How Completely Normal People Do Big F*cking Things with Dr. Sarah Glova Ep 108

Ready to unlock the secrets of achieving monumental goals? Join us as we sit down with Dr. Sarah Glova, an accomplished tech reporter and member of Innovation Women, who reveals how ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. We'll explore her fascinating journey of embracing her credentials and the importance of women confidently owning their titles. Drawing from her extensive research and interviews with top innovators, Dr. Glova provides actionable insights that dismantle the myth that high achievers possess unique traits.

Discover how to break down intimidating tasks into manageable steps and set small, achievable milestones to keep moving forward. We emphasize the power of action over perfection, discussing the importance of committing to specific goals and staying accountable through personal commitment and external support systems. From mentors to accountability partners, we highlight the vital role of a supportive network in navigating the path to success.

Communication is key, and in this episode, we delve into the art of using relatable metaphors from daily life to connect with diverse audiences. Dr. Glova and I share our experiences of becoming confident speakers, emphasizing the impact of authenticity and the influence of mentors. Whether you're looking to achieve big goals or improve your communication skills, this episode offers a treasure trove of strategies and heartfelt stories that will inspire and guide you on your journey. Don't miss this enriching conversation with Dr. Sarah Glova.

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My name is Brenda Meller. I'm a LinkedIn coach, consultant, speaker, and author. My company is Meller Marketing and I help business professionals get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn pie.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:48

I'm delighted because today I have with me a fellow member of Innovation Women. Her name is Dr Sarah Glover. Hey, Dr Sarah, how are you doing today? I'm so great.

Speaker 2: 0:57

Being on your show is just the sunshine I need. I'm very excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 1:01

I'm delighted to have you and I'm going to invite our audience. If you're watching, could you please drop a comment below and let us know the live stream is working? It's almost like when we would be at an in-person event. Sarah, I would be tapping my microphone right now before the show saying can you all hear me in the back and the people in the back would be like gesturing.

Speaker 1: 1:21

No, we can't, or they'd be giving me the thumbs up. I get that a lot, so we're looking for thumbs up for all of you, so don't be shy. We're live streaming today on LinkedIn, on YouTube and on Instagram, so, if all goes, we might have some comments coming in from all three networks. So while we're waiting for those comments to start coming in I know there's about a 30 second delay for that to happen While we're waiting for those to come in, I asked your name. I said Dr Sarah Glover and we were talking about this in the pre show and I said Do you want me to call you Dr Glover? Dr Sarah, like what's your preference? So tell our audience what our conversation was and what your preference is and why.

Speaker 2: 1:57

First, can I just celebrate you asking this question. I really appreciate it. It's so good to ask folks how they want to be addressed or what name they go by, how they pronounce their name Great question. So for me, I'm trying really hard to embrace Dr Sarah Glova as a label really, and the reason is I've seen in the research women are less likely to put those kinds of titles or to announce their certifications, and when I saw that research I knew that was something. Oh, I'm going to have to take that on. It's not enough to amplify the research. I got to walk the walk, talk the talk, and so I have been trying really hard to put that stamp on everything. My kids jokingly sometimes call me doctor, so I'm really trying. That being said, brenda, we're friends, we're both in innovation.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Women. Please call me Sarah. It's important and I try to do this to anyone that I see that has a PhD or a doctoral terminal degree. I always ask the question do you have a preference? And I come from a higher ed marketing background where we work with college professors and some said I want you to call me Dr so and other people would say, no, just call me Lee, Just call me Linda, and it's personal preference. But I think, especially as women, we shouldn't be afraid to say I prefer this or I earned this degree and I want to be called Dr Glover.

Speaker 1: 3:20

By the way, did you hear? She corrected me? I said Glova and she corrected me Glova. So thank you for that. So we are here today not to talk about how to pronounce names, but instead we're going to talk about the topic on screen here how completely normal people do big effing things. And I just stay away from using expletives for personal reasons, but also I know if we use those on YouTube, our video will get marked for profanity, but I think it creates some interest and intrigue for the title. So before we get into that conversation, Sarah, why don't you take a few minutes and tell us a little bit about what you do and who you help.

Speaker 2: 3:50

Oh, that's so nice. Thank you Again. My name is Dr Sarah Glova and I'm actually a tech reporter, so I write a lot about tech and innovation and I have a chance to interview a lot of people who accomplish really big things. And in that work of writing about people who have achieved great levels of success maybe building things or starting things or changing things I just noticed a lot of things the research could show me about.

Speaker 2: 4:15

What does it take to achieve? What's the art and science of setting and achieving goals? And what I found was that it was so different from what I thought it would be, and what I was really raised to see is how we set and achieve goals. What I was taught in the school system. It's very different from how it actually happens, and we know each other through Innovation Women. I'm also a speaker. I do a lot of training on communication and on goal setting, and so I started bringing this research into my work, and now I work with individuals, teams, organizations on this concept of how do we set and achieve really big goals. How do completely normal people do big, fricking things?

Speaker 1: 4:56

how do completely normal people do big fricking things, and that's even better than effing, right, that's great. So, yeah, there's probably some people watching that were intrigued by the title and they're like, yeah, how can I do big fricking things? So what advice do you have for them?

Speaker 2: 5:06

Oh gosh. So one of my favorite things when I start is just to talk about what it looks like for me when I interview people who have accomplished really big things. And so, if you can imagine, maybe think of your favorite reporter, whether you think of Lois Lane, or if you're like me and you grew up with 90s icons, you think of Rory Gilmore. Right, picture that person who's interviewing someone and imagine what it would be like to be around people all day who are achieving things. You start to put them up on a pedestal a little bit right, because these are people. These people have just got millions in venture funding or they're on their third startup or they've invented some technology that's changed the world, and a mistake I used to make is I would put these folks up on a pedestal and I would picture them as having something that maybe I didn't.

Speaker 2: 5:50

There was some kind of trait that people had If they were going to achieve things. They had the achiever trait or the achiever bone in their body or something, and the biggest thing I could share is that's just not the case. There is not some trait or bone or thing that people are born with that allows them to achieve really big things and the people who achieve these big things, the people that I get to interview, brenda, they are so normal. They're so normal Like I can tell you so many examples.

Speaker 2: 6:20

There's the guy that I was interviewing recently who's really involved at his VC firm, and I won't share his name but he joked with me about how terrible he was with details and paperwork, to the point where multiple times he has had his license plate taken for not renewing his car registration. It's like I've talked to a woman who has a really amazing FinTech product, had to do a podcast on personal financing when she was going through some potential bankruptcy things. But because she was in this Finintech space, this was the podcast and it was such a weird moment for her and we talked a lot about that and it was about this big conversation on imposter. Like man, these people are so wonderfully like mortal and so the first thing we can do is this empowering thing of realizing, like they don't have anything that I don't have, like they are just as normal and mortal as I am.

Speaker 1: 7:16

So it's not that they're consistently great in everything. They might be great in some things, but they're really normal, just like all of us. Is that fair to?

Speaker 2: 7:25

say I love that. What a great phrasing. Yeah, so a lot of times I'll say their accomplishments are really impressive, but they are still normal and it's those normal people who achieve those really impressive things and the impressive label goes on what they've achieved. But it's almost too much to put that label on a person. Nobody can be that all the time. It's freeing to not have to be.

Speaker 1: 7:48

So, in your conversations with these people, was there some event that propelled them to achieve greater things, or was it a mindset, or what was it that caused them to cross over into doing better and greater things, would you?

Speaker 2: 8:02

say that's a great question and it's perfect and in line with the kind of research that I share. So we have to start with this idea of, okay, these folks are normal, but then the natural next question is exactly what you just shared Great, they're normal. What did they do then that I can do? If it's not that they were born with some achiever bone, then what is it? And I think I have the answer based on I've been working on it for about seven years now, and I've been trying to distill all the research and all of what I've observed into something that people can easily digest if they want to achieve something really big, and I've been working on a format, again for seven years, that distills it all down to one page, and so I'm going to try to share as much of that with you as I can today. The most important thing that I noticed that these folks do is when they identify a goal, they make it really personal. I'll even use our word again, brenda. I'm going to say really fricking personal.

Speaker 2: 8:52

So, as an example, let's say you tell me you want to write a book. That's a really common one for folks. I would ask you why you want to write a book. I would ask you what impact your book's going to have. What does the world look like before your book? What does it look like after your book? And then I'm going to ask you this one's a little bit more rare what strengths do you have that are going to help you write a book? And that one's really important, because what we find in the research and what we find in people who achieve things, there's a hundred ways.

Speaker 2: 9:17

From Sunday. You can write a book, right. You could write a blog and use each of those blog posts as inspiration. You could self-publish. You could work with a literary agent Like so many different ways to do it. You could have a podcast where you interview folks. And you could write a book about your takeaways right. There's so many ways.

Speaker 2: 9:32

So when Brenda writes a book, what skills are you going to use and where can you put that information so that you can come back to it? And here's why, when you start to pursue this goal, you're going to be presented with opportunities. Do you want to have a LinkedIn live show? Do you want to start a newsletter? Do you want to do X and Y and Z? And you're going to go back to that list of strengths and evaluate your options, not against what you think you should do, but what you're already good at. And so when I say they make their goals really personal, I don't just mean that they understand the Y and the impact they do that's important but they know their skills and they know how they're going to apply their skills to that goal. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 10:12

Absolutely, and I think for some people. When you talk about the book analogy, I was thinking like back in the day when I wanted to write a book and I was always like I want to write a LinkedIn book, but there's a lot of LinkedIn books out there. There's so many people that have done it, been there, and it was like for the longest time that was holding me back is what? How would this book be different than anything else is out there? But your tip was to make it really effing, freaking personal. I think what we said and like for me, I'm like I need to make it my own personal perspective on LinkedIn. Then it did. I guess I actually did what you're describing. I made it personal to me and then relatable to my audience. So do people get stuck on that a lot, or is it like an aha moment and that's what causes them to move forward, do you think?

Speaker 2: 10:54

Yeah, it's a great question and it's different for everybody. I do a one-page to impact workshop where I walk folks through a one-page tool that I've created that helps them to reify their goal, to take this abstract thing and make it real. That's what the word reify means, and some people it's like right away, they just needed it, like a light switch. And other people work on it for months and contact me six months later and say I figured it out, and I think both are great. There's no right or wrong. There's no good or bad. Any tool that's helping you process something. If you have a lot of content to work through, it might take you a little bit longer. For some folks who do find it to be an aha moment, I think what's freeing about this concept of making the goal really personal is it removes the need to do it the way that others have done it. And I think sometimes when we observe someone else who has done something, so say you.

Speaker 2: 11:42

Let's say you go to a community college class on how to write a book and they bring in a panel of folks who all talk about how they wrote a book, and let's say you're listening and you just get this sense of overwhelm. They're talking about how they woke up at 5 AM and wrote every day, and the person next to them on the panel is like I did that too, and you're like that's never going to be me, so I guess I'm not going to write a book, and there's a sadness with that. I have this thing I want to say, but I can't write a book because I can't be like them. I had this.

Speaker 2: 12:09

So when I wanted to be a speaker, I don't know what this looked like for you when you decided to join Innovation Women and be focused on speaking, but for me, I held off for a long time because I was like I'm not Tony Robbins. I have a voice made for libraries, not for stages. I'm a nerd. I don't want to be there, I want to be at home with a book. I'm not. Them was the big and it was once. I made it really personal and I focused on what I wanted my impact to be and I looked at my skills and I have skills in research and in storytelling and those are not the same skills as Tony Robbins, but the world already has a Tony Robbins and so it's okay if I don't speak exactly like him.

Speaker 1: 12:44

And some people don't like Tony Robbins. Some people need another type of a speaker, another type of category, and I think that's powerful too. There's space for all of us that are out there, and we're here today talking about how completely normal people can do big, freaking things, and I know there's some normal people in the audience that are like I could never write a book, I could never be a speaker, I could never launch my own business. What do you? What would you say to them, sarah? They're watching this right now because they're intrigued by the topic, but they've categorized themselves into the. I could never do this, but you're trying to say, yes, you can. What would you say to them?

Speaker 2: 13:18

Yes, I think one of the things that folks who don't believe they can, one of the things that they find really encouraging, is the second part of my tool, which breaks a big goal down into smaller steps, and I am not the first person to recommend that right. When we talk about big goals, a lot of times one of the tips is break it down into smaller steps. But here's a new school way of thinking about it. Old school is break it down into steps so that you can have this five-year plan and you can have a long-term approach. What is it? Measure twice, cut once or something like. The goal of breaking something down was so that you could have a perfect plan. That's not what I'm talking about when I say break it down into smaller steps. The goal is find a couple steps that you'd be comfortable trying. Right now. You feeling a little bit nervous about this idea of writing a book. That's fine. Let's break down some smaller milestones. Maybe you could start with some blog posts or some LinkedIn content. Maybe you could start with some kind of accountability group that's helping you write, or a newsletter. It's a bias toward action In the old days. Maybe we could have a five-year plan, but if you had made a five-year plan five years ago, that would have been March of 2019. And I don't know how much of that plan would be relevant today, right? And so when we say, break it down into smaller goals, it's so that you'll fricking start. We're using fricking a lot today, brenda. It's so that you'll start. It's this bias toward action.

Speaker 2: 14:38

Like. I'm not going to sit in my office and work on a perfect five-year business plan before I start a business. I'm going to take small steps. I'm going to start interviewing folks who might be good customers. I'm going to start a pilot project, and it's not because I don't believe this will work. It's because I believe in experimentation and I understand.

Speaker 2: 14:55

I can't know what's going to happen in five years. I definitely didn't know five years ago what was going to happen, right? I can't know what's going to happen in five years, and so if I have a big goal but I'm intimidated, I don't believe I can, one of the best things I can do is take some small steps, and I love on my sheet. I just have people pick four dates. Pick four dates and then set down some small goals for what you want to have done by then, things that will encourage you to experiment and really put yourself out there and to focus on the crucial actions, not oh, I got to file for an LLC and I got to have business cards and I got to have a website and maybe I need new headshots and we do all the things except work on the thing. Make those four deadlines and put some crucial action goals next to them so that you're making real progress and so that you're having that bias toward action so that you're starting.

Speaker 1: 15:39

I love it and I would add on to that too, and I just put the tip up on screen pick four dates and set small goals to achieve by those dates. Tell someone by March 30th I will have an outline for my book, for example. I'm making that up. By April 15th I'll have my taxes filed, but I'll also have a speaker demo video started. Commit to those things verbally, and I did this actually when I created my book, I told my audience I'm doing a book and I said and when you see me or if you have my cell phone or messages like, text me and say how's your book coming, cause I. I found that it helped to create some. You talked about this earlier accountability and whether you're using an accountability partner or accountability group or whatnot. I found that was really effective. Do you think that's also a part of this, like telling others and getting others to support you along the way, or does it all need to be inside your own mind? What do you think?

Speaker 2: 16:30

I think that anyone who's heard me speak before is going to think that I asked you to ask that question, and I just want to recognize what an incredible interviewer you are, because I did not ask you to prep my that question. And literally the third big thing on this one page to impact is who's in your corner. What does your crew look like for this? We have a joke when we talk about this that there's no such thing as a self-made man, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is who said that in a really great way. And it's this idea that, look, if you want to do something big, you're going to need people to help because you're going to stumble. And so here are some things you need, and what I have people do when they're doodling this on one page is I make sure they have folks that fill these specific roles.

Speaker 2: 17:08

One we've already talked about accountability. This person doesn't have to know anything about your goal. They don't have to have written a book before. They just have to know that you want to write a book and that you're going to do it by XYZ deadline. So who's your accountability group or partner? Another is a mentor. A mentor has been to the places that you don't have access to yet, and so when you have questions about getting there, you can ask this mentor. So you need some folks who have been to the places that you haven't been to yet. That's really important. You also need a coach. A coach is different from a mentor. A mentor is oh, I've been to a boardroom before. Let me tell you what that's like. A coach is going to watch you from the sidelines and give you critiques on how to get better in the moment, and so that's really different. I encourage people to think out of the box. When I started my business, I could not afford a coach, and so I traded, I bartered, so that I could work with a coach. There are so many possibilities, but coaching is absolutely something that's really crucial to improving your skills, and I don't know if you've worked with speaker coaches, brenda, but I found speaker coaches to be really helpful. Coaching is important. So we've talked about accountability, mentorship, coaching. Another one is inspiration, so where do you go to be reminded of why you wanted this goal in the first place? And then a final one I'll mention. I really like this one.

Speaker 2: 18:23

This one's unique to my model, and I call it Tuesday friends, or I call it same path, similar shoes, and it's the idea of people who would recognize what your Tuesday nights look like. I've got two young kids, so right now my Tuesday nights are a flurry of where are your soccer cleats and did we pack lunches yet? And I don't know if your blue sweatshirt is clean. But I can go look. And also I have this article deadline, so I need you to go to bed. I love you so much. Please go to bed, because I have this article deadline that I need to write.

Speaker 2: 18:47

Do I have people in my network who would recognize what those Tuesday night looks like, with like very little explanation? And this is really big for my community of firsts. So people who are the first woman in that position, the first Black woman to speak at a national sales conference or the first Hispanic woman to lead a major contracting organization in the state. I am so impressed by folks who are firsts, but I recognize that they often have hurdles that are really difficult and they have the additional burden of having to explain what those hurdles are, because very few people directly around them can understand and recognize what their Tuesday nights look like. And so really for anyone, but especially for that group, having a community of people who can quickly understand.

Speaker 2: 19:33

That is absolutely crucial. Just hands down one of the most important things. So to your big question of do we need people to support us? Whether you're working on that first part of what is my goal how do I make it really specific to me or that second part how do I break this goal into small deadlines? What you're going to do again and again is bring that back to your network and get fueled up there as you're sharing your ideas and sharing your plans, and it works in this beautiful flywheel, and that's how completely normal people get big fricking things done.

Speaker 1: 20:04

Perfect. So go and stand everyone. So we got the formula for you and everything. And it's funny that I'm all kidding aside on this. It's funny how you say these things and I'm like, as you were speaking, and I put the different roles up on screen and I want to pull coach and inspiration back up on here, cause I've heard this from so many people and as you were talking, I was like, yes for me, when I wanted to get better as a speaker, I found there's either you can work with a one-on-one coach or there's online programs or there's communities or masterminds or things like that. But I surrounded myself with people who were speakers and that was part of the reason I joined Innovation Women, which is a really great community of women speakers. We lift each other up, we support each other, we share questions and whatnot.

Speaker 1: 20:48

But I also think that there's something to be said of working with a coach. If you want to get there faster, working with a coach, they're going to help you. Just like you're playing on a sports team, a coach is going to help you to understand what you did, what you could be doing better and where you might need additional skills. You need to work out at the gym, or you need to do some more running, or you need to get more protein in your diet. They're going to help you to get there faster. And there's so many people. I find, sarah, that they'd say I'm not there yet in my business. I don't have the money to spend or invest in that. But I also feel like how much more money are you losing by waiting for that investment? Do you have any thoughts on that, either from personal experience or otherwise?

Speaker 2: 21:26

Yeah, I do, and I just want to recognize there really is no right answer and, at the end of the day, I feel really passionate that this work should be about unlocking potential and not adding additional pressure, putting that in a different way. I am so tired of people telling especially women what to do. So I am not telling you all what to do. I really am not, and I trust that what is best for you. What I'll mention that we see in the research is how beneficial things like mentorship and coaching can be. That being said, if that's not something that's within your budget right now, I want to encourage you away from black and white thinking of I can't do that until later, because there are other options. There are programs that will allow you to do this in a group format that are much more affordable. Sometimes, if you are still in a workplace, if you haven't completely shifted into full-time entrepreneurship and you still work with an employer, sometimes an employer will provide discounts on things like coaching programs. That can be really great. That's a huge thing, but also you can barter. So if you're somebody who can write, social media copy or do other things, reach out to some coaches and see if that's something that can help them.

Speaker 2: 22:31

One of the reasons I'm a tech reporter is because, when I started my business, I wanted to go to all these professional events, these amazing conferences, and I couldn't afford to. As an entrepreneur, I couldn't pay $800 to go to a conference, and so I would reach out sometimes and say, hey, do you need a blog post? Do you need a Twitter reporter for the day? Can I come to your event? Here's what I can offer. And eventually some of my stuff started getting picked up by our local news organization, and so what a great example of that, using your skills piece, you can also do that to start establishing some of these relationships. Now, the positions on your team will stay the same, right, if you're in a major league baseball team or a backyard league, there's still a first base person, right? Clearly, I know the terms well first base person.

Speaker 1: 23:15

I can correct you on it if you got it wrong.

Speaker 2: 23:17

if that makes you feel any better, I really yeah, okay, then we're yep, first base person, very official. So as you move up to the major leagues, the talent of the people in those roles and their experience is obviously going to change, but these positions will stay the same. And so right now, when you're networking, try to find folks who will fill these roles and then, as you continue networking and building that network, you're going to have different people switch out and be in those roles and you'll have access to different resources to make that happen.

Speaker 1: 23:43

That's awesome, and I'm going to shift gears now. I want to bring our audience into the conversation. If you're watching along, if you have any thoughts you'd like to share on the conversation or any questions for Sarah, please drop them into comments, and I was thinking of both a comment and a question that I wanted to ask of you. First, the comment. A lot of times when I hear women using sports analogies and myself, I struggle through them sometimes too, because I'm like am I using a football analogy and I'm rushing it with I don't know.

Speaker 1: 24:09

Why don't we start using analogies for things that we know? So, for example, it's like a working mom, you're juggling the kids and doing all the things over here, and then you've got the bake sale and you've got this and, by the way, you're trying to move up and we're like let's draw from it. Sometimes I feel let's draw from those analogies, but then let's also draw from some of our entertainment analogies too. It's like when you go to the salon, sometimes you just want a haircut, sometimes you want a mani-pedi, sometimes you want the mani-pedi and a European facial and a bathrobe. There's other analogies. I think we should start bringing those in, Sarah. What do you think let's not just use the football analogies, but let's use the salon analogies and other.

Speaker 2: 24:49

I'm a fan of words, honestly. So whatever metaphors you like, I love, I'm a fan of words. I will say I think it's helpful to have universally recognized metaphors and it's interesting that we often assume that things like sports are universally recognized, and it's interesting that we might have an opinion on whether things like an experience at the salon would be as universally recognized. And I think we could do a whole separate episode on that separate show.

Speaker 2: 25:18

But I will say I do find sports metaphors to be helpful, and I played women's lacrosse, and so the sport that I played, the positions are not as universally recognizable as baseball, so I maybe I'll start pulling those in next time, though I'll have to think about this and I pie is like part of my personal brands.

Speaker 1: 25:36

They're like the baked good. Pie is like part of my brain. I've got a book called social media pie and a lot of times I'll say, how can we get a bigger slice of this pie or the pie pointing at you. So I'll use those analogies but I think it helps to create some relatability. I think is what you're really getting at with your viewer. My question for you and again I'll encourage our audience Don't be shy. If you have any comments or questions, drop them below. But my question for you is about this topic and especially the word of the moment really how completely normal people do big fricking things. Now, have you always used a intriguing, slash, controversial word, such as fricking, within titles for your events? Has that always been a part of your personal brand or has that been a shift for you? I was just curious about that.

Speaker 2: 26:20

Yeah, what a cool question. I think that I tend to try to have shocking headlines, and maybe that's because of my background and how much writing I've done. That being said, I have a rule that I use with when I teach, that I use with my communication students, and it's there's no such thing as always or never in communication, because a lot of students that I work with especially, they want rules, so they want me to tell them how long something should be, how many slides something should be, how often you should do something, and at the end of the day, it's contingency theory, right, it depends. And so I thought that this title was so much fun. I loved coming up with this for you. I thought it was great for your amazing show. Would I use it everywhere? Probably not right. There are some spaces where this would be not as appropriate. I think that grabbing people's attention is important and that when we do that, we just have to think about our audience and take them into consideration as we think about how we're going to grab their attention.

Speaker 1: 27:50

No-transcript. Innovation Women and I've only had interactions with you on our Speaker Friends Fridays, which, like probably 50, 60, 80 people on each call, and you stood out for me from there, your personality, your voice stood out for me from there and I feel like I hear what you're saying. You've got a voice for libraries, but I feel like you have this presence about you that would make it, it makes you successful as a speaker. Have you always been like that or how did you get good at speaking?

Speaker 2: 28:24

That, oh gosh, that is. I love answering this question, but also I find it hard to do it quickly, and so I'm going to give myself a say this quickly, challenge Emphatically no, I was not always somebody who felt like they could speak in front of people, but what was holding me back was a lot of my own mindset. I was a very shy kid. I struggled to believe that I had things that other people really wanted to hear, and I credit a lot of teachers who I had who encouraged me to speak and to write, and it was a slow evolution. Now, once I got into my career, I started in academia and so I had to teach and I worked with students and I cared more about working with those students than I was afraid of speaking if that makes sense and I felt really empowered by this research backed information that I was sharing with these students and I really cared about them. So I experimented with different ways to help them learn the content and that's what started to give me confidence and that's what made me start to question right, maybe I could.

Speaker 2: 29:30

I'm not Tony Robbins, and I've been saying to myself I'm not Tony Robbins, that's a bad thing, but what if that just is. I'm Sarah. What if I speak like Sarah? And so when I stopped adding a layer of oh my gosh, am I being loud enough, am I being entertaining enough? And I just started being me, I could focus more on the content and the audience and my information got better. So it came down to a lot of authenticity, self-love, just the things I feel like we have to learn in our 20s and our 30s.

Speaker 1: 30:00

It is, and it's really as with age too, and I relate a lot to your story, like when I was little I was shy and it and really I was doing academically and I was really nervous raising my hand because I hated to speak in front of the classroom. But I figured out at one point I need to get over myself because if I want to be more successful in my career, I've got to be comfortable speaking. And then I leaned into Toastmasters and some other groups too. I see that we have a comment from Susan. Hey, susan, and Susan says she loves that comment. The world already has a Tony Robbins. What can I offer this different? We'd love to see Sarah for our audience to be like. I want to be like Sarah Glover. Let's make us the household name that we reference, and there are already the Tony Robbins of the world out there. But how can we be different? Did you want to add anything to that?

Speaker 2: 30:44

Oh, I'm just so happy that you're amplifying that message, because it's one that I care about a lot. And again, this is so much more than an affirmation and I'm not saying anything negative about affirmations. What I'm trying to emphasize is there is so much research to show the impact that mindset shifts like this can have on our work. It's more than just an affirmation to say it's okay for me to be different and if I'm more authentic, maybe that'll help me level up in my work. There is research that shows that this is true and that it has a big impact on your ability to lead, on your ability to communicate and on your ability to achieve really big things. So I'm just I'm very happy that you're amplifying that.

Speaker 1: 31:27

That's awesome. So, moving to another conversation thread, I see a lot of people commenting on when we're talking about sports and one person I'll show in a second he said he's going to start using salon metaphors in his she said house building analogies because the foundation, the basement building having. So I think that was that's something that's universal, that's maybe not male or female specific, and I think we all have knowledge of a house, sarah, that we could bring into those stories.

Speaker 2: 31:56

Love it.

Speaker 1: 31:58

Yeah, great, kate. You said I would watch that show, and I'm not sure what show you were talking about, so you'll have to drop into comment.

Speaker 2: 32:03

I think it's when we were joking about needing an extra show to explain.

Speaker 1: 32:08

That's so good. This is another thing that happens with me, sarah. I don't ever make mistakes. I have learning experiences and I always tell people when I have a learning experience and part of this is as you get older, your memory starts to go, I believe it, on mommy brain. Like with child number one, I was fine. After child number two and all the sleepless nights I noticed that my brain cells weren't populating back. So I probably would have watched the playback, kate, and then I'd be like, oh yeah, but I brought Sarah on this show so she could help me out and remind me. So that would be another show we talk about.

Speaker 1: 32:40

So, here is the comment from Mohan hey, thanks for watching today and he says he'd love to bring sports metaphors into his examples. He needs to figure out how to bring the salon metaphors. Mohan, let me share this with you If you use salon metaphors in an audience and you've got women in the audience, you will have fans, raving fans. They will so appreciate that you're not just using sports metaphors, but that you're using salon metaphors in there. Would you agree with that?

Speaker 2: 33:04

Sarah. Yeah, I'm trying to think of which ones I'm going to start using because, I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not a salon person. I do think that almost any audience would appreciate you doing something different, mohan, and I think especially women, who often don't see themselves in the metaphors that are shared. So I'm trying to think. I think I use a bookstore metaphor a lot, I think even if you're not a reader.

Speaker 2: 33:26

there's something really peaceful about a bookstore or a library, so I do think that can be a really interesting space. I think nature is really interesting for metaphors. I love using weird things in nature to try and explain things and give folks a metaphor for things. I was talking in a couple newsletters ago about a style of tree that looks like it's a lot of trees but it's actually one tree and it's a network and it works together and that it was an interesting metaphor to use. That was sports free.

Speaker 1: 33:56

I like that and sometimes we can just use things in our surroundings. As you were talking about nature, you reminded me I did this as a LinkedIn post along probably about two years ago it was during the pandemic. I was outside walking and you know how you see those posts in your neighborhood with all the yard sale signs on them and it was this post that had it was just like a million nails and the nails were still hanging onto the post and I did a post about it and I was like, what are you still hanging on for? Like, the nails on the posts have done what they needed to do. They were holding the sign at the time and the sign's no longer there, but the nail is still hanging on.

Speaker 1: 34:28

And my analogy was sometimes we as employees of a company have gone beyond our useful life at the company or the happiness part of our time at the company. We're no longer happy there. So what are you hanging on for? So sometimes I like to use like things that we experience as a part of our analogies, but I think that sometimes it's just sharing some different perspectives and connecting the dots with those things too.

Speaker 2: 34:51

Yeah, oh, I love that, and I will say something I've learned as somebody who often writes on deadline is that if I am churning out content on a consistent basis, those kinds of stories appear to me so much more easily. It's like anything else, like when you're working out a muscle and you grow it and it strengthens over time. And so if you're somebody who does want to write a book, start a podcast, produce more art, start a company, whatever it is, those actions can feel really difficult at first, and that's one of the reasons I love setting not one, not two, not three, but four deadlines for yourself, and then some mini milestones underneath that, because it's going to encourage you to have to get consistent enough to experiment enough to where you're going to get past that awkward first part. Look, it's hard In all of this.

Speaker 2: 35:41

I say some of this is really simple. That doesn't mean it's easy. These mindset shifts are not meant to be difficult to understand. They're meant to be simple, but the work can still feel really hard. Getting up and working on a book and writing, that can be really hard, and so I'm not saying that it shouldn't be hard, but I am promising that it does get easier. And so somebody like you who's writing those stories, sharing stories on podcasts or in LinkedIn posts. The more you do it I'm sure you've seen this to be true too the easier it gets, the more you observe things around you. That can be good content for that.

Speaker 1: 36:12

Absolutely. And there might be someone out here today listening to this episode or watching it on YouTube or maybe listening to the podcast later. That's like, oh my gosh, how did she do these shows? And I've been doing this for actually for five years. We started in 2019 with this series and I've been doing these year over year and you just get a little better each time.

Speaker 1: 36:28

And even in the pre-show, I was running through Sarah, I do a run through here's how things will flow and here's what's going to happen, in what order. And you commented, you're like, wow, just, you've got it so down to such a great process. And she's like, thank you. And I'm like, well, thank you for telling me that, cause I in the beginning it wasn't quite as smooth, but I, as a completely normal person, I do big, freaking things because I do a lot of the things that you talk about. I set some goals and I I surround myself with awesome people like Sarah. Speaking of surrounding yourself with people like Sarah, I want to pull up her LinkedIn profile up on screen right now and ask you, sarah, would you be open to people who are listening to this or watching the podcast later?

Speaker 2: 37:07

Yes, Please feel free to connect with me.

Speaker 1: 37:09

All right, and for those that are listening on the podcast, her name is Sarah Glova. It's S-A-R-A-H-G-L-O-V-A. If you're looking her up on LinkedIn, I'll make sure to drop the link into show notes as well.

Speaker 2: 37:31

And then, sarah, if people are interested in working with you. We haven't even talked about your business yet, but tell us a bit about your business and what are some of the services and expertise that you offer. Oh, thank you for the chance to talk about it. I love going to association events, industry events, working with companies and speaking about this very topic. So if you're an organization with members who care a lot about accomplishing their goals, who want to try to remove some of these barriers, who are trying to keep up in this rapidly changing world, or maybe they're struggling to communicate what they want, I would love to come and speak at your organization. I'm so touched.

Speaker 2: 37:54

I saw that Elizabeth, who's in our comments, mentioned she's going to see me Coming up in April. I'm visiting a symposium held by an awesome organization. They're known as the Association for Independence, so we talk about entrepreneurship, a lot Information professionals, so AIIP and I'm keynoting their conference and we're talking about this very topic. We're going to go over the one page to impact. So if you're an organization who wants a speaker to come in and talk about these topics, I would love to do that and you can check me out on my website, sarahglobacom.

Speaker 1: 38:24

All right Again, that's S-A-R-A-H-G-L-O-V-Acom for those that are listening on the podcast later. Sarah, this has been such a delightful conversation. I got the chance to know a little bit more about you today and it's such a fun topic how completely normal people do big freaking things. I've learned some great insights from you and I just want to thank you so much. Is there any final comments you'd like to share with folks about this topic?

Speaker 2: 38:46

Absolutely, and, I have to say, when you took wedding pictures and your face hurt from smiling so much, that's how I feel. I've been smiling so much. This whole show. This has been so fun. Thank you for putting this together and thank you for bringing some light on this topic. The thing that I try to end with all the time is like look, this is a little bit critical. Our world has some really big problems in it and needs a lot of new voices, and so we need you, we need your idea, we need your art, we need your business, we need your new tech, whatever it is, we really need it, and so I hope that, after hearing this today, you feel a little inspiration to not just believe in yourself and believe that you can do it, but also to take some action and to recruit some folks to help you, because we really do. We need to see it. We're counting on you and you can totally do it. You've got this.

Speaker 1: 39:30

Oh, love it. Such great inspiration and I feel the same way. I feel part of part of my why I love doing like these podcasts, these interviews, but I always bring on people selfishly that I want to hear from and, like I said when I was interacting with Sarah on innovation, when I'm like, oh, she'd make a fun interview, and I actually feel like the more we smile I don't know if it helps with our aging or whatnot, but I feel like it does work the smile muscles in your cheekbones because you get off and you're like it's only been smiling for an hour, you've been laughing and but thank you for giving my face a workout.

Speaker 2: 39:59

I love it. This was my workout for today and I will 100% take that. I love it.

Speaker 1: 40:04

Oh, awesome. I want to thank our audience for watching and, by the way, sarah and I are self-employed too. You work for yourself.

Speaker 2: 40:11

So we don't A thousand percent.

Speaker 1: 40:13

Okay. So we are enthusiastically self-employed and we no longer receive a performance review. So, my friends, if you're watching this, I would love it If you drop a comment below before you leave today and let us know if you enjoyed the broadcast, the topic today. We'd really appreciate it. Additionally, I'm going to give you a little tip as your LinkedIn coach, and that is this if you have not yet posted on LinkedIn this week, this month, this year, as soon as the video is done playing here, you're going to get a little share at the bottom. Click on share and share this video as a LinkedIn post.

Speaker 1: 40:46

Tell people something that you learned from watching or why they should watch it, and be sure to tag Sarah and myself in the post. Now, remember tagging. You use the little at sign. So type in at Sarah and it'll pre-populate her name, and then at Brenda Meller, tag us. We'll get notified. We will comment back on your post to help to give you a little jumpstart in the reach of your post, and we would appreciate it as well. So, with that said, stay safe and stay healthy, everyone. We will look forward to seeing you on LinkedIn and we hope you will be doing big fricking things in the future.