Mindset May Brooke BarrettSmith Songwriter

Welcome to the Mike Hartman show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode. We are still on the series mindset May. And today my guest is Brooke Barrett Smith. She is a singer, songwriter, musician. She was on that show American Idol. I used to love watching that show. And now, I mean, we're going to do a little reverse and she's going to share her story, but now she's a coach. She's a leadership coach, voice coach. Brooke, it's so great to have you today.

Thanks so much, Mike. It's a pleasure to be here.

Yeah. So, I mean, you have a really unique background and, you know, I. We could talk longer than 30 minutes, I could tell you that. But I haven't found too many people that has your background being a singer, songwriter, been out there in the world of talking about having that mindset to get out in front of people. I mean, that's. That's a. You had a very unique career.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, it was important to me to leverage the creative background, the performance background, the artistry, the music, the songwriting into what I do today as essentially a business coach.

That's amazing. And with the experience. So just let's talk a little bit about the mindset and just share with me because I know as a former athlete, I would have butterflies. I would get nervous before a big game. But when you're going out to, like, on the stage for like, American Idol, is it adrenaline? Is it nerves? Please share that with me.

Yeah, it's all the above. It's. It's so similar to competitive athletics. I know you and I have had a conversation before where we talked about the mindset and the mind frame being so similar between performing arts and athletics because it's such. It's so heavy on the mental game aspect. It's about overcoming that anxiety in the moment and also the anticipatory anxiety that you have before the event or before the game. Yeah. So a lot of. A lot of that performance background lends itself to learning to overcome those mental obstacles and also dealing with the pressure in the moment. And that's where the mindset and the mind frame training really comes into play. Play.

So I personally know, like, my. When I was a professional athlete, I was 19 years old, just out of high school, and I played my first game. I was told in the morning that I was going to dress in an exhibition game for the Buffalo Sabers, and all the rookies were left behind and they asked me to play that night. And I didn't have time to get nervous and I was on adrenaline. I was excited. But after about a couple weeks, then it sunk in. Oh, that went away. Tell me about the American Idol. Was it when you went out there, where is it, wow, I've arrived. Or what was that feeling like?

Man, I wish it was that way. Every singer and performer will tell you it's like there's no magic moment where you really feel as though you've arrived. I mean, there's, there's certainly, you know, important moments where you're like, wow, this is really happening. But in those moments, it's just kind of more horror and like terror. I think for me, being on the American Idol stage was a big wake up call to the amount of anxiety and kind of visceral response to fear you can have as a performer because it was a worldwide stage I had never been on, even though by that time I was in my early 20s and I had been professionally performing right out of high school, even had had a record deal out of high school. So I knew what pressure felt like. But, you know, being on a world stage and, you know, it's the same with you being in the NHL. It's, it's, it's a different type of responsibility that you feel to continually deliver consistent results. Once you hit that, you know, like you said, once you hit that special point, it's, it's a responsibility you feel to be always at your best. And that's a different type of mind. Mind frame to have.

Yeah, well, I think too, I don't know, for me, now I'm surrounded by it. You have to address 20 players and on a team for, for, you know, within a hockey game here, you know, you got the goalie, you got six defensemen, and then, then you have your forwards and it's made up of 20 and you have an extra goalie, so backup goal, there's 20 people. So you walk through the tunnel with 20, but when you're walking through by yourself and all the bright lights are on you and all eyes are on you, that I, I don't know how I would handle that at 23 years old. I mean. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I mean, share that with me. How did, like, how did you handle that?

Yeah, well, you know, it's it's a lot of prep leading up to that. Just like you didn't become a hockey player overnight. Same thing with being on that type of a stage or having that type of a platform as a performer. It's a lot of dedication to behind the scenes. You're. You're studying your craft, you're honing in on it, you're practicing for hours, you're kind of woodsheding alone. And. And also you're implementing it into a band or into, you know, touring and learning every in amount there is about being a musician. What's the lifestyle? It's such a different lifestyle. So you build confidence in the skill set leading up to those big moments where the spotlights are on you because you don't get there overnight. You start out playing to like five people in a coffee house on a Friday night in these obscure little towns across the US and you wonder, you know, is this worth it? But, you know, when you love something that much, when you're that passionate about it, you do what it takes to develop and get there. And that's, you know, you know, there's that old phrase that they like to use for that calling paying your dues. And that's, you know, really what it takes to get there. That's the training for it. It's very practical in its application. The training for becoming that person that has the spotlight on them, on that worldwide platform.

That's so true. Like paying your dues. And I'm glad you said that, because a lot of times I talk to people, they're coaches now, or they want to be an athlete or they're trying to be whatever they're trying to be within their life, and they think it just should come easy. Oh, I just, I want to be this, and I deserve this. But the amount of hours I'm sure that you had to put in was like, yeah, a lot.

So many hours. So many hours practicing, you know, and that's, that's kind of the art form that I teach now, too, as far as becoming a leader. I teach communication and public speaking skills and leadership skills and conflict resolution, all that in corporate America now as a leadership and communication coach. But, you know, it's the same thing. It's these practical applications. You have to pay some dues. You have to mess up a little bit and try and get up again, fall down and pick yourself back up again over and over to really get good at anything. Not just being a good leader, not just being a great athlete or a great singer. You know, it's that willingness to put in the work and to maybe embarrass yourself playing a couple of wrong notes at coffee houses across the country to get there.

Well, well, you know. So take me to your, you know, your public speaking. Because when I was young, my father said I wanted you to go to summer school. And I said, for what? He says, I want you to take a communications course because it's going to be good for you. If you're an athlete, you'd have to know how to speak in front of a camera.

Yeah.

And I thought he was crazy. So we did like at the informative speaking, the demonstrative speaking, and it was, it was great. It taught me a lot. And then my father would take a camera and say, I want you to speak into it. I said, how stupid is this? I'm not gonna. But then I look back on it. He wasn't so stupid after all. And I realized how important that is. Because if your message is clear and what you're saying, and I'm not saying I'm always clear on my podcast, I try to be. But if it's not clear, then no one's going to understand you. And that's so important. So tell me a little bit about your public speaking. I'd love to hear about that.

Yeah, it's a lot of what your dad did, there was so much wisdom there, and I bet you're so thankful that he did that with you. When you got into that space of, you know, speaking and interviewing and being kind of a public figure, there's a huge responsibility for the message that you're carrying, not just for yourself, but for your organization. So whether it's a sport organization or, you know, a corporation, whatever. But yeah, the public speaking part, it's. It's the same thing. There's a lot of practice involved there, and a lot of it takes just the confidence in doing it. You have to have someone. You have to be willing to have someone tell you what you're doing wrong and observe you and really help you fine tune those skills in a vulnerable state. Sense. Because there's one uniting thing, usually across all of space and time, that everyone agrees that is give. Makes them break out into a cold sweat when they think about it. And that's getting up in front of a group of people. And speaking. Public speaking is like a united common fear that we all have as people. And you know, I love, like super successful people have gone through that same training, learning how to be clear and concise in your message and not just that Impactful. What's the meaning behind what you do? Whether it's sports, music, business, you know, what can I convey? You know, my, My mission? What's. My. What's. What's the whole purpose behind what I do? And can I. Can I define that clearly? Because there's a responsibility to, to do that and to. In order to have impact. And, you know, somebody who does that, really, who. Someone who promotes that is Warren Buffett. He talks about that being one of the top five skills I believe that every person should learn, but definitely business leaders should learn how to communicate well as on a public forum.

That's so true. We do that within our. We do that within even our business. I used to do a lot of public speaking. I used to speak to dentists, and I would speak to them. I would do these seminars to dentists all over the United States. I was invited to go all over the world with my buddy. He has a mini dental implant business, and he lectures in front of between 50 to sometimes 500 dentists. And the first thing he would do, though, he would get up because he, He. He doesn't have a filter. So he would get up and he would say a bad joke about me. Like, Mike might be one of the. I don't know, he would say some stupid joke and all of a sudden put me. And I wasn't nervous at that point, but I. But you have to be prepared for everything. So sometimes he would say things like he would introduce me, or he would say too much, like, oh, he was a star. No, I never was a star athlete. I was an average player when I played. And then they make you feel uncomfortable. Are there tools for overcoming that type of fear that you use?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, and a lot of what you were saying is just putting yourself out there. You wouldn't know how to respond or react or what to do in those scenarios had you not had that exposure to it. So a lot of what I do is exposure therapy. We have to prep you for an actual event. You have to put yourself out there and plan these presentations, volunteer to be the one leading the group meeting, you know, and we'll. We'll throw together a really dynamic deck, whatever we have to do to empower you to be a great either motivational speaker or communicator within the workplace. But it's all about putting yourself out there and giving yourself those opportunities. You know, I think about you. You're talking about the. The dentist kind of speaking that you're doing there. I remember I went to Vegas to speak at the, I don't know, some kind of national chiropractic event as well. And I was like, wow, I don't know where I fit into this equation. And I was really trying to piece. Piece it together. How. How can I relate to people that. That are chiropractors and. And doctors for a living that heal people? And I was like, there it is. They heal people. So that was a huge talking point for me and inspiring. I was singing and speaking to them at that event, and I just wanted to thank them for. For the work that they literally do with their hands in healing people. And I got such great feedback for just that little. Just that little snippet of taking some time to study, you know, what they do and how they've helped people and, you know, how, you know, how important it is, what they do. Just acknowledging that. So, I mean, and I wouldn't have learned all this stuff about speaking had I not just put myself out there. Normally, when you see something come across your table, you're like a chiropractic event. I mean, I play rock and roll and headbang with an electric guitar. What am I supposed to say to these people to relate to them, you know? But there's always something. There's always something to speak to that you can find common ground on.

Yeah. And you mentioned the word confidence a lot. And everything's about confidence. And one thing I hear in your voice, that's that really good energy. So I'm sure when you're speaking that you're probably making everybody calm and feel comfortable. Sure. How do you. Is there a way to bring positive energy into, like, you're working with the chiropractors? Or what's the mindset of saying okay? Or what if you just had an argument with your spouse? I don't want to ask you two questions at once, but what if you've had a tough situation? How do you still bring that positive energy in?

Well, confidence for me, in. In its truest essence is knowing that no matter what is going on in my life, my personal life, my business life, no matter what just happened before I got to go on stage and speak to these people or sing or perform, to me, true confidence is knowing that even despite all of that, I. I know why I'm here. I know what my purpose is, and it's that laser focus on that goal. And it's like that across the board. I know in every industry, it's like that in sports and in music and definitely in business, we have to leave our problems at the door, so to speak. So a lot of confidence has to do with knowing that, okay, in this space I check out of my problems and I check into my purpose. And that positive energy just comes from a lot of, a lot of work and, and just self belief and knowing that everyone I believe. And this is. There's a trend circulating on the Internet right now that's saying something like, you know, it's okay if you don't have a purpose and if you don't have, you know, something to do bit major with your life. And I just think that's a load of crap because everyone has been created for a purpose. It's. It exists within you. It could be a few purposes actually. And finding confidence is knowing what those unique strengths are within you that you bring to the table in this world. Because I guarantee there's people who need to learn from you and hear from you and be encouraged by you, be inspired by you. And so that's, that's mindset to me, that confidence in knowing that I'm here for a reason. I'm going to serve my purpose and nothing's going to distract me. And trust me, I know you've been there, Mike, and I've been there with this. The stuff flying at you at the most inopportune times, trying to distract you from being an excellent speaker, motivator, business person, athlete, singer, whatever. It's, that's life. So it's, it's, it's a, it's that choice to, it's choosing confidence in that.

It sure is. It's choosing to, to even say the right things because sometimes if you make up fluff or if you exaggerate or you're not your true authentic self, you would know this better than me with a speaking coach. It's not going to come out the way you want it.

Yeah, right. Yep, exactly. You have to believe what you're speaking. You really do. You have to have put the work in or has to be a passion or a subject that you are just so gung ho about that it's just a continual research, ongoing work in progress. That's what I'm doing right now in my PhD. I'm studying for my PhD in coaching and counseling psychology. And you know, I don't know everything in this field yet, but that's the excitement of it. I'm not gonna not talk about it because I don't know everything yet. And that's the beauty of learning and that's the beauty of life. We'll never totally know everything and so it's you. You have a baseline for what you do know and that confidence in it to keep learning and speaking growing. And yeah, that's, that's, that's the beauty of what we do as coaches is teaching people, giving people that permission almost to, to be those students in that way and just kind of go after. Just dive in and try and just do it right?

Like, why not just. What do you have to lose sometimes? And yeah. Okay, so now we're gonna totally shift because, I mean, it's amazing of the, of not only the energy you bring in what you do. Be seeing, you know, singer, songwriter, working on communication. And now let's get into now. You could speak my language a little better, I could speak yours. Leadership coaching. How did you get involved with that? Where does that come from?

Yeah, you know, leadership coaching was kind of a byproduct of everything that I've been doing through music. So, you know, being a professional musician all throughout my 20s, having record deals, doing all of that in a lot of ways, directing and leading my career and my choices in my life, and then transitioning out of touring because it's exhausting into teaching voice, applied voice lessons and songwriting and performance, stage performance. And then within that, spending a lot of time actually with my students, adults and, and young people alike, just kind of coaching them through a lot of just like life transition things. And, you know, less. It was less applied teaching the actual music and the scales and stuff, and it became more about checking in with them and how they were doing, how we can empower them to have that confidence to take what they were learning and do it, you know, and, or overcoming stage fright or overcoming self doubt or imposter syndrome. And so through becoming a vocal coach, I realized that I love the coaching aspect more. You know, the, the mental, the cognitive part of it. Put myself through school and here I am today. And leadership coaching was just a byproduct of that because, you know, it's all these same elements that we're talking about being a great leader. It's. It's 100% about confidence in becoming a great leader.

I love that. And it's so important. So I teach this. And it doesn't mean there's, there's different ways to teach leadership or lead or serve. But, you know, I always believed in. As an athlete, I, I knew I wasn't the most talented athlete. I knew I had to do extra or. And I was realistic within who I was. How important is it to work towards your strengths within whatever you're Doing within leadership so important.

There's always somebody better or going to be somebody better than us anyway. You know, I mean, I. Same thing. I knew that I was unique because I was me, but I never thought that I was necessarily the best singer in the world. Does it take that type of confidence? Yeah. Heck yeah. I mean, but does that actually mean you are? Probably not, but that's okay. What it takes is you believing in the fact that no matter what you put your mind to, you can be successful. Allowing for other people to have success and cheering them on as well teaches you a lot about yourself. And that way you remove a whole other obstacle that we face, which is the enemy of comparison. You don't want to do that. People that are kind of on the same path or on the same par, or maybe even above you and beyond you, you need to learn from those people. There's something that they figured out. Maybe the style of everything they do doesn't fit you, but we can draw and learn from everyone around us. Anyone that's, that's participating in something that we're participating in. You know, there were other singers and performers and musicians that I could have been like, man, they're, they're better than me, darn it. But instead I was like, you know, what can I learn from them? What are they killing it and, you know, how are they rocking it? What's, what's setting them apart? What's, what are they speaking about that's really touching people's lives and making a difference? It's the same thing in sports. You, you can't have that fixed, you know, growth mentality. You have to have that growth mentality. It can't be a fixed mentality. It has to be a team, it has to be a team oriented thing. It can't be ego oriented. And you know that especially being in a team sport. So that's, that's a huge part of leadership, is knowing I can always improve, but I can always learn as well from other people especially.

Isn't that true? I feel I learn from people every day. I. People say, boy, even on your website, you have competitors. I said, doesn't matter. There's, there's a, there's many people out in the world and I could learn from many. I mean, I'm even learning today. So, I mean, I think you're the first songwriter. Well, never interviewed my daughter. She wasn't at the level you were at. But I've never interviewed somebody that has so many different, you know, these different traits going from the singer, songwriter, to doing the communication side of it. Now, the leadership coach, and it's. And it all goes hand in hand. And this is where I'm going to get into the goal setting. How important is setting goals within leadership for your. For your clients or people you work with?

Oh, it's everything. Goals. Goals are everything. It's, it's the motivation, it's the. It's the payoff. It's how we quantify, you know, if our coaching has been successful too. You know, if, if our client has successfully reached that goal. So it not just helps them feel competent because we feel competent in reaching goals. Right. We don't have to have a huge, huge, you know, we can have that huge, big picture dream that's like 20 years down the road, of course. But the micro goals are, and I was trained in that in my master's program in positive coaching. The micro goals are everything. You know, those small achievements along the way that make you feel as though you're really building upon a solid foundation, you're reaching that next step on a consistent basis. It helps the client really feel as though they're mastering this skill set. And also it helps us, you and I, as coaches, to know that we are, in fact, being effective at what we're doing. And that's important too.

It's so, so true. That is so true. To have to set goals that are, that are manageable.

Right.

That goals that are attainable. And some people say, well, you know, I want to be on American Idol. Well, you just don't get on American Idol. It doesn't work like that. You have to go through several different processes and, and so many different things just to. To get there. So, yeah, now I've looked at your website and going to share this last part. Tell me about your. Everything's about transformation with you. You talk about clients transformation as one of your number one priorities.

Yeah, absolutely.

What do you mean by that?

Well, that, that means that, you know, resilience, and I love this definition of resilience. This is kind of my. A big philosophy that I've adopted into my coaching practice is people usually come to us, right, to figure something out. Like as coaches, they're not necessarily coming to us for mental health therapy. There's licensed providers for that. What they're doing is they're either stuck or they need a transformation, or they need a breakthrough or they need to reach that next goal and they just don't know how to get there. And so transformation, to me is the number one key there. It's. It's the. It's the defining thing in coaching for the client. It's that aha moment. It's the breakthrough. And I love what I was going to say about resilience is we usually picture building resilience in a client or in ourselves as bouncing back to from something. Like we hit a wall and we're like, well, I just need to bounce back. I'm so discouraged right now and I'm in a rut. You know, we don't want to bounce back to what we were before because that's why we hit the wall in the first place. So kind of like a cognitive reframe there with the whole idea of resilience being more about transformation. Like how can I change from this moment forward so that when that I come up against this wall again, I have a toolbox where I know how to build the steps over and above that wall. Like how. How did I change as a person? What skills changed? What do I know now and what have I learned? Because I'm never going to bounce back to who I used to be. I'm going to keep dedicating to transformation, which is how, you know every time. Because we're going to hit walls in life and in business. No matter what, we're going to hit them. But how do I know I'm going to overcome it every time? Transform, change. That's the beauty of life. The one, the one constant. Right. Is change. And change can be such a beautiful thing. If we look at it like I'm transforming, I'm becoming better, I'm improving.

Yeah. And I hear people are afraid of change. I don't never really understood that. It's like they're so set in their ways or set in their life where, you know, you. I think because you've lived it, where you're going from town to town and playing in little coffee houses like you said and working your way to the top. That, that for you it was probably was it. It was like a challenge. It wasn't. Okay, come on. I'm up for a change and the change for the better. And I think a lot of us are afraid of just making little changes in our life.

Yeah. And that's it. It's just. Just fear. The fear of change. And that, you know, addressing that fear up front is really important. What's. What's the. What is the reason why? Like what has. What's held you back? And usually there's, you know, deeper things to explore there. The self doubt, you know, someone telling you at some point in your life that you just weren't capable, you know? So we need to explore that dialogue. And that's part of the communication coaching that I bring to the table. Because sometimes that fear of change is a narrative that we read to ourselves over and over again internally. And we don't. We don't know that we're telling ourselves or replaying these things in the back of our minds or in our hearts or there's a truth that we've adopted about ourselves that isn't actually a truth about who we are and what we're supposed to do. A good coach can come in and help you. Here it is. Recognize it and transform it.

Well, very well said. Well, Brooke, it was great having you today. Can you do this for me? Can you tell me where people can get in touch with you if they want to even tell us where we can listen to your music as well? I've never had to say that before. As well as where can people find you with your website or LinkedIn? Please share.

Yeah, absolutely. If you want to find me online, just visit my website. It's brookebarrett smith.com. barrett Smith has two R's and two T's. I'm on LinkedIn just under Brooke Barrett Smith. You can find me on there as well. I'd love to hear from you. You can listen to my music on every streaming platform you can possibly imagine. Spotify, Apple, Music, all of that.

Nice. Well, thank you for being here. Congratulations on everything that you've done in leading people and serving people. It's been great having you. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mike.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Mike Hartman Show. If you're enjoying what you've heard so far, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review on your preferred podcast listening platform. We really appreciate that effort. We'll catch you in the next episode of the Mike Hartman Show.

Sam.