Jacqlyn Burnett - Redefining The Implementation of Happiness

Welcome back to the Casey Adams Show. Today I am joined by somebody very, very special. My beautiful fiance, Jacqueline Burnett, and the incredible author of her new book, Happiness Habitat. Jaclyn, thanks so much for coming on the show.

This is very exciting being here. This is the first time we've done a podcast since, what, 2018? 2019.

Yeah.

So long ago. And I'm so. We have a lot to catch up on.

We do. I mean, for everyone listening or watching, we just got engaged about a month ago. You know, I share the ring, you know, and it's been incredible because I not only love you so much, but our journey and our relationship professionally, from working together and our origin story and our relationship is such a beautiful thing. And it's so unique that you get to sit down in this context and have a conversation about it publicly. I feel like we haven't really ever been done not only an interview, but went in depth on our relationship. And I'm just excited for this interview, excited for this conversation, and most importantly, excited for the new book that you're putting out, Happiness Habitat. And for those that are just tuning in, getting into this episode, you have a new book that's coming out October 9th, Happiness Habitat. Before we dive into all the good stuff that I'm excited to talk about, what is this book and why did you decide to write a book?

Yeah, well, book Happiness Habitat, optimize your opportunity zone. For me, it's been such a powerful state of happiness. When I'm in happiness, that state, it's almost like a superpower. And in the book, I talk about all the ways you can optimize each area of your life so you can really create your own, what I like to call your personal happiness habitat. So I have doctors, CEOs, experts in their field, contributing their best practices so you can actually apply those tools. So we have a chapter on communication best practices for that. We have.

That's actually. I'm in that book. Communication chapter.

That's right. You're a phenomenal communicator. We have a chapter on mindset, food and just all the things that go from inside to outside.

I love it. And as your partner, like, seeing the amount of action effort you've put into this book. I mean, you started writing this. And for context for everyone, We've been dating since May 2020. We got engaged about a month ago. And throughout our entire relationship, I've seen the effort put into this book. I remember during COVID when I was living in Arizona still, we were FaceTiming. You were working on this book and to see it manifest into the physical form. I remember when we were in Michigan couple months ago, and we got the first proof of it. I was not only so excited for you, but it's just so incredible to see your partner and you in this context, create something that you've put so much effort into. And I'm just beyond excited for it, you know, and. Yeah, well, it's just really cool to see.

My goal with this book is I genuinely want to empower others. To empower others to be happy. I think that when you are in the state of happiness, all of these obstacles that you have in your life become mere illusions, which is so powerful to say and experience. And so this book is accumulation of the past 10 years of my life's work, personally and in business. You know, I've been the COO of a company such as Media Kits.

Yeah, you're. For anyone that doesn't know, Jacqueline was the COO of Mediakits, the tech company that I founded with my. One of my best friends, Kieran. And I mean, that's a whole conversation we can get into of, like, working with your partner, which we should. But no, your background. And even before we go there, like, your background in the working professional field, like, I think it's important for us to give context to how we met. Right. I feel like so many people would want to know that, and I think.

It has to do with their career.

And it has to do with both of our careers. So, you know, we. I'll give my pov, then I'll hand it off to you. Like, we've been in the same circles.

Yep.

For years now you're working under Dan Fleischman, which I'll let you talk more about, and your cousin David Meltzer. And I remember one of the first time we met, like, we just started organically becoming friends. And for people that aren't aware, we were best friends for almost a year before we started dating.

Oh, yeah.

And that's when I was living in Arizona. I was coming out to LA pretty much every month to do podcast interviews, and we just organically started hanging out. And then one time I was about to book a hotel, and you said, oh, just like, come crash on my couch.

Let me save you some money. And I think what's important to note here is we were genuine best friends. Like, there was no other motive. It was, how can I best support this epic human? And vice versa. That was it. And so I wanted to see you succeed just as much as you wanted to see me Succeed.

Yeah. And it speaks to just your aura of happiness. And a question I want to ask is, what does happiness even mean to you? Right. I remember when we first started to really know each other, I would always leave, let's say I, you know, we grabbed dinner or whatever it may be. I left you, and I'm like, how is Jacqueline so happy? Like, this aura that you carry in your life, I think it's so prevalent and everyone that's friends with you and family knows this about you, of how you carry this just sense of pure joy and happiness.

Yeah.

Where does this come from?

Well, first I want to say happiness to me is being grateful for the present moment, because that means you're in the present moment, and that is the only period of time that you can actually exist the present. So I got, I guess I started understanding my powerful energy of happiness, I guess you could put it that way. From a young age, I had parents who both my mom Beverly and dad Mark, you know, they nurtured this. This environment for me that allowed me to be my most creative self, learned lessons learned, all about food. And food, by the way, is extremely important to your mindset and your mentality, your brain, your actual physical health of your brain is extremely important. So I nurtured all these things, and that's kind of helped me grow into what I am today. From there, I've continued to only surround myself around like minded individuals. And you are who you attract. Right. Like they always say, you are the five people that you surround yourself around. And that's true.

Yep.

And if you want to continue to elevate, get in the rooms and the circles of the people that you want to become. So happiness for me, yes, it stemmed from a young age, but it's been continuing. The building of that is because of me and the building blocks that I layer on. Right. Like we, we. We are together, we live together. You see my every single day of. I optimize each area of my life. That's what the book is about, optimize each area of your life inside and out.

Yeah, you optimize my life. You optimize your life and like, seeing it firsthand from the way you eat and how clean you are, which we'll get into. To me saying the word like and you calling me out on it every single day, because I every time continue to say that in my life. And I know it's all out of love because, you know, you want the people around you to be better.

Oh, yeah.

And I think that not only is a part of what is your opportunity zone. But how do you optimize yourself, but also the people around you to elevate together? And now from becoming like best friends with so many of your friends over the years, it's. It's incredible to see those who you've associated with all of your life and how I've gotten to get to be so close with them. And it just speaks to who you are and your background. Growing up in Michigan. I want to talk about that. You moved to California right out of college. What inspired this move for you early on in your career? Right? Like, you come from a beautiful place in Michigan and you made the jump to California, as did I. Right. Like, I graduated high school, moved out to Arizona. Now we've been living together in. At Los Angeles for three years. What inspired the move to California? And yeah, like, where did that drive for wanting more out of life and just the exploratory behavior come from in your life?

I think I've always known, at least since college, freshman year, I always wanted to go explore and leave Michigan for at least a little bit.

When, when did that thought really hit you? I know for me it was like, I had a dream of moving to Los Angeles. Like, when was that for you?

Sophomore year. Sophomore year of college, freshman year, I got 4.0. The whole year got into honors college, and I'm like, let me just keep it going. I was doing. I was the president of a few clubs, I was acting in a few different shows. I did everything I possibly could. So already I'm like, I want to get after it. I want to keep going. There's so much in life that you can create and be a part of and contribute. Let me go explore. So I reached out to my cousin, David Meltzer, and he's like, you can interview for an internship. Got the, got the internship, came out to Los Angeles my junior year, and I fell in love with California. And also speaking upon those people that you surround yourself around, my cousin David Meltzer, he's a phenomenal entrepreneur, motivational speaker, human in general. He's just a. The epitome of what's an asset to the planet. And we all love Dave and being, being in that, in those rooms with Dave, being a part of those meetings that I would sit on, going to all the different business trips and experiences. I'm like, this is where I'm going to live. This is where I'm going to be. Not to say I don't love Michigan. I'm. I'm a pure Michigan, you know, I Love Michigan. I'm a pure Michigan girl. All right.

Yeah, we go back every summer.

Oh, yeah.

It's in winter.

It's the best time.

Yeah.

But I think for now, it's really important for me to continue to explore and to build with what I have. And there's so much here in California, and you can make that anywhere. Okay.

Yeah.

But I know, at least from what I built for myself, this is. This is home right now.

Yeah. I love it. So you moved to California. You're working for Dave Meltzer. For those that don't know Dave, if you don't, you got to know Dave. Incredible entrepreneur, sports marketing. When you were working for Dave, what did you learn from him? And, you know, I feel that a lot of some of the thoughts even that I live by are stem from how he thinks and the content that he puts out. How has Dave inspired you over the years? And what did you learn from working there?

So I'll say four things right now. From day one, he's instilled four principles in all of his team members. Gratitude, empathy, effective communication, and accountability. The fact that I can still remember those things after almost 10 years. And by the way, fingers crossed, I hope I got those right. I'm pretty sure I did. Dave, we got a fact checker, but everyone that works at Sportswear Marketing or under David Meltzer, they all know what those first four principles are. And those are principles that he instilled into everyone. Now, how powerful is that to go into a workplace and to have the opportunity to. To experience personal development? Because your personal life and your business life are extremely co Existing.

Yeah.

You live in symbiosis with everything. Okay.

Absolutely.

So from just day one of working under Dave and working with all these other beautiful young adults who are growing to the. Into the same mission of, you know, how can I be an asset to others? You know, and just being asset to this world, it's really cool, the conversations that you end up having.

Couldn't agree more.

Oh, yeah.

So I've been asked many times from other entrepreneurs, you know, how do you work with your partner? How has that experience been for you? And early days of media kits, you know, talking to Kieran about, hey, let's hire Jacqueline, let's bring around a coo. Yes, I absolutely wanted to do that, but I was also, I don't want to say afraid, but it's just making that jump to work alongside your partner and having them be in the trenches of your business with you is not only scary, but it's something that once you do, you're gonna have to have some hard conversations. Whether that's potentially firing them or moving positions or just growing with them or, you know, all these different things that can come about over the years of doing that. I've learned to love it and we've done it so well, in my opinion. When we were running media kits prior to getting acquired, and I wanna ask you, like, what was it like not only working with me as your partner, but working with your partner and managing that as what I like to call a boss babe, and understanding all the things you do in business, like, how was that from your perspective and how do you. Again, what's your perspective on that for other couples out there that might be considering working with your partner as the woman in the relationship?

Well, first of all, it has to be something that you want to do. I've always known, my whole life, I've always wanted to work with my partner. I think it's really incredible and powerful when you can decide, I not only want to take this amazing relationship that we have in our personal life and bring it to business, because if you get along really, really well and you know what assets each other have and how you can play into that, oh, it's going to be amazing. And that's what we did. But here's the thing. You have to be qualified.

Yep.

If you're a high performing human, you have to both be qualified in the area of which you're going to perform. So for myself, when I was the COO of Media kits, well, what was my prior history? I proved my. With my track record, I proved myself. And I also prove myself to Kieran, of course, because that's your best friend. That's someone that's. As he should be.

Yeah.

Should be. Yeah. Should we be.

If he said, hey, I want to hire my girlfriend, you'd.

I would take a step back for it's respectable. Yeah, I would want. I would do the exact same thing. I might have even gone a little harder. Even though he did go hard.

So I told Karen, I said, hey, we're hiring her. And he said, look, we're going to. Let's give this a try. And you just pass the colors, like objectively.

So not only. Right. Think about this. We need to fill the role of the COO for media Kits. What was my past track history? I was director of operations for a blockchain company. I was the third employee. Prior to that, I was working under Dan Fleischman as an executive assistant, but also is managing the campaigns, working with high Level influencers and celebrities working under Dave. Selling, sales, business development. Right. So I have all that package put together perfectly aligned to do this. Now I'm going to go off sidetrack a little bit and say that's what life is about. Life is all about. Those moments that you experience in the present are perfectly sent to you because that's what your act, best actions, thoughts and emotions have set you up for. That's what your now is representing. So back to how we actually work together and what that was like.

Yeah. What was your biggest lesson?

Incredible biggest lesson is just, I mean we already had the communication down overly effectively communicating, but I think it's being even more transparent and just understanding each other's, you know, what are our roles and responsibilities and then removing the emotion. Because business is not emotional at all. I mean there are that we're human, so we are emotional. But that was something that, you know, was very, very important. And when we're not in, you know, right now, Right. I'm going through hurdles. I was going through hurdles writing my book and all these different things. And to you, I was being emotional because I took off the we're working together hat because we're not. This is my, this was my baby. This is my project.

Yeah.

And so I think the biggest lesson of when you work together with your partner is remember why you decided, number one, to work together in the first place. What are your, your goals and objectives together within the company? Understand that very clearly and then just overly effectively communicate and remember to move emotion outside of it.

It can be hard sometimes.

It is hard. Yeah. Especially when you're sleeping together.

When you're like dealing with problems in business or someone's messing up. But then it's, you want to go out on a date night and just have fun and separating that.

Hold on here. No, here's the other thing that I absolutely love. We are go getters.

Right.

We're high performance humans. I want to talk about business at dinner. I want to.

No, that's, that's also. That's exciting. Interject. I. Whenever someone asks me about that, I say, when working with your partner, I would rather be dealing with something in my business and having you just understand completely. And I don't even have to just talk about it and vent on it. Even though that might be great.

It's not even venting.

It's finding a solution versus, yeah, you understand it to such a high level that we can work on it. Rather than just I come to you and say, oh, I'm dealing With this and kind of like, oh, do this and you have zero context or you're not in it. And I think that us being so in the trenches together when building media kits specifically, was great for our relationship, great for our growth. And I never felt closer during absolutely those times.

So amazing. I think it's extremely powerful when in a relationship you have the opportunity to not only build a family together, but you can build a business together because those things co. Align. They, they, they, you know, the better you do in business, the better family, you know, the better things you're going to have in your personal life. Oh, yeah. So that was amazing. I'm so grateful for it.

I love that. To change topics. What did you feel when I proposed to you?

I was so excited. Okay. Butterflies.

So, yeah, I thought you knew. I really did think you knew.

There were moments when I maybe thought in terms of.

Were on a trip, for context, we were in Israel then.

It wasn't even about that. The trip.

Tell me, from your perspective, what did the proposal, how did it go? How did you feel and what was that moment like for you?

Cloud nine the whole time. Because we were in Europe having the best time, but extremely Cloud nine, when you proposed. Backstory. We went on vacation, Europe with our best friends, Lindsay and Josh, and we did a trip from London for a night. We went to Israel for Leona and Bmax. Oh, our. Yes, Our other best friends, Leona and Bmax, of course.

You know, my, my co founder of Listener fm, bmax. Shout out. Bmax. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. And then. Which, by the way, they're coming back from Israel soon. We miss you guys. And then we ended up going to Athens and then Santorini and Mykonos. The best trip ever, right? So before we left, I had a feeling for certain you were not going to propose. Why? Because we'd have these conversations and me, as the person who's just so in love, I'm like, I can't wait till you propose. And you kept telling me, jacqueline, it's gonna happen when it happens. That was your classic response. So when we went on this trip.

You not only wanted to be proposed to, but you're like, we're so in love. And you're like, you always said to me, oh, the advice I got from older women, beautiful Jewish ladies that are married, they would always say, what they.

Said, if he's not going to marry by the time you're 30, you guys have been dating for three and a half years. You dump him. I said, I align with you. I get it. You got to do what you got.

And of, like, the biggest forget people have is not.

Oh, that.

That one. That one's better, though. That one's great.

Biggest piece of advice that a lot or, you know, feedback. A lot of these beautiful relationship these ladies are telling me is, I wish I got married sooner, because it really changes things. And I will say there's nothing that's changed about how we act towards each other now that we're engaged. But what I feel, even though I knew you were already 100 committed, is I just feel a different type of a connection with you, which is really cool. It's very special.

I mean, it's the epitome of commitment, and it's. It's binary. It's like, are you engaged or are you not? Are you committed or you're not?

Like, a spiritual thing?

And of course, there's a timely time. Time and place for it, but. Okay, back to the story.

Okay.

I'm sure people want to know, if they don't already.

Okay.

Obviously, people might have seen the pictures on Instagram, but they want to hear from Jacqueline's perspective.

Okay, so we are now on this trip. We have now gone from London to Israel, where last night in Israel, and we were out at a bar, hanging out. And in my mind, I'm like, you know, Casey, I would love for you to propose to me soon. I just. I can't wait to be engaged with you. And you said to me, you're like, jacqueline, you put your foot down.

I'll give my context.

You put your foot down. And I almost. Because I was. I had a drink, and I was like, oh, my God. Casey's not gonna propose. Like, what is happening?

Here's what happened, everyone. We're out at a bar, having a great night, dinner, the whole thing. Jacqueline's all cute and said, oh, I can't wait to be proposed. When are you gonna propose? And she does this a lot. And obviously, I have the ring. I'm planning on proposing on this trip, but I don't. But I'm also aware that I think she knows, so I'm in the mindset of I have to deny and just completely throw her off the wall, which.

Ruined her night slightly, and make her.

Think it's absolutely not happening. So therefore, I was like, what do I do? I just have to deny and put her in her place. I was like, jacqueline, Jacqueline, I understand you want this, but you just have to be realistic and understand that, you know, things are gonna happen when they happen. So please, please don't Bring this up again in like a very serious tone.

Oh, yeah. I was like, we could have been having fun at a bar. Like that would have been amazing.

And then it ruined the night because I was so. It's stuck of like I need to just.

You made up for it.

Zone in. Yeah. And then the next day it's fine and everything.

Okay.

We move on.

Okay.

So now then we go to Athens.

We go to Athens.

Or also, by the way, you didn't know this at the time, but my incredible mentor, one of my best friends, Aristotle Loomis, I gotta give a shout out to. Aristotle gifted us this incredible two night stay in Athens, which I fell in love with. Athens at this beautiful hotel, King George. Shout out Aristotle Loomis. Love you, brother. You didn't know at the time in terms of the gift that he gave us as an engagement gift, but loved Athens, fell in love with the city. Just to put this on the record, we're. We're gonna go back 20, 25 and I'm gonna run the Athens marathon.

Oh, yeah.

So maybe, you know, maybe Aristotle will be there. We'll see. But continue on with the story. Just had to put that out there.

So now we're in Santorini. First day in Santorini and Lindsay and I, best friend, we're in the pool. You and the, you and Josh were laying out. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, I'm in the pool. I'm like, these dinguses, when are they going to propose? You know, And Lindsay's going around with it. She's like, oh yeah, these dinguses, like, they need to propose soon. So she's like, well, anyway, do you want to do this photo shoot with me last minute? You know, if you want to join, you can join. And I'm like, casey, let's do it. You're like, sure. Like, I guess, you know, why not go back to the room? Hardly have time to change. I'm dressing you, of course, because we're in Santorini doing a photo shoot. So I put you in all white. I'm wearing all white myself.

I'm kind of stressing out because I know I'm about to propose at this photo shoot and everyone's like taking their sweet time. Everyone's running late. We're like 15 minutes to get ready. And I'm like, no big deal, like, trying to play into it, but I'm like, oh, my God. Like, Jacqueline has to do her hair and do makeup.

Very well executed. It is hard to trick me when saying that I'm going to do A photo shoot. Because, you know, it's like, it's hard to trick.

Everyone knows all your tanzorini photo shoot. Oh, my God.

Right, Right. So anyway, now we're doing a photo shoot. Lindsay and Josh take turns with the photographer. Then we take turns and we're going back and forth. Worked out well. Finally it's our turn. And I'm like, what does a photographer like me or something like he is. He must think I'm a good model because now he's taking more time on me.

Prioritizing.

Yeah. I'm like, why is he. I'm like, lindsay, like, I'm here. Take pictures of Lindsay. He's like, no, no, no. I take pictures of you. I' like, okay, all right. If you to say so. So finally he's like, you put. You turn around Casey, you go behind her, and he's posing us the whole entire time. So I think nothing of it. And I turn around, and there you on your knee. I get the chills. Talking about this surreal moment on top of it. Beautiful, all white building, just everything, all white. Literally cloud nine clouds around us. Absolutely stunning. And it was the perfect moment. You did a phenomenal job. Thank you. And now we're here.

Thank you.

I love you so much.

I remember as a man going into that photo shoot that day, I was so excited, confident, not stressed up until two minutes before I started sweating like crazy. I was so nervous. I was so excited. And it's just one of those moments that I was so present and just ready to do it. And I think as a man, that's all you could ever ask for. I just feeling so ready and excited for something so special. Yeah. Then we called all of our friends and family and your brother and had the best night. And now we're engaged.

We're engaged.

When you think about commitment, we're changing the conversation. Commitment in a relationship, commitment to a project. You are, in my eyes, the definition of someone that when they say something, you do it. You know? And I mean that professionally. I mean that in the gym. I mean that with projects you work on, like your book. What does commitment mean to you in a relationship? Or in the context of, you know, writing a book and committing three years of your life to it?

Yeah. Your word is your bond. If you say you're going to do something, do it. Also, if you lie to yourself, you're going to continuously lie to yourself, and that's not going to help you or anyone. The most important thing you could possibly ever do for yourself is be truthful to Yourself, which means you're going to be truthful to others. And I'm really lucky because my dad growing up, you say you're gonna do something, you do it. And that's the kind of energy he shared with me. Right. If I said, oh, dad, I'm gonna go clean the dock. Right. And I, I took, I said I'm gonna clean in 15 minutes, but it was actually 25 minutes. You come down, 15 minutes. What are you doing? You said you're gonna do it in 15 minutes. Your word is your bond.

Yeah.

Do what you say you're gonna do. It's very important. It's a great life lesson because the more that you can be truthful with yourself and actually execute on those actions, the more you're going to be more repetitive in it. It's so great. I mean, I don't think I've. Have you ever experienced me saying something that I say I'm going to do and I don't do it? Think about it. I don't, I don't know. I don't think so.

I don't know. You know, maybe, maybe.

Oh God. You're thinking of something.

You know when you're angry and you like say you're going to do something and you don't.

Yeah. So that, that stuff state, by the way, is not a good state to be in.

Of course, of course.

When you are happy and on center, as I talk about in the book, that is just where all the manifesting, that's where all the good stuff is.

That's true.

Oh yeah.

I want to talk about your daily habits and the way you think about health. You've been primarily plant based for many years now. You've instilled a lot of not only healthy eating habits, but just an overall health mindset. More than I had prior to us dating that I'm so grateful for and I've learned so much about food through you. Where does your drive for health come from? Obviously it's easy, like we should all be healthy, but for, for someone like you that you know, has a book now, you've interviewed nutrition experts, you're going through integrative, you are an integrative health coach and you've put so much time and effort into this course you're taking. Where do you, where does that drive come from and why is it so important to you?

Well, it's been instilled in me since I was a kid, but then myself, just understanding the benefits of eating for your body, eating for your mind, body, soul, it's all connected. As the subtitle says, optimize your opportunity zone. Every opportunity I have with eating, I. I go for something nutrient dense.

I love how you say opportunity I have with eating because. Oh, yeah, like so many people, they don't think about eating as an opportunity to do something good for your body. They're eating because they are hungry and they want to.

Eating is also a celebratory moment.

Right.

Like celebrating with friends a birthday. So in those moments, you're actually giving yourself nourishment in that way. So, sure. Maybe that slice of cake is actually nourishment for your soul because every year on your birthday, you have a slice of cake. Yeah, right. That's like a very obvious one. Or maybe it's once a year you see your grandma and you make a apple pie together. And that's something very nourishing for the soul. But in my everyday life, how I nourish myself is choosing something that is nutrient dense. Because again, when I have the opportunity to do anything, I go for the highest of the high because that's how I'm a high performer. Yeah, right. And I. That's just. All of my actions are going to be that way.

Absolutely.

How I dress, talk, eat, sit, internalize thoughts with myself. My actions.

I'm like checking my posture.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All of that's connected. And so, you know, a fun little thing I like to share too is you've. You've been in my Bevy's house many times. And as a kid, she would always. She was an intensive care nurse. She's also my mom, also extremely healthy. I grew up in a really healthy household. We didn't have any sick. That. We didn't have any.

And this is like the root of it.

Yeah.

The way you grew up from the way your dad didn't eat carbs. And you're. I know you're about to go there.

Yeah.

It's incredible. But continue.

Yeah. You've got to experience it.

Yeah.

Any family dinners we have, is there any just random potatoes or pasta or just sugary things? No, we're, you know, my dad's making smoked chicken, salmon, lots of vegetables. Bev, my mom, same exact thing. And that's the environment I grew up in. And side note too, when you grow up in a household where you're not taught those things, it's, yes, you can break out of that cycle, but it's the same way of saying, oh, it's in the family that we have this, you know, disease. Oh, it's in the Family that I have ocd. Well, actually, no, those are. That's because that's how you've been programmed. And it's. You. You can. You can get out of that. Right. So when I. I'm very lucky that I had a foundation that just allowed me to skyrocket. That's what it was. So growing up, my mom, she would. When she'd read articles or on the computer or in the magazine about health, when we were little kids just learning how to read, she actually would cut out these articles and she put them on the pantry. So anytime we went to go reach for a snack in the pantry, which there weren't too many because we never really had bagged things. We had whole things like vegetables, hummus. My favorite snack after school was hummus and tabbouleh with matzah. That was my favorite thing.

It's healthy.

Yeah. And what's our favorite thing here? We love our tabbouleh. Yes, it is still having my after school snack. So it stemmed from that. And I just think that you feel what you put in, you know, imagine yourself as a supercar. What do you put in a supercar?

Premium fuel.

Okay, well, you're a supercar, so wow. Better give yourself some premium fuel. You want to operate like a supercar, you know? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I love that in this book, happiness habitat, which I love the name you talk about. Yes. Nutrition and eating well. And the subtitle optimize your opportunity zone. You've talked about it a little bit so far, but what is an opportunity Zone? I actually. I'm actually saying this for the podcast. I love how you said, like, when I. Whenever I have the opportunity to eat. Kind of gets me thinking of, like, everything you do in your life is an opportunity to be great. And I know you live by that. What is an opportunity zone? How do you define it? I should say.

Yeah.

And why did you name the book Happiness habitat? Optimize your opportunity zone.

Sure. Well, I'll start with Happiness Habitat. You know, if you think of. All right, what is happiness? To me, it's being grateful. In the present moment, everyone has their own definition of what that is. And then you have habitat. That's your environment, your surrounding. And the way I look at Happiness habitat is happiness is both can be optimized both from inside and out. Right. Because you're going to be encountered with things externally and also internally. So it's important that now we get into the subtitle, optimize your opportunity zone. Now, the book breaks down in each chapter Each area of your life, inside and out, that you can actually raise the bar. Practical tools that you can literally do to raise the bar to optimize each area of your life. So your opportunity zone is both the zones that you experience internal and externally, but also just your opportunities in life. Because when you are happy, I believe, as I mentioned before, all these obstacles become illusions. You're in your flow state, which is an extremely powerful state. You know, when a golfer hits that hole in one, they're in flow state. Right.

Shout out to the golfers hitting holes in one.

Yeah, no, but that's any, any athlete that's making the dunks, whatever it is, they are in flow. Okay. They're on center or happiness. You don't need to be manic to be called happy. You could be. I'm happy right now.

You know, like happy right now.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm always happy. There's moments.

What. Because I'm human for sure. And before I go on to the next topic, I want to cover. So your opportunity zone. How do you define an opportunity zone and what does that mean to you?

Yeah, the opportunity zones, they're. They're every. How I just mentioned, you know, I. I go for like when I have a food, it's my opportunity to have a nutrient dense food. Right. So having. Having the knowledge first and then be able to act upon that knowledge in different areas of your life. So different zones. So how do you optimize those opportunities in each of those zones? In every area. Internal, external, on the court, off the court, in business, in communication. It's a. It's a powerful thing. You know, we. My thing is you have one life, okay. Most of us can speak one language. A lot of us do. So become an expert just being human because there's. It's. Life is both long and short, and so enjoy it and maximize it. It's too beautiful. There's too many beautiful things to experience. And if you don't know how beautiful it is, go outside and just sit in nature and look around. Allow your mind to just start thinking of things. Give it the time to. To actually experience the beauty of what this world is.

Totally. I want to ask is you're someone that has such a positive view on the world and in a world where, you know, it's. You can look at the glass half full, half empty. I think everyone can learn something from you. And especially people that are dealing with a lot. Right. Like we live in a world where people are going through a lot. The economy's in a Weird spot. People are losing their jobs, people lose family members often. And just there's a lot of negativity out there that sometimes you just can't control. And it just hits you. Right. And yes, you've. We've all dealt with some type of negativity in my life. And I mean firsthand, knowing you, you know, I've seen you through hardships and you, yes, remain in this happy state, but embrace your emotions.

Oh, yeah.

How do you not only recommend, but what do you say to someone that's going through something in such a unhappy state of mind? They're, you know, they, they want to be happy. They know it's important, but they just can't find a way to be happy. And they're constantly in this state of negativity from their surrounding surroundings or the people in their life. Where does someone start? Because you're someone that encompasses happiness since the moment I've met you, but you've also dealt with a lot. So how do you recommend. And I guess I know you go in depth in this book. Yeah. But where does it start? Where does happiness begin? With you and for you.

So what you just said was that someone has already seen their engine light and the engine lights on, which means that their body, their mind, their shoulder, it's telling them, hey, work on this. Bodies are. We're extremely. Humans are really, really powerful. Where think about the same way of driving a car. Driving a car, it's perfectly fine. And then you see that little engine light. Now when you're driving a car, you don't ignore the engine light. You go get the engine fixed. You go figure it out. Same. But sometimes as humans, we know the engine light goes on and we don't do anything. Why do we. Why do we treat the car better than we do ourselves? So in the moments when we actually understand, hey, hey, my engine lights on.

Can you give me an example of that?

Yeah, I'll give you an example of a past relationship that I experienced. I let a person become, and I talk about this in the book, become extremely close to me. Where my Happiness habitat environment that I so strongly built for myself. And this was before I even kind of created the happiness habitat method. So this is like five, six or seven years back. I was only spoken to negatively. I was verbally abused and emotionally abused to the point where I didn't even recognize who I was. I didn't know what to do that was right or wrong. And so I had to figure out how I could bring myself out of that. And it literally Took flying across the country to go back to where I knew I was, where I. I started, where I could rebuild that foundation. It was the self talk. Your 40. Oh, you have about 40, 000 thoughts a day. A lot of those are negative, but you can program yourself to actually, instead of just be in those thoughts, you can observe those thoughts. And by the way, that's a really good way to operate too. If you find yourself and you're not on center. Right. Like, if, you know, right now, I am not on center. There's a couple tools and tricks that you can do for yourself, such as one, smiling. When you smile, you're actually telling your brain to release endorphins. Right? That's.

That's easy.

But if you're upset and you're like, f this, like, I. I don't want to do that. That's stupid. Okay. Simply get back to the roots. Get back to mother nature. Get back to foundation. Do something that you enjoy doing. As hard as it may be, if you have the will, you will find a way. Right? It's like that. Good line. If there's a will, there's a way.

Yeah.

If, you know, you want to be happy and you want to get out of this depression, you want to get out of this sadness, there's a will, there's a way also. Really good to know. I was just watching a lecture last night. Dr. Amen. He's a brain. A. An incredible br. He studies the brain and he looks at brain scans all the time. He's looked at over 20,000 brain scans. And a lot of these people, and they go in and they say, I have depression, I have OCDs, schizophrenia. A lot of these, you know, big labels. Well, a lot of the times people treat other humans as a culmination of those labels of those symptoms, I should say, when in fact, keyword, those are symptoms, there is a solution.

Get.

Get your nutrients, get them back to where they should be. Feed yourself correctly, hydrate your brain. 80% water hydrate.

I think it's like 70 of America is dehydrated.

Oh, yeah.

Around the clock.

Oh, yeah. There's. There's a lot of things you can do to actually fuel your mind, because your mind is also where it's going to feel everything else. If you're not feeling good, you're not gonna. You know, there was a brain scan that he showed where there was a kid like 7 years old. These parents were so committed. He needs to be on ADD medication. That's what all the therapists are saying. He needs it. And he said they don't need that. Your son does not need this. What's going on at home? Okay, well, there's arguing. What's going on at home? Well, you know, he's eating pasta every night. Okay, well, let's put some greens in his body. Let's hydrate him. All these things. He gave him a plan to do. The kids stick to the plan. And he came back a year later and the brain scan came back completely normal.

Wow.

You know, your brain, it's supposed to kind of be, I think, adulty last night, like soft butter. That's the consistency. So if you can imagine almost like a cloud shape when that is in its nice little round shape. That's a great brain scan versus having deviates or something in the frontal cortex or wherever it needs to be. That's sometimes where there can be issues. So it's really important that if you are not feeling your best and you have the will to get better. Hydrate, smile, get to the roots.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Don't. Don't cover it up with antidepressants or other things that are just going to cover those things.

I think because you were. You took ADD medication.

I took ADD medication for almost 15 years.

Yeah.

And by the way, that's because my mom, you know, why, why.

How do you think that affected you and how do you get off of it? I never took this. I don't have the experience to speak on it, but I know you've. This has been a very important topic for you and absolutely grown from that. And I think a lot of people are still out dependent on these. Not only. Not only because they are dependent, but they've grown to believe that they are dependent when in actuality because they think.

They are their symptom.

Yeah.

So I was prescribed ADD medication when I was in 4th grade. Prior to me getting prescribed, my parents did everything they thought they could, such as eye tests. All the. I was doing testing forever. This was in third grade. I remember this very clearly. I'm always tracing images. I'm always doing different things on this computer and some. Some office. And then finally, like, let's put this hyperactive child who talks a lot, who's really creative and likes to color out of the lines. Let's put on 82 medication. I fought it for the longest time. I couldn't. I pretend like I know how to swallow pills. All these things. Okay, finally your fourth grade, it's your parents. You're gonna do what they say. I take ADD medication and of course you know, I start calling inside the lines, I start, you know, not talking as much. And I'm sitting in my chair very quietly. And that's all, you know. Right. I was a kid. That's all I knew. And my parents, they. They did what they thought was best. My mom, again, she's an intensive care nurse, comes from the medical background. You know, my, The. The course I took into to become an integrative nutrition, nutrition health coach. I did a lot of these group focus. Focus groups with a lot of these other students who are becoming a coach as well. And a lot of them are doctors. And they even spoke about how when they were in school, they were never supposed to look at. They never were taught to look at the holistic side. Right. And so my mom was never taught to look at the holistic side. So now let's progress into high school. Well, I found myself, instead of socializing at lunch, guess what I did? I would go to the library to do homework. I went to hang out with the teacher to learn or catch up on a problem.

And you're saying it's because of. You're on.

I was. Yeah. One year. Oh yeah. I went from. It was Concerta, then Concerta and Adderall, then Vyvanse and Ritalin together, then just Vyvanse. I was on everything. And at one point, I was on the highest milligram of Vyvanse, 70 milligrams. I weighed 90. I think 95 pounds at the time. And I would put quarters in my pockets when I would go in because I'd get weighed. I think it was every six months or something.

Stacks of quarters.

Yeah, because I had to use that for the laundry in college. So I would come home and drive home and I absolutely wanted this ADE medication. I was in honors college. I was taking advanced courses. And, you know, I have all these quarters and where. So that you don't seem like 98 instead of 95 or whatever it was.

Anyway, three pounds and quarters.

I started to study health.

Yeah.

In college. Yes. I was very aware of it growing up. I knew to eat healthy. I mean, in college I was. I was eating salads for breakfast still as a college kid. Right. Like nutrient dense as well back then. But I then realized this is not the only way and I do not want to be on this anymore. I don't. It was. It was like a moment where I'm like, there's. In what world do I see myself ever taking this medication ever again? Never. So I created a plan for myself. Slowly I'm going to start getting off of it. My parents totally supported that. I mean, I'm 18 by him. I'm 17 or 18 by then. And then what I was the most nervous for was ADD medication. First of all, it's a stimulant, right. It makes you go to the bathroom. Also, um, it suppresses your appetite. So I was curious, you know, I don't think I'm going to be addicted in the brain from this, but maybe I'm addicted from how I actually eat. Like that was a, an actual question of mine. And so sure enough, I got off of the ADD medication after, you know, during my senior year of college, I think it was last semester. And you know, I couldn't go to the bathroom. Right?

Yeah.

Try drinking coffees, all these things. I went to the doctor, they put me on Miralax for six months. The drug messed me up. It did, yeah. So I'm learning all about health, all these different things. And I was always vegetable heavy anyway, and fish heavy. But I watched a documentary. I forgot what it was called, but it taught me all about, you know, just understanding food, how it works in your body. I said, I'm gonna try going plant based. Went plant based. Two days later, back to regular.

Two days.

Two days later.

Wow.

I don't know coincidence or not, but.

Yeah, I think to just to summarize that too as well. Like you experienced that and now have learned how to live without it.

Right.

And it speaks to the.

I don't think I ever needed it. Let me just say that. I don't think I ever needed it. I think that everyone, it's the VA K model. Visual, auditory, kinesthetic. Everyone has a different input and output, how they prefer to learn and communicate. So I went to a, a great public school, but they didn't focus on, oh, Jaclyn Bernett. She's, she's more kinesthetic auditor or kinesthetic. Visual. Right. It was all auditory, all lectures. That's all it was. When what I really needed was hands on visual. That's how I. And that's how I still learn.

Yeah, I want to.

So it's important, it's important to understand how you learn.

Absolutely. Couple more questions for you. Wrap up here, sweetheart. What would you say to the young 7, 8, 9 year old Jacqueline Burnett? What would the little Jacqueline think about herself today and what advice do you have for her from a nutrition perspective, from a business perspective, from a relationship perspective? What would the young Jaclyn think about her life today?

If I, if I If my younger self met my current self, I would be so wowed. Oh, my God. No, look at this. I'm serious. As a little girl, As a little girl, you know, my dad and mom, they'd always put me in cute fashion and, and my mom was always teaching me to sit up straight, all these things. I'd be like, wow, this is so cool seeing someone who I've been taught, you know, or I've learned to become like, I, there's still that kid in me. And you know, that I dance every day.

You're a little girl.

I am a little girl at heart, of course. And as we, we all should be kids at heart, you know, for sure. It's our, it's our inner child. And so if I were to meet that Jacqueline and say, hey, I have advice for you, I would say, keep doing what you love and don't give up on it.

I love that.

Really important. And what my dad and I want to mention this. My dad, ever since I can remember, has told me, you're an asset to the planet every single day almost. He's always told me, you're an asset to this planet.

It's a beautiful thing.

Think about how powerful those words are. And what, what does that. Even when you hear those words, that's powerful. You're saying you, your time here on Earth, you are, you are contributing. You are someone to aspire to be. So speaking to a little kid just like that, that's going to make them feel that way and want to operate in such a way where they are an asset to the planet. That has been my whole mission in life. I love that to be an asset to the planet. And I hope for people that read this book, they know they already are.

I feel this book is a true just. It's such a part of you in terms of how you think and how you live. And I'm not only so excited for people watching or listening to read it, but just I know how impactful it's going to be on lives and I want to do a speed round here of questions before we wrap it up. Number one, this might be five questions. It might be more, it might be less. What do you love most about me?

Oh, your heart. Easy. Why your.

Why?

You are the most kind, loving soul. I actually know I'm being serious. And I know you always say you get to know it and I say I love your kindness, but I do. You are. You are an asset to the planet. Your soul and your heart is just. You want the best for everyone. That Surrounds you and people that you don't even know. It's very obvious. And I'm very, very lucky to be in the presence of that. And I get to experience it every single day.

I love you. I love you two. What. Without putting too much thought into it, what is one of your favorite memories we've experienced together the past three years? Proposal outside of proposal. Because obviously that's like the epitome of a moment.

There's so many fun moments, But I.

Really love one that impacted you. That speaks to our relationship in your perspective.

Well, there's been a lot. But I will say one that just immediately came to mind is when we celebrated our second anniversary and we went to Monarch Beach Resort. And I'll tell you why. Now listen to this.

Yeah. Why is this?

We turned in to just like kids together, just like having the. We put on robes, we went on a golf cart down to the beach. We were really having the best time. We were dancing the whole time. Everywhere we went, I'm sure people are looking at us being like, wow, that's awesome. You know, that's pretty cool. That's a fun thing. And I, I.

We have so much fun together.

Yeah, that. That's. You're my best friend.

Yeah, I think that's. That's so cool. That's. The foundation of our friend, of our relationship is built on being best friends. And I cannot be more grateful for that.

It's important to have fun with your partner.

This is the speed round. This is the speed round, guys.

Okay, okay. Okay.

Number three. What do you love most about your mom, your dad, and your brother? Alex Burnett, Mark Burnett, Beverly Burnett.

They're phenomenal family members. They are not only my. My dad's my mentor. He was a very successful, successful businessman my whole life. Still to this day, I go to him for advice, business advice every day.

You love him?

No, literally every single day. I give him a call. Every day. My mom, epitome of, like, a happy soul and somebody that really wants the best for whoever is around her. You walk into her presence. She is. And you know this, too. She's. She's always excited to see you.

Very.

She always has.

Give her a call. She.

She's so happy. Hello. She's. She is always ready. And she's always down, too, which is so fun. You want to go do something? She's excited about it. My brother, he's also my best friend, and he has been my biggest supporter in rock for almost 30 years now.

You turn 30 in two months?

Yep.

60 days from about 60 days from recording this podcast.

Yes. I'm excited. I'm so excited. I'm so ready.

You're excited?

I'm so excited. No, this is why. And this is, I got to tell you, my 20s. Oh, man. Incredible decade. I'm serious. I did. I live so many different kinds of lives, and I experienced so many different things. And they really talk about how, you know, your 20s are the time when you. You really figure out who you are. And I think that's so true, being that I'm now 29 and 10 months, you know, I feel that. And coming into my 30s, it's just. It feels great. I'm ready.

I'm excited.

I'm. I'm ready for every decade, every day. Come on.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, before we wrap up, this has been such an incredible fun conversation. Conversation. I love it. We'll definitely have to do a follow up. We might even start a podcast together. Who knows?

That could be fun. I would like that.

Your book, Happiness Habitat, not only am I excited about it, but it comes out October 9th. What do you look forward to the most? And what should people expect when they order this book? They get it. And how do you want people to feel when reading your book?

Happy. Okay. But not happy where you're. You're a manic happy. I want you to feel on center, powerful as you are. Everyone's powerful already. It's that sometimes they need to flip through a couple pages to figure out if I just tune this area and I just tune this area, I can optimize, I can be my better, best self without even having to try. And that's what this book I want you to feel. I want you to hold this book and know that this is a powerful opportunity for you to unlock many different facets of yourself. You might explore new things about yourself you don't even realize. You might learn new tools that you might have been like, oh, my gosh, if I do this to my life, or now that I've done this, everything seems so much more easy and accessible. And that is the power of happiness.

I love that. Last thing is, where's the best place for people to buy your book, to order your book, and to stay in touch with everything you have going on in the Happiness Habitat environment? On your personal socials, what's the best.

Place we go to? Jacqueline burnett.com happinesshabitat.com or my Instagram at Jacqueline Burnett, where you can just find all the good things about creating your own Happiness Habitat.

I love that. Well, to end on a high note. I just want to say I absolutely love you more than you ever will imagine. I am so proud of you for the years put into this book and I'm just excited for the world to experience just a sliver of your soul. And I am so grateful to be able to experience that every day. And I love you so much.

I love you so much. Thank you for having me on the show.

Of course. And for everyone watching or listening, I will make sure to link everything down below. Make sure you go buy and order Happiness Habitat out now or out soon. October 9th, whenever you're listening. And I will talk to you guys soon. Thanks so much.