The Pete Kane Podcast Show with Guest Kristi Huss

Good day, Podcast community. We have a special guest on today's show and she's a high performance coach. She likes to take a lot of vacations and she likes to help you, guide you on vacation. So you're in for a fun time with Christy. So, Christy, for people that don't know you like I do, tell our viewers who you are, what you do and who you serve.

Yeah, I call myself a journey facilitator. So I help people get to where they want to be in the world. I've done that for many years through travel. I book trips, I have a travel agency. I've been in all kinds of aspects of travel and I help people get to where they want to be in life as a high performance coach. And I do that through coaching, speaking and workshops where kind of work on whatever their objective and goals are and basically design it like you would a trip and make it the. The journey enjoyable.

So that is awesome. So most people like they're in a career like travel, they stay in there. They don't jump out of their lane and do something else. So what were you thinking when you said, I want to be a certified high performance coach and combine it with my travel experience background? What were you thinking?

Yeah, that's a great question because I often find that many people have that thought if they. They think about this as a major shift in careers. And actually for me, it was an absolute progression. I've always had a desire to help people and support them with their goals. And I've always been a big cheerleader that way. And so I feel like there was so many more commonalities than I thought about how we plan trips to how you help people achieve their goals and dreams. And so there was a point where I was helping people. I've written a book. I've done many things in personal development, supporting other people. It kind of started out as a hobby and I found out that there's so many correlations and so I didn't have to pick one way or the other. Actually, I merged them together. And now that's what makes my approach unique is how I handle high performance coaching. With that travel experience, I found some real gaps in what people love about travel that they're not getting in everyday life.

Oh, I love the way that sounds. And it leads me to this question. So for those that don't know behind it's always a story behind a story. So see, I just finished 12 weeks of high performance coaching from Christie and the transformation was substantial. And always I didn't see it coming. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I didn't. And I've always believed in the fun part of it. So when you, when you're talking to people and it's big, that we don't wait till we're 65 to take those big vacations, we take the mini vacations. So talk to our viewers about your thoughts on mini vacations and combining it to the mindset of really performing at a high level. Like you teach.

Right. So it actually came about in a roundabout way. I tend to travel a lot for my work. I get to enjoy travel probably a lot more than most people because of my job. And when I was getting certified as a high performance coach and some other things were going on, had a couple daughters getting married, we were moving. There was just circumstances where I wasn't allowed to. It just my schedule in time did not allow me to travel much at that time. So it came about that I was trying to figure out that that fueled me and energized me so much. How can I get that in everyday life? So I started thinking about what is it that I love about traveling? You know, what are the things that are important? And then I, I started mapping that out and getting that and aligning it with the goal. So I wasn't delaying the things that I loved about travel. I was finding how to get them in my everyday life, including planning mini vacations. And that can be the first one my husband and I did at the same time. And the first one we did was a town that was 20 minutes away. It was. There's just certain elements I use when it's because considered a mini vacation about how we vacation and it's just completely different. You can find that more joy, wonder and not wait until a big vacation, which of course we want more of that. But I was designing my time and setting up the. My productivity, my stopping points, my goals in these, these framing it in like mini vacations and getting that enjoyment in everyday life that they really can go together. You don't have to wait.

What do you think? I agree with that. But what do you think for our viewers, the mindset that we have, if we're the type A personality, we're working, working, working. Give our viewers an idea of what, what is the mini vacation? What have you seen in your clients? What have you seen when people embrace that strategy, that planning, that emphasis on the mini vacation? What have you seen the difference in people when they do that?

Yeah, I think the biggest difference is nobody thinks about it in that Way I feel like people, everybody loves to talk travel and we take trips and we work really hard to get there. So there's again, a lot of correlations about planning a trip and how we can do actually achieve our goals because we get more productive, we go out of our comfort zone, we actually plan it that way, we want to do it, we expect we're going to have a good time and we'll endure some pretty not so great things when we travel to get there. So I think it's just that concept of when I help people see how they can do that, what they love about vacation, because that's also different from each person. There's not a one size fits all. And I learned that through travel is you really ask a lot of questions to find out how somebody wants to experience things. So when I shift that towards goal achievement, being more productive, enjoying their everyday lives while they're waiting to take that next vacation, that you can actually infuse those elements into everyday life, into these stops like mini vacations. I just think the biggest thing is they've never thought to do it that way, and they're finding a new sense of, wow, I can enjoy something even if it's, you know, in my own hometown, even if it's an hour away. There's a lot of the things that we love about travel, they can get that much quicker and much closer while they're waiting to get to a bigger vacation. You don't have to wait for that.

Yeah, that's. I love that. What do you think when. What holds people back when we kind of know that it's good for us, but we still don't do it. What have you found kind of keeps people from adopting or embracing the mindset of many vacations?

Well, that's a great question, and I can answer that because that very much used to be me as well. I used to be very much that. I achieved a lot. I have big ambitions for people that don't know. I have six daughters, I had quadruplets who are now grown. And I've consistently been doing really hard things while being very busy. And so I would set these big, ambitious goals for myself and delay until I get to the point where I'd reach the goal or do the vacation. And then by that point, I'm exhausted. It takes me days to relax. And then I'm like, oh, here we go again. So I feel like the biggest difference is now you don't have to delay that. That. That wasn't serving me. That by actually setting up more Breaks more times like a mini vacation. It's actually making me better. It's making me more productive. It makes my clients more productive. And they're enjoying it so much more. They're not just delaying it and working through and being like, okay, until we get there. You're actually building it into your routine and you don't have to delay that. And it's actually better for you and people around you.

Yeah. You know, it reminds me, this is years ago when I'd be visiting, like family or. And it would be mainly kind of with my mom sort of. It would be like, maybe we shouldn't tell her you're coming. Because just the, the I. I forget what the. My sisters would say. And I'd say, you know, the excitement of anticipation is wonderful because it's kind of like surprises are okay, but when you. You're like, looking forward to something, looking forward to seeing somebody, looking forward to a vacation, there's something about it just kind of motivates it, gives us a different level of whatever we're doing. What, what do you. When you're talking to your daughters about taking the breaks, does it. Do they see you as mom, or do they see you as a high performance coach trying to move them to adopt some things? How has that been a challenge or do you have it figured out?

Well, it's always a process, I'll tell you, even with adult children. But I would say your point that you brought up is a very great point. I find that for me, I'm trying to exhibit it more by doing because I learned that I don't want to tell them, oh, you should do whatever you want to do. You should actually enjoy that. And I want them to do that, but then see me not doing it. So I felt like hopefully them seeing me enjoying that and not just working, and then I'm an absolute grouch because when they're here, I'm running around and thinking, I have to do all this stuff. No, I can be present. So hopefully it's that point that they're seeing me do it a little bit differently and they've seen me do it not that way. So I think they enjoy this version a lot more, and I want that for them as well. And to your point of the looking forward to something that is so huge, and that's a lot of why it's so important to schedule some of these things. And I really touch on that because in today's world, we are so used to just. Just plugging in. Take me here or food near Me, we don't even think intentionally about how we want to experience. We have access to everything and so maybe you schedule a time, but you don't even think about how you want to spend it. So there's some elements of that old school travel and the way we can do things now, I love to merge those things because there's some real value in that anticipation.

What do you think? Because we're both familiar with, you know, the, the 12 sessions that we take our clients through. I want you to speak to my community. That one, they like to have fun, but they also like to have the right kind of experience of, of what comes out of high performance coaching because you hear that word and it just doesn't always resonate with everybody. High performance. Okay. High performance. Do I just take it to a higher level? So talk to my community. When it comes to. When you're working with your clients and you're merging travel, having many vacations with the framework of high performance coaching, how is that? How can they understand it better? From your, from your eyes?

Yeah. So as you know, high performance people, usually when you're working with them, they have already achieved a lot of success. They've got things pretty well dialed in. They're just looking to do it better or faster or with more fun or there's something that isn't quite right yet. The pace that they're going, they're seeking, you know, to do things at a higher level. So for me, I didn't even start out as much with the travel aspect. As I started infusing more of that in my experience, I kept finding that is what people gravitated for. That is the biggest thing that people are like, oh, I hadn't thought about that because I've already been very successful. But then again, that feeling burnt out waiting for that delay until like, oh, until then, then I'll take the trip or then I'll, I'll go spend more time doing this or even a hobby really designing what they love. And that it's not all about achievement, it's not all about work, that it should absolutely be a good combination of both and it shouldn't be one or the other. So I feel like that is something that's kind of evolved over time is I kept finding out of any of the things they were loving high performance because we know it works and it works. You can go over it at a different point in your life. So it continues to work, but I feel like working it with more enjoyment, with more fun, with more peace, more of those Elements that you love. That is it. It didn't hit me until, of course, I liked it, but until I see it working in other people, they're like, oh, that is what people. A lot of high achievers are missing.

Yes. So I want to talk on a more of a personal level. We all have our favorites of, you know, I won't. We won't make sure that. That your daughters hear your favorites. But, you know, and that's a whole different story. But. But we have favorite sessions within high performance that we just kind of. We can't wait till we get to that session. What would you say, your top couple sessions that you just can't wait to dig in with your clients? Do you have a couple favorite sessions?

I would say two of my favorite sessions are clarity, because again, I think people skip that. They're like, just tell me what to do. And they don't know how to do that. And because I approach it from the travel aspect when I'm working with individual clients, I'm actually kind of building some navigational tools that I reveal to them along the way. And you know what that's like. One of them spread behind me. And so I think that was really fun for me because I take what we do and I add a few other elements and I design these navigational tools for them. And clarity is a big one for that because they don't really know what's within them. And then I would say courage is. I feel like courage is always a really big one where people have a lot of breakthroughs and it's just been really impactful that. And those are usually towards the beginning. So then we're really able to just within the first four sessions really then make a lot of progress. The rest of the time, it doesn't take as long to get there. And we've done some really cool things right away.

Awesome. I want to kind of shift gears a little bit. So my community does like to have fun. We don't always intentionally do the vacations like we should, and we want to probably grow in that area, being in the travel business for as many years as it been. What would you say you personally, what have you. What places have you enjoyed the most and why have you enjoyed those?

Yeah, I would. I usually say it's wherever I am and whoever I'm with, because that makes a big difference. But I. I would say probably my most recent one that was my favorite is last year I went to Italy for a 50th birthday celebration with a couple of my high school Friends and their spouses and I. It was not only great because it was with them and we don't live nearby, but I was really practicing some these methods. So I was in the moment. I, when I actually took a trip, I was enjoying it and I knew the ways I wanted to infuse not only the trip, but how I was going to utilize it after. Because that's also part of something I do is teach people how to plan, but also take the trip and then how they can leverage that and, and have it be more fun beyond the trip. So I think that's probably the most. I love Europe. I love many things about it, but it was how I experienced it, how present I was, and then how I was able to even still enjoy it a year later. I'm thinking about the way that I'm infusing some of that in my everyday life.

Ooh, that was very, very good. So I want to stay on personal because I want people to the people that are raising girls, raising lots of girls. What was, what was in your raising six girls? What would you say surprised you the most and what was the most challenging part of girls?

Yeah, well, I always loved. I say I love specializing in girls and I do have a grandson now, so that's pretty fun too, but. And some son in laws. But I would say with girls, I, I feel like, and I'm sure this is true in boys, but because I had six of them within five years and four that were born like a minute apart, I just found the beauty of the difference that they are right from the get go. And I think I was more aware of that because I had four at the same time. I really wanted people to see them as individuals and really encourage them to be who they were. It's not just a stage they were at. This is really who they were made to be. And that still holds very much true today. So I think I just love the uniqueness and everything I probably thought that they were going to do, they've done something completely different. And so I love that. I love how wonderful, supportive women can be and girls can be. It can be very much the opposite. You know, people can be competitive, mean, and there's the mean girl thing. And growing up, that was a real challenge. It was easier with the quads because I could make sure that they would always include one another. And I kind of. That my older two didn't have as much. But I think that that's a challenge is just trying to raise them to be kind to others and. But not be A people pleaser and be who they are. So, yeah, as girls and even we grow up, I tell them all the time, adults, adults, girls can be catty. They can be the same way. So it doesn't stop. So I think that's been a real blessing is just being able to see them blossom in that way and really try to carry out those things and take my mistakes and then do it one better and then learn from those and be, you know, now, now I've got one of them that's a mom. So, yeah, they can do it their way.

That is awesome. You know, we talk about personal development and it's for some people, it's a new term. What would you say, like, during your journey as a mom, did. Did you at some point embrace personal development? Did you do it as a little girl or was there a time that you made a shift to say, you know what, I'm going to be intentional about personal development? Was there something in your journey that you could share with our viewers that they might be able to get some insights?

Yeah, actually, it's almost the opposite of what you've said. I think I've always been into learning, reading, personal. I've always enjoyed that. And then I think it was when I became a mom is when I went away from that because I felt like I was too busy. I focused everything on them. We don't have the time. And I kind of started following some invisible playbook that really doesn't exist about this is what moms do. In my head, I would think this is what good moms do. And I stopped seeking as much what is good for how I, you know, for our family, for them. So I really put a lot of things on the back burner because you think that's good. But really I was just delaying. I was doing that, working really hard and then someday mentality. So it really wasn't until I faced the quads that were leaving, going off to college, and I really started thinking about what life look like after that. So that's when I did. I've always done maybe a little bit, but even reading, I probably read four to five books a month. I. I would only read on vacation before. So, you know, I think it really took that major transition to really visit that. And that's when I decided something needed to change. But I wish if I could go back, I would have made sure that I was incorporating, that I didn't have to wait until my kids were grown.

The type. Awesome. The type of books that you read. You know, I. I I see it. I always kind of curious when I ask people about what they're reading. And I see a lot of entertainment books which are great and entertainment's great. But in our society we're watching four hours of tv, we're scrolling up to three hours of social media, we're consuming other people's life. What do you, when you, when you are talking to people about creating because you've created a coaching business, a high performance coaching business, you have a travel business, you created a travel business. What does that mean to you to. To create if you could relate that to our viewers.

Yeah. So for me, my best creativity, that's actually one of my words in mine I call it my encompass is how some of the best of me and how I want to feel. I want to feel that creative side and I feel like by setting up my time, including reading, I don't have to delay that. I love to read personal development and I set my day up that I read at least a chapter every morning and that's how I get a lot read. It's. I'm less on social media. I've really refined my what works for me. And then at night, if I want to read something more entertaining or a novel or fiction, I kind of bookend my days with that. And so I found what works best for me so that I don't get distracted and I allow myself to be more creative because it just comes out of me. So for me, reading is something that sparks creativity or going for a walk allows me to be more creative. When I'm trying so hard and I'm doing too many things, that's what high performance. When I went through it before I became a coach, it really helped me figure out what things to focus on when and not all these things which allowed me to create better and it just flowed a lot easier.

So I want you to speak to my empty nesters that are out there. So when the girls were leaving the house, what was that transition like for you as a mom that you could help our viewers get a better insight into?

Well, ironically, I don't even know if you know this, Pete. My first solo book that I wrote was is called Empty Besting. It's geared towards the empty nest. And the reason I knew I wanted to write a book, I just wasn't sure what that book was at the time. And because I was going to to be facing the empty nest, I started to look out there and I found a lot that was very sad and I know it's a very hard transition Time. But I was determined that that would not be the case for me. So I kind of wrote the book as a. Kind of a how to and then also for myself to. And that was years ago. And when my girls were going to leave, of course, their senior year started in 2019. We all know what happened in 2020, so there was a major thing going on. So it was not only them leaving for college. Looked really different at the time. So I. I think my determination at the time was not only writing the book, but was really about. This can be my next best chapter. It's. I've been a busy mom, but this doesn't define me. And so, yeah, I. I need to go and rework the book sometime. But it's. I. I've seen people really thrive in that transition, and some people get really, really stuck because it is. It's a hard transition.

Yeah, it is. It is. And, you know, it's. I think that's a very accurate thing. Some thrive, some get stuck. And so, yeah, we. We obviously want to be the thriving part of it. What do you think when. When it comes to just, like, relaxing, what do you like to do when you're not coaching, when you're not planning a mini vacation and a vacation for people? What do you like to do for fun?

I. I do. I love reading. I. I love reading in quiet. I think it's because it's quiet. There's. You read a chapter and you're finished. It's not. You know, you. You feel like some sense of accomplishment. I still like a book in my hand. I love to be outdoors. And we. I live in a cold. The Midwest, so when it's nice, it's like. Like we're getting into that season. And my husband. I love to play golf. So I'm also. We. He and I, we spend a lot of time listening to music. We. We collect vinyl records, and we love doing that and playing games. We. We don't watch a ton of tv. We like to just enjoy music and play games or play golf, because that hits my competitive side. So. Yeah.

Okay. You said something. I gotta keep. I gotta ask you a question. So I was just talking to a friend of mine that, you know, we're talking about the reunion. He's a golf buddy, and I've known him since high school. And so his wife's a very competitive golfer, so it's me. And so he remarks when he plays with her, it's like. And he. I forgot what he said. It was something. It was like, you know, the competitive comes out and it's like, it wasn't like it was, I can't wait to play with my wife. But they do. How do you handle competition when you're having fun in a sport like golf?

Yeah, well, it's very different than most sports as you know. It is, it is a complete mindset thing and there, there will be times where I say I should be doing better by now. Like it, there's, it's a constant process. As you know. It can be the littlest of shift. But what I love is what we found and we've had to refine it hasn't always been great. Be like, I have to put myself in a timeout because I'm crabby. I'm just like, I need a minute because I'm gonna get there. But I'm, I don't. He knows now when I'm seeking his advice to like, why didn't that go well? Versus don't tell me right now. I want to figure it out. So I think it's a system where you learn how to make it fun. And neither him or I are like amazing. We just like having fun and I like that time we're just spending together on a cart. You're talking, it's a slow moving game. But you know, it's, it's, it's a game as you know. But it's, it's great to work on your mindset all the time.

Yeah. So I'm gonna, I, I, we're gonna share maybe a clip from, from this because I think it is how you approach anything, regardless whether it's golf or whatever. It's how you approach it and to have fun out of it. You know, it's kind of like life's short and we, we, we want to enjoy what we're doing but we don't always show up with that kind of mindset. So as we wind down. So tell her what would our viewer. What would you want our viewers to take home from our time on. On the podcast and before that. Hold on, I got my dyslexia flipped it. Tell our viewers how can they get a hold of you?

Yeah, well, yes, they can reach me, have the number, text or call. My website is just my name, Christy Huss.com and in helloristyhus.com is a way that they can email me. So and yeah, you can find me on I'm probably on Instagram more and I do have a social media substack. People are in substack called life on the flip side. So I love to help people look at things in a different way, whether that be through coaching, speaking, whatever I'm doing. I like them look explore the world, explore their own inner world and look at things a different way so they can enjoy the journey more.

That is awesome. So what would you want our viewers to take home from our time on the podcast?

One thing is you don't have to pick one or the other. So even as we talked about my career, I love helping people merge what they're good at and they don't have to pick one or the other. That makes them really unique. So mostly is just to look at things a little bit differently. Even the approach of how you can have more fun, how you can infuse things that you love while doing big goals or achieving a lot, they both can go together and you can enjoy things much. I want people just to enjoy their everyday life. I want to enjoy them, be better travelers in their everyday life and throughout the world.

Awesome, man. Christy, thank you, thank you. Thank you for being with us and I appreciate you sharing with our. Our community some. Some things that I want them to take home. So if people are listening to this, share this with people that you think need to hear from Christy, because having fun and achieving high levels of your life are possible, but you can't. They don't fall out of the sky magically. It takes. Takes effort and takes intention. So thank you so much, Christy, for spending time with us today.

Yeah, thank you.