The Confident Podcast

EP 171 | Mastering the Power of Pause: How to Become Less Reactive with Mental Health Advocate Kimberly Dunn

• The Confident Podcast • Episode 171

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Feeling like you’re constantly reacting and moving fast through life? This week, we sit down with Mental Health Advocate Kimberly Dunn, who shares how mastering the power of pause transformed her life after losing her brother to bipolar suicide. Learn how a simple 30 second pause can help you slow down and become less reactive and more intentional to show up as your best self both personally and professionally.

Chapters:

  • 0:00 - Intro & Meet Guest Kimberly Dunn
  • 11:01 - Practicing the Power of Pause
  • 27:27 - Meditation, Self-awareness, & Intention Setting
  • 30:00 - Key Takeaways & Outro


Read the full episode show notes

Guest Kimberly Dunn's Info to Connect:


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Host, Lisa Tarkington's Socials, Links, & Coaching:

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Kimberly :

Lisa, I didn't have three minutes for coffee in the morning. I dreaded mornings. I didn't know what my day was even going to look like. I was starting over. Now I look forward to the morning. I have a plan, but I also know that life's going to continue to happen on life's terms. Now I have tools to be able to stop and take an assessment and I'm constantly in practice and in flow of these things. It's not a one and done.

Lisa:

Welcome to the Confident Podcast. I am Lisa Tarkington, your host of this podcast. If you found yourself hitting play on this podcast, it means it was meant for you. My goal is to help, empower and guide you to become a better version of yourself through conversation, advice and tips that are real, vulnerable and authentic. I am excited to have you join this journey with me. So let's get started.

Lisa:

Hey everybody, welcome back for another episode of the Confident Podcast. I am your host, Lisa Tarkington, and it is an honor to be here. It's an honor to be in this seat and just to really teach you all about leadership, well-being, confidence and everything in between. Today's episode is going to be phenomenal, and I'll get to that in a second, but what I wanna also share with you guys is I always love to give you updates. I love to give you updates on my life and where things are and also some successes that have come along our way. So, as I share on all of these podcasts, I'm growing too.

Lisa:

My word of the year is discipline, so it's something that I'm very, very much sticking to, and with every year, there's ups and downs, but it's also very important that we celebrate our successes and to also see how far we've come. You know we are in August August 2024, and I live in Michigan, so for me it is our summertime. It is a beautiful time to really just embrace this weather and enjoy the time in summertime, because fall is going to be around the corner and then I have winter here in Michigan. So when I look at how I want to spend my time, it's been very intentional. This summer it's been really slowing down to pick back up. It's learning how to have the power of pause and it's really about how do I show up to be my best self. One of the ways that I've done this is really just stepping back and noticing well, where do I want to spend my time? Can I do these things that I want to achieve? And then kind of just putting phases into my life that really allow me to do that. Now, is it always easy? No, but it's about having that growth and those opportunities and those beliefs in myself. If you were around when I first started this podcast, you know that I went through a lot of burnout and a lot of exhaustion, a lot of moments of ups and downs, and while I'm still going to have moments in my life worth ups and downs. I've really been intentional about my time and with that I've also been able to have so many amazing coaching clients and speaking engagements where people have continued to be successful, and I wanted to share with those some of those for you today, because I think it's important for you guys to also know what we're doing at Lead to Change Lives.

Lisa:

And so recently I had a keynote in front of 100 individuals and I was talking about being a leader and what that looks like. We talked about what type of leader they are now and the leader they want to be in the future. And I will tell you, this is like the next generation of leaders and to watch them want to grow and also see. This is what I'm really good at. But man, did they have that self-awareness of where they wanted to go? Next?

Lisa:

The energy in the room was fabulous and the key takeaways was so phenomenal. It was amazing to be in that room and also really see the light bulbs go off. We also work in different school districts and I just finished up working with a few of them. It was amazing to be in that room and also really see the light bulbs go off. We also work in different school districts and I just finished up working with a few of them. One of the things that really really stood out for me was the thought around limiting beliefs. When we think about what is a goal that we have and what's that limiting belief stopping us, it's also important that we think about how we're going to overcome that. But when we're thinking about how we overcome it, one thing really resonated with me is that we are so ambiguous about how we're going to overcome it. Sometimes it's I'm going to study more or I'm going to work out more, but it's very about how do we become intentional, and when we were in these classrooms teaching these things, it was so awesome to see those light bulbs go off. It was also really great to see people who thought that they had no, they were never going to achieve those goals, and being able to help them have those resources and really have those light bulbs go off that says you can do it was so awesome. I also see it with my coaching clients. I love all of them that I work with, but it's really cool when they're coming back and holding themselves accountable for the changes they need to make in order to be a better leader in their organizations and honestly looking inward, to make those changes.

Lisa:

While those are just some examples of our in-person programs, I've talked a lot on here about our membership platform and, if you've been on the fence about joining us, I want to share with you guys something that really really has stuck out to me. We've recently been doing a hybrid, which means that we are doing some virtual programming and then we're using the membership platform in between. It has been a game changer for so many individuals who have been part of this process with us and taking part in these workshops, who have been part of this process with us and taking part in these workshops. One thing that's really resonated was when we're going through the tools, the light bulbs are going off about. If I had more confidence, what would I do? That was like the biggest thing.

Lisa:

We had people showing up that had imposter syndrome or was really struggling to love themselves or didn't have that growth mindset or honestly needed to make a change, but just didn't know how. We are halfway through that program right now and in my last program, my last virtual workshop with everybody, one woman stood up and said oh my goodness, this membership has changed my life. I did not realize how much I needed this. She's like Lisa you had been talking about it for a while, but I just didn't get my fingers into it because I'm like I'll just do that later. And she said that she has had so many transformations just in the two months we've been working together that she's already made some changes and phases in her life that she would have continued to wait on.

Lisa:

And so, if you were wondering if this membership platform is for you, I want you to think about a few things. Do you struggle with imposter syndrome? Do you struggle with self-doubt? Do you struggle to find your purpose? Are you putting habits into your life that aren't sticking? Are you setting goals that you're not achieving? Are you learning to be present? Are you struggling with that, and are you allowing yourself to continue to tell yourself these negative stories or stories that aren't true?

Lisa:

If so, this membership platform is for you. It's for people that are just starting out on their journey of growth and personal and professional development. It's for people that are midway through or just need some growth in these tools. And it's for people that are midway through or just need some growth in these tools, and it's for people that are also experts in these areas that also need to grow in these tools. My hand is raised because I am one of those people that is an expert, but I'm continuously growing in these tools, and the best part of it is that it's only $10 a month. It's valued way more per month, but we want to make sure that it's accessible to all individuals, no matter what level you're at.

Lisa:

So for $10 a month, we're giving this to you. We want you to all grow and achieve all of your goals, and to do that it's $10 a month. You get access to tools, worksheets, you get pep talks, you get scripts. You are going to have information that's going to change your life, just like the people that have already been part of it, and so I want you to also know that we have a special for everybody listening in. Use the code the Confident Podcast. The link is in the notes, it's just leadwithinleadconfidently org. Use the code podcast 50 and get 50 percent off your first month. That is my gift to all of you, because I so deeply want all of you to grow in it.

Lisa:

We love the stories of people reaching out to me sharing how this podcast has changed their lives. I've also enjoyed chatting with so many people on the phone helping them take it to the next level, and so every time I do that, I also know that you have to look internally to do that yourself, and it takes us back to the power of pause, and so today's episode is all about how to pause, how to reflect and how to make changes into your life, and I really am so excited for today because it's all about mastering that. It's all about becoming the person that you are meant to be, and so I'm going to have my dear friend Kim Dunn come on and I will tell you she is the most warm person. She has this voice that's so calming, that's so outgoing, makes you just want to like talk to her for hours, and what she has to share is so amazing. To like talk to her for hours and what she has to share is so amazing. So she is a fierce mental health advocate who has transformed her personal experience of losing her brother, chad, to bipolar suicide into a passion, commitment to her work. She has nearly 25 years of business experience and she helps people with mental fitness, and she is a coach, and she is just such an inspiring person. Not only is she a coach, but she's a consultant and she helps people with their core values. She also helps companies figure out operational efficiencies and establishing healthy boundaries.

Lisa:

I'm going to share how Kim and I met. So Kim and I met years ago probably about five years ago and the minute I met Kim, I knew that she was going to be my friend forever, because she was warm, she was caring, but she had this thing about her that I just wanted to learn from her. Since then, we've continued to be dear friends. I'm so excited for her to be on here.

Lisa:

What we cover in today's episode is all about the power of pause, taking 30 seconds to add things into your life, and how you are the one that can set the tone for how to change your life.

Lisa:

We also talk about how to do this personally and professionally, and Kim takes us through a whole experience of how to add this into your life. We also talk about how to do this personally and professionally, and Kim takes us through a whole experience of how to add this into your life, and so I'm excited for you to learn from her just as much as I'm going to learn from her, because this is about going inward and knowing that when we pause versus rush, rush, rush. It is a game changer in our lives, so let's get into this, because I cannot wait for you guys all to walk away from today learning how to pause into your life and make changes that are positive. Well, welcome, kim, to the Confident Podcast. Thank you, lisa. I'm happy to be here, so let's dive right in. So, kim, to kind of kick us off, share a little bit with us about your journey and what led you to really focus on the power of pause.

Kimberly :

Yeah, I love this idea about practicing the pause and I take it into every part of my life parenting, work, personal life. So I have realized through looking back on my course in life that so often I'm just doing right, I'm moving on to the next thing and I'm not actually taking time to slow down and take an inventory. So I got deep into meditation practice about five years ago and I realized how much the practice of meditation has helped me in every area of my life and I've also noticed that teaching my kiddos meditation how much it helps them as well. So I brought in this idea of practicing the pause into especially my business world and I like to liken it to being a firefighter.

Kimberly :

Tell me more so as business owners, as leaders, as parents, whatever the role you are in life, we're constantly putting out fires. Yeah, we're jumping into the fires. How many times are we actually being a firefighter, though? Because what does a firefighter do when they come up to a burning building?

Lisa:

They're spraying the water right on the building, but before they do that they pause right.

Kimberly :

We have to practice the pause.

Lisa:

They pause, they assess the situation, they develop a plan and then they take action I love that I went right into what they do and didn't even pause to be like, well, I I actually don't think that they pause, but they do. You are so right, we have to pause.

Kimberly :

We have got to practice the pause in everything. We're so used to reacting. We have become a very reactive society in every part of our world. Yeah, we become dysregulated, our days rule us, we no longer manage our schedule and our time. But when we can practice the pause, imagine what life would look like.

Lisa:

Yeah, so obviously this, though started because you probably weren't pausing.

Kimberly :

I was not pausing. Life was running me.

Lisa:

So tell us more about that. Yeah, I'm curious. Like, take us back, even though it might be not fun. Yeah, okay, let's go back to the beginning. Thank more about that?

Kimberly :

Yeah, I'm curious. Take us back, even though it might be not fun. Yeah, okay, let's go back to the beginning. Thank you for that.

Kimberly :

So 11 years ago, july, I lost my little brother to bipolar suicide. Five years prior to that, he was diagnosed with bipolar. It was obviously a very dark time in my family's life. It was obviously a very dark time in my family's life when he was first diagnosed with bipolar. We were given terrible advice to not tell anybody about Chad's diagnosis. So for five years we carried this kind of dark secret. After he suicided, we were very open in his obituary and memorial service that Chad died following a mental health struggle.

Kimberly :

The amount of people that came up to my family and I sharing their struggles, sharing their stories, was heartbreaking. We lost right. You don't go to the losing team for pointers on how to win the game. We had a problem. This set me on a whole different life journey, lisa. I became very purpose driven, very intentional, without even realizing it in that moment, but I was fueled by passion and by this understanding that so many of us are struggling in a lot of shared ways, not to the extent that chad was. Chad was very sick. Bipolar disorder is not what you and I might be struggling with on a regular basis, but it raised an awareness that we all have a journey and we all have a struggle. So my journey into becoming a mental health advocate started with Chad's journey and with his ultimate passing Wow.

Lisa:

And that's tough, right, like and that's like, but I would commend you first off for sharing that, so thank you, and then also for taking that and being like I can, I need to do something about this, absolutely Right. So how has? So we talked a little bit about I love the example of the firefighter. That is a great. They can't do their job without pausing right, and so, now that you've added this into your life from not doing it, what are the biggest changes that you've seen so far?

Kimberly :

so I'm gonna add on to my story because my journey continues. So five years ago I went through a divorce, an isolating experience even though so many of us go through it. Right, it's just a very painful and private experience as well. As a result of it, I got an opportunity for a do-over and figure out what I wanted to be. When I grew up, right, my now co-parent and I had a business together and I was grateful to be able to support him for that first year post-transition able to support him for that first year post-transition. But then I got an opportunity to figure out how do I use my experience, my story and the wisdom that I've gained as a result of Chad's experience. So I became a coach, but I became my first client as well.

Kimberly :

So many times in life I've graduated from counseling right, I've done the thing, I've gotten through the acute trauma, but I didn't have the tools. So I really just became hungry for more information and that's where my meditation practice came into play and that's where this idea of practicing the pause came into play came into play. I used to not have time for three minutes in the morning for a cup of coffee. Now my morning routine is 30 to 60 minutes without interruption. I have time, I have peace and I'm more productive, which is amazing.

Lisa:

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Lisa:

One of the things I am most proud of is how I continue to put personal development at the forefront of my growth. I know this is something many people struggle with, because we don't always know where to start. There's almost too much information out there. It can become overwhelming and requires research to ensure credibility. I also want something that's accessible anytime and that I can pick back up where I left off. Not only has this been my personal experience, but I've had countless individuals reach out to me for resources. This is why I'm so excited to share with you Lead Within, an online membership platform created for adults, parents and teenagers.

Lisa:

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Lisa:

Wow, so that's a big flip, right, right. And so what you were saying is the meditation and the power of pause, and the whole time you were saying that to me, I can hear everybody in the audience being like well, that's great for her, right, but like I can't do that. My life's not set up that way when they don't even know, like everything else, right. So when someone's struggling with the power pause, or even like, for me, I struggled a long time with meditation, so I had to find what was best for me, yeah, but so I guess it's a twofold thing. So, first off, I love that you said also I didn't have the tools, and that is like I was like, oh, that's the dream of when people understand that they just need the tools and then they will be successful.

Lisa:

So, like what would you say to someone listening to that and saying like well, I don't have the time for the power of pause, or I don't, I only have three minutes. What would you say to them? Or I don't, I only have three minutes. What? What would you say to them?

Kimberly :

I didn't have three minutes, right, I justified I was busy, I was a single mom, I was starting over, I did not have time. You do not not have time and start small 30 seconds. I have a very active brain. Meditation was very challenging for me. It doesn't have to look like sitting in a dark room for 20 minutes trying to ignore your thoughts Quite opposite. I have learned so many different meditation practices. My favorite is active meditation that you can do in a meeting when you're actively engaging with somebody. It's being intentional. That's what the pause is really about is being intentional slowing down in the moment. Ok, so tell me more about this. How does someone do this? Ok, so we're going to do a 30 second meditation. So I'm going to look at the timer so I can hold myself accountable.

Lisa:

We're going to do a 30 second eyes open meditation.

Kimberly :

So I'm going to look at the timer so I can hold myself accountable. We're going to do a 30 second eyes open meditation, Okay, so starting now, I want you to focus on your breath, starting at the top of your face. Relax the muscles in your face, drop your tongue from the roof of your mouth and breathe. Oh yeah, you caught me there Every single time we carry tension. Relax your shoulders, drop them from your ears and just breathe. Just focus on your breath for a couple more seconds 30 seconds, Lisa. What do you notice when you focus on your breath and you do a quick check-in? We just did this area here. We didn't even do a full body scan.

Lisa:

It was instantly where is the tension? And then my mind wandered a second there, absolutely. But I also thought it was interesting just to do it with my eyes open, because I always close my eyes. Always Right, amazing, right, 30 seconds. That Amazing, right, 30 seconds.

Kimberly :

That was very quick 30 seconds.

Kimberly :

Yeah, right To slow down, but you're noticing tension and you're releasing tension in that time as well, and while we're going to continue having these thoughts. Right, it helps you to downregulate. So imagine putting this into practice to down-regulate. So imagine putting this into practice. When I first started doing this in my workday, I would set a timer every hour to do 30 seconds oh, interesting, 30 seconds of breathing. Breathing is meditation as well. Right, it's bringing that self-awareness every hour. I was not perfect, right, I might get five out of 10 hours in the day that I actually did the thing. And now what I'm intentional about is anytime I have a transition in my day, so I wear a lot of hats, right, as we all do. If I'm going from mom mode to work mode, coaching mode to consulting mode, I take time and I practice the pause, I do a check-in. That's how I bring it into my life. Now let's talk about the work world. Yeah, okay. So how many times are you making decisions and responding to fires?

Lisa:

Oh, my gosh, I can probably count on multiple hands, right, right, you don't have enough fingers. I don't have enough fingers.

Kimberly :

Right, exactly your intention for the day. Here's what I'm going to do. I've got my time blocking, my time boxing. I'm using my tools and life happens on life's terms, totally Yep, and we're reacting. Yep, right, we're putting out the fire because that's what we need to do in that moment. But imagine, instead of reacting, every single time you practice the pause. You took a moment to assess the situation, to take inventory and then to take action. Is this something that requires my attention in this moment? Am I the only resource that can get this done? Or, if you could take a moment, practice the pause, connect other resources, so develop your people around you as well. Right, so in the workspace, we develop others by empowering them, or by taking a moment and teaching them, or by creating a boundary. Right, this is not priority right now. So many times I've seen this play out that we don't put out the fire. In that moment, the fire gets put out on its own because people rise and fill in the gap. They figure the things out. Pause.

Lisa:

Yeah, and if you don't pause, you don't allow them to Right Exactly.

Lisa:

And I think the other thing that really came up as you were talking is we did a podcast a couple weeks ago on feedback and one of the things is around getting defensive. But when you're not pausing, you're immediately the first thought that comes to your mind you're blurting out and you are not trying to be defensive. You're not trying Like some of us are, like I wish I wouldn't have said that, and so what you just said is like it could be done in your personal or professional life. It's when you pause you have a moment to think about what you want to say.

Lisa:

Absolutely, it still might not be perfect, but it's better than coming off in a way that you didn't plan to, right and then you regret and then how much time are you spending replaying that regret reel?

Kimberly :

And it's good to go back and evaluate and that's another good part of it. So, doing the breath work, practicing 30-second meditations work up to two minutes. Now, what I do in the business world is I open meetings with a meditation because I know people are coming into this space with their to-do list, with all of whatever they have ahead of them or just behind them. We do a grounding meditation. We do two to five minutes of what do we need to become present in this place? How do we pause, right and focus and be intentional?

Lisa:

Yeah, Well and you're making me think, too, of one other thing that's came up recently is you just said something about like people come in hot, yeah, and we are right. We're going from meeting to meeting, we're rushing, sometimes we're driving from somewhere, and we were recently in a meeting where someone was like, ok, can we just get over? Here's my points. And someone stopped and said well, we should probably recap why we're having this meeting and to your point, meditation or pausing to say why are we here? It reset to set the priorities for the meeting, which was huge, and it was like I opened for a few individuals that I work with. They were with some of my clients and they were just saying to me that's what I needed. Because I was coming in hot and heavy, yeah, because I wasn't pausing.

Kimberly :

Right, you've got to pause and then to build that body of evidence when you did it, pat yourself on the back and acknowledge that Right, you've got to pause and then to build that body of evidence when you did it, pat yourself on the back and acknowledge that, right, because we've got to retrain our brain, we've got to rewire our brain. So take that inventory and that assessment. So breath work being intentional, calendar reminders, but then, at the end of the day, do your brain dump and do an assessment on yourself. How did you show up? Were there opportunities that you could have used the pause that you missed, so that we can start to bring awareness to ourself and live with intention?

Lisa:

Yeah, yeah, well, and it's beautiful that you're talking about all of this, because we recently just, on our membership platform, launched self-awareness and it's all. It's all about noticing your emotions, noticing other people's emotions, making decisions based off that. But then also journal prompting, right, and what you just said about the meditation thing too, it's like, like I love journal prompts because it helps you kind of categorize it, but so does meditation, the sense of like you're just pausing and taking a moment, right. Same thing with just everything we talked about. When you pause, you can feel what you're feeling. You can also take a moment to be like, okay, they just reacted that way. I need to pause for a second before I react, right, and you even brought that up in the beginning about we are a reactive society and I teach being proactive and prevention. So much right.

Lisa:

We both are in this world of professional development and personal development, where we want people to start to do the work now versus waiting for things, and that is like something that, like, I probably talk more about on this podcast than anything, because I think it's so important. And so what would you say? I'm going to say I'm going to use the word leader in a broad way. So I think sometimes when we hear leader, we think of the leader that is running or who is our boss? Right, I'm going to put it in that term, but I believe leaders are in all aspects of the workplace. So if a leader is struggling with the self-awareness piece and the power of pause, like what is something that's going to make them really be like? Like what is something that's going to make them really?

Kimberly :

be like if I don't do this, this is the flip side. Oh, ok, burnout is huge. Right, burnout is huge. And look at how you're reacting outside of your workplace too. Is your family, your village getting the best of you or the leftovers of you, right? And if they're not getting the best of you, you are constantly overexerting yourself, right? So, to do that self-check and that self-reflection on what do I have left over? And if you're not satisfied with it, that's your true serum that you've got to do things different, right? Or you're going to burn out. And burnout manifests itself in so many ways, but there's physical. If you don't take time to pause, life will slow you down one way or another. You've seen it with leaders. Oh my gosh, yeah.

Lisa:

How many times, right, you've burned out from the corporate world. I did and like it literally landed me on bed rest, and I wish so much I would have done the prevention work, and I think that that's why I'm so big on it now, because I don't want someone to not be able to get out of bed like me, right, or be so miserable that you become this like person. You're like I don't actually want to be around her.

Kimberly :

Right.

Lisa:

And to your point. It shows up in ways that it just is this spiral, like this one thing then leads to the next thing, but it can also be on the flip side If you pause, like all of these amazing things could happen All these amazing things.

Kimberly :

So personally right to be able to take the pause before reacting in the workplace, building your team up as you're the leader. If you can take that pause and connect resources or empower others to figure it out right, people want to do well, but also giving them the room to be able to explore and experiment. Be a firefighter. Practice the pause.

Lisa:

Yeah, I love that. And I think what really came up to me while you were talking about that too is like back to everybody can be a leader, right, everybody can be a leader. And so like, if you're not, if your leader is not doing those things, how are you going to step up to do that? How are you going to make sure that these are new practices? How do you bring that to your leader? Because I think that we look at like, oh, the leader is supposed to tell me that the leader is supposed to do it and like no, we're a team, right. Same with at home, husband, wife, you know, kids, everything like bringing it up, they don't know what they don't know sometimes.

Kimberly :

Yeah, right, absolutely.

Lisa:

I come back to and you and I talk about this often is what is the one person we can actually control, and it is ourself, right At the end of the day.

Kimberly :

So how many times are we dictating our day on other people? And we have to right, but we're also blaming and we're not taking responsibility and accountability because we're waiting for somebody else to take lead or to do the thing. Somebody else to take lead or to do the thing. This is an area where everybody has their own accountability. It's not waiting for a top down, it's starting with the one person that we can control, and that is ourself. And so to be able to self-mastery right, to practice the pause, to check in with yourself, to make sure that you are not just responding as you go through your day, because that is depleting.

Kimberly :

Lisa, I didn't have three minutes for coffee in the morning. I dreaded mornings. I didn't know what my day was even going to look like. I was starting over. Now I look forward to the morning. I have a plan, but I also know that life's going to continue to happen on life's terms. Now I have tools to be able to stop and take an assessment and I'm constantly in practice and in flow of these things. It's not a one and done, yeah.

Lisa:

Yeah Well, and I think you just said it beautifully it's like you have to start somewhere and you also have to get out of that victim mindset too.

Lisa:

Right, like it's on you to make these changes and, like I always say, like you know, people are always asking for work-life harmony, work-life balance and stuff, and they're always looking for all of these. I'm going to say quick things that will just change it all, but it is. I think we say this all the time. But it's literally that constant journey and it's choosing small things to put into your life, right To your point about meditation 30 seconds, start there, just start there, right, and the more that you do it. We know that practice and consistency is key. We talk about it with other things, right With business, like oh, I have to prospect, I have to do all these things, but so it's just doing it right and like owning it and just understanding that, like, when you pause, there is like game changing advice that you can give yourself, and I'll share the example.

Lisa:

I think in the last year I've paused more than I ever have before and it is I see it not only in myself but in my work Like my work is so much better because I'm finally pausing and being like, okay, there's a better way. Or oh, okay, I've reacted this way. Clearly it hasn't been working for us, right, so what am I going to change about it? And then also, giving my mind space to breathe has been a game changer, right, and I know those things and I think that's been huge for my confidence, it's been huge for my growth. But it's back to what you said about doing it and tools. Yeah, yeah. So to close us out like what is like the takeaways that you want to make sure every person listening in takes away when it comes to the power of pause, yeah, yeah. So to close us out like what is like the takeaways that you want to make sure every person listening in takes away when it comes to the power of pause, yeah absolutely so.

Kimberly :

First of all, you can't unhear these things, so the seed has been planted right.

Kimberly :

So the seed is planted and I love that right, because people are going to continue to ponder this and think about it, and I love the power of the pause is catchy right, yes, but also intentional. And when we can just be intentional about our thoughts and about our actions, be that firefighter, right, develop a plan, stop and assess, develop a plan before taking action. Best part of that is start with 30 seconds, give yourself 30 seconds, start with once a day, right, just to become aware, just breathe. Right, just breathe. Focus on the exhale. When we exhale, everything goes away with that right, and just to be able to slow down, be intentional. And then, when you get good, take that inventory, like you just shared, of all the amazing gifts that have come in the past year since you have been intentional about slowing down. Take that positive inventory and use it to propel you to go forward.

Lisa:

I love that. And so, kim, where can people find you if they want to work with you?

Kimberly :

Yeah, so find me online. I have a website Mind Up Coaching, also on my Instagram and Facebook, so I will share the links with you to pass them on. Perfect yeah.

Lisa:

I'll put them in my show notes Awesome. Well, thank you, kim, so much for being on this podcast. I just want everybody listening in to know like you matter, and I just think in the you know we live back to what Kim said about a reactive society, and one thing that I would challenge all of you to do is think about it in the sense of, like, how do I become proactive? And we've talked about this a few times on this podcast, but one of the ways that you can or I'm going to give a few different ways that you can be proactive. One, get a coach. That is a key. Kim and I both have them in our lives, which is really huge and a game changer for us. We also are coaches, so we see it firsthand the life-changing moments people have had.

Lisa:

I've also talked a lot about continuous learning. If there's a skill that you want to grow in, I want you to pause for a second and think about, well, where do I go next? And I want you to grow in that area. And then the third thing use the nonprofit lead that I lead because I think it's so important for people to know that we are continuously being the prevention, being the proactive piece, and we have a membership platform that I cannot speak more highly about. The value of it is only $10 a month, but you get so much more than that. We have topics, we have tools, we have resources, we have pep talks and we have scripts that you get to use. What Kim and I were talking about earlier when we talked about having the tools they are right at your fingertips. You just have to make that decision if you're going to take that next step, and so, like Kim said earlier, you can't unhear these things. These are things that you know. You're listening to this podcast for a reason, so take this as your moment to sign up for it. You know, use the code that I give out a podcast 50 and get 50% off your first month. Take the opportunity. If you decide that it's no longer for you and no longer serving you, you can cancel for free.

Lisa:

But the point is is that you're putting the foot forward to make a change in your life. No more talking about it. I want you to do it because I know firsthand, when I made those changes, how my whole life was transformed in a positive way. So thank you for tuning in. If you need one-on-one support. Please reach out to me on my Instagram at LisaTarkingtonOfficial. Just DM me and I'm happy to assist you with whatever you need.

Lisa:

I always give advice. I meet with people one-on-one and also I can give you the programs within LEAD that can really serve you. I can also show you the membership of where you should start. We get that call all the time from individuals who say Lisa, I don't know where to start on here. I talk them through exactly what their steps are. That tailors specifically to their needs, and I will do that for you. So please reach out to me and, as I always say on every podcast, continue to spread love and kindness to everybody that you meet, including yourself, and have a great day. Thank you for tuning into the Confident Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, follow the Confident Podcast on Instagram and TikTok and share it with those who might benefit. Also, if you are looking to work one-on-one with me, message and follow me on Instagram at LisaTarkingtonOfficial. Stay confident, stay inspired and, until next time, keep striving to be the best version of yourself. Take care.

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