The Common Grounds Podcast
Healthcare sales is a different world — complex systems, long sales cycles, and relationships that make or break everything. After nearly 40 years in the industry, I’m sharing the real strategies, stories, and lessons that actually move the needle. We’ll uncover how community, connection, and genuine trust can accelerate your career faster than any pitch deck. If you’re ready to sell smarter, stand out, and grow your network the right way, you’re in the right place. Welcome to Common Grounds.
The Common Grounds Podcast
How To Talk To Yourself with Michele Smith
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The most important conversation you’ll ever have is the one you’re having with yourself.
Your inner dialogue is shaping your confidence, your decisions, and your outcomes — whether you realize it or not.
In this episode, I sit down with Michele Smith, MHA, PCC to talk about the power of self-talk and why paying closer attention to how you speak to yourself could change everything.
🎧 Your inner voice matters. Hit play.
Join your host, Ansel Lee. See that coffee with someone who is mastering the art connection. So step back, grab your own cup of coffee, and join Ansel and its guests as they explore themes of healthcare, business, and building relationships in the marketplace. And now here's your host, Ansel Lee.
SPEAKER_01Hey everybody. Hey, happy Thursday afternoon to you. Hey, Ansel Lee here with another edition of Ansel Lee Live slash the Common Grounds Podcast. And um, hey, I've got a great guest on today. Um my my friend Michelle Smith. Hey Michelle.
SPEAKER_02Hey Ansel. And the tunes are a new addition, sir. I kind of like that. Like rocking.
SPEAKER_01You like my tunes? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That was good. That was good.
SPEAKER_01Well, it and uh well, thank you. You know, I'm just uh man, I'm just becoming more advanced all the time. Well, you say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, you know?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you can.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm one that's um somebody's somebody told me that he's he's like, Man, you too, I'm just amazed that you do all this stuff. And I'm like, oh please, come on. Look, you be an entrepreneur, you're just grabbing everything you can grab a hold of to try to, you know, to give you the edge to make a difference. So um I was I I appreciated the compliment. Uh but you know, just but as an entrepreneur, you just wow, you you just you just gotta make it happen and and you you become creative to do that. And um, hey, but what I wanted to to say real quick, this is this is a member spotlight uh for how the word where the world that thing goes. Um uh for our common grounds community.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01And we we are just about to celebrate our one-year anniversary here in March. In a few days, we will be one year old. One year old, one year old.
SPEAKER_02Are we having a party?
SPEAKER_01We we should, you know, we should have a party. I'm I'm thinking that's a great idea. Yeah, that's that's where Laura Nitsky.
SPEAKER_02We could have it catered, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Laura Nitsky could uh she could provide all the wine.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, her wine only has four ingredients. Oh that would be awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, wouldn't that be great? Uh or we could have coffee, you know. Um, so but um no, I'm I'm just you know, I'm really excited that we you know how how we've grown and and uh what I want to say is you what I really wanted to say in all this is the thanks you the support you've been throughout this year, and uh you've just been uh you know to be a star and be part of this is uh means so much and and uh your support. So so you I just uh really appreciate you. Thank you, Michelle.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you. I um it was it's one of those things I wish I could be more involved. Um, I see what's going on, I'm involved in some stuff. Um, and the growth of the community is just really awesome to see as well. So it's cool stuff. There's awesome humans in it. I've had a lot of them on my podcast. So if you're an awesome human listening to this now, please reach out if you have not been on the podcast, or if you have been on the podcast and you want to be on the podcast, leadership sound bites.
SPEAKER_01Um share. Yeah. Matter of fact, she does a whole lot better job than I do. I'm just yeah, and what's impressive is that she has a YouTube channel um uh that she she record uh records to or posts to. It's uh I I mean it's impressive what you what you've done with your thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for that. I can credit it to my daughter, yeah and her team as far as engagement goes. And the other thing that I'll say, this is the thing I will take credit for is consistency. She told me in the very beginning, you have to be consistent. And um, it's that's not an easy thing to do at times that you know, every once in a while the funnel gets empty, and you're like, oh my god, I can't, you know, it's because we post every week. Um, and so I have really amazing leaders that were willing to jump on with me at the last minute um to fill in the void early on. So yeah, we're in our fifth year now, so it's been fun.
SPEAKER_01Wow, wow. Well, it's uh you you do a great job, and I I thoroughly enjoyed being on there, and um it's it's again impressive. Uh so well done. And um hey, hey, so give us a little bit of um uh give us a little bit of background of who you are and and uh who you are, where you are, and and and um just a little background.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um so obviously Michelle Smith and um I've been supporting leaders in healthcare since 1998. Um from the finance aspect of it, um, shoot, I negotiated contracts and did um management of the charge master and physician comp and payroll and income statements and all the stuff. Um, and then leadership development, coaching leaders, and process improvement. So um where I'm at today and what I love doing is still supporting leaders. It's healthcare and beyond. And it's just a really cool thing. So I do executive coaching, leadership coaching. The difference that I would say between those two is the role in the organization that you have between executive coaching and leadership coaching. Um, and then just leadership development in general, process improvement. I'm building an um a process uh right now for a client on just mapping their finance processes, they're in behavioral health space. So it's all these different things. Is my head just getting bigger and smaller? I'm watching all this.
SPEAKER_01Um I'm sorry, I just wanted to try that.
SPEAKER_02Uh no, you're good. You're just playing in the background. You're like, oh my god, technology.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, so anyway, just so many different what I love, Ansel, is that and I've described it to people before as I have swim lanes. And so there's just you take all the experience, like Santa in his bag with toys, and you gather it up, and then you're able to offer it and help people in different ways. And so I'm just very blessed to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01Well, you that that that is so awesome. And I know you you've had some really great clients, and and uh one of the things you mentioned, uh when what I wanted to bring you back on here, um is you know, you you and you mentioned this in your your email to me, uh, you're talking about the importance of of uh self-talk. And um, you know, that's really kind of our you know kind of our the the um the title of our show today. And you know, I you know I just finished uh doing a vision board um actually I did two workshops for our our our common grounds community, and you know, those are just some of the most powerful things, um other than talking to yourself. And I I'm just uh there's there's something there's I don't believe in magic, but I believe it's magical, and um, and there's it's powerful, you know what you say to yourself. And any rate, I I'll I'm I'm sitting I'm talking about stuff I really don't know a whole, I mean, I know about except I know about it. I just know that there's a a very um you know, uh I wrote a post not long ago. It's not what you think you are, but what you think you are, and you know, it's very much a a biblical thing that I was writing on and out of Proverbs and and talking about it just so we have to guard our mind. Um, and um but but even more than you know, well that true, but but your self-talk is such a a big deal, and I and I'd like for you to kind of expound that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was interesting uh when you and I were chatting about the topic and what's come up, and I and I go back to more recent conversations with clients, right? What are the themes that are coming up? What are the things that are happening? And so I think we can all agree is there's no shortage of change in the world. Um, I don't know anyone who's got the magic crystal ball that says, I know it's gonna happen in the future. And so people are navigating unknowns, and and what happens a lot of times is the leaders that I work with, and myself included, is is they can actually put themselves behind the eight ball, if you will, or in a less than ideal space by the language they're using to describe what's happening around them. So it can be like um um something's coming at us, right? Leadership is just throwing this stuff at us. Well, think about your subconscious is going to react to that language on how you're describing stuff. Like, do you have to protect your body because stuff is being thrown at you? No, there's emails coming, maybe, or stuff happening. So it's important for us to take ourselves out of fight or flight with things that trigger the subconscious because the primary goal is to keep us safe and then to use the least amount of energy. And so it's simple things like that, that all of a sudden you're like, okay, so what's actually happening? Well, there's just a lot of requests coming our way, okay, which is so radically different in how your body responds to that versus they're throwing stuff at us, right? Um, and it's that kind of stuff, like for the overwhelmed, the stressed, I'm stressed out. And when we say things enough with enough passion behind it, like I'm stressed or I'm overwhelmed, it becomes part of our identity. And then when it becomes part of our identity, our brain would do everything in its power to make sure our experience and what we do aligns with our identity.
SPEAKER_01Right, right.
SPEAKER_02I had a leader one time, she goes, I feel like I'm in the middle of the hurricane. Think about that for a minute. So if you feel like you're in the middle of the hurricane, what's your what's your brain gonna react to to keep you safe? You're not gonna move anywhere, right? You feel stuck. Well, you're in the middle of the hurricane. If you go anywhere outside, you're gonna get swept away. What's really happening? There's a lot of change going on. The the we just we're going through a merger and acquisition, okay. There, but there's not a hurricane, and there's most likely not chaos. So it's this kind of stuff that just in a very short period of time, Ansel, just by identifying it, people can change the language by describing what's really happening around, not their language, fully charged language you're using to describe it, and then all of a sudden it's calm. It's like, okay, now what comes to mind for you about what to do next? That's it.
SPEAKER_01Well, well, and how do you how do you change um how do you how do you how do you coach them to do that? I don't know, you don't want don't don't tell all your magic here, uh and all your sins.
SPEAKER_02No, it's kind of fine. I'm perfectly willing to tell every and people can make comments on what they would do, right?
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Um, because there's more than one way to peel an apple. Um for me, it's the same thing that you do. Now I lived in Japan when I was a kid, and if anybody lived in Japan, or maybe I think Hawaii is similar stuff, there's cockroaches that you you can't help it, but there's cockroaches. So if you go in the kitchen at night and you turn the light on, they just scatter.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02So it's the same kind of thing with this language that we're using. We first have to become aware of it, shine a light on it. And then once you're aware, and I joke with people, but I'm serious, awareness is the first step in recovery, right? Is that you have to be aware that number one, you're using this. A lot of times people are saying this stuff and they don't realize that they're saying it. And then once you're aware of it, then you start catching yourself when you're saying it. You can't help it. The brain's in the background going, foof. It's like you have children when your wife is pregnant, or when your daughter was pregnant, or daughter-in-law, you know, you look around and you've got all these pregnant women. When you buy a new car and the new car is white, and you look around, everyone's got a new white car. Well, no, they don't. But your brain goes, Oh, that's what's important to you.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02And I'm gonna filter for the stuff that matters to you, which is where where focus goes, energy flows. So when you have an awareness around the thing, all of a sudden it's like poop poop, and then you notice other people that are using the same highly charged language. And so it it you're that much further along and making the change to where then you ask yourself, okay, what's really happening around me? And then you describe that, and then you feel you pay attention, you feel the difference in your body. And who doesn't want to feel better? You still you're still gonna deal with the stuff, but you're not dealing with the stuff stressed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love that what you just said, where focus goes, energy flows.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Tony Robbins quote.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I was giving give him props for that.
SPEAKER_02I have to attribute that to where to wherever it comes from. I've this collection. Remember, I'm Santa's bag with the presents, so I've collected all this stuff along the way.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Well, and you know, there's I would say there's a lot of stress um with all kinds of you know budget cuts and you know downsizing, and um right now, especially in healthcare, and you know, you've got uh and you've got AI, you know, everybody's worried about they're worried, concerned about it. But I you know, I see it as a great uh opportunity, anyway. But I just think there's some a lot of angst out there, and um and and you're helping them navigate this.
SPEAKER_02Well, and it's a great reminder for me too. I mean, we're we're all navigating stuff, um, but I have to agree, and when and the thing the last the thing that I would say around the budget cuts and changes that happen and everything else, because there's so many different organizations I support that yes, they're all in the same boat. Realize that you're not the only one, the only organization going through or going through. That being said, as a leader in that order, whatever, uh whatever position you may have, ask yourself because decisions have to be made when cuts are made, right? So then it's like so what can we do with what we have? Whether it's budget, whether it's people, whether it's whatever it is. And I encourage people to go back to what are your guiding principles, what are your values, what are the what's the mission statement? Because the thing is it's important to renegotiate, if you will, what are we supporting? What are we doing? What are the key core things that we're doing right now? Because this stuff changed. So don't be afraid to do that. Don't don't put it on yourself that we have to continue supporting everything that we supported with less. That's not true.
SPEAKER_01Right. Well, um, hey, well, uh and I want to give folks a a bridge to be able to to learn about and to connect with you and uh and follow you because you're always posting stuff, and I mean, I mean good stuff.
SPEAKER_02Always, Michelle, always. There's your stuff over there.
SPEAKER_01I meant that in a very positive way. You're I know I did not put you putting good content out and and and people can and latch on to that. And um, so uh I want to talk about how to how to do that here. You can do that here on LinkedIn by connecting with Michelle, and I'll talk about that. I first I want to show you this. Somebody just sent a comment. Here's here's Rob Howell. He said, Common grounds community retreat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's gonna be a wine, there's gonna be giveaways.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Is there like circus acts and stuff too, Ansel? I mean, come on, this with this could be big.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm telling you, I'm telling you. I just real quick question for you before we yeah we we land the plane here. Um yeah uh I listen again, uh what have you gotten out of common grounds, out of the common grounds community? What it have you gotten uh anything you you worthwhile in sharing?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the people.
SPEAKER_01We have incredible people there, don't we?
SPEAKER_02So it was it was so interesting, funny, interesting. But there were it was one of the um, it was one of the things, it was like a I don't think it was a Monday, because Monday I always have conflicts. I think it might have been a Friday that I was actually able to join. And I put it out there, hey, I'm if you know great people, I'm looking to you know have great people as a guest on the podcast. I think I got connected with like eight great people, just from a couple people within the community. So it was like basically, you know, build it and they will come, ask for it, and they will deliver. Um it's just really cool humans in this group that support each other, and you can see the the message because we have this message thread, right? And LinkedIn, and it just blows up. You're like, what is happening right now? And so you go, and people are messaging and commenting and all this stuff. Um, so it's it's cool.
SPEAKER_01It's cool. It's awesome. Well, it's cool because you're there, and uh so so thank you. And I want to go back here and let's talk about how can folks um you know um let's see, we want to you they want to get that um they want to contact you and and know more. Maybe they want to have a conversation. Yeah, um, yeah, how how would you get that?
SPEAKER_02I have a link. I have a link to do that. So reach out to me on LinkedIn or you've got an email address, Michelle at betterpossibilities.com. And I did not think about the challenge of spelling the word possibilities when I named the company that. Um, but reach out um and let me know, and I'll send you a link. We can have a discovery call on Zoom.
SPEAKER_01It looks kind of like it's so challenging, Ansel.
SPEAKER_02I every I mean I intentionally think about how to spell possibilities. I'm like, what were you thinking? So I'm just saying when when you go to name your company, make it make it something easy. Don't don't do what I did with all these consonants and stuff sticking together. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, here, easy enough. You can go to Michelle Smith here on um on LinkedIn and and and find you. Easy. Yeah, and as I tell the audience, if you can't find Michelle, find me and I'll connect you with Michelle. Glad to do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and yeah, reach out to Ansel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but but Michelle, thanks for being on here today. Keep doing the great work you're doing, and um I I and thanks for being again a part of the Common Grounds community and a very valued part.
SPEAKER_02So well, and I want to thank you, as Ryan Clark says, I want to thank you, Ansel, for being polarizing.
SPEAKER_01That Ryan R C Clark. He's he's he's yeah, that still blows my mind that that he uh that was his first time I met with him, he said I think you need to be more polarizing.
SPEAKER_02I had no idea what that meant. I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_01He just uh he just sat there and blew my mind. I just had this, I mean, wow. And uh, but I'm telling you, his he that's one smart dude. Don't tell him I said that, by the way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, he'll he'll hear it. He'll hear it.
SPEAKER_01Anyway, listen, Michelle, thanks so much. Hope you have a great rest of your day, rest of your week. And uh hey, I'll I'll see you, I'll see you soon.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you will. Thank you, sir.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Okay, bye.
SPEAKER_00Thanks again for joining. Joining us on the Common Grounds Podcast, where relationships fuel success. If you would like one of Ansel's books, please go to common grounds3.com. If you'd like to have a coffee chat with Ansel, you can message him on LinkedIn. Our theme music was made by Jasper Redden, and this episode was produced by Jamie Bosenko. Thank you again for joining us, and we'll see you next time.