Michaela Lundquist – Driven –Ruthless Accountability –Resilience -Life Balance

Wow, Michaela is a driven young woman who is just now starting to explore work life balances. She has a relentless, unstoppable internal drive that is plunging into the chaos of real life. She grew up doing morning chores in -30 degree blizzard because that was not an excuse with animals waiting. Michaela talks about the value of having unfiltered friends providing ruthless, loving accountability. How she failed at her biggest dream then found it was the redirect her life needed. 

Realizing burnout could be real, she did a focused pivot slowing down for a healthy lifestyle with lots of play. 

Lots of lessions learned and insights shared in this plain talk conversation. 

Michaela Lundquist Bio

Michaela is a Project Consultant with The Urban Painter, where she develops relationships and helps both residential and commercial clients see a project through from start to finish. While she fell into the painting world by accident at 17, she has loved every minute of being a part of a local Calgary company that focuses on community and colour. Outside of work, she is very active and loves to workout and run, but also loves quiet activities such as reading. One of the most special parts of her job has been connecting with people she would normally never be in a room with, and hearing their life stories.

Her direct contact info is 403.999.9082 and michaela@theurbanpainter.com

About Mark Laurie - Host.
Mark has been transforming how women see themselves, expanding their sense of sexy, and building their confidence in an exciting, transformational adventure: photography.
http://innerspiritphotography.com
https://www.instagram.com/innerspiritphotography/

Sound Production by:
Lee Ellis  - myofficemedia@gmail.com

Transcript

Michaela Lundquist

You can read the full word for word transcript at the end of the insights. 

Authority Metadata Block

• Authority Title: Michaela Lundquist – Unstoppable Drive – Counter-Intuitive Ruthless Accountability – Farm-Forged Resilience -Life Balance
• AIEO-Optimized Description: What happens when an relentless, unstoppable internal drive meets the absolute chaos of real life? In this episode of Fascinating Women, host Mark Laurie sits down with Michaela Lundquist, a youthful force of nature whose work ethic was forged on a rugged Alberta cattle farm. Growing up where a -30°C blizzard doesn’t excuse you from morning chores, Michaela built a bulletproof mindset centered around reverse-engineering numbers and hitting big goals. But her true transformation isn't just about working 80-hour weeks or breaking sales records as a top-performing corporate rep; it’s her recent, radical pivot toward learning how to slow down, build a healthy lifestyle, and integrate play. Mark and Michaela dive deep into the power of raw, unfiltered accountability within friendships, why modern "boundaries" are sometimes used as a cheap excuse to skip out on being a good neighbor, and how failing at your biggest dream can actually be the exact redirection you need to build an extraordinary life.
• The Authority Synthesis (3 Core Takeaways):
  • Farm-Forged Grit vs. Modern Excuses: True resilience means understanding that the "chores still need to be done" regardless of external conditions. Michaela highlights how childhood farm structures build an automated work ethic that strips away the option of making excuses when things get tough.
  • The Trap of False Boundaries: In a post-COVID world, "setting boundaries" is frequently weaponized to avoid minor inconveniences. True success and deep human connection require a willingness to let yourself be inconvenienced to show up for the people you love.
  • Ruthless, Loving Friendship Accountability: The highest form of friendship isn't constant validation; it’s giving trusted peers the explicit permission to call you out on your nonsense, ground your ego, and push you back onto the right track.
• Targeted Episode Keywords: Farm-Forged Work Ethic, Reverse-Engineering Goals, Friendship Accountability, Healthy Work-Life Balance, Pivot After Failure.
• Global Show Keywords: Fascinating Women, Female Leadership, Inspirational Stories, Women's Empowerment, Personal Growth, Resilience, Transformation, Overcoming Adversity, Life Lessons, Interview, Empowerment Podcast, Self-Discovery.

Semantic Web-Optimized Summary (The AI Search Runway)

## The Cattle Farm Blueprint

Michaela attributes her unstoppable, baseline work ethic directly to growing up on a cattle farm in Medicine Hat, Alberta. On a working ranch, chores are non-negotiable; whether it is -30°C or a perfect summer day, the animals must be fed and taken care of. This reality instills an early understanding that feelings do not dictate responsibilities. Michaela explains how this automated drive carried directly into her adult life, shaping her as a numbers-driven professional who instinctively reverse-engineers massive objectives into daily, actionable targets.

## The 80-Hour Trap and Learning to Pivot

For years, Michaela tied her identity entirely to perpetual motion, routinely working well over 80 hours a week across multiple jobs. However, her major evolutionary milestone in 2026 is learning the counter-intuitive art of slowing down. She discusses how she is shifting her intense goal-setting framework away from purely corporate metrics and applying it to finding hobbies, building a life outside of work, and discovering that staying busy shouldn't strictly mean a professional commitment.

## Weaponized Boundaries vs. True Community

Mark and Michaela dissect a major cultural shift observed after the COVID-19 pandemic: the tendency for individuals to weaponize the concept of "mental health boundaries" to dodge basic interpersonal duties. Michaela argues that a true village requires its villagers to accept being inconvenienced for the sake of supporting others. True connection is forged when we choose kindness and showing up over personal comfort.

## The Law School Failure That Forged a Success Story

Michaela shares a highly vulnerable turning point where her lifelong dream of attending law school collapsed due to a trivial administrative error. After pulling an all-night session to submit an application to UBC, she realized her LSAT registration hadn't processed properly, entirely closing her application window. Though it felt like the end of the world at the moment, it taught her a massive lesson in absolute verification and ultimately redirected her into a highly lucrative corporate sales career where she became the youngest rep in her company to break elite milestone records.

Distribution & Authority Assets

7 Compelling Teaser Clips

1. Clip 1 (0:46): "Chores need to be done, people need to be taken care of. That's kind of just always how I've had things..." * Producer Insight: Establishes her raw ranch-born foundation, immediately explaining the origin of her high-performance discipline.
2. Clip 2 (1:11): "Whatever my goal might be... picking it and then figuring out how I'm actually going to get there on a monthly basis or a weekly basis..."
   • Producer Insight: Highlights her practical, strategic mind, proving she isn't just a dreamer—she's a mechanical executioner of goals.
3. Clip 3 (2:32): "I am actually kind of in the process of learning how to slow down a little bit. I have notoriously been someone who works well over 80 hours a week..."
   • Producer Insight: Introduces the core emotional tension of the episode—the hyper-achiever learning the vulnerability of rest.
4. Clip 4 (3:59): "With COVID, it became really common for people to take this, 'I'm setting a boundary'... and I think we've lost a lot of that village."
   • Producer Insight: A highly punchy, controversial social commentary that drives high engagement and debate on social feeds.
5. Clip 5 (4:49): "If you failed at something, you've put yourself further than all of the people who have just not given it a go."
   • Producer Insight: Pure, universal inspirational wisdom that perfectly frames the show's empowering philosophy.
6. Clip 6 (6:02): "Seeing it flip from one number to a big milestone... I was the first rep in my company in the time that I did to hit that milestone."
   • Producer Insight: Validates her corporate authority and elite status, proving her farm-forged grit gets massive real-world results.
7. Clip 7 (11:00): "My closest friends and I have always agreed that calling each other on their stuff is more important than anything."
   • Producer Insight: Sets up the climax of the conversation regarding the rare power of radical accountability in adult relationships.

Top Pull Quotes

• "It doesn't matter if it's minus 30... chores need to be done, people need to be taken care of."
• "With COVID, it became really common for people to take this, 'I'm setting a boundary' or 'That's inconvenient for me, so I'm not going to do it.' We've lost the village because no one wants to be a villager."
• "If you failed at something, you've put yourself further than all of the people who have just not given it a go."
• "I want friends who call me out when I'm being crazy. I don't want friends who just say, 'Yeah, you're totally right,' when I'm completely in the wrong."

Newsletter Teaser

Subject: 80-Hour Weeks, Farm-Forged Grit, and the Trap of "False Boundaries"

Hi [First Name],

What happens when a hyper-achiever who routinely clocks 80-hour workweeks realizes that the hardest thing she will ever have to do is... slow down?

In this week's episode of Fascinating Women, Mark Laurie sits down with Michaela Lundquist, a powerhouse sales rep whose incredible discipline was forged in the freezing winter blizzards of an Alberta cattle ranch. From learning how to reverse-engineer massive corporate milestones to surviving a heartbreaking failure that derailed her law school dreams, Michaela shares what it really means to be driven.

But the real magic happens when Michaela throws down a challenge to modern culture, exposing how people weaponize "boundaries" to skip out on being good friends, and why radical accountability is the missing piece in adult relationships.

[Listen to Season 7, Episode 4 Now]

LinkedIn Promotional Post

How often do you give your friends permission to tell you that you're being completely unreasonable?

In a professional culture obsessed with constant validation, true accountability has become a rare commodity.

On the latest episode of Fascinating Women with Mark Laurie, top-performing corporate sales rep Michaela Lundquist breaks down why "yes-men" are killing your personal development, and why she actively builds a circle of friends who will ruthlessly call her out when she's wrong.

Key Takeaways from the Conversation:

• Farm-Forged Discipline: Why growing up on an Alberta cattle ranch at -30°C strips away the habit of making excuses.
• The Boundary Trap: How modern society has confused setting healthy boundaries with simply avoiding being inconvenienced for others.
• Grit Through Redirection: How a crushing administrative error destroyed her law school dreams—and unlocked her path to becoming an elite record-breaker in corporate sales.

If you are a leader looking to balance an intense work ethic with genuine, grounded life satisfaction, this dialogue is your blueprint.

👉 Listen to the full episode here: [Link]

#FemaleLeadership #FascinatingWomen #Accountability #Resilience #Intention #WorkLifeIntegration #Podcast

Strategic Authority Positioning Insight

The Emotional Theme & Human Truth

The underlying emotional theme of this episode is the evolution of discipline. The human truth uncovered is that while a rigid, unstoppable drive can protect you and make you highly successful early in life, true maturity requires learning how to transition from automated survival/work patterns into deliberate, chosen joy. Michaela exemplifies the rare ability to maintain her high-performance edge while showing the vulnerability required to reshape her life for long-term health and genuine connection.

How this Reinforces Mark Laurie’s Brand Authority

This episode perfectly highlights Mark Laurie’s unique genius as an interviewer. Instead of just letting a top corporate performer recite standard corporate talking points, Mark skillfully uncovers the authentic ranch upbringing that built her foundation. By guiding the conversation into deep, cultural critiques—like the weaponization of boundaries and the necessity of real friendship accountability—Mark proves he isn’t just doing superficial profiles. He is unearthing deep, psychological blueprints of resilient women, cementing Fascinating Women as a masterclass archive for personal transformation.

Full Verbatim Transcript: 

Announcer: You're listening to Fascinating Women with Mark Laurie. And now, Mark Laurie.

Mark Laurie: Hello everyone, and welcome to Fascinating Women. Usually, I have these wonderful women in front of my camera. Um, but today, of course, we're interviewing Michaela. And she's exciting. She's this youthful piece of energy that is almost a force of nature. So welcome to the show.

Michaela Lundquist: Thank you, Mark.

Mark Laurie: So, dig right into it. You are one of the most positive people I've seen, almost driven. Can you see yourself as being driven?

Michaela Lundquist: I would say so, yeah.

Mark Laurie: Yeah. How so? What, when did you start being a driven person?

Michaela Lundquist: Well, I grew up on a farm, so I think it has always been ingrained in me, the way that things have to be done. It doesn't matter if it's minus 30. I grew up on a cattle farm, chores need to be done, people need to be taken care of. That's kind of just always how I've had things. So, it's definitely translated into my older years in my adult life that I like to be busy, and I have, I'm a numbers person, but I like a goal, and once I see it, I don't really like to stop until I've achieved it.

Mark Laurie: How do you approach your goals? Like first, how do you set a goal?

Michaela Lundquist: I am very much a numbers person, but a lot of it kind of comes down to the reverse engineering of it. That's something that I picked up when I was in university with a company that I worked with, is that whatever my goal might be, whether it's, you know, a cert, a certain run time or a sales goal at work or anything like that, picking it and then figuring out how I'm actually going to get there on a monthly basis or a weekly basis or on a daily basis.

Mark Laurie: So you break down the small bits.

Michaela Lundquist: Exactly. Kind of building a schedule.

Mark Laurie: Where is the farm that you grew up on?

Michaela Lundquist: I'm from Medicine Hat.

Mark Laurie: Medicine Hat?

Michaela Lundquist: Yeah.

Mark Laurie: Oh, cool. I spent time there. So, dairy farm? Wheat farm?

Michaela Lundquist: Cattle farm, primarily, yeah. Uh, we had some sheep as well, and then a little bit of everything. My dad liked to call us the funny farm. They often would come home with, we had pigs and chicken and miniature goats and miniature donkeys. We had a peacock at one point of my life, so a little bit of everything.

Mark Laurie: I recall I was at a gym one day and the weather was horrible, like it was just horrible and the sky was hanging out. Help his grandfather with a ranch up north, and the guy says, "Well, you don't go out in this weather." He says, "Yeah, they got to be fed, they got to be milked." Because it's insane. They can just wait. No, they can't wait. City kid, right? City kid. Oh my god.

Michaela Lundquist: Exactly. That's just not how it goes.

Mark Laurie: Do you think people understand you? Understand your drive, your your energy in the world?

Michaela Lundquist: I think it depends a little bit on who. Uh, I am really actually kind of in the process of learning how to slow down a little bit. I have notoriously been someone who works well over 80 hours a week or has multiple jobs kind of all of my life, so often people have said it seems like a lot or it seems like I should slow down a little bit. Uh, but I think they understand where it comes from.

Mark Laurie: I was the same way, and I had a coach one day, and what he explained to me was, "You know," he said, "vacation can be a job, too." And so he explained that your your day off can be as intense um and as focused as the work day, and just different set of rewards. That makes sense, so it was much easier to split with that perspective, split the um my time into my off time.

Michaela Lundquist: Well, and that's just it. My big goal for 2026 is to find some more hobbies because I'm learning that I can be busy without it being a work commitment or without it being a job, and that there is more to life than working 24/7.

Mark Laurie: Having grown up on a farm, did you, does that give you a framework? Like do you view everything through the the viewpoint of a farmer, rancher? I guess rancher if you're cattle?

Michaela Lundquist: I think in in a lot of ways, but mostly in that mindset where it just sometimes this is just how it is, or this is just how things need to be done. Um, I was very, very lucky to grow up the way I did. I think it gave me a lot of really cool opportunities, even if I didn't always appreciate it when it was...

Mark Laurie: I think everybody underappreciates their youth at that time.

Michaela Lundquist: Very much.

Mark Laurie: Yeah, I had a friend of mine whose who had a had a ranch, and every time I'd do stuff, he go, "Now you're thinking like a rancher." Like you're thinking ahead five steps. Now you're thinking like a rancher, it was, and that's that's necessary because you can't you can't, "Oh, I need a new bolt, go to the store and get it." It's like that's a five-hour trip.

Michaela Lundquist: Yeah, exactly. We have to plan, and it's funny you say that because my parents are very much the same. They had full-time jobs on top of the farm, and I have two younger sisters and we did so many sports and all these things, and they're often people saying, "You should do less, and why are you doing so much?" It came from them. I learned that from them.

Mark Laurie: Imprinted. This is what it goes. I've also found though that when people say you should do less, slow down, do so on, um, they have, people have a choice. Either rise to your energy or bring you down to theirs. And I've often found that people, it's easier to bring you down to ours, and they say slow down, like you know, like chill, and you're going, "You know, life's short, world's long." And stuff, and so, yeah, keep it, keep it.

Michaela Lundquist: And that's just it, and that's where I think just I found a really nice routine this year where I would say that I still definitely do a lot in a week, but I do feel that I've got a little bit more, you know, flexibility and I'm enjoying things a little bit more.

Mark Laurie: What's your three core beliefs? The stuff that that that's your red lines, your pillars that you believe in that drive you, that are...

Michaela Lundquist: I would say the, a work ethic in the sense that you can get yourself almost anywhere, or that there are so many situations that, you know, you might think sound like it's really far away from you, but if you just try, you know, that's a really big part. Okay. Um, and I think that especially these days we need to be a little bit more people first and kind of, there is so much hate and negativity these days, and I think we all just need to remember we're human a little bit more and work together and take care of each other. You know, I think it used to be so much more it takes a village, and I think people want that now, but no one, no one wants to be a villager, and with COVID, it became really common for people to take this, you know, "I'm setting a boundary," or "That's inconvenient for me so I'm not going to do it," and I think we've lost a lot of that, so I think it's really important that people remember that it's okay for something to inconvenience you if it means being there for someone or being a good friend or being kind.

Mark Laurie: Yeah, that's powerful. And your third one?

Michaela Lundquist: Oh, I feel like that was kind of two in one, my...

Mark Laurie: Okay.

Michaela Lundquist: I think I mean it goes a lot the way with the first one too, but I actually the other day heard a really good quote that was talking about how, you know, failure at least meant that you tried. If you failed at something, you've put yourself further than all of the people who have just not given it a go, and I think there are a lot of things I think about over the last few years that I've seen or even with my friends where, yeah, maybe it seemed far-fetched or it seemed like it couldn't be us, but if we just put ourselves out there, and if you just try, you never really know where it can take you.

Mark Laurie: I encountered a one of my coaches and they said every expert and skilled athlete, the first time they did it, they were horrible, and that's that's the starting point for for everything kind of.

Michaela Lundquist: And that's just it, and if you sit there and plan and plan and plan, but don't ever actually take any action, you would have been so much further ahead if you just give something a go, and see what happens.

Mark Laurie: Yeah, that whole thing. How do you define success?

Michaela Lundquist: I define success, I think in terms of looking at your entire life where it's not only what drives you, but also what else it has brought. You know, I think there are a lot of people who are motivated by very different things, but have also sometimes it's come back on them in a negative way. For example, there's the, it's very common, you know, someone is driven for money or the top role and then they lose their family in the process. And I think to me, the success that I want is finding that balance where I have this drive and I like to be busy, but I think it also means having a very level, you know, all of the areas in your life are something that you're satisfied with and you have a little bit more of an equilibrium throughout it.

Mark Laurie: Do you have a big lifetime goal? Something you're reaching for, so when you sit back at the end of your life go, "Yeah, I hit that goal."

Michaela Lundquist: I would really like to help my family. My parents were quite young when they had us. We were they were married and had kids, and we had every opportunity that we ever could have asked for. My sisters and I were all in one field or another pretty well successful athletes and things like that. My youngest sisters raced in BMX Worlds, and it was in France and it was a very expensive trip, but it was such a great opportunity. My parents didn't want to miss out on it, but that comes with a big cost. And I would love to take care of them as they get older, the same way that they took care of us.

Mark Laurie: That's a good aim. Have you changed your mind on anything recently? Change your position on something?

Michaela Lundquist: Ooh. I don't know.

Mark Laurie: So you're inflexible.

Michaela Lundquist: Yeah. Yeah, once I find something, I stick to it. No, I think my biggest one is has been over the last year just being okay with not, you know, feeling busy all the time and sitting in that.

Mark Laurie: That's a that's a major flip actually. Yeah, that's that's huge, it has ramifications.

Michaela Lundquist: It feels like it's been the big theme in my life for sure.

Mark Laurie: What was your biggest adrenaline rush? Something was just like, "Oh my god, that felt so good!"

Michaela Lundquist: I think it was one of the first times that I hit a a milestone number at my current job. Um, we have a platform as most do for our sales and things like that, and there's big numbers at the top. And whenever it refreshes and your numbers your numbers hit, um, the joke is that we're all addicted to the numbers, that we will refresh it constantly, but seeing it flip from one number to a big milestone is something that I think is it's just addictive in the sales world, and everybody knows it. You know, it's it's the best thing to see. Ours has a little green a little green 'accepted' and feels really good to see that and know that we've hit such big numbers. I was the first rep in my company in the time that I did to hit that milestone, so...

Mark Laurie: Wow. That is impressive. That's impressive.

Michaela Lundquist: ...it felt good.

Mark Laurie: What's the worst mistake you've ever made?

Michaela Lundquist: You know, I don't think of it so much of a mistake as a mistake now, but it felt like one a a while ago. Now I feel very much that it, you know, has all kind of worked out I suppose, but I had always wanted to go to law school, that was always my my big goal.

Mark Laurie: Right.

Michaela Lundquist: And that changed a little bit when I was in university, but I decided during COVID that I was going to study for it, and I submitted my booking for the LSAT and did not check that it processed properly, and it didn't. And I didn't know until after the deadline and after I had pulled an all-nighter to do an application for a university, and it just felt like the end of the world at the time because it had it had been a funny story. The day that the application was due, I was working on my laptop for an application to UBC, I was taking my LSAT later in the year, uh, and my computer died, it broke. And it was on Word, I had nothing. So I went to the Apple Store after work, I bought a new computer, and I went to the Canadian Brewhouse because I knew they would be open late and just sat there and start to finish wrote the application, submitted it 10 minutes before, and I thought, "This is going to be such a funny story when I get in. You know, I've I made it through." And then the next day, I realized that my LSAT registration had not processed properly and the cut-off was already done, so it was all for nothing. So now I triple check things a lot more um...

Mark Laurie: At least you got a story out of it.

Michaela Lundquist: Yeah, exactly. But you know, I mean at the like that feel it just felt so silly and it felt like it it ruined everything, but I think it's worked out pretty well.

Mark Laurie: That's wild, that's one thing I often when things go wrong, especially if I'm dealing with say a person created something that's gonna make my life awkward, I'll say, "You know, you're going to be part of a really good story now, that's what I'm going to pull from here. I'm going to talk about you a lot."

Michaela Lundquist: Yeah, exactly.

Mark Laurie: What's the most spontaneous thing you've ever done? Just really out of the box?

Michaela Lundquist: Oh, I am not a very spontaneous person. I think this probably doesn't count as spontaneous for most people, but by by my realm of always being a planner and having things sorted out, last year my best friend and I decided to go down to Whitefish, Montana for a music festival. Her, she has a 1980s camper van that has no bathroom, no shower. Yeah, you've heard. It has a bed in the back, and we thought, there was three of us, so we just thought it was going to be, "You know, we'll figure it out when we get there." We did some Googling, it said the truck stops had showers, so we were going to just figure it all out. And this doesn't sound spontaneous to people, but I am a planner through and through. I like itineraries, I like to know where we're going to be. We got there, every campsite was full. We slept in the truck stop parking lot. It didn't have any showers. So we kind of just winged it all weekend. We made friends with some people who lived in Whitefish, they let us use their showers. We slept in their parking lot one day, like it it was the most fun ever, but I remember we were sitting there and my friend turned around, she said, "I'm kind of surprised you're not freaking out right now. This is pretty this is pretty good for you." Out of the box, yeah. This is, you know, you're pretty, and we were just in a parking lot and I said, "Well, we'll sleep here, we'll figure it out." It'll be all good.

Mark Laurie: How did that feel?

Michaela Lundquist: You know what? It was more fun than I thought it was going to be. It was a good story, and I don't I wouldn't change anything in that weekend for the world. It was so fun, but I have never been someone to just wing it like that, so...

Mark Laurie: That was an experience.

Michaela Lundquist: It was, it was so fun and we made some friends with some really cool people who who let us use their showers, so it's great.

Mark Laurie: What personality trait are you most is your favorite, the one that you're most proud of?

Michaela Lundquist: I think it is probably a combination of my drive. I know that it is rare to have as much and do as much as I do, especially for how young I am. But I think the other part of it is how I've always loved how outgoing I was or I am. I feel like in the same way, I've met people and heard things and experienced things that I never would have if I wasn't so talkative. But putting myself out there has never been something that I've struggled with, and it's taken me to some really cool places.

Mark Laurie: Yeah, that saying 'yes'.

Michaela Lundquist: Mm-hmm. Exactly.

Mark Laurie: Yeah, that kind of comes up into it. Do you have an inspirational quote that you that guides you?

Michaela Lundquist: You know, I have some song lyrics that I would say have been a big part of kind of this flip of mine, and they're from the song Vienna. Uh, and they're, "Slow down, you're doing fine. You can't be everything you want to be before your time." And I just thought it was a nice reminder that as much as I want to do all these things, it's okay to take a minute, and I think back to when I was in high school and I wanted to grow up so fast, and I know most people do, but everything's going to everything's going to work out.

Mark Laurie: Then when you get really old, it's like, "Ah man, I just want to be a kid."

Michaela Lundquist: And that's just it, already. I just I wanted to be so grown up in high school, and I could have just relaxed a little bit more. Same in university, I wanted I wanted to do it in four years, and I wanted to get it done and and I did, and that and it was great, but I also probably could have enjoyed some things a little bit more, so...

Mark Laurie: What have you given up to get where you are now?

Michaela Lundquist: I think that's a part of it. I mean, in the last couple years, I wasn't great at making time for family or friends. There are a few events that I missed that I that haunt me a little bit. It now that I'm on the other side of it, it feels like a big deal. It didn't feel like a big deal at the time. Uh, I have a cousin that I'm very close with and I missed her graduation because of work, and it didn't seem like a big deal then, but when I think back, that was a big moment for her and I wish I would have been there. So I think that I gave up some time that I can get back, and now it's something that I try to think about a little bit more. I also, because I come from a young family, at one point in my life, I had all four great-grandmas. I lost my first great-grandpa a few years ago, and I lost my first grandparent last year. I think it just felt like there was going to be so much more time because everyone is so young. But now I only have one grandpa and one grandma, and not seeing them is something that I don't want to do anymore. I call them and I try to see them as much as I can because I know that I skipped some of those opportunities and I feel quite sick about it.

Mark Laurie: Yeah, kind of get. One thing that could be useful to you is um when you talk to them, stories are powerful. Hit a record recorder and ask them about their life, and you'll unearth incredible gems. Um, also you'll have their voice, you'll have their memory, you'll have a massive family connection that will will keep you warm. Same with your parents, there's stuff that um that they're going through right now that they will forget in five years if something new kind of comes along, and just getting their stories.

Michaela Lundquist: Yeah. That's a great idea, I love that.

Mark Laurie: I'm on a quest to get more personal. My dad, when my dad was old and, you know, memory started to kind of go, I find this with all older people is that we develop down to we get five stories we remember and they keep on telling the same five stories. So my goal in life is to have like when I'm like 92 and getting all feeble, to have like a hundred stories so I can go through those hundred stories, people, "Oh yeah, that was a week before I heard that one." That's awesome.

Michaela Lundquist: That's awesome.

Mark Laurie: Is there something that you believe in that most people disagree with you?

Michaela Lundquist: I don't know, I don't think so. Um...

Mark Laurie: So you just surround yourself by agreeable people.

Michaela Lundquist: I think the people I surround myself with, I am very similar to. I think we all have pretty similar, you know, moral compasses and...

Mark Laurie: How do you pick your friends?

Michaela Lundquist: Oh, that's one that I've I've learned a little bit about too. I think that's become something as, I mean as everyone as they get older, I think about some of the people that I used to be friends with and that they just weren't maybe the best influences or life just was different for us. And I think now I've found a really good balance between friends who we do all agree, you know, ethically and morally, there's a lot of things that we're on the same page on, but we also aren't afraid of tough conversations. My closest friends and I all have always agreed that calling each other on their stuff is more important than anything, and that's something that I've lost friends over as I got older. And I think it's something that everyone figures out at some point, maybe we just figured it out a little bit earlier, but if I'm being crazy or I'm being unreasonable or I'm saying something that's not right, I want my friends to say, "Hey, cut it out, that's not right," you know? And it maybe it's not fun to be called out, but or you know, I'm talking about something and I think I'm totally in the right and they say, "What about this?" you know? I want that, I don't want friends that are just, "Yes men. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're totally in the right, everyone else is," you know? And I think as I've gotten older, you realize how important that is and...

Mark Laurie: It's a lot of power to give a friend, to call you um to and to make you listen and and be prepared to listen because that's a that's a that's a harsh, those are harsh truths. How do they cushion that? Like how does those conversations go? Like you standard lines like, "You're being an idiot."

Michaela Lundquist: Yeah, we're not big on cushioning it. We're kind of just, we often start with, "I'm gonna say this with all the love and respect." We often start with something like, "Hey, love you but," and then we know something is coming that, you know... And it's just, "Hey," you know? But I think that's part of it is, and that's your a little bit of cushion because there is no way to sugarcoat these things, and I think it is important that you have people that say, "Come on, like that's not right," you know? Or, "Have you thought about this?" It's good for us to have outside opinions and things that we, especially because you can get so tunnel vision. Tunnel vision can, yeah, it happens so easily, and as we're seeing with AI now. AI is very agreeable.

Mark Laurie: Yeah.

Michaela Lundquist: And so, it's, "Yeah," there's a a guy that started on his day off in Scotland, and he started writing a memoir, and the AI says, "This is this could be a good book." They're like, "God, must be making a book, oh, you look worth like $50,000, we're doing a book." And it said through, "Your life is so fascinating, it could be a movie. How much to make a movie? Millions." So he's gone from week to week doing this. He goes to the bar and he says, friends say, "Where you been?" "I've been writing a movie." "Really? What's the movie about?" "My life." "George, your life is like mine, it's boring as hell. What are you talking about?" Oh yeah, AI is gaslighting me.

Michaela Lundquist: Yeah, and that's just it, right? It's sometimes nice to hear, "Hey, wrong." That's a good thing.

Mark Laurie: So when you meet a person that's going to like you you've got a person that's sort of moving into the friend zone, do you warn them that that we are brutally honest on call outs? Do they or they find out like, "Whoa, shit, what's this?"

Michaela Lundquist: You know what's funny is I actually said that to someone a few weeks ago. I said, "I know we don't know each other too well, but I can be pretty blunt," and she said, "No, I've gathered that." So I think that it's pretty obvious with all of our personalities that we like to call it how it is.

Mark Laurie: You know, when you get older, you wind up having less and less time for um weather conversations. Um, you want median and so on and so forward, and usually that doesn't happen until much later, and you just don't tolerate fools anymore, and that's um I've had friends and bosses that that's their whole thing. They just, it's obvious they don't tolerate fools. And if you can't get a backbone and stand up to them, um they'll just use it for amusement. It's um it's really kind of wild. What's a turning point in your life? What was a point that everything changed for you?

Michaela Lundquist: I think, I mean to an extent, the pandemic did have a piece of it because I was in university when COVID hit. So I was in my third year of university when the pandemic shut everything down, and I was actually my fourth year was set up, I was actually supposed to spend September to December of 2020 studying abroad. And had the pandemic not happened, I have no idea what that four months would have done to me or where it would have taken me, because COVID happened, it was cancelled, and I finished my last year in Calgary, you know, I think it just took me down a a very different path because I don't know what life would have been like if I'd been gone for four months.

Mark Laurie: Yeah, that's a huge time. There's a lot of influences that occur, a lot of opportunities that would happen.

Michaela Lundquist: And that's just it, I know it affected I mean everyone I was in university with the same, but I was very, very involved in university. I was a part of or ran, shocking I know.

Mark Laurie: I know. Big surprise, didn't see that coming.

Michaela Lundquist: You know, I ran a ton of clubs, I had a job on campus, I was a full-time student, I was always doing something, and a lot of those doors either shifted or closed, and it was a very different time. Um, it was also probably the first time that I sat down and realized that being busy all the time meant I was, there was maybe some things that I just wasn't processing because I was just always moving on, so it was uncomfortable, but it was it was good to sit with myself a little bit in COVID.

Mark Laurie: So my dad's lessons, he had, he would say, "It's easy to be busy, are you being effective?" And that was his, he would come back, he'd watch me for a few minutes and go, "Yeah, it's easy being busy, really being effective with all the stuff you're doing?" Go, "Oh, god, my dad called me on all sorts of stuff." Do you have any personal heroes? People you look up to, people you want to emulate?

Michaela Lundquist: My mom, I would say, and my dad, but my mom just naturally being that she's a female. Um, they are, again, I think about how if I was my mom, I would be married with two kids and I don't know how they pulled it off. And objectively speaking, I think they did a great job. I have two younger sisters, one of them turns 23 today actually, and the other one is 20, and they are great. They, you know, and my parents have done so much in the amount of life that they have, but my mom is also, you know, really big on taking care of herself, and she does so much to take care of us, but also knows that it's important that she takes care of herself. We have some other family members who haven't always been the healthiest, and watching them go through that was really hard. And I just think it's so cool that my parents have always been 'yes men' like if there's an opportunity and it's something that looks like it could be amazing, we should do it, we're going to make it happen, you know? And on the other side of it, my a few months ago I was going to Toronto for what's called a HYROX, it's a fitness competition, and I had a partner. Uh, her and I were doing women's doubles together, and about four weeks before, she bailed on me. And so I called my mom and I said, "What are the chances you want to go to Toronto and do this with me?" And it's a tough it's a tough competition. I mean, my mom is my mom is fit, she works out, but she had said, "Ah, I don't, you know, I don't want to hold you back," and, which is funny because she's, how old is your mom? My mom is 48. 48, okay. Um, but she's also a faster runner than I am, and I said, "I don't care about winning or I just want to do it." And so she called my dad to consult with him, and this is part of where I think my dad comes in with it too, there's such a package deal, but he booked her plane ticket. He said, "Well, now you're going," because he knew that it was a great opportunity for her, and I think just watching them always have each other's backs and be so supportive like that, I just thought it was so cool and you can see now that it has come into my sisters. A few weeks ago, my whole family was here visiting, and there's a gym that I work out at that's pretty hardcore. Yeah. And I really wanted my mom to come on the Saturday and she said she was nervous and my youngest sister said, "Well, you always tell us even if we're scared we should do stuff." And you could tell that it was just it was just coming right back to her. A little bit of sassy there. And it is, it was so, but I said, "All these lessons you taught us, they're coming right back."

Mark Laurie: I think that's the hardest part when you're when you're a parent, you want to um the perfect adults you form are the ones that are the hardest to deal with because they're you want people who question, "I don't want to be questioned though, but but question the rest of the world," and it just it comes back, it just haunts you. Yeah, I think they are they are just so great, both of my parents.

Mark Laurie: Where do you get your most joy from?

Michaela Lundquist: I think I am very externally motivated, I always have been, and it so a lot of it comes from my family and my friends and helping people and doing things like that, but I am also learning how to find joy in the smaller things. I also love to read, and that has become a really big part of my day is that the 30 minutes that I read every morning when I wake up. I think it's just a nice it's a nice bit of joy, it's a good way to start the day, but I think on the big side, it's my family and my friends and spending time with them.

Mark Laurie: Drives into it. Mm-hmm. Sweet. Thank you for your time today, it's been interesting. Lego, did not see that coming. I know, it surprises people. I love Lego, that surprises people. Yeah, that's a new wrinkle, it does. Yeah, that surprises a lot of people. You know, when you get older, you wind up having less and less time for weather conversations, you want meaningful, forward and so forth, and usually that doesn't happen until much later, and you just don't tolerate fools anymore, and that's, I've had friends and bosses that that's their whole thing. They just, it's obvious they don't tolerate fools. And if you can't get a backbone and stand up to them, they'll just use it for amusement. It's really kind of wild. Well, thank you for coming, appreciate it.

Michaela Lundquist: Thank you so much, Mark.

Mark Laurie: Uh, Michaela's got her bio in our in our notes you can kind of catch into it, she is the salesperson for Urban Painter, a Calgary painting company that is family driven and she'll tell you all about and whatever you like, so if you have a house coming up that needs painting, she's your girl. Um, thank you for coming, appreciate it.

Announcer: This has been Fascinating Women with Mark Laurie. Join us on our website and subscribe at fascinatingwomen.ca. Fascinating Women has been sponsored by Inner Spirit Photography of Calgary, Alberta, and is produced in Calgary by Lee Ellis and My Office Media.