Interview with Suzy Carroll: Mentor to Mission-Inspired Women. Suzy Carroll is a mentor to (often overwhelmed) mission-inspired women, a recovered “busyness” addict, and the founder of the Alchemy of Feminine Leadership™ - Programs that Give Women Permission to Shine. suzycarroll.com
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. The series interviews women (& women-identified & non-binary) entrepreneurs, founders, and gurus across all industries to investigate those voices in business today. Both the platform and discussion are designed to further the global conversation in regards to the changing climate in entrepreneurial and founding roles.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:07] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series will contain interviews I conduct with female and female identified entrepreneurs, founders, co-founders, business owners and industry gurus. These podcasts speak with women and women, identified individuals across all industries in order to shed light for those just getting into the entrepreneurial game, as well as those deeply embedded within it histories, current companies and lessons learned are explored in the conversations I have with these insightful and talented powerhouses. The series is designed to investigate a female and female identified perspective in what has largely been a male dominated industry in the USA to date. I look forward to contributing to the national dialog about the long overdue change of women in American business arenas and in particular, entrepreneurial roles. You can contact me via my media company website Wild Dot Agency. That's why Elle DEA agents see for my personal website. Patricia Kathleen, dot com. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation. [00:01:25][77.9]
[00:01:30] Hi, everyone, and welcome back, this is your host, Patricia, and today I'm sitting down with Suzy Carroll. Suzy is a mentor to mission inspired women. She's president of Suzy Carroll Inc and she can be located at Suzy Carroll Dotcom. Welcome, Suzy. [00:01:45][15.1]
[00:01:46] Hi. I'm so excited to be here. [00:01:47][1.6]
[00:01:48] I'm excited to interview you as well. For everyone listening, I'm going to read your bio on Suzy to kind of introduce her before I start peppering her with questions. But first, a quick roadmap for today's podcast. We're going to follow the same trajectory as we do with all of these in the series. We're first going to look at Suzy's academic background on professional life and then we're going to unpack the work that she does and some of her current endeavors with her mentorship. Then we'll turn towards goals that Suzy has for the next three years, both personally and professionally. And then we'll wrap everything up with advice that she may have for those looking to emulate her career or get involved with her current endeavors. So a quick bio on Suzy before we launch into questions. [00:02:32][44.1]
[00:02:33] Suzy Carroll is a mentor, too often overwhelmed mission inspired women, a recovered business addict and the founder of the alchemy of feminine leadership programs that give women permission to shine. Suzy is a suicide survivor. This is a life event as a young child ignited a lifelong quest to be enough. In her late 40s, she completed, burned out and suffered adrenal fatigue. After juggling it all for decades, she sold her brick and mortar business and began a quest of a different kind. Opening her eyes to the societal legacy that indoctrinates women and so often leads to overwhelm and to women diminishing their own light. Suzy calls on her thirty five years of business leadership and life experience to guide women to further mission by revealing what's getting in their way and letting and then letting go of the millennium of messages and legacies that women carry forward. [00:03:34][60.8]
[00:03:36] So I'm excited to kind of climb into that. Suzy, I think you have your website, which I adore, by the way. [00:03:42][6.2]
[00:03:42] I really find it very as a viewer of millions of websites a day, I find an amazing and the set up and the you know, your concept in your brand is is so well relayed in that initial landing there. [00:03:56][14.6]
[00:03:57] But before we climb into all of that, I want to look at your academic background and your early professional life prior to you finding this life college. [00:04:06][8.7]
[00:04:06] All right. Well, you're going to get a laugh out of this, given your background. My early academic life was I went to college for fashion design and commercial design and realized I have I could care less about fashion. [00:04:23][16.3]
[00:04:24] Yeah, excellent. [00:04:25][1.4]
[00:04:27] I need fashion those in my life. So that was actually kind of a short step for me. And then my my early twenties, age twenty three, I began working for a printing company. And I've always had something in me where there's always been this little inner piece of me that is striving for more. And I was I was watching the sales staff and I love that freedom they have so that they can go inside and out and didn't have to sit at their desk all day long. And they happened to be in the area that this printing company was. There was a woman on printing company and we got along very well. And she offered me a position and I went to work with her. I cut my teeth on sales. And by the time I was twenty five and this is a long time ago, I'm fifty six. By time I was twenty five, I'd broken the six figure income level. Wow. I never looked back as far as school goes. And in a way for me that was probably a good choice. I'm not saying it was a choice for everybody. I'm so nonacademic. I'm a very, very kinesthetic. So I learned by doing. [00:05:37][69.6]
[00:05:40] Interesting. So with the how did you switch over from I mean, that's a it's an interesting life to lead and leave. I mean, a twenty five getting into six figures. [00:05:51][11.7]
[00:05:52] Is it unto itself a special reality? You're running with a certain crowd at that point. What during that time period did you acquire skills that you are now employing or did you acquire skills that you definitely did not want to employ? What was the reality of that like? [00:06:11][18.8]
[00:06:12] I am one of the. [00:06:13][1.4]
[00:06:16] A skill that has stayed with me my entire working life career has been a really good work ethic because I was at that point in time in my life, I was working on one hundred percent commission. I don't even recall this pay, to be quite honest. Wow. So in a way, even though I was working for a company, I was a solo entrepreneur and I learned at a very young age that how I showed up affected. Impacted in a huge way the level of income coming in, so that was one thing. Another thing I learned and it was actually in my early twenties, I went to a training put on by a company called Context Training, Pursuit of Excellence. I believe they're still around. And in that I learned it was there's so many different personality trait programs, methodologies out there. But I learned how to identify if somebody was in the analyzer, promoter, controller or supporter and that I've used my entire life. Mm hmm. And in a way, it's just it's behavioral science. It's a way of putting somebody at ease. And I love to do that. I like people to be comfortable around me. [00:07:36][80.1]
[00:07:37] Yeah. [00:07:37][0.0]
[00:07:37] And sales, I mean, I think people who last as long as as you did in sales or find any happiness in it frequently, like those profiling traits. And there's I know there's a lot of different pedagogical lenses that kind of break it down as to how to look at things like that. But yeah, having those five or six subsets of people and realizing that that's how you break down interactions differently with each one, given what their personal motives are. And it trains everyone to be really observant. Right. This kind of in that, of course, as we know, age and communication when we're actually serve someone. [00:08:10][32.7]
[00:08:11] Yeah. I mean, if you if you can identify where your client is in that spectrum, you're able to serve them better. I remember one of my biggest clients way back then was he was an analyzer and he needed information. He needed to come out to the plant. He needed to see how our file systems worked. And that was what he needed to feel comfortable. My clients that would have fallen into that more controlling category. And this is just like giving the information straight. Shoot it. Just don't waste my time. Mm hmm. [00:08:45][34.1]
[00:08:47] Did you ever find I'm curious as as a kind of a tangent, but what happened when personalities did you have overlaps of people that represented a little bit of both? [00:08:56][9.7]
[00:08:57] And if so, were you able to accommodate that or did the you know, I don't remember specifics. [00:09:01][4.1]
[00:09:02] I don't remember ever having a problem, like, misidentifying, OK. But absolutely, I know even with myself as I've gotten older, I realize, you know, I kind of draw from all quadrants, right? [00:09:21][19.5]
[00:09:22] But there's still a dominant OK, yeah, there's still a prevailing. So did you stay with the same company for that entire time period? Did you stay with or did you bounce around? [00:09:32][9.2]
[00:09:33] No, no, no. I've had a very twisty turny career. I tend to shake everything up every seven to 10 years, OK. I love new. Yeah. So I don't. How long did I stay with that company? I don't remember, but I got married and we moved actually to the town I live in now. And so that, that predicated me partying. But I brought a lot of my clients with me. I had such good relationships that I worked out of a local company and I continued on serving my clients and that went on for several years. And then I got pregnant. Mm hmm. Come on. And everything changes. [00:10:18][45.4]
[00:10:20] So is that when you launched your your your mentorship or how did that kind of climb into that so twisty turny? [00:10:29][9.2]
[00:10:30] I worked in advertising print media, and then I went from there into I was a national sales director working for a manufacturing company and flying around the country and training groups and working with rap groups. And then they went from there, came back to the company where I worked in advertising, came back as their advertising director. And so all told, I worked for that particular company for 15 years and then I. Was really getting the itch, I wanted to own my own business. And I remember I showed this a lot now I just launched a thought like, OK, I want to own my own business. I'm really clear of two things. I want to help people and I don't want it to be retail. And I'm lacking because two years later, I ended up purchasing a nutritious nutrition and wellness center, which is retail. Yeah, but you don't you get what you need. I always get what you ask for and I own that for ten years. In fact, it was July 30, December thirty, first of twenty nineteen. It was five years since I sold that. And that was extraordinary. It was, it was hard. It was where I learned so much about building teams and I navigated that business through the recession. [00:11:55][85.1]
[00:11:57] A rough time to grab your your first retail. [00:11:59][2.5]
[00:12:00] No kidding. Yeah. Well, I've had it for a few years up until then. [00:12:03][2.7]
[00:12:04] And so was your first business, the retail store? My first, yes. [00:12:10][6.0]
[00:12:11] So you launched the thought. I want to own a business. I just don't want it to be retail. [00:12:14][3.4]
[00:12:15] And then you acquired a retail store excellence and you managed it through the recession. That's amazing. [00:12:21][6.1]
[00:12:22] Yeah. Thank you. I feel really good about that. It was a tough time in our small town. We're very cut off. So we're about we're about eighteen months behind the trends that hit Seattle. So our recovery was almost eighteen months after everybody else started to recover. But I did it. I did not do it unscathed, though. I think that's a really important piece, is that that store, that experience carrying it through the recession is where I really tuned in. It was brought to my awareness that I had I had a problem with business. I was very addicted to it. And how I kept my sanity was I would stay busy. I needed to feel like I had had control of everything all the time. It was the juggling of all those balls. So she's a woman, as a mom, as a wife, just keeping those all up in the air. And if I dropped when, I would have felt like I had failed. And I remember a friend of mine who's a master coach said, Suzy, you're also a psychotherapist. You said you're addicted to business. And we sat down to work together and she she asked me to write down everything I felt responsible for. Like this was this was the weight I was carrying. And it was a notepad, single spaced notepad, two sites that I filled in. And then she asked me to pare it down to five. [00:13:55][93.2]
[00:13:59] About how that's hard. Yeah, I mean, even my mind swims, here's what I want to clarify. [00:14:03][4.4]
[00:14:04] I want to clarify with how you're defining busyness, is it physical and mental? Is it everything in your life? And also, how did she differentiate between what you thought you were responsible for versus what you were genuinely responsible for? [00:14:19][15.2]
[00:14:20] So how I define business, like what I teach is there's a difference between unhealthy, busy and healthy, busy and so unhealthy, busy, which was the realm I was in at that point in time, is when you're using busyness as an avoidance tactic to feel what you don't want to feel. Right. It becomes it's an addiction. It was my addiction of choice. I don't have any drug or substance addictions, but my addiction was business. I was raised by a narcissistic mother and I had a lot of childhood trauma that the busyness just covered up and healthy. Busy is a type of disease that lacks focus and lacks intention. Whereas healthy, busy is you have an idea, you have an intention, you've got to focus around it, it's it's not scaring about massively on the hamster wheel from the minute you wake up till the moment you attempt to go to sleep. And if you're in an unhealthy busy, you have a hard time sleeping, right? Of course. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What was the second question? [00:15:28][68.5]
[00:15:29] So I was wondering how she defined what you were. She said, you know, write everything down that you're responsible for. [00:15:34][4.9]
[00:15:34] And I thought that's tricky because a lot of people can say they're responsible for things that someone else can say. That's not necessarily your responsibility. But if there's no one involved in your system that's fulfilling them. This is a bit of projection coming out. [00:15:46][12.2]
[00:15:48] And I think unabashedly, I think I my list, too, would be both sides of the page. And and it's not that I desire that. [00:15:56][8.6]
[00:15:56] It's that I think well, I've set up my life in my system in that, like, I I am kind of tasked with that because I took that task on so many years ago and things of that nature. And so I'm wondering how she helped you because it sounds like you pared it down to five. And part of that is parsing out what you truly are responsible for versus what you're just so self assigning. [00:16:16][19.2]
[00:16:16] Yeah. So if I remember correctly, this was quite a while ago. Now I'm an idea person. And so I was jumping on every single idea. I have a very, very creative I have a creative mind. I can go into different directions. So for me it was really just narrowing that all down and say, let's get focused. What is most important to you right now? And so is identifying your core values, essentially. I don't like to use core values, what I see when working with women, if the minute you start talking about core values or looking at a values list because women are so hard on themselves, let's say you say, OK, integrity is one of my core values. Immediately women go into, oh, my God, I'm not doing enough. Mm hmm. So I call it core importance. What's most important to you? So what's most important to me and that point in time was the viability of my business, my family, my relationships, my health and well-being, which had completely it wasn't anywhere on my list. And furthering the growth of my business, I think that's how I paired it all down and taking care of my my house, what I would call a household, making sure you're on top of your finances and you're building that sort of thing. But I was just I was volunteering everywhere I was at that point. I was on three boards. I said, yeah, any time anybody asked me to do anything, I was saying yes. And I was saying yes, because I had yet to understand this unmet need I had, which I know what it is now with of appreciation. So and again, that's from childhood trauma that I just need to feel appreciated. And I got that fixed by going out and helping everybody. So I had Durata way back on the helping. I learned how to say no. Eventually I learned how to say no without feeling guilty. [00:18:13][116.8]
[00:18:14] So that's interesting. That's nice. [00:18:16][2.4]
[00:18:16] Yeah, I think a lot of people, women in particular I've spoken to over the past year would struggle with that. You know, people can say no, but there's there seems to be a guilt attached to it all the time. [00:18:27][10.2]
[00:18:28] And the guilt is attached just because of our social conditioning as women. So we have women, we have these three beautiful, innately inherited traits of being nurturers, givers and pleasers. [00:18:41][12.8]
[00:18:42] And that's also been. [00:18:43][0.9]
[00:18:47] Extra impacted by this social conditioning that we are supposed to take care of, we women take it to the next level and think we need to fix everything as well, which we don't. But those are also the traits that often trip us up. Mm hmm. So, yes, we're we're nurturers, we're givers, are pleasers, and we overdo it so often and forget about ourselves. [00:19:10][23.3]
[00:19:11] Yeah. Anything in excess. Right. Anything can dress in assessing. [00:19:14][3.4]
[00:19:15] Yeah, I am one of the courses I was teaching. [00:19:19][3.6]
[00:19:19] I did this, I call it over and we're overwhelmed. We're over it. We're over giving or over offering. And I, I did this graphic that had ovaries. And then if the topic of our overrating we own this, I like that. [00:19:37][17.3]
[00:19:37] That's a coupon. [00:19:37][0.4]
[00:19:38] So when you when did you launch, when did you find you have this meeting, you were exiting your retail experience. Did you know that you were going to climb into into coaching and mentoring or did you have you realized your company yet? [00:19:53][15.0]
[00:19:54] No, my life never goes quite on the trajectory. I think it is going to go I'm going to accept that. So when I sold my store, I had the idea I wanted to take a month off. This has been a dream of mine to take a month off and one month passed. And I was so darn tired. In that month, I was diagnosed with level four adrenal fatigue. So, yeah, I had completely blown my adrenals out. Long story short, my my mother became very ill. My mother passed away. I was September rolled around and I was so extraordinarily tired and I had a dream and a crazy dream. And before I even got my head off the pillow, I knew I was supposed to take a year long sabbatical, called my husband at work. And I said, hey, I was coming home at lunchtime. I said, when you come home, just hang out for a minute. I need to talk to you. And so I had the I was very lucky. I had the monitoring means to be able to take a year off without worrying at all about finances. I took everything off my plate and I called it my year of No. Actually, I started it in the fall of two thousand fifteen, I had a mantra for the year and my intention for that year, what I had already unwound quite a bit from my business habits, but I wanted to learn how to be with myself and how to to sit, how to not feel agitated. If I wasn't doing anything. And it was from that year that really everything I do now was born out. It I learned things. I'm very intuitive because it being in that quiet space, as hard as it was, was extraordinary. One of the things I realized is women especially, we have such a skewed sense of how much we can accomplish in a day. Yeah. Yeah. So I embarked on a herd of a one woman research firm and she helped me with the questions and I embarked on interviewing, which I have no background and it turns out I loved. It gives you permission to ask people questions. And I interviewed women around the world on the subject of overwhelm and busyness. And out of that, the first renditioned was born and that was the practice of sacred selfishness. Which I love that, yeah, so it is sacred selfishness is the practice of prioritizing self giving to yourself first so you have more to give to the world, but not from a place of resentment and depletion, from a place of health and happiness. [00:22:47][172.2]
[00:22:49] So was that a philosophy, was it a coaching oh, like lens that you used or was it a book? How are you employing the practice of sacred, selfish as both a philosophy and a coaching lens? [00:23:01][12.2]
[00:23:01] I have yet to write a book that's bubbling up to the surface now, but definitely a coaching lens during my sabbatical. I have a lot of random conversations here, I live in a small town, so walking down the sidewalk and, you know, somebody and I'd ask them how they are women and 90 percent of the comeback would be I am so overwhelmed. So that's where this all came from. And I began to notice even within myself, I had taken everything off my plate. The only thing I was responsible for at that point in time was my health and my relationships. That was it. And I still felt overwhelmed. And when I learned from that was overwhelmed. Isn't necessarily all the stuff that you're doing overwhelmed is your emotions, all these emotions that we're navigating, the should, the half truths, the need to choose, the self comparison that I'm not good enough and I need to do more. I need to I need to be more. [00:24:12][70.9]
[00:24:15] Yeah, absolutely, I mean, it's it's incredibly powerful, I think that anyone who sat with a laundry list of things to do and then sat with nothing could easily say that being overwhelmed is a state of mind, that we've all had places where most of us have had places where you're getting a million things done and you still feel like you have time to get more things done. And then you've got two things on your plate and you just feel like you can't handle any of it. I think you're right. It is a state of mind and sounds simple, but it's a very powerful realization when you get there. And then the next step is for me, the next logical is, well, how do we get to the state of mind where we don't feel overwhelmed when I see the path to that to constantly living and not being overwhelmed? [00:24:56][41.4]
[00:24:57] Right. Well, you start with the fact this is an exercise I take people through in my calling and clarity, which is my newest body of work. And the very first thing we do, and it sounds very simplistic, in fact, when I first offered, I thought, well, this is actually going to work. It works. Amazing is I have clients, brain dump and brain dead to me means just taking everything that is not going about in your head and putting it down on paper. And I have them just go for five minutes and write every thing, every thought that is that they're holding in this mental space and get it down on paper. And almost always when that exercise is completed, they'll look at it, go, wow, this is very random and unconnected. Yes, it is. It's and then through the process, they take them through. We start to break those random, unconnected thoughts down into categories. Mm hmm. And then another piece of that is looking at, all right, what is essential and what is choice, because often we think we think what is essential is actually choice. I've made this choice. And a really important element in this is I was talking about earlier, is your most what I call your most important. So I have my most important for me are unscheduled time, meaningful connection, forward movement, inspiring others and healthy living. And then I have things underneath that. So before I make a decision to do anything, I look at my list, whether it's an idea I've had or I've been asked to do something or participate in that, I'll look at my list. All right. Who am I going to have time for my unscheduled time, or will that will that impede on my own schedule time? Or is this connection in a way that I like to connect? It's a way of staying in alignment with your your true self. [00:26:55][117.7]
[00:26:57] Yeah, I mean, and looking at it in those terms, essential versus nonessential is interesting, it's kind of crucial, right? And it does. I like it because the metrics on it are a little bit more loose, but it does confine things into two funnels. I mean, the concept of deciding that a task comes up and is it is doable because it follows it meets the curriculum of these things. You've decided before you even knew the task. So you don't assign value to the task before you've given yourself this correct kind of funnel to put things into. I think it would it should, in theory, provide a reality that is an uplifting if 90 percent of what you're doing is falling into the essential category that meets the criteria of what you have there. [00:27:48][50.9]
[00:27:49] Something I am so passionate about in regards to women is we're extraordinary beings. We really are. And if we're going and doing everything for everyone and not and not practicing this piece of sacred selfishness, we're deluding our ability to make an impact. Mm hmm. So if you've got your your hand on so many burners, whatever that thing is, and you're going in so many different directions, it's like you're taking water and watering it down and diluting your impact, right? [00:28:25][35.9]
[00:28:26] Yeah. Without realizing it. Realizing it. And that's what I had done. [00:28:30][4.9]
[00:28:31] I had so diluted my innate ability, which for me is just really my innate ability is to be able to put women at ease and connect on a deep level. And I can really quickly start to see what's overwhelming a person and help them find their own plan. I'm not about telling a person how to do it. This is all about finding your own way. But I get to guide women through that and I love that. But leadership is so important in with ourselves in our own little personal sphere, in the outside world. And we're not going to be effective leaders if we're going into so many different directions. Yeah, kind of wiped out. Right. [00:29:13][42.5]
[00:29:14] So when you're taking on a new client or someone like that, is everything kind of tailor fit to what they need? [00:29:22][7.6]
[00:29:22] Or do you have an Ontake process where you ask about goals? How do you start the process in helping your clients or in workshops and helping people kind of unearth their own individual plans? [00:29:34][11.3]
[00:29:35] When I'm working one on one with the client, it's all very specialized custom. So it starts with a conversation, just finding out where they're at, you know? What is it that they don't they would like to be seen and talking about that they don't really have anyone in their life that they can talk that way with, what is this overwhelming them? What is it that's keeping them up at night? And that's where we start and we go from there in my in my chorus calling in clarity, I do have it's an eight session course and there are definitely specific steps I'm guiding a woman through, starting with how we've been socialized and having them go through some processes to understand how socialization has impacted them. Mm hmm. [00:30:26][50.2]
[00:30:27] And then is the in the courses goal the end of the eight sessions? Is it to have this kind of clarified view with all of these things that we've talked about that you've done with these essential versus nonessential and things of that nature it's to have. [00:30:41][14.5]
[00:30:42] Yeah, yeah. Like, I, I beta tested the course this summer and one of my beta test clients, she she's just extraordinarily smart. I didn't even know why she was calling me because I my perception of her, she really had it all together. Well she did have it all together helping everybody else. And she had this business she wanted to launch and she couldn't get it off the ground. So yeah, taking her through this process, she was able to see how she was getting in her own way. So she she realized that she was giving all her time away. Yes, she has put a label of importance on her own endeavors, and I'm just going gangbusters. It's just really fun to watch. But you know what's most important to you? What matters most to you and where can you listen, loosen your grip on other things in order to to keep what matters most to you for for you in front of you and keep the focus on that. [00:31:42][59.8]
[00:31:43] Are there physical activities that you recommend you have? [00:31:46][2.8]
[00:31:47] Because I think that that is that concept, as hefty as it is, it in speech is even heftier in physical practice, particularly when it comes to people who are by very nature, as so many women and women identify roles, they're living five different realities. If they're if their parents, if their spouses and even single young women seem to have just more roles that they're fulfilling in their young lives than some other people that I've looked at in our society. And I'm wondering, because you have people with all of those things, it seems to be hard to tell someone or to advise someone. And without some kind of a physical activity like I've had people suggest, other coaches I've talked to say I always tell my clients, can we get to you first in the morning? But can we cut your time? Where is the things that are servicing you for this role of prioritizing your essential things to happen first thing in the morning rather than later in the afternoon where they're most likely to be pushed back? Do you have any physical attachment that you put to these things, or is it all still based on when you're done with clients on a person to person basis? Artec, you have me with me when I'm talking about with your advice, when you when you advise in your mentorship with your clients, do you have like do you recommend people meditate frequently? Are there any other, like, activities that kind of accompany your method? [00:33:18][91.6]
[00:33:19] OK, you know, there's a really simple one. So what is so becoming so popular, which I'm thrilled about, is in neuroscience and how how our brains are. So this plasticity with our brains. So especially for a woman who has been out there in the world for a couple of decades, we've literally been talking about myself and actually every woman I work with, we have trained our brains to be busy. And when we we try to rest, we become agitated. So one of that and this is actually how I started I when I had my nutrition well, wellness center, I was often offered free opportunities. And in this case I was offered up. Somebody new to town wanted to offer me a Thai massage. But sure, I love massage. I had the massage from them. And then when I was out there, they said, would you be interested in going on a journey? It was a shamanic journey. And I'm always up for anything new. And I knew like that much about that. But I was like, okay, sure, why not? And it got one of those big didgeridoos out Australian didgeridoos and started playing that. I don't remember the rest of it. All I know is I went somewhere at. It was very quiet, my mind stopped, I at that point in my life, it was the first time in my entire life my mind had ever stopped. And when he brought me back to present, I said, I want more of that. It was just extraordinary. So how do I start? You start with ten minutes. And so I this is a starting point for everybody to work with them. And just taking 10 and in the morning is the best time. If your mom if you can get up a little bit earlier than your kids, think about things that if you say you don't have time. What what? Why are you saying you don't have time? Social media is a huge time suck. You don't need to go on social media in the morning. You don't need to check in. What what can you clearly everybody can find something in for ten minutes. Just sit with yourself. I don't call this meditation because people get freaked out about meditation. I can't do this right. So how I suggest is take a deep breath in through your nose and out came out and do that three times, have a pad sitting next to you, because in the beginning you're going to give a thought and you're going to get stuck on it. There's no right or wrong way to do this. If a thought comes in, just write it down. Don't beat yourself up, just write it down and then just go back to your quiet space of breathing. So that's how I started with ten minutes. Within two weeks, I was up to forty minutes. That's how fast you can train your brain to be quiet. And then I have to course correct a bit because it was such a peaceful place. I didn't want to get up and go to my office. [00:36:15][175.7]
[00:36:16] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It's, I mean it's a powerful it's a common thread. I ask because it's just become an absolute staple, you know, to people who are helping others find clarity through a myriad of lenses from everyone I've spoken to, people finding clarity through bringing new technology platforms and things that you wouldn't think would bring clarity all the way down to. People have this this small side note of like this meditative, if you will, like activity. If it's not meditation and it's the common thread is five to ten every day. Yeah. And people say, you know, try to get it done in the morning because that way it's not on your to do with meditation, to not become something that is on your to do list. [00:37:01][44.4]
[00:37:02] It'll be something before that starts. So and I like the irony of that because I am the kind of person that would probably put it on the to do list if I wasn't already such a believer in it. [00:37:13][11.0]
[00:37:13] It would definitely be something that was just hanging out there at 10:00 pm at night where I was like, I got to meditate. [00:37:17][3.7]
[00:37:18] And then I think about doing in the morning. It sets the tone for the day. [00:37:21][3.1]
[00:37:22] Yeah, absolutely. Well, so after looking back over everything that you've accomplished so far with your the business, it sounds like you kind of hinted you dropped a little bit of a carrot about a book maybe on the horizon. Do you do three year, three to five year goals planning, or is it more on a one year or one month basis? And if so, what is what are your plans or your goals for the next future? [00:37:50][28.4]
[00:37:52] You know, those are such good questions. I no longer do a five year plan. And in all honesty, part of that has to do it. Just this point I'm at in my life, I. I do feel like I'm in a transition currently, so I have a quite happily been working from home for the last few years, but I'm part of that was healing my adrenals. But I'm craving more connection with people. So what I say is currently I'm playing with ideas. I'm kind of itching to get into a little bit more the corporate world and work with women who are overwhelmed women in leading teams. So that's something I've been playing around with. Definitely this year I'll be leading a couple of retreats and. Thinking into the best way to get my message out there that feels authentic with me, I'm I'm not a lover of social media. So, yeah, I am I really feel like where I sit right now, today, I am in a transitionary period. And I really believe when I when I went on a sabbatical, a friend of mine asked me how I was doing. I said, you know, I'm just hanging out. And the space between what was and what will be. And I'm back there again. We never hang out there once. Right. Yeah, of course, that I love that space, though. [00:39:29][97.3]
[00:39:30] I love the space of transition and possibility, particularly when you can uncouple it from anxiety or expectation. [00:39:36][6.7]
[00:39:38] And I'm not the word curiosity. So I'm really curious. Last year I went to the it's called the World Changing Women's Summit. And Elaine Elaine, a clothing designer. Elaine. [00:39:50][11.8]
[00:39:51] What is her last name, Eileen Fisher. There we go. Eileen Fisher was there. [00:39:56][5.2]
[00:39:58] And you know how you go to something and you are you listen to something and you walk away usually with one pearl and the pearl. I walked away from witnessing a live fisher with that woman is so extraordinarily curious. It's in her nature. Mm hmm. And it was watching her being interviewed up on stage. And they were asking her, you know, some of the questions you're asking, how she's a bit of a bumbler, which I loved. So she didn't she didn't say, oh, yes, this is what we did. She said, well, we tried this and that didn't work. We tried that and that didn't work. And we tried this. And that worked when. Oh, yes. It was almost like it was it was just a breath of fresh air for me, because that's how I operate a bit. Right. I'm going to try this. I'm going to try that. I like to experiment, but I'm always curious. And I was really reminded watching her to always be curious. [00:40:54][56.5]
[00:40:55] Absolutely. I agree. I think it's the the key to vitality as well as I climb through middle age, put myself I think I'm in and curious, breathes a lot of the familiar life that I need that we let go of throughout stress and things that it sounds like you approach. So and in the name of curiosity, I'm curious with you, if you were in the park somewhere in the beautiful northwest that you live in and tomorrow and a young woman or a female identified individual or non-binding or individual walked up to you and said, listen, we have a friend in common. And I just wanted you to know that I've spent some time in sales. I killed it. I made a fantastic living and I had a child. I've done a bunch of different things. And now I'm looking to kind of go off on my own. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to take some time for myself and figure it out with the top three pieces of advice you would give that individual. [00:41:52][56.6]
[00:41:54] Well, of course, going on a sabbatical, if you're able to, is essential, even if it's a month long. To be quiet with yourself. To allow that that the peace to settle over to you and. [00:42:11][17.7]
[00:42:14] It's like when you go to a salad bar and you make your salad by picking all the things that you love and leaving the things that you don't, I think before you can take the next step in life, it's really important to look at your life and go, you know, I really love that. I didn't like that so much. This really lights me up. I wrote a blog actually about this unconventional steps to taking your next step in life. And even if you're currently working, it's an opportunity to feel into what lights up and what doesn't. [00:42:46][32.0]
[00:42:49] And what do you want more of and what do you want less of and start there? [00:42:53][4.0]
[00:42:54] I love that. That's wonderful. And I like that visual visual person. [00:42:59][5.0]
[00:43:00] So I have to take a sabbatical of Abel, be quiet with yourself and listen and then finally look over the buffet of your life and pick what lights up. [00:43:09][9.3]
[00:43:10] Yes. And that's wonderful. I love that. [00:43:13][2.7]
[00:43:13] That kind of I think that's one of the first times people have talked about maybe a calmer approach, this kind of to sit and be still and then per view what has come before and pick from that. It's such a steady way to actually move forward. And that kind of advice, you know, people are usually action items are usually very, very hyperbolic, you know, and this is very calm and collected. [00:43:38][25.1]
[00:43:39] That's wonderful. Well, this incredible advice and unfortunately, we're out of time, but I have a million more questions. [00:43:44][4.5]
[00:43:44] And so I hope that we can persuade you in the next year to come back on and get more into detail with some of the work that you're doing and the work that you've done. I really appreciate your time today, Suzy. I'd love to. Thank you. It's nice to meet you. Absolutely. And for everyone listening, you can learn more about Suzy and contact her at Suzy Carroll dot com. That is s you z y c a r r o l l dot com. [00:44:10][26.1]
[00:44:12] For anyone listening, thank you for your time today. And until we talk again, remember to always bet on yourself. Slainte. [00:44:12][0.0]
[2543.2]
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