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Heart First Leadership
Welcome to Heart First Leadership, the podcast that explores a revolutionary approach to leadership. In a world that often prioritizes success above all else, it's easy to find ourselves leading from a space of fear, doubt, and unworthiness. There is a new way!
Join me, your host Ryan Sawyer, and my co-host and wife, Heidi Sawyer, on a transformative journey as we seek to inspire and guide leaders, parents, and athletes to unlock the secrets to a truly fulfilling life—one that resonates from the heart. In Heart First, we challenge the conventional norms and embark on a voyage together, where heart-driven leadership becomes the compass for a life well lived.
Are you ready to redefine where you lead from? Let's dive into meaningful conversations, insights, and practical tips that will empower you to embrace a new paradigm of leadership.
Heart First Leadership
Choosing Growth: Embracing Worthy Challenges and Living with Intention with Heidi Sawyer
Heidi and I have always believed that life's most significant growth stems from challenges we choose, not those that simply find us. This episode takes you through our family's journey of identifying and conquering these worthy challenges, starting with our son Colton's gritty preparation for the Unbeatable Mind Experience and culminating in Heidi's brave decision to undergo explant surgery. It's a story of intention, resilience, and the transformative power of aligning actions with values.
Join us as we dissect what it means to craft a Worthy Challenge that pushes the boundaries of comfort and initiates growth.
To close, we discuss the larger impact of our adventures on our community. Heidi's candid sharing via her podcast and social media presence at real_heidi_sawyer has cast a ripple of empowerment and authenticity. This episode isn't just a conversation; it's an invitation to step into your potential and join a community dedicated to living with heart-first intentionality.
>>> Get our FREE Heary First Guide to Helping Teens Thrive Beyond Performance
What's inside the guide?
- How to better help your student stay engaged, motivated, and resilient by focusing on learning, improving, and expanding their capacity.
- How to avoid common behaviors and messages that cause students to "duck their heads" or adopt avoidant strategies.
- Get practical exercises and conversation starters that you can use with your teens or students at school, sports and home.
Website: www.ihpcoaching.com
Follow Us on IG: @mentalstrengthcoach
Welcome back to the show. Today I have my favorite guest, who's obviously been on this podcast many of times my beautiful wife, heidi Sauer. Thank you for joining me today, heidi. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1:So I discussed on my last solo cast the idea that I would have a conversation about worthy challenges, and so I thought I would bring Heidi on to help me discuss this, so it's not just me talking myself in circles, but the two of us to be able to discuss where this kind of comes from a little bit and why it's important and how we've integrated this into our family and how we have seen a lot of growth from it. So I'm going to tell a little story here first, and then we can kind of just discuss what it looks like. And then, what are our worthy challenges? How does that sound? Does that sound good? Sounds great, yeah, so this goes back to a couple of years ago. We first started doing worthy challenges as a family and we haven't been 100% with it, but we have been fairly consistent with it. Especially Colton and I have been probably more consistent with it. But Heidi has clearly overcome a recent worthy challenge as well.
Speaker 1:But going back a couple years to telling the story of when Colton prepared to go to UME. So something happened in his little life when he was nine years old that sparked a conversation between him and I that we have to take on challenges, that to have a hero's mindset to make sure that you're growing, you're expanding, you're pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, that you're building your self-concept, that you're getting more confident and more connected to who you truly want to be and how you want to operate in the world. That you have to take on challenges, that you need to seek challenges or you will fall into traps of being trying to be like everybody else, which is going to cause suffering. It's going to cause challenges to find you. So he had made a little mistake at school, or a big mistake at school, and I'm not going to go into that part of the story, but it led to a conversation that we've talked about a few different times and we have a book coming out called we Can Do Hard and Thames that Colton and I wrote together and led to us setting a challenge, and his challenge was that he and he picked it. This is an important part of it. He picked it to want to go to unbeatable mind, experience and train with the unbeatable team of a group of former Navy Seals, and we set out that it would take three months of training. It would take daily practice, it would take daily cold exposure, it would take daily reflection time and that he had to set out to do all of this over the course of three months to achieve his worthy challenge of being able to go to the event, to execute all the evolutions from the ice bath to the beach games and to all the things.
Speaker 1:It's a physical, mental, emotional, spiritual thing. So that's where it began, where we began to set worthy challenges, and if you're familiar with the hero's journey Joseph Campbell's hero's journey it's a worthy challenge is where you're going to leave your comfort zone. You're going to need some sort of mentorship, you're going to need some sort of accountability, you're going to have to learn something new. You're going to have to study, learn something new, learn something new about yourself and the objectivist to return to your life after a specific amount of time with a new skills, new knowledge, a new version of yourself, an upgraded version of yourself.
Speaker 1:So worthy challenges are something where you're testing yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually and maybe even within a service oriented aspect of your life. So, yeah, I would just love to hear from you, just Heidi, a little bit about us as a family, how this has been integrated in. I would love to hear a worthy challenge that you have recently overcome. This is why the main reason why I want to have this conversation with you is because you took on a worthy challenge recently. That was huge, and so I would like for you to share that story a little bit if you're open.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. First, I want to touch on one of the things that you said, where they're choosing the challenge or we're allowing life to challenge us in random ways. Yeah Right, and when we choose our challenge, we move ourselves from a place of potentially falling into that trap you talked about, of complacency, that trap that people fall into. And on my show I'm interviewing people with stories of transformation. So many people said I had no idea how I got here, how I got to this place, where my life was just kind of meh, I'm all right, I'm doing all right, and just kind of going through the motions, instead of continuing to push ourselves to grow and evolve in new and different ways and that can be, like you said, physical, emotional, mental or sometimes a combination of all of those for my worthy challenge Because last year, really something I've been working on for a while has been putting my health first, putting myself first, and I've been on a journey of really truly learning to love and accept myself in deeper and deeper ways for many years now. But that all kind of culminated when I had ran into a friend and she kind of in the what's new conversation, she said, yeah, I've just had x-plant surgery and I'm like what's that? She said I've got, I've had my breast implants removed because they were making me sick. And she said I have my health back. I feel so much better. And it was a mental and emotional journey, not just physical, and that I think that was the part that intrigued me Number one realizing that there's potential health risks to having breast implants, which I had at the time had for 17 years but also understanding that there was a mental and emotional component to that. And so for me, that little light bulb went off and I thought okay, what's here for me. If I don't believe in coincidence, I don't think I ran into her by chance and that that conversation came up. I think that it came up for a reason.
Speaker 2:And so I went home, I thought about it and I called my mom, who also had had breast implants for many, many years, almost 40 years and I said hey, mom, I'm thinking about doing this. What do you think she's like? Oh, wow. And I said I want to tell you. The person who I talked to said if you start researching this, I just want to forewarn you that you can't unsee what you're about to see, Because there's a lot of information out there about the risks of having breast implants and the potential health harm that it can do, including risks of specific types of cancers. So what ended up happening was my mom, of course, researched on her own and she came back and said Wow, okay, I've just found out that my implants are recalled, because the FDA recalled them actually in 2019. And she was never notified. And it was because of a risk of a specific type of cancer, a specific type of lymphoma associated with the implant that she had. So she said I have to do this and I said I'm with you, I'm doing it too. So she decided to go first and we went through the process of finding the right surgeon, understanding the correct way to explant, and then I started to mentally prepare myself for the challenge, and what that meant for me was the first step.
Speaker 2:When we talk about the cycle of transformation, the first step is the choice point. I came to a choice point with my decision where I decided this isn't for me anymore and I have been leaning that direction for many years and feeling that it just wasn't aligned with who I was anymore. It was a decision I made in my 20s, at a low point, and kind of searching for that competence and thinking that that existed somewhere outside of me. And then you know now I'm 40, realizing that that is an inside job and that, no matter what I look like on the outside, it has to come from inside me first. So when we talk about the cycle of transformation, we have the choice point. I was at that choice point. I was ready to change something in my life. I was ready to have this surgery. Then I had to create space for it. So I had to really look at, as I prepare to go into this, what are some of the things that maybe are tasks or responsibilities that I need to pare down.
Speaker 2:I kind of went into a season of not taking on additional work, not taking on additional projects, because I knew that I was leading up to this. Then I had to understand what the sacrifice was right, Because in anything where we're thinking we're going to have some sort of reward or growth, there's going to be a sacrifice. So for me, what I had to sacrifice was this idea that I had no idea what it was going to look like on the other side. And can I be okay with me if I have terrible scars, if I'm misshapen, if, whatever all the what-ifs, can I be okay with me, Can I still love me?
Speaker 2:Then the other thing I had to reconcile with was forgiveness for myself, for my 20-year-old self, and realizing that she was just doing the best that she could.
Speaker 2:She was just doing what she thought was right in that time with the information she had.
Speaker 2:So that was the first piece, was the forgiveness. Then it was kind of going through some of the stages of realizing that this is getting real, as I booked the surgery and had dates set up and then just really working on my internal self-talk, really working on liking the reasons why I was doing it and making sure that it was really for my own growth and for this larger statement of not only self-love and self-acceptance but wanting to show my daughter that she's lovable, that she's worthy, that she's perfect just the way that she is and to never let society or any ideal that's put, placed into your consciousness, allow you to make decisions that are not in alignment with the highest good of you. So that was really the big thing for me and that became the motivator. Going through it was really wanting to show my daughter that it's okay to make mistakes. We can move forward from that place and the most important thing is the relationship that you have with yourself and you liking the reasons why you're choosing to do something.
Speaker 1:So let's unpack this. So thank you, first of all for sharing, obviously and I know you've been sharing this story a lot on social media and have been impacting countless people who have come to you to ask for support, ask for help. So I want to just illuminate what I prefaced this conversation with is what is a worthy challenge, and worthy challenge is where you're going to be tested physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and potentially across all those realms. You're going to seek the challenge, which means that it would be really easy to like, well, avoid that. You know to see, or maybe it doesn't cause a problem, maybe it does, maybe they leak, maybe they don't, maybe this, maybe that, all the things.
Speaker 2:Because, just to be clear, I was not sick with breast implant illness. A lot of people who have explant surgery are experiencing a lot of symptoms. I had zero symptoms, really, and that it was just purely a decision out of care for my future self, setting an example for my daughter and doing something that was most aligned with who I have evolved to be today versus who I was before.
Speaker 1:Right. So you seek the challenge of really leaning into what was going to cause mental emotional growth, right, you're going to have to work through all the different stages of fear of the unknown and some grieving that happened in one way or the other, the forgiveness, all those pieces. So this is a big example of a worthy challenge, in my opinion, and just I want to say this publicly I am so incredibly proud of you, like, so freaking proud when you. I was always just being supportive and not influencing one way or the other, but I was like in the background, feeling like I was the biggest cheerleader, pom-poms in my hand and cheering you on right and so just because I knew that, on the other side, the reward of who you became in the process of choosing to take on this challenge, to love yourself, to accept yourself and to also do it in a way where you're taking your eyes off of yourself, supporting your mom, obviously, and making sure that she was healthy and continue to be healthy, as well as any other women who are ready to listen that they hey, this is, this is not. You might not have all the information. So like, so proud of you on from so many different levels.
Speaker 1:And if you look at this, it's the idea of seeking the challenge. It's the idea of having to step into the unknown, there being unknowns of. You know, anytime you go into surgery, anytime you're being put under like it's there's risk, right, not to mention also what's it going to look like. Am I going to be okay with that? I have to be okay with that on the other side, and all those things. But then you also seek out accountability and you also seek that information and knowledge, right. So accountability is with your mother mainly. The two of you supported each other through this as well, as there was countless hours of you studying and understanding, which has led to you returning Like. This return that I am witnessing right now is magnificent, like it's a. You know, it's kind of like as I have gone through my own personal transformation. You've joked with me a couple of times like, hey, I upgraded right.
Speaker 1:For, compared to the person that you met back in 2008, the, the, whatever you know it's, it really feels like that. You're more present, you're more balanced, you're more passionate, you're more purposeful, you're more consistent, you're more intentional, you're happier, like wow, right, and it has nothing to do with the cosmetic aspect of your body. It has everything to do with the healing work that happened internally and so you returned. You returned back to your life, back to the world, upgraded, right, your version of yourself, loving yourself more and being able to offer other people insight, support, love, empathy, compassion, wow, all things. So that's really a beautiful illustration of of what a worthy challenge can be on a massive scale.
Speaker 1:Right, no-transcript, what is for you? As I just kind of illustrated everything that I've seen and you kind of told, like the nuts and the bolts, what is for you on the other side? Something that maybe has surprised you, or something that's like, ooh, I didn't. I mean, I was hoping for the best, and I know that you have a very strong connection to your future self. I know that we do this work where we kind of construct and imagine who we're becoming and then we take steps and incremental steps towards that, and that's a big part of worthy challenges is like what's the next thing that's going to create the vehicle or the container where I'm gonna need to or have to, almost, but want to step into that version of me, right, whether it's right in a book, or whether it's this, that or the other Like so, on the other side of this challenge, now that you're on the other side of it and we're not far off, I mean, when was it? November is right before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:I spent today 11 weeks, 11 weeks today. Yeah, so you're right on the other side of it, and what has been something that has shown up for you? Now, right, that it's like. I mean, I knew you knew some of the things that you were hoping for, but seems to me that there's more than what you thought on the other side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I think when we're going into a challenge especially one where we feel that we're, you know there's potential risks, there's sacrifice we tend to focus on the things that we're giving up. We tend to focus on this loss of something that we identified with or the specific actions that have to do with the change, and a lot of what I've experienced emotionally has really freed me up in an incredible way. I feel like in a lot of ways, I was kind of the caterpillar and I went into my cocoon and I melted down into goo and I came back out as a butterfly and I'm in this place of emerging and I'm seeing other women coming forth and asking questions and they're in this place where they're really afraid. Can I love myself? Can I look at myself in the mirror and be okay with me? All of the things that they try to get rid of by having breast implants or having a procedure done. They're now confronted with again and it's a very raw place to be.
Speaker 2:But I feel, on the other side of it, that I feel really a sense of responsibility to share my transformation with other people, and over the years, I've gone back and forth so many times about being public and how public do I wanna be? And there's a sacrifice to that too, because you don't have the privacy. But you walk into, like I walk into my exercise class and wonder how many people in here have seen my ex-plant story and are looking at my chest right, and then I think I hope they all saw it and I hope that they tell their mom and I hope that they tell their sister and I hope that they tell their best friend and I pray to God that they tell their daughter. So on the other side of it, I have a profound sense of responsibility and meaning in my life to continue to share with women specifically, but all people that at any moment you can choose to reinvent yourself. I don't care what your choices have been up until now. You have an opportunity. Every breath, every moment is an opportunity to reinvent yourself and decide who it is you want to be and start showing up as that person, and that's what I wanna empower more people to do.
Speaker 2:So I've started a podcast called she's Reinvented where I'm sharing women's stories, and we're starting with the rock bottom moment. What was that choice point moment for you? What was the moment where you decided to take on a worthy challenge. And then what did you have to sacrifice and what did you learn along the way? And those are really the conversations that are filling me up, that I'm really enjoying having right now, because my hope is that people will listen to the show and they will hear themselves and someone else's story. My story may not be for everyone, but there is a story out there that can resonate with you and can give you hope and make you realize that change is possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you said so. We've changed the name of this podcast a few different times and just so you know I'm not a fart in the wind, people Like this is part of the process that I go through. Telling someone the other day is that one of the principles of transformation that I wrote about in my book, choice point is to try it on. So I don't play with that. I mean, I don't joke about that. Like I play with that, Like I changed the name of my podcast, we go through all the rebranding because I have to try it on to make sure. Does that fit in? It fit an old version of me. So recently we changed it to find it from integrated mindset, which Heidi and I had recorded like 50 episodes together to then to find your game day.
Speaker 1:He's already moved on people. Yeah, to find your game day and find your game day was this idea that really was finding this level of intentionality behind every single day, like hitting your feet, hitting the ground with your feet on the ground and really to make a purposeful life right, an intentional life. And see, even I have a hard time talking about it because I wasn't completely clear. So I found is when I changed the name, that it didn't fit Like it just was an old version of me trying to build an old version and a new version of me, which then led us to this current name that I'm sticking with. And I know I'm sticking with it because it feels right. It feels right, right, and we've gone through all these different stages to really find home base. And home base is heart first. And this idea that what I want us to explore is to lead with our hearts as leaders, as parents, to teach others, to teach our youth, to teach our kids, our athletes or whoever we're working with, that the key to success, the key to joy, to happiness, to fulfillment, to a meaningful life and that's the word I want to focus on, it's a meaningful life is to lead with your heart right. And what I want to have conversations about here on this podcast are just like this, where we are unpacking and finding meaning right. So it's a basic human need to have meaning in life. And I believe, when we begin to take on worthy challenges in life, that the meaning of what is exposed on the other end of it is a sense of clarity. And when we begin to create this life where we seek challenges that clearly are going to test our capacity or our limits physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually that those aspects of our lives obviously grow and we then uncover the meaning, not of life and the totality of life, but the meaning of our life. And you I didn't prep you for this, but you said that you really wake up with a sense of responsibility I didn't know that you were going to say that and the sense of responsibility and the sense of meaning to your life right, and this is how I always have seen you. But you had to go through this evolution, you had to go through these challenges to unpack that, to find that right, and so this is the whole point. This is the whole point. This is why I want to have you on to discuss the idea of worthy challenges. And so then now where I want to shift unless there's anything else that you want to share within that I want to shift this to like OK, how do we then simplify this down to integrate this into our environments, into our lives, either individually, but, more importantly, into our family, right?
Speaker 1:So Colton has said a few worthy challenges. He's actually executed his second one recently, where we are going to be publishing his book that we wrote together. That was a worthy challenge that we had set out together to sit down together throughout the summer and write a book together and put something together that was meaningful, right? And if anybody has ever tried to write a book before, no matter how big or small, it's an excruciating process. It just takes a lot of you, right? Because you end up acting like it's this fun journey and the next thing you know you're very likely to become very particular of how it's laid out and the message it receives and things like that.
Speaker 1:So let's just reel this back for a moment, if that's OK, and say the first thing I want us to talk about here is this realization that you don't have to necessarily add anything to your plate because it's a worthy challenge.
Speaker 1:There's already things in your life that you can use as your worthy challenge, right, and just focus on how you're doing them, because anything is how we do everything. So maybe I'm working with athletes, I'm working with youth athletes, with mainly the high school age, right, and I'm encouraging them to set worthy challenges, and they're already crazy busy so I don't want to add it into their plate. But one of the ideas is I had is take that class that you currently are avoiding, right, and that's just it. When we seek challenges, we're no longer avoiding, we are being the hero of our life because we're seeking the challenge. So it doesn't necessarily mean you have to add something to your plate. You're going to look at something that's already in your life and say how can I be better at that thing? It might be within your work, within relationship, business, your life.
Speaker 2:I promise you it's there. It's there. All you have to do is open your awareness and look at it through a lens of curiosity. And look around you. It could also be in your home. It could be like how can I let go of some attachment to some of these material things and change my life, in the sense that I'm going to create literal space by doing a big declutter challenge as a worthy challenge and watch what comes up emotionally for you as you let go of things that could be your journey.
Speaker 2:Something that's already there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what's going through these physical. So let's give a couple of examples. Physical for me right now mine is to run a marathon. Like that's a big one too. For me it's a really big one because I hate running. I don't like, I just didn't say that I don't hate running. Let's change that narrative. I am learning to enjoy to run.
Speaker 2:See, you're seeing it right here, guys, this is what growth looks like. You have to reframe constantly.
Speaker 1:My body is one that I need to like get in the rhythm of running for it to be easy to run, so then, therefore, I can enjoy it. So I have to go through that process of this feeling like a grind until it becomes enjoyable, and I know that that's the process for everything to evolve in life. You have to go through the process of feeling awkward about feeling clumsy, about feeling like an obligation, until it becomes something that you're like yeah, man, I love this right. So another physical one the high-dissmention is like decluttering your environment a little bit. It could be as simple as making your bed for 30 days.
Speaker 1:The thing that you wanna do is you wanna make it specific and you wanna make it measurable. So did I, or did I not do this? You also wanna make it time-bound. So you might have heard smart goals before. Like it's not a smart goal. The sense of it's achievable and realistic, because it's something you're gonna need support and accountability around. So it could be as something as simple as making your bed for 30 days, for 60 days, for 90 days, whatever that may be right.
Speaker 1:But take something that's right there, low-hanging fruit in your life, and start the process of developing a worthy challenge, a mental one. Obviously there might be a certification or a book to read in a certain amount of timeframe or whatever. It is right, but maybe that's. Maybe you're someone who doesn't is not an avid reader, but picking up a book that's gonna challenge you Obviously emotionally can be something where you're having a conversation with a loved one or something that within that realm it might be some shadow integration work. You might dive into some coaching of sorts or go seek out therapy, like being willing to ask for help. That could be an emotional, worthy challenge, right. A spiritual challenge may be picking up a meditation or a breath practice or study in the Bible or whatever it is, but doing something in your life that's gonna help you grow and expand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it doesn't have to be, you can. Let's just talk about warming yourself up to this idea of taking on small challenges. The bed making example is a great example of a way to warm yourself up, because you can try that and you can see what changed in my day. How did my day go differently After seven days of making my bed every morning and starting my day with more intention? What did that change for me? I'm thinking of something that I did last year.
Speaker 2:I decided to get a bar instructor certification and it wasn't because I had a dream of becoming a bar instructor or that was a big goal for me. It was really more of a worthy challenge. Just to say, can I have the confidence to get in front of a group of people and lead some classes? Whether I do that long-term or not, I don't know. I have to try it on. I've got to see if that's something that I want to continue doing.
Speaker 2:But first I had to set the. I had to sign up for the certification. I had to show up and to go through the class. Then I had to make a playlist, create a class, get all the workout moves in, advertise the class, get some people to come, show up, teach the class and show up and do it again for a period of time. That's a worthy challenge too. Did I continue doing it? No, ultimately, right now that's not my focus, but I learned something about myself through the process of having to take on the challenge to learn something new and then to be uncomfortable enough to get in front of a group of people and do it. So it could be something like that. It doesn't mean that you're committing to a huge career change and that now I'm a bar instructor and this is my identity and this is what I'm doing every day. It's just something I wanted to try on, so consider that as well. Maybe there's something.
Speaker 1:Hey, wouldn't it be kind of cool to learn a new skill and to present that to somebody New language like music, guitar, whatever it is right. So this is the challenges for us to each individually settle where the challenge it makes sense for us right, based upon where we are in life. That's maybe something that's already there, existing, preexisting in our life that we can clearly put more of our attention or energy into. I mean, how many people have I talked to recently especially that they're in a profession that's made sense for a while in their life? They're now in a spot where, financially, maybe they don't need to be in that profession anymore, but they don't know how to get out. They aren't necessarily fulfilled and my worthy challenge to that type of example would be can we just be with that profession in a way and that role in a way where we are knowing that how I do anything is how I do everything, that it will lead to preparing myself for whatever is next? So the more I can just really own my role within whatever it is I'm currently doing, knowing that that's gonna bleed into everything else in my life and that's actually gonna help me prepare myself for what's next. Even Samson, my former player who interviewed on the last podcast, talked about that. We have to prepare our bodies and our minds and our spirits for the blessing. Otherwise, we won't receive the blessing. And so that's what this worthy challenge is all about is about preparation, about preparing yourself for whatever is to come next, because if you aren't ready to receive whatever is next in your life, you will not receive it right. So if we don't work on challenging ourselves in these different areas, you're not gonna develop yourself into the person that can receive something new, experience something new, have a new opportunity, explore new potentials, create more impact Like this is fundamental If you want to be somebody who leads with their heart and makes an impact that goes beyond yourself.
Speaker 1:Right? So you start with your family and have conversations around it. Have everybody in the family set worthy challenges, right? You know, even Heidi right now is this kind of before we hopped on. She's like I gotta gain some more clarity around my next one. Well, there's some grace period when you go through a worthy challenge. I can explain you don't have to turn around and set the next one right away, right?
Speaker 2:Right, yep, okay.
Speaker 1:There was some grace period for Colton because we did, we stuck with this book and we've been talking about it and it's been in our awareness. Let's get that in our hands, let's get that launched before. He's worried about it and he's already thinks he's set the next one, but we'll see if it sticks or not. And our daughter, hayley, really kind of struggles with trying to find what's her worthy challenge right, and so she's exploring that. You know it's. She sees that she can do a better job at managing some emotions once in a while. She, she, she, um, yeah, brought awareness to that, which isn't that amazing Just in the fact that I have a nine-year-old daughter who's bringing awareness to the fact that from time to time she might overreact, especially if someone's like she has to share a toy or whatever.
Speaker 1:Her just bringing the awareness to the fact that there's times that she could do a better job at managing her emotions. What we bring our attention to increases, what we focus on increases so her ability to manage her emotions. That will get better just because we're having a conversation about it. My question to her is okay, if you know you need support and help in managing your emotions, what are you taking on in your life that's going to put you in a situation, a circumstance, an environment where you're going to have to excel or improve your capacity and managing your emotions.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Because then that's the point. So now you have a reference point of saying, well, I was in this environment, I willingly said yes, I raised my hand and said I'll go and I'm going to go seek this challenge, I'm going to go do this hard thing and I'm going to manage my emotions.
Speaker 2:It's counterintuitive to what people really. What we're taught is to avoid anything that's uncomfortable, and what we're saying is if something's making you uncomfortable, that is a point of inspection, that's something to look at and to say all right, yeah, I notice I'm really reactive with other people or people in my household. Okay, well, if that's happening. The point is not then to try to avoid reacting by having everything be a certain way for you to be okay. It's for you to go right into something that is potentially going to cause that reaction and figure out how to create some space between what's happening and your response. That's how you practice reinventing yourself. That's how you practice evolving into that next version of you. It's not by avoiding or having conditions be perfect. It's about actually putting yourself in that hot seat and watching what happens internally and allowing yourself to grow from that place. You'll eventually, the more you choose to take on worthy challenges and the more you decide that life is about growth and there is no there there then the more excited you become about what is the next challenge, what is the next way that I'm going to grow and evolve and expand.
Speaker 2:Today in my workout class, the instructor had these little cards on everyone's mat and it said growth happens outside your comfort zone. She looked at me and she said I thought of you today when I put these down. It was a really cool moment, a really cool full circle moment for me, because it made me realize I am someone who's inspiring people to grow, because I've identified myself as someone who is constantly evolving and understands that I will never be evolved. I will always be evolving. When you get that mindset and you're always in that growth mindset of what can I learn from this? Even when things seem to be going wrong in your life, you're able to find the lesson and find the gift. It's like the biggest blessing and my biggest wish for anybody listening to this is that you can consistently put yourself in a growth mindset and be looking at how can I grow, how can I evolve, how can I get better for myself, for my kids, for my family, for my community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 1% better every single day. Give us one more plug. You mentioned it already. But where can people find you? You're doing something new on your own and it's incredible to see the response that you're getting in a very short period of time. I love it when people find that specific niche or hole that they can fill, contribution they can give to the world. It's just like wildfire, because clearly it's the right fit for you.
Speaker 1:You put out a message about wanting to do this and you had hundreds of comments in a podcast group. You have I don't know how many interviews scheduled and you're going to be putting out podcasts a couple of weeks here for some extended period of time. I know that one of your intentions for this year was to be consistent. Just share with everybody. If they are listening to this and they want to make sure they love hearing from you, she will consistently, just so you know this. You will still be on this podcast when I feel like it's a fit, where it's a conversation that only you and I can have. To the level that we have these conversations and it just makes sense. If you want to hear from her and see what she's doing, where do we find you?
Speaker 2:You can find my podcast. It's called she's Reinvented. It's on all the platforms. Then on social, on Instagram is where I check in the most and I'm at real, heidi Sawyer. The reason why my handle is that is because I really want to keep it real with you. I want to share with you the behind the scenes, the nitty-gritty of what it looks like to be on a growth journey, to know that you're not evolved, but always evolving, and continue to inspire people by sharing stories through she's Reinvented. You can find me there. I would love for you to send me a message and let me know what your worthy challenge is or how you're warming yourself up to your worthy challenge.
Speaker 1:You just took it out of the mouth. There are the words I was going to say. I said well, I would love to hear from people If you listen to this podcast and resonates with you what is your worthy challenge? It's something we talk about within both of our coaching programs within Integrated Mindset and Competitive Edge for Athletes. We want to explore what are we going to do to seek challenges in our lives so we're growing across those different realms physical, mental, emotional and spiritual realms. Then we're able to serve because we're preparing ourselves for that service. The heart first service. That's right. Thank you again for your time, heidi, and thank you for just being you and continuously living a step into your future self, because we all benefit from it, including me. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Love to be on the journey with you, thanks.
