#24 Soaring Beyond Barriers with Former Black Hawk Pilot Elizabeth McCormick

Have you ever gazed up at a Black Hawk helicopter (or at least seen one in a movie), marveling at its power and grace, and wondered about the person at the controls? Join Devin with guest Elizabeth McCormick, former Army Black Hawk pilot turned motivational speaker, as she  reveals the determination it takes to soar both in the skies and in life.

Elizabeth shares her journey from a career-ending injury to finding new heights in the corporate world and eventually, the keynote stage. Her passion for empowering others shines through as she recalls her own struggles and victories, demonstrating that resilience isn't just about bouncing back—it's about leaping forward. Join us on this flight of discovery, where productivity tips and personal stories blend to create lessons on growth, impact, and the relentless pursuit of what's possible.

Guest Website: http://pilotspeaker.com

Elizabeth's Confidence Boosting Strategies: http://SoarYourLife.com 

MUDWTR: http://mudwtr.com/devin

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Sound and Audio Technician: Zack Midyett

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, what's up everybody.
Welcome to the possibilitymindset podcast.
I'm Devin Henderson, I'm yourhost and I believe that
something greater is alwayspossible for you.
All right, we've got anexciting guest here with us
today, but before I formallyintroduce Elizabeth here, just
if you're listening and you wantthe full experience, go to

(00:27):
YouTube, because we do getanimated with our faces.
We speakers tend to get intothis and so it's kind of fun to
watch us in action.
You know what I'm saying.
Elizabeth is saying no, justlisten is fine.
I think they should watch.
But you know, also, if you arelistening, one of the best ways
you can support us is to give usa five star review on Apple.
We would love that and sharethis podcast.
We can extend our impact.

(00:49):
So, and again before weintroduce Elizabeth, just one
product to let you know about.
A lot of you listeners know Idrink mud water.
I'm a hundred days off.
Coffee Elizabeth 101 days, justas a trial to see how it works.
Are you a coffee drinker?

Speaker 2 (01:03):
So I would be personally more than 50 years
without coffee.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Wow, really.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Never been a coffee drinker, just never got into it.
Okay, that's good to know.
Unusual for a pilot too.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Unusual for a pilot.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah that's.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I want to pick your brain later about coffee.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
All right, rather than taking you down a rabbit
trail right now, but I am verycurious.
But anyway, mud water is amushroom based coffee.
I'm trying it.
I've been drinking it for along time, but I'm trying to
drink it only over coffee justto see if it helps really.
Helps me with my focus, helpsme sleep better, helps me with
my energy, and it's alsosupposed to boost immunity.
So some of our listeners havealready purchased it and are

(01:41):
trying it.
So I'm looking forward toseeing what kind of results they
get.
So to purchase this, you can goto mudwatercom slash Devon Mud
water is mud and then WTRcomslash Devon will put that link
in the show notes.
Give it a try, get yourself adeal and let us know how it
works for you.
So, all right, okay, maybe it'ssomething you'll add to your
arsenal, since there's no coffee, right?

(02:03):
Well, we'll see.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
We'll see no.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
All right, All right.
Well, later we'll have the talkabout what you like to drink.
So, okay, awesome.
Well, hey, let's.
Let's introduce our awesomeguest.
This is Elizabeth McCormick.
Everybody.
She was recently named one ofthe top 30 motivational speakers
in the world the world.
She is currently number five onthe list of leadership experts

(02:27):
to follow online.
These are incredible numbers.
By the way, I suppose you knowthat Now Elizabeth is a best
selling author, with more than Ican't believe this either 19
published books onentrepreneurship and leadership
topics.
How do you, how are you, ableto speak at 100 events a year
when you're writing 19 books?
You are blowing my mind here.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I have ways.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Okay, all right.
All right, I'm writing one bookright now and it's kind of like
my.
It's like my second, but it'sreally my first.
So it's and it and I even havea ghost writer and it's still
time consuming and you've done19.
That is absolutely incredible.
So congratulations.
In 2011, elizabeth was awardedthe US congregational veteran

(03:10):
commendation and as an army.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
That'd be congressional.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
What did I say?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Congregational.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Did I say congregational?
I've been in too many churches.
The US congressional veterancommendation.
I even read this beforehandthinking I'm going to nail all
these big words.
You know I usually don't.
Well, as an army black Hawkpilot, elizabeth flew command

(03:37):
and control air assaultrepelling and top secret
intelligence missions andtransported high level
government VIPs, including thesecretary of defense.
Everybody welcome ElizabethMcCormick.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Hello.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Wow, so great to have you here.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Great to be here.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Now, when you're speaking on stage, typically
after an introduction like that,you have some video that plays
to show some of you in action.
Is that right?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well, you know, when I flew helicopters we didn't
have great cameras like we donow.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
We didn't have cell phones.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
So you know, I have footage of similar missions, but
it is not me flying.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Okay, but it's like it could have been you, it could
, right.
So it's like simulate what youdid, which is crazy awesome.
I mean, maybe you've seen themovie.
You know Black Hawk Down, right, how did that land for you when
you saw that?
Was that an emotionalexperience for you to see that
played out?
What kind of feelings did thatmovie stir?

Speaker 2 (04:35):
So it's really hard to watch any military movie and
not go uh-uh, it doesn't do that.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
It's like the skeptical right Right.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
So, yeah, the skeptic in me comes out.
So I'm always like, yeah, itdoesn't do that, yeah, it does
that.
So the movie that actually hadthe most physical effect on me
watching was when we WereSoldiers with Mel Gibson.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yes, the Vietnam movie.
I saw that one yes.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
There's the scenes where they're in the helicopter
and it's down at the treetoplevel.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Okay, in and around the mountains and in the terrain
.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
That is the most like flying a helicopter.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Okay, that was legit.
Mel knows how it's done.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, that movie I saw in the theater and I'm
sitting there and I'd alreadybeen injured another story I'd
already been injured so Icouldn't fly anymore and I just
was crying and my I call him thekeeper husband because I have a
starter so my keeper husbandsays he's like, looking at me,
like what are you crazy?
And I was like it's like that.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Wow, and you would know.
Yeah, obviously, it's not likeI'm going to be late, because
when I watch movies about magicwith magicians, I kind of watch
it also through a skeptic's eye,kind of like okay, all right,
you know, you just look throughit with a different lens than
everybody else, you know, so Ican see how.
Yeah, that would be like that.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
I'm horrible to take to the movies for anything in
the military, my family's justlike sit away from us because
I'm like it doesn't do that, didyou do?

Speaker 1 (05:57):
that.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
That's not right.
Their uniforms are messed up.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
You're heckling the movie.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Oh it's horrible.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, they're on popcorn at the screen I love it.
See, you remember when we met.
I don't expect you to rememberthis.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Okay, it was a long time ago.
It was it at NSA meeting and itwas what do you call it?
Where the um.
It was the younger generationof people.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
What was it?
The youth camp.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, this was like.
It's kind of like the newbiesin NSA or anyway first-timers
first-timers.
But there's also like that, wasit like the gen at gen X or?

Speaker 2 (06:36):
gen Z or something.
Yeah, they have a gen X, y andyeah, that's what it was.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
We were at one of those meetings and we were
supposed to stand up and turnaround and meet someone and you
were sitting behind me and Isaid, hey, you know I'm Devon,
you're I'm Elizabeth, and allthat.
And then all of a sudden you'relike yeah, I was a black Hawk
pilot and it was just like what,and you told?
Zach that when you came, I said,oh yeah, she was a black Hawk
pilot, and you said, yeah, a lotof people are surprised by that
.
So, yeah, I do.

(07:01):
That stood out to me, so Ialways remember that encounter
and, which is amazing, I can'ttell you why it surprised me so
much.
I think it's me because youlook so sweet, look like such a
nice person.
Missions and take people down.
I think that was the part thatsurprised me.
So, yeah, do you get that a lotwith people like whoa, whoa,
what?

Speaker 2 (07:21):
yeah.
Yeah yeah, and I I'm maybe playit up a little.
Okay, you know okay, cuz likewhen I was in the military, my
hair was cut shorter than yours.
Okay, all right, and I wouldyou know, I didn't wear makeup
and you don't do the nails, youdon't do I mean it?
Was very masculine, becausethat's what I needed to be to
fit in okay.

(07:42):
So since getting out of themilitary and I did eight years
of corporate work and then Istarted speaking and it seems
like every year I get morefeminine.
It's like I find out who Ireally am right but by doing
that it really creates this kindof dichotomy in the contrast
Sure, which on stage is reallyexciting, like my old flight

(08:02):
suit and I added Rhinestonezipper to it.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Oh nice.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
So I purposely like play up.
Okay the contrast of power andfemininity nice, I like that.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
That's cool and you wear some kind of bracelet or
something too on a bigrhinestone cuff bracelet.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
I have those made nice and then merchandise them
and sell.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
There's some meaning to that, or is it just like hey,
we're cool power, what's that?
What's that all about?

Speaker 2 (08:27):
So in a longer presentation, when I have 90
minutes or so, I talk aboutDifferent strategies to create
an invisible suit of armorbetween who you are and how you
want to show up.
So it's kind of like chain mail.
Oh, so it's kind of like WonderWoman's, you know, cuffs and
chain mail of a suit of armor.
But how do you create that suitof armor so that other people

(08:48):
don't get in and you don't lettheir energy affect who you want
to?

Speaker 1 (08:50):
be Wow.
Okay, that's great.
I think my daughters could Takesomething from your message.
Yeah, sounds like they'd love,love to hear you?

Speaker 2 (08:58):
I have.
You know, I have them in anonline course that I I give away
, so we'll give them.
We'll give them to all yourlist.
Everyone listening gets one toeverybody wins.
All right, but I'll make sureyour daughters get them.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
I just want you to know.
We have a giant following atthis point, don't we, zach?
So we're gonna be giving awaywhat a couple million of these,
I guess cuz yeah, no, well,thank you for that, that's great
.
So so you're in town.
I am speaking to Vennessa.
You're in town, here in KansasCity, to speak to our local NSA
group, the National SpeakersAssociation, tomorrow morning

(09:28):
right so what are you gonna beteaching speakers?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
So tomorrow morning I will be doing bits and pieces
of my keynote.
That gets me booked at 100 plusevents a year.
That's a lot.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, that's amazing, I did a hundred.
Love speaking that many.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I do I?
I did 153 one year, wow, not.
2013 was like my tipping pointyear and all these requests were
coming in and I went to myagain keeper husband.
I went to the keeper husband.
I said you know, if I take allthese, I'm gonna be traveling
from one event to the next event, to the next event.
He's like, well, you've neverhad, we've never had this, never

(10:02):
been that busy, right?
He's like, why don't we takeyou?
Take them and see what you know, as many that can fit, and see
how it is.
So the month of September of2013.
I was only home three days.
Oh, wow and I came home.
I remember coming home October6 after speaking in Casper
Wyoming in the middle of asnowstorm Fun.
Yeah having a drive in that.

(10:22):
Yeah, and I came home, I wasexhausted and he looks at me and
he says this was too much.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah well, it's good to know, it's good to look the
pendulum swing and say, yeah,you don't know until well.
So have you purposely chosenlike a hundred is the cap in
point.
Now, does that feel right toyou?
120 is the absolute, absolutemax now.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
It's different now, because now I'm doing virtual,
since the pandemic virtual andwe've gotten person, so there's
a little bit of a mix there, soit's a little bit different.
I'm I done more than that, butreally 120 in person traveling
on the road events is is the max.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Okay, okay, I will tell you I'm more like I'm
trying to keep it to like 35,just to give you perspective,
but I'm like three a month isgreat.
That was kind of a purposefulcommitment just for personal
life and family, and so you knowhow old are your, how old are
your children?
Yeah, 16 all the way down totwo.
Yeah, I'm trying to be.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, right, I mean my youngest is 19.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
Okay, yeah, so it's a different so it's a whole
different place.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
It's a whole different mindset.
Yeah, you know, my husbandloves and appreciates me more
when I'm gone, sure.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
So I can relate to that.
I can relate to that, yes so Icome home.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
There's flowers in a car.
We miss you.
I like that.
Yeah, that's great.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
So these speakers tomorrow listening to you talk?
You're just gonna like talkshop with speakers.
Hey, here's how you get booked.
Here's how you stand out in themarketplace.
Here's how you can elevate yourspeech for more impact.
I mean, are these the kind ofideas you're covering?

Speaker 2 (11:48):
I will.
What I'm really gonna do is I'mgonna do a little bit of like.
I'll do my introduction.
I have an introduction videoand a walk-in music and like
impressive intro.
Give them that this is whatexperience, Right yeah and then
I'm gonna say, look at, what areall the strategies, what did
you, what did you notice thatyou want to do in your business?
And actually I'm gonna havethem tell me.
I have my list.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, things we're gonna cover.
If they don't bring somethingup, I'm bringing it up, okay,
but.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
I want them to kind of experience it, so it's super
interactive sure and they'regonna tell me the things they
see and we're gonna do that likefour different times with
different vignettes from my mymain keynote speech, and then
I'm gonna talk about energy andhow being on stage is a
responsibility.
Okay so with our we're, we'rein charge of the audience's

(12:30):
experience and also their energyand what I see a lot of
speakers doing.
They speak about really hardtopics.
Yeah, yeah like you know,cancer and drug addiction.
And different things that arereally deep and hard for
audiences to kind of process.
Yeah and they don't always havea way to get them out.
Okay, Okay so there's a reallybig responsibility of being in

(12:52):
the front of the stage andknowing that when you take an
audience through an experience,you have to bring them to the
other side.
Okay, Okay so I'm gonna talkjust a little bit about that,
and then I'm gonna be emotionalpart of it.
It can be triggering for people.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, it's a mind game at times.
Yeah, when we got that gravityof a topic, yeah, let's see my
stuff's more light.
You know what I mean, so, butbut there are other people who
need that.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
I mean I talk about gender bias, some right so going
through gender bias and I but Ido that very Intentionally, in
a light way, because I speak toa lot of male dominated
audiences and I don't want aMale audience to feel
uncomfortable sure that I'mbashing them right, right.
So, yeah, we need it.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Well, you do so I need it I need to be bashed.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Thank you so.
But yeah, it's, you know.
So it's a more about like, whatkind of thinking, being being
more intentional and thinkingabout the experience you're,
you're putting your audiencethrough.
Yeah, yeah, okay and if youbring them up, you gotta bring
them.
You know, if you bring them up,you can bring, keep them up,
but if you bring them down, yougotta bring them back up.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you want them on a roller coaster.
Oh yeah, ups and downs.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, if you're doing everything in one, at one level
, you're not gonna hold theirattention sure people zone out.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
No, I completely agree.
That's why I love the inneractivity Portion of it.
That's just what audiences ingeneral love today.
That planners are like Are theygonna be doing anything?
Because we need to get them offtheir phones and engaged, and
people love that.
So I know you have that.
Now.
When did you realize?
Hey, I've been doing this.
I'm a veteran, no pun intended,but you've been doing this, you
know, for a while.

(14:26):
You know your thing.
It's time for me to speak tospeakers also about how they can
be better.
When did you realize I've gotthings to teach speakers?

Speaker 2 (14:34):
So I, being a helicopter pilot, you learn how
to take like you have a missionright.
You learn how to break thatmission down into teeny, tiny
little tasks, sure, and then gettime on target okay.
Yeah, how many times dospeakers do that?

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Right right.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right, I'm really really good at strategy, right,
right, I'm really good atbreaking complex tasks down,
including the speaking, theindustry, keynoting different
things.
Yeah, break complex systems andbreaking down into a simple,
step-by-step sequentialframework to do it the right way
.
Okay, okay, and so with that,what happened is speakers were
coming to me for one-on-one.

(15:09):
Okay, right, and then they weretelling other people and I've
done little to no advertisingand could have a very.
I turn a lot of it down nowbecause I'm so busy, but I'm in
a very robust business.
Wow, that's great.
So with that it comes over tookay.
Now I'm gonna move it intochapters, but I don't sell
anything I don't wanna make.
I don't like to make money offmy NSA friends.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
Well, that's awesome because I mean you can only
impact so many people one at atime with a mentorship
relationship.
So I like how you've said howcan I impact more people and
still be protective of yourenergy, which is a big part of
you?

Speaker 2 (15:39):
And time, yeah and time, Because I will tell you
you can make more money.
You cannot get your time back,so to me, everything's about
impact and influence.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Okay, awesome, so Very in line with NSA's ideals,
right, I love it.
Okay, so take us back a littlebit.
How did this sweet ElizabethCormack, who I met in that
ballroom at NSA?

Speaker 2 (16:02):
How's that Orlando?

Speaker 1 (16:04):
Oh, I think it was before that.
I think it was like even beforethat.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
The first one I ever went to was DC, so it was DC and
Phoenix.
It might have been DC then.
Yeah, that was my first one.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
I'm thinking like as far back as I can remember and
yeah, that might have been it.
That was my first year.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'd already been speaking for like eight years,
but that was my first one, nice,that I attended.
That worked in my schedule.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Okay, so how did you come to be a Black Hawk pilot?
Give me the story.
How'd you get there?

Speaker 2 (16:34):
So unemployed military wife.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Five years of college , all right.
Almost three degrees Okay, andcould not get a job?
Wow, because we were stationedat a military base for Polk
Louisiana.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Which didn't even have a Walmart Like it was in
the middle of nowhere Swamps.
So, yikes.
I was a military wife there.
The only job I could get wasworking in a pizza place.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Okay, after five years of college, was the pizza
good?
No, bummer right Cause it'slike the one thing free pizza.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
It was a cheap chain, oh was it All right.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
all right, You'd know it, but I'm not gonna say it.
Yeah, all right, good for you.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
So yeah, so I worked there and I was just miserable.
And one night I looked at thestarter husband Okay, he was in
the military and I looked at himand I thought you know, if he
could be in the army, why can'tI be in the army?

Speaker 1 (17:22):
Why not what?

Speaker 2 (17:23):
else is possible.
Yeah, when you have apossibility, you might say
Possibilities.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
What else is possible ?

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah.
So I decided I was gonna be ahelicopter pilot, but I wanted
he was an ambulance medic.
And I wanted a cooler job thanthat.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, you just wanna up the coolness a little bit.
Yeah, just to keep that edgehad no idea what that was From
dough roller to blackhawk pilot.
Let's make the jump.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Right, and my degrees are in art, with a minor in
mathematics and an associate'sdegree in engineering.
Okay, because I wanted to gointo architecture.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Okay.
So, so the engineering mighthave played a little bit into
that.
It helped a little bit, yeah,okay, all right, and the
mathematics Sure sure.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
So you know, but I so I just went onto the base and
sat in the where everybody gotbreakfast in the morning, and
anytime I saw an officer walkedin, I would say because I knew
with my college I can go in asan officer.
And I said what would you dodifferent?

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Hmm.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
What would you do different?
Well, you know, I just reallyresearched it and I think that's
one thing for listeners it'samazing how luck turns into
probability and possibility whenyou've done your research, you
know.
So I just asked around like forweeks and asked everybody, like
you know, what would you dodifferently?
What would you do if you had todo it over?

(18:31):
And I always asked what's thecoolest job was, and everybody
said it was being a helicopterpilot.
Okay, all right, let's do that.
Yeah, well, didn't know, it washard.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, well, my daughter just said, dad, I want
to get my pilot's license thissummer.
Yeah, she's just been thinkingabout piloting Isn't that great.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
I know I'm like all right, hey, what else is
possible?
How old is?

Speaker 1 (18:53):
she 16.
Oh, perfect, so which is theage right?

Speaker 2 (18:57):
You have to be.
Is it 17?
You can fly with an instructoryounger.
Okay, so you can get lessonsAll right, but what I highly
recommend, if you have that inthis area, is civil air patrol.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Civil air patrol Okay .

Speaker 2 (19:10):
You should get free flight time.
Oh, okay, so as a dad, okay,that's a good thing.
Yes, yeah, because flighttime's expensive.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Civil air patrol.
Civil air patrol Got it, got it.
There's usually one.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
It's a little bit of a military experience, but
that's good for the disciplineyou need as a pilot.
But it also and anyone that'sin their teen years that's
interested, I tell them.
That's where, like in Dallas,the civil air patrol has an
agreement with SouthwestAirlines to get simulator time.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
And so they actually get to go and fly the simulator
and do things like that.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Oh, that's so cool, she's so adventurous.
She just went to Alaska byherself to visit a family up
there Loves flying.
I mean right now as a passenger, I know Alaska by herself,
Loved it.
Got home okay, it was great.
But I just I'm all aboutinstilling the possibility
mindset in my kids.
No way I'd be like, nah, youdon't need that.

(19:59):
That doesn't make me feelcomfortable.
It's like go get them.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, try it, tiger, get it.
Yeah, why not?

Speaker 1 (20:05):
So then, how long did you fly the helicopters?

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Just shy of eight years.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Eight, that's.
I thought you were gonna sayfour.
I don't know why I was thinkingfour felt like the so it's
flight school.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Well, when I went through, flight school was a
little over a year.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
And then now it's longer because there are other
trainings involved.
And then your commitment yourcontract is six years after
flight school.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Okay, okay, I see.
So I don't know what you canshare.
I don't know how to properlyask this question, but is there?
Are there any missions thatstand out to you that were I
mean, I'm sure they were allincredible.
Anything that was like asignificant life-changing moment
for you.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
So probably the most life-changing moment that helped
me be more aware and present ofwho I am and how I show up on a
daily basis was when I got outof the aircraft we were doing
snow qualifications under nightvision goggles.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
Wow, okay.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
So that's.
Blinding snow at the blizzard,okay, so the first, it was the
Fort Drum, New York, and thefirst snowfall of every year we
would have to fly with aninstructor pilot.
Okay and prove we know how toland in snow.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Like if you're in blowing snow, there's like three
different landings.
You can.
You can kind of step down andblow it out.
If there's not a lot, you canroll, roll through it and roll
in front of the year dust cloudas you're landing.
And and then there's like Ican't remember the third one now
, but there's like threedifferent ways.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
Those were the main two.
Did you have a favorite ofthose two that you remember?

Speaker 2 (21:31):
I mean, I liked the softer, like step it down.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
It just depends on what kind of terrain you're in.
If you're on a runway rollingthrough it's fastest and easiest
.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
You know it's flat.
There's nothing questionablethere.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
If you're not sure, you don't want to start rolling
and hit something or like, haverough terrain where you could
damage the helicopter.
So you know, so we, you woulddo it during the day.
And then you get we had to signit off that you're qualified.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
So you're doing it during the day, but you're using
the night vision, so no first,we do it during the day.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
So, like the day before, we did your day so the
next day, the next night,because you're for go day shift
to night shift and have to.
You can't be on duty for morethan so many hours, so the next
day we would come in late and donight shift and do night and we
do night vision goggles.
Now it's an instructor pilotand he's like every like eight
minutes he's bringing anotherpilot in because he has to get
the whole unit certified, soit's just like bam bam bam, they

(22:25):
just hope it keeps snowing,right, so they can.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Or Well, there's enough snow down on the ground,
so it's so okay, it doesn't haveto be actively snowing.
Okay, I see, I see.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
So we're just.
The point is blowing it to land, so it's pitch dark.
So they turn off all thebuilding lights.
So it's pitch dark becausewe're in night vision goggles
right.
So you've got the big toiletpaper tubes in front of your
eyes that you're looking throughand so I come out.
I come out, so there's a row ofpeople lined up in the building
and somebody on the radio andthe instructor pilot radios as

(22:54):
he's done with one.
He radios and somebody walksout and you switch and the guy
well, one gets out.
And so I got in and you get inand you plug into your headset
and do you do that first beforeyou get in so they can be up on
comms with you as you get in.
And then you get in and youstrap in and then adjust the
seat, cause short legs, girl,only girl so had to always

(23:15):
adjust the seat and then get,you know, pick it up to a hover,
go over, do your landings, withthe instructor pilot talking
you through, making sure they'regood, and if they're not, you
redo them until they're good.
So, and then you get up and asyou're going back, he radios in
the next person.
So my instructor pilots PaulSantos.
He gets up and he radios in forthe next pilot, which is my

(23:36):
friend, brian.
So Brian comes walking, walkingout of the hanger and he, I get
out.
The last thing you do is unplugfrom your radio.
So I get out, he gets in plugsin the radio gets in, make sure
the door is shut.
I start walking away.
As he's adjusting the seat hecome up to and hover they move
over.

(23:56):
It's not too far, it's betweenthe runways.
Where it's like snow, where thesnow is built up between the
runways, come up to a hover, goover to buy the runway and I'm
walking away.
Now, pitch dark, can't hearanything.
I'm walking away and as I'mwalking away, all I hear is and
then and then pieces of debrisare like flying by me.

(24:17):
As they came down to land theyhad drifted slightly, which is
hard to tell under night visiongoggles and blowing snow.
They had drifted slightly.
The one wheel hit kind of at anangle sideways.
They had a critical rollovermass and they flip, basically
flipped, and turned thehelicopter on its side.

(24:39):
So as soon as it went too farinto the side, the first thing
the first blade hits and theblades start crumpling apart,
and then the blades went, thepieces of the blades went
through the engines and shreddedthe engines.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
So nobody was hurt, Okay first question no, no,
right, right, I mean, I'm on theedge of my seat.
I don't know about thelisteners are too.
I'm sure this is crazy.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
I don't tell the story very often, so she, I mean
, it sounds like a signaturekeynote story to me.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
But yeah, I got better ones, believe it.
Oh yeah, wow, so they're justlonger.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
I mean compact 좀 los poult、 the cleanestrrr, you know
he, so I mean, but the debrislike flying by me and I'd like
you know, dropped to the ground.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, hit the desk.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
And you know they I'm not up on the radios, the
people inside are so by the timeI got back to the building,
they were had already had thefire department, that's on the
call and everybody's there, buteverybody's OK.
Totaled the $18 millionhelicopter but which of course

(25:39):
everybody immediately has tolike take a drug test and take.
You know you have to do allthose testings anytime anything
goes wrong and then created ait's a class A incident
investigation with and theNational Traffic Safety Board OK
, so it becomes a big deal.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Wow, and are you kind of a witness in that situation?

Speaker 2 (25:57):
Not really because I couldn't say it Sure sure.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
I mean, they asked they did, they did Blackness.
Yeah, I thought nothing.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
So you could see the static in the air as the debris
was right.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
You're just hearing it right.
You're just like something wentwrong.
That chopper went down, yeah,and it was close.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
They did interview me .
Did everything go OK?
Was it was?
Did the instructor pilot dowhat he was supposed to do,
which of course he did?
Right, it was his job, yeah,you know.
And they just found that thearea that he because he had to
pick like a different spot everytime they went into land to be
to make sure there was snowthere, ok the blow, so the spot
he picked just wasn't reallylevel and it just happened to

(26:34):
slide and it's shift over andslide and end up being
categorized as pilot error,which is bad right.
Because, it was a mechanical.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
It wasn't anything else but so what's the lesson
there?
I mean you talked about it.
It helps you show updifferently.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
It could have been me , it was as close, I mean, they
interviewed me, you know andeverything you know.
What would you have donedifferent?

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Right, you know OK.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
It just kind of heightens your awareness.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
OK, it's, it's, it's.
It's a rude awakening that whoa.
This is like you know.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
You get used to it you get into your place and a
little bit and it's a wake upcall to oh wow, these, these
things happen.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oh, it's, yeah, it could happen.
So if this is just the tip ofthe iceberg for the adventures
and I know you said the otherstories are longer are there any
other experiences you'd want toshare that have taught you some
of the big life lessons thatmaybe say you share with your
audiences?

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Oh, so many Like I can flip through my keynote
mentally, you know.
But you know one of the things,I think that ties in for your
listeners and the theme of yourshow.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
That'd be great.
That would be.
That's perfect.
I like how you're thinking.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
So I talk about being in a potential zone, not a
comfort zone.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
OK, OK.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
So that's one of my opening stories.
So like they, I get hired a lotfor like the opening keynote
because I get them all likethinking differently about
things.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
So what's your story about potential over comfort?
Is there a story to supportthat one?

Speaker 2 (27:53):
So it's about how I became a helicopter pilot after.
I did the research.
I went out to the flight line.
I, you know, went to the chainlink fence and looked at the
helicopters for the very firsttime and I went, yeah, nice.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
You know, just fell in love, right.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well, it's not so much a love, as you have moments
of destiny.
Ok, all right, and that was amoment of destiny.
I just I knew I was supposed tofly those helicopters.
I couldn't even tell you whichones they are now.
Right, but I just knew I wassupposed to be out on if not
that flight line, a flight lineI knew it was going to happen.
I saw it with extreme clarity,ok, and it was like a download

(28:30):
you know, have you had those?

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, yes .

Speaker 2 (28:33):
So it was like a download.
I knew I was supposed to dothis and it just kind of filled
me.
And it filled me so full thatwhen everybody else afterwards
told me, no, I didn't believethem.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Wow, you just kept saying what else is possible.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
I'm, I'm, I'm in my potential zone, not a comfort
zone.
It was not comfortable to go tothe recruiter and do the I knew
the process because I'd donethe research and tell him I want
to go war on officer flighttraining program and he said no,
you can't do that.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Really.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
It was not comfortable to go to the flight
doctor and to do my flightphysical and he'd tell me little
girl, don't you know flightschool is really hard.
You know it wasn't comfortableto go take my testing and have a
sergeant and the recruitingstation tell me you know, young
lady you know, don't you know?

Speaker 1 (29:25):
it's hard to down to you.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
And I'm like I took calculus five.
I'm pretty sure I can handle astandardized test, you know, and
but every, every single step ofthe way, it wasn't until the
very, very, very last step,which was an interview, that I
had anyone show me any Belief.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
So all the way.
I mean, we're talking monthswow months of everyone else
saying no, you can't do this,and everyone else being against.
What I thought was possible andI, you know and this is
something I teach in my in mypresentations is sometimes you
have to believe in yourself morethan anyone else believes.
And they're not going tobelieve, though, until you

(30:06):
believe.
Yeah, interesting Like yourbelief has to feed theirs.
It doesn't come the other wayaround.
I think we spend too much timelooking for external you know,
external positives and externalyou know you have to external
belief that you're supposed todo something and and and the
signs you know that you'resupposed to do something and a

(30:28):
lot of that really generatesfrom within.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Yeah, Well, so the listeners who are trying to make
whether it's a small shift or abig shift in their life or in
their work, how do theypersevere when, if they keep
hearing no, no, not for you, youcan't do it?
How, in the moment, likebecause in that you've, when
you're feeling like becausethere might have been times of
discouragement for you, or whereyou're like are they right?
Should I just give up?
Should I quit my biggest, my?

Speaker 2 (30:52):
biggest.
My biggest discouragement waswhen I was in actually in flight
school.
So I'd gone through basictraining, candidate school, oh,
I'm finally in flight school andmy flight instructor didn't
believe women should fly.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
And I was the only woman in the class not just my
class.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
I was the only woman.
For the five classes ahead ofmine, the six classes I mean,
out of 12 classes, 20 students,240 pilots, I was the only woman
.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
And he tried to fail me because of gender bias.
Wow, so how do you show up?
when someone screams at youevery day, when they try to fail
you, when they look foreverything that's wrong and
tells you nothing is right Likethat level of negativity and
everything.
And what I, what I realized isagain, you have to believe in
you more than anybody else andyou have to.
Sometimes that's it's.

(31:38):
It almost becomes like asingle-minded focus where you
just filter everything else outand you just show up when others
would quit.
They wanted me to quit, yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
They wanted me to quit.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
I refused to quit.
I showed up every single day,get the best I had in the
moments I'm in, and sometimesthat's all we can do.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
Believing yourself, give it your all.
Don't quit and just show upOver and over again, show up.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
I just spoke for a big technology company and maybe
10% women, and I spoke to themen too.
I mean it was a big audienceand I had women coming up to me
after.
I mean, shockingly, number ofwomen came up to me after saying
I'm not heard, what do I do?
I said you keep showing up.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
You keep showing up, because when you just keep
showing up, consistently, doingyour best, eventually they have
to see you and have to listenand realize you're not going
anywhere.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
Hear that girls talking to my daughters.
Listen to this.
Keep showing up, don't goanywhere.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yeah, just stay focused, I love that.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
That's great I love.
Thank you so much for thatwisdom.
So then, obviously, you wentfrom the piloting to the
entrepreneurial corporate world.
What was that like?
For what did you say?
Was that also an eight yearperiod before?

Speaker 2 (32:58):
you started speaking Because I'm like eight.
Now I'm more than eightspeaking now I'm at 14.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
So I'm OK, stop doing math, stop.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Stop doing math.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
No math here, so how did your army pilot principles
translate to the workplace?

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Not very well.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
OK, ok, all right.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
So you only fly two or three days a week, ok, so,
the other days you're expectedto have a job.
You're actually evaluated inhow you do that job, because
you're expected to be anexcellent pilot.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
OK.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
So my other job was logistics contract negotiation,
property management, inventorymanagement, things like that so
at my last assignment, at leastin Germany and import, export,
things like that.
So when I got out of themilitary, that's what I got a
job in is a warehousemanufacturer doing inventory

(33:49):
management, import, export,logistics, supply chain.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Was that a hard transition to me?
I know you were working whileyou were piloting, but when you
went completely away from thepiloting, did you miss it?
Was it hard to be?
It was hard right.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
I still miss flying every day, but I was injured.
Ok, I have another long story.
I was injured while my unit wasstationed in Coast.
We were deployed in Kosovodoing UNDT.
Is that story appropriate fornow?

Speaker 1 (34:17):
I know it's probably a long story, but I know the
listeners are going.
What Wait?

Speaker 2 (34:21):
because you're a?
No, I mean.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
Because I know that you were.
Let's see, there was something.
You received the congressional,not congregational, veteran
accommodation for your serviceto the country and community as
a disabled veteran.
So could you just give usanything you want?

Speaker 2 (34:34):
to talk about.
You want to know about that, oryou want to know about I'm
injured.
There's two different things Iknow.
Ok, all right, well, tell usabout the injury.
You lose the whole afternoonhere, you know.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
Tell us about the injury first, I promise.
I won't keep you here all day,but I am super curious what
happened.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Negligent medical care.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
OK, shouldn't have happened OK.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Blessings in disguise For me.
I was a single parent and theunit I, after September 11th,
the unit I was with, went toAfghanistan, so it ended up
being a blessing in disguise asa time.
You don't know that At the timeit was devastating.
Because I have inner ear youstationed tube damage that would
cause me to never fly again.
I see so because I receivednegligent medical care.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
OK.
So even though it was ablessing in disguise, it was
still hard to leave that world.
Oh my gosh, horrible OK.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Horrible, devastating depressive incident.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
How do you make it through those times?
Right, because this is adifferent kind of a challenge.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
I was single parent.
My daughter, who's now we won'ttell, never mind.
So she was five.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
OK.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
So sometimes, if you can't show up for yourself, you
show up for your kids right.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Yeah, you know there's a new purpose.
Yeah, you're living outsideyourself at that point, totally.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
So I needed to find a job right and I needed to
provide a living for her,because it was just her and I.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Right.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
So yeah, so I put out all these resumes on this new
website back then calledmonstercom.
Ok, all right I sent out myresumes and I got a call back
for a job.
And then I came back and it wasfor a warehouse and a bad part
of Dallas.
Ok, and I'm doing inventorymanagement in a union tough

(36:10):
warehouse, tough guys but theyfelt like I could handle it and
they wouldn't give me too muchcrap because I was a military
and woman, you know.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
They just felt like so you finally get respect.
You deserve it.
I did, I got some respect.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
I did, I did.
I was there almost five years,worked my way up from an
inventory accountant to beingover the over purchasing and
part of the warehouse.
Even the union employeesreported to me and worked my way
up pretty well.
Got headhunted to anothercompany.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
All right.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Did a lesson a year at that company.
I found out they were hiringillegals in falsifying
documentation.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
OK.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
And a lot of them reported to me in the warehouse.
So back.
I don't know what it is now,but back then that meant I could
go to jail.
So I was like, uh-uh, no way.
So I started gently, quietlylooking for another job, and one
of those job interviews calledand asked for a reference.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
OK.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
And I came back into the office and all my stuff was
packed up and out on outside thebuilding.
Oh wow, oh wow.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
OK.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
So I was like oh, all righty then.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
So then what happened after that?

Speaker 2 (37:19):
So after that I got real with my job search, because
at this point I wasn't a singleparent, but I just didn't know
there was anything else.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
OK.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
So I did a real quick cut where you customize the
resume and the cover letter forevery single job you apply for
and within two days I had twocalls and two jobs.
And I had two interviews withina day of each other, two offers
within a day of each other andboth decent jobs.
So I took the one closer to thehouse.
It seemed to have the otherone's government.

(37:50):
I was kind of tired ofgovernment work so I took one in
manufacturing, about fiveminutes from my house, and was
an international contractnegotiator.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Oh, ok, all right, that sounds like as cool as
Black Hawk pilot.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
So I traveled my main client was in Lyon, France.
Oh fun, Multi-million dollarclient.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
And negotiated multi-million dollar contracts
and did site inspections andmade sure quality inspections
and things like that.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
It's amazing.
All you're bringing in yourexperience to the stage to teach
people.
So at some point you said timeto be a motivational speaker.
I've done it all.
So what was that transitionlike?
How did, like you said, themoments of possibility?
Yeah, and so what was that like?

Speaker 2 (38:35):
So it was funny because I was working in that
last job as an internationalcontract negotiator.
The manufacturer was fiveminutes from my house.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
Like it was close.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
And the other job was across Dallas, fort Worth.
So it was like an hour driveeach way, so suddenly I'm like
five minutes from my house.
I got involved in my kids' PTA.
Oh, cool I got involved in thecommunity some and they found
out.
I was a helicopter pilot whichI didn't really advertise, but
they found out about it and theywere like, hey, will you come

(39:05):
speak to the Career Day for thekids?
Will you come speak to our?

Speaker 1 (39:07):
youth program, will you?

Speaker 2 (39:08):
come, and then it became the Boy Scouts.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
And it was the Girl Scouts Then it was the youth
church groups.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Then it was just kind of organically spread out and I
was saying no to a lot becauseI traveled and was busy.
So I said no to a lot but Isaid yes when I could.
And then one day my phone rangand it was for a business
luncheon.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Oh yeah, stepping it up a notch, right Right.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
But I was booked, I was busy.
So I turned them down.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
You were speaking for the Boy Scouts that day, right?

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Well, I was booked from my corporate job, but I
just always said I was bookedthere you go.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
None of their business why I was booked.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
So I just said I'm sorry, I'm booked.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
I say I'm booked.
When I have a hair appointmentI'm like I'm booked, I'm busy,
that's important it is, I getyou.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
So I said no, I'm booked and they're like well,
we'll pay you.
And I'm like wait, I could getpaid.
I've been doing this for free,this time and I could get paid.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
It had just never dawned on you after that point.
I mean I knew Ziegsigler andJohn Maxwell and the.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Biggies, but I had no idea there was anything in
between.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Sure, how much did you get paid for your first?

Speaker 2 (40:22):
gig $500.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
$500.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
And since then she For a 45 minute lunch.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
That's good for a first one.
I think my first birthday partyever was $20.
Hey, and she's doubled her feesince then.
Is that right?
That's a Mark Mayfield joke.
I think he made $70 on hisfirst gig.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
He's like.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
I've doubled my fee since then.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
Yeah, yeah, wow, but that's good, I'd have to have a
calculator to figure out Sure.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
No, I know she is.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Let's see.
You want to know.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
So the tech company gig that I just did this last
weekend Tell us Was $25,000.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
There you go, all right.
So a little more than $500.
Now you want to become amotivational speaker.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
14 years, 14 years, of doing a lot of rotary clubs
chicken dinner.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Zach's jaw just dropped.
He's like what?

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
Yeah, so that's great .
So, whatever that is, I can'treally do the math on that, but
that's great.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
I had another one that was supposed to be 25,000
euros.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
So which would have been not like, with the exchange
rate depending.
But it would have been a littlemore.
There you go For a bigpharmaceutical company we would
all recognize yeah, nice, andbut they couldn't get the
paperwork together fast enoughand I was going on vacation, I
didn't want to mess with it onvacation so.
I withdrew from it.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yes, nice.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
I said no, keep me in mind for the next one.
Let's plan ahead more there yougo.
And the company.
It was a management company,event management company that
was booking me in Europe.
They really respected me.
I think they respected me moreBecause I withdrew and said, no,
let's do it right.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Then doing it all last minute.
That's great.
Yeah so she was like well,definitely be working with you
in the future.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
That's awesome.
There you go.
It's nice that you're at theplace where you can kind of, you
know, not stress about everycall that's coming in.
Yeah, yeah, you get used to it,don't you?

Speaker 2 (42:07):
It's not like, like, if you're listening and you're
like, wow, I'm going to be amotivational speaker next week.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Like I mean I did.
It's a climb, I did a hundredRotary Clubs.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
In fact, in my first 18 months that I decided after I
got laid off from that job.
I did 163 Rotary Clubs in 18months.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Just to polish the content, just to know what to do
when the AV, just to buildconfidence, just to the delivery
.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
That's one thing too when people come to me and say
how do you get started?
I'm like look up your localRotary, kiwanis Clubs, lions
Clubs, because they're alwayslooking for a cost-effective
solution for like an after lunchspeaker.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Cost-effective equals free.
Pretty much yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
And that's where you can polish.
You need a place to be kind oflike bad, you know.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Yeah, so it's.
You're never good the firsttime.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Yeah, no, so that's great.
So your book right?
The Pilot Method the FiveElemental Truths to Leading
Yourself in Life.
Pilot has all the periods aftereach letter, I'm assuming
that's some kind of acronym.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Do you want to?

Speaker 1 (43:11):
share what that acronym is.
You're going to like it.
I'm sure I am.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
So the P is for potential.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Ah, see, this just worked out.
Great, yeah, potentialpossibilities.
Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
So the P is for potential, and it goes back to
what I said earlier you have tobelieve in your own potential
before anybody else will.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
So like it is literally impossible for someone
else to believe in yourpotential when you don't.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
So I is implementation.
It doesn't do any good tobelieve in your potential if you
don't do something with it Okay, okay, yeah, right.
So implementation, how do yoube more effective?
L is three pillars ofleadership.
That.
I teach, communicate, aviate,navigate.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
Nice, the eights, yeah, the eights.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
Communicate aviate navigate, I love it yeah yeah, I
would add a motivate in thereand a couple other ones, but I
like communicate, aviate,navigate, can.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
Ah, there you go, boom See, so clever Can
leadership so good.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
So, oh, it's optimal performance.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
Right.
If you show up depleted, howcan you give to anyone else?

Speaker 1 (44:06):
Right right so how do you?

Speaker 2 (44:08):
how do you?
It's more about aself-discovery.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Okay, in optimal performance.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
I'm not like prescriptive.
Here's what you do, right, it'sdo what, what you know you need
to do.
Okay, right, that's great.
And then tea, because it'sdifferent for everybody, yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
You can't have a straight blue friend friend.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Yeah, some people need like they want to meditate
and do yoga and I would freakingfall asleep yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
Right, right, it's like not me right.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
So for me, I work out .
I have other ways that I.
I have that kind of chill timeRight.
So I think everybody'sdifferent.
I really, it really bothers mewhen I, when these like articles
and magazines say in order tobe successful, you have to wake
up at 5am and do these.
The most successful people dothese things before 5am.

(44:52):
Then I'm like I'm a night owl.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
Like I get more done from like 11pm and 2am.
Yeah, you know than I everwould waking up at 5.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
I'd be half asleep for three hours.
Yeah Well, that's good, and Ithink that's just like a, a
maturity thing.
You get to know yourself overtime and realize there's these
formulas that work for otherpeople, but it's it's not all
encompassing.
You got to find what works foryou.
It's really annoying to me whenwhen someone else shoves it and
says this is what you shouldlike to stop shooting me Right
Right Off of your perspective,but you know.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
This is what works for me.
It could work for you, but,like I, I think everybody has
their own like key times, a daywhere you're most productive.
Oh right, Totally Mine is inthe morning, mine's like the
eight to noon.
It's that coffee?
Um well, it used to be.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Now I'm trying to make it the mudwatercom slash
devon.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
So for me, my, my most optimal time is like from
11 to two.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
That's like when I'm just on fire.
Yeah Right, so like I veryrarely will schedule a lunch
meeting or lunch day.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Oh yeah, sure.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Because I need to be working here in that time.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Okay, gotcha, so I'm more yeah.
Yeah, that's, that'sinteresting.
I early afternoon is when Istart to okay, I need like a nap
, I need to get out and go for arun or something, so that's
interesting.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
Yeah, like four or five o'clock I could take a nap,
okay All right, so it's just alittle later, but then I'm up
until one or two AM, usuallymost days, so especially when
I'm writing.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
Yeah.
So what's the T in pilot?
T is tenacity, tenacity, it'snot giving up.
I was guessing words.
I was like what is it Notgiving up?
Just showing up, it's showingup.
It's showing up.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
It's showing up when it's hard because you know it is
.
Guess what it is.
So we know going in that lifeis hard.
Is you're going to discoverthings that are hard?
So you decide you're going tobe true to you and show up, or
some people don't.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
Yeah, yeah, thank you .
So much of what you said hasreally helped support the
possibility mindset and whypeople come to this podcast.
So this is awesome, especiallythat potential factor that's and
just showing up, and I justlove those factors.
Can I ask you a couple morepersonal questions?
Okay, what do you do to sparkyour creativity?

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Hmm, sleep.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Okay, it's a good one .

Speaker 2 (47:07):
No, it is.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Because when you don't, when you aren't sleeping
good, it doesn't flow.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Yeah Right, do you ever have trouble turning your
brain off?
Oh yeah, see, that's me.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
All the time yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
But if you can get to sleep then you're getting that
rest to wake up fresh and yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
What's what about it?
Like a day off, Like you'reaway from family, you're away
from friends, you're not gigging, you're not like what's a
perfect day.
Look like for ElizabethMcCormick.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
So I would.
I would work out not early inthe morning like 10 am.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
I'd work out like get some sunshine.
So whether it's nice enough,you know, just sitting this on
and read, or get some sunshine.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
I'm a big live in Dallas, right, so good
opportunities to get some raysdown there.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
We get some sun, and then I would, you know, do some
reading or research or, you know, stimulate my brain.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Okay, nice.
So Get the wheels turning.
Yeah, it's funny how otherideas can yeah help you with
your own idea, Even if they'resometimes like barely related.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
it can just trigger some little thing Exactly.
Yeah, I get that.
And here's the biggest thingwith that, and this is this is
not so much how I becamecreative, but how I become
productive in creativity.
Okay, ooh, that's good that isgood.
And the next thing is wheneverI'm reading a book, I have a
notepad or a journal next to meand I'm writing the stimulus.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
My thoughts, my ideas , what I want to do, different
things.
That's great.
Not necessarily what's writtenin an overhand book, sure, and
when I am like watching anotherspeaker, I put a line in the
middle of the page and the leftside is what they say and the
right side are my thoughts.
So I always separate out mythoughts from what somebody else
says.
So I can I can protect theirintellectual property and mine

(48:53):
so smart, so respectful, that'sgreat.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
That's awesome, so you don't have to dig through it
later and think where did thiscome from, or?

Speaker 2 (48:59):
did they say this or did?
I think this I mean that'simportant to differentiate.
So yeah, and then I can just gothrough, and I just look
through the right column andthen, if I need to recall where
it came from, I look at the leftcolumn.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Okay, okay, so you're .
I love that.
So you're in your ideal day.
You work out, you read a littlebit, you learn what's the?
What would you top it off with?
You have movie watcher, do youtake walks?
What do you get out and whatbrings you to life?
I?
Would eat, eat.
Hey, right here.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
What's your favorite kind of food?
Everything, everything.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
So, which is why I work out to eat there you go.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
I don't work out to work out, I work out to eat.
I love to eat.
I think that is a greatintention.
What was it that's awesome?

Speaker 2 (49:41):
Was it Miss America or Miss World Universe or
something?
And it shows up every once in awhile in the viral videos stuff
and it's like the best answerof a pageant contestant ever and
they're like what would you dowhen the pageant world's over?
What will you do different?
She's like I would eat everybit.
That's awesome, that's funny.
I was like yes it's my friend.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
A woman after her own heart, that's awesome, but I
had you know you have somebodytold me something and it's not
popular.
Please, no, don't shoot.
The messenger is not me, but abureau agent told me this when I
first got started and I hadrecently had my youngest child,
so I was struggling with alittle baby weight Right and I

(50:21):
was just starting off prettymuch and she said no one wants
to hire a fat motivationalspeaker.
Would definitely not bepolitically correct to say
nowadays.
But it's something that reallystuck with me because I was like
you know what that's kind ofright, like right if you can't
motivate yourself, right?

(50:42):
I mean, obviously there'shealth is please, please, you
know, obviously there's health.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
No, we understand what you're saying.
Yeah, it came from somebodyelse to me that made you think.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
Not, not in a judgmental way but just made you
go and and honestly, I need tobe more healthy.
Yeah, I need to take care ofmyself, yeah, and there's,
there's that.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
And then there's also certain things you can't see
behind the scenes, emotionallyLike why wouldn't that person
speak into me because of wherethey're coming from, whether
it's something that tips you offabout their appearance or their
attitude or their character youalways have to be thinking
about.
If we're going to bemotivational speakers, we really
do need to be intentional abouta really well balanced how are
we showing up?
Are we showing up in every way?

(51:18):
So I understand what you'resaying.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
I mean it was jarring at the time because I felt like
it was super judgmental and youknow I have friends that are.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
I have thyroid issues and other things and health
issues, you know, and I was likeooh, and she's like you know,
yeah, yeah, no, you're justgoing to read between the lines
there and realize it was.
It was well intentioned anddidn't.
Yeah, no, I get it, no.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
I'm with you.
It was like wow, I didn'treally.
You know, you think about yourcontent and you think about your
delivery, and you might thinkabout what you wear and
polishing your shoes, sure, sure.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Dressy shoes, you know there's certain things like
that.
You look at me and you're like,oh, not those.
Well, not those.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
But you know, you just think about.
You think about certain things.
You might not think about,things like that.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Sure Sure.
And it's not about a reallyeven.
It's not about a status thing.
It's about you don't want whatthe way you look or behave to
distract from this awesomeimpact that you want to make.
It's like oh there, you know,it's even can go to the extreme
of you look too good up there.
You know, it's like well thatperson's not too much bling or
whatever's going on.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
That it's like yeah it can be not relatable, yeah.
So there's a balance therebetween so sloppy and too good,
you know so you know, andtomorrow when I speak to the
speaker, you know, it's not onething, it's everything.
And I think, and the otherpiece I say a lot is perception,
is reality, their perception.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
Okay, right.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
Is their reality.
Yeah, so how are you showing upon video?
How are you showing up on apodcast?
How do you show up in all thethings that you do?
And it kind of forces you, kindof kind of like that helicopter
crash and as I was walking away, it forces you to be more aware
.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Sure, well, let me say you have shown up very well
today and I appreciate you beinghere.
So I felt lucky, we're honoredto have you on the podcast,
because I know when you comeinto town like this, there's a
lot going on and it's a tightschedule.
So thank you so much for coming,but I do have two last
questions, if that's all right.
Okay, before I ask thosequestions, remember one more

(53:17):
time try mudwater, just give ita shot, it might be for you.
Mudwatercom slash devon lookfor that in the show notes.
Follow us on YouTube.
Share this podcast.
Five star review.
We appreciate any of that, allthe comments.
It really goes a long way andhelps us get more traction so we
can have a bigger impact.
I want people to hear thismessage from Elizabeth so you
can help us make that happen.
All right, so two last things.

(53:37):
Your website, I know, is I gotit right here pilot speakercom.
Pilot speakercom Is that thebest way for them to get a hold
of you.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
That's my first question Really pilot speaker on
any social media platform.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
All right, so anywhere.
But can I give a gift toeveryone, please, okay.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
Yeah, that'd be great .

Speaker 2 (53:54):
So you know those confidence boosting strategies I
mentioned earlier for yourdaughter.
I want to give to all thelisteners Nice, and you can find
those at soresoaryourlifecom.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
Great Soar your life.
Would you make a note of thatfor me Please?
He's soreyourlifecom.
What Thank you for that freegift for the listeners.
I know you all appreciate thatand you can connect with her at
pilotspeakercom or pilotspeakeron social media and let her know
how much you appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
So that's great.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Okay, then last question.
Question, one last piece ofadvice for my daughters.
Anything goes.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
No matter what you do in life, you have to fly First.
Lead yourself.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
Boom, that's great.
Thank you so much.
I love it Everybody.
Elizabeth McCormick, thank youfor your service, my honor.
We appreciate that and we'regoing to close with our
catchphrase, something thatreally embraces the possibility
mindset.
We asked the question what elseis possible?
So I'm going to say what elseand then I'll have you say is
possible?
Okay, Pretty easy.

(55:00):
All right, got it Okay, allright.
Thank you so much for joiningus and remember to never stop
asking the question.
What else is possible?
See you next time.