247: Our Biggest Obstacle Is Sometimes Ourselves
Many times in life we do everything within our power to achieve our goal, whether that be a new job, to bring pride to others or ourselves, and to finally get over that hurdle our mental health has been lately. It’s easy to forget how far you’ve come when you see how far you still have left to go, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate your accomplishments now.
Our Biggest Obstacle Is Sometimes Ourselves, Featuring Megan Miller of Aprovechar Language Solutions
Many times in life we do everything within our power to achieve our goal, whether that be a new job, to bring pride to others or ourselves, and to finally get over that hurdle our mental health has been lately. It’s easy to forget how far you’ve come when you see how far you still have left to go, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate your accomplishments now.
In this episode Sarah Elkins and her good friend Megan Miller discuss the importance of allowing yourself to change and to celebrate every victory, no matter how small, because those victories are proof of your success.
Highlights
Sharing personal, vulnerable stories without any intention doesn’t help you.
Sometimes you don’t notice how much things change until you step back or get an outside perspective.
Celebrate the wins.
You get out what you put in.
Quotes
It’s soul, it’s about how you do it and why you do it.
The advice we give a lot of the time is advice we need to hear at that point in time.
Mentioned in this Podcast
About Megan
Megan Miller is the CEO of Aprovechar Language Solutions, LLC, a company which acts as a bridge between English and Spanish language learners. Her personalized and small group programs take a habit-based approach, and whether it’s in class or a Book Club – you know you’ll have fun!
She also helps IT companies in Latin America and Europe tell their stories for a U.S.-based audience through translation and localization projects. Megan has a Bachelor’s in Spanish Language, Literature, and Culture and is a certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language.
Check out her Instagram and LinkedIn! As well as her website, Approvechar Language Solutions!
About Sarah
"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."
In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.
The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!
Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.
Show notes by Chinook Bromlie
243: While Your Mindset Shifts Over Time, Your Purpose May Not
Sometimes in life we will all have moments where we think to ourselves, “Is this really who I want to be? Is this how I want my story to impact others?” and we either wonder or plan for the next steps in becoming the person we want to be.
In this episode Sarah Elkins and her guest Tony Michaelides, an accomplished Author and former Music Industry Executive, discuss the importance of being authentic in your stories and how they influence your audience in a way that is for the better, instead of being outrageous and telling your stories for the perceived “glory” of having a legacy.
While Your Mindset Shifts Over Time, Your Purpose May Not
Sometimes in life we will all have moments where we think to ourselves, “Is this really who I want to be? Is this how I want my story to impact others?” and we either wonder or plan for the next steps in becoming the person we want to be.
In this episode Sarah Elkins and her guest Tony Michaelides, an accomplished Author and former Music Industry Executive, discuss the importance of being authentic in your stories and how they influence your audience in a way that is for the better, instead of being outrageous and telling your stories for the perceived “glory” of having a legacy.
Highlights
It's okay to be lousy when you first try something.
In order to pursue your dreams you have to be willing to be uncomfortable in order to learn what you need to do.
How many people can you benefit by being your authentic self?
The influence of being insistent on personal growth.
Show appreciation for the road life has lead you on.
Quotes
Be true to yourself, don't find yourself being lead down a road of uncertainty.
There comes a time in your life when you stand back and say "what about me?" and that's not being selfish towards others, that's just putting yourself in the mix.
We can be heroes if just for today.
Featured in this podcast:
Moments that Rock Podcast
About Tony Michaelides (from his website):
Having spent thirty plus years in the music industry and working with some of the world’s leading artists I could see that big changes were about to happen. It was clearly time for me to make a change too so after being labelled an “Alien of Extraordinary Ability” for services to the music and arts I was awarded a green card, packed my bags and headed out to America for the next part of my journey. As I began writing my first book it dawned on me that I had learned a lot from both the artists I had worked with together with the people I like to call ‘music industry insiders.’ I started to take ‘The Lessons Learned from Rock and Roll’ out on to the road and to numerous events internationally. As I was writing my second book, ‘Moments That Rock’ I decided to keep the lessons separate and to release them as a series of E Books and Audio books. My ‘Moments That Rock’ became a storytelling podcast and a new dawn beckoned. If I can no longer do what I did then why not talk about it? The Lessons Learned from Rock and Roll is not exclusive and can be applied to anyone. It opens people’s eyes in to what it takes to be a real Rock Star.
ABOUT SARAH:
"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."
In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.
The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!
Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.
Show notes by Chinook Bromlie - Estey
208: Have You Been Reading Books Wrong?
Avil Beckford is the host of The One Problem Podcast, breaking down current, relevant problems in under 10 minutes, one at a time. She also trains leaders to reimagine how they read books, guiding them to get the most out of their reading time.
Avil Beckford's Story: Reimagine How You Read Books
Did you know that people only remember 20% of what they read?
Join in this latest episode as Sarah Elkins and Avil Beckford discuss the bigger picture of “just reading a book”. Sarah and Avil break down the novels that have been significant throughout Avil’s life, as well as the power in understanding the books we choose.
If you love reading and want to reimagine how you perceive books, this is the podcast episode for you.
“Before you read you need to be clear of the reason why you’re reading the book.”
*podcast show notes contributed by Tracy Ackeret
About Avil:
Avil Beckford is the host of The One Problem Podcast, breaking down current, relevant problems in under 10 minutes, one at a time. She also trains leaders to reimagine how they read books, guiding them to get the most out of their reading time.
Avil has expressed her gratitude for reading challenges and the lessons she has been able to share with others through The Invisible Mentor. Avil has had her work included in Forbes and Medium and was featured in Investor's Business Daily.
Visit Avil’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
*podcast show notes contributed by Tracy Ackeret
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ABOUT SARAH:
"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."
In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.
The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!
Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.
Your Brain on Stories: How Stories Impact Your World View
He was sitting in the school library with his friends on a rainy day, laughing and getting the negative attention of the staff. Picking up a random novel from the shelf to hide behind and pretend to read, a sentence actually caught his attention, and he was completely transported to the world of Dune.
Impacts of Hearing and Writing Other People's Stories
He was sitting in the school library with his friends on a rainy day, laughing and getting the negative attention of the staff. Picking up a random novel from the shelf to hide behind and pretend to read, a sentence actually caught his attention, and he was transported to the world of Dune.
It was the third in the series, and when he finished it, he went back to read the first two. That fateful rainy day changed how David Amerland saw his world, and his future in it. The premise behind Dune, written in 1965 is incredibly relevant today. Like so many of our most cherished science fiction novels, we’re seeing ominous signals of our future, strangely mirroring our wildest science fiction fantasies of the past.
In Dune, the people of the future are like computers, our minds are what drive development, not the opposite, as we see today. And that’s what David saw in his future; recognizing the incredible power of the human brain, and how it’s impacted by what we observe, consciously and unconsciously.
Our thoughts and behaviors are shaped by our perceptions of all of our interactions, experiences, and observations of our stories, and we’re also shaped by other people’s stories that we hear and read. Many iterations of “rags to riches” stories capture our attention, not because they are our stories, but because we are motivated and enthralled by the stories we want to relate to. When we hear or read about the struggles, obstacles, and successes of others, we can see ourselves in those stories, even if our experiences are completely different. It’s the emotion – the feelings – behind the stories that capture our attention, not necessarily the actual experiences.
Recent studies have shown that hearing someone tell a story triggers specific activity in our brains. When we hear a story being told, the active part of our brain is the same active part of the brain as the person who is telling the story. In other words, if I share a story really well, I can get others to practically experience it.
There’s more to it, of course, involving release of oxytocin in the brain. You can read more here, and here.
Listen to this fascinating conversation with David Amerland, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
David Amerland is an international speaker, author and business journalist. He's also a gypsy careerist (like me), because his interests span the spectrum of science and humanity. His recently published book, The Sniper Mind, takes mindfulness and focus techniques that are critical to success in that arena, and applies those techniques to professional and personal success. I'm a little conflicted with this idea, and at the same time, totally intrigued by it.
Enjoyed the podcast? Read about David on his website, connect with him on LinkedIn, and buy his book.