well, you have now got to find a way to have more time to do those activities or you have to create a career around it. I looked at my paper and I'm like how am I ever going to make an income out of rescuing dogs and being in nature and being fully present and listening to people and pouring into them and talking to strangers?

Speaker 1: 7:03

I feel like I identify with a highly sensitive person. I listen with my entire being. The book Blink really resonates with me. I thought, okay, I went home and I thought there is no way that I'm going to reach true fulfillment, which I now recognize is where the magic of life is. The beauty of life is, if I stay on this path, I'm running a parallel path that's never going to intersect. I did what most people would probably do and, instead of quitting my job, I took a vacation. They can like oh, I can solve all this. And I recognize, once I got back and unburied myself from that week of vacation, that I really wasn't able to disconnect from that. If I'm going to really do this, I have to step away altogether.

Speaker 2: 7:44

You then decided to become a coach. You started really working, crafting, honing your craft. I know one of the things that you've done so well is to think conscientiously and with intention about designing your life. I know that's something that you work really closely with your clients with. How do you create a life you love? Because it is more than work Instead of building our lives around our work, learning how to really build our work around our lives.

Speaker 2: 8:14

Tell me a little bit about your formula, because you and I have a very similar outlook in terms of what brings you joy. That is such an important question because once we know that, we can understand more about where your gifts are and, frankly, the counterintuitive idea of you must do what brings you joy. That's the key to all of this. It's not the way we were raised, was it? We were always raised work hard, work hard, work hard. You play on the weekends and we are resetting this whole tune to find what brings you joy. Do more of that and you're going to have more of the life you want and not be living for the weekends. Only, Tell me a little bit about that framework, because I think a lot of people get stuck with. Sounds great. I want a life by design. I want to be able to do that Instead of this job I'm in right now or the situation that's holding me. How do I even begin to think about designing a life I love and what brings me joy?

Speaker 1: 9:15

as the starting point and I think that you would say it has to be the starting point- yeah, I think the starting point really is giving yourself permission to do that, giving yourself permission to think about that and realizing that you owe it to yourself to be able to do that, because that's where true happiness really is. Growing up in Ohio in a one-stop, light town, I learned to be a workhorse. If you want something, you just push harder. You push harder, you work more hours and I'll tell you, that left me. I don't know how I never burnt out. I don't know how my labs always look good. I never ended up in adrenal fatigue because that was just part of my wiring. First of all, you have to give yourself permission to do that. Secondly, start with the end in mind. What do you want your day to look like?

Speaker 1: 10:00

I am an introvert by nature. I need to charge my battery alone for part of the day. Not everybody is that way, but I need to do that Now. I can't be in crowds every single day coaching people. I can't be on site in these business every single day because I would need so many more days to recharge from that. Being on stage is different because I'm not interacting with each individual person, so when I'm talking to a larger group or on stage, I do need time to reset. So the next day I'll clear my schedule and just allow myself to reset. But do you even know yourself to this intimate level to go? Okay, this is what I need.

Speaker 1: 10:35

For me, being an introvert, I start with 100%, just like this phone does. Everything that comes my way is taking a little piece away from that. The more people I interact with takes a little piece away from that. So I have to be very choosy into who I interact with. On the flip side, if you're an extrovert, you need to be around people, because the more you're around them, the more your battery is going up. My battery is going down.

Speaker 1: 10:55

So do you know yourself? Do you know what lights you up? Do you know what doesn't light you up? And start to be very aware and take the inventory of those things. Because once you have that, then, with the help, oftentimes, of a coach, if you haven't given yourself permission they can help you recognize that you need to design a life that gives you more of the things that light you up and less of the things that don't light you up. So for me, as I just said, I can't do big crowds all the time. I can't be leading a room, leading exercises, leading workshops. I like one-on-one and I like group, where it's more me teaching something versus interacting and leading a large group. That's back and forth the entire time.

Speaker 2: 11:37

Yeah, I know, I get that let's talk a little bit about. I'm going to guess that most of the people that you're dealing with, like I am, have some level of autopilot, because they have a routine, they are used to being super busy, and yet busy does not necessarily equate productive, as we know, nor does it really mean that you're doing all the things that you want to be doing or that are going to light you up, and I think there's this cognitive dissonance of like but I'm so busy, yes, but you're so busy and you're on autopilot. And talk a little bit about sort of the danger of autopilot and even how to know if you're on autopilot. Because I would venture to say, there are people in my life that are like this is my day, this is my routine, and a lot of it is automated. You're just used to going through the motions and a lot of that is not necessarily bringing you joy. So what are we going to do about it?

Speaker 1: 12:31

Yeah, well, again it goes back to awareness. So our subconscious is running 95% of everything that we do our thoughts, our actions, our movement. So if you really truly want to create change and oftentimes change is created when there's pain and we want to alleviate the pain and maybe that you're tired you want a different relationship. You feel stuck doesn't have to be physical pain, doesn't have to be deep emotional pain, but you're sick and tired of the life that you have right now. You have to stop and take inventory. So do you know what your day looks like? Are you writing down all the activities that you do?

Speaker 1: 13:05

I teach a time management course. I'm a Virgo. Things have to be organized, things have to make sense. My brain is like an Excel spreadsheet. So one of the best places to start is to purge everything that you have going on so that you can and I do this with my businesses too because oftentimes people are operating out of their zone of genius, which means you're not going to be happy long term because you're doing all the busy work and all the other things.

Speaker 1: 13:30

Now, before we do any of this, do you want to change? Because if you don't want to change, then being busy is a really good way of not seeing the things that you really want to see. Do you really want to put the time and effort into changing your schedule? What would it look like if you got the thing that you always wanted to get? A lot of us are afraid of getting the thing that we always wanted to get, so it's easy just to stay busy and never even open the store. So if you get real clear, you have a lot of clarity of what you want to achieve.

Speaker 1: 13:58

Yes, step one. Step two, then, is the awareness of how you're spending your time. Step three is how do we offload these things that aren't getting you closer to that goal, so that you have more time to get closer to that goal? Otherwise, you're going to stay on autopilot and you're never going to get there. You're going to be like me and your life is going to be like this You're never going to cross over into what you want to get. I love that.

Speaker 2: 14:18

All right, talk to me about your non-negotiables. I want to hear about it because I know that you are really intent on being intentional about where your energy flows and where you spend your time. Talk to me about what non-negotiables exist for you on a daily basis.

Speaker 1: 14:33

Yeah Gosh, you ask really good questions. Okay, I'm going to be in the morning gratitude practice and priming my particular activating system for what it is that I want to stay when I started doing that exercise. I'm somebody who wakes up. I grew up in a very anxious home. I wake up going oh my gosh, what needs to be done, where can I get better, et cetera. Gratitude really grounds all of that Programming your brain. Instead of having to push all the time, if you want to bring things in, it's the best way of manifesting. You need to write down. What do I want to see today? I want to see a business owner who's tired of working in their business and wants to work on their business, looking for that entrepreneur that's ready to take the leap and really put systems around what it is they're doing so that they can get the momentum in their business as well.

Speaker 1: 15:15

When I was looking for love the certain things that I'm looking for, and that as well, every single day, I would say this out loud and it's amazing how you start to notice the brain starts to notice that in people where you would, I have to work out, the runner's high has never existed for me. Maybe I didn't reach the high enough mile. I release endorphins lifting weights. I have got to work out at least three days a week, first thing in the morning. I do it later at night. It weighs on me. I miss opportunities to let the day flow, to go to dinner, to let things be organic. So I have to work out. I have to spend time with my little dog. That's absolute Now from a weekly basis. I need to have intimate conversations and connections.

Speaker 1: 15:56

That was something that I recognized over time. I didn't have enough dinners planned. I didn't have enough lunches planned. It was just a gap that was missing, just that social interaction. And I also schedule in fun. So I look at my calendar every month and go okay, who am I having dinner with? Who am I having coffee with? When do I have my scheduled time to work? When am I getting in nature? When am I having fun? I'd love to go to concerts. These are all things that I learned because I fell on the chin a few times after my divorce. Being a new city, lonely, all this tension in my body, personal growth is very important to me. So listen to podcasts, reading and sleep these people that I think that they can go on four or five hours of sleep just blows me away. That's when the body is recharging itself. That's when you're rejuvenating so critically important that you're taking in great nourishment and you're also letting your body recharge with sleep.

Speaker 2: 16:45

Yeah, Sleep is such an important thing, and I believe I was listening to one of your podcast episodes where you literally talk about how, one day a week, you really let your body rest. Yeah, and that had to have been a challenge in the beginning for someone who I know had a PAC schedule and was used to being probably over scheduled. How did you give yourself that permission? How long did it really take for you to let go and realize the ability to do more is going to be predicated on my ability to actually allow myself to do less and rest.

Speaker 1: 17:20

Yeah Well, like most things, lessons that I've learned that I try to teach other people. I had to feel the pain before I actually succumb to that, and the hardest part is when you start to use other people into your life that don't understand that and they can go, go, go, and I'm like I'm not wired. I never was wired. I could do it, not great at it and so this is a piece, but really what brought it to my attention was my natural path. She said you have to rest, and it was interesting because she looked at my labs and they were fine.

Speaker 1: 17:49

But she was listening to everything that I was saying too. And she said one day a week nothing. And I was like, okay, I can be on the couch with my computer. And she said, no, that doesn't count. This busy mind gets me in just as much trouble as being physically busy as well. So plan a day, watch movies, have people over that you can just chill and have girlfriend time with. But it probably took me a year after she said that before I actually started to put it in a practice, because I wasn't feeling good and it was the only thing that I wasn't doing that she said I needed to do.

Speaker 2: 18:23

I love it. Let's talk about books. I'm curious Book that's had the most impact on you from a personal development standpoint?

Speaker 1: 18:32

Oh, my goodness, there's been so many Blink, malcolm Gladwell, blink. I think that my intuition is incredibly strong and I believe that everybody has a very strong intuition. I think I tapped into it at a young age but because everybody around me denied some of the things that I was feeling and thinking, I denied it as well. And so when I read the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, the fact that I can deduce things from people so quickly it's why businesses hire me. You know, they say that I'm a human lie detector and I can figure people out right away. That probably is true in a way.

Speaker 1: 19:03

It's just I can tell so many things about somebody by the way that they walked down the street. The brain starts to roll a dachshund. You're like oh, so-and-so walked down the street, like that too, and so-and-so did too, and then I can tell you all these things about the behaviors, and a lot of people don't like to hear that, but it really is truthful and it really is. There's a lot of science behind that. So that's the book that really helped me get in touch with my intuition and start to make massive decisions on it. When I was in corporate America I was kind of like the George Clooney up in the air, and I didn't mean to be that person, but I fell into that because I could come into a team and be like she stays, she goes, she stays, she goes. Little different in personal relationships, right. That's where we all kind of get a little sideways because there's emotion involved in it. But that one and then another one that I think again just really helped me hone things that I was really good at was Atomic Habits.

Speaker 2: 19:49

I love James Clare. Yeah, such a great one.

Speaker 1: 19:52

And the last one I'll say is the power of intention, Wayne Dyer.

Speaker 2: 19:55

Yeah, you know, the Wayne Dyer's probably had the most impact on me holistically across the board, because I was introduced to him when I was probably 25, maybe and it was when I was really in a dark place in my own life and the messages were so different than what I had heard before. Like I remember picking up one of his books and it said the title was You'll See it when you Believe it. Right. And then I'm looking going they got the title wrong, right, you'll believe it when you see it.

Speaker 2: 20:26

And then I had to buy the book and I'm reading it going oh my goodness, the power of really believing and having the visualization and feeling, the experience that you wanted to have before it would appear in your life just was such a foreign concept. And yet it worked. And then I was hooked. I was like this is amazing, right. And then the whole notion of but we're spiritual beings having a human experience. That's why none of this makes sense most days. Yeah, yeah, oh, my God, earth shattering information here by Wayne. But yeah, he was in my own growth.

Speaker 1: 21:03

You know, and that's one of the things that I think that people don't do enough of is go back and read books that they've read before. So one of the most common questions I get in the DMs is what do you read now? Because everybody knows I'm a big reader what do you read now? What do you read now? I just finished this and I go okay, go back and read that again.

Speaker 2: 21:18

Yeah, I was going to say. There's this fabulous little book that was given to me, God, probably 30 years ago. It was an Aghman D Notebook called the Greatest Salesman. If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend. It's a quick read, but it's one of these that will just keep you going. Wow, Interesting I hadn't thought about it that way Really really compelling Right up there with Paulo Cuelos the alchemist.

Speaker 1: 21:42

Oh, love that one. You know what you just said about Wayne Dyer and the feeling have you done human design? I have, okay, so I'm a generator, me too. And the feeling. So that's probably why that feeling piece resonated with you, I'm guessing, because it is with me too, right. And so when I'm coaching people and I do their human design and they go gosh, I just don't know what I want to do and I'm like that's great, I didn't either. You need a bunch of exposure. Just get out there, talk to people, try things on, because when it comes across your plate, you'll know, you'll feel it and that feeling will be undeniable. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:14

So you're Virgo, I'm a Libra. I'm just curious when is your birthday? September 8th, I'm September 27th, so we're near each other. There's something going on there, like I am to a T, a Libra, like the balance, the aesthetic. I went to the School of Foreign Service because we're great at diplomacy. It all just fits. So check, check, check. What are the jobs that they Libras, shuit and ENFJs, which I am are best at therapists, coach, public relations specialists, diplomats Check, check, check and check. All good, I love it. Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2: 22:52

Let's talk a little bit about mindset, because I know so much of the work that you do that I do is really about shifting the mindset, priming the mindset for more. What are some of the things that you do right now, on your own self or with clients, to really ensure that you have the right mindset for taking on new endeavors, for eliminating some of the limiting beliefs that we may have or just enabling you to have change occur in our lives, because, as much as we want to think that we're open and we're adaptive, change can really throw you off. So tell me a little bit about, maybe, some of the mindset work that you do.

Speaker 1: 23:34

Yeah, another great question. So I'll give you a couple things that I don't feel like are talked about a lot, and it goes back to the first thing we talked about and designing your life. So I believe that oftentimes it's hard for people to show up and do those hard things and blow through the limiting beliefs and not have the negative self-talk when you have created a life that is not serving you. So I had just mentioned do you even know yourself and you know what you need to operate in a peak performance state? If you don't, I would highly encourage everybody to do that, because when I design my life, I have to work out, I have to eat good, I have to sleep good. When I do all those things, my intuition is on point. I can see things, I can feel things. I have a better opportunity to take the risk, to take the chance to not have those thoughts. So can you take a moment to recognize what is it that really lights you up? Where do you feel your best? What people do you feel your best around and what people do you not feel your best around? If you don't know how to have the conversation or figure out how to not spend time with people oftentimes they're family members that are bringing you down and find the people that are lifting you up. That's where a coach or a mentor can really help.

Speaker 1: 24:48

I will tell you another thing early in my journey that I had heard from Tony and you hear from Six Ways to Sunday, you become the people that you spend the most time with, and that is so true. I would take it a step further. It's the books you listen to, the people that you're following on social media. All of this is getting into you as well. Really, audit all of that. Where are you spending your time? Get help with conversations to a realign that.

Speaker 1: 25:14

When I did that, I was in this party phase. After my divorce in a new city, I went home and I was like I can't hang out with any of these people. It got really lonely. I'd get to Friday night and I'm like what have I got to do? You know what I did? I started listening to books. I started watching YouTube videos. These people became my circle of influence Bernay, browns, et cetera.

Speaker 1: 25:36

I think that's really important to make sure that you're designing your life. I also believe if you want to go fast at this, at getting past the negative thoughts and beliefs. You have to get those things out. You can challenge those thoughts yourself and go. They're never going to pick me or nothing ever happens good. No, it does, christian, these things happen good. Then you think about a time where things did happen good or they did pick you for the job. What if you had a peer group of two or three people that you reached out to? You had said you know what? This is how I'm feeling. They squashed it right away because you trusted them and you believed that they really knew you and could see you. I will tell you that's one of the ways that helped me go really fast with getting some of this negative thinking out of my mind.

Speaker 2: 26:20

Such great advice.

Speaker 1: 26:21

I have three people and they can see my blind spots too. We all have blind spots. That's why they're called blind spots. When I start, I now feel like I don't want to see this movie again. I don't want to be back here again. I have this thought again. I'm going to call Michelle and say okay, this is where I'm at. You're going to tell me all the reasons why this isn't true anymore. Boom, it squashed, it's done.

Speaker 2: 26:44

Yeah, that's great, that's wonderful. Tell me a little bit about going forward when you feel stuck, because I think a lot of people are just like I can't even begin to think about designing a life I love. I feel stuck, christy. What do I even do? How do I get unstuck? How does that even a possibility? I think a lot of folks that are feeling a little bit intimidated by those folks that have been able to rise up and make massive change. I was like most of us were exactly in that spot at one point or another. Don't let where you see us now be where you think we've always been. I'm curious have you ever felt stuck? What did you do to get unstuck?

Speaker 1: 27:29

Yeah, all the time. I think that you always have to do the thing that feels the hardest, which is taking action. For me, being a Virgo and being a perfectionist, I think that even if you're not a Virgo and a perfectionist, we don't want to make a mistake. Action is the answer. If you can just recognize that action is always the answer, it's going to get you moving Anything that doesn't work. Now you've figured out what doesn't work. There's no mistakes. There's no wrong paths.

Speaker 1: 27:55

I believe because I came from the healthcare world and doing a clinical study If you look at your life and all the things that you're doing, you're like I'm going to do a clinical study. By the end of it, I'm going to figure out what works and what doesn't work. You know yourself best. That can diffuse you a little bit to at least start taking steps in the right direction to figure out what could potentially work. But action is always the way. I believe in having mentors and coaches too, for sure. I think it can shorten the process and recognize that the things that I'm saying and the things that you're saying, these aren't just Michelle-isms or Christe-isms. You've studied the best people that are doing it.

Speaker 1: 28:30

Modeling is a great thing. How are all these people doing it? How did all these people get unstuck? They took action. That should give people a little bit of confidence too, that okay, I'm supposed to do this. It's going to suck. I'm a realist. It's going to suck. You're going to doubt yourself, you're going to question yourself, but it gets easier over time when you surround yourself with people that are doing things that suck, that are taking action and figuring it out and doing their own clinical study. This is the problem. You're falling in love with the process. I don't care how long it takes you, you'll figure it out. But you're not going to figure it out if you sit there at your desk and reorganize your desk and put 16 plans together that you're not testing.

Speaker 2: 29:09

No, you're absolutely right. Messy action is what breeds clarity. You cannot find your way out by overplanning. I can tell you firsthand. I've done a lot of plans that never saw the light of day because I was afraid to make a mistake, and so you get paralyzed in the fear of making a mistake.

Speaker 2: 29:28

Perfectionism is something we really do need to put back on the shelf and say enough is enough. The only way to be successful is to be willing to have some quote-unquote failures. I really don't think they're failures anymore. I've come to the realization that, okay, that's another way that doesn't work. Okay, next, be willing to keep going, because it's those people that are willing to quote-unquote fail that try things over and over again.

Speaker 2: 29:56

This didn't work, okay, let's go over here. They end up getting there quicker while everyone else is sitting on the sideline on the safety of the shore, if you will unhappy, because they're just paralyzed with fear of making a mistake so they don't take any action at all, which to me, is super sad, right? These are the people that are in the same place a year later and you have the same conversations with them year after year. There's not really any progress. Those are the people that actually my heart goes out to them because they keep the veneer of everything's fine, but it's not fine. They're stuck. And it's one of those where you're like just take a step, any step, toward what you want and try see what happens.

Speaker 1: 30:41

So true, sarah Blakely, the founder of Spanx. I heard a story about the way her father parented and it's just interesting what shaped her at such a young age. So at the dinner table I don't know if you've heard this story before Stop me if you have.

Speaker 2: 30:54

I have but tell it, it's such a good one, tell it.

Speaker 1: 30:56

So her dad would ask her and her brother what did you try today and fail at? And when they would tell they would get a high five and they would celebrate it. So it just became imagine that being the culture versus a lot of the other side of like. What will people think? Oh my gosh, the plan didn't work. And again, I think this is where your peer group really is impactful. So who are the people that you're hanging out with when you are now one of 10 people who are going? Oh yeah, I tried this. This didn't work. Okay, would you do? Okay, let me figure out. Maybe that'll work for me. And it is just part of the process where people are talking about things that didn't work businesses that they tried, that they decided that they didn't like coaching styles that they're like you know what I like one-on-one, know I like group. How easy would it be to figure things out in life if you could find people like that that were part of your every single day conversations?

Speaker 2: 31:47

And what amazes me is Sarah's around our age collectively, and this is going back a while. And to have a parent, that was that forward thinking back then amazes me. Christy, it's been wonderful talking with you.

Speaker 2: 32:04

I want to just kind of reiterate this notion of the work that we get to do is such a blessing, and the people that we get to meet not only are we helping impact others, but in our interactions with other people we can't help but be impacted, and I am so grateful that you and I have crossed paths. I am so excited about what's to come. I'm so energized by the work that you're doing, and how can people find and support you?

Speaker 1: 32:35

Yeah well, gosh, those are all such beautiful words. I receive them all. Thank you so much. I feel the same about you. I can't wait to have you on my podcast. I get to see you soon in Dallas and you're doing some incredible work and such a short period of time too. You just left, like what a year ago. Yeah, I love it Lightning speed. So I have a podcast Keep Rising. With Christy Kool. I really believe that I'm here on this earth to encourage people to keep rising, because you're so much closer than you think. Love that. You can follow that on all the platforms and on Instagram as well, christy Kool.

Speaker 2: 33:09

Wonderful. So please, everyone I know that Christy has inspired and has been engaging here today Please go and check out her content on Instagram. Go give her podcast a listen. You're going to love it. I've already listened to all of her episodes. She just launched earlier this year and it's just fantastic. So I cannot wait for her to produce more episodes and she has some great guests coming up. So go check her out. And, in the meantime, if you enjoyed this episode, please go and give it a five star review. The more you review and rate the show on Apple, on Spotify, the more people can find it and the more people we can positively impact. So until next time, everyone, go and live your extraordinary lives. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to rate and review. If you have recommendations for future topics, please reach out to me at MichelleRiosOfficialcom. Lastly, please consider supporting this podcast by sharing it. Together, we can reach, inspire and positively impact more people. Thank you.