Unlocking Your Potential: How to Transform Adversity into Purpose with Kevin Hoover

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(00:00):
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(02:15):
relax and enjoy today's show. Helloeveryone, So today's episode you are
going to learn how to manage stressto increase your productivity with our guest,
Kevin Hoover. Kevin has spent overfifteen years in corporate management before carving his
own path. He has found itto be the most challenging and rewarding thing

(02:38):
he has done. He currently workswith business leaders through his company called Nextcres
in areas like stress management, positivecompany culture, and living a balanced life.
It is my pleasure to welcome Kevinto our show today. Thank you
so much, good to be here. Great, Well, let's dive in.
So why don't we start with lettingour audience get to know you a

(02:59):
little bit better. Tell us alittle bit about your journey and how you
came to be teaching others on managingstress and their day to day work life.
Well, it's an indirect line betweenwhat I'm doing now and where I
come from. But my journey inbusiness really started a long time ago,
working in corporate as you said,and then in entrepreneurship. I became an

(03:20):
entrepreneur out of necessity. Really.In twenty nineteen, my then four year
old son was diagnosed with cancer.And he's fine, he's great, he
just turned eight and he's doing wonderful. So no harm there. But as
I was in real estate at thetime, and as we went through that
journey, you can imagine the amountof stress that it put me and my
wife under, not only emotionally butfinancially, and so I had to really

(03:46):
figure out how to make money whilewe weren't going to be home and that
was a challenge. So through allthe stress and making really tough decisions in
life and then building a business atthe same time, that's kind of where
where I landed on being an executivecoach in Next Crest and helping people navigate
their version of that. You know, I don't think anyone's story is more

(04:08):
or less important than the next,but I did learn a thing or two
about managing stress on a daily basisand building a business and higher productivity and
profits and all that. So that'skind of the journey that I've been on
the last few years. Wow,that had to be incredibly challenging to be
faced with such a horrific time inyour life. I mean, you're scared

(04:31):
to death obviously, and you're facedwith this it was stage four cancer I
saw in your notes, and thathad to be extremely scary, and at
the same time, you've got toprovide financially for your family, and you've
got to figure out how to doit so that you can be with him
during and throughout his entire treatment.So it's stressful enough for people starting a

(04:55):
new business, but you had todo it under extreme circumstances, Like how
did you manage that? It was? Well, I learned everything from reflection,
So at the time I didn't reallyhave the tools to I tried some
things, and some things work,and I tried other things that they didn't.
But now when I reflect on thethings that work, that's really where

(05:15):
I can coach someone else in thatspace. So it was really just manage
it the best way you can inthat environment. And you're right, it
was very stressful, you know thekind of thing. It happened very very
quickly. We woke up on aFriday in March of twenty nineteen, and
when we went to bed that night, we were a completely different family and
my business was a completely different business. And so they're stress in that.

(05:39):
But I think the things, youknow, as I look back, the
things that I did very well.My work week went from six days a
week back to two days a week, a day and a half. Really
at first and and that was stressedwinning of itself. I'm not built that
way. I wasn't raised that way, it wasn't conditioned that way. But
when I started going through the highmoments of stress, the breaks really became
something that I required more of.And not hour long breaks or anything like

(06:03):
that. It was really five minutesto sit in quiet, or five minutes
to go for a walk or youknow, ten minutes to play guitar or
whatever. It was. Having alot of those little breaks throughout my day
often was enough to hit the reset. And later I learned scientifically, for
us to reset after thirty minutes ofhigh productivity work, it takes about five

(06:26):
minutes to completely reset back to optimumpotential. So it kind of made sense
as I started doing the research ofwhy these little breaks were so very important
in managing and mitigating the stress throughthat time. It just allowed me to
reset mentally, emotionally, sometimes physically, to get back to a place where
I could really move the needle.That's gosh, that's great. That is

(06:48):
what's hard about working in this traditionaland that's why there needs to be so
much culture change. But like thatis really what's difficult about working in a
traditional nine to five corporate job wherethere aren't these multiple breaks, and it
really does create more of that burnoutmentality for people. It does. It

(07:10):
does, and I think that's whereyou know, when I work with organizations,
it really is empowering the team todo what they need. You know,
obviously you have to work, youhave meetings, responsibilities, but you
can sit at your desk and slideyour shoes off and just meditate for five
minutes, like you can do thatwithout disrupting the day or the office or

(07:30):
anything like that. So I thinkeveryone has to kind of find their their
balance in that way and find theirlittle break. You know. It doesn't
necessarily mean this big grand gesture ofa break or you're leaving the building or
anything like that. It can besomething very very simple. Listening to a
music, Scrolling social media is abig thing with some of my clients.
Let me just grow social media forfive minutes, say whatever works, you
know. But I do think thatthe culture is built on the hustle grind

(07:55):
mentality and the idea that if we'renot there, how can we be doing
a good job? And I thinkwe're just you know, I came up
in that era of you know,work forty hours a week, do that
for twenty five years at retirement,and then move on. And that model
has consistently proven broken As our lifeexpectancy has increased. You know, people

(08:16):
are now living a lot longer andthankfully so and so now that model doesn't
work and it puts stress on us. You know, if we don't have
enough money by sixty five, whatdo we do? And that's a valid
argument, but the reality is we'regoing to probably live another twenty thirty years,
so we got time. And soyeah, I think there's a lot
of stress in there. But whatdo these little breaks really do? That's

(08:37):
just it's a really prospective reset.It really is making you see what's important,
what's not necessary. Finding the productivityincreases after the break as opposed to
not taking the break at all isreally the game changer for most of these
leaders. Wow, I love that. So three things or give us some
tips? Then what can people doto help eliminate the stress that they're having

(09:01):
in their daily lives? Because Ithink we're a more stressed out society than
we've ever been a post COVID.I think a lot of people their lives
shifted so much that they're trying tostill figure it out. And that's what
I hear from so many people.So give us some tips on what some
people can do to sort of helpeliminate this overall stressful feeling. Absolutely,

(09:26):
I think number one is sleep.You know, when we talk about stress,
you know where does stress come from? You know, it comes from
a lot of different places that noone can argue that a rested mind can
manage things better than a tired mind, a fatigue mind. So sleep becomes
very important to stress management because Imean, I'm sure you've experienced I've certainly
experienced it. Where if I'm tired, I don't deal with things in the

(09:48):
same manner as I would as ifI'm rested. So one of the things
I like to do is say,you know, we all get twenty four
hours. No one on this planethas more than twenty four hours in a
day. And one of the thingsthat really is beneficial is decide how many
hours you need to sleep at night, not how many hours you want to
sleep, how many hours you needto sleep. At what point do you
wake up without an alarm, withoutinterruption, without an external source saying hey,

(10:09):
time to get up? At whatpoint do you wake up and how
many hours? Is that an exerciseyou can do? I did thirty days
of sleeping without an alarm and measuredmy time and realized at that time I
needed six hours of sleep. Mybody naturally woke up after six hours.
So now that I have that information, I can look at my twenty four
hour scheduled day and say, Okay, what time do I want to go
to bed? Okay, I wantto go to bed at ten o'clock,

(10:31):
wonderful. Then I'm going to wakeup at five for four and then what
do I do next? You know? So, now with that sleep,
I'm getting the sleep I need sothat I can mentally process stress and then
I can plan my day from there. So that's the number one thing is,
don't discard sleep when it comes tostress management. Sleep is very important
because it does indicate how we functionin our minds. That's probably number one.

(10:56):
Number two I really like this approach. We come into our day with
the mindset of a to do list, and it immediately puts us either ahead
or behind our productivity cycles, meaningwe either perceive our day as being highly
productive or we perceive it as beingnot productive at all. And so when
we reframe how we think about ourday. You know, what if you

(11:16):
thought about your day of the thingsyou get to do, what do I
get to do today, and notwhat do I have to do today?
Little shifts like that can really helpmanage the stress. I think planning your
lunch breaks, what am I goingto eat on my lunch? Be excited
about that and not just get somethingso that you move on, like,
oh, I'm having my favorite noodlesfor lunch. You know that seems like
that would be more beneficial than justscuffing down a sandwich. So that's what

(11:41):
I really harp on with people thatI work with, is your mental approach
to your day dictates how you managethe emergencies in the stress that may come
up. And if we go intoour day thinking here's what I get to
do on my breaks, here's whatI get to do with my lunch,
and then all the to do listbecomes prioritize, we really have a different

(12:03):
we have a different mindset around it. And probably if I had to give
one one more tip to managing stress, I think we have to create hard
stops. We have to create hardstops in our day and with our phones
it's really challenging bringing the devices home. We're expected to be twenty four to
seven. For the most part,we have to answer the emails, you

(12:24):
know, we're going to dinner withthe phone in our pocket and all these
things. But I think we haveto create hard stops as far as what's
reasonable. And each each career isdifferent, each person is different. But
if we create hard stops in ourday meeting, I'm no longer going to
work after this time, and everyonearound me understands that for the most part,
barring you know, the event,the meeting, the emergency, whatever

(12:45):
comes up. But if that isour normal pattern, then we generally have
more rest, something to look forwardto, our standards are being met,
and we omit boredom, and boredomis really the idea that we don't have
an impact or have any control.And so if we're creating hard stops,
like we have control, and thatimmediately reduces my stress and the stress of
my clients when I feel like I'min control of my day. So those

(13:07):
are probably the three things that Iwould lean to first and that will make
the most impact. And then ofcourse taking these small breaks throughout the day.
Yeah, yeah, of course,that's the bonus. Yep, absolutely,
So what have you found, Likeeveryone's got their superpowers, and what
have you found that is sort ofyour strengths or skill sets that have really

(13:30):
helped you through this journey. Well, I realized that I was allocating sometimes
up to twelve hours a day todo work that requires only four hours of
time commitment and so meaning the actualwork that moves the needle, you know
it. Really we can really doa lot more and a lot less time

(13:50):
if we're really aware of it.And for me, I had to do
it. I didn't have a choice, so I had to figure out how
to do it. I think mysuperpower kind of coming out of our situation.
And you know, now we're youknow, we spent the last probably
fifteen months traveling the country in anRV and now we're back home in a
house and it's easier to manage.But I think my superpower is really crafting

(14:11):
my weeks and my months in away that doesn't have any just because time,
you know, have a meeting,just because we should have a meeting.
It really everything is super intentional andeverything has a purpose. And if
I don't understand the purpose, Iask questions, and if someone in my
world doesn't understand the purpose, Iwant them to ask questions. And that
allows me to not take a meetingwhen it should be an email, and
not send an email when it shouldbe a phone call, and it just

(14:33):
it makes things super productive and highlyintentional. So for me, it's I
think when perspective came that life wasn'tforever and that this can all go away
at the blink of an eye,I really decided that I didn't have time
to waste my time. And that'skind of how I live my life and
work and run my business is beingrespectable of my time and everyone that's involved

(14:54):
in my business's time. I thinkthat's so it's so incredibly smart. In
today's world, I think there's habitsthat people get into and they're not necessarily
good habits. And in creating ameeting for an hour or a forty five
minute meeting, I know sometimes I'min meetings and we're done, we're done

(15:18):
talking about it. It's twenty minutesand we're done talking, and they're like,
well, we still have forty minutes. What do you guys want to
discuss? It's like I don't wantto discuss anything. I want to get
on with it and do the workthat we just talked about, or finish
this project that we just laid outin this twenty minutes. And it's always
amazing to me. It is.I think we're conditioned. You know.

(15:39):
I grew up in the South,so the idea was clean your plate and
you get dessert, right, Soif you eat all of your food,
you'll get dessert. And I thinkwe take that approach in many ways into
our businesses. You know, ifwe've allocated an hour, guess how long
we're going to take. We're goingto take an hour, you know.
And I really that's something that Ireally spent a lot of time on.

(16:00):
You know, most calendars are setup for the half hour. The hour
time increments. It takes me seventeenminutes to check my email every day,
so why would I allocate thirty minutesto do something that I know takes seventeen
minutes. You know. But we'rejust conditioned to use the full allotted amount
of time for something instead of,like you said, leaving the meeting forty
minutes early because we've accomplished the goaland let's move on with something else.

(16:22):
And everyone maybe that's when people cantake a break and reset and things like
that. So yeah, I thinkit's it's an interesting road to walk.
And when you really zoom out andyou go to the ten thousand foot view,
you realize how inefficiently we are trainedto use our time. It's so
true. I remember so my daughter, she's eighteen now, but she started
acting when she was five, andso we had to go to a lot

(16:45):
of sort of meetings to talk aboutthe show and what was expectations, and
especially if there were children in theshow and she was young, and so
the parents. It was a mandatorymeeting of the parents, and all these
usually lasted an hour and were setfor an hour, and they kind of
went through all the same sort ofthings and things you sort of knew,
and a lot of the same stuffthat was in the packet they were giving

(17:08):
you, which you could go homeand absolutely read. You know what I
mean and what we got used tothat. And so we went into this
one meeting and this director was thereand she got up and said, Okay,
thank you so much. Here's this, here's this. All the stuff
is in your packet. If youhave questions, if my email is there,
if you're going to do this,you need to do this, and

(17:29):
okay, folks, I think thatis pretty much it. Thank you for
your time today, and all ofus just we're looking at each other like
what like we just did that inten minutes and you want us? Do
you want us to get up andleave now? I'm like, we all
didn't even know how to behave I'mnot kidding you. All the parents were
looking around at each other like,uh, what are we supposed to do
now? Or is it over?I had somebody look at me go is

(17:52):
this over? I go? Ithink So that's beautiful. I know,
but it was like that was awesome. Now we get to go home.
It just was amazing to me.And that was the first time, like
I've ever really seen somebody sort ofwork outside of what everybody else did.
And I think we've got to startdoing that more in your right, like

(18:18):
if it takes you seventeen minutes todo something and it's learning how you actually
can get all twelve hours worth ofwork done in four hours and you can?
You can? Yeah, it's amazing. So what do you think one
of your most outstanding accomplishments has been? I know there's always things that go
along the way, and you know, there's always new milestones, But what's
been one that is significant for you? I don't know. I don't know

(18:42):
that I think any of my accomplishmentshave been necessarily outstanding. I'm very proud
of certain things, you know.I'm very proud that, you know,
when my son was diagnosed, I'mvery proud that I was able to lead
my family. I don't didn't alwaysdo a good job, and I don't
I don't. I don't think Iaffected it in any stretch of the imagination,
but I think I was. I'mvery proud that I was able to

(19:04):
step up and figure out how notto go bankrupt, figure out how to
work from a hospital, a park, a hotel, everywhere under the sun.
Figure out how to serve people ina way that inspired them, that
impacted them, that made them moremoney, and got them to see that
maybe we've been doing it wrong.And for me, it took you know,

(19:25):
my wife and I have one child, my son, and so obviously
when the threat of taking the onething that I love the most and the
thing that I would probably sacrifice themost to make sure he's comfortable, and
certainly continues on in life. Whenthat is in compromise and you have to
figure it out, you really understandwhat you're made of, you understand what
you stand for, and you understanda lot of things that I would have

(19:51):
just ignored, you know, inmy world. You know, I'm a
coach, so a lot of thingscan be lost in the marketing world.
And when you really dive back backin and you say, what do I
believe? What do I believe mylife should be? What do I believe
my legacy should be? And soone of the things that I am proud
of is that I was able tonavigate that those waters. And then on
the back end of that, youknow, we started a nonprofit and we've

(20:14):
raised hundreds of thousands of dollars forother families who are battling pediatric cancer.
And it was creating that purpose thatreally, oddly enough, creating that purpose
in my life anchored my business,and it grew my business, and it
made me more protective of my time, and it made me more careful with
who I say yes to, andit made me just consider things on a

(20:37):
deeper level. And I think thatdrew in, It drew in people who
really needed that in their lives.So I don't know that I've accomplished anything
really that I would consider outstanding yetI think, you know, some people
might argue that, but I thinkone of the things I'm really proud of
is that I was able to leadmy family through adversity and then look around
and figure out who I could helpalong the way, and then tap all

(21:00):
of my resources and try to helpas many people as I could. Wow,
it's it's very inspiring. I'm veryinspired by that. So, and
I'm sure that you know people eitherlead like that when they have to,
or that's when families completely fall apartbecause they can't handle the stress of everything

(21:23):
that's happening to them. Yeah.Yeah, So tell us a little bit
about too. Let's take a littledive into two things here. Tell us
a little bit about your RV experience. That had to be an interesting one.
I know more and more people aredoing this, so let's talk a
little bit about how you navigated that, how that period of time was,

(21:45):
and what that experience was like.Oh, it was. It was an
amazing, once in a lifetime thingthat I think my wife and I both
have great gratitude that we got todo it. I think we're both equally
happy that it's over. So yeah, so we when we finished treatment,
you know, we so my sonwas diagnosed in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty
everyone was going through COVID, sowe had been quarantined for basically two years.

(22:07):
In twenty twenty one, my sontook us finished his chemo and we
kind of were left with, likewhat do we do now? You know,
like what we just now? Wejust what we just go back to
work? Like what are we supposedto do? And we talked for a
long time and said, well thatdoesn't seem right, like we've learned all
these things. We've been through thisincredible stressful time and we've changed everything about

(22:30):
ourselves, our lives, our marriage, our relationships are everything has changed.
And my wife said, well,why don't we take our nonprofit. Our
nonprofit is called Hug Your People.Why don't we take our nonprofit and let's
buy an RV and let's go visitfamilies in every state and see if we
can help that way. And Ijust I was like, well, you
know, let me think about this. I just ran my business for two

(22:52):
years from a hospital at Hotel aPark a car. I just ran it
from all those places and we weredoing fun. There's nothing to say that
I can't run it from an RV, and we had no RV experience,
so we had no idea what thatmeant. I'd never been in an RV
before, so it was kind of, you know, jumping off the high
dive. So but you know,when my wife comes up with an idea,

(23:14):
I know we've got a little bitof time before she talks us out
of it. And so I wasjust like, all right, we got
to go to social media, Wegot to move this forward. And there
was a lot going into it.Part of it was for the nonprofit.
Part of it was for my son. My son missed two years of his
childhood and we really wanted to havesome memory replacement for him where he felt
like he had a childhood. Andthen there was this incredible healing for me

(23:37):
and my wife, obviously dealing withthings that come on the back end of
pediatric cancer. For the parents,it's pretty significant. So we ended up
buying a forty two foot fifth wheel, an RV and a big truck,
and in twenty twenty one we movedinto it, sold the house, and
that time it was a great timeto sell a house if you don't have
to buy a new one. Andwe left and we traveled the country and

(23:59):
we went to we didn't go toall fifty states, but we went to
twenty eight states, about fourteen thousandmiles, twelve national parks. We ended
up. My son gives wagons tokids who are fighting cancer, and we
were able to give over four hundredwagons to other kids. And it was
just an amazing time. It reallywas. We said yes to everything.

(24:21):
You know, if my son wantedto go to the Grand Canyon, we
said, excellent, We're going totake an airplane, to a helicopter,
to a boat to see the GrandCanyon. It was just yes to everything,
and it was just a transformational experience. We met so many kind people.
We wrapped our RV and the Hugyour People logos everywhere we went.
We got to share stories and hugs, and some people would just knock on

(24:41):
our door and just give us moneyfor the nonprofit. And that was amazing.
And I worked three days a week. I worked Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday out of a little six footby six foot office in the RV.
And yeah, it was a reallylife changing experience. One that I'm really
grateful that we got. And aswe got toward the end of that,
we realized that my son was cravingother kids. And after Labor Day in

(25:03):
most of the campgrounds there aren't alot of kids because they're back in school,
right, So we kind of listenedto him a little bit and he
said, hey, I'd like tobe a normal kid for a little bit,
and I was really grateful that hehad. He felt confident in sharing
that with us, and so wedecided to kind of move back and buy
a house and settle back into,you know, a more routine oriented lifestyle.

(25:26):
But I think we'll always look backand say, that was the window
in which we could do that,and I'm grateful that we were able to.
We were able to do it.It was the most fun, the
most fun. Oh that's great.I know. That's I think a lot
of people have thoughts like that,and then then you're right, they talk
themselves out of it, like,well, that's going to be too hard

(25:48):
or you know it. And Ihave found myself doing the same thing with
certain things. And I think peopledo this more even on day to day
things since COVID. It's like,well, do I really want to go
there. No, I'm gonna stayI'm gonna stay home, right, And
we just have to really put ourselvesout there sometimes and go with those first
thoughts, go with our gut reactionssometimes and do things out of the box.

(26:12):
Right. Absolutely, I think that'sthe zest of life, you know,
And it's it's really you know,I think even if you're in the
meeting and you're like, oh,I shouldn't ask that question, that's probably
the question you should ask, right. Absolutely, we're talking about affecting positive
and real, real change. It'slike, you know, when your gut
says I should ask this question,and then you sit there, well,
it's not my turn. Well it'sclosely in the meeting. We'll talk ourselves

(26:33):
out of that question. That couldchange the trajectory of whatever we're talking about.
And so in that moment, Iknew that it was so unrealistic and
so we just couldn't wrap our brainsaround it that if we gave too much
time to incubate, we would talkourselves out of it and we wouldn't do
it, and we would probably regretit. Absolutely. So what do you

(26:59):
feel today that leaders, Because Iknow you really do teach leadership and you
go into different companies, what doyou think some of the most challenging things
that they're facing today are? Oh, man, well, the world is
much different today than even it was, you know, two years ago,
three years ago, and I thinkthe opportunities for real talent to go elsewhere

(27:23):
is a real challenge for leaders.And it's not about you know, being
bag chairs and casual fridays anymore.There's got to be something deeper. You
know, employees and team members andleaders within the organization are really talking about
a lot of different things. Andone of the things that I've really learned
over the last probably eight or ninemonths is that boredom is a real challenge

(27:45):
for leaders. But not boredom inthe sense that it's not exciting. That's
a version of boredom. But thecorporate version of boredom is that people feel
like they don't have a say,that they're not making an impact. And
when people get when people are boredon that level, that's when you get
the quiet quitting, and that's whenyou get the the apathy and just you

(28:07):
know, punching the clock. Andyou know, I think I read an
article one time this said American businesseslose about sixty billion dollars a year due
to apathetic employees. And I forgetwhere I read that. It was.
I read Entrepreneur and Ink and allall the places. So I'm sorry,
I don't have my source, butan incredible amount of money that we lose
just to people being disengaged. AndI think it's a challenge to keep employees

(28:32):
and people in the organization engaged atthis time because they're scrolling TikTok and it's
like a new thing every eight seconds, and how do we how do we
lead through that? And that's reallywhere communication comes in, and effective leaders
are asking asking more questions than solvingproblems themselves. They're asking for opinions,
they're asking for input, They're askingfor the collective insight, and I think

(28:56):
that's really where you start to seethings from a different perspective. Absolutely,
So, do you feel then thatthat's the biggest opportunity for a shift in
culture or what else do you feelcan help companies to I think people feel
stock they keep hearing you need tochange your culture, and I don't think
anyone fully fully understands what that means. I agree, I don't I think

(29:18):
it seems like a big mountain toclimb. Mm hm, you know,
and so but what do we do? So we do the bare minimum,
We check the box so that ifsomeone comes in an audence, we say,
hey, look we did this.We you know, whatever it is.
But I think that, you know, culture can be the problem,
it can be a challenge. ButI think really if you look at it,
I think if you allow people tomake an impact and use their gifts

(29:40):
the things that they know they're goodat, you know, why does real
talent leave an organization They feel likethey're not being utilized. Yep, you
know. It has very little todo with pay or any or you know,
casual frise or anything else that wewould consider positive culture. In the
true sense. It has everything todo with I feel like my talents and
my gifts are not being utilized bythe organization of which you hired me under

(30:00):
the promise that they would be.And now we've got to disconnect between leadership
and the talent of the organization.And it's really the heartbeat of the organization
is what it really is. Andso it really is saying, okay,
well, what are my people goodat? What are they really good at
and what do they really enjoy doing? And how do I use that to

(30:21):
strengthen the organization? How do Ihow do I capitalize on that? And
yeah, so I think it isa challenge that culture. Culture comes up
very easy, but I think it'sthe first place to go because that's where
you can make quick changes that maydo something, may not do anything.
But if you really want to diveinto what the actual problem is, it's
really really deep and you have tohave honest conversations with real people face to
face and say, you know,hey, Kevin, why what do you

(30:45):
feel when you come to work?How do you feel on Sunday night knowing
you have to be here at nineo'clock the next morning? Honestly, how
do you feel? Right? Theanswer to those questions will give you insight
is to the culture, and theproblems of the culture may have you know,
oh, man, I do not. I hate Sunday nights. I
don't want to go into work.I'm stressed out over going into work.

(31:06):
I know I've got the meeting withso and so and they're going to,
you know, not be nice tome or whatever. And I think you'll
find areas in most organizations where there'san element of that that disengages the people
that really move the needle for thecompany. Well, I think that you're
so right, and I think thatcompanies are going to have to is that

(31:26):
what you help companies do is tofigure out some of those things to start
implementing on a regular basis that thathelps a organization be stronger. I do,
And normally when that happens, Istart with higher level communication. You
know, the leaders are asking thewrong questions. You know, what can
I do for you to make youhappier? That's not the right question,
right, No one wants to goto work. No one said in their

(31:49):
kindergarten classroom and said I'd like tobe a corner an office executive when I
get big. You know, everyonesaid I want to be a nurse or
a fireman or a doctor or somethinglike that. And so I think we
have to ask the right questions.So the higher level communication is normally where
we start and making sure we understandthe objective of the organization. What are
you trying to achieve? And areyou asking the right questions of your team,
your clients, your leadership, yourinvestors, your board, whoever it

(32:12):
is. Are we asking the rightquestions in the right places. Very good.
So this is kind of our signaturequestion of our show, and that
is what does working from your happyplace mean to you? Such a good
question. I can see why it'syour signature question. Working for my happy
place, I'm in it right nowas we're speaking. You know, I

(32:36):
think it's an environment that I feelcomfortable, that I feel safe, it's
an environment that I feel loved.It's an environment that I feel in control
of myself. It's an environment thatI feel like I can share, and
I think that can be really anywhere. But all of those feelings are what
I would consider my happy place.You know, when we were traveling,

(33:00):
you know, it's really easy tosay, Hey, I'm in southern Utah
and I'm working from my quote unquotehappy place. It was a beautiful place,
but we have to really ask morequestions, why is this happy?
It was energizing, it was beautiful, it was inspiring, it was a
place I hadn't been before. Allof those things. But as I dove
deep on that, I really realizedthat safety was number one emotionally. Energetically,

(33:23):
safety was number one, having acontrol, having my things, having
my smells, the way I likethem. You know, we sacrificed that
through our treatment. My office smelledlike a hospital for a couple of years,
and now I can have it smellany way I want, and that
makes me happy. And just gettinginto those little small things, you know,
the happy place. It's really easyfor me to look back over my

(33:45):
life over the last fourteen months andsay, wow, when we were camping
in Lake Tahoe and that was myoffice, that should have been my happy
place, and it was. Itwas a one off, beautiful spot,
you know, and everything like that. But when I really boil it down
and I understand what my happy placemeans to me, it is a place
that I feel in control and lovedand safe. Wow, I can tell

(34:07):
you I have a lot of people. Almost six hundred people have answered that
question, and no one's answered itquite like that and as eloquently as that.
I think that was an incredible answer. Thank you, Yeah, I
really do. So what advice wouldyou give to others who are wanting to

(34:28):
sort of maybe leave this corporate worldbehind. I know you coach to corporate
and creating a more impactful culture andspace where people want to come to work,
which I love I think it's soneeded right now. But what would
you say to those that want tosort of carve a path like you did?
You know, like I'm going toleave this behind. You did it

(34:49):
out of a necessity, but Ithink you found that you really enjoyed it.
I did, and and I don'tthink I could ever go back.
And that was kind of the conversationmy wife and I had, like what
do we do now? We can'tgo back to the way we were.
It seems like that would be awaste of an experience. But anyone who's
got the idea that maybe this isn'tfor them, I think first and foremost,

(35:09):
we have to have rational conversation andwe have to make sure that we're
not solving short term problems with longterm decisions. Oftentimes it can be a
perspective shift that is enough. Youknow, a bad day doesn't mean a
bad week kind of thing. Sowe have to have conversations like that.

(35:29):
If at the end of those conversationswe decide that, yes, we want
to move on, it's key.It's so important to have a transition strategy.
But have everyone in your life involvedin it, you know, So
if you're married, have your spouse, your partner, your kids, anyone,
have everyone involved in it, evenbefore maybe the company knows here's what
we're doing, here's why we're doingit, here's what we're working towards.

(35:52):
And that way you instill a levelof support through what will be inevitably a
challenging time depending on you know,where you are in corporate. So I
think those two things are probably probablythe best advice that I got that that
I could give. And then I'mstill very aware of now as I grow
my business. It's, you know, making sure I'm not solving short term
problems with long term decisions and makingsure that anything I do has a transition,

(36:16):
not just an abrupt stop and anabrupt start. I think that's really
good advice. I was just talkingto another entrepreneur like a little bit before
we got on here, and wewere talking about that people taking courses and
then it lasts, you know,eight weeks or five days or eight weeks

(36:37):
or whatever, and then it's kindof like Okay, goodbye, and so
like, what is that transition outof that, because sometimes you can feel
like that's why people feel like thatthe course wasn't valuable because at the end
of that time, everybody's on theirown timeline, but they haven't enacted the
things or they haven't seen a result, and so then they feel like the
course wasn't really worth it. We'rein fact it probably was, but there

(37:01):
was not a transition or exit strategyand where people could feel supported or where
people feel like they still could gettheir questions answered. And I do believe
that that's one of the biggest problemswith all the multiple courses that are out
there today. Is kind of like, Okay, here you go, take
this at your own time, youspend the money, follow it your own

(37:22):
curriculum, figure out your own stuff, you get to ask us a question
via a Facebook group once a month, and good luck. And so then
people feel like that class wasn't worthit, so they keep searching, and
it's got to be in the transition, it's got to be on the back
end. It is. I've addedan element to my business in the last

(37:45):
probably last year, and it's calledintegration, you know, So how do
we take the information from the courseand integrate it into our daily practice,
into our actual business, into ourlives. And so I think you're right
there is you take the courses anabrupt stop and there there's no integration or
transition period, and we soon goto a point where we say, well
that didn't work, and then wekeep searching for a course or read another

(38:07):
book or do this other thing,and it's an endless cycle of just,
you know, just consuming information.I think, you know, if we
can so leaders in business, Ithink if we can differentiate between information and
a resource, you know. Andas a leader, I want to be
a resource. I don't want tojust convey information, you know. I
want to be something that is ableto be integrated, solution driven, results

(38:30):
driven, all of those things.And I found that the only way that
I can really do that is tohave the information and then go through some
sort of transition process or application orimplementation or in my world, I call
it integration, where we actually integratethat into the fabric of our lives.
How do we do that? Howdo we become better people for our families,
for the people we love, Howdo we become better leaders for our

(38:51):
team? How do we become betterbusiness operators? The information is one thing,
but actually becoming that is where theheavy lifting happens. Absolutely wow,
So any new and exciting things thatyou're working on that you think our listeners
might benefit from and where can theyfind you. I'm always working on something,
but I think really stay to thetried and true. I think if

(39:13):
you're listening to this and you're havingsome stress, take a breath, breathe
pause, put perspective in your life, find what's truly important to you,
and handle what you need to handle. And that's that's probably the best thing
you can do. I think,you know, I just created a daily
planner that was evolved to really changethe C suite mentality on their day.

(39:35):
And when we change that little perspectiveand when we say I'm not approaching my
day as a to do list,I'm approaching my day as a get to
do list. And that sounds clicheand it sounds a little woo woo,
But when we just make those smallshifts in our mind and our and our
being of how we approach our day, we really move the needle. And
I think that's really That's what I'mworking on now is I've just gotten feedback
from about fifty C suite folks onthe on the planner, and I'm really

(40:00):
I think it's going to work.I think we've best on fine tuning to
do. But when that comes out, I think it would be really interesting
to see how it can shift someone'sday from being max stressed to being max
enjoyment. And that's kind of whatI'm working on. Oh great, And
I think it's great that you're askingfor feedback. I think that we hear
that all of the time, andyet bet you were. If you were

(40:22):
to do a poll, you wouldfind that maybe five percent of people actually
take the time to go do that. I agree, And you know,
it's easy to create something that Iwant you to have, but it's much
more, it's much more intention orcreate something that you actually want and need,
and I have to understand a lotmore to provide what you want and

(40:43):
need. So that's that's kind ofhow I operate. I don't want to
just create something for the sake ofcreating something, So I did my planner
a little bit differently, but it'sworked out. I just decided on a
whim one day because everybody had beenbugging me to create one. So I
was like, yeah, all right, you know what, I'm doing it,
and I literally did it with whatI mean. I obviously have been

(41:07):
coaching and training people for a verylong time in sale. So I had
a pretty darn good idea of whatshould be in there, and so we
did it. We put it outwithin three months. There it was,
we sold it, and then Isaid, okay, tell me what would
make this the best planner that youwould buy this year after year after year,
and every single year we do that, and every single year we add

(41:28):
iterations to it or change things,and it's just evolved and it's gotten better.
But I did. I did takethat plunge initially. Well, and
I think you had you had enoughsound, you had enough clients at that
point to know kind of you hadenough data too, Yes, I did,
Yeah, so yeah that will count. I didn't have that data,

(41:49):
so I had to actually go outand create it. That's and that's fantastic.
But even so, once you dosomething you have to people are afraid
to hear. I don't like thisbecause right and I remember ours was we
had already got print ready files readyto go to the printer in the next
year, and I had a coupleof ladies that I had talked to and

(42:13):
they said, yeah, I won'tI'm not going to use this if you
don't have I only had the monthat a glance at the time, because
for me, that's where all themagic happens anyway, And she said,
because I just think people use aweekly at a glance, like they use
that on their phone, they usethat whatever. It's like, using a
month at a glance is more proactivethan reactive, right in scheduling. So

(42:37):
but they said, I wouldn't usethis, and I need to do time
blocking and I need to do this, and I thought, okay, that's
one person. The other lady saidit to me like thirty minutes later,
and I was like, that's likefor these two people, this is a
game changer. And I quickly kindof did a quick like survey on this.

(42:58):
So this is ready to go tothe printer the next day. And
I went to bed that night andI got up the next morning and I
called my graphic designer. I said, we're changing this whole planner and what
And I said, I need youto go and go in. She was
like freaking out then, and wedid. We did it, and we

(43:20):
still got it to the printer aboutlike a week later, so it wasn't
didn't get too far behind. Butwe literally went in and changed it and
it was a game changer. It'slike, just so funny. It was
something I didn't feel they needed,but clearly people need or people want,
right, Yeah, so funny,that is fun. I'm sure your graphic
designer was freaking out. Yeah,but you know what, sometimes you gotta

(43:45):
do what you gotta do. Andthat's where a lot of people go,
oh, you know what, We'vealready done it, and it's like,
well, no, we've got anopportunity here. I think that's when people
really need to stop and say,Okay, we've got an opportunity here,
even if if it's hard, evenif it's a little bit more work,
even if it's going to require whatever, we got an opportunity here. Let's

(44:06):
let's run with it. And Isee people go, let's go with the
status quo more often than not.I agree. I think a question I
asked myself a lot just to asa as a self accountability thing, is
this the best thing? Or isthis the most convenient thing? Right?
So, if we ask questions likethat of ourselves, you know, is

(44:28):
it the best thing to just printthis out? And even though I've gotten
this feedback that says this other piecewould be highly beneficial, or is the
best thing to do, go backand pause and put that in so that
we help more people like that.I think those questions to ourselves are very
very vital in productivity and stress reductionin everything we do. And that's you

(44:49):
just made a really valid point anda really great story about that being the
case where the best thing was toadd this in and now you're seeing that
and yeah, that's that's excellent work. Well, thank you so much for
being here with us, and tellour folks again where they can find you
LinkedIn Kevin Hoover Coaching is the bestway. I'm on all the social media

(45:09):
platforms. Mynextcrest dot com is thewebsite, Kevin at mynextcrest dot com is
the email. Those are the bestways. Okay, fantastic, Kevin.
Thank you so much for sharing yourinsights with us and your wisdom and your
story. Thank you, Blinda,it was really pleasure to be here.
Oh and I am so thankful foryou and your family and your son that

(45:32):
he's healthy and thriving. That's amazing. Thank you very much. To all
of our listeners out there, thankyou for joining us today. We know
you have a choice of where tospend your time. And we're so grateful
that you chose to spend it withus today. Please rate and review.
We'd love a review and hear howyou enjoyed the show today. Follow our

(45:52):
subscribe so you don't miss a singlegreat episode, but more importantly, share
it with a friend. Don't forgetto go grab your freaks at work from
your happy place dot com forward slashfree because we'd love to help you live
a happier life. Thanks so much, everyone, and we'll see you next
time on work from your happy place

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Unlocking Your Potential: How to Transform Adversity into Purpose with Kevin Hoover

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