Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where
we explore the journeys that lead to success.
I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five
Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you
insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders
and experts who will share not just their expertise,
but the milestone moments that have reshaped
their journeys and led to significant achievements.
So if you're looking for motivation, you're in
the right place. Subscribe now and discover the
milestones that mark the path to success. Welcome
to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business
and Leadership. I'm Sheila Slick, your host.
And today, my special guest is Cassandra Hamilton.
Cassandra is a seasoned professional with over
10 years of experience in health quality improvement.
coaching, business analysis, and implementation
of digital health tools. Her mission in life
is to identify and bridge gaps in systems with
the people they were designed to serve. And with
a background in global health, biology, international
development, and coaching, she supports high
achievers balance outer success with inner fulfillment.
She's also a leadership and alignment coach,
best -selling author, speaker, and founder of
Ready, Set, Realign. Welcome to the show, Cassandra.
Thank you so much for having me, Sheila. I'm
so excited. Well, I look forward to learning
about you, your journey, and your work. What
led you to become an alignment coach? really
my own process of burnout. So I've always known
that I wanted to use what I could learn to share
with others and create a positive impact in the
world. That has always been my mission. And I
went to India with my family when I was 13 years
old, and I saw so many health disparities and
inequities between India and Canada, where I'm
from. And I came home with just this inner fire
to try to bridge gaps between what I was seeing
there and what was happening at home. And I didn't
understand why people weren't talking about it.
So that led me to pursue a master's of science
in global health and work in 11 different countries
and come home and try to figure out how I could
make a difference in my own context of Canada.
So for the last decade, I've been working with
marginalized communities um first nations communities
in canada to try to bridge gaps in like a lot
of remote health centers will be using paper
systems still to gather health information um
so you can imagine the duplication and the the
cracks that that you know lost information etc
etc so it was like how do we use digital tools
to bring bring them to these remote areas and
create cultural um appropriateness around the
documentation and health information management
needs of these communities. So it's really bridging
the gap between the needs of this community and
what was out there that could serve them should
it be implemented. appropriately and with a lot
of cultural appropriateness in mind so my own
burnout journey though started when I was in
that process and I was working for doctors of
BC in quality improvement right after my master's
my three of my family members passed away my
dog died and my relationship ended and this all
happened within a few months and I just fell
on the floor one day, you know, as a high achiever,
I just, I kept going to a point where my body
wouldn't let me. And I just fell on the floor
and I like put my hands up and I was like, I
give up. I was so anxious and so depleted and
so confused because I wanted to make a difference.
But the societal path before me didn't allow
for that. You know, I got there, I had the apartment
downtown, I had the job. I was doing what I thought
was good work um though it was slow because it
was with government um and I just I felt this
emptiness this like this feeling of burnout and
um since then I've gone through my own personal
growth journey while I've gone through my professional
journey and I really started to journal about
my my process and through reading back through
my journals, I recognize like, wow, there's a
lot of tools here that I've integrated that I
can share with other people to try to support
them in a faster way from, you know, from a place
of burnout and confusion and challenge to get
to a place of fulfillment with what they're meant
to be doing in life in a sustained fashion. Because
you can't push and be externally, you know, achieving
all the time without actually aligning with with
what's going to sustain you as a person and your
foundation so that's what I do now is I bridge
gaps with people and systems and then what's
in between just yeah super passionate about it
so is there like a formula to define high achiever
I often wonder because if it relies on one own
self -awareness to say I'm a high achiever what
are some things that we can think about or reflect
about to decide whether or not we are high achievers?
Yeah, well, I think that if you value productivity
and achievement, and those are driving factors
for you, and you're always trying to feel good
about yourself, the more you achieve. then that's
a good sign that you're a high achiever. And
you also won't resonate with the word burnout
because you feel like you can do it all. You
can keep it all together. You've got this, you
know, and you don't need help. So my challenge
has been, you know, reaching these people before
the time of burnout. and and helping people self
-identify that actually you know i could really
use support because i know that something's missing
there's like this emptiness inside and there's
always this chasing and the anxiety of the future
rather than just like a feeling of peace and
fulfillment um so really it's just through conversations
and education that People start to understand
like, hey, you know, I am experiencing these
things and I think I do need a bit of support
to realign what's happening on the inside with
what I'm trying to achieve on the outside. So
tell me a little bit about how you lead with
your four phase inside out framework where you
guide teams and individuals. You help them identify
limiting patterns, strengthen their emotional
resilience and align with their inner world and
their outward accomplishments, of course, because
they're high achievers. Yes. Yeah. So again,
this happened through the process of writing
out my journey and going through my journals.
And so I wasn't actually setting out to write
a book. But what I recognized is there was four
phases that I went through in order to get where
I am now. And that I turned into my four -phase
inside -out framework. And that's the framework
that I use now to guide people through my coaching
programs, either individually or as a group.
I love working with groups because we often think
that we're alone. in the feelings that we're
having and the burnout process. But when you
can start seeing yourself through the eyes and
stories of other people, you start to understand
that we are all connected and we're all going
through this together. And so I just find it
such a supportive environment to facilitate and
I feel so humbled to lead groups that way. So
my four -phase approach is the first one. is
to observe yourself so to remove yourself and
look at things as an observer then to understand
where these patterns have come from usually it's
linked to messages of you know people like people
pleasing patterns or being told that achievement
was the only way that you had value that kind
of thing like identifying these patterns and
understanding after you've observed the pattern.
Then you go into the Break Free phase, which
is about introducing new ways of looking at things,
reframing things, trying new tools. And then
the fourth phase, of course, is starting to live
from inside out and valuing the foundation that
you've created, first and foremost, as a vehicle
to then achieve sustainably. And so you have
two books, you're a two -time published author,
From the Inside Out. That is the framework that
you're describing now and your coaching program.
Yes, that's right. And so it's called the magic
of realigning from the inside out. And the magic
part of it is the idea that, oh, I get goosebumps
every time I talk about this, but we are magicians
of our life. And this is why I went into biology,
because I was so... fascinated with the miracles
and the timing of everything that needed to happen
for even us just to take one breath, you know,
the thousands of processes that need to happen
in our body for one breath. So I felt like that
was magic. And so I've always had this sort of
magical, this perspective that life is magical
if we allow it to be, and if we can see it that
way. So I started to, I've always been fascinated
by words as well, and the word abracadabra. literally
means with my word I create so I started to think
about that I'm like okay where do words come
from well they're thoughts with a thought the
thought becomes a word the word becomes an action
in our identity and that becomes our reality
so we are literally every day creating magic
through communication and through the words that
we're using Yeah, so that's where the concept
of magic comes in, because I try my very best
to be intentional about the words that I use
and how I'm saying things and living life intentionally
also very much, you know, impacts and frames
the coaching that I provide, because it's all
about taking a step back, pausing and choosing
to react differently than we have. So for this
year, what is your next milestone? Well, I had
an epiphany recently because I'm a leadership
and alignment coach. And I was starting to, I
really put myself out there with this book. And
then I started to say to myself, okay, this,
the sales approach of like outreach and like
trying to like find clients, you know, to make
this a sustainable business. Like it just. There
was something that was misaligned for me and
it felt a bit crunchy and frustrating, if I'm
quite honest. And I didn't quite understand what
needed to shift. So I took a step back myself
in my business and I was like, OK, what's important
to me? Community, contribution, connection. What
if I start there? So my mission this year is
to create community and give other women. voice
and support by hosting events that allow women
to come and hear from other women who've gone
through similar processes and be seen and heard
and identify with each other and also give platforms
for women leaders who want to share their top
tips from what they've learned on their journey.
And from there, I would like to create a book
series to amplify and create more impact and
more reach with with these stories because many
hands make light work and the more we do this
together and support each other they there's
like this collective support that happens and
that is the positive ripple effect that I want
to create in the world and I just know that you
know from that place it feels so much more in
alignment than the approach of sales and you
know everything else this feels so much better
so I've had a big shift in the last week and
everything is starting to fall into place so
I know it's the right move and I'm so excited
for this year and as a two -time best -selling
author it aligns with what you're doing so it's
just the next phase like an evolution of your
own journey yes Before we wrap this up, what
is one key takeaway that we can learn from you
today and take a step towards living a better
life? In this day and age, it is so easy to get
overwhelmed and anxious about the future, the
state of the world, security, the climate, you
know, anything. There's so many things to get
worried about. And so it creates this feeling
of reactivity to what's happening outside. So
if we can take a step back, I always say that
the power is in the pause. Your magic and the
way that you show up in the world starts with
taking a pause. Choosing how you're going to
respond. Because how we show up determines...
how we feel on the inside, right? And it doesn't
matter what's happening out there. It can be
water off a duck's back if you're in the right
headspace and if you're feeling good about where
you are in your body, your nervous system is
regulated. So I would say if there's one takeaway,
it would be to start to take a pause. Every time
you get reactive to something, Take a pause.
And there's many tools you can use from that
point, which I can share with you and guide you
through. But that is the first step. And that's
where life starts to become magical again. I
love that. So where can we find you online? My
website is www .readysetrealign .ca. My book,
The Magic of Realigning from the Inside Out is
on Amazon and 50 other platforms. There's an
audio book coming out soon. And I'm super open
to just, if anyone wants to connect with me,
I have a QR code behind me here and you can just
book into my calendar. I just love connecting.
So virtual coffee is all over my calendar and
I love it. So feel free to reach out. And if
you heard anything you liked today, I'd love
to. Talk about it further. I'm obviously very
passionate about this. Thank you so much for
joining me. I will make sure to leave your links
in the description of the show. Thank you so
much, Sheila. I appreciate you providing this
platform for me to share. And thank you all for
tuning in to another episode of Milestone Moments
in Business and Leadership. Until next time.