1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,440 Hello, thank you for joining me on conversations with catalysts. 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:08,080 Please find my links anytime at jeremywest.net. 3 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:14,640 Right now I am offering a free session with me to explore whether you want to do 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:20,720 an eight week mindfulness course, which is pay what you want or just pay it forward. 5 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:24,600 So check out jeremywest.net for that. 6 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:29,080 Also pay what you want slash pay it forward therapy sessions. 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,440 If there's anything you're working on that you would like to try hypnotherapy on. 8 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:35,240 Today I have with me Megan Gaul. 9 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:36,320 Welcome Megan. 10 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:37,480 Thanks, Jeremy. 11 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:38,360 Appreciate you having me. 12 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,200 Megan, can you please tell us a little bit of your story? 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,280 Who is Megan Gaul and how did you come to the world of coaching? 14 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:47,720 Yes, I totally can. 15 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:49,840 So my name is Megan Gaul. 16 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:54,360 As we said, I really came to coaching from an education background. 17 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:58,760 I was trained as a high school social studies teacher. 18 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,400 I did that for just a little bit. 19 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,600 I went to kind of outside the classroom. 20 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:12,560 I worked as a tutoring center director, but really the desire to start coaching came 21 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:18,800 after I had a pretty big weight loss and that experience and learning how to 22 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:25,040 maintain that weight loss and still kind of enjoy life and get a ton out of life 23 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,360 was really what made me want to start bringing that to other people. 24 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,520 I had just seen so many people bog down by trying to get healthy, but doing it in a 25 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,680 way that felt totally alien to them, totally inauthentic. 26 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:43,720 So that's what brought me to want to coach people with their health habits and try to 27 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:49,120 help people get to a healthier weight in a calm, self-compassionate kind of way. 28 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,760 Sorry, Megan, I lost you for several seconds there. 29 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,400 Are you on WiFi or are you? 30 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,360 Here, let me make sure that I'm here. 31 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:01,880 Can you hear me a little better now? 32 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:03,800 Well, yeah, just dropped. 33 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:05,080 I mean, I can hear you fine. 34 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,840 And then it just dropped out, but there was a little bit of scratchiness as well before 35 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:11,360 that, but yeah, it sounds all right now. 36 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:12,560 We'll see how we go. 37 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:13,240 Yeah. 38 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,600 I just added, I just put myself on the WiFi. 39 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:18,040 Hopefully that's better. 40 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,960 It's still kind of scratchy. 41 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:22,960 I don't know why that would be. 42 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:23,960 I don't know. 43 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:24,960 I'm not using headphones. 44 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:26,960 Is that something I should be doing? 45 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:27,960 No, no. 46 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:28,960 Okay. 47 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:29,960 Well, let's just keep going and see how we go. 48 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:31,960 We'll just back up a little bit. 49 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:35,960 You were a social studies teacher and then you lost a lot of weight. 50 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,960 And then, so were you helped through the weight loss by a coach yourself? 51 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:41,960 Love that question. 52 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:46,960 No, I actually, I did get started trying to help people get healthy. 53 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:52,160 Trying to heal some of my eating behaviors with a cognitive behavioral therapist who's 54 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:57,160 worked with people who wanted to change disordered eating habits before. 55 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:03,400 So that really helped me with an emotional eating habit that I had really fallen into 56 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:04,880 pretty strongly. 57 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:11,080 So that person truly helped me start taking action instead of really getting bogged down 58 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:15,600 in the emotion behind why I was eating that way. 59 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:20,840 So that's really what got me started with understanding that I did have the capability 60 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:22,920 to reach a healthier weight. 61 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:24,120 At first, that wasn't my goal. 62 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,960 My goal was just to stop eating in a way that made me feel guilty. 63 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,540 And then later on, I realized that I was capable of getting to a healthier weight. 64 00:03:32,540 --> 00:03:37,120 And so how did you then find out about coaching and get into that? 65 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:38,120 Yeah. 66 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:45,460 So another pretty strong influence on me was a person who had lost 170 pounds after yo-yo 67 00:03:45,460 --> 00:03:51,200 dieting for, I don't know, like decades, her whole adult life. 68 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:53,800 And she became a podcaster and a coach. 69 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:55,600 Her name is Heather Robertson. 70 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,920 She has a podcast called Half Size Me. 71 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:04,180 And I really think I wouldn't have thought about coaching unless if I hadn't learned 72 00:04:04,180 --> 00:04:11,520 about her, understood her kind of approach, which was so rational, so calm, so like logical 73 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:13,360 and unemotional. 74 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,760 And I really admired that, and it helped me so much. 75 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,640 And she really inspired me to want to go towards coaching. 76 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:19,720 OK, excellent. 77 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:26,360 So I guess a question that somebody asked me once when many years ago, we were doing 78 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,720 customer service and we didn't have a customer and we were just chatting. 79 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:35,920 And she said, if you could bring more of any one thing into this world, what would it be? 80 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,120 And it took me a minute to answer it. 81 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:42,360 But I thought that's a really good way to boil down really quickly. 82 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:44,680 What is your sort of purpose in life? 83 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:49,720 So Megan, if you could bring more of any one thing into this world, what would it be? 84 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:55,480 I think it would be like peace with oneself, like inner peace. 85 00:04:55,480 --> 00:05:03,320 I think that that is the inability to be OK with how someone is right now is such a, I 86 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:08,860 don't know, it's a foundation for so many of these behaviors that we see ourselves doing 87 00:05:08,860 --> 00:05:13,440 that we know are not good for us and they work against us. 88 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:21,400 So and life is just nicer when you're aligned with what you're doing and you feel good about 89 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:22,400 what you're doing. 90 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:27,840 So inner peace, I guess it sounds like a cliche answer, but it made a big difference for me 91 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:30,560 to make some big changes with how I saw myself. 92 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:37,280 No, I think it's well, I said to someone recently on this podcast, cliches become cliches because 93 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:38,280 they're true. 94 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:39,280 Yeah. 95 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:47,720 And so I think world peace really does begin with each individual having peace within themselves 96 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:53,800 because generally when we start fighting with other people, it's because there's something 97 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:55,400 not right with ourselves. 98 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,880 Yeah, I think we tend to put a lot of and I'm not excluding myself from this. 99 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:07,120 I think humans put a lot of their power in like things that are outside themselves. 100 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:13,320 So they will really look to other people's behavior as a way to make them feel better. 101 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:20,540 So I felt awful today because the people at work weren't welcoming or because my partner 102 00:06:20,540 --> 00:06:25,840 didn't take out the garbage or because my kids were really off the wall today. 103 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:33,480 And it's so hard to live life when you put everything external to yourself and you find 104 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:38,300 that you can't take any action because you feel like the victim in everything, which 105 00:06:38,300 --> 00:06:41,960 is kind of, I think a lot of our defaults. 106 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:48,140 But the things look so different when you look at a situation and really just hyperfocus 107 00:06:48,140 --> 00:06:50,400 on the things that are totally in your control. 108 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:54,800 And it's amazing how much we forget is in our control and how much we can actually do 109 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:59,480 when we're prompted to, whether by a coach or by a podcast we're listening to or a friend. 110 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:01,120 Yeah, it's interesting. 111 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:09,600 I have a degree in psychology and I remember learning that people who take responsibility 112 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:11,040 are more resilient. 113 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:19,600 So even when there's someone who's gotten a plane accident, a pilot, it really wasn't 114 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:20,600 their fault. 115 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:26,720 I don't remember why that happened, but they took responsibility for it as if it was their 116 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:27,720 fault. 117 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,720 And when you do that, it means you feel in control. 118 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:37,080 So even when you take responsibility for the negative things that happen, then you believe 119 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:38,080 that you have control. 120 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,840 And when you believe that you have control, you're a lot more resilient and able to cope 121 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:46,960 with the things that happen because you're not thinking that they're all happening to 122 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:51,560 you, but you think you have some sort of control over your own. 123 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:55,640 I mean, you always do have control over the way that you react to things. 124 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:56,640 Yeah. 125 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:04,840 And I think the learned helplessness really comes in strong when we don't reground ourselves 126 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,600 and like, okay, no, these things are in my control. 127 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,200 That wasn't, but these things are. 128 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:18,640 And so it's crazy how much, I'm always surprised at how much mental health and your beliefs 129 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:25,080 and your worldview can play into how well you can improve your physical health because 130 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:29,880 it's almost like we think ourselves out of the good and simple actions that we want to 131 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:33,880 be doing every day that are in our control that bring us a healthier body. 132 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:35,280 So yeah, I don't know. 133 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:41,000 I think it's crazy how much mental health and our beliefs play into how healthy our 134 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:42,360 bodies are. 135 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:48,200 So that leads into my next question, which is what would you say if you had to boil down 136 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:54,720 your philosophy behind your coaching to a sentence or two, what would you say is the 137 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,040 core philosophy behind your coaching? 138 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:07,040 I think that what I always come back to is the smaller concrete actions are where success 139 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:13,500 comes from, not the huge overarching change that you do once and then kind of set it and 140 00:09:13,500 --> 00:09:14,620 forget it. 141 00:09:14,620 --> 00:09:24,160 So my focus is constantly on today, the smallest actions and taking whatever baseline you're 142 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,460 at and just making a small improvement on it. 143 00:09:27,460 --> 00:09:33,720 So I think that we get really bogged down because we look at a huge journey that we 144 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:38,560 want to do and we kind of say like, I'm never going to lose 150 pounds. 145 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:41,880 I need to, I'm not going to do it. 146 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:46,300 And some people would look at that problem and then take a huge step to try to change 147 00:09:46,300 --> 00:09:48,320 things and people do all the time. 148 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:53,840 People would clean out their pantry, cut out three different food groups and try to go 149 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,280 to the gym five days a week. 150 00:09:56,280 --> 00:10:03,400 And that is actually backwards to lasting change because it is not sustainable in our 151 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:04,400 lives. 152 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:12,160 So yeah, I think I always go back to the smallest habits and making incremental improvements. 153 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:17,320 And to me that's faster because it's going to stay so we can build on it. 154 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:18,320 Absolutely. 155 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:23,120 So can you give us a success story of someone that you've worked with, where they started 156 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:24,120 and where they ended up? 157 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:25,120 Oh yeah. 158 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,800 So I'll give a recent client. 159 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:34,680 She had really spent decades thinking constantly about food. 160 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:41,240 Like she was in kind of a food cycle where either she was in a place where every food 161 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:45,960 choice felt like it had to be restrictive and there was a lot of resentment around that, 162 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:51,840 or there was a lot of overplanning the food, or there were other periods where food was 163 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:53,480 the main source of enjoyment. 164 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,020 So there was a lot of thinking about food in that way. 165 00:10:57,020 --> 00:11:02,720 So we had been working together for about six months or so and she had achieved weight 166 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:03,720 loss. 167 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:09,920 But I think the biggest thing that she mentioned that was a change was that her thoughts were 168 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:11,720 so much calmer around food. 169 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:15,880 Her thoughts were not, she was making quick decisions in the morning and kind of leaving 170 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:22,120 at that or like creating really simple structures to reduce those food thoughts, the food decisions 171 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:26,080 all day, every day, the should I have this, should I not have this. 172 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:32,240 So she just described this marked reduction in food thoughts that were crowding out the 173 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:33,800 rest of her life. 174 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,080 And that was really meaningful to me because I've been in that place as well where you 175 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:43,420 feel like that's the only thing that is fun in life or it's the only thing that calms 176 00:11:43,420 --> 00:11:45,140 you down from stress. 177 00:11:45,140 --> 00:11:50,720 So I loved hearing that she saw that very marked change in her thinking. 178 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,120 So it sounds like she found a bit of inner peace. 179 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:54,120 Yeah. 180 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:55,120 Oh, so true. 181 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:57,040 I was glad to hear it. 182 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:02,640 So when you're working with clients, what are some common challenges that they, I know 183 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:07,920 everyone's different, but what are common challenges that you keep seeing with lots 184 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:11,440 of different clients and then how do you guide them through those obstacles? 185 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:19,600 I see a lot of folks who are, they start off quite resistant to looking honestly at the 186 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,400 food intake. 187 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:27,720 And I think that comes very understandably from years of being told what's good and what's 188 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:28,720 bad. 189 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:34,120 If you see a day of your food journal and there's ice cream and there's chocolate on 190 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:39,280 it and there's pizza because you didn't have time to thaw the chicken, then that day feels 191 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:40,820 like a failure. 192 00:12:40,820 --> 00:12:46,640 Even if very logically there could have been a half cup of ice cream, two squares of chocolate 193 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,000 and two slices of pizza with a side salad. 194 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,280 And maybe that was completely working towards their goals, whether their goal was reaching 195 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:57,840 a healthier weight or having intentional meals and snacks. 196 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:04,880 But a lot of folks find a lot of difficulty in putting those quote unquote bad foods down 197 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,780 in their food journal and looking honestly at it. 198 00:13:07,780 --> 00:13:13,640 So they might've had like a past history with a diet where those things were never allowed. 199 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:17,540 So they're eating the things, they enjoy the things, but they don't want to see them on 200 00:13:17,540 --> 00:13:23,120 paper because they have this belief that it's bad and that it doesn't fit their healthy 201 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:24,120 lifestyle. 202 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:25,400 It doesn't fit their goal. 203 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:32,680 So what we work on there is kind of looking at the journal as a source of data and a source 204 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:39,400 of information about what the person really enjoys, what flavors the person really enjoys. 205 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:43,880 So if they're going down in the food journal, that means there's something about them that 206 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:50,440 is enjoyable and we should probably find a way to incorporate them in their health journey. 207 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:55,000 So whatever new healthy habits they're working on, more vegetables, smaller portions, we 208 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:01,520 want to use the quote unquote bad foods in their food journal and include them on purpose. 209 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:08,000 That's my approach, but there's a lot of information out there that makes a lot of clients start 210 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:12,640 off with a lot of reluctance to put those foods down in the food journal. 211 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:14,960 So how do you help them through that? 212 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:23,200 So we definitely do a lot of clarifying of what a successful day looks like. 213 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:28,680 And so what we do is kind of, I do some motivational interviewing, some questioning techniques 214 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:36,600 that really get at why the client thinks, what the client thinks of that food, what 215 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:38,720 are their beliefs behind the food. 216 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:43,740 So if they're not, if they had ice cream and they did not put it in their food journal, 217 00:14:43,740 --> 00:14:50,040 the questioning becomes like, well, how do you see ice cream fit into your healthy lifestyle? 218 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,200 Do you see yourself cutting it out completely? 219 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:57,400 If you look at yourself six months down the road, how do you want to be treating ice cream? 220 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:58,880 When do you want to have it? 221 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:00,740 When do you want to pass it by? 222 00:15:00,740 --> 00:15:05,600 So we kind of take out, we name the moral judgment. 223 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,840 Like if they say, I know it's junk food, I know it's bad food. 224 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:15,420 I kind of mention that they use those words and ask them why, find out what's behind that. 225 00:15:15,420 --> 00:15:20,520 Because often those foods can totally fit in some way in their diet. 226 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,600 It's just a matter of finding out how much they would like to have them show up in their 227 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:25,600 day. 228 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:31,400 So that's kind of what I do, I like to dig into the beliefs behind the food and get at 229 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,040 how they see themselves treating it in an ideal world. 230 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:41,280 So have you been spying on me or is ice cream, is it not just me that needs way too much 231 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:42,280 ice cream? 232 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:43,280 Ooh, too much. 233 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:44,280 I love it. 234 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,040 For me, it's peanut butter and chocolate. 235 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,640 Those things happen almost every day. 236 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:50,640 Reese's. 237 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:54,440 Yes, Reese's, my favorite. 238 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:58,480 I have a shirt that shows my love of Reese's. 239 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:00,680 It just has the Reese's logo on it. 240 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,360 And I buy Reese's merch. 241 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:04,360 It's so good. 242 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:09,400 So Reese's, if you're out there listening and you want to, that's a placement ad for 243 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:13,680 you in a weight loss, just send me all the Reese's. 244 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:21,720 Okay, so can you, so you're saying that it's all about manageable goals and not trying 245 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,280 to start out way too big, but starting. 246 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:30,760 So can you walk us through a little bit of that process and how you, how clients come 247 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:36,000 up with those manageable goals and then how they, how you can hold them accountable to 248 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:37,000 that? 249 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:38,000 Yeah. 250 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:44,800 So often we'll have an initial, either a kickoff or a goal setting session where we go through 251 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:46,340 what they want to see. 252 00:16:46,340 --> 00:16:51,360 And I think the question that I like to ask is if we were to speak in six months, what 253 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,800 would you have to see in order to be happy with your progress? 254 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:57,040 And I love that question. 255 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:03,440 I got it from, there's a business coach named Greg Faxon and he uses that in his kickoff 256 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:05,580 sessions and I stole it from them. 257 00:17:05,580 --> 00:17:11,520 But I think it's so nicely allows the person to articulate what behaviors they want to 258 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:12,600 see themselves do. 259 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:17,920 Like we get stuck in the outcome of like, I want to see myself 30 pounds down. 260 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:24,600 The six months question helps them be more realistic and also helps them get at what 261 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:28,000 the daily routine they want to see themselves doing is. 262 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,600 So I want to see myself bringing my lunch to work. 263 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:40,300 I want to see myself eating for fuel and reducing the amount of times I eat for emotions. 264 00:17:40,300 --> 00:17:45,640 So that, those kinds of questions during the kickoff session help me get an idea of the 265 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:50,100 actions that will support that outcome. 266 00:17:50,100 --> 00:17:54,560 And then I kind of run by the actions with them and I say, well, it sounds like this 267 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,120 could be helpful. 268 00:17:56,120 --> 00:17:57,520 Have you tried that? 269 00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:59,160 Where are you with that? 270 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:04,640 If you're skipping meals, have you tried kind of setting eating windows for yourself and 271 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:07,920 keeping yourself accountable to three meals a day? 272 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:16,040 So I use those questions to get at the key habits of someone who would get to that result. 273 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:21,120 And we work on installing those habits kind of one at a time or two at a time at most. 274 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:25,960 And then if you, if they come up with this week, what I'm going to do is quit ice cream 275 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,400 and quit pizza and what I'm doing my pantry. 276 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:34,680 How do you help them to scale back when they they're making too, trying to make too big 277 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:36,240 of changes all at once? 278 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:37,360 I love that. 279 00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:43,200 I'm still working on this because I'm someone who doesn't want to quash initiative and energy. 280 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:50,000 But I also, I really want people to be honest with themselves and to look at their past 281 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:57,800 and what they're capable of and use that information to to give themselves reasonable tasks and 282 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:02,920 not outlandish tasks that feel like they can only be kept up for a few weeks. 283 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,420 So I like to ask about confidence levels. 284 00:19:06,420 --> 00:19:12,000 I like to ask on a scale of one to ten when we meet next week, how confident do you feel 285 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,040 that these will all be done? 286 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:20,100 And I like that it kind of helps the person picture themselves three days into their crazy 287 00:19:20,100 --> 00:19:25,120 busy work week and where they will be and whether every single one of those things they 288 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:29,160 listed will be realistic in their schedule. 289 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,880 I really like to take a few minutes at the end of each session to have the person look 290 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:40,220 at their calendar and check in on extra busy work projects or a crazy week where they're 291 00:19:40,220 --> 00:19:42,440 shuttling their kids everywhere. 292 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:50,160 I like to use those kind of concrete examples of what's coming up to help the person get 293 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:56,080 a stronger idea of what what they can do in the next few weeks. 294 00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:00,040 And I try to keep I actually do try to keep it to one week because it's hard to think 295 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,520 too far out when you're making those small changes. 296 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,060 You really want to focus on the present. 297 00:20:06,060 --> 00:20:13,220 So yeah, that's kind of what I do to prompt the person to to think again about how much 298 00:20:13,220 --> 00:20:14,840 is realistic. 299 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:20,360 And in the opposite direction when what's your strategy for helping clients overcome 300 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:23,000 self doubt or a lack of motivation? 301 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:31,240 So my this is something I'm working on because my initial feeling is always wanting to rescue 302 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,360 the person from feeling like they can't do it. 303 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:42,160 So I I have noticed myself in the past say this what very encouraging things of like 304 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,720 I know you can do it and that kind of thing. 305 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:53,000 And I want to step back from that because I do want I do want the person to I don't 306 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:58,880 I don't want to invalidate what that person is feeling because that person is clearly 307 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:03,440 noticing something in their past that makes them think this is not possible for me right 308 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:04,440 now. 309 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:06,840 I'm not eight to nine to ten. 310 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:11,200 I'm not an eight or nine and a ten on the confidence scale right now. 311 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:18,220 So I like to say like what what is the concrete thing that you think will stand in your way 312 00:21:18,220 --> 00:21:20,000 of doing this? 313 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,160 Sometimes it is a concrete thing like I think I'll be too busy and I'll forget about it 314 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:31,280 and and or like I'll something at work will pop up and I won't have time to do this. 315 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:35,360 And when that happens we kind of create a contingency plan or a minimum. 316 00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:41,960 I find minimums really helpful because they allow a person to to still feel that inertia 317 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:45,160 moving towards their goal because they haven't fallen off anything. 318 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:50,340 They're still taking an action for their goal, but that action is easier. 319 00:21:50,340 --> 00:21:51,480 It's more realistic. 320 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:56,760 So that's kind of my strategy getting the concrete barriers out in the open and trying 321 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:03,960 to solve them the best we can during the session and also trying to trying to install some 322 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,280 minimums to help the person see that I don't have to stop. 323 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:11,880 I can pause or I can take a smaller step and still move towards what I want to do. 324 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,400 Yeah, I like that particularly that smaller step. 325 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:21,920 I heard you in another interview talking about what your psychologist did with you at the 326 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:27,880 beginning which was just to go for a week drinking a glass of water every day. 327 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:28,880 Yeah. 328 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:34,720 And that was so I really think it turned around my impression of what I could do. 329 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:42,440 I think before that I felt that I was totally buffeted around by circumstance and I didn't 330 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,000 have the freedom to actually change anything about my day. 331 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:51,680 And I think that's why I constantly go back to that foundation and that philosophy of 332 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:58,800 let's do something small because it was shocking to me how much that small action did pay off. 333 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:03,280 It paved the way for me to build that self-trust and create so much change later. 334 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,240 So I know that it helped me. 335 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:11,480 So I think my instinct is to want to lean on that experience and trust that that can 336 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,160 help other people as well. 337 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:14,160 Yeah. 338 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:20,480 So it makes sense I guess when they are feeling that they can't do it again just to scale 339 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,080 back to something that they can do. 340 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:24,080 Yeah. 341 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,200 Because they are the one who wants to get to the goal. 342 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:31,040 And I can't do the action for them. 343 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:37,040 And so the question then becomes really logically like well if this action doesn't feel possible 344 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:42,640 and if you're feeling like it's not possible and if this other smaller action isn't possible 345 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,640 either is this goal worth it to you? 346 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,160 And it's not a question of oh you're not working hard enough. 347 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:55,000 It's more like let's honestly ask like there is difficulty in making this change. 348 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,000 Absolutely. 349 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:57,000 There's creativity you have to use. 350 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:01,480 There's time that you have to devote and energy you have to devote. 351 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,520 So you get to choose almost. 352 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:09,960 I'm always encouraged by the fact of like I don't have to do anything that I'm doing. 353 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:15,680 This is all a choice that I'm trying to be self-employed and this is a choice. 354 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:17,360 Like it's hard. 355 00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:19,360 And also I don't have to do it. 356 00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:23,960 I could go back to a nine to five anytime but I'm choosing it because I do want that 357 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:25,520 outcome. 358 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:29,000 And it's similar to any goal that someone sets. 359 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:34,720 If you want to change your eating and your movement to reach a healthier weight no one 360 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:36,920 is telling you you must do it. 361 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:41,420 And so you can take some action and you don't have to if you don't want to. 362 00:24:41,420 --> 00:24:44,400 So that leaves the question do I want to? 363 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:48,560 Do I want to take on that more difficult task? 364 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:53,360 And I think that's nice because it brings it back to not getting lost in the kind of 365 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:57,400 useless thoughts common but useless thoughts of I don't think I can do it. 366 00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:58,560 I've never done it before. 367 00:24:58,560 --> 00:24:59,560 I'm scared. 368 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,720 And it brings it back to well what is capable? 369 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:04,940 What am I capable of? 370 00:25:04,940 --> 00:25:06,360 What is possible? 371 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:10,320 What is the action that feels right for me here? 372 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:12,200 I always like to bring it back to concrete. 373 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:13,200 Yeah. 374 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:19,800 And speaking of it all being little actions I don't remember who I'm stealing this from 375 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:24,440 but somebody said that and they would have stolen it from somebody who stole it from 376 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,160 somebody who stole it from the ancient Greeks who stole it from somebody else. 377 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:36,200 But every action that you do is a vote for the kind of person that you want to be. 378 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:37,200 I like that. 379 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,680 I never heard that before. 380 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:45,580 The person I was talking about the Heather Robertson who does the who has lost 170 pounds 381 00:25:45,580 --> 00:25:46,960 and maintained it. 382 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:53,640 She has this wonderful like red brick challenge she calls it which is you kind of divide the 383 00:25:53,640 --> 00:26:00,800 day into half hour sections and each day gets a cut each half hour section gets a color. 384 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:05,480 I made choices that move me towards my goal or I moved a made choice that moved me away 385 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:07,040 from my goal. 386 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,880 And so every single half hour in that case was a vote for the person you want to be. 387 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:17,520 So you can kind of see your red bricks pile up and show you that you want to move towards 388 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:18,520 the goal. 389 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:19,520 And I thought that was so cool. 390 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:24,800 And when you said that quote it really just popped that up in my brain. 391 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:29,000 And that pops up in my brain when I'm when I am making choices. 392 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,400 So what kind of vote am I making here? 393 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:34,040 Do I want to be that kind of person or that kind of person? 394 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:35,520 Just want each little choice. 395 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:36,520 Yeah. 396 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:38,520 Oh, it's so powerful. 397 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:39,520 Yeah. 398 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:46,920 So what's one piece of wisdom that you consistently find yourself you just find it coming out 399 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:51,480 of your mouth again, whether it's whether it's clients or friends or family. 400 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:52,480 Yeah. 401 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,080 What's one piece of wisdom that you're constantly sharing with people? 402 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,080 Oh, that's a good one. 403 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,400 They all flew out of my head just now. 404 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:02,280 See, that's okay. 405 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:10,760 I think one thing that I often bring up when folks are feeling that like exhaustion is 406 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:18,600 kind of like taking that step back perspective of viewing the wins. 407 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:26,840 So we have I'm sure all the coaches you talked to are talk about our brains evolutionarily 408 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:32,600 being focusing being focused on the negative just as a way to be safe from the lions and 409 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,960 tigers and alligators out there in our evolutionary brain. 410 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:41,640 So it makes sense that all of us are focused on what what someone didn't do. 411 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:48,080 So I think the what I like to bring up when someone's feeling exhausted or unsuccessful 412 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:55,640 is a concrete look at what are the things you did this week that you're glad you did. 413 00:27:55,640 --> 00:28:04,360 You did this for future you you did this for for your kids or even like this is something 414 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:07,240 that has nothing to do with your health goal. 415 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:11,160 But you notice that it's a change in your thinking or it's a change in what what you 416 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:12,560 might have done in the past. 417 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:18,320 So yeah, I like to focus on bringing up the positive evidence to counter that negative 418 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,800 bias that we all have in our brains. 419 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:28,440 Yeah, such a huge difference in life that I'm not I'm not one who believes in manifesting 420 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:33,480 in such a way of like closing your eyes and dreaming of that Ferrari and then the Ferrari 421 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:34,720 will appear in front of you. 422 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:42,440 But I definitely know that you the way that you look at things is is how you're going 423 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:46,640 to see the world and how your your mindset is going to be so the more that you can notice 424 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:47,640 the good things. 425 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,560 Right. I start with a gratitude meditation every single day. 426 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:56,560 Because yeah, our brain automatically looks for all the negative crap. 427 00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:02,760 But if you can just see all the positive stuff in life, then you'll start having a better 428 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:08,720 life immediately without any changes happening because because you'll be looking at the world 429 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:10,840 through those positive glasses. 430 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,640 Well, it doesn't mean you're not going to see the negative as well. 431 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,320 But at least add on the positive to it. 432 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:21,560 Yeah, you're you're fixing you're helping the scale move tip a little bit in the positive 433 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:22,760 direction if you can. 434 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:26,560 I love the idea of a gratitude practice. 435 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:30,440 It's hard for me to keep it up sometimes because it's a challenge. 436 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:35,320 Like what do you do when you are challenged to think of something that you're grateful 437 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:36,320 for? 438 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,720 Do you have any like backups or like ways to get your perspective a little bigger? 439 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:40,880 Yeah, I cheat. 440 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:41,880 I do. 441 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:42,880 And I'll put a link. 442 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:47,360 I'll add to it on my page, Jeremy West, net, but I use a YouTube. 443 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,640 It's a 12 minute meditation. 444 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,400 And it is I'm grateful for the flowers. 445 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,160 I'm grateful for it just gives me all the stuff to be grateful for. 446 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:02,280 And that makes me when I'm doing that, I am thinking of the stuff in my individual specific 447 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:04,600 life that relates to that. 448 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,080 But yeah, I don't have to come up with it at all. 449 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:08,080 I love. 450 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:13,640 I think one thing that I try to do if I if I if I'm in that brain space where I'm like, 451 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:14,640 nothing's good. 452 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:20,040 I like to like look out the window and like imagine that something disappeared and kind 453 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:24,400 of ask myself like, well, how would life be if that thing didn't exist? 454 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,160 And then it makes me thankful for that thing. 455 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:33,600 If like the flowers or even we have in Staten Island, which is where I live in New York, 456 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:40,240 we have this like odd few packs of wild turkeys, like feral turkeys that just so if I see a 457 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,640 pack of turkeys, that makes me laugh. 458 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:43,960 And then I imagine they weren't there. 459 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,320 I'm like, no, no, I'm grateful for these turkeys. 460 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,760 They gave me a little joy today. 461 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,400 So I like to imagine that something disappears and that helps me think of something. 462 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:58,760 Yeah, well, another so I do improv theater and which I find is the most mindful that 463 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:05,120 I am besides meditation is when I'm either practicing or performing improv because you're 464 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:11,880 with and I highly recommend it if there's an improv theater in your area, you don't 465 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:12,880 have to perform. 466 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:20,480 You can take classes and and but and just learn the learn the techniques and it does 467 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:25,700 make you mindful because you're standing there with someone else making something else, making 468 00:31:25,700 --> 00:31:29,200 something up on the spot with them without talking about it. 469 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:33,560 And you have to you just really have to be paying attention to what's happening, not 470 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:37,160 thinking about all the chores that you have to do or what you're going to have for dinner 471 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:38,160 or whatever else. 472 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:39,160 What was my point? 473 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:43,200 Oh, there's a lot of games and stuff that you do in improv. 474 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:48,320 And one of them I have used with clients, which is when they when they can't come up 475 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,360 with what they can be grateful for. 476 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,240 And instead of saying I am grateful for this, thank you for that. 477 00:31:54,240 --> 00:32:00,040 The game is to just say what's not wrong with my life. 478 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:01,040 What's not. 479 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:02,880 And then you can say, well, I have a house. 480 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:03,880 What's not wrong with my life? 481 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:04,880 Well, I have a car. 482 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:10,520 And at least if you can't be saying thank you, you're at least noticing that the things 483 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,160 that aren't wrong right now. 484 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:15,060 I think that's awesome. 485 00:32:15,060 --> 00:32:19,960 And can I just say I've never thought of improv as being a mindfulness exercise. 486 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:25,080 But when you said that, it made so much sense because you're in the moment you have to you 487 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,360 really can only listen. 488 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:28,940 That's what you have to do. 489 00:32:28,940 --> 00:32:30,440 You have to react in the moment. 490 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,420 You can't be spaced out. 491 00:32:32,420 --> 00:32:36,840 And I think one it's probably a real point for me. 492 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:37,840 No, I've never done it. 493 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:38,840 I would imagine. 494 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,360 I was going to say if you had done improv, you probably would have noticed it. 495 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:43,360 Yeah. 496 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:44,360 Oh, definitely. 497 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:46,160 I have so many skills for life. 498 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:47,160 Yeah. 499 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:48,840 I want to suggest it to other people. 500 00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:53,480 I would love to suggest it to other people because it really sounds like what you do 501 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,760 is you put yourself in the exact present moment. 502 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:04,560 And I think me, I always default to wanting to be mindful on my own because I think it's 503 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:09,300 hard to get into that state of getting out of my head and getting into my body. 504 00:33:09,300 --> 00:33:11,800 And I don't want other people waiting around for me. 505 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:12,800 Yeah. 506 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:13,800 Yeah. 507 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:19,120 And whenever I'm with other people, I over prepare for job interviews or coaching sessions 508 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,440 or even just talking with someone at a party. 509 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:27,420 But it's always better when I don't over prepare and I just get in the moment and listen. 510 00:33:27,420 --> 00:33:29,240 So it sounds like a good practice for me. 511 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,480 I should probably get started with it. 512 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:32,480 It is. 513 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:36,780 And yeah, so it's that mindfulness, but it's also listening conversation. 514 00:33:36,780 --> 00:33:41,520 The first thing you learn is yes and I don't know if you've heard of that, but that's the 515 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,420 ethic in an improv. 516 00:33:43,420 --> 00:33:47,000 You don't say no to what the other person's creating. 517 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,560 And so it really translates to real life as well because that's our first instinct is 518 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:55,440 usually to argue with people at work or whatever like, oh, no, that's not going to work because 519 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:56,440 of this. 520 00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:00,980 So you learn to be positive with other people's ideas and stuff as well. 521 00:34:00,980 --> 00:34:06,520 It's very, a lot of good skills for life, even if you never want to perform it on stage. 522 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:08,400 And New York is an easy place to find. 523 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,720 New York City is an easy place to find improv troops. 524 00:34:11,720 --> 00:34:16,700 The New York City stand up comedians seem to make fun of it and think it's stupid. 525 00:34:16,700 --> 00:34:18,760 But I don't find that here in where I live. 526 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:23,400 There's not such a divide between stand up comedians and improv people. 527 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,840 But anyway, that is true though. 528 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:32,280 I do see that divide like the cynical stand up comic, the self deprecating comic and like 529 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:34,900 the really energetic improv people. 530 00:34:34,900 --> 00:34:35,900 It's such a divide. 531 00:34:35,900 --> 00:34:36,900 Yeah. 532 00:34:36,900 --> 00:34:37,900 Yeah. 533 00:34:37,900 --> 00:34:40,080 Oh, and it's a team sport too. 534 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:43,240 Everyone's working together, whereas in stand up comedy, I've done a bit of both in stand 535 00:34:43,240 --> 00:34:46,880 up comedy, it feels much more like you're competing against everybody else, but you're 536 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:47,880 all working together. 537 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,620 And anyway, we've gone way off topic here. 538 00:34:50,620 --> 00:34:53,120 Let me ask you two final questions. 539 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:59,240 And these, you mentioned the question that you stole from, who did you steal that question 540 00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:00,240 from? 541 00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:01,840 Oh, no, Greg Faxon. 542 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:02,840 Maybe. 543 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:03,840 Great. 544 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:04,840 Yeah. 545 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,760 Anyway, I've stolen my last two questions that I'm going to ask here from comedian 546 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,280 Mike Kaplan, who has a podcast called broccoli and ice cream. 547 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:13,800 And these are the final two questions he always asks. 548 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:19,040 And I know it's okay that I've stolen them because he was the guest on episode 20, a 549 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:20,840 few episodes back from yours. 550 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:25,640 And I asked him those two questions and he was happy to be asked them. 551 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:26,780 So here they are. 552 00:35:26,780 --> 00:35:31,780 It's basically just to make sure we haven't missed anything that we could have covered 553 00:35:31,780 --> 00:35:32,780 in this. 554 00:35:32,780 --> 00:35:34,480 Obviously, there's lots we could cover. 555 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:39,640 But these two questions are, you can answer, no, that's fine. 556 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,840 Maybe we have covered everything we need to cover today. 557 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,160 Or if you have something, then that's great as well. 558 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:49,000 So basically, first one is, is there anything that we were talking about that you didn't 559 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,480 get to say as much as you wanted to because we did head off in a different direction or 560 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:53,480 go on a tangent? 561 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:55,480 Ooh, that's a good question. 562 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,020 No, nothing comes to mind. 563 00:35:58,020 --> 00:36:00,320 And then the other one is a little bit bigger. 564 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:01,960 Megan Gall, a lot better than I do. 565 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:03,400 You've known her a lot longer than I do. 566 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:08,600 Is there anything that I didn't even know to bring up that would be a glaring omission 567 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,960 in a survey of the life and work of Megan Gall? 568 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:18,600 Well, at the age of 12, I played trumpet on the stage of Carnegie Hall because my local 569 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:26,560 band got to do it because we were close by in the same city. 570 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:31,360 But I would be remiss if I didn't mention my awesome achievement there. 571 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:32,960 Yeah, definitely. 572 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:33,960 Fantastic. 573 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:34,960 All right. 574 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:37,240 Well, thank you very much, Megan, for coming on now. 575 00:36:37,240 --> 00:36:40,960 The point of the podcast is anyone who wants to listen and glean anything that they can 576 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:49,200 on self-development from hearing my chats with all different kinds of coaches, but also 577 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:55,600 for people that hear a specific coach that they think, oh my God, I need that person 578 00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:57,200 in my life. 579 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:02,400 So those that are listening today thinking, I really need Megan Gall in my life to help 580 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:03,400 me move forward. 581 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,080 How do they find you? 582 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:06,160 So they can find me. 583 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:11,400 I have all my links pretty easily accessible on my Instagram. 584 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:12,640 So they can follow me. 585 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:16,080 My handle is partake underscore foodie. 586 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:20,800 So P-A-R-T-A-K-E underscore foodie. 587 00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:22,800 And I have a- F-O-O-D-I-E? 588 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:24,800 Yeah, foodie, F-O-O-D-I-E. 589 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,120 Just double checking. 590 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:34,480 So I have on there a link to my coaching information and I have a link to join my free meal planning 591 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:40,120 club where we get together on live every week and we plan a menu for the following week. 592 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:41,120 It's fun. 593 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:45,720 You get some work done and you get some company and coaching while you're doing it. 594 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:46,720 Fantastic. 595 00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:50,520 And if they don't have Instagram, is there another way they can find you? 596 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:51,520 Yeah. 597 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:52,520 Yeah. 598 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:55,880 They can go to my website, which is partakemealplanning.com. 599 00:37:55,880 --> 00:38:01,080 And I have tons of resources on there and my coaching page as well. 600 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:04,080 Or takemealplanning.com. 601 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:05,080 That's it. 602 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:06,080 Thank you. 603 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:09,720 And anyone who needs to reach me, it's jeremywest.net. 604 00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:15,040 That has all my links including to all of these episodes. 605 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:16,600 And what did I say I was going to put up there? 606 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:22,920 Oh, a link to the gratitude meditation that I do will be there by the time this airs. 607 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:26,920 Thank you very much, Megan, and I hope to talk to you again soon. 608 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:28,160 Yeah, this was great. 609 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:29,160 Thank you for having me, Jeremy. 610 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:53,920 Thank you.