198: Comforting Words From the Momentum Community

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What's next? This is a question we're all having to ask and answer more frequently. I'm Jenny Blake, your host of the Pivot Podcast and author of Pivot. The only move that matters is your next one.

For show notes from this episode, visit pivotmethod.com podcast if Change is the only constant, then let's get better at it. Here we go.

Hello my friends. I am so crazy excited and delighted to bring you this compilation of comforting words from the Momentum community. I am smiling ear to ear right now because I have had the great pleasure of listening to all of these for the first time and bringing these voices together of such incredible people who I respect and adore and I'm so thankful to be in community with. I'm so grateful all of you MO members who submitted these audios. Thank you Pivot Podcast listeners. I hope you enjoy. If there was ever a time to feel hashtag blessed, that's how I feel right now to just be connected to such an incredible group of Heart based business owners. We made that shift in momentum really in 2019 of putting heart Based right out in front in terms of who we were looking for for this community that is now five plus years in the running and it is a series of audios and comments and stories and quotes and wisdom like this that just reinforces for me what a lucky and serendipitous decision that was because of who it attracted into the fold. If you are as moved by these comments in this group as I am, and you do want to join us, it's Pivot. Love Momentum. I opened enrollment during this time in case anyone who runs a small business really does want that extra support. Without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to the beloved Momo community.

Hey, my name is Valerie Martin and I'm a psychotherapist, coach and yoga teacher in Nashville, Tennessee. I recently started a new podcast called Recharge which features mini muffin sized episodes every weekday morning to help you get energized and aligned for your day. I also periodically add episodes to my older long form interview podcast called what's the Effing Point? Where you can hear Jenny interviewed on episode number 43. So a phrase that I return to often in any challenging or uncertain situation is what Marie Forleo's mom used to tell Everything is figureoutable. But let me back up for a moment. It's incredibly important that we hold in one hand the reality and gravity of the situations we and others are facing right now. It's not enough to just shrug our shoulders and say, eh, it'll work itself out. Which by the way, reminds me of a great meme I saw today. That said, during this pandemic there are only four social billionaires, Zoom users, essential workers, and the unemployed. So no, those of us who are doing more or less okay through this shouldn't just keep our heads down in life as usual while so many of our brothers and sisters are struggling. You may not have the ability to donate extra money right now. And that's okay. There are and will be ways that you can share your gifts and support others as we continue to move through the long haul of this. So in our left hand we hold the heaviness of this situation and in our right hand we hold the other truth that everything is figureoutable. This certainly doesn't mean we will all get through this unscathed. It means that we collectively will indeed figure this out and get through it. The day, the week, the month, the year, the whole thing. We always have. And after all, in the words of the hopefully future Saint Fred Rogers, look for the helpers. And right now we don't have to look far.

Hey everybody, this is Wade Brill from Wade Brill Life Coaching. I am a mindfulness coach, a speaker and a podcaster and I specialize in working with individuals as well as company cultures and teams on managing stress and overwhelm so people can feel more present and productive. My podcast is called the Centered in the City Podcast where I host weekly bi weekly modern meditations all to help us manage the ups and downs and twists and turns of our modern day world.

So one of my favorite quotes that I love and always come back to and use it in workshops and use it for my own mental health and well being is a quote by Jon Cabot Zen, who is the creator and founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and he has a quote that says, you can't stop the waves of life but you can learn to surf them. You can't stop the waves of life, but you can learn to surf them. And I find this quote really poignant, especially in chaotic times like we're in, because we can't stop life from happening. And yes, we're all experiencing this global pandemic and we have that common shared experience, but we all, as individuals as well as companies, experience various waves that can throw us off of our course. So whether that be failed projects or proposals, or whether that be a divorce or health concern, we are always managing the waves of life. But yet it's really important to remember that we have tools and resources innately inside of us. And if we're not aware of them, then maybe working with a coach or other people get to support you igniting those muscles or reconnecting to those muscles, or learning about those internal muscles and tools within you that can support you surfing the waves so that you don't get pulled under or drowned or suffocated by the overwhelmed by the chaos, by the stress, but instead you feel really balanced and have ease and clarity as you navigate the waves and uncertainty. During this pandemic, it's given me an opportunity to think about not only how I can be of service, but really where my business gets to have the most impact. So what I've been doing for the last few weeks is interviewing managers, CEOs, a large and small companies to understand what they're doing as a leader in their company, for their team, for themselves and where they see some white space where the company could offer more support or they as the manager could offer more support for their team of supporting everybody in their mental health and well being and through these conversations. So through curiosity it's really allowed me to see where I can be of support to a larger audience and also help me pivot myself into becoming more of an expert in a certain area. I have also gotten feedback from the various managers I've had conversations with that this conversation has sparked their own creativity and had a moment for them to check in to think about, oh, how am I serving as a manager during this time? And so it's turned the wheels of creativity for them because right now I think everybody is just so much in survival mode. So when there is crisis, I'm finding it really helpful to think about how can I be of service, how can I be curious and where does this curiosity and service lead me? To a win win scenario where I can continue to grow my company, have bigger impact and really serve a niche where it needs attention as you listen to this. I'm wishing you health and ease as you navigate your own journey and surf the waves of life.

Hey guys, it's Kyle here from bootcampideas.com Bootcamp Ideas is a community and a blog for group fitness trainers where I share workout ideas. Lately, a lot of online training, workout ideas and thought leadership pieces on how to run your group fitness business. So what like to offer you today is putting my personal trainer hat back on and just sharing about something I had to relearn again lately, how important it is for me to move my body, especially in nature.

And walking, not exercise walks, you know, where you're trying to get your heart rate up and things like that. But just kind of wandering and aimless walks either with my 18 month daughter or by myself in nature have just been a really wonderful way to reset and just clear out the stress and anxiety and that I'm taking on not just from myself, but from, you know, talking to other people and supporting other people right now. So that would be my thing. If it's available to you, whether it's raining or there's snow out or it's blistering hot, dress appropriately and get out there and go for a walk. Even if it's only 10 minutes. Especially for those times a day when you're just feeling really anxious and.

Balled up in lots of tension.

Hi everyone, this is Alexandra from Museumable and I offer leadership workshops to practice emotional intelligence at art museums. Just a few words of comfort and encouragement for you guys during this craziness of coronavirus.

Some things that have helped me and some things I would encourage you to try if it sounds like this will help you as well. So first of all, practice essentialism, right? This means paring things down to the most essential projects or tasks or.

Things on your to do list, right? I've been really unsubscribing, unattending, untangling myself from other unnecessary commitments right now just to really focus on what is the most important in my business right now.

Another thing I've been doing which is really helping is just to be still. And this is challenging for me. I really, I like to be busy. I like having a full calendar. And with these uncertain times and things changing every day and often long stretches of time without, without any meetings or other time sensitive commitments, I've been really just practicing.

Being still in my mind, trying to meditate more, really just keep my ears and eyes open for opportunities that might come along my way during this time, but really trying to be still and not Try to cram my calendar full of things and try to get all the things done and write, write a book and start a course and all kinds of things, all the productivity pressure that we're all feeling right now. So.

Those are my tips and once again, it's really just practice essentialism and be still.

Hey, it's leanne hughes from leannehughewes.com and the first time facilitator podcast where I help you create unpredictable workshop experiences that predictably work now. During these times, I find it's really interesting reflecting on how I'm responding and how other people are responding. And I think these moments can sometimes really amplify certain aspects of our personality and how we operate. One tool that I read about in Jenny's book pivot back in 2017 was the Gallup CliftonStrengths tool. It's probably one of the best reflection tools I've ever used and continue to go back to my top strength is ideation. And I've been putting so much pressure on myself to create the idea that's going to really help me cleverly pivot through all of this. And, and it's been frustrating when that amazing idea just hasn't emerged. The aha moment just hasn't come through yet. And that's the thing with ideas. You can't push them. And as we all know, they usually come to you in a moment when you least expect so. A quote I'd like to share with you on that that gave me a sense of calm and ease was this one from Jeff Bezos, which I saw in marketingweek.com it was an opinion piece. So Jeff said that he actually complained that most people ask him what is going to change over the next 10 years. Bezos was far more interested, he explained, in what was not going to change in those 10 years because you can build a business strategy around things that are stable in time. I was looking at trends during the Great Depression, after the Spanish flu. I was doing all that research. Now what I realized after reading this quote in this article was that stick to. Stick to the plan. What do corporate clients typically need and what will they need for the next 10 years? What is going to remain stable and look at that opportunity rather than jumping on and trying to do all this stuff for the short term for what's happening in this moment? So what this has done for me is to pause and not be concerned with all the noise that's going on around me about seeing other people's pivots and just being an admiration and then thinking I'm behind. What's reinforced for me is about stability and about staying in my lane, going back to my strengths and figuring out how these can help others through this time and then beyond. So it really goes back to that plant stage and pivot. So while the world has been thrown into chaos, I think it's even more important now to use this time to plant, go internal, see what's working, what gives me joy, what gives you joy, and then move on to that second stage of scanning for opportunities. But I think planting is so key right now. Jenny, I'd like to thank you for staying in your lane as well. I think what this has shown about your leadership is how much you really care about serving your listeners, staying current and flexible as well. Like you're living pivot through what you're doing with your podcast and even throwing this opportunity to us. Thanks so much and I'm so excited about listening to this one and hearing what other people have to say as well.

I'm Peggy Erkinef, an author and soul care guide and storyteller. My primary work the past several years is communications with the school district COVID 19 radically changed and pivoted my need to be present to thousands of students, their families and staff in a more powerful way and with more critical information. I'm grateful for decades of spiritual practice and a lifestyle that is allowing me to step up and be of service even more so in my work. The author of a six week daily life retreat, your spiritual garden tending to the presence of God and God anytime, any place, the many ways college students pray. I also edited the quarterly publication for 10 years of Listen A Seeker's Guide to Spiritual Direction and wrote a cover piece with reflective questions. I plan to launch a podcast late this summer and I'm working on a new writing project. In today's times that are really historic, what's most important, I think, and I tell myself this is don't miss it. And I ask how may it be? Speaking to both myself and to you about what's emerging, what's emerging within you. Nurturing our mental and physical wellness is core, as is soul care. My go to place is nature and watching spring emerge from this long cold winter in Alaska helps me know that that there are foundations I can trust. The sun will rise every morning. All the bare tree branches right now will begin to leaf out and the birds are returning. A quote from Julian of Norwich has been rippling in me. All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be Well.

I bring this awareness alive when I pause to breathe deep, stay centered, and even amidst all the change and tremendous grief and loss that's in our families, our neighborhoods and in our country, in the world.

I know there's deeper wisdom alive in my life and in our world that I can trust. And I'm curious, what are the foundations that you can count on now? What do you trust?

In my current work, I'm responsible for all the critical communications and public relations for a K 12 school district that encompasses 42 schools. In the past month, we shifted to remote learning for students, which was a heavy lift. And now families are navigating that change. Students are navigating it. The class of 2020 is grieving what isn't. And all of our educators are learning new ways to deliver content.

I'm working from home now, which I absolutely love. However, my days are non stop, often well into the night. And so an important foundational strategy that I offer to you and to my own self is.

Get creative and design a daily rhythm or pattern for this season of living.

Make sure to incorporate sleep, hydration, lots of water, try to cut back on caffeine and alcohol, healthy food, movement, fun and play. We all need laughter every day in our lives and some chill or meditation or journaling time. In times like these, the importance of our yes and our no becomes even more valuable and critical to our emotional and mental well being.

Our yes or our no give us the stamina and the ability to be present to ourselves to our family members or housemates. For me, that's a Labrador retriever who, now that I'm home, wants to go play all the time. Our work teams in the projects we're called to show up for perform at high capacity, step into if we don't quite feel ready, but we can be scrappy at it anyway and do it and to ship. And so I invite you to reflect on what is the new emergence in your own life? What foundations can you trust and what patterns or rhythms could you put into your everyday structures to chunk out life in small ways so that you're really doing your own soul care or self care?

We can't give what we don't have and so especially in times like these, it's really important to make sure that our foundations are solid. Even when the world is shaking around us, our presence really matters. Be well.

Hi everyone, this is Uzma Iqpal. I'm a medical oncologist and I've been working in my own practice as a solo oncologist for the last 13 years. I am practicing in Houston, Texas originally moved from New York to Houston, Texas in 2007. Over the course of two and a half decades of working with cancer patients, I have learned lessons of amazing strength. My patients who deal with the adversity and ambiguity with the diagnosis of cancer and its treatments have shown up these amazing lessons of courage and how they balance the adversity and ambiguity every day while they go through the diagnosis and also while they go through the treatment. And once they have conquered this path, how do they restore back to a normal and sometimes it may not be the same normal that they once knew.

The process is called a restorative healing journey. And the fundamental that we use in that is to take our power back. The power that we take back is from the fear of cancer or the fear of living with cancer, the fear of coming from for cancer to come back. And we can use all of those lessons in a adversity and ambiguity that we are facing in the pandemic of COVID 19 at the present time.

So the powers we talk about is the power of intention, A deliberation of declaration that we look at the fear in its eyes, we accept and acknowledge what we feel. We frame it into a positive thought and we record it somewhere, whether it be on paper or whether it be it as a voice memo. The second power we talk about is the power for permission, permission to set boundaries, permission to feel vulnerable, permission to show self compassion. And always remember that self compassion does not mean being selfish. The third power we talk about is the power of imagination. And it's extremely important. While we are in the midst of a chaotic period, whether it be a cancer journey or a pandemic or any other adversity to imitate. Imagine good times. Imagine yourself in a positive, healthier, prosperous time. And that positive reinforcement helps in generating positive thoughts, positive actions and positive results. And then we talk about the power of transformation. As a great poet and philosopher Rumi says, the wound is the place where light enters you. In the time of adversity. There is always an opportunity for transformation to a more evolved and a more in tune to our self evolution and transformation that then may lead to a more fulfilling and more self actualized state. And we can then balance hope and honesty, co create hope and hoping that all of us who are listening this during the pandemic or during any part of their adversity will find this message uplifting as I find it while I carry my patients through their journey. And I'm so humbled that they shared this with me.

Hello My name is Rachel Bell. I founded Ferocious Teachers, a community for educators who were driven to improving the systems within the field of education and helping make teaching a more sustainable career path. You can find us at www.ferociousteachers.com. i'm a middle school teacher of students with visual impairments, and because of the COVID 19 crisis, we have gone to online and remote learning. It's very challenging under the best of circumstances. I know it's especially hard for some of my students who may not have computers at home or Internet access, and many of whom have no eyesight at all. And they have assistive technology devices, but those easily break and those only can get them so far with this situation. But I have to say, it's been so encouraging and so inspiring to see my students rise to the occasion of dealing with the situation that was dealt to them. I mean, I am checking in with every single one of my students and doing up to an hour of instruction with them every day. And they come with great attitudes. I mean, some of them had behavior issues or other challenges going on in the classroom, and it's kind of dropped away. It's like they've gained a whole new level of maturity and are really rising to the occasion. So I'm so proud of them and inspires me, too, that we're all just doing our best to deal with the hands that we're given. When I am feeling anxious or overwhelmed, I think it's really helpful to do one kind or helpful thing for someone else. It gets me out of my own mind. It makes me feel like I have control over something and it's reaching out and making the connection with somebody else and hopefully bringing a little bit of ease or positivity to their day. When feeling bored or restless, I think it's helpful to try to learn one new thing. It could be a new recipe, a few words in another language, anything to get that mind active. And if and when your heart hurts, please remember it is because it is growing in strength and compassion and in hope. We will come out of this as a global community kinder and stronger, and we will be better for.

I hope you stay well, fellow pivoters.

Hi everyone. My name is Megan Haggerty. I am a strengths coach. I help people see the best parts of themselves to appreciate, celebrate, and use their unique combination of natural talents and abilities for growth. There's a quote that's been on my mind recently, and it is typically attributed to Teddy Roosevelt, but it turns out he was actually quoting a gentleman named Squire Bill Widener. And the quote is, do what you can with what you've got, where you are. And while I love the intention of this quote, that it is meant to be motivational and inspirational and really drive you to action, I struggle with it. And I don't know about everyone else, but I really had so much fatigue with the messaging that was going out, especially early on in the pandemic, that was all about all the things that you should be doing with this time and how much you could accomplish and what Shakespeare was able to do and Newton during their times of quarantine. And all it did for me was feel like bricks of expectation on me of what I should be doing. And those bricks of expectations turned into a brick wall that I continued to hit into every time I tried to push myself forward in doing all the things that I thought I should be doing. So I decided to change up this famous quote a little bit and change it to, what can I do with what I've got, where I am? And for me, that simple act of changing it from a directive to a question opened up the lens and showed me so many more possibilities and opportunities available to me right now that allowed me to move forward in different ways. And I think in times like this, where everything is so uncertain and we're so unsure, we try to find absolutes, the best thing to do, the right thing to do. And the reality of it is there likely isn't one single thing. And while we are all in this proverbially together, we're all going through it in our own unique way, in our own unique set of circumstances. So we might all have a different.

Definition of what is that right thing to do for us. So I invite everyone to ask yourself, what can I do with what I've got, where I am? See what opportunities come up for you.

Wow. Wow, wow. Thank you again, everybody in Momentum who submitted these great audio notes of comfort for Pivot podcast listeners. My heart is full. I feel so happy to share your genius and your wisdom with everybody. And I just loved all of the advice and wise words from permission to be where you are, to be still, to play to your strengths, to go on aimless walks. Peggy's question about what's emerging and reminding us, don't miss it. And Uzma, who is bringing such important work and messaging to us from her practice as an oncologist with the four powers taking our power back. The power of intention, the power of permission, the power of imagination, and the power of transformation. Thank you for the rumi quote, Uzma. The wound is the place where light enters you. I could go on and on. In fact, I'll probably just replay this episode myself. All of it is just so beautiful. Thank you, thank you, thank you Pivot Podcast listeners. If you're still here, I hope you enjoyed this pilot experimental episode of the Pivot Podcast. And again, if you want to join us in Momentum, you can go to Pivot. Love Momentum. Have a beautiful rest of your day everybody.

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Remember, build first, then your courage will follow. Hasn't it always.