Episode Transcript
Welcome back to the balanced perspective. I'm your host, Terri Ann Richards. And I am here with my new friend, Abby, Stacey here, and she is a health and life coach nutrition expert, along with she's a grad student right now, folks. I don't know how you're handling all this. Okay. At the university of Columbia in the U S a she's passionate about living a life full of healthy habits, productivity, and overall abundance. She's created the health and life coaching company be about being better. Y'all know that I love the word be it's. I have an annual event for women called the B event. This year will be our fourth year. So the fact that you're like, be about being better. That's a whole lot of BS in that. So I'm really excited to unpack that and she's on a mission to help others experience what real health and true vitality feels like. Her goal is to help people get real results and foster abundance in all aspects of their lives. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Terry. I really appreciate you having me on today. I'm really excited to unpack all of what you're going to bring as some golden nuggets for our audience here today. So let's chat a little bit about, I mean, obviously I read your bio, but bio's, don't tell the whole story. What is it that you do? Who do you serve? And. Then we'll start figuring out why you got into it. Yeah. So I come from a very long line of physicians and surgeons, very heavy medical family. So for me not to go to medical school and to start my own business and go rogue was very, very jarring for my family. They still don't really know. W what I do for a living. So I'm constantly having to explain it to them. And even at Thanksgiving this year, my mom was like, so after Columbia, you're going to go to med school, right? I'm like, no, mom, this is instead of before going to grad school, I started my business first. And when I was working in the medical field, I started off as a medical scribe and I was helping to schedule toe amputations. Cause people's diabetes was so far out of control. There's one patient. I'll never forget. He came in 15 minute appointment because in the states, things are just so quick and they're kind of, you know, spinning and turning, you know, different appointments out. So many on the books. They only have 15 minutes with patients and in the 15 minutes he was put on his fourth medication to control his blood pressure. He was on medications for other things, but he goes out for different medications. Some of them, we had to take multiple times a day so that just clued in for me. I don't want to be managing people's chronic health conditions. I want to get ahead of it. I want to help people. An amazing life now where they feel healthy and have energy and they're as mobile as they can be. But I also want to help them at the end of their life. Not be dependent on medications, not have to go in for surgery or just have their doctors give up on them. I'm like, well, we'll just follow up with you with blood work every couple of months. So that's what prompted me to figure out, okay. If it's not medical school, What is it? And I ended up investing the entirety of my savings into starting my business, because I found this random coach online and he helps people. The business, his coaching business has changed now, but at the time he helped online personal trainers and people that wanted to be a health coach start their own online businesses. So I invested all of my savings into that. My family thought I was crazy. My family thought it was a scam, but I just had such a strong expansiveness feeling. I had to follow my intuition and I'm so happy. I did, we more than doubled our initial investment and our first three weeks. And our first year we hit six figures. And at that point I'm like, wow, we're serving hundreds of people and people are staying on. They want more, we have a high retention rate. People love our community. They love the concept of being about being better, where you're continuously striving for a higher level of success. And they just felt really. Connected, even though it's always been an online program, we were using zoom before. Zoom was cool. I love that. So talk to me a little bit more about your program and specifically somebody listening right now and they're like, okay. Be about being better. This sounds interesting. I'm intrigued. Talk a little bit more on PAC. What it is that program offers individuals and who specifically is typically going through that? This is for someone who is really busy. And I think everyone can describe themselves as being busy, but specifically the busy high-achieving person, the person that has a dream, they want to make an impact. They want their life to have meaning and they want to have touched so many people in a variety of ways and really follow their intermission. What are their gifts? What are their towns? Why are they here on this earth? And they really want to use those to create lasting and meaningful change. So the program is really meant for those people that find themselves really bogged down with their to-dos and responsibilities and feels like they can't prioritize their health. But they recognize that their energy levels, their health, the negative self thoughts are holding them back from stepping into their full potential. Awesome. Sounds like a program that I need to take. We'll chat more after this show. Okay. So. It's interesting to me when people have sort of aha moments almost these moments, I'll call them like you get them from God, you get them from source, you get it from something outside of you, this beautiful sort of pole that comes from the energies out there that say, okay, this is the path that you need to be on last night for me. I just got to tell you this funny story, because it kind of reminds me. It was last night. I was little frustrated with some things that weren't streamlined in my business. They weren't feeling like they were like point a was not linked with point B and C. And so I was a little frustrated and I was having conversations with my dog, cause it was just him and I. And so I didn't do what I normally do, which is at the end of every night, I closed my day. I didn't do that. And typically when I don't do that, I go to bed and I can't sleep. So all of last night, Every idea, known to two woman had come through to. But then the best idea came and it was like a polling. It was like a polling that said, okay, here's the next step. Here's how you're going to intertwine. Here's how you're going to connect it all woke up this morning. And I was like, who in heck was talking to my head last night, but I have had many of these experiences where there's this external pole that's saying, here's the path that you need to be on. So I love that you shared that this was sort of a very strong poll. And I think like so many entrepreneurs. For the most part, we're like rogue humans, most people in our small circles in our family have these ideals of what we're going to do and what we're going to be entrepreneurship does not typically, it's not the thing our families want for us. It's kind of a rogue decision. So kudos to you for going into the rebellious mode, jumping, you know, off the cliff without a parachute, build the parachute on the way. And it sounds like you've had some, some great success. We speak to. Leaders and entrepreneurs and they are busy and they are ambitious and they want great things. And so many of them do not prioritize themselves. I want to ask you this because you're probably finding a commonality. Why, why, if we all know it I think we're all logical and smart enough to know that our health is important. Why don't we put it at the forefront in our everyday life? I heard it said on the podcast and I don't remember what podcast they said it perfectly. If we are constantly putting other people other responsibilities before caring for ourselves, it's, self-sabotage masked as no. And I truly think that that's the reason why we think it is a noble thing to sacrifice ourselves, sacrifice our own energy, our own routines that we know make us feel good and we know will make us feel better because we're doing it for other people and that it should be a good thing, but ends up being self-sabotage self sabotage, mast as nobility. Oh, that's a good one. That's a really good one. And you're so right. I have a girlfriend who is. A obsessive compulsive people pleaser. If you call her on any given day, she is busy. That is the word she'll use. She's always running in 10 different directions. She is the person that would take the shirt off their back and give it to you and go above and beyond for anybody even complete strangers. But she is not feeling her best. She's not healthy. She's not feeling mentally strong. She's just stretched too thin. And I'm going to share that quote with her in a very nice kind way. She doesn't listen to my show. So we're good. She doesn't know I'm talking about her folks. Okay. So that's the reason or potentially one of the reasons why individuals aren't investing in their health. Here's something that comes up a lot in conversations. There saying I don't have time. You know, I've got kids and I've got all of this philanthropy work and I've got the board meeting and I've got this and I don't have time to go to the gym. I don't have time to meal time. What do you say to that? I think when people feel they don't have enough time, they don't know that health can be simple. And actually when you make healthy habits really simple and streamlined. It's sustainable. And when you're able to sustain that, you consistently have more energy, more confidence in just a greater sense of accomplishment. So, and when you have that, you're able to show up for these other tasks so much better. I think we have to get people out of this all or nothing. Mentality where they feel. If I can't check all the boxes and do all the things and have a morning eating routine, that looks like a CVS receipt in the states. That's one of our drug stores and the receipts are just consistently, so, so long. It's like, no, we don't need a long morning routine. It just needs to be very intentional and very focused. And so people feel if they can't check all the boxes, then what's the point. I'm not going to do anything where it's like, well, you still could do. Something and no, not every day. You're going to have time for a full, formal workout, but could you get movement in, could you at least stand up from your desk every hour, walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water or a snack, or, Hey, maybe you don't have time to prep all of your meals cause you're supporting a family and just have so much going on, but could you just prep your snacks? Could you just make sure to eat breakfast or prep overnight oats for yourself where you could prep that and it lasts so many days in the fridge. It's really easy to make multiple servings at a time, or maybe it's, I can't do really anything for nutrition or exercise, but could you prioritize sleep? Could you just drink more water or at least one cup, less of coffee? Just do something when you can't do everything the way I describe it as when you're in that all or nothing mentality, it's like, you're either at a stoplight and it's green and you're flying through, or it's a red light and you're completely. So instead we want to work towards having that more consistency mindset versus being a perfectionist and all or nothing. So it should be like you're driving through a school zone where yes, you're moving a little bit slower, but you're still moving and you're getting there at a faster rate than. You accelerating so much and then having to fully stop. I love that you're saying this because this really goes across the board in any area of life where someone setting up a goal, right? It's always all of us, all of us, ambitious individuals have this all or nothing sort of mentality. It's like, I want to go. From no pushups to a hundred push-ups I want to go from, never going to the gym and I'm going to hit the gym six times a week. And of course, you know, trying to change habits is a very difficult process. Here's a question that I have for you. I was reading through your blog and you made me giggle because you, you called out. And I love, and I loved it. I loved it because what you said was weight loss was still the number one goal and they talk all about behavior change. And so they weren't changing the behaviors. And what you're saying behaviors have changed sort of through consistency. It's the small changes. Atomic habits talks about that. The slight edge talks about it, right? You can probably pick up any of these books were really it's in the tiny habit, tweaks, the tiny habit change where like momentous transformations can happen because you stayed in it for the long game, but those are behavior tweaks and it's difficult to change behaviors. When you're all alone studies actually showed that people are more apt to be successful. If they have accountability, if they have a community that they are attached to. So talk to me a little bit about nuMe and that blog post, and just some of the other quick fix that are out there that are really disrupting what people believe is possible because the purchasing it they're paying for it, and then they're not succeeding. So there's. Exactly. And when they quit, when it doesn't work, people are made to feel like it was all their fault. I just didn't try hard enough. I didn't have enough willpower discipline, self control, Mimi, when it was never your fault to begin with, it was because of the strategy like noom, these other apps, even WeightWatchers for example, Beachbody, you could argue all of these Octavia. I just, I have two clients that just signed up with me in the last week that were on updated. If you don't know about it, don't look into it. Don't don't even get tempted, never heard of it. It's a very restrictive diet. They sell you all these expensive supplements that have you eating a thousand calories or less a day. It's not a good look. They're set up to fail right from the start and has nothing to do with you, but it makes people feel. Like it it's all their fault. They have to keep trying or investing in something else. And I have found that when these programs don't work, these get-rich quick solutions, they're missing one or more of these three key components. And. Me recognizing this and reading the literature and different books, like atomic habits on how to sustain a healthy lifestyle over the long-term. That's how I developed the curriculum for my main signature program, because I'm all about sustaining healthy lifestyle. If you're missing one of these three key things, it's likely not going to work. The first one is a customized strategy. These cookie cutter solutions, what works for one body, isn't going to work for another body, even if you're the same height, even if you're the same way in the same age have had the same number of kids. Two totally different. Things that you need. So you really need that customized strategy when it comes to yes. Exercise. Yes. Nutrition, but also lifestyle. You can't just throw customized plans at someone big. There you go. One thing I'm a huge proponent for this actually helping clients integrate that into their busy schedule. A lot of these programs, they especially like new. They have you focus because in order for you to be successful, you really have to put all of your time, energy, and attention in it and be super disruptive. That takes time, energy, and attention away from your business, your family, all these other things. So instead, I like to flip that in order for things to be suitable. Yes, your health should be a priority, but it can't be the number one priority all the time or the only thing you focus on. It's important that we flip that script and you tell me as a client, what, what are your meetings? What's your commitment? What's your study schedule. If you're a student, I work with a lot of students and. Well, there's a lot of moms and entrepreneurs as well. So it's like, what's your schedule. And then let's strategically figure out what healthy habits we're going to fit into your schedule and when, and what's actually realistic. So I think, yeah, that customized plan is necessary. So let's just make an assumption that right now there are individuals that are listening that are like, you know what I would like to start create some new, healthy habits. What are some really basic things that if people tweaked them in their day to day, They would feel like they have a little bit more energy, they would have more productivity. Cause I think that's what a lot of people are looking at. Yes. For some people it's, you know, I want to fit the black dress and I want to be a specific way, but I know for myself, it's always about, you know, the, the mid day slump. How do I not have that so that I can remain productive all throughout the day? What are a couple of tips that you could give them? Absolutely. So a couple tips that I recommend you need to drink water. Like it is your job. This is such a simple tip. Most of my healthy habit tips are very simple. They're just not always easy to implement, but at least it's simple. So water, it gets you less reliant on camping cause it's a natural energy source. And sometimes we don't feel how energizing water can make us because we're so reliant on coffee and these energy drinks and things like that. So it really gives you that natural energy makes you less reliant on all these other substances and it decreases blood. Which is great. A lot of our bloating stems from the body retaining water because we're so dehydrated. So if you actually give your body more water, your body can relax and release and not have to hold on to every single thing. So you'll end up being less bloated and every process in the body needs, needs water. Every cell needs water. So it's really important that, that your, if you want to function optimally. And I know a lot of entrepreneurs have gut health issues. So the first thing you do is drink water. Yeah. I went there too. I think it really stems from chronic stress, chronic low grade stress. So true. I have to say my piece of advice to all. I drank a gallon of water a day, drink it earlier in the day. So you're not up all night. Because that is what happens to me when I try to get in and I'm like, oh shoot, I didn't drink all my water. And I start dragging it at like 6 30, 7 o'clock at night. It's not a good sleep. So have it early in the day. Exactly. And also start small, like a gallon a day might be like really intimidating for most people. If they're only getting maybe 30 ounces of water in, and also recognize that some green leafy vegetables and fruit, they also have water in it too. So you're getting a little water intake there as well. So just start small and incrementally increase the goal. As you go. And the next thing I would say is that you need to not only meal prep, but meal plan, a lot of people will go to the grocery store and just pick a bunch of stuff off the shelves or in the produce section. Cause you're like, oh, spinach is healthy, but then it ends up going bad in the fridge and rotting because you didn't know what you were going to use the spinach for. I just, I'm going to tell you all, I'm putting my hand up right now. That is me. That is me. I'm like, oh, look at all these awesome vegetables that have no hanging out purpose together. I'm going to buy them all because I'm going to be super healthy this week. And then they're all going to sit in those crispers and my crispers aren't clear. So they sit in the crispers and I forget they're there. And then you. You start cleaning your fridge out. Cause that's what we do every couple of weeks. And then you go in, you're like, whoa, that was celery. Oh, that was spinach. It doesn't really look like it anymore. So I threw up my money. I wasted food and it's just, it's not a good, so yes, planning. Totally. I totally agree with it. Cause when I plan, I end up with an empty fridge and nothing thrown in the garbage. Exactly. So you save money that way and you just save mental Headspace cause you know exactly what you're going to use that spinach for. Okay. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, it's going to be for my spinach salads, but then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Saute that up and put that in some sort of stir fry. Boom. There you go. And it's used, so I always say plan first, have your menu for your whole family. You know exactly how many servings you're going to need. Then go to the grocery store, get the things you need, and then end up cooking that meal prep process can be really strict. Okay. So let's veer off to the left or right. A little bit. I want to learn a little bit more about you, Abby. So I always, you know, we talk about business. We talk about the key areas that you can give back to my community, but then the other side is, you know, what made you, who you are today? And so I think a question that I really like asking about. Is who has been the most influential person to you in your life that has been, a catalyst, a perspective shift or somebody who has just influenced you in becoming the person you are today. And why, why did they influence. So many people come to mind, but I think I do have to say my aunt Lynn, I couldn't give, you know, an influencer, maybe somebody that everyone that everyone may know. And I can say that too, but my aunt Lynn was really that catalyst for me and starting my business and getting away from medical school. Cause she went to medical school and she's a primary care physician in San Francisco, very successful. She also teaches at the medical school there and she said, Look, there are other ways to help people and her and I were in near woods with all these huge Redwood trees in San Francisco. And I remember. You kind of just touring the forest there. And there were some trees that were really strong, had these huge trunks and they just went straight up and had the most direct path to sunlight. And then there were other trees right next to this one that were like decrypted and like all different shapes and just trying to bend and mold and twist themselves to try and get a fraction of sunlight. To survive. And I just started sobbing when my aunt Lynn and I were having this conversation about like, should I go to medical school? Should I not? Should I start my own business and get a health coach? Should I not? What do I do? And I'm like, I feel like this decrepit twisted bending tree, that's trying to get a little bit of happiness and not taking it. The path of least resistance like this other tree where I could be really happy if I just stood strong and followed my intuition so that my aunt was really, really influential. Good story. If you have not put that story out in your social media girl, you need to do that. That is a good uplifting story. So many nuggets out of that. I love the comparison of the tree that went direct and then the tree that was sort of fighting and resisting and, you know, going around. Wow. Now I should make that a blog post. I use that as my graduate school, personal statement. So when I got into Columbia university and I will say, I didn't go to medical school, but I'm studying now to be a registered dietician for me. Once I started my business, I was like, I need more of the science. I want more of the science. I'm such a lifelong learner, and now I feel even more. Being able to support people. I'm able to take on more complicated cases and I'll continue to do so once I'm an RD. So, yay. Yay. Okay. So I feel like I know the answer to this just because I'm feeling like I'm, I'm picking up your vibe here, but I'm going to ask the question. What are you most curious about? Because you could throw me for a loop. That you would like go into the depths of Google? Or if you were my age, you could say the Britannica, the old school encyclopedias, and look through the textbooks and learn more about it. For me? It's honestly, My spirituality, my relationship with God source, all these things I've really over the last couple of years, have just dove so much into my faith and using that relationship, getting away from religion more forming that relationship to trust that I'm being taken care of and everything's happening for me and in perfect timing. So I've started to read the Bible myself and do more research on these things. And also on the other side, Read other books that are, are about manifestation and just the powers of that and getting into Abraham Hicks, all these sorts of things. So that I'm really curious about. You're relatively new in business, but that doesn't mean anything because there are so many lessons that we learn, knowing what you know right now, as of today's date, what advice would you give to someone? Wanting to start their career as an entrepreneur hire the right team. Yes, it is so important. So it was a mutual decision. We recently let go of one of my assistants on my team and it really was for the best for everyone. And it it's so hard to see her go, but she is thriving. Now, the businesses thriving. It's great. So I, I think you have to really hire slow and be really clear in the beginning. I'm so proud that she said when she first came in, everything that you said in the interview was exactly it was just congruent. It was exactly what the role was. And unfortunately just ended up not working out in the long run, and in those difficult conversations, when we were figuring out, is this the right role for you longterm or. She said to me, I've had so many conversations in my corporate career with different managers and bosses, and I've never left one of these meetings feeling heard, validated or positive, but she's like, I'm actually leaving this energized and I feel really cared for. So I think everything that you can do to be a better CEO in the sooner that you can take on that CEO and leader mindset. The better off you'll be. If you're taking on that CEO leadership mindset and hiring the right people hire slow fire fast, but be intentional about the team that you're taking on. You're speaking my language. Okay. I have to ask you this because they're like a cajillion, that's not a real number, but it could Jillian entrepreneurs out there that have not learned and mastered that, like that is a leadership trait that you obviously possess is that. Is that nurture or is that nature, did you go learn this? Did somebody mentor you to ensure that you understood this? Or is this just coming like straight from source? Where does that come from? Cause that is leadership. That is a really good question. I honestly don't, I haven't read that many books on leadership, so I think a lot of it might just be my, just be given, but I'm also, I try and be as a leader, as transparent with my team as possible. And letting them know I'm learning this, this is the first time that I'm having to file taxes for other people and have difficult conversations like this. So I think the more books that you can read on just how to be an authentic. Person and effective communicator, the better leader you'll be. But that is a goal for me this year to read more formal leadership books. Awesome. Well, you hit me up and I'll, I'll recommend a few, cause I have a few that are in my repertoire that I actually go back to on a regular basis. So I will totally share that with you. So how many people on your team right now? We have three. We have. Nice. And so how soon after starting your business, did you hire? I hired. After eight months, I needed an assistant coach. We just had so many clients and I was bogged down by some of the administrative tasks and some of the accountability messages. And I was like, I want to take on more clients, but I don't want to compromise the integrity of the program because I believe those accountability messages are so essential to someone's success, especially in the beginning. So that's when I hired my first assistant coach. And then. Six months later, we hired someone to help me with applications and sorting those. We were probably getting a hundred DMS a day from people it's wild those conversations and, you know, sorting inboxes and call it, helping me qualify applications and things like that. And. Then I needed someone six months after that, to help me with managing social media and repurposing content, helping me flesh out my blogs, my emails, different funnels, Facebook ads just other coming up with graphics and my team. I was making some of my graphics. Can we take that off your plate please? Let's talk a little bit, I know there are people that are curious and yes, you can all go to her website and learn more about it. But what is the program? How long is it? Do you only open this program at certain times? What do they get when they join? Talk to me a little bit about. Yeah. So I do have a quiz on my profile that allows you to see based on your health goals and what you're looking for, your price range, things like that, which of our programs is best for you because we have a course, we have a free Facebook group, and then we have several other programs that are low and high ticket. But our main signature program that we're launching now is our be about being better academy. It's the program I started with and that we've been perfecting for the last three and a half, four years. My favorite program to coach. We only launched it a few times a year. So we have two spots left for our January class. And we're not launching again until June and then a couple summer classes and one in the fall. And I only take on a certain number of clients in this program because I go all in, like these are the clients, like I know their work schedules. I know when their kids are sick, I literally know everything about them and that allows them to be the most successful. So this has the most customization. The most accountability and the most community. So they get a weekly coaching call with me and my assistant coach. And you know, we kind of go into breakout rooms. We support each other. We get super nitty gritty. What happened last week? Do we want to fix what's coming up this week? How can we be healthy habits in what mindset blocks we have to work through? So you get a lot of. Well, we always boil it down. What are your three action steps for the week? So it's a super actionable program and we just make healthy living simple. And then we're holding you accountable throughout the week. So do you want to hit your water goal? Hey, you said you wanted to try this new recipe. How's it going? So we're following up with you at the week with all that daily accountable. And then we, each week we also have a community wide call and that's where the whole group gets together on zoom. And I teach a short and valuable lesson about all different topics ranging from how to improve your body image, how to improve sleep. We're debunking health myths. We talk about nuMe in detail, why this is not a good strategy to go back to intuitive eating principles and just how to feel more confident in. Live a more vibrant life. So we do some life coaching in that call as well. And then you get all the customized plans. You're on our workout app. You get a whole customized workout plan and then personalized nutrition support. And. I want to say, because there are so many people out there that are just telling people to eat salmon and asparagus for dinner, and people accept that because we're used to getting meal plans, but I do not provide meal plans and it's actually illegal for people to do that unless they're a registered dietician. So how long has the program from start to finish? Three month program. Okay. You have an app. We use the app trainer eyes for our workouts. I love trainers. Yes. I'm obsessed. It's super user-friendly for the trainer end, but also for. For the client end to everyone loves it. And it gives you so many positive affirmations and I'm all about that. I really think you can't sustain a healthy lifestyle and really make meaningful change in your life. Single-handedly you need that community support I totally agree with that. Just for those of you that are listening to this, and this is starting to sound really intriguing. I'm going to share a stat with. I mean, you probably know this, but the reality is that you are only about 10% likely to achieve a goal just because you decided to achieve it. You are 95% likely to achieve a goal. When you have accountability 95, you are 95% likely. And here's another fun fact. Only 3% of the world actually sets goals on a year to year basis. Of those 3%, only 8% actually achieved them. So that's like 92% of people are like not making it on a year to year basis, which is why so many people yo-yo diet. I'm loving what you're saying, because again, this is a lifestyle change it's for the long haul. It's not about diets, not a fad. It's about what can I do on a consistent day to day basis based on who I am and what I like. Right. Exactly. Love that. So they say how low you've gone is typically how high you rise so long as you can grasp sort of the lessons out of it. Can you share with me a pivotal moment in your life? That you crashed that you've gone through something, but you came to the other side and again, it's helped to create the woman that you are. So it was actually this time last year I slipped it on my hardwood floor in my New York city apartment. And there's not that much, not that much space, basically the shoe box. It was my other apartment, then not the one you're seeing now. And I broke my. It was so painful at first I thought, oh, I just tweaked it. And I was planning on going skiing again the next day, you know, it's ski season. But I broke my leg and I just went to, you know, urgent care. They confirmed that, you know, it's a minor fracture, you'll be fine. You'll be up and, you know, skiing and a couple of weeks, but it'll probably be towards the end of the season. I said, okay. But they scheduled me to meet with an orthopedic specialist at Mount Sinai. And that specialist saw something that. Trey, you know, someone that doesn't have a trained eye looking at x-rays or is just so overwhelmed and urgent care may have missed, but I ended up breaking my legs so easily just slipping on hardwood floor because I have a bone tumor in my leg. Goodness. So wild to this day. I still don't know if it's cancerous or not. I don't know if it's like, I never got it biopsied. And I went to so many different specialists in the city. I mean, thank God that I'm here. I have so many amazing hospitals at my disposal and so many amazing specialists. I saw three orthopedic oncologists. And it's really dangerous to biopsy. And there's also a lot of risks. The position of the tumor is really it's difficult. So they would have to, you know, put me under general anesthesia, do the whole surgery, opened me up and then if they are going to biopsy, they might as well just take it out and reconstruct. And you know, I just, it took many months, but I decided I'm just going to let my fracture heal and then decide. And. I just ended up resuming normal activity and being able to do all the things that I want to do. I'm going skiing next weekend. And I'm hoping that everything will be fine, but I really don't feel any pain. And it would just be more of a, I decided that I don't really think about it that much. I thought it would consume my thoughts because when I was first diagnosed and I'm like, oh, wow. I don't know if I have this. You know, a cancerous tumor in my leg that could turn into something done. Like they presume that it's benign. They're like 95% sure. And I'm sure there's people listening. They're like what? The 5%. But for me, I just, I have an intuitive feeling that it's benign. It doesn't bother me. I'm not in any pain. They said that I would be in a lot of pain at this time, if it likely was. The malignant, so super wild, but I've learned so many lessons from that, that in business. I mean, I set so many goals this time, last year with my team. And then we had to completely pivot because like energetically, I can't sell the academy. We ended up just closing our launch and not taking on clients at that time. So we came up with another program. Is kind of a precursor to the academy. That's less expensive, more accessible for people. My assistant coach runs that whole program. I don't really do that much other than the training videos for that program. So it just, it, it had us as a team learn to be resilient and roll with the punches. And for me, I think my greatest lesson was that I just learned. To trust my intuition, no one to get a second, no one to get a third opinion, no one to not listen to my family's opinions, but when, when do I need to do what's best for me and my body and really trust. Wow. Well, I certainly will pray for your health in this journey, but it sounds like you've got a, you've got that under control. I love that you take, you took back your power, right? There's so much negative. That comes from the fear and the stress of the unknown that. So many more debilitating abilities on your health. Right? And so I love that you were just like, Nope, I'm going to take my power back. I'm going to do me. I intuitively feel that this is good. I'm going to be okay. And you just kind of get back on so good for you. Okay. So I'm gonna ask you my signature question. What does perspective shifting mean to you? Perspectives shifting in my opinion requires you to listen to other people. I think, as I say in Hamilton, talk less, listen more and see the other side. And that will allow you to make the best decision for you. Where, where do I need to shift? But it's impossible for you to shift if you don't know the other perspectives. And a lot of people are scared to lean into that scared to be wrong or that they can't face that. But I think it's really important that if you are going to see things from another vantage point, step into someone else's shoes. So necessary for growth and just in equitable and inclusive business, you have to be looking at things from different, different perspectives. So, but you have to get rid of your ego. And be able to listen to someone else and seek out those other perspectives to make a, to make a shift. So true shelf, the ego, the ego has some benefits in ambition and drive it. Doesn't always lend a helping hand when we need to shift and tweak and iterate. Right. And yeah. So that's awesome. Okay. So I'm going to throw some lightening speed questions at you. These are easy, so you can just answer them top of mind. So your favorite book. Oh, okay. I just finished earth is hiring by PETA Kelly. When you said earlier that you just had this download last night and it was the best idea, Peter Kelly talks about this in her book, earth is hiring. She talks about how, whenever you have this idea and it's like, oh, some aha moment, some vision or whatever, and you can see it. So clearly she says, I mean, that is directly from source and that was placed in your hands. Intentionally, like you're the one that's meant to bring this idea into the world. Yay. All right. I am listening earth really great for millennials too. And just saying, you know, we get criticized a lot for, you know, quote, unquote being too soft or too emotional, or we care too much about the environment, all these different things. It's like, no, this is our superpower. We were meant to be on the. Specifically at this time, this generation is it's where we're supposed to be. So I definitely recommend that book. I definitely recency bias with that because I just read it. I don't know if it's my favorite book of all time, but at least for right now that's top of mind. Okay. Your top self-care routine. Oh, journaling. I love journaling. You are morning journaler or an evening, or whenever it happens, I would say morning. I really liked that time with a cup of tea and the sunshine and just quiet being alone. And I do use formal journals where here are three things you're grateful for. What are your three priorities today? What's an affirmation statement. So I like using those because it gives you a guide and some structure, but I also like to free write as well, whatever. Or on the page, whatever ideas I have. So I like to use a combination. Awesome. Okay. What is the one app you cannot live without in your business? Oh, the tide app, T I E E. Tell me what is that? It is like, it's not necessarily a meditation app, but it gives you a lot of different sounds. And I like it specifically for the focus app, the. Category and under the focus category, they have one sound muse and I listened to that and I have trained myself. Now. It is a sensory cue. Whenever I hear that sound, it is deep work mode. I get so much done. I get so much studying, done. You set a timer on it. Whenever the timer is done now, it's like, I'm out of a trance. Like the song will just end after 30 minutes, 60 minutes, but I've trained myself to have this queue and I'm so productive. Okay. I love when I hear new things. Cause I didn't know about the book. Didn't know about tide going to look them both up. Okay. Last lightning speed question. Best piece of advice. You've been given life for business. This is a hard one for me. Well, I think I could say, you know, a hire slow and fire fast. That was definitely a piece of advice given to me that then I've been following that I've been following, but I think the best piece of advice would be that everything is happening for you and imperfect timing. And don't forget. You were so, so, so wise, I have not asked her how old she is. I'm not going to do that, but I look at the time of this recording. I'm 26. I love it. I just like, I think back to my 26 year old self and, you know, as, as ambitious as I was, I still. So many lessons that I had yet to learn. And you are just so wise for your years. So kudos to you. This has been a hoop. Thank you so much for connecting with us here today. Where can people connect with you? Instagram or Tik? TOK would be the best two places. I love my tick tag and Instagram fans, and that quizzes and the link in my bio Thank you so much, Abby. I hope you have the best of success for this year
