EP 34: No More Excuses: The Path to Wellness with Melissa Pike

• In this episode of The Real You Podcast, Melissa Pike, an ICF-certified health and life coach, shares her journey from HR to coaching, highlighting the challenges of workplace wellness and the power of authentic storytelling in building meaningful connections.

• She discusses key strategies for mental well-being, including mindfulness, gratitude journaling, goal-setting, and the importance of movement, while also reflecting on her transformative journey to sobriety and how it has improved her life.

• Listeners will gain valuable insights on managing stress, fostering work-life balance, and embracing personal growth to create a healthier and more fulfilling life.

Melissa's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-pike-588b5974/

Melissa's website: https://www.melissapike.ca/

David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-young-mba-indy/

David's Website: https://davidjyoung.me/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Real you Podcast.
This is episode 34.
I'm David Young, your host.
I'm a LinkedIn content andbusiness coach.
I have coaches with less than3,000 followers grow their
businesses through betterstorytelling and content
creation.
I launched this podcast inMarch of 2024 to spotlight
interesting people doing amazingthings, and today I'm joined by
Melissa Pike.
She's an ICF certified healthand life coach who works with

(00:21):
both individuals and companiesin areas of mindset shift,
stress management and overallhealth and wellness.
We'll discuss her journey as asolopreneur, her use of LinkedIn
to connect with a wide audienceand her passion for helping
people live their best lives.
So, melissa, welcome to theshow and thanks for making time
for me today.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thanks so much, David .
I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yeah, absolutely so, yeah.
So I've been seeing yourcontent for a while and I always
think it's really well writtenand you write a pretty diverse
about a diverse set of topics,and it is health and wellness,
but I feel like it goes likeeven deeper than that.
So I always really enjoy yourcontent.
I think it's some of the bettercontent that I see, and I look
at a lot of content every day,so kudos to you for that.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
So yeah, so talk about your background.
I know you worked in HR for awhile and now you do health and
wellness coaching, but if youwant to talk a little bit about
like kind of your background interms of work and then how you
kind of eventually transitionedinto, you know, coaching, others
investing to sales.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Then I got into recruitment, which kind of led
me then into HR.
So, yeah, I had done variousaspects of HR for the I would
say the better part of seven sixto seven years, and it was in
my last role that I started tosee a lot of struggles among
team members and just individualemployees and whatnot, and I

(01:43):
just thought I felt a little bithelpless in my role.
My role was very busy and verytask oriented and required a lot
of travel, so I just felt Iwasn't able to help in areas
that I saw some struggle andthat kind of got me on the path
of thinking, well, what else doI want to be doing then?
How else can I be contributingand giving back and helping?

(02:07):
And that kind of put me on thepath to coaching and I was
interested in doing a dualcertification.
So I wanted to do the lifecoaching in addition to the
health coaching, and I very muchintertwine the two in
everything that I do.
You can't have a successful lifeif you're not healthy, and you

(02:28):
can't be healthy, I guess, ifyou've got a bad life.
Kind of work it all in together.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yeah, for sure.
Just a quick off topic.
So my two or three companiesago I did some budget work for
HR and they were alwayseverybody was always getting
promoted, but they weren't doinganything different, so they
were just giving people thefanciest titles ever.
So everybody was a VP ofsomething and we always used to
make fun of it.
Did that happen?

(02:54):
Where you worked, Everybody inHR had like best titles.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
No, no, not in my experience.
I was an HR generalist and Iprobably would have been that
until someone retired in 20years from now.
But no, I have seen that inother companies, though for sure
.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
At my company, you would have been vice president
of human generalist.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
People and culture, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Even if you were just vice president of yourself,
that wouldn't have mattered.
Yeah, of yourself that wouldn'thave mattered.
Yeah, so that's interesting thatyou got, because you got behind
the scenes in HR, right, youwere probably able to see you
had access to things right thatmost a lot of people employees
at companies don't get to see.
So is that what got the wheelsturning?
Then you were seeing whether itwas like biometric we used to
do like a biometric healthassessment that I'm sure you

(03:41):
guys probably had access to, orwas it just in one on ones or
like, where did you start to seekind of the, I guess, the
negativity in the in theirhealth and well being?

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, yeah.
So for me a lot of it came from.
It was a bit of a mix ofindividual employees coming to
me directly to kind of let meknow things that they were
struggling with, whether it wasdirectly work related or maybe
an overflow from home life.
But the other part of it wasdoing the quarterly reports,
company wide.
So for each, you know, becausethe company was quite large and

(04:14):
was was actually broken downinto multiple companies itself.
For me I worked it was around 11to 12 businesses across two
provinces, and so doing thosereports every quarter I was able
to kind of see firsthand, youknow, the number of people
taking sick days and you know,and how common it was, the

(04:36):
number of people who were takingadvantage of the employee
assistance program, like theadditional therapy and whatnot,
that those numbers tended to beon the lower side.
You know the numbers of peoplegoing on stress leave,
disability, all of that.
So for me it was hearing peoplekind of you know I don't want
to use the word complain,because you know when people are

(04:57):
struggling, you know it's howthey're feeling, so but but
seeing firsthand the struggleand then also seeing these
numbers and kind of thinking,well, they've got to be
connected.
Right, you know people arestruggling, their productivity
is suffering, and if theirproductivity is suffering, then
they're probably, you know,they're probably being spoken to
by their managers and whatnot,and then you know, the stress

(05:20):
just kind of compounds.
And then one day they just comein with a doctor's note and
they say you know what?
I can't, I just can't do this.
I need to take six weeks orwhatever.
It is off.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, for sure.
And you know I think it'sinteresting too.
There's a health and wellnessinitiatives are pretty common,
especially, you know, these daysand I think in relatively
recent past maybe a little moreso post COVID.
But I wonder like how much lipservice that is.
And then, how many companiesare actually really investing in
programs to actually helpoffset the burden and life

(05:52):
schedule and work scheduleversus just having it available?
What did you see from yourexperience?

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, I mean the last company I worked for.
They did have several reallygood initiatives.
They actually they have aregistered nurse on staff who
kind of comes up with health andwellness initiatives.
But again, it's a strugglebecause you know, when it's a
really large company it's kindof hard to get to everyone right
.
So I find, depending on theinitiatives and depending on the

(06:20):
size of the company, you tendto be in repair mode as opposed
to preventative mode.
And so and that's largely whatI'm trying to work with
companies on now is to kind ofget ahead of it so that we can
prevent all of the absenteeismand even the presenteeism.
You know there's a lot ofpeople sitting at their desks

(06:40):
and not really doing whatthey're supposed to be doing.
So and you know it doesn't makethem bad employees.
Maybe they're just feeling stuckor overwhelmed, or you know
whatever it is so but I have,yes, I've seen a good number of
companies, you know, especiallyif you go on any of those job
sites, you know, and you'll seeall these bonuses and it's
amazing.
But you hear the horror storiesof employees afterwards saying

(07:03):
like this is you know, yeah, wehad pizza on Fridays for lunch,
but everything else was, youknow, game rooms and ping pong
and foosball and actually,invest in something that

(07:28):
actually helps.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
But I'm sure there's a lot that goes into that
bureaucracy and you know budgetsand whatnot.
So when did you start thinking?
Did you start getting certifiedthen, while you were still
working, Because you were like,okay, this is something I want
to do, and you kind of mappedthat out and thought this is the
next step for me want to do andyou kind of mapped that out and
thought this is the next stepfor me.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, and it's interesting because I was
feeling really restless andwhile I was overwhelmed and busy
.
So I just started thinking whatam I feeling restless about?
What area of my life am Ifeeling really dissatisfied in?
And I did this exercise that mytherapist had actually
recommended in the past, whichis to kind of just make a full
list of every aspect of yourlife and see what feels like a
trigger, you know.
So I included everything frommy personal life to my

(08:12):
friendships, to my work, andwork seemed to be a bit of the
trigger for me.
It felt a little bitunfulfilling.
It's a great job.
I think it takes a very uniqueskill set and a very unique type
of person to do it well and doit long term.
Because it's a great job.
I think it takes a very uniqueskill set and a very unique type
of person to do it well and doit long term, because it's a
tough job for me.
Long term it wasn't in thecards, but a lot came out of it

(08:33):
and I learned a lot from it.
So once I kind of identifiedthat it was career that I was a
bit unsatisfied with.
I then made my big list of allthe things I could possibly do
that I could earn a living atbut also feel passionate about
and love.
And I made that list even if itwas something that was
impractical.

(08:53):
And I made it from the point ofview what if I had zero barrier
to entry?
What if I didn't need anyeducation, if I didn't need any
money, if I didn't need anything?
I could just do it and I wouldlove it.
I put all of those things downand then I kind of narrowed that
down and, funny enough, Ithought I wanted to be a
therapist.
So I had a therapy appointmentwith my therapist and to talk

(09:14):
about that and by the time I wasdone, spewing everything I was
saying, she said you know what,melissa, you're not describing
therapy, you're describingcoaching.
And I hadn't really thought ofcoaching.
I don't think I knew coachingwas even a job.
You know, health coaching andlife coaching.
So I thought, okay, yeah,because I really wanted to focus
on enhancing wellness,enhancing total life wellness,

(09:38):
you know, extending health span,not just lifespan, and all the
other things that go withtherapy that I didn't want to
deal with.
I didn't want to deal withaddiction or mental illness and
you know there's been a lot ofthat in my family and I think
I've just kind of it's not forme.
So then I started my year longjourney of, you know,

(09:59):
researching institutions andprograms and whatnot, and yeah,
so I eventually settled on adual certification.
I wanted to make sure I was ICFcertified.
That was pretty important to me.
And then I entered the programand I was doing that by night,
while I was working my day job,and I thought maybe, you know,

(10:20):
for maybe six months once I'mcertified, I'll try this side
hustle I know we don't likeusing that term anymore but and
work my day job.
And then it was literally aroundthe time that I got certified
that I was doing a lot oftraveling for work and I was
burning out fast and I just Ikind of had to have this real

(10:41):
talk with myself where I wassaying how am I going to coach
other people into preventingburnout while I'm burning out?
So I felt a little bit and thenthat overwhelmed me, which
added on to everything else.
So I just I had to make thereally tough decision to just go

(11:02):
all in and make it a primaryhustle, not a side.
And yeah, the rest is history.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
And here we are.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Here we are.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Well, it's amazing that you recognized that you
were a little bit.
It was going to be a littlehypocritical, right, if you were
coaching something that youwere not dealing with yourself.
I don't know if everybody wouldhave had that awareness and
simply because it's just so mucheasier to stay employed and
collect the paycheck and thensee if the business on the side

(11:33):
works right, that's a much saferpath.
So I applaud you forrecognizing it and being like no
, if I'm going to do this, I'mgoing all in and I'm going to do
it, I'm going to figure it out.
That was about two years ago,is that correct?

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, that was in 2023.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Okay, and then did you start on LinkedIn right away
, or how did you first go aboutattracting clients?

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, so well.
Initially I had actually, assoon as I got certified, I
registered, I legally registeredmy business and before I even
attempted to get a client, Ientered into a business coaching
program, a group coachingprogram, yeah, With a local
company here that worksinternationally, safi Media

(12:14):
Group.
And so it was a 12 week programwhere they were, you know,
typically working withentrepreneurs who were already a
little bit established at least, if not a lot established, and
were looking to grow theirbusiness.
I had no starting point.
I'd never been an entrepreneurbefore.
I felt very confident in mycoaching ability because long

(12:34):
before becoming officiallycertified, I felt like I'd been
everyone's life coach up untilthat point anyway.
So it made sense.
But on the business side, no, Ididn't have any idea.
So I entered into that program.
They have fantastic coaches inthat program and one of them we
were in a conversation, we did aone-on-one call and I had

(12:56):
mentioned to her that I wasnervous to go to put myself out
there online and she just gotreally stern with me.
She's like you just got to do it.
She's like, who cares, just putit out there and it's going to
get easier.
And she just got really sternwith me.
She's like you just got to doit.
She's like who cares?
Just put it out there and it'sgoing to get easier.
And I started to sweat and Iwas really uncomfortable and I
thought, okay, what do I wantmore?
Do I want to feel morecomfortable in this moment, or

(13:19):
do I want to have a successfulbusiness?
So I had to just bite the bulletand I put my first big post up.
I think it was in July of 2023.
And it was a bit of a personalpost.
It was about having a bit of ameltdown at work after my
divorce, a very impromptu,unexpected meltdown and it

(13:41):
reached over 50,000 impressions,yeah, and I had people
messaging me private messagingme from as far away as Africa,
people in Europe, people in theStates I'm in Canada and it just
, I think, so many peopleresonated with it and I think,
if you're going to really putyourself out there and see what

(14:02):
sticks, I think that was areally good first time doing
something like that and gettingthat kind of response, because
it kind of fueled me a littlebit, right.
So it didn't mean I wasimmediately at ease and
comfortable posting, but I justput my foot down and I said I'm
just going to post, I'm going tokeep posting and I'm going to
post as often as I can.
And it's funny because I comeup with ideas all the time.

(14:25):
I could be listening to a MelRobbins podcast, or I could be
walking the dogs and a thoughtpops into my head, and so I use
my notes folder in my phoneconstantly and I'll just put
like enough that I'm going toremember what my thought was,
and then, yeah, when I get achance, I sit down and I write

(14:57):
it out.
But it's kind of like thatsnowball effect Once you get
started.
Right For the amount of peoplewho publicly comment or like or
share my posts.
There's almost an equal numberof people that are messaging me
privately who are saying youknow what?
I wasn't comfortable enough tocomment publicly, but your post
this morning really resonatedwith me, it really hit home, and

(15:18):
so it's been an incrediblejourney since then incredible
journey since then.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Well, I think it speaks to kind of what I was
talking about at the beginningwith your content.
It does seem or it doesn't seem, I mean, to someone who
obviously doesn't know you fromthe outside it comes across very
real, very normal.
It's your life, your experience.
You've talked about yourdivorce.
You've talked about strugglingwith alcohol.
You've talked about very realissues that a lot of people deal
with either directly orindirectly.

(15:46):
I think we've all dealt with oneof those two or both, in both
capacities, and so I think thatit's not your standard content
that people can easily you knowGPT or Google, right Like it's
your experience.
It's your life, your livedexperiences.
You travel.
I know you took a big trip.
I remember you wrote abouttaking kind of a solo trip

(16:07):
overseas and stuff, so like thatkind of stuff.
I think really, when people seethat, I think it's very
encouraging and motivating tosee you come across just as a
real person who's now liketrying to help.
So I think that really helpsand I think it also validated
because that post did so well,like you said, it resonated.
A lot of people aligned with itcould see themselves in it.
I think that probably had to bea huge confidence boost that

(16:31):
you did have something to say,and then what you were saying
that people were going to relateto.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know it's kind of.
You know it's a double bonusright, because it was a bit of a
confidence.
It was an extreme confidenceboost, but also it felt, it felt
really beautiful to connectwith people in that way, you
know.
And there are people you knowthat say I haven't shared this
with anyone but you know, I gotdivorced back in you know,

(16:59):
whatever year and and I didn'tlet on that it was bothering me
as much as it was.
And you know, hearing you be soraw and so real and of course
you're going to get the haters.
I, I, I delete those messagesnot because I'm trying to make
it look like I only get goodfeedback, but because I don't

(17:20):
want to take away from themeaning and the importance of
the message.
And you know, and everything Ipost isn't for everyone.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
Correct.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
You know there's going to be something for
someone and then the next dayit's going to be a totally
different topic for somebody,somebody different.
But you know, in the beginningtoo, I had this fear of because
LinkedIn is a professionalnetwork and it's not where
people are posting privatestories and things like that.
But I'm a life coach, right.
So I mean I need to connectwith people in a very real way

(17:51):
in order for them to feelcomfortable and safe enough to
work with me and to trust mewith their stories and to trust
me to help them move forward interms of creating a plan and you
know, just ultimately, fromsetting goals all the way to
building habits.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean it makes a lot of senseand I could definitely see where
people would maybe not be socomfortable commenting.
But you know, reach out in theDMs and share stories and
struggles.
So I think what you're doing isamazing and I think it's so
needed Again.
I think post-COVID there's a lot, a lot has changed.
I think people are takingtherapy for sure.

(18:33):
More seriously, I think you'vetalked about loneliness or just
the isolation I think a lot ofpeople felt when suddenly they
couldn't come and go as theywere used to, and so I just
think a lot of things kind ofgot pushed to the top, to the
surface, and people were kind offorced to deal with things that
they may not have been.
So, even though we'reapproaching the five-year

(18:56):
anniversary, I think it's stillnew enough that people are
understanding that they need toprioritize themselves physically
, mentally, because, like yousaid, it's all intertwined and
the better that you feel then,the more productive you are at
work, the better your otherrelationships are, all that kind
of stuff.
What is your?
I know you tailor.

(19:16):
I'm pretty sure you tailor yourcustom or your coaching
packages, obviously depending onthe client, because everybody
has different needs.
But is there is.
There are a couple, two orthree like kind of main things
that end up.
You end up working with peopleon, or or at least talking to
them about when you start, youknow, coaching them.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, I mean there's a bit of a theme, I would say,
with everybody I work with whenI'm working with individuals,
that is, I work virtually.
We meet once a week for an hourand I start out with a 12-week
program and that is so we canbuild, you know, do some great
like foundation laying and buildsome habits.
I would.
So, from day one, weestablished three goals, three

(19:56):
things that they want to worktowards, three things that they
want to work towards, and Iwould say very commonly, one of
the three goals has something todo with their health, whether
it's weight loss or whether it's, you know, changing, changing
the way they eat, because maybethey're pre diabetic or they're
kind of on a bad path.
I would say, another verycommon goal and it seems a bit

(20:17):
abstract, but it's really not isfinding ways to be more present
.
So I've worked with quite a fewhigh performing executives.
Some of them are in theC-suites and they have spent
decades building their careerand really focusing on just that
one thing, and they've gottenso good at it that now you know,

(20:40):
they're at the stage of lifewhere they're seeing their peers
having health issues.
Maybe they're having healthissues and they're thinking,
okay, I've got to do somethingabout this right now because I
don't want to wait until it'stoo late.
Being present with family andshutting off work after hours,
or finding a balance.
You know, it's too unrealisticto tell someone you're just well

(21:01):
, nine to five, you're at workand then after that, no, don't
think about work.
It doesn't work that way.
But finding a balance thatworks for each individual person
.
So I would say a lot of peopleare looking for that balance of
just being present, like notbeing distracted while their
wife or husband is trying tohave a conversation with them at
the dinner table and things.
And you know, and there areother people who are they're

(21:25):
just trying to figure out what'snext.
You know whether they'regearing up to retire and they
just have no idea what life isgoing to mean after the identity
that they've held on to forseveral decades of you know
their title at work is no longerthere.
Or you know relationships.
That seems to be a big one, youknow.
Coming out of a relationship,who am I without being attached

(21:48):
to that person and having myidentity attached to that person
and figuring out how do I livemy best life?
Like, where do I start?
You know.
I know I have these ideas thatI want to live an amazing life
and I want to have a you know,an amazing life and I want to
have a you know, a house, and Iwant to have a good job and all
these things.
But what does it really looklike for the individual person?
It can be really overwhelmingand daunting to kind of figure

(22:10):
out where to start and where togo from here.
So having someone kind of helpyou break that down and identify
what it is you actually wantWeight loss, for instance, when
someone says that I like to divea little deeper and figure out,
well, why do you want to loseweight?
What does that mean to you?
And then you just keep goingdeeper and deeper until they

(22:31):
realize, oh, it's not actuallyfor the reason I thought it was
so for maybe a beach body in thesummer or something.
A lot of people say that andthey don't actually mean that
it's something a bit deeper.
So I guess that's a long way ofanswering the question about no
, I mean no, it's good.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
I think I'm glad you brought up mindfulness being
present, because we see a lot ofthat.
If you spend any time onLinkedIn, you can't go very far
without seeing a post about that.
What are your kind of go-tos?
Or if somebody says I reallywant to be more present at home
with my family, and do you haveany go-to tips?
Or how do you help them startto find that space?

(23:11):
Because it's not easy to do,especially if you're working,
like you said, in those C-suitejobs lots of pressure, they're
typically high paying, but theyexpect a lot of performance and
so they're just, you know,they're doing a lot of work and
then, like you said, you can'tjust flip the switch and leave
the office.
Whether you're in the office orworking from home, it doesn't
matter.
It's very hard to draw thatline and then just be like, okay

(23:33):
, now I'm not going to thinkabout that like you will.
So what?
How do you typically like startto approach it with them, to
start shifting that mindset towhere they can kind of let go a
little bit of the work part andkind of embrace the family?

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, Well, I guess first we would kind of look at,
well, where are you going whenyou're not present?
Where's your mind going?
What are the top things?
And a lot of people say, well,I'm reflecting on the day and
I'm planning for tomorrow right,that's a very common one.
And so, identifying what'staking your attention away, and

(24:10):
then, okay, well, how else canwe give that attention so that
we kind of get it out of yourbrain?
Because when it's just in yourmind, it's on loop, we're having
the same or similar thoughtsover and over and over.
And so, okay, well, if you findyourself reflecting on the day
that you just had, you know,when you get home and you're

(24:31):
trying to shut that off, youknow maybe take five to 10
minutes just at the end of yourworkday to jot down some things.
You know, make some, you knowjust some bullet points of you
know about the meeting that youhad, things that you want to
remember, thoughts that you hadof how you can do something
better.
Whatever it is, you know justkind of jotting it down, getting

(24:51):
it out and put it in your phone.
I find pen to paper is my bestgo-to.
Maybe that's just old school,but there's something about
actually writing it out for methat it feels liberating.
It feels like I'm kind ofgetting it out, I'm breaking
that loop in my brain and ifit's overthinking tomorrow or
next week or all the things youhave to do, people are always

(25:14):
running through these mentalchecklists.
Write it down.
It doesn't have to be in stone,it doesn't have to be your
tomorrow, Like now you're justgoing to chronologically go
through this list, buteverything you're having
thoughts about, just write themdown and kind of plan out your
day that way.
And then be very specific aboutthe time that you're not

(25:35):
wanting to focus on work.
Be very specific about what youwant to do.
It's incorporating thatmindfulness, like okay, so I
just wrote down a couple ofthings.
This is my indicator that nowI'm going to shift my focus and
I'm going to, you know, I'mgoing to go talk to my wife, I'm
going to help peel vegetables,I'm, you know, start prepping

(25:57):
supper and you know.
And, if need be, if there'ssomething that pops into your
head about work and you're like,I hope, you know, start
prepping supper and you know.
And, if need be, if there'ssomething that pops into your
head about work and you're like,I hope I don't forget this, you
know.
Then just take a moment to jotit down, put it in your phone
and then put your phone away,Right?
So the other thing is boundaries.
We tend to not set and keepclear boundaries, which leads to
us ruminating on everythingthat happened during the day and

(26:21):
what's going to happen tomorrow.
There's probably a lot of stuffwe could pass off to other
people.
You know that we could delegateand we're not doing it for
whatever reason, or we're takingon too much because we don't
have clear boundaries in placeand that leaves us with little
to no room mentally to thinkabout anything else except
stressing over that stuff.
So I think you know, making yourlist, setting some clear

(26:43):
boundaries and then beingpurposeful, being very
intentional about your off worktime.
You know, if you, if you doneed to work in the evening,
then map that out.
From this time to this time I'mgoing to do work and then I'm
going to go and play with mykids, or I'm going to go to, and
then I'm going to go and playwith my kids, or I'm going to go
to the movies, or whatever itis.
But we think that just byhaving thoughts we're going to

(27:07):
turn those into actions, and wedon't, so we really have to plan
for everything.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, no, I really like that.
There was a post that remindedme it's been a while ago, but he
talked about similar to whatyou're talking about.
He called it like a shutdownroutine.
It works a little bit better ifyou are in an office, but you
can do it in a home office too,but it's literally taking 15, 20
minutes.
So let's say you're going tostop working at 5, 4.30, 4.40.
And then it was a very specificroutine and it's kind of what

(27:35):
you talked about.
So you get out paper or you cantype it up whatever and you
recap the day like a couplethings that went well, a couple
things that didn't, and like acouple learnings, like very
short and sweet, um, and thenmaybe like a couple to-dos for
the following day.
So when you start your day thefollowing day, you you don't
have to think about what youwant to do, top priorities or
whatever.
But the key for him was thenyou like shut down your computer

(28:00):
like you you're.
You're literally telling yourbrain that the computer, your
work computer, is shutting offand it is done like you are no
longer, that's no longer whatyou're focused on.
And then if you're at theoffice, then obviously you're
driving home so you have time toprocess it if you're at your
house and you're walkingdownstairs or upstairs or
whatever.
But it's a clear signal becausewhen you don't do that, like if

(28:23):
you just stop working, yourbrain doesn't know the
difference, like it's still allthat stuff's still running
around and you're still thinking, and so there's it's even more
difficult, the lines are evenblurred.
So if you give that likedefinitive, again doesn't have
to be a long time where you'relike you're telling yourself
this is the end of the workday,this is the beginning of

(28:44):
personal time, family time,friend time, whatever.
So I think that's reallyimportant and I don't think a
lot of people do that to reallyhelp themselves like fully
transition into, like notworking and especially, as you
know, trying to run your ownbusiness for two years.
I think it's even harder whenyou're trying to run your own
business because there's so muchto think about, there's so much
to do at any one time and itdoesn't really stop right.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
There's no real off time, yeah.
So that's where the intentionreally comes in, for sure.
But another thing is a lot ofpeople who are at that maxed
capacity, they aren't.
If you asked them how much joythey have in their day, they
would probably have a hard timepinpointing.
You know what they experienced.
So I find getting into a regularpractice of gratitude and I

(29:33):
know that sounds kind of woo woo, it's really not, it's science
backed.
For myself, I have aone-line-a-day gratitude journal
because journaling for me is Iknow journaling is amazing for
you in so many ways I have ahard time because when I start
writing I have a hard timestopping and then it becomes
this huge task and so the nexttime I think I want to journal,

(29:55):
I'm like no, I really don't,because I don't have an hour to
wear my pen out.
Right, the one line a day isperfect for me and I limit it to
that and I keep it on mynightstand with a pen.
So at the very end of my day,before I pull back the covers, I
write that one line of what Iwas grateful for.
The more you get into a routineof doing that and having to

(30:16):
think back to what happened inyour day and what you can be
grateful for.
It gets easier and easier, andthen we start subconsciously
seeking out moments of joythroughout the day or things
that we're being a bit morepresent for, and then it becomes
something that is so mucheasier for us to do.
So, like anything else, if wewant to become better at being

(30:39):
present, we have to practicebeing present.
We can't just be present.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, you can't just say I'm doing it.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
It's like saying you want to be in great shape, but
like it doesn't just happen, youcan't just think about it.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
One trip to the gym, you're all set.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, we're all, we're good.
See you next year.
I've struggled with journalingand I understand its value and
so many people talk about it.
Like you said, there's allthese different ways.
There's long form, there'sshort form.
Somebody recommended to me it'scalled the five-minute journal.
It's similar to what you'retalking about.
Literally each page are prompts, but there's not very many of

(31:12):
them so it doesn't take verylong.
You do a little bit at thebeginning of the day and a
little bit at the end.
I've experimented with that.
I haven't quite found the rightroutine, but I do know that
it's not living in your head andgetting it down, something down
on paper, just helps just somuch.
So I'm happy to hear you saythat.
I'm also happy to hear that yousometimes struggle with it,

(31:32):
because I think it seems likeeverybody's a professional
journalist.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
I know, but I think people talk about it more than
they do it.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Okay, that's good To be fair.
All right, that makes me feelbetter.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Like I love going into the bookstore and buying
all these fancy journals andwhatnot and I have about seven
right now that have, like maybethe first few pages, filled in.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
And then I kind of lose interest in it the guided
ones.
I thought that's going to be agreat idea, and then I kind of
lose interest in it the guidedones.
I thought that's going to be agreat idea.
And then I get it and I don'tlike the prompts because then I
have to overthink how I'm goingto flow with the prompts.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
Because you have to abide by the prompts you kind of
.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
it's not a one size fits all.
You know, some people lovethose prompts and can use them.
A favorite way and mosteffective way of sticking with
it is the one line a day andit's a five-year journal.
So right now, as I'm filling inwhat is this January 6th, when
I'm filling in the date, I getto see last year on this date

(32:35):
what I said I was grateful for,and then the year before that,
and then the gratitude beforethat, right so, and then it just
, and then the gratitude justkeeps flowing exponentially, you
know.
And sometimes I'll see an entrywhere I had met a friend for
coffee and had a greatconversation.
I'll take a photo of that andI'll text it to my friend and
say, hey, a year ago today wewere having coffee together.
Oh, that's nice, you know.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
and yeah, so it kind of compounds when you do it.
When you do it that way.
Yeah no, I, you know, and yeah,so it kind of compounds when
you do it, when you do it thatway.
Yeah, no, I love that.
Uh, switch gears just a littlebit.
I know you we mentioned alittle bit earlier but you've
talked about in your post um,like drinking and binge drinking
, and then you I don't thinkyou've had a drink now and it's
at least three years, maybe evenlonger, correct?
yeah, since august of 2021 ohwow, okay, so three, three and

(33:20):
change.
Um, if you could just talk alittle bit about kind of what
that was like and reallyfocusing on the difference now,
like three years of being sober,and just the benefits and how
much better you feel, and justkind of what that was like,
because I think that's importantfor a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yeah, and probably timely.
I'm sure there's several peopleright now struggling through
post-holiday hangovers, you know, not just alcohol hangovers,
but all the festive hangovers.
Right, for me it was a decisionthat I didn't build up to
thinking about it.
I had tried dry months before.

(33:58):
They were fine, I mean, I wasable to do it.
And then I thought, but like,as soon as the calendar rolled
over into the following month,I'm only going to drink on the
weekends, right.
But then Wednesday I'd have abad day at work and so I would
stop the liquor store.
And then another day wouldhappen and oh, I'm celebrating,

(34:18):
you know, I had a great day atwork, or it's a birthday, or
it's whatever it is, you know.
And so I just got reallyoverwhelmed when I recognized
that so much of my life revolvedaround alcohol, the planning of
it, the planning for planningto go and do it, planning for
how I was going to feel the nextday, like laying out the Advil

(34:39):
and all the other stuff.
And you know it, just, I thinkit just compounded one day and I
felt really anxious andoverwhelmed and I didn't know in
that moment it was the alcohol.
So I kind of had to go through,and I do lists for everything,
but I went through this mentalchecklist of all the things and
the very last thing I couldpossibly think of was it must be
alcohol.
You know, I just I have to stopdrinking.

(35:02):
And that day, and every daysince I haven't touched it, it
was really hard.
It was really really hard.
I didn't just make the decision, as a lot of people are right
now.
Just, you know, they didn'thave a problem with it, they
were just like I just want to behealthy and that's wonderful.
I was drinking every day, youknow, I mean, and I could even
top that up by saying well, itwas always after five, and you

(35:25):
know, but let's, let's be honest, it was still.
You know, I was drinking abottle of wine a night, you know
, during the week and on theweekends I was, you know, having
a bit more because why not?
And so you know that was inAugust.
And then, you know, my birthdayrolled around in November and I
thought, oh, my God, am Ireally not going to drink on my
birthday?
Like, what do you even do onyour birthday if you don't drink

(35:47):
alcohol?
You know, but I didn't.
And one thing I did I startedit from day one.
Just to see what would happenis just literally in my calendar
in my phone.
Every day I would open uptoday's date and I would type in
the number of days since I hadhad a drink.
And as the number kept growinglike when I got to 90, and then,

(36:12):
you know, 150, every time Ireally wanted to have a drink, I
thought I can't go back to dayone.
I can't go back to day one.
So I literally did that, myhusband, the exact day I stopped
drinking, he did it with me andhe hasn't touched a drop of
alcohol since as well, he didn'thave a problem with it, but he

(36:33):
wanted to be supportive and itjust didn't mean that much to
him to drink.
So, and yeah, it's been ajourney and I think in the
beginning and this is also, youknow, in 2021, we're still peak
pandemic, right, and thatmight've been what kind of
expedited my quitting was,because from March 2020 until
then, I was drinking a lot morethan I had previous years.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
I think a lot of people were.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so, um, by then, you know,I just I just couldn't do it
anymore.
So I, um, I thought, you know Idon't want to.
So I mean, being over 40, Ithought I'm on the back half now
, right, so before it was just I, all I had to worry about was

(37:19):
being hung over.
Now I had to worry about myskin looking terrible, my liver
failing, you know, just notbeing able to handle the
hangovers as well as I did in my20s when I could pop up and
have a beer to air the dog.
So there's just, there's so manythings.
And you know, it's honestly itwas one of the hardest things

(37:40):
I've ever done, and I would evensay harder than choosing to get
divorced.
But because it was, it was partof everything I did, but it was
one of the best things I'veever done.
One of the best things.
And it's interesting because Ialways worked out, I was always
very physically active, but Ialways had this little
midsection that was just alittle squishy and I would say

(38:02):
four to five months postquitting alcohol it was gone.
And, not to mention, I went mywhole life without ever having a
cavity and during the pandemicI got three, because I wasn't
eating sugar.
It was literally just wine.
So a lot of reasons, a lot ofreasons, and you know, and the

(38:23):
pressure, I would say, frompeople you know, not so much now
.
I think now, just so manypeople are quitting, it's normal
.
But, in the beginning it was alot of.
Oh, you're not even going tojust have one Like, but it
wasn't.
You know, like you weren't analcoholic, I'm like.
Well, I guess by definition Iwas right.
But I mean, we picturealcoholics as people who are.

(38:43):
If they run out, they'redrinking mouthwash or they're
face down in a ditch or, youknow, they're ruining the kids
Christmas recital, like whateverit is.
And I hadn't done anything likethat.
But I would say, by definitionit was a problem for sure.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
No, that's amazing journey.
Thank you for sharing that.
I just really applaud you foragain recognizing it and then
getting to the point whereyou're like all right, like
something has to change and itcan't just be for a month or two
months, a year or whatever.
Like it's got to be morepermanent, more long-term.
So I applaud you for takingthat step and doing it without
help.

(39:17):
It sounds like you just did iton your own cold turkey and then
figured out a way to make itstick, which is also amazing.
I think we've talked about insome of your posts about how
pervasive alcohol is withliterally every facet of life
good or bad, right, like yousaid.
Bad day at work drink, funeralafter the funeral drink you know

(39:40):
, if someone gets poor health,news drink.
Pandemic, world's ending drink.
Within the good times weddings,birthdays, anniversaries all
alcohol right.
It's literally synonymous withalmost everything that you do Go
out for work after drink, happyhour drink it's amazing.
The alcohol companies have donea great job of marketing

(40:00):
because it's associated witheverything.
So it's very difficult when youstop because you are an
outsider, because it's so normal.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah, and I mean I definitely remember, when I was
drinking, being around peoplewho said they didn't drink.
I didn't want to be around them.
You know, I just thought likethey're not going to be any fun.
No fun yeah when you're drinkingand someone isn't, it kind of

(40:36):
makes you look at yourself alittle bit more and you know you
want someone to share, like ifyou're, if you're doing
something, that's not great foryou, it's, it's always.
You know, it feels a littlebetter when someone's doing it
with you.
But it's a bit of a look in themirror when you know you're
drinking in sober company.
So.
But you know, even even onLinkedIn and I'm I haven't
checked it in a while, but Ithink it's probably still the
same case but you know when,when you use the emojis, if you

(40:58):
type in cheers, the only emojithat pops up are the two
champagne glasses clinking right.
So you know, and I've gotfriends who will not toast, they
won't clink my glass becausethere's no alcohol in it.
They're acting superstitiousabout like you're only supposed
to cheers with, you know,alcohol and I'm like I'm pretty
sure an alcohol company madethat up Like that's ridiculous,

(41:22):
like first of all, I don't havethat kind of power that you know
, if I touch you with mynon-alcoholic glass, something
bad is going to happen to you.
But yeah, so it tends to play arole.
But you know what you grow.
You grow with it and you alsofind out who your friends are.
And I'm perfectly fine beingaround alcohol.
If I go out with the girls,they're having some wine, I'm

(41:43):
having some mocktails.
Nothing's different.
The only difference is I candrive home and I wake up feeling
great the next day, pretty muchit.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
Well, it's also interesting too that alcohol is
one of the few things, maybe theonly thing, where when you say
that you don't want it or you'renot having it, people question
it.
So, like if it was cocaine, andyou're like, yeah, I'm good,
nobody's like what, you're notgoing to do it.
That's crazy.
What do you mean?
But without you know I mean notthe best analogy, but you get
my point like.
But with alcohol you're like,no, I'm not drinking, or I'm not

(42:13):
having a drink, or I haven'thad a drink in three years.
I think some people are likereally, why like they still?
They really like, they want toknow where I was, almost
anything else.
You're like, no, I'm good andbe like all right, and they just
keep moving.
So it's really interesting.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
It's even pervasive there where it's like weird,
yeah, say no to in socialsettings try to be I try to be
discreet about it.
I don't I don't need everyoneto know or draw attention to it.
So you know, I'll just quietlyask the server for a mocktail,
or I'll get a 0% beer, or I'lljust get soda water with a

(42:47):
splash of something in it.
But I find sometimes you knowyou'll get that server that's
trying to be funny, you know.
And they're like what?
You're not going to have wine,everybody else is having wine.
And it's like don't make mehave to tell you that I'm sober,
because then you're going tofeel crappy and I'm going to
feel like everyone's staring atme, and so, yeah, it just just

(43:10):
depends what situation you getinto.
But I've gotten pretty savvywith navigating those scenarios.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Well, I'm glad you mentioned the non-alcoholic and
the mocktails.
I think that's a lot morepopular now.
I think a few years ago thatwasn't as big a thing, but I
know I've heard people havingmocktail parties now where
there's no alcohol.
I know the non-alcoholic wineand a lot of the non-alcoholic
beer has gotten just a lot moreselection.
So it used to just be likeO'Doul's, but now I think a lot
of the major brewers have analcohol version.

(43:39):
So I think there is a shift.
I think the younger I've seenand read like this kind of I
don't know what generation we'reon, I've lost track.
I know that I'm X and that'skind of all that I know for sure
.
Same.
So I'm not sure where we are,what letter we're on.
But I've seen and heard thatthey're not drinking as much as
maybe 20 or 30 years ago kidsdid, and so they're starting to
understand it's not the bestdecision for you, for your

(44:02):
health.
You can still have fun withoutit, that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
So maybe there's a little bit of a shift.
I would probably say too,though, a lot of those people.
They obviously don't haveboomers for parents.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
True.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
I think Gen X.
You know, like we, we survivedchildhood by the skin of our
teeth.
So a lot of us just our parentsdrank.
So we thought, hey, it seemslike a fun thing to do, it seems
like a stress reliever.
I'm going to do it too.
But I think there's, you knowthe younger generations are,
they're not like as a whole.

(44:35):
I would say there's.
There's not as much, I don'tknow what to how to say it, but
maybe they just don't have thesame level of traumas that the
older generations went through,because back then people weren't
recording it and putting it onsocial media and stuff.
And today it's really hard tohide that kind of stuff.
It's, you know, people areputting it all out there.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
No, I look back at my childhood and I I do wonder,
like I don't really know how Imade it.
I mean, we we drove to floridawith, laying down in a van for
like 12 hours, no seat belts, um, no car seats.
Uh, I was gone.
I would leave the house at on aweekend morning at like 8 am.
I wouldn't come back until likenine o'clock at night.
I was god knows where.
My mom would have no idea whereI was, no way to get a hold of
me.
Just, you know no technologyright.

(45:15):
Just incredible.
Yeah, so you're right, it istruly a miracle that some of us
are still here, so hopefullyit's not quite as big of a
threat for the youth of America.
Talk about your daily movement.
You mentioned that you alwayskind of have done that and I'm
sure you work with your clientson that.
What do you think is thebiggest obstacle, or what do you

(45:36):
think prevents people and youdon't have to like train for
races, so it doesn't have to belike two hour training sessions?
What do you think preventspeople from even just doing 20
or 30 minutes?
You know, five days a week.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
Well, first and foremost, I would say it's the
stories they're tellingthemselves.
You know like we are masternegotiators and if we're not
planning for it and preparingfor it in advance, we're going
to give ourselves ampleopportunity to talk ourselves
out of doing it.
If we have to wake up and thenwe have to go and look for our

(46:06):
workout clothes and we have tothink what am I going to do
today?
Am I going to go to the gym?
Am I going to work out at home?
It's all of this non-planningand non-preparation that, as
we're waking up in the morningbecause I like to work out in
the morning before I can eventalk myself out of it.
But when you're not preparedfor it, you're giving yourself
ample opportunity to back outand we tend to overthink it as

(46:31):
well.
And so I mean, for me, when Iwas really trying to get in a
really good habit of doing it, Iwas still doing it, but I was
doing it begrudgingly.
But you know, I would lay inbed and I would negotiate with
myself and I'm like, okay, like,but what I would end up saying
ultimately was, every time Idon't work out, I tend to
ruminate on that the rest of theday and I'm thinking, if I had

(46:53):
just done it, I wouldn't evenhave to think about it the rest
of the day.
So I've always, you know, andI've heard lots of people say it
since but I've always said, youknow, I don't regret any
workout that I've done and I'vealways regretted the ones I
didn't do.
So I would say that to myselflaying in bed and I would get
myself out.
But then it became okay, well,let's get everything ready.
Get everything ready to go, youknow, and lay the clothes out

(47:16):
the night before, put thesneakers in the right in front
of your bedroom door, so youwould have to trip over them to
avoid them.
You know, and figure out whatyou're going to do, right?
So I have a.
I have a for the entire weekand I'm very diligent with it
because it's I don't have tothink about it.
It's already in place, so Idon't have to think about it.
I don't have to talk myself outof it.
I already know that after I'mdone, I'm going to feel amazing,

(47:38):
and I would say that a gooddeal of it too is, and I've
heard so many people say this is, it's all or nothing, right, I
don't have time to do an hour.
I don't have time to do 40minutes.
So they think, well then, I'mjust not going to do anything.
It's like what can you do for10 minutes?
What?
How can you move your body andhow can you carve out time?

(47:59):
Can you go for a 10, 15 minutewalk on your lunch break?
Can you, you know, as soon asyou wake up in the morning,
drink a glass of water firstthing, and then can you do some,
you know, a few squats and somecrunches, whatever it is, get
your blood flowing, get moving alittle bit.
So I really think people arejust it's, they're getting too

(48:22):
much into the thought process ofit and not enough of the
planning for it.
When you plan for it, it's somuch easier to just do it.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
Yeah, no, I totally agree with that.
How much strength work do youdo, and do you recommend your
clients do, in addition tocardio?

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Yeah, so I don't fully coach on fitness.
Coach like I get people intofinding routines that work for
them.
I do give in the beginning.
If someone does have you knowthey want to get more physically
active, if they, you know, forwhatever reason, I will just to
kind of get them started.
I'll give them a little routineand we talk it through.

(48:58):
If there's certain movementsthey don't like or they can't
physically do, we don't do that,and but I'll give them a series
to do, maybe once or twice, andit takes about five to seven
minutes, that's it, and it'sreally to just get in the habit
of moving their body every dayand then it's okay.
Do you prefer to go to the gym?
Do you prefer to work out fromhome?

(49:18):
If you want to work out fromhome, what are some programs
that you can now start to follow?
Right?
So for me, like I do recommendstrength training.
This is not bodybuilding, it'snot throwing your back out, it's
it's using weights that you canmanage and maybe build up a
little bit from.
Uh, so I do.

(49:38):
I do strength probably everyother day, and the in between
days I call them my active restdays, because those on my rest
days I go to the gym and I'llsit on the I'll, I'll pedal on
the bike while I read a book, orI'll walk on the treadmill.
I've been biking lately becauseI have a foot injury that I'm

(49:59):
recovering from, so the bike iseasier for me.
But I would typically I wouldwalk, I would just walk at a
really brisk pace with a littlebit of an incline, listen to a
podcast and I would do that for40 minutes and I would do 10
minutes of stretching and maybesome sauna and then home and
those are my rest days, becauseit's so, so important to on some

(50:19):
level, on any level, to moveyour body every day.
When we take these dayscompletely off, to be a hundred
percent sedentary, it makes itharder to stay in a consistent
routine because then the nexttime you're going in you're like
, oh, if I didn't do ityesterday and I've fallen into
this.
Like everything I talk about andI help coach on I've fallen

(50:39):
victim to or I've been stuck inthese traps.
So I know how easy it is to getstuck and and I know what kind
of helps with the consistencyand keeping moving forward.
So I always recommend strengthtraining and with each
individual client it would bewhat they can do and what they

(51:01):
have available to them.
You don't have any dumbbells athome.
Okay, do you have any soup cans?
Do you have like a resistanceband?
What are some things you can do.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
No, for sure.
That's something I'm trying toget better at.
I usually, if I'm training forsomething, I'll do the strength
training, but if I'm nottraining for something, then
that's usually the first thingto go, because I don't enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Yeah, but you're training for old age.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
It's true.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
We are all training for old age, so you're never out
of training.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
Yeah, that's what my friend I don't know.
If you know Lisa Klein, ifyou're familiar with her from
LinkedIn.
I am familiar with her.

(51:54):
Yes, work you do, whether it'ssitting or moving, fighting off
illness, like you said, gettingolder, just all the things that
kind of come with it.
So I thought that was aninteresting way to like kind of
motivate yourself, like if forme especially, like okay, I'm
not training for a race, but youknow, I'm always training for
life, because I don't have achoice.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
Yeah, you're.
You're training to tie yourshoes at 85.
You're training to be able toget up and out of bed every day
unassisted.
We're training to be able tofeed ourselves, like all of
these things.
And it's hard to, it's easy tolose sight of that because it
seems so far away.
So, with that as the end goalin sight, we need to set small

(52:30):
goals in between so that we kindof keep our sights moving
forward right.
And one thing for me is I tendto have chronic back issues.
So I know that if I go acertain number of days not
exercising, my back will startto seize up, and so a lot of

(52:51):
what I do is preventative, but Ialso a large part of it, I
would say, is for my mentalwellness is, you know,
exercising?
Because I know I can be reallytough on myself when I'm in a
period of not exercising, I canfeel really down and I can get
into these patterns of bingingNetflix, and when I'm not
exercising I'm far more inclinedto go for the pantry or the

(53:14):
fridge and eat something thatisn't very good for me.
So it's kind of like a fullcircle of benefits when you do
exercise consistently.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
Yeah, for sure, and I'm the same.
I've gone periods where I'vebeen not into it.
I just noticed a hugedifference, and when I stick to
it, I just feel better.
Everything is better.
My wife says I'm just a betterperson when I'm training for a
race, which is why she's alwaysencouraging me to sign up for
races.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Everybody's better when they're exercising.
It just boosts your mood.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Right.
I mean that's not just a happyside effect.
I mean that's science, Right,that's science Right, right,
right, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
So as we finish up here we're almost at an hour I
greatly appreciate your time andinsight.
If you want to talk about kindof just any final thoughts or
you know, when you do work withpeople, kind of what your I mean
everybody has different goalsbut at the end of those 12 weeks
you know kind of what you hopeto have accomplished or where
you hope to see them, and thenyou can tell people how to reach
you LinkedIn.
If you have a website, I'll putit in the show notes too.

(54:12):
But I'll give you kind of thefloor to wrap up as you see fit.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Yeah, thanks, david.
Well, I would say, you know,working one-on-one with clients,
that oh, I lost my train ofthought.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
No, no, totally fine, just like where you like to see
people or like at the end ofthe 12 weeks.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Yes, sorry, no, you're good.
So I always say at thebeginning of the 12 weeks that
at the end of this, you areeither going to reach one or two
or all of your goals or you aregoing to have a really amazing
foundation built so that you canthen keep this going.
A lot of programs that arewithin a time box, people tend

(54:54):
to be very diligent within itand then, as soon as it's done,
they're like woohoo, I finished,now let's go eat pizza and
watch TV.
And so I really try to set themup with the tools.
And this is where the lifecoaching comes in too, because
it's not just about doing theactions, it's also about
connecting your mind to whyyou're doing those actions.

(55:14):
What is your big why?
Why are you working towardsthese things and reaching back
to that as you go along Afterthe 12 weeks, I mean, I do have
people that say you know what Ifeel like?
I have a great foundation, but Iwant to keep going.
So we'll do another 12 weeks orwe'll do individual sessions or
whatnot, but you know there arequite a few people that at the

(55:36):
end of another 12 weeks, orwe'll do individual sessions or
whatnot, but you know there arequite a few people that at the
end of the 12 weeks they're like, okay, I'm going to see how I
do on my own now for a littlebit.
You know, and I get messagesall the time from people saying
like, hey, I'm still doing thisand I'm still doing that and I'm
feeling great and I kept theweight off.
And you know, and a lot ofpeople are telling me that they
tend to hear my voice in theirhead when they're making certain
they'll be standing with thefridge door open and, like, my

(55:58):
voice will pop into their heador you know, whatever it is
they're doing.
So I do love that.
But, yeah, that's pretty muchyou know.
That's kind of what to expectat the end of the very first 12
weeks working with me.
And you asked where people canreach me me, and you asked where
people can reach me.
Well, my website ismelissapikeca, so

(56:22):
M-E-L-I-S-S-A-P-I-K-Eca.
I'm on LinkedIn, melissa Pike,and I'm also on Instagram, so
Melissa Pike.
Underscore life coach.
That is a mix of some of mypersonal stuff Because, again, I
share my life, because, being alife coach, I want to connect
with people and a lot of youknow funny tips and videos and
stuff for people as well in thehealth and wellness space.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
Awesome, I love it.
Thank you so much for coming on.
I really enjoyed theconversation and good luck to
you and we'll see you aroundLinkedIn.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
Thanks so much, David .
It was a pleasure to be here.
Appreciate it.