From Stuck to Unstoppable: Michelle McGinnis on Self- Worth and Bold Career Moves

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Michelle McGinnis- a woman who went from feeling stuck to becoming truly unstoppable. Michelle shares her inspiring journey of reclaiming her self- worth and making bold moves with courage and clarity that transformed her career. 

Michelle speaks candidly about how identifying her mental state at a critical turning point made all the difference; and how that awareness, combined with her leadership skillsets, empowered her to lead herself through a time that felt full of uncertainty. We explore the somatic approaches that helped her stay grounded through it all and how she tuned her body signals during high- stress moments.

If you're ready to move from stuck to unstoppable, this episode is packed with wisdom, practical tools, and real- life inspiration. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Hey y'all. Welcome to my very first interview episode. And I couldn't be more excited than to have this space with Michelle McGuinness. As you heard in my very first episode, this woman introduced project management to me. I think she has all of the gold stars, all of the top-tier consulting efforts and everything it takes to be a for real project manager. And I am so excited to share her with you guys. And in this episode, we're going to look at her own journey and how she discovered her self-worth and took some major steps in her life to amplify and continue shining. Please welcome Michelle. Awesome. Okay. So we'll just I'm just going to chat. I don't even know where to be in. I know.

SPEAKER_00: 0:54

Well, I can say this, Rachel. I think that being your first guest in your podcast is probably one of the greatest honors of at least this decade. That is huge.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08

Well, thank you. I wouldn't have it any other way. Um, I've thought about it and I've named a list of at least 50 people that I would be like, yeah, I could talk to them and them and them. But you're always number one on my list, Miss Shell McGinnis. Here you are in in real time. We're doing this thing. In real time, we're doing it. And also kind of wouldn't have it any other way. Like the week I release it to the ether, and then you're like, Yeah, I'll I'll totally be a guest. And I'm like, when do you want to do that?

SPEAKER_00: 1:42

Like right now. What's your schedule like in five minutes? Can you brush your hair and take a shower? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:52

Yeah. I uh actually wasn't even gonna release it this week. I was gonna do it next week, but a thought came over me like, as you said when I was doing my P exam, you have to schedule it to go or it's never gonna happen. So and it was always in the air of when I was gonna do it. So I was like, well, now or never, it's sloppy, but it's mine and it's here. Or it's perfect.

SPEAKER_00: 2:24

Exactly. No, I gotta say, so listening to your first episode for me, I mean, it was very flattering too. And I felt so proud of I guess the the way that Ray and I handled that first introduction to you. So I just knowing that and hearing you say that, it made me feel so proud, and I was so happy. Um, but that day too, it was like, and this has happened to me a few times in my career where I've met people in the interview, and you just know instantly, like that person, you want that person to go away, knowing that they are the person, right? And that's how it was that day with you. We were just like, I mean, if we could have, we would have just done the offer right there on the spot. Right. So yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01: 3:16

I um walked out of there. Um, and I remember calling my mom because she's first person. I always am like, I gotta call my mom. Something great just happened, I gotta call my mom. I'm in jail. I need to call my mom.

SPEAKER_00: 3:28

Like it's always I gotta call my mom.

SPEAKER_01: 3:32

Yeah, me too. So it's like, um, I if I didn't get this job, I don't know who they want. I don't, I don't know who they talk to that's like gonna like them as much as I do, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 3:45

So it's not possible. Yeah, no, that was that was like the moment that I walked into the room, I was like, I don't know what it was. I just I just knew like within 10 seconds, it wasn't even 10 seconds, probably.

SPEAKER_01: 4:00

So it was awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 4:03

Um, do you always talk about people's failures in interviews? Is that or is that just special for a day?

SPEAKER_00: 4:12

Let's see. Let me no, I always do because my thought about failures is that it's not the failure, it's how you get up and recover from the failure. So I'm always I always ask people what's their one thing that they would love a redo on, that failure or whatever. But then also what's the thing you're most proud of? And you just kind of get to know people, like uh people's perception about themselves and what they failed at. And you know, I know that I for myself, I can sometimes get hyper-focused on failures, but I've I've started to give myself a little grace, and like you've just got to say, okay, this was a learning opportunity and move on. And what did you learn from it? And how did it make your life better? And so, yeah, I always like to know what other people think their failures were and how they were covered. Yeah, it's important.

SPEAKER_01: 5:12

It is important. I loved that you wanted to get to know me on a personal level too. Like you weren't just here to make a check mark for your day with the questions, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:25

The robot questions that you ask. Yeah, I hate those. I never use them. Right. I never use those. I hate those questions. Yeah, me too. So I want to know do you love dogs? Are you a nice person? Are you smart enough to learn the job? Are you gonna be a good fit? Because we can teach you how to do this job. This job is just a process of things, you know. And so you could, if the person you're talking to is a good fit for your team and you think they're smart enough to figure it out, that's what matters. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01: 6:05

Thank you just like said the holy grail of what project management is, too. You know, exactly. Like you could get a group of people together, and it doesn't matter if you're good at what's coming at you or not, it's coming. It's coming.

SPEAKER_00: 6:21

Can you figure it out? How are you gonna handle it? Yeah, oh yeah. I'm in that spot right now because you know, I just changed jobs and a big industry change too. So oh my gosh, Rachel. So, okay, I have spent the majority of my career in healthcare, but a very good friend of mine uh went to work for Terminix, which is the pest control company. So this is a huge change, but a couple of us who have all worked together before are now at this company and making a huge difference. It is it is so unbelievable. This is week four for me. I'm in calls with the CEO, with the chief marketing officer. Well, there's two CEOs, and one's in the UK and one is here um in the United States, and they are both. I I I mean, I worked for Humana for 10 years and never spoke to the CEO. So it's really wild the change. You know, these projects are big. I don't know what's going on. I'm in week four. I honestly am lucky I can log into my computer every day, but I gotta go in there and pretend like I know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01: 7:46

So but they called you in to have a seat at the table because you did something they've never seen before, right? That's right. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00: 7:56

Okay, so we so I was on a call with um the chief marketing officer and one of the CEOs, and we were talking about this big effort, and we're gonna roll out um a set of processes and steps that our branch managers across the nation have to do to get more leads through Google. Okay. And to do that, we designed like this great process of the steps, as easy as one, two, three. And I said this one thing, and it started my whole career. This was in week one. I said, we're gonna create a command center for the branch managers, and it was like, what? You're gonna do what? A command center. And I said, well, really a mini command center, because we've had some pretty big command centers, Rachel and I, you know, you know that through our career. Uh, whenever we turn something live, we are there to support the people that we're turning it live with, you know, working in technology and building tools for people who have their day jobs. Like maybe in healthcare, the day job is I'm a nurse. In you know, the pest control world, the day job is I've got to go, you know, take care of spraying a house or you know, all the things that these that our managers do in this industry. And so they don't have time to worry about did you do this? Did you log in here? Did you click on this link? Did you, you know, are you doing your clicks and your reviews and all the things that it takes for us to become optimized with Google to get leads? I mean, you have to do these things, right? So we're talking about this. I said, it's really mini. It's a mini command center. We're gonna do a couple of things to support these people. We'll have an open line set up for them. They can call with problems, they can email us with problems, we're gonna do kickoff calls and show them what to do. We're not just gonna give them an instruction list, we're gonna show it to them hands-on, each person. And they were like, mini command center. I love it. I want one on every project. I was like, whoa, wait, now every project might not need one. Right. But now here I am. That is awesome. So I'll it's been really fun, it's exhilarating.

SPEAKER_01: 10:30

Well, you're like the gold star of all project management. I've seen a lot since I've left you. Oh, wow. Okay, so I saw a little bit of where I got to you, and I try to pretend like I knew everything you were talking about that one day in my interview. And he saw right through me, and you're like, this girl, okay, I just like her, she likes dogs. But uh, when we were in this and I was under you, I had no idea the gold plate I was eating from and learning from. And I had no idea, and it was so PMI standard, and everything that rolled out under it, you know, even Lori with the RAID log, dude. You gotta update that rate log, you gotta get the RAID log, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, and the status reports, you got a typo, you know. But my favorite is your status reports and everything is in line of manual intervention, um setting all of these like 0.008 and the recipe. The recipe colors, yeah. So that's all ingrained in my brain, thank goodness, because I took that over to my current role, and they're like, what? You know, like making heads explode, they've never had seen stuff before, and it's not even like people in my org, it's the outsiders. Like, oh yeah, the project managers I've been working with, and I'm like, that's exciting. Yeah, you gotta know Michelle. Michelle knows stuff. You're training them now, though, aren't you? You're showing them on my team. We uh I have like the best team because they're all really into process, and they're all um these A students, you know, like they were all A students.

SPEAKER_02: 12:29

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01: 12:30

Yeah, it's great because they want to know and they have this thirst for knowledge and making things better. And the lessons learned like blew their minds. I'm like, you can't close a project out without talking about it, you know.

unknown: 12:44

Like, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_00: 12:47

So yeah, you gotta do the lessons learned, and then you have to consume those lessons and apply it. Apply it. Yes, exactly. Yeah, you know, and I would not I cannot move past being the gold standard without saying that in reality, I am more gold standard in theory and application and change management and all that. Yeah, I feel like where I have learned the most, and I know you also did, was with John Black.

SPEAKER_01: 13:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:19

And I mean, that guy, he knows how to do things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 13:25

I mean, really he runs a project on project, and then out of his life, he can run all the projects, all the things like exact management. John, he's got it all. He is the can we dress for success? John's dressing as the CEO. There's no other as he isn't.

SPEAKER_00: 13:48

There's no other question about it. Yeah. You know, I will tell you that in my life, okay, in my career, I have this collection of people that are part of my life now, not just people that I worked with. Um, you know, which there are tons of people that I worked with that I admire and respect, but there's this core group around me of people, and we tend to follow each other around to businesses and you know, and in life, as we go through life changes and do things like Fitsin and all the things that you're doing. I mean, we're there for you and we don't work together anymore. It's you know, we're just we'll always be tied to each other.

SPEAKER_01: 14:36

Absolutely, absolutely, which is also, I'm glad you mentioned that because um I want to talk a little bit about this with you because I think your story is phenomenal. And oh, okay, it gives me um cold chills, it makes me like it makes me really rejoice with you because of how courageous I feel like you are. Oh my gosh, okay. I want you to tell the story of how you left your left your last job and what that with on a blind, on a blind fly, you know, like you jumped, you jumped, and I I was just like, Yes, I'm in my living room walking around with my ear pods on, like oh my gosh, you did it.

SPEAKER_00: 15:29

Oh, it was so scary, Rachel, too, because you know, I was in a role that I it was not a good fit for me. It wasn't, you know, healthy for me. And you you know that when it's happening, right? And so you know me, I'm no quitter, so I tried everything I knew to try. I threw the whole thing at that job trying to make it work, and it just didn't work. And so I talked to my husband about it, and we just decided, you know what, let's make let's get out of there and let's make your job be finding a job. So get out there, you know, figure out what it is you want to do. Do you want to stay in healthcare? Find the right spot for yourself. And that's what I did. I mean, it was that was in December. So I use January and February to really like hone in on what I want to do. And I it's so funny when I tell people, yes, I I've decided I'm gonna go work at Terminix. People are just like, What? Why did you do you want to do what? Like you're gonna you've been working in healthcare all this time, and now you want to just switch industries completely. I said, Yes, that's what I want to do, and I knew it because of two reasons. Number one, I needed change, I needed to do something new and different, and I think you even talked about that. If you just stay in the same thing forever, it just becomes mundane. I needed to do something exciting and new, and I had people there. That was the other thing, having the right leader, and so the person who's my my boss now, my leader now, is such a good person. Like, yeah, you know, he he's just one of those guys that's gonna do the right thing, yeah, every time. Yeah, so he's I love that about him.

SPEAKER_01: 17:33

He kind of walks with the special glow, you know. Yeah, he does it.

SPEAKER_00: 17:37

He's he really is, yeah, and he appreciates what I bring to the table, and that's another thing that is really important in your career. People have you have to be appreciated. So anyway, I just decided this is the way it's gonna be. And I had support at home, thank goodness, and just made it happen. And I am so happy. It has been, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it this last three weeks. It has been like drinking from a water hose, yeah. You know, but it's exciting.

SPEAKER_01: 18:11

So it is. I want to talk more into that feeling of there's a lot of people out there I feel like that could resonate with this, and maybe they're stuck in this um rut of a job and how that felt. Uh, some people like I'm not gonna tell my mom's story, but I know she had a similar situation of this feeling. But I want to know with with you, like the somatic side of it. The let's get into the yoga part of your story that um I I know that uh was there for you and how you worked through it. So on a somatic level.

SPEAKER_00: 19:02

So okay, I think I know what you're asking. So tell me if this is this is what you mean. But for me, um I think people have things in their lives that really fulfill them, you know, that make them who they are. That can be being a mom, it can be, you know, being a yoga instructor, things that fulfill fulfill you on just a different level. Like, you know, for me, that in addition to my family is my job, and it always has been. Like I am very career oriented, not climbing the ladder oriented, but just the work that I do has to be making a difference. And I have, you know, I don't need somebody to pat me on the back every day and say you're doing a great job, but I need to I need to know that what I'm doing. Is what they need, and I'm making people's lives better.

SPEAKER_01: 20:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 20:04

And it's just something that I have to do. And it's like I think what you do with yoga and how you help people feel centered. And you know, I've I've been honored to be in many of your classes and experience that with you. And so just to feel centered and grounded and appreciated. And it's just critical to me. And that wasn't happening where I was. It was doing what it was doing was this is gonna sound so dramatic. Okay, but I'm gonna say it anyway. It was like sucking the life force out of me. I felt like I was just I don't know how to explain it. Like I just didn't even care about anything anymore because it was, I just felt so blah about everything. It was terrible. So please be more dramatic.

SPEAKER_01: 21:06

I want you to be more dramatic. Get into that. Like no, that is so not you knowing you on a personal level.

SPEAKER_00: 21:14

But it was crushing me. I mean, when we had that lunch, we for the audience, we had a luncheon and a bunch of friends got together, and you were in town, and it was nice, and I was sitting right, you know, very close to you, and I felt like I want to be happy, and I was so like down that I couldn't even see up above it to enjoy that moment. And I swear it's weird, but when I got home that day, I was talking to my husband and I was telling him how I felt. I'm like, I feel like I I can't even enjoy like the beautiful things that happen anymore. Like nothing, there's no joy for me right now. And that's really what led us to the choice to leave. So I was very and you know what? Wait a minute, I might even have the timeline wrong. Was I I had maybe already turned in my notice or something, but there's something about being in a situation like that when it's that intense. I know that that's a real thing, but in a way, I felt like it took me weeks to recover and be able to pull myself out of that slump and just enjoy life again. And I noticed when I was looking for jobs, you know, it wasn't until I got myself up and out of it that it even started to click with people. There were so many little mini failures that were happening in the beginning because I wasn't myself. I know it was because I wasn't myself, so I couldn't I couldn't talk people into hiring me. I didn't believe in me at that moment.

SPEAKER_01: 23:00

So you know, just makes me so angry at them.

SPEAKER_00: 23:09

I was really mad too. Because it was it was extreme, it was an extreme situation, and you know, hopefully that will never happen again. I never had it before, so happened, but you know, you live and you learn, and I did learn so many lessons from that. It was um there were so many, like you know, you talk about the ripple effect. There were so many ripples that happened during that whole situation. People that I worked with that were on my team, it hurt them, it hurt the the hurt just rippled out and affected so many people. And you know, that's something that maybe we don't talk about a lot in the corporate world, but when things like that happen, when companies merge and people get let go and you don't see it coming and you don't know about it, and it just hits you one day, and then people you love don't have jobs, and yeah, I mean it it's so intense, and right now in this economy with everything that's going on, there are so many people out there struggling right now, it breaks my heart.

SPEAKER_01: 24:29

I mean, yeah, that was um a weird place to be. I I know when I worked there with you, it felt so toxic, and I had no space for that with I mean Theo being brand new and like I'm brand new here, and I didn't know I I needed more, but there wasn't I was pulling from you, you were empty. There was no more that I could have gotten from a leadership because you couldn't get anything in leadership, and it just was like ah, I'm so um blessed beyond belief, and so fortunate to have had an Elizabeth that I could have called, you know, to like you had your people to eventually help pull you up and out, but it yeah, but um I'll never forget the day John called me and he goes, they let me go, and I was floored. I was floored. I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_00: 25:46

No way, how what it makes no sense, it made no sense, and I it nobody talked to anybody, there was no communication, there were just these things just happening, and it just felt awful. I mean, I just yeah, I that is probably the well, there were other things too, like when they split the companies, like for the audience we did, you know, in this big merger, they split and started a new company and moved some of us to another company, and it was just awful. Yeah, everybody just getting tossed around like we were chips and not people, and it was um, you know, like you said too though, and this is a real thing, and this is this might make me emotional, but myself being empty and not being in control of the situation and not being able to give to the people who you're supposed to be able to give to as a leader. Number one, that was awful for me because I knew it, but for our team, it was so much worse. And I don't know, it's just one of those those things that I hope that we all can recover from someday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:11

For sure. I know that was an intense, intense time. What I know what took you or how you got there now, but when you're out of it, that day that you gave your notice had to feel really freaking great, right? Like, oh what's that feeling like let's visit that feeling for a minute?

SPEAKER_00: 27:38

I will tell you, Rachel, it's so funny that you bring that up because I think that this is something that you would have really appreciated. So um I wanted to manage my departure, okay? So I wanted it to feel a certain way and go a certain way. It wasn't like I'm just throwing it on the table and walking out the door, you know. So I turned in my notice, I gave um over a month's notice, you know, to so that we would have time to hire a replacement, bring that person in, and it I would have time to show them the ropes. I wanted that because the one thing I can say about the job is the people that I worked with were amazing. And I didn't want to leave them in a bind, and I didn't really care so much about the boss, but but I really wanted this new person to not just be dumped into a pool and not know where anything is. So I gave a bit a long notice. We hired a person and I got to spend time with her, and so that made me feel better. I walked away feeling less wounded because of it, you know, because I managed it and did it my way. And I think it made me have that feeling of control again in the smallest way. It gave me that feeling, you know. But yeah, but yeah, I did. I controlled it and oh, it felt so good. And from the day I gave my notice, you know, it was a little over a month. That was the longest month of my life. It was oh man, but I never let anybody see it. I just oh I'm sure smiled right through it.

SPEAKER_01: 29:26

I'm sure. I tell you what, when I left you, I was so sad. I broke out in shingles. My my no my nervous system was a rag. I'm like, I don't want to leave the people.

SPEAKER_00: 29:37

But I yeah, yeah, it was just we were a great team, and you so I think we just it was so fun, and I hated that for you that you did, but you made the right move, Rachel. Uh, for yourself, your family, um everything.

SPEAKER_01: 29:54

You definitely made the right move, and so I did, I did, and looking back, and I can say that easily. Being in it, I'm like, oh my God, what am I doing?

SPEAKER_00: 30:06

You know, in that moment, I know you were so stressed out. It was it was sad, but again, you know, when you make big moves and you do exciting things, you know, it's it's it can have that effect on your body, you know. Like you said, you broke out in shingles. I sure did. That's crazy. I know, not even old enough to have shingles. Technically, they won't even give you the vaccine. Oh, they both gave it to yourself.

unknown: 30:40

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00: 30:42

Oh man, right? I know.

SPEAKER_01: 30:46

So after you left there and you had this little time, and you noticed, like, man, I'm not myself when we were all out. Yeah. Uh what was the turnaround like? What was that? You're you're going around curve three at this point to come back to the finish line to start over. What is that feeling?

SPEAKER_00: 31:11

Yeah, so I will say that it was a slow thing for me to get back to normal because something else that that happened during that time and was my husband had to have back surgery and he was hurt, not hurt, but it was a very long recovery for him. And it was tough on him, it was tough on me. And then on top of it, all the stuff at work that was happening, it was just a lot. And you know, we're on the other side of it now, but his healing and his progress started happening around the same time that I left that role. And so I can say that that two months leading up to my new job was just spent in recovery for both of us. And we're we're finally there, and it was slow. It happened over the course of that two months, and then I this is how much my job matters to me. The real the moment that I knew that I was like healing or healed was after I started this job and had some time to spend in the job and feel my worth again. Yeah, everything is everything about myself, I think, is tied to the work that I do or the service that I it's not service, but um I guess it is service that you provide for your family, you know, making sure they're body there.

SPEAKER_01: 32:48

You embody a servant leadership style, which is super special and rare, very rare, shouldn't be rare, but in my experience, it's a rare find because you're very compassionate and you are passionate. That's true, yeah, but you only put out things that if it has your name on it, it matters to you, and I feel like a lot of um in project management, a lot of that can get lost in your quality, you know, you're the quality of that's why you're the gold star.

SPEAKER_00: 33:34

I try, I do try. It was funny because this three weeks that I just you know, being with Terminex, it I made three mistakes. I sorted a spreadsheet wrong, had the wrong sort on it. It's so minor, but it made me crazy that I did it. I lost an email because oh my gosh, we use Google Workspace. And I've only used Microsoft products my entire career. So now I'm trying to like I can't figure out where the emails are and how our CIO sent me an email and I couldn't find it. Well, it was right there in front of me, but I couldn't find it. It's like, come on, people, this is not cannot be this hard. So, but yeah, I mean, I'll obsess over that, that wrong sort or having a typo on a slide. I missed a typo on a slide, Rachel. Missed one. Oh my god, who are you?

SPEAKER_01: 34:33

You're so humid. Get out of here.

SPEAKER_00: 34:39

I'm just like, oh, and it this is funny. This is really funny. The CEO called me, called me on a Friday night um to ask me about this typo on this slide. Now, can you imagine the mortification how okay?

SPEAKER_01: 34:56

Wait a minute. Was it the CEO from London in an accent who called you about this typo on the slide, or was it the CEO in America?

SPEAKER_00: 35:05

The British one. And I'm telling you, that guy's so nice, first of all. So, like everything he says sounds nice, plus he's British, so he really sounds nice. And I thought, I can't tell, is he mad about this or not? But uh yeah, it was a typo and it was real, but it was tiny. And I said, What size is your screen that you're looking at? I couldn't even see it, I couldn't read it. He said he had a 42-inch screen on his desk, and I said, Oh, okay, well, I'll be blowing these things up from now on, listening every inch of it. Got you. So yeah, well, that is great. It was exciting. I got off the phone and I was like, I think I uh to my husband, I said, I just hope that I just talked myself out of trouble with the CEO. But uh yeah, I was nervous.

SPEAKER_01: 36:09

Yeah, it's fun that I'm always um, I've been here for a bit, but I'm always a rookie. It doesn't matter. I'm in meetings still talking on mute. Um my dogs are still parking in the background. I'm like, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 36:23

It doesn't matter. I had two guys get in like a word fight in one of my calls today. It was so funny. I'm like, okay, everybody, let's just come down off 11. It's it's all gonna be okay. Nobody's family is in danger here. We just need to calm down, right? It's just a major feature. It's a report. You want it this report to show this field. We don't have to scream about it. Like, love that yellow.

SPEAKER_01: 36:52

Yeah, like and why are you yelling at another adult? What is that? Right, exactly. Give it over here, okay. So you are the queen of emotional intelligence, and I know the secret about you that of why, because you've told me the secret, so it's not a secret, okay, but it's a secret to maybe anyone else who might know you but doesn't really know you. You use um Headspace, or do you use what app is it? Your meditation. How important is your practice to you?

SPEAKER_00: 37:27

It is very important, and I do. I use Headspace and I use um, oh gosh, what is the name of the other one? I'll think of it in a second. Okay, it's um well, wait a minute, let me just look on my phone because I do this every night, and it's very important to me. Is it calm? Yes, it's calm. And nope, yes, it's calm. And it's three 300 like positive attributions that are that you can listen to, and it starts by just calming your body. So you're laying in bed and you calm your body, you stretch your legs, you stretch your arms, you know, they go through all the normal things, but then it um it starts going through it. It almost sounds if you didn't know that this was serious. It sounds like I'm talking about an SNL skit, okay? Because they start saying, I am worthy, I did good today, you know, all these positive thoughts that you can take in, and it gets you thinking about that and stops you thinking about that dang typo that you made. And now you're thinking, okay, wait, there were a million other things I did that were really good today. And I have gotten to the point where I have to listen to this mantra every night to go to sleep, it's just part of my life now. Beautiful, a lot of people. I know, and I mean that whole part in the beginning where you do relax each part of your body, and you've done this with me before too, where you think about your toes and you think about your ankle and you think about your legs and your knees and your thighs, and you just go one body part at a time until you've relaxed your entire body, and then you're ready to hear all the good stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 39:24

Yeah, absolutely. I love that, and I love that it centers you like right before. And I would probably put money on it. That if this would have happened to anybody else, as a matter of fact, I know people who have gone through some similar situations that you went through in your transition. Two months out of a scheme of a lifetime is a really quick recovery compared to I know people who just decided they would. Be like, well, I'm just gonna go drink it off, or I'm gonna wait another year before I'm ready, or maybe they never started to believe in it themselves again and they just lost it altogether.

SPEAKER_00: 40:12

That is tough. I've known people who have been beaten down in that way where they just uh have to be rebuilt, basically. Thankfully, I've been able to work with some people like that where it really was there and they just needed to believe again in themselves, and so I think that makes me so happy when I see somebody blossom again, you know, after being beaten down like that.

SPEAKER_01: 40:41

So yeah, but you just look can love life back into people, and obviously you can back to yourself, which is a gift, a big gift.

SPEAKER_00: 40:53

It is, and you know, Rachel, there also there have been times that I have failed people, you know, where you you want to be a certain thing for people and help them in their lives, and and you can't do it. Either you're not either I wasn't capable of giving what they needed or they weren't capable of receiving, and those are some things I think about all the time. Like I feel I feel personally like I have let someone down, and you know, even things often that I couldn't really control, but I should have been able to control, um, they haunt me. But also I tried to like listening to your first podcast, that's something that I will listen to again and again because what it did, Rachel, this is why you have to know how your goodness impacts people. What that did for me was it made me feel really good about myself again. Like, oh my gosh, I did something that made this person feel so good. And just knowing that I did that for you made me feel so good again. Here it is, however many years later, I get to experience it all over again, you know. So I'll keep that episode and I will listen to that again and again and again. Anytime I get low, I will listen to that.

SPEAKER_01: 42:21

Well, I'm so glad. I'm so glad you're able to receive that, you know, because absolutely you um you gave me this inspiration, so you started me out in this whole world, right? But you took me to the war room to your command in Texas, yes, I did Texas, that hotel, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 42:49

During dirt C suites, yeah, yes in Texas.

SPEAKER_01: 42:54

I'm like, who is these people? This one guy like ate my food. That was so funny.

SPEAKER_00: 43:01

Was it Schaefer? Is that was that a Schaefer boat brochard or something like that?

SPEAKER_01: 43:07

I could not even remember, I have no idea, but it was so funny. And I just remember being in my first like wow, this is project management stuff, you know. And I'm like, I gotta get this exam, I've gotta be with you people. I wanna be like you when I grow up. I'm doing this thing, and you gave me a uh I used to have it on my desk. I should have brought it up knowing I was gonna talk to you, but I didn't know I was gonna talk about this. But it was a uh flip book of flashcards for my PMP exam. Yeah, and I took that to the beach the week before my exam, and I just went and went AWOL and took that thing out to the beach. My mom's doing it, she's reading it, and I'm sitting there bathing in the sun, like answering questions, and she's helping me study in that way. And then she'd be dumb, and then I'd read it myself, and that's how I did it. That's that's literally how I passed that exam.

SPEAKER_00: 44:10

That's how I passed it too. I wasn't on a beach, but literally, my husband, we would sit every night and he would just read me the questions and bookmark the ones that I missed, and then we would go back and do the ones I missed, and then we would start over from scratch and just keep going and going. And um, gosh, that was a hard test. It's so hard. I think I blacked out. I blacked out. I know. I know I sat in the car and sobbed. I've told that story to every person I know. Well, now we gotta hear it. We gotta tell it now. We gotta hear it. I did. I walked out of that test and I passed back in the day when I took the test, they told you your score. I don't think they tell you your score anymore. Like they just tell you like percentages and like you passed on did great in this topic or whatever. But they told me that I passed that test by two percentage points. And just the thought of if I had missed one more question, it overwhelmed me because just one more question and I wouldn't have had to do it all again. I went to the car and I just cried and I was sobbing and I heard tap, tap, tap on the window, and it was the proctor. And he said, ma'am, I think you forgot your chapstick. And he handed me my chapstick. I was like, thank you. He said, I said, I'm sorry, I'm crying. And he said, Everybody cries when they take that test. And I thought, you are so kind. I love you. They pass or fail, it don't matter. You're coming away with tears. Don't wear mascara that day. Right. Exactly. Do not wear mascara. So yeah, that is amazing. Gosh, it was nerve-wracking. And still to this day, like it's one thing. Like, if you pass and you don't know that you know how close you were to not passing, that's one thing. But dang, to know one question, like, oh my gosh. It's true, it's true.

SPEAKER_01: 46:20

It is too. So, what's your next big um personal adventure that you've got going?

SPEAKER_00: 46:29

Personal. Okay. So I think for me, um, on a personal level, my husband, so I talked about his surgery that he had that he had. And so this year, 2025, is really about health for us. And we're really focusing on our bodies and just getting control. I mean, we're we're getting to the age now where we gotta think. If we don't do something now and take, you know, care of ourselves now, it's gonna end up messing up our lives later. So, I mean, you don't think about it when you're 30, when you're 20. You've still got your whole life. And I'm like, oh, wait a minute, we've used up that time. This is now. So here we are. So that's 2025. That and my job. So mental health is important this year, and our physical health.

SPEAKER_01: 47:27

I love it. So you both are welcome to my yoga retreat in 2025. I'm just saying, thank you, thank you. While I'm at it, there'll be some yoga, there'll be some meditation, there'll be medicinal foods, all the things, but I really also just want to say thank you for helping me.

SPEAKER_00: 47:47

Um, be my eyes on my website, my brow shirt, um, my ears for my first podcast. Absolutely. And you know, you gotta do a call out here for Deborah, Deborah Worth, because yeah, if you want to ask somebody to look at something for you and really, really look at it, that's the lady right there.

SPEAKER_01: 48:12

Yeah, she is attesting. Like, I would hire her for everything if I needed somebody to be like, break it, she'll be like, okay, break it.

SPEAKER_00: 48:24

She's amazing, she is amazing, and she's at uh Terminix with me. So she's one of the reasons why I got to go, you know. I was like, Yeah, okay. Deborah says it's good, I'm good. Go be, you know, with her again. And I think that's really important, you know, to always have these people in your life that you would just follow around. So yeah, I followed Deborah. I followed her in, and I am loving it. So I would follow Deborah.

SPEAKER_01: 48:52

I'm keeping you all like for forever, whether we get to work together or not, ever. I'm gonna have Deborah on here. She's on my list too. So yeah, and Ray.

SPEAKER_00: 49:03

Oh my gosh, they're yes, because oh see, that's another I would follow Ray anywhere. I would follow Deborah. They're like our little group, Tracy. We've got so many people that we love, and I would follow any of them. And you know, like I always joke around with John, and I'm like, I'm gonna be, so I want John to get into the leadership position where he can hire me to be my last job will be his PM. I'm gonna be his best PM that he's ever had. And so I'm like, or Deborah, or you you guys just have to get ready so you can hire me. So go be that leader.

SPEAKER_01: 49:45

And job or we gotta invent some things. Oh we'll have to, we'll get there on something.

SPEAKER_00: 49:53

Yeah, you've got a few years, you know, until I'm ready for my last job. But well, I know you'd be good at it, so it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01: 50:05

Oh gosh, this has been such an awesome talk with you, and I could just sit here and talk to you all day. Like I could just stare at my computer right now and sit here and talk to you all day long and laugh.

SPEAKER_00: 50:19

Wasn't there? Um I think there was a day. Do you remember? I think we talked for almost two hours. Just it was during when all the stuff was not good for me. Oh, it made me feel so much better.

SPEAKER_01: 50:32

So well, I'm glad I'm glad I could spare two hours anytime to hang out with you.

SPEAKER_00: 50:40

Thank you, thank you, and thanks for doing letting me do this with you.

SPEAKER_01: 50:44

Uh be your first. No brainer. I'm just glad you accepted. It was like, oh my god, I'm gonna have somebody.

SPEAKER_00: 50:54

And it's you'll have you'll have some awesome people. People love you, and it's gonna be uh just great to hear how you bring their thoughts and feelings to the surfaces and talk about them.

SPEAKER_01: 51:07

So well, it was wonderful that you were willing to, and you always have shown up to be in the business of yourself, and like you've always just stayed true to you, even when you might not have even seen that you were doing it, and I think that's so admirable, admirable. Yes, however, you say the word.

SPEAKER_00: 51:28

I think I've made up a few words in this conversation today, so it's on it's recorded. It's a PM thing to do. I'm just gonna stick it up, you know, on the plot.

SPEAKER_01: 51:38

It'll stick, it'll stick in there.

unknown: 51:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 51:43

Oh, well, I love you, and I love you too. I appreciate you so much. Thank you. Thank you, and just keep shining. Thank you. You too.

SPEAKER_00: 51:53

Thank you. All right, see you soon. Bye.