Ep 28: From Losing 120 Pounds to Changing Lives - Kimi Walker

In this inspiring episode of The Shattered Mindset Podcast, host Melvin Larry sits down with Kimi Walker, a school psychologist, wellness and accountability coach, and host of The Early Accountability Podcast. Together, they dive into the journey of turning challenges into opportunities, the transformative power of mindfulness, and why accountability is key to personal and professional growth.

Kimi shares her powerful story of losing 120 pounds, the role of yoga and mindfulness in her life, and the lessons she’s learned as a school psychologist working with students with special needs. They explore the importance of taking sabbaticals, pivoting when necessary, and finding purpose in helping others.

This episode is packed with insights on mindset shifts, wellness as a way of life, and the importance of storytelling in connecting and inspiring others. Whether you’re navigating transitions or looking for actionable advice, this conversation offers invaluable lessons to help you grow and thrive.

 #MindsetMatters #WellnessJourney #AccountabilityCoach #ShatteredMindsetPodcast #PersonalGrowth 

🌟 Highlights:

• Transitioning from guest interviews to solo podcasting.
• Kimi’s story of losing 120 pounds and its deeper impact.
• The mindset shift needed to balance passion and profitability.
• Why storytelling is vital for change and connection.
• The power of pausing, reflecting, and grounding yourself.

👉 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more episodes that inspire, empower, and challenge your mindset.

Transcript

- 120 pounds, that's a person. - It is. - Yeah, that's a person. And so, so,
you know, I got grandkids, when they get to 120 pounds, you're not getting picked
up by me. - You're right.
- So, tell me about that. And, you know, there are people who will have that wait
on them. But it doesn't bring them to a turning point or decision point.
Why did it bring you to a decision point? Welcome back to the Shattered Mindset
podcast where we explore the pivotal moments that redefine our thinking and set us
on new paths. I'm your host, Melvin Larry, and I'm so excited to be here with Ms.
Kimmy Walker as my guest today. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for having me.
Good. Good to have you here. It's just a just a pleasure to meet you. I mean we
had an opportunity to meet through a storyteller's workshop and that's been exciting.
And so you have a very busy, busy career.
You've done a lot of things. Tell us a little bit about you. So my name is Kimmy
Walker and I am a school psychologist, a wellness and accountability coach,
and I am the host of the early accountability podcast. Overall. Okay.
Well, that's, that's a lot overall. Yeah, it is. You know, the overall, the early
accountability podcast and school psychologists. So you've,
So you you've you're doing a lot of things all of this at the same time. Um, yes.
Well, wellness. This has been my life for a while. And yes,
I'm a school psychologist, so I'm virtual. Okay, I work remote. And my podcast, my
podcast for a while, we're kind of revamping right now. But yeah, my podcast is has
been for a while has been on sabbatical. - Sabbatical? - Yeah, it's been a
sabbatical. - How long have you been on sabbatical? - Been on sabbatical, man, for
about a year. If I looked at it closely, I would say about five to. - So you have
been denying people this opportunity for over a year.
- And honestly, it shouldn't have even been like that because I have enough episodes
that I could have at least even had some indications. So, but Yeah. So why'd you
go on sabbatical? Just so many shifts and changes and transitioning, a bigger of a
transition and be remote and different time zones. So it's just kind of a lot. And
I had kind of pivoted from less yes interviews and more solo. So I think it just
that transition, I would say probably. What was the driving factor between you
deciding to to go to more solo than guest? Um, I don't know if it was one thing,
but I just wanted to be more comfortable to just in my voice or talking just
through different things. But I do enjoy, yes, interviews. I enjoy interviewing
guests. I enjoy, you know, capturing people's stories and telling, you know, their
stories or allowing them to show like their expertise, right? So So I like both,
but I think there's, sometimes there's times when we do need to, there may be times
where you need to be more solo, there may be times when you need to lean more and
get more comfortable, right? With guests or there may be times, sometimes when we
need to, and this is something I talk about on my show, sometimes there are points
in life when we sometimes need to pause. We don't just need to do, right? And so
that's like I can say to even with a sabbatical, my show, sometimes we can get
into this, okay, we're going, going, going, going, going. That's what I'm supposed to
be doing. I should always be doing, but sometimes we need to like stop, evaluate,
and pivot. - Is that why you felt like you needed to do that to just kind of pull
back? - No, I think transitioning, I think when I really was like,
"Okay, I need to do an episode," because my show was a weekly show. So it came
out weekly and I needed content, whether it was, I didn't have a guest,
something happened with a guest interview, sounds like I didn't do it. But the truth
is, like one of my coaches that told me, we do it all the time. So like depending
on whatever your content is, whether you're having a conversation with someone, you're
creating content, you talk, you know your content matters. So yeah. And so after I
was just like, huh, this is something I need to do a little bit more because it's
more challenging. Interviewing people just comes easy to me. Good. So what,
um, tell me about your show. My show, the early kind of Billy podcast. It is,
um, I said we turn dreamers into doers. So dreamers into doers. I like that.
Dreamers into doers, visionaries into victors. Right. So the premise of it is really,
really about helping people kind of get organized in the early stages of a new
endeavor and I always want to say even new endeavor it may be something you've
tried or just kind of a new attempt at it so getting organized and executing is
thing accountable whether it's in a endeavor personally or professionally right so
it's not always just been professional like okay what do I need to do now with my
taxes or what I need to do now if I want to get ready to sell my house,
things like that, it could be personal things too, you know, so like relationships.
Yeah, so how did your how did your background and your education in psychology play
into that? I think it gave me a different viewpoint when it came to my show,
so I think too some people will come to my show and say okay is it, And I see
this with other people's podcasts. It may be like you have a show about how to do
a podcast and in every single thing you talk about, it's about podcasts or you have
this niche or it's YouTube, every single thing.
My fitness and wellness brand is called Kimmy Fitwell and I actually was on a
podcast and the person titled my episode, Pieces that Fitwell and I think that is
the perfect premise of it because I am so like focused on wellness, wellness is
life. So we are, should be or generally are trying to improve some kind of one of
the domains of our lives. So with my show, I think as I you're doing it and
learning, I'm kind of like, hey, there are all these different areas that we could
be more accountable with or we may want to learn more improve. It doesn't
necessarily mean every single area all the time. It may just be a specific domain,
right? Right. So I've had like where I really started to do, to like do what kind
of sprints or do it. So I'd be like, okay, I want to have like different career
coaches. So I may do a month where I focus like on a careers or finances. I did
a few financial advisors. And so sometimes I then started to look at just patterns
of how that might help people and guests, but to have different voices and opinions
in those sectors. - So tell me this then, 'cause you just, you just covered a lot
of territory, you know, with psychology and fitness and wellness and broadcasting.
And-- - But wellness, I'll tell people too, is not just, so sometimes when people
hear me, they're like, oh, you're, I've talked to some coaches in the last year,
they're like, oh, you're going back into that wellness stuff, but your wellness is
your - And this is a way of life. - Right, it is absolutely. - It's a way of life.
- It is, right. - It's not about just eating fruit. - Correct, right, or smoking
cessation or whatever. - That's right, it's not about that, it's the will. It's your
state of mind and everything else. - What we're doing for intellectual growth,
occupation, environmental, yeah. - So, let's go back.
Take me back to maybe your early life and your early influences in life. I mean,
like, You know, you don't have to say I was born in an early age because I
probably figured that out. But really, really early life and how that shaped your
life throughout to bring you to thoughts about psychology,
to thoughts about fitness and so forth. What are the things that transpired through
your beginning in your early life and throughout that had an effect on who you are
today. - Right, well, I would say, I think I've just always been around like my
family and things are very hard workers. So work ethic has always been, I think,
instilled and I'm from the Midwest and people work. That's what they do, like they
have their homes, they get their neighbors. - I have a friend who's from that time,
and He would say, I'm from the Midwest. We work hard. It just is. It's very-- it's
one thing I've noticed, too. I can teach you how to say that every time. It's
different. It's like, you look it in your life. I promise you, he says. It's like,
you do that, and you work hard, and that's what you're supposed to do. I just
think it-- I started to see it as like Midwest culture. I really have. Yeah,
absolutely. Absolutely. But just in different way, when you see different areas,
you're kind of like, you know, it was like, you supposed to be like, you supposed
to work. So, so what about your early life? You know, even in your work ethic,
all of that, how did they bring you into to psychology,
education, or, or
what incidents or whatever happened in your life? So you're going to say, I'm like,
when I think back, why did I like psychology? I don't know, that was just something
I wanted to do. - Like getting people's heads. - I don't know, I think it was a
class, I took it in high school and I liked it and I was like, I wanna keep
doing it that I can remember. But I think when I first came to high school, I
think at the time I wanted to be an attorney and then that changed and we did
like these games where we had to look at how the cost of living and everything.
And I was just like, I don't want to be a lawyer anymore. - Were there any lessons
or incidents or anything that from your childhood or your past experiences that have
connected to that journey? - I think at that point, you're just exploring. You're
seeing a lot of different things. Now in college, In my earlier college years,
I went on to lose over 120 pounds through diet and exercise. But that, I think
that-- - Wait a minute, you can't just skim over that. - Skim over? - No, no, no,
no, no. 120 pounds, that's a person. - It is. - Yeah, that's a person. And so,
so, you know, I got grandkids, when they get to 120 pounds, you're not getting
picked up by me. - You're right.
- So, Tell me about that and, you know, there are people who will have that weight
on them,
but it doesn't bring them to a turning point or a decision point. Why did it bring
you to a decision point? I don't know that it necessarily was a start, started off
as just the way or at the time it started this is I'll say in just general terms,
like a heartbreak and then weight was kind of a byproduct, right? So let's just use
the weight coming on or going out. It can be either way, right? But in your case.
And that in that instance and that at that time, right? So,
and I say that so some people could be this, oh, I'm like really depressed. I eat
a lot of recipes like I'm depressed, I don't or or whatever other activities where
they may do. So at that point it started with that, but what kind of picked it up
was the things I started to do just to kind of like zone in and just take care
of myself and like focus on myself. So I would start to get up and walk one lap
around campus at the time. And then it was like, okay, I feel a little bit better.
I was like, I'm gonna start doing that. So it and just the weight it was creating
just different habits. So in beginning up and moving around or doing it in the
morning or the intentionalness, right? And so that part of that too is just taking
some time to just be with yourself before we get on this. Okay, I have to get
here. I have to do this. I have to turn this paper in. - So then in that case
then,
was We started to move because of things that were going on internally inside of
you, and so forth. But was the weight an issue for you?
Well, of course, if you're... Because it's not for everybody. But a lot of people
it is, okay? So let's just go there. So to a certain extent,
a certain level of obesity, I mean, we're just not naturally made to be large,
large, right? There are going to be different sizes on there's going to be a range.
There are people who are skinny who do unhealthy things, right? I was sitting at a
after meeting at a after meeting dinner with some folks that were part of it and
there was a young lady there. She was like really thin, not like sick thin,
but she was very slender and she would say, "I don't touch water.
I hate it. You need to drink the water. She's like, I ate water and she was just
eating all kind of sweets up. And she said, because she's, I don't worry about
that. I'm in good health. Look at me. I said, that doesn't mean anything. Right.
Right. You could be the most unhealthy person at this table. She said, no
- Yeah, that's for sure 'cause she could drop in her tracks. - Absolutely. I think
sometimes it is,
one being overly, I always say the overly busy. So sometimes we don't deal with
things just from always being busy or for always doing for others. So the people
who are like constantly givers, constantly bearing stuff for other people too and not
taking that time for self. That too takes a toll on us. Well, whether it's like
taking on other stuff, people just even mentally, like the worry of it, or always
trying to be a helper, always having to save, you know, those kinds of things. So
that's what I believe within that. So for me, what was pivotal was just taking some
time for myself not to have to do or be anything like just take some time to be
basically mindfulness, right? To be aware. Um, but it's always a journey. So I
always tell people that. So it's never, um, okay, I lose his weight. I get down to
this size. That's it forever, right? Now, I mean, you always have to constantly be
taking care of yourself or doing things. Um, and that's with a lot of a lot of
stuff, right? That's what wellness is. When you look at that, you know, your
wellness, psychology, your accountability podcasts and all of that, how does that come
together for your story? What does that say about me? So actually my podcast was
named after a coach that I work with and that's what she said, like kind of I
went through some branding and so looking at everything that I do, you know, when I
do on my job, so as a school psychologist, I primarily, different people do
different things, but I primarily, as far as the school setting, I am primarily
special education evaluations. So I'm looking to see if students qualify for special
education, do they need different services or supports, right? So I'm looking at
students who may be having some difficulty performing, whether it's academically or
functionally or socially, looking at the situation, doing evaluations and coming to a
team, inclusive of their parents is saying, hey, based on these results, based on
everything that's going on, the data, this is what I believe, this is what I
believe the next step should be, and then go from there. I don't provide any
ongoing services. So I don't, like, I don't, I don't counsel, I don't, if you had
to call me anything, I'm a more of a diagnostician. So I look at things, I do
tests, I do evaluations, I read reports, and I give people recommendations for the
next steps, right? Well, I have a special love for special education. Yeah,
because I had a brother who was in special education, and I know that it takes
special people to know what to do with special education, people,
because the outside world designates special education,
people unfairly. They thought my brother was the dumb brother, you know,
the retarded brother, but he wasn't. It was not what it was. It wasn't,
you know? He just had-- he just had special needs. Exactly, bad person learners,
right? That's right. He had special needs, you know, and so it's interesting. So I
appreciate that very much. But there's another element in there that you didn't
mention and that we haven't talked about. And tell me a little bit about the
influence of yoga in your life. Oh, it's not going into yoga. Well,
first off, I guess, I need to go back. So after, after I lost weight. So I lost
120 pounds on my own through diet and exercise. If Sammy said that, I have to
stop.
And then I then went on to become, so first was personal trainer.
So I became a personal trainer. So you lost 120 pounds in a healthy way. I think
there's some things that were not that healthy about it.
Looking back, there's sometimes where it's like, oh, if you to like, ate some more
food or, you know, I didn't need to exercise as much or even like right now,
there's some things I could do like right now, I don't eat a lot, but I don't
really exercise like that. Because I, I went into my life and I would did this
nutrition week out of nutrition codes. And the end of 21. And I lost 40 pounds
from December to February. Oh, Oh, and I had no bagging,
no sagging in that period of time, you know, maybe March,
you know, and it was very, very rigid.
No exercise. It was all nutrition, and it was not and now we ate all day long.
Oh, wow. I was like, "Do we have to eat again?" It was little, but we ate all
day long, you know, and I was, it just was a shift.
And I lost that, and I've never gained it back. I've gained some of it back,
but you know, it changed my mindset about how I eat. - Okay. - You know, and I
know the value of mindset in all of these you know, it is and I you know,
but and you were saying though as far as Yoga coming into your yeah,
so that first it was fitness and wellness. Well fitness as far as like fitness
instructor personal trainer spinning instructor yoga was something I did later That
wasn't really something I've done it, but I didn't really like get get into it and
so until, yeah, like later, later 20s or what have you.
But when I went through it, as far as like doing a certification, it really wasn't
so much about learning yoga. Even when I do like the CEUs now and I try to do
under one of my master coaches who taught me, it's really more about the mindfulness
portion of it, and those lessons that you learn within yoga, not so much necessarily
the asanas or the poses for me, for the physical. Different people coming for
different reasons. And I think that's what's good about yoga. So yeah, it's
definitely nice to teach, but yeah, it's definitely a mindfulness activity. But I
would say I did it. And when I went to, during COVID, I went for an advanced
certification. And it was again, too, it's really always to deepen that mind -body
connection. and then how I'm able to help other people with it too, but really the
other more mindfulness component of it. - So you've done a lot and it seems like
everything that you do is dealing with helping people in some kind of way with
being the psychologist in school systems and things like that, with respect to the
way you're rolling and then not being in the classroom hands on. Still, what lessons
have you learned from the students that you've been providing information on a full
or in that role itself? What lessons have you learned and how you might be able to
or have been able to apply that toward mindset shifts in people in general,
even in your your guidance of other people? - I would say a big thing I've learned
from special education in general, or just dealing with some students who don't need
it. People don't understand, I test a lot of students like this just not what they
need, right? But what it is, is it teaches me, has taught me that we're individuals
and a lot of people have a lot of individual needs.
So what may work for one person may not always work for the other, just like kind
of you said, that doesn't mean just because someone has a hard time with reading
doesn't mean that they couldn't like rebuild a car from the ground up, right? So
it's about learning. People look at it as I'm coming in just to see weaknesses, but
we're also here to look at strengths too, and to kind of maneuver through that.
So I think it has taught me that people are individuals And sometimes what works
for one doesn't work for the other. And so sometimes we have to remember that when
it comes to things that may be more cookie cutter like how the classroom is and
this is how we sit and this is how we stay and you know, like, and just sometimes
somebody might be something a little bit different. It doesn't mean they're special,
any special education, they just might need a modification and that's okay, right?
Yeah. And then again, that that also seems like everything, it just flows back to
mindset, and so forth. And sometimes people just kind of struggle with mindset,
you know, when it comes to trying to create change and so forth. What's a situation
where maybe you had a difficult mindset that situation where you had to make a hard
decision that your mindset had to shift in order for you to-- - To maneuver,
that's a good one.
When you do you especially when you're a person who works directly with people so
those like caring or giving roles, but Yeah, we can we can do well too. So with
that in mind and we're thinking about mindset
Accountability is a mindset too, you know, and you that's really a part of what you
do with your your accountability Podcasts and so forth which I think is phenomenal.
Thank you because it's just kind of a cornerstone You of what you do when you're
trying to advance is having to have accountability. So, but why do you think
yourself that is so important in personal growth? And can you maybe share a story
when it was accountability that made the difference? - Absolutely. So I've been in a
lot of groups professionally for business accountability and those have helped me a
lot. Sometimes with just the teaching but also just having the deadlines like okay
this week we're going to work on this or coming back to the table or even if it's
just okay like seeing my counterparts are doing this and I need to hustle up but
it's just also people checking in with you too. So the consistency of that is huge.
And that's one thing I've always told people on my show. See if there's those kind
of groups and support that you can get. Sometimes it doesn't have to be a coach.
Sometimes it's just like a group of other people who are trying to do the same
thing, right? Because you have somebody to bounce stuff off of or the things that
you're going through, they understand. But a lot of it, too, is just the consistency
of the consistency and meeting, the consistency of following up, in the consistency
of being intentional. So what is it that you plan to do from this week, this time
this week to next week? Right, stating it. And I know I'm gonna see you again.
We're gonna ask, right? - Right, right. - As peers, not even as a coach to a coachy
or whatever. It's like, hey, this is what I said I did or this is why I couldn't
get as much of it done as I wanted to, and then having some of that sounding
board. - You know, I've been on a lot of accountability calls in some floor and a
popular term is plan do review. Okay.
People will say, well we'll say we're gonna have a plan do review for every
accountability call. We're gonna plan it, we're gonna do it, and we're gonna review
it. Okay. But in reality most of the time it's not a plan to review is mostly a
plan to report because they will say, okay, Melvin, this is our plan.
And then Melvin goes out and executes the plan. And then Melvin comes back to Kimmy
and says, okay, here's what I did. Then Kimmy says, okay, Mary,
you had a plan, you executed. We give it that accountability call, but it's to me
that's more of a plan to report than a plan to review. To see if you want to
still keep going. Right. The plan to review is say, this is the plan. We executed
the plan. Here's the report. Now what happened in that report?
What went right? What went wrong? How can we adjust it? How can we make a
difference so that the next plan, we've made an adjustment on it rather than just a
report. Exactly. And as I said, too, sometimes it'd be more intentional. Or sometimes
saying, uh, you know, are you going to do anything for this week? I just want to,
like you said, review and look over it or look over the data and say, is this the
direction I need to keep moving in? Instead of just, oh, we're going to do this.
I'm going to do that. I'm going to do this. And it's something that you're putting
money into or time and it's like well I'm doing it to say I did it you could say
hey I'm getting things done but that doesn't necessarily mean you're getting the
correct things. It's like when I sit down with you the other day and you know we
were talking about podcasting and so I was in report mode because I was like okay
I did this and I'm doing this I'm going that and you said well let's see how
we're doing this and I was like oh
Okay, what about this? And what about that? Let me look at that. And I was like,
Oh, okay. So it's different. It's good. It's what it should be.
That's a review because that's how you can set the next plan. So when have you had
a, can you think of a situation and I'm sure you can think of a lot of where
you've seen someone who was a part of accountability in some way that had a
breakthrough. Oh, they had a breakthrough? Yeah. And they said, okay, we executed.
And now, wow, as a result of our execution, I've had a breakthrough. This is good.
This happened good. Any, any stories like that? Well, definitely in some of the
weight loss groups I've had, or some of just the like workout groups, People have
definitely went on to create sustainable changes, long -term changes for themselves.
As far as with some of the things I've done with people with business,
I think, and people don't like, I don't think encourage it enough, but I've had
some people just say, "This isn't what I want to do." After this, I've learned this
isn't what I want to do. And there's so much power And I don't think sometimes as
a society, we give enough like kudos to the people who just say, this just isn't a
good fit for me, right? And that's the thing too, I think too, especially with like
entrepreneurship, it can be pushed, but it's not a good fit for everybody, right?
- Have you had stories that inspired you from your own inspiration of somebody else
or or someone says, "Your story has made a difference in my life." Whether it be
from your psychology, from it be from your health journey or whatever.
- Yeah, I would say, I don't know how to say it. I think gratifying never
satisfies. So I do, when people say things, but I would say I probably don't
soak them in to stay to stay to a plate of being like neutral,
right? So that I would say I'm not very good on
seeking to keep hearing like the good stuff like that. Like, I think it's good.
It's nice, but you know, I want to get too, too, like, so you're not the person
when somebody says, uh, "Hey, that looks good." And you say this whole thing?
- Sometimes, yes. As if it's what they're talking about, like my teeth are very big.
- That's like seven sisters, okay? And so I would say, you have beautiful teeth.
- Thank you. - But seven sisters, you know, so I know about the thing. I'm just
like, I had to say, she'll say something and one will say, "Oh, no, no, no." I'm
gonna say, girl, just say thank you. - Yes, I've heard people say that. Yeah, like
you could just say, yeah, that's what that's what they got to do. But I was like,
oh, you're keeping me like, I really think so. I was like, just tell my worth and
honest, we need to move this and this looks this and so my teeth are one thing
that yeah, that's when they people will compliment me on but I'm like, I'm gonna
give a home in the camera. It's you know, it's like my wife will pick something
and I'll say, uh, this is this is really good. And she might say, Yeah,
I put a little too much salt in. I said, don't tell me that. Oh, I tell me that
now I'm thinking about is it salty or not. Thank you.
That's good. That's good. But now we met as a result of a storytelling workshop.
Why do you think that storytelling is such a powerful tool for Expecting change or
aspiring it. Well, I think too when I talk to so many different people just about
different things and they'll Kind of like you said like they'll give an example of
something or it pivots and there's some times I'm like, hey, that's a There's a
powerful lesson in that that could help somebody else or somebody else may be like
Dang, I thought I was the only person going through this or different perspective Or
I thought I was only one who got scammed from this or that, you know? - Yeah.
- And sometimes just being able to have that to tell their stories. And so that is
why, well, I've had a lot of guests on my show, my podcast show. And so I had,
I think it was maybe just COVID too, but there were a few guests I felt like,
man, you all do this, so you talk on social media, you do a good job, like, you
should have a show. So there were three past guests on my show. I was I really
want to help y 'all like launch a show and I think I can get this we can get it
done in like Three to four weeks I can do it in a month and we did right, but
they were all black men and that was something I felt that In society like I think
there are there's nothing wrong with women of color High castors or whatever. I'm
one, but I do think we still even as society as a whole need to hear more diverse
is diverse opinions when it comes to men of color, especially African American men
of color. I agree with that. You know, women gravitate toward women. Correct.
Absolutely. And so it's a natural thing. My wife, you know, put together a women's
empowerment. Yes. Absolutely. She's good at that. Yes, absolutely. You know, I've had
people on my podcast who, you know, I'm going to have someone in the next week
that speaks to women and so forth and so to hear you say I've had three men three
men of color on my podcast that's great for me to hear that yes you know because
I don't think that we get enough play especially in the positive way no right and
I don't think that we have enough opportunity to to tell our stories. - Yeah. - And
as a matter of fact, that's one of the reasons that I started the podcast was
because I worked in corporate for many years, a couple of decades in corporate,
worked in business and direct marketing and things of that sort.
And, but I don't think people knew anything about me. And I don't think even, you
know, my children, grandchildren knew enough. And so I wanted to have a way to,
for people to kind of get to know me. But at the same time, I think that
historically, today, especially in the digital society that we're in,
people don't hear people's stories. And that's why I like to talk about,
and when I talk about, take me back. You want to hear the story? I want to hear
the story because I want to hear the story because when people hear this,
they hear your story and people need to hear your story. People need to hear your
journey. OK, people need to hear that, you know, you you you lost one hundred and
twenty pounds, you know, and because that's a story but there's more to people know
the Kimmy story for that and most people will try to identify you for that but
there's so much more to Kimmy that's why I wanted to talk about the yoga and the
accountability and the podcast and the psychology and the way back when you were 10
right stuff because losing 120 pounds is what you did,
but the other stuff is who you are. Correct. Absolutely. And so, you know, and I
bring that full circle that I don't think that we as men are as open to talking
of that. I hope you'll do a lot more and just to bring a full circle about who I
am and why we do this. And so, you know, I think that what you about say some
diversity in the voices is important too I like the diversity in the voices and
just for the next generations to see if different Things amplified.
Yes. So we you know, it doesn't have to be just Shouldn't just be basketball or
rat like there's other things people have done that are very great and very
admirable. And somebody may not have had access to that or that type of person,
right? But there's still we have all these these outlets now, that we can get,
like you said, those different stories out there, those different perspectives and
people can And I think that now, we're we are in a in a in the digital age with
podcasting and so forth, where we're getting to see men and women of color and
beyond young people who are moving into areas of finance and financial success and
different things like that and telling their stories about how to invest and how to
handle your money and different things of that sort. And so this is providing a
medium where by we can hear that and see people can see avenues, you know,
where you can, you don't have to be able to, to not that there's any problem with
singing or rapping. I can't do either one of them. And I can't do anything with a
basketball or anything. But, and I applaud those people tremendously for their
talents. I applaud them for that. But when people can see a bigger picture that
there are other options, because there may be, I told my son, I said, you're a
great football player in a great basketball player. I said, but there are only so
many slots. You know, the difference is, but if you're pursuing something where
you're developing your area of finances and real estate and markets and things like
that, it's a much broader field. You know, it's a lot more opportunity. So tell me
about situations where you might have gone through different challenges and, you know,
I don't know, maybe even failures so forth and that you had to dig your way out
of.
You maybe you never had any. - No, I think, 'cause everything's a lesson,
right? - It should be, if we accept it that's a lesson. Yeah, everything's a lesson.
A lot of times we don't accept. That's why we're here because everybody doesn't see
that's a lesson because you can think about stuff that you thought and that was the
worst thing. I hate that experience. I don't even want to think about that
experience. But if you look at that experience and you really, really think about it
and say, okay, now what happened after that? Okay, what happened after that? Okay,
that led to that. That led to that. That's why I wound up in college. Oh, okay.
That led to that. You know, so they're the dots and lines connect
Hmm, I don't know I can't think of one. You can't think of any failures. No, of
course, they're piping things
But I'm not thick. I can't I don't have one like right off the top of my head. I
think That I can draw anything from okay or sit back Or, you know,
well, let me ask you this. What's the most common challenge that you see people
facing in your, in your profession? - In general? - Or even when they're just trying
to shift their mindset? - I usually do, usually doing too much. Myself alluded,
or just like just-- - Doing too much, huh? - But I think that's kind of our, I
think that's kind of culture right now. - Yeah. - Doing all of this, you get
through, you know, and I have worked in multiple jobs too, but like different
activities, kids and all these different groups, like just always going. - So how do
you affect that? And I mean, you see, let's say that you're looking from a
professional standpoint and you see that that's the situation. How can you address
that? How can you affect that?
- I think it's important to plan a time to pause, right?
So I I always recommend that, even myself, where you can put your phone down,
turn things off, check away from some stuff too, even within my business. I said,
hey, you know, so this weekend I'm doing some things, but like I'm not doing some
other things. And I just very clear, like, hey, I'm going to check out from this,
you know, I'll be back on this day next week. Yeah. Right. And that's okay.
Sometimes we have to do that. So when you look at where you came from, where you
are, the things that you're connected to, the people that you're connected to,
where do you see that taking you? I think I'll continue to work with people like I
don't think I'll stop being a school psychologist. I may not do as much of it. So
I am looking at just different ways to expand.
So I believe like the things that I do with podcasting, the things that I do to
help other podcasters, that's something that I'll see expanding and growing.
And as far as wellness and wellness services too, I kind of look at it all the
same now, right? So as before where I feel like this has to be very separate,
like you said, this has to be very separate. It really does. there's a lot of
overlap, you know, and things. So I think just adjusting to where I'm at in those
different phases and to and when I say that, not feeling that I have to stay stuck
and fixated on one thing, one service or one area or one location, what have you,
right? Do you have a vision for where you're going for? Okay, this is Kimmy's
vision going forward. I gotta, Maybe you have a vision for what you're doing in
psychology. Maybe you have a vision for where you're going with your accountability
podcast. Yeah, absolutely. So I would like to, as far as like psychology's concerned,
I would say with that, still trying to help people learn more about their rights,
so that's more advocacy stuff, but being able to get that type of information to
more people effectively. Absolutely. As far as wellness, yeah,
I do have some things that I'm brewing around with wellness. So hopefully, you know,
those things will come into fruition. - Are they on the wraps for now? - Just a
little bit. - Ah, okay, okay. Hey, tell me this 'cause you talked about,
you know, going to Florida State, you talked about living in Indiana and everything.
How has living in Atlanta affected. Now I'm going to correct one thing.
I went to FAMU. I didn't go to Florida State. I went to FAMU. Thank you for
correcting that. I had to correct for it. I'll fix that. Florida as a state,
yes. And I did take it. I took it. I should have said you went to school in
Florida. Yes, but I did have to take the class over at FSU. So, it's not that
like that hard. It's not that big. So, they got a piece. A little bit. They did.
They did. They should for today.
But yeah, what were you saying? So I guess, no, I just said, based on on all of
that, you didn't hear anything else. I said, how has living in Atlanta affected you
and the things that you're doing?
Atlanta is very inspiring. There are people here who are definitely,
you know, some dreamers and some visionaries, but you get to see people doing a lot
of different things, try a lot of different stuff. Very innovative. That's one thing
I can say, like very, very innovative. Like people say also, I'm like, you're in
Atlanta, it's after a newer like, this is like an entrepreneur city of just every
night. When I first got off the airplane into Atlanta at the Hartzfield,
I was just, I said, man, it's pretty people here. And a month later, I was here,
you know.
- It's good energy. That's one thing I can say. Every time I, when I have come
here for like a conference or something, even though it might be people from
different locations, you always leave like, ooh, okay. - Yeah. - Energize, 'cause it's
like, yeah, people are doing. - It's good energy. - It's actually really good energy.
And I think that's important to like environments we put ourselves in. 'Cause there
'Cause there's sometimes we can't choose, but there's sometimes when we can choose to
be around different ones that are more inspiring. - Yeah, yeah. So for somebody who
is looking for, I mean, maybe somebody's listening and they're just kind of stuck
and they're trying to move forward and they don't know what the first step to do
to just kind of shake themselves out of a of a funk or something like that,
what did you say? - Yeah, I would say, I always say, first of course,
I always get grounded, right?
And it's, when we're there in the situation, whatever it may be, right? It's what
isn't going right. I think too, when it comes to what are the next steps,
it's really looking at what do you need most importantly next, right? - Yeah. Because
if it's something like, I need to have whatever $10 ,000, so my house has some
foreclothes on, right? So we got to do what we can do right here in this moment.
How do you identify grounding? Grounding. What I told you before, being able to
pause and get still and be there in a moment now.
So being present. So I had a mindfulness group. I do it with with some students
and that was our that was our one of our core teachings that I was our first
teaching. Yeah. And it was be present. So I want you to be right here where you're
right now. So if you come tell me what's such and such is you on the playground,
that's not being present because you're fixated or focused right now on something
that happened. If you tell me what you're going to do to them in lunch, right?
Yeah. Later. Yeah. That's not being present. That's not the future,
right? That's definitely not right. So we're not we're not too we're not too focused
on what we're doing like here. I never thought about it like that because that
really is true because you're just kind of trying to play something out or you're
dwelling or remaining with something. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And And if there are things
like that in life, we sometimes may need to go get more help to figure out if
there's something that you can't get past. And there are some traumas and things
that people have had that have held them. But if you are stuck there or the
ramifications of that or what that manifested into, we gotta be able to get there
so that we can process and move forward, kind of like what you said. This is what
you're talking about, even what you're podcasting me, it's got a lot of like San
Cofen and like in order to move forward I do, that sometimes I have to look back
in order to know like where am I going, where am I heading and so being able to
be in those moments of reflection or planning but not just get overly,
to not get stuck in those zones. You know a stigma to a lot of people is
counseling and they think that you get counseling and something's wrong and different
things like that. What do you, how do you look at counseling or various things
that, you know, you got, you got counseling, you got coaching, you got, - Right,
right. I think, I think I don't see anything wrong with it. Like you said, even
whether it's maintenance or what have you, I do think the benefit that has helped,
I think some people maybe tap in a little more, has been some of the different
approaches now,
like coaching or what have you, but I do like people who are very clear about what
coaching is and what coaching isn't, right? And I think sometimes maybe some
counselors even need to tell people like, this isn't coaching, counseling is different
than coaching. - Yeah, you're in here with me for coaching, but you need counseling.
- Right. - Right? - Exactly, absolutely. - You need counseling, bro. - Yes,
absolutely, absolutely. - But you know what? There are a lot of coaches and a great
number of the coaches are not professionally trained like you are as a psychologist.
it. And so, um, what are your thoughts about that? Um,
I don't think that stops anybody from being a good coach. So there's,
they're really good, like dance coaches and like football coaches and some of them
have not. Those are not the coaches I'm talking about. I'm talking about, you know,
coaches and you mean
And life coach, all of that. Yeah. Uh, I don't know. I don't, there are some that
are bad, right? And there's, there's just no other way around it. There's some
people are bad, but there's some who could still be good, good at what they're
doing. So, you know, I, I think sometimes you just have to look at it,
look at the results, look at the perspective too, but I don't necessarily think that
you have to have a certain set of credentials to be good at some things. So let
me ask you this. From a mindset perspective, and you've done some things,
you know, you're part of this thing and that thing,
and you listen to thought leaders a lot. And so if you could just collaborate
- With anyone, one -on -one, in -depth, they focused on Kimmy,
who were that big?
- Right now, Myron Golden would be the next one. - Yeah. - Yeah.
- Yeah, man. - Like Myron, all right, I'm not there yet, but. - Yeah, I'm not ready
for the stuff he could give me. - It's a lot. It's a lot, but I like, yeah, I
know I'm be, yeah. I like Myron Golden, I like that.
- So if you could share a timeless lesson on your journey with our audience here.
- Okay. - What would that be? - I'm glad, I said it, but I'm gonna say it again. I
think wellness is a journey, it's not a destination. So when we're making whatever
change or maintenance with certain things, it's not always,
well, I'm gonna do this, get here, and then this is done, right? - Yeah. - I don't
have to worry about this anymore. There's still, I was gonna be something. So
keeping that in mind and embracing what that looks like for you at that stage.
- How do you wanna be remembered? - That's a good question. I hope to be viewed as
someone who could be also inspirational to people as well, or making the best
version of themselves a priority. - Yeah, a lot of times, I mean, I know that
there's, how that has to be a time where you've been in a room with someone or
some people, and they've said, "Keep me this, keep me that." And you said,
"That is not who I am." Right, you know, we all have so
When you think about that, what is the question that
You wish somebody would ask you Hmm, I would just Well,
what is the question? Maybe that you wish I would have asked you that I didn't ask
They could have brought something out of you Or that you could have left a message
for
We get it. Yeah, I do I can't think of anything really. No,
that's a that's a good thing. Yeah, like I don't feel like any misunderstood Okay
So how can how can our viewers listeners? Connect with you.
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm definitely the oldest at the early accountability podcast,
wherever you listen to podcasts on any social media platform, any other social media
platform, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Kimmy Fittwell, that's the spell.
- Kimmy Fittwell. - Kimmy Fittwell, K -I -M -I -F -I -T -W -E -L -O. - Great, you know
it's been a pleasure chatting with you. - You have me, I appreciate it. - Yeah, and
I'm looking forward to connecting with you a lot more and learning from you.
- Thank you. - Learning with you. - Absolutely, absolutely. - And just a great
collaboration. - Okay, I'm excited. - So with that, hey listen,
this has been the Shattered Mindset Podcast and I'm just gonna just insist that you
just take something from this, keep adapting, Keep growing keep reaching for higher
heights in your life your career and every part Signing off.
Take care. Take charge. God bless