Ep #400: What I Know For Sure

Well, hello there, friend. Welcome to the podcast. I’m super glad that you’re here. Welcome to episode 400. Can you believe that I have recorded 400 weekly episodes in a row? Never missed a week. Isn’t that crazy? It’s a long, long time. Something I’m actually really proud of. When I first started this, I never in a 1,000,000 years thought that I’d be going for so many years and that I would have this many episodes. I mean, it would be so overwhelming to think about it that way. I probably never would have started, but it’s really just been such an enjoyable part of the last many years of my life being able to think about things that I wanted to share on this podcast and knowing that what I’ve shared here has been so impactful for you. So I want to let you know that at least for the time being, this episode is gonna be my last. So before you panic and freak out, I have some things I wanna tell you. It’s okay. Maybe you’re not panicking. Maybe you’re like, okay, that makes sense. But I kinda liked like the round number, the 400 number.

But I want you to know I’m not actually taking this podcast down. I’m actually planning on keeping it up.

I don’t know. I kind of think of it as like a little bit of a public service. There’s really good stuff in these episodes, and I wanna make sure that as many people who want it have access to it, obviously, for free. So you will notice this podcast will stay up. I’m just gonna keep kind of track of what the downloads are like. And if it starts to seem in a while, like, nobody’s really listening anymore, then maybe I’ll take it down, or maybe it’ll just kinda keep living on for a while and really helping people. I know for a fact that these episodes are super helpful, even for me. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s true. There have been many times I’ve recorded an episode, maybe 6 weeks or something before it went out live.

 

When it came out live, I listened to it and needed to hear the message like it was the first time I was hearing it. So there’s good stuff here, and I wanna encourage you to take advantage of it for sure. But so I wanted to start off this episode, this final episode, at least final for a little while, to tell you a little bit more about why I am slowing down and stopping doing this business because it’s something that I think took a lot of people by surprise, and I’ve been actually thinking for a long, long time, like many, many, many weeks, like what specifically I’m gonna say. And obviously, there are some things that maybe just aren’t appropriate to share publicly on this podcast, but I am gonna just let you know a little bit more about this decision making process. And what I’ll tell you is that I don’t think it’s really a secret or a surprise to anybody that business ownership is like riding a roller coaster. It definitely has its highs, and when there are highs, they are high, and it can be exhilarating and really fun. And I think for some people, almost like a drug, how fun that can be. And then when there are lows, the lows can feel really low. It can feel really challenging and just super difficult. 

 

You may know the business NVIDIA. They think they make a lot of the microchips, I think is what they do. They’re like a huge, huge tech company. And there’s something earlier this year circulating around that I think the CEO, the founder, visionary of NVIDIA was being interviewed. And the person the interviewer said, so, like, if you were to start this business over again, what would you do? And he said, I wouldn’t start it. Now this is arguably one of the very most top successful companies ever in history. He’s like, I wouldn’t start it. It’s been so horribly painful, and, like and he goes into this whole long list of, like, why it’s been so horrible and hard, and he was dead serious. And you could tell the interviewer was a little like, oh, And then, like, you’re like, no. He’s actually serious.

 

It’s like, I wouldn’t do it. And I wouldn’t say that I regret anything that I have done in this business or regret starting it by any stretch. I mean, the most growth I’ve ever done as a human being has been because of this business, and I’m super grateful for all that growth. It’s been very difficult at times, very painful at times as growth can often be, but I am so so glad of so many of the lessons that I’ve learned. I’ve really matured a lot just as a human being through the process of doing this, and I’ll be forever grateful for that for sure. But really what it comes down to is that, you know, behind every business, there needs to be at least one person who really is kind of leading the march, who is very excited about the direction the company is going, is very energetic about it, is really leading. And that has been me for the entire 9 years that this company has been in existence. And what I started to notice gradually is that I have had a little bit less of that fire in my belly, less of that energy just noticing that it feels, you know, just a bit harder

and then a bit even more hard than than harder than that. And in into a certain extent, less enjoyable. 

 

And I’m not talking about the coaching part. In fact, I’ve said for many years that when I coach clients, it’s my favorite part of my week, and that remains. That’s for sure not the problem. The coaching is not the problem. It’s all the other things that make the coaching possible that starts to become more and more difficult. And I don’t think it’s appropriate to get into all the details in, this forum. I don’t think that that really makes a lot of sense.

 

But that’s been something that’s been weighing on me for quite some time. It just is really a challenge and something that I just don’t have the fire in my belly for it anymore. I just don’t. And running a business, a small business like this, it’s like all the marketing is me, all the sales is me, all the writing is me, all that, like, there’s so much. And of course, I had a team that helped, but and did a lot, but it’s just I don’t think that’s my greatest contribution is writing sales copy, to this world. Although, I have learned a lot and I’ve become a lot better at it. We’ll say that. So concurrently with that all happening though, there’s been some other things in my life that have made me consider this even more.

 

And one is that over the last several years, I’ve really just opened my eyes up to some other interests that I have. I think that’s the big thing is, like, yeah, but if you aren’t working doing that, like, what are you gonna do with your time? I have so many interests and there are so many things that I wanna do and try. I’m gonna have to be careful to not overbook myself, like, overly extend myself. I have so many things I wanna do, and not just like things I’ve never tried, although there are several things I’ve never tried. But I have been trying to learn French on my own for years now and haven’t made a ton of progress. I mean, I definitely have learned a lot, but I would really like to take a French class with an actual teacher and have the time and capacity and brain space to be able to do the homework and actually practice and, like, ask questions and things like that. And I’ve never even signed up because I just knew I didn’t have capacity. I just didn’t have capacity. Now the reason why this is important is because I would really like to live in France for a year or 2 at some point in my life, and I don’t think it makes sense to wait till I’m 60 or 65 or 70 to start trying to learn French.

 

I mean, I it just makes sense to to learn it earlier and keep practicing because that is a goal. That’s something that I really would like to do, and and I just don’t have time. And also with my oldest son graduating high school and going through the college application process, we went to the admitted students weekend for the place that he ultimately chose, and they were just talking about these amazing classes that they offer. It was just incredible. And they were talking, actually, at one point, this one student who was kinda touring us around, the parents, he said something along the lines of, like, this

is what’s so great. Like, this is why a general liberal arts education is so great. And I just thought to myself, yeah, I never had that. I never got a chance to have a general liberal arts education because I was an engineering major and then Iwas pre med on top of being an engineering major at the same time. And, I mean, just, like, I didn’t get to take some of those classes to just learn stuff. And I think definitely one thing I wanna do is become, like, a non degree student at one of our local universities. There are a lot of things I know nothing about, and I would love to know more about. I mean, just like as an example, like, you know, when we travel and they talk about architecture, I have no idea what they’re talking about, like, nothing. Do I need to become an architecture expert? No. But maybe 1 or 2 classes could be helpful. Or like art history, don’t know a thing.

 

I don’t know what they’re talking about. I would like to know more about that. I would like

to have the opportunity to read some of the classic literature that’s out there. Because, you know, people talk about it, like, so great. I’ve never read that stuff. I don’t know anything about it. And I’d love to do it without the pressure of, like, and you have to get a a good grade so that you can get into graduate school or whatever. It’s like just doing it for fun just because it’s something that’s interesting and will stretch me mentally. Those a lot of those things like English literature and other forms of literature, not my strongest suit. There’s a reason. I’m a math and sciences girl, but I still would like the opportunity to explore that more. And then also even from, like, a creative aspect, there’s, like, the physical arts and things like that. 

 

Like, I I’m sure that I’ve gotten much more into the fiber arts, things like that recently over the last year or 2. I am interested in trying some other things, and maybe it’ll turn into something and maybe it won’t, but I would love to just have the time and space to explore that while I am still in a place of good health and able to do things and stuff like that. So I think it definitely has hit me, like, there’s just no guarantee. Like, a lot of people live a super long time, and not everybody does. And there’s just no guarantee of what your life is gonna be like, even when you take good care of yourself. So if there are things that you wanna do, by you, I mean, like, generally and kind of the way I’m thinking about myself is, if there’s things you wanna do, like, try to do them when you can. Now I also wanted to say that I’m in a position where financially, it’s okay for me to make this decision. And I’ll also say that the financial contributions that I’ve been

able to make to my family because of this business have been spend, like, way more than I would have been able to make as a pediatrician. 

 

Like, a lot of ways, I think, like, the amount of money I would have contributed to the family if I had a full career as a pediatrician, like, I’ve already contributed that. That’s a privileged place to come from, and I just wanna acknowledge that. Like, for sure, that’s not everybody’s position. And so it’s just it’s just different. But even so, even if I did need to be actively making money, I still think I’d be ready for a change and thinking about something different.

 

And then on top of it, you know, with my son graduating, it really I think I’ve talked about a little bit more, but it it like, in previous episodes, but it’s just it really hit me about how short the time is before these kids leave. And I have 7 years left till the last one’s gone, and I I have been trying for years to be working less in this business. And it I I just haven’t been able to make that work. And so I want to be able to be present more, like, around and thinking about my actual kids and and present with them emotionally as much as I wanna be, rather than, like, listening, but also, like, oh my gosh, I need to get upstairs so that I can, you know, do this thing or that thing, or I have this call or that call. I just don’t want it to be like that. So I wanna change things up. I even thought about, like, well, what if you just do, like, just some one on one coaching? And I wasn’t really interested in doing that either, and that’s when I kinda realized, there might be a touch

of burnout going on here. Not in the sense that I can’t. I mean,

 

I still totally love coaching my clients and I the people that I have who are continuing with me all the way into January. Like, I’m absolutely so committed to helping them. I will absolutely deliver on what they were promised and what they signed up for and all of that. But also that’s different than 1 on 1 coaching. 1 on 1 coaching is a lot more coaching, actually. And so that’s not something I’m interested in. Am I interested in absolutely doing the group coaching that is a part of these programs? A 100%. Like, so all in, so excited for it.

 

But just was realizing, like, I don’t think that transitioning to that kind of, like, a 1 on 1 kind of model is probably the right thing right now. So what I’m doing is I am kind of keeping things very open ended. Oh, you may be wondering like, oh, she’s selling the business, and I know some people have had questions about that. And I’ll be honest, I did explore it. I looked into it and had some conversations and thought about it long and hard, and I just decided that it wasn’t the right thing for me as the business and me were pretty intertwined. And so I would really have to give up a lot of control over things like my name and my likeness and my image and maybe my voice or things like that. And just like with what AI can do and stuff, I just it just did not sit right with me. I felt a lot more comfortable just hanging on to my IP.

 

Maybe at some point, there’ll be an opportunity to license it out or something. Like, maybe that would be something, I would explore. I’m not like I’m shutting everything down and running the other direction. It’s not that so much as it’s just like, this as it currently stands is not what I want, and I’m gonna take a break, and I’m gonna just see what happens. One thing that really struck me was actually my husband who said, you had no idea when you left medicine and started this business that it would turn into what it became. And so he said, by winding down this business, you you have no idea what amazing things are still laying ahead for you because of this decision. And, I think he’s so right. Like, who really knows? I’m still working on getting my study published about the benefits of this because I really do want that to be, like, in the medical literature because I know that the work that we have done and continue to do is so impactful and meaningful and valuable.

 

It hasn’t quite found its home yet, but we’re still gonna keep working on it for a while. So you’re kinda keeping things afloat. Like I said, I’m gonna keep the podcast up for a while. Like, obviously, my book is out there. There’s things that can remain, and then I’ll just kinda decide, give myself some freedom there to see if anything that I’m interested in comes up and or or not, and then just kinda go on from there. 

 

But I do wanna encourage you to stay subscribed to this podcast because this is probably my best way of communicating with you in the sense that I can still, on my own, add those little, what we call dynamic ads, those little blurbs that are at the beginning of the podcast to let you know about anything new that might be happening. So that’s all gonna be there. And so just letting you know, like, just if it’s still helpful, keep checking in. Then, of course, those dynamic ads play on every episode, so it won’t matter which one you listen to. I do wanna let you know that it does actually cost money though to keep a podcast up.

 

And so I am exploring the possibility of having some ads run on this podcast. And I just wanna let you know, I haven’t done that historically. But like I said, it does cost money. And if I’m not, you know, earning anything, then it’s just kind of like a perpetual drain. So I am planning to hold aside a little bit of money in the company to help pay for that. But I’m also gonna look into whether having some ads run can help. I mean, honestly, probably a few pennies, but just like a little bit of money. Like, if the podcast could even just, like, break even, that would be really super awesome.

 

So I just wanna let you know that if you start noticing some ads coming up, that is, what’s happening there. I need to do more exploring on that, but that’s something that’s on my list to look into. Okay. So finally for this episode, so I was thinking about, like, what should this episode be about? And it was actually one of the coaches on my team who suggested the topic, what I know for sure. And I’ve been thinking about that for a long time, and then it felt like very pressure y because that’s such like an Oprah thing. Like, what I know for sure. And I was like, you know what? Just like, what are the first five things that come to mind? That’s kinda how I did this. Like, first five things that come to mind, what do I know for sure? And then those are gonna be the things that I leave with you here on this last for now podcast episode.

 

So what I know for sure in 9 years of doing this, and just to be clear, like, as I have coached others, I have also done so much work on myself, tons of coaching therapy, so much work on myself as well. So a two way kind of perspective, right, from doing the work myself and then helping others do this work as well. So what I know for sure is that the more that you work on yourself, the better your life becomes overall. And what I mean by that is not like it was easier or you don’t have bad days or things don’t feel hard or painful, that you’re never angry, that you’ve somehow become so evolved that you just, like, are just happy all the time. I don’t mean that. But what I mean is that you’re more connected to yourself and what’s really going on for yourself, and you have such better relationships, I’ve found. Like, when you are so connected to yourself, you are able to connect better to others, and that really helps with all your relationships. All those really important ones, whether it’s like a partner or spouse, children, parents, siblings, also friends.

 

It’s just it has this added benefit. You go in trying to help yourself and ends up helping all these other areas of your life. It’s never just about that one thing. And I love that. I love that because it feels like so worth your while and your time when you’re investing in improving one area and you do improve that area. And as a result, all these other areas benefit as well. I love that.

 

Okay. What I know for sure is that the investment of working on yourself is a fabulous investment. Like, the returns you get on that investment are better than any other way you could invest. Like, if you think about spending the money to invest in someone who can help you, you being helped and you being whether it’s like a better version of yourself or some problem that you have being resolved or something like that, a much better relationship, a much better experience of a certain part of your life. Like, that money you spent, like, you can’t get that kind of financial return in the stock market or venture capital or, like, things like that. Like, it’s multiple fold how much it improves. And it’s just I think a lot of people are like, oh, that’s so much money and but in my mind, it’s like, oh my gosh, that’s the best money you could ever spend. No. With a caveat, within reason, of course. Right? There are definitely people who start going, like, down, maybe a bit of a dark path where they’re giving all their money to, like, all these supposed, like, gurus or teachers or leaders, guides, whatever, and that can turn into something that’s maybe not great and can sometimes even lead to financial ruin. So I’m obviously not talking about that.

 

I’m talking about this in the case of something that is within reason. But it’s like if you have no support and you’re talking about spending a couple $1,000 to get some support, it, in my opinion, is a really great investment, but then also be a thoughtful investor. Like, don’t just give your money to any old person. Like, ask questions, find out more, really understand what you’re purchasing, what is the promises, what’s actually being delivered, and how they’re gonna deliver that. Those are all important things. You wanna be an informed consumer, of course.

 

Okay. So what else I know for sure, I just don’t think you’re ever gonna regret arranging your life around your priorities. This is something that comes up sometimes even in the coaching sense, but often when we look at, like, what are our actual priorities, what’s most important to us, and then how we spend our time, we often do not spend our time or very much of our time on the things that are of most importance to us. And to a certain extent, I feel like that’s a bit of what I’m doing here is I’m doing a bit of a shift in that. Like, when I told my oldest son about my plans, he said, yeah. That kinda makes sense, because I do hear you say pretty often that you wish you could do something, but you don’t have time. Right? Like, time is so valuable. And when we readjust so that the time that we spend is an alignment with our priorities, I think we just never regret that. Even though maybe people won’t understand, maybe it means that some traditional forms of success need to go, like, by the wayside.

 

Maybe we don’t earn quite as much money or whatever that is, like, kind of those typical traditional things that people like to measure. But if we, at the end of the day, put our heads on the pillow and feel like, you know what? Like, that was how I wanna live my life. It’s all worth it. Super worth it. Alright.

 

What I know for sure. 4th thing, life is just too short to struggle with your food and your weight. Please do what you need to do to solve this for yourself, whatever that ends

up looking like. I can’t begin to guess what that might include, but keep working

on it because seriously, it is so worthwhile. 

 

And I just even recently have had some reminders in the sense of experiences that I’ve had of like, oh, right. See? Because of that’s why I struggled so much with my food, because of that comment or whatever it may be. And it helps me because I’ve done this work on myself, helps me to understand. Right? Like, it makes so much sense when that was the way I thought about it or this was said, and then I took that to heart, and then this is how I’ve been living my life. Like, of course, I would end up where I did. So much more patience and compassion for myself who struggled. And also for me now, knowing that I mean, it is like night and day better. I can’t even begin to say I mean, it’s so much better.

 

But, like, there still are some times where it’s like, you know, like, that’s weird that I just ate that. Interesting. It’s not turning it into this whole big, oh my gosh, like, dramatic whatever. But, you know, just recognizing, like, doing this work is such a great investment of your time and effort. There’s so many things that you can work on to create in your life, but if you’re still just massively struggling with food and weight, it’s still just never gonna feel the way you wanted to feel. So I just wanna really encourage you. Just you don’t wanna be nearing the end of your life wishing that you could have lost those last £10 or whatever. Do you know what I mean?

 

Like, let’s just take care of it. Okay. Finally, when I know for sure. I really think that the best and arguably the most enjoyable parts of life cannot usually be bought with money, or if they do require some money, it’s actually a lot less money than you think. And so what I mean by that, it’s things like genuine connection with other humans, time together, time with people that you really care about. Maybe that does require a plane flight or a subscription to something so that you can talk to one another or whatever it may be. But, typically, it’s not gonna be like you need so much money moving your body, being outside in nature. Like, these things do not cost a lot of money. Enjoying music, reading. Like, some of these things that are just, like, good uses of our time, and we know this because humans have been doing it for so, so, so long.

 

Like, these are really great things. I think sometimes we get a little mixed up and we just start working so hard to try to create these things that we think are gonna be the thing that’s gonna make us feel so good. And then it’s just that’s just not the thing. And even travel, I mean, travel is something that I super, super love doing, but even travel doesn’t have to be expensive. I’ve done it all the different ways. I’ve traveled, like, totally on much more of a budget. I’ve traveled more luxuriously, and they’re all nice, and they’re all fine in their own ways. I mean, my son right now is traveling around the world by himself with a backpack on his back. And in some ways, I’m actually a little jealous of him. Look at it. His life is so simple.

 

He’s got, like, everything he needs in this backpack, and that’s it. Like, there’s something that’s is really special about that. And I think that it’s important for us to remember that. Like, more stuff, more memberships, fancier cars, more expensive schools for our kids, you know, stuff like that like that. It gives us that dopamine hit, but it doesn’t give that lasting life fulfillment and life satisfaction. So not that there’s not a place for that stuff, but just remembering, like, grounding yourself. Like, what really are the things that are most important to me? What do I really, really enjoy? And then how can I find time and space in my life for more of that? That’s really what I know for sure. And maybe the things that I shared aren’t the really the things that do it for you, but there’s probably other things and those also probably don’t cost that much. There’s a way that you can do it in a pretty affordable manner.

 

So like when it comes down to making decisions about your career and other things like that, like, I think it’s sometimes so it seems like, oh, it’s so obvious to try to do the thing that’s gonna get me more money.

 

But I just want you to really consider, like, what’s the trade off? Do you have to do more to get that money and then you have less time for those things. What we don’t wanna do is spend so much of our life trying to get to the place where we can now enjoy our lives. Right? That’s what I’m feeling like with me right now. It’s like, these are the things I wanna do right now. I don’t want to wait another 10, 15 years till I can do them. Who knows what my life will be like then?

 

I wanna take advantage of it now. And I think that’s something that’s available to all of us. Okay. Gosh. Wrapping up this last episode. So I I’ve actually put off recording this for a long time, just kind of like,

 

I gotta say the right thing. I gotta what what am I gonna say? And I do. I feel like a little emotional, like, wrapping this up, but it’s not a goodbye. It’s a see you for now. I’m still gonna be around. I think some people have been like, oh, what is she gonna do? She’s actually gonna start some other business, and I can promise you that was not what’s happening right now. Like, there’s no gotcha. There’s nothing fancy or special that behind the scenes I’m gonna do.

 

Like, I literally just wanna take a French class. You know, and, like, not have to race around every second of my life. That’s all. Alright, my friend. Well, seriously, I want you to know whether you’re new to this podcast or have been listening for years that I have always super, super valued whew. Gosh. Okay. Valued your attention.

 

I’ve always been super, super protective of the time that you have devoted to listening to me. And I hope that I’ve been a good steward of that time. I I feel that it was really special that there would be somebody out there who would be willing to listen to me talk about something for 20 or 30 minutes. And the fact that people would even find that it added a lot of value to their lives is just even more special. So I just really wanna thank you. Whether I ever worked with you as a client or maybe we’ve never communicated ever, I just really, really, really wanna thank you for being here and for everyone who’s always shared about this podcast with their friends and all that, I just really appreciate it. It’s been wow. What a wild ride. But also, it’s been talking about fulfilling, like, one of the most fulfilling things. Like, I really set out to make a difference in the lives of women physicians, and I think I’ve accomplished that and so much more.

 

I think I’ve, through this podcast and my book, been able to help so many others

as well, and it’s something that

 

I think I I’m trying to remind myself this is something to be really proud of. Like, this is this is I actually found my a thought I had a couple of days ago was like some brains offered just these silly thoughts. I wanted to call it a dumb thought, but, you know, we’ll call it silly. Where it’s just was like, yeah. But you didn’t even really do that much, and you could have done so much more, and so many other people are doing more, and, like, that kind of thing. Like, it’s just not enough what you did, like, that kind of thought. And I was like, oh, man. Okay.

 

Well, brains are still gonna brain. They’re still gonna do their thing. But also for myself, I wanna really try to have, like, the lasting memory be that that I really made a difference. And because you were willing to listen to me and be here for this podcast, I had the opportunity to do that. So I super appreciate you, and I just want you to know how amazing and special you are. And it’s really been such a joy in my life to be able to connect with so many of

 

the listeners of this podcast, work with so many of them. It’s just been really a true honor and privilege and joy. So with that, I’m gonna say thank you.

 

I need to go blow my nose. Tearing up. Okay. So thank you so much. I wish you the very best. And everything I’ve said, at least for the most part, I think there’s good stuff in there, and I hope you’ll return to it so that you can get even more out of this podcast.

 

Alright. Take care. Sending you all of my love. Bye.