Pamela Cowan

Welcome to Behind the Lectern. Since 2006. Your host, Jeff Klein has been working with speakers at all levels, from beginners to Toastmasters International Award winners from experts to national speaker Association Hall of Famers. In each episode, Jeff introduces you to some of these speakers as you learn about their speaker journey, how they got started, where they came from, where they're going, and more. Take the lessons they have learned on their way to help you with your own path to make speaking work for you. Let's get started.

Welcome, everybody, Jeff Klein here for another episode of Behind the lectern. I'm thrilled to have Pamela Cowan here with me today. Pamela has an interesting speaker journey you'll have fun hearing about learning about and we're just kind of off to the races. We met through Podapalooza or through speaker call speakers play house. Speakers play house Okay, which quantum Podapalooza was sprung off from that so I don't know. Did you participate in Podapalooza at all?

No, no, I didn't. I plan on being on the next one though.

It was pretty, pretty great event for those of you listening woods, pata. Podapaloozawas a one day opportunity for people to be guests on multiple podcasts. And for podcasters to get multiple guests multiple shows recorded in the same day, and for people to learn about podcasting. So we had a general room where there were speakers, we had 20 or 25 podcasters, who were recording shows throughout the day. And so you would go from a general session to oh, I'm on at 1030 with so and so or 1130. And so and so. And some people did one or two interviews, I did four and I had appointments, made appointments for two more after the fact so and even though I have this podcast, in the next bottle Podapalooza, I will again be there to be a guest on multiple shows I don't I have not in need of finding guests to put on the show because I keep meeting wonderful people like you through speakers play house. And we have new people coming to Speaker Coop every week, and most of them are going to be on the podcast as well. So I'm recording two a week now. I did three last week, but trying to stick with two a week. And then we'll be releasing one a week. So that way I've got a library. If I have to skip a week recording, then it's all okay. Are you doing a podcast?

Not yet. I'm in the process of it keep coming across people. And I know what I'm envisioning for it is in the area of having people tell their resilience story. Yeah, yeah, the stories of the experiences that they've gone through that have had them grow and to build resilience, or put the emphasis on build resilience, because it's not something that you just snap your finger and you you're resilient, I find it's one of those things that you kind of have to go through the experience. And actually much the same as building your house, you actually have to put in the work to build your house. Same thing with resilience.

Make sense that your backgrounds in health and wellness or is it health and safety

Health and safety but with the also with the emphasis on the psychological safety. Okay. I've just recently finished off some training in the area, the brain in the mind sciences. So I'm adding that into the repertoire as well. Bringing the brain into business and into life.

So that was your job once upon a time in corporate was health and all that stuff

Often say yes to basically make sure that you go home with all your fingers and toes. Right.

Now, there's got to be a joke there about health and safety in Canada versus health and safety in the US. I don't know. I don't know what it is, but it seems like there should be one. So how did when did speaking show up for you as a way to

About two years ago? Okay. Yeah, I had they eliminated my position. But that was okay. That's nice. Yeah, it is. And I felt as though I was actually walking through the hall saying, I know I'm meant to contribute to something so much more than what I'm contributing here. So is there a way? How do I get out of here? What's the right door? The right window? Do I have to tunnel through the fire separator. And the next day, I was thinking along the same lines on my little hallway was off. And I was like, well, maybe I should just ask them to lay me off for the summer. You know, I was working in education at the time. And all the teachers were going to be on their vacation. And so it's like, well, you know, I don't have too many summer projects lined up. Maybe they could lay me off. And I could get something going and see where I'm at at the end of this summer. Yeah, whether or not I come back. And so, but there was some divine intervention in it in that I went into my boss's office and said, I was gonna do something in his particularly I don't think that matters. He says, we have a meeting with HR. I'm like, What did I do now? Yeah. And sure enough, we walk into that office. And he says, reads off the script, right, that we decided to eliminate your position. And we appreciate your dedicated 10 years of service to us. And this in no way reflects your performance, and your dedication and, and he got up and he walked out and I turned white. When you're praying for something and all of a sudden, you get your answer, you get it. right quick. Sometimes is a shock. And I was at home trying to figure out what what am i What's my next move? Yeah, what I do when I grow up. I went to a cot this summit, never even been to a summit didn't even know what the summit was. That was done by Kimberly Crowe. Yeah, sure. Entrepreneurs rocket fuel. And she used going on and talking about how don't wait, don't wait to start speaking and sharing your gifts with people until you have the right cell phone and you have the right hair cut, like, don't wait. I'm just like, Okay. And she says yes. And the next event is this event, and it starts on Friday. I'm like, Okay, I guess I have to go to the next event on Friday. And so that just started the journey as far as in that association. And yeah, and I actually, about six months ago, actually spoke at her Summit. And that was to be a part of the women in business. Yeah, I spoke there as well. Yeah, yeah, there was 5000 people that registered for that. And then the media got a hold of it.

Was that the one day one, or was that the one was?

It was the one day one?

Okay, yeah, I was on that.

And we were told that the media got a hold of it. And here's the Google pays that you Google. And there were more than 10 Google pages of different media that were basically reporting on this. And I ended up getting that huge knot in my stomach of I didn't think I'd be talking to people, but I did it. So

Nice. And you got some clients from it?

Yep.

Which is the whole point, right?

Yep. Yeah, exactly. And but more than anything, it was the experience of just getting out there. And speaking, even though you've got that knot in your stomach of like, there was a time when I was first speaking, because I was I worked in corporate training, and they'd want me to talk in front of all these different people within the organization. And I had a prop I made it a policy. Never Eat before you speak. Right? Because that knot in your stomach. You got that you're feeding.

Okay. Okay. That was your nervous energy to deal with that. Okay. Very cool. That's important. Yeah. And I always ask people, when I'm hosting a speaker, do you eat before or after you speak? The some people eat before and some people like up after and we always make sure we keep them at a hot meal if they're eating after? Because there's nothing worse than getting done with a great speech and sitting down to cold food. That's supposed to be hot, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's so funny. So as you've been doing training and stuff with your corporate jobs, and your education, speaking wasn't new to you. Yeah. He wasn't. Now let's be clear about your own content was definitely.

Oh, yes, yes, that was an especially being that what I was having to come up with before. I kind of knew my audience. So I kind of knew, what did I need to talk about? Yeah. That when the when the world, so to speak becomes your audience, you're kind of like, what do I talk about?

You discover that you talk about something, you know, for people to know you can help. Your News entrepreneur entrepreneurs because of the and women entrepreneurs, and you had stuff to talk to them about what was it you did for your first talk?

Talk about burnout.

Burnout. Okay.

I still do talk about burnout, because

I knew that I was checking in to see

So, Creveling in our world today has been for a while. But I think more than ever. We're more recognizing it now. Yeah.

Well, I think nowadays, it's not just it's everything, every extreme. Now in 2022 people are willing to go to the extreme. Yeah. And there's still people who aren't. But if it's Yeah, and people are talking about stuff more, or places to talk about it. I find that that's definitely the case. So how many days? Have you really only done a few or a handful relatively of talks about your content?

Yeah, I started talking about it actually, last summer. Okay, my first summit. I go out there. And yeah, there was like, two people, because they were having a challenge getting through the meetup door. Yeah. And so, but you know, what, hey, that's two people, more than I have to practice with every day. So it's just one more opportunity to practice and share what you have.

Absolutely. And yeah, obviously, when you those people that they're not thinking of it as a rehearsal? No, because they're there for the content, and you're there to deliver it. So you get to do some repetition. But it's not like, it's not like coming to a preview of a play or something like that, or a restaurant where they're still working out. Well, where they're working out the kinks. But people don't know, when you have a kink when you're speaking well, most of the time. They don't know, right? We don't, we're supposed to make sure they don't know that we've had a hiccup with that something people who get nervous forget, as the audience has no idea what you're gonna say next.

Yeah, you're just like the duck floating on top of the water. You're just floating there. And paddling like mad underneath.

Whatever you do next, though, is right.

Yeah, exactly.

You forget two pages of your content. You're the only one who knows.

Hmm, one of the greatest skills to have I find for speaking, is improv.

Nice. Yep.

Always Accept the information.

Yes. And have you actually taken a class on improv?

Yes I have Yeah. And then I also did drama in school. And but I just, I wanted to brush up on those skills.

Sure.

So I did I did an improv class. And yeah, just to actually last summer.

Very cool.

Yeah, it was really, it was nice to refresh those skills again, you know, where somebody's just, Okay. Here's your prop. Now figure something out.

Was it at the university? Or was

No, it was at a she teaches people to act, and she represents them? And actually, yeah, and also does a lot of productions herself. And way back in like, 2007. I actually acted. I was extra. Yeah, cuz I thought that was my new, fun thing to do. Right.

It is fun. I I mean, my degree is in theater. And I worked in the movie business for 1520 years. So behind the camera. Yeah. And then only recently, I have started playing, started doing some acting myself. So now for the last five years or so I've been in front of the camera half a dozen times for fun, and gotten paid a little bit, but the idea is that I'm not taking it too seriously. So I'm hoping that the person who wants to come in the room has to be in the audience. And then I hadn't double booked an appointment or something. Because you never know. Welcome Charlotte, are you here to be in our live studio audience. Did I miss a meeting?

I guess I will be quite a percentage of it.

Yes. I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss an appointment. Wonderful. Well, welcome. We just started talking about improv. So Pamela talking about some of the things that improv helped you with, like some specific thing?

Well, most specifically, I got a lot of practice with my husband, when he had dementia.

Oh, my,

Yeah. He never knew what was going to be the day. Like, where his mind would be. And so it became a real, real finding, actually a kind of improv as far as always accept what he says. And just go from there.

Yeah, I'm sorry, your dad, you had to go through that?

Well, actually, it was actually a pleasure to look after him. Yeah,

But it's a lot. It's a journey. That's for sure.

So that's why part of the audience that I'm wanting to serve with my burnout course, is caregivers.

That's wonderful. That's such an underserved community of people. Yeah.

And having been a caregiver, I feel that it's an opportunity for me to kind of share with them. The minefield.

Yeah.

Nobody prepares you for it. But all too often, especially nowadays. It happens. You're not it's the one job that you don't apply for,

oh, yes. Well, my dad a blessing memory. He worked with caregivers, as part of his, at the end of his social work career, he worked with seniors. And he worked with nurses, and staff at senior centers and things like that. So the caregivers who did make a choice, and some that, you know, again, some as we talked about that didn't, he told me that there was he had one pair of Mother Daughter clients, one was 80, and one was 100. And they both in the same Senior Center together, and they took care of each other. And the caregiver thing is huge. We have an organization based here in Dallas called Educare. That has an annual symposium, caregiver, it's a one day caregiver symposium, specifically all about that.

Hmm, well, that's good. Because when my husband was alive, they didn't have anything like that. Yeah, at least not local.

Well, I will end on the networking note, I will introduce you to the folks who do that. So that okay, that's a potential speaking opportunity for you.

Yeah, that would be really good. Thank you.

And Charlotte, feel free? If you have a question, feel free to hop in and, and ask your question.

No questions yet.

Okay. We're still working out some of the getting used to having the folks in the audience and all that, but I love being able to extend the conversation. So what kind of goals do you have for speaking, as far as your business goes, can't Pamela?

Well, my goals are to have it that I'm speaking, both speak to sell, and pay to speak. I'm wanting to be on both sides of the equation. Because I feel as though I have a lot of experience in the area of business. And so I'm, there's events that are happening like 1000s every day. And so my mission to bring the brain into business and into people's lives. I, they need to hear what I know.

Yeah. On the right track with that strategy going both ways.

And as I talk to people about the brain in the mind sciences, a lot of times it's almost like, they don't know really what to say, because that's always been something that that's what scientists and real professional, like medical professionals, they know about the brain that's for neuroscientists, and and yet I've worked with neuroscientists and professors who want the everything they shared with me came right out of their lab, and they want me to share it with the world.

Yeah, that's wonderful. So I'm sure you know this, but there are I'll put this out there for our listeners there are as all kinds of hospital and medical associations that have conferences that need topics like yours, and some of them are broken up by size. So there's like a small hospital association and I think there's a medium whatever the I don't know the exact numbers but a medium Hospital Association, you know, based on the size of the of the hospital. And I know here in Texas, there's a rural hospital association. Okay. And it may be that it's an association for rural hospital administrators. But there's all kinds of those kinds of groups that have events, have conferences, whether they're virtual or in person, and hungry for the kind of content you're talking about. Yeah, there's the Visiting Nurses Association here in the States. I don't know if they're international or not. But I know that most associations have a, if there's an American version of it, there's a Canadian version as well. And of course, Hospice is a is bigger and bigger nowadays. And Spandy. I learned last couple years ago that there were people who went into hospice temporarily, which I had no idea that that happened. You think of end of life, when you hear the term hospice.

For seniors, that is temporary. I mean, you walk.

But I mean, there's hospice, where you see the patient comes in and leaves hospice alive. Yeah, so I was surprised to learn about that. And there's all kinds of rehab facilities. Yeah, and then again, people like you that wind up having to take care of their life partner, or their family member. There's, again, more and more groups and conferences and websites, and Facebook groups and all that for those folks. So tons of places for you to get in front of the audience, and sell your coaching, and then other opportunities where they're looking to pay a speaker to come and present. What Where are you at on your book on all this?

Which book are you talking about? The first one I'm working on and just finishing it is called the first gift of resilience. Nice, then there's the business toolbox to build resilience, the scientific toolbox to build resilience, the spiritual toolbox to build resilience, and the financial toolbox to build resilience. Because we live in a very physical world. So I don't think that we can only just be dealing with what's inside of our minds, we need to establish resilience in our world. And so taking it from the mind and applying it into various aspects of our lives. And the world that we live in, is what each toolbox is designed to do.

Wow, that's powerful.

Thank you.

So share with us what a tip or two on how to be resilient, not just talk about it.

Okay. So when I first started this journey, I was like, before COVID even hit, it was me work. I just had this feeling that there was a change that was coming. And I would go to networking meetings, I would say, No, I mean, I work in change management. And I'd be like, think of the storms that are coming. There's big change, and we need to prepare for the change. But yet, did I know exactly what the change is going to be? No, no, never in my wildest imaginations? Would I have thought? Right, yeah. But the thing is, is that that one word called resilience stuck out for me, and a friend and I, we went to Jasper, which is not too far away from our lives. And when we went there, there is a stone, it's called, it's actually a fossil called ammolite. Um, I did some research on on amyloid amyloid are very, very resilient, in that they were creatures called Animal lay. And back in prehistoric times, where I live was all covered in water. And they were almost like a snail creature, where they would have almost like a shell. And there were other animals in the sea, that will try to attack them. And so to keep themselves protected, they would actually burrow into their show, that when you look at the shell, it looks very similar to your brain. Yeah, and the thing is, is that there's a lot of First Nations here who feel as though this is a very sacred stone, it's only available here in Alberta. And so, when I looked at resilience, though, it was like okay, so I have resilience. And I have this fossil called ammolite. And I kind of felt like it was like, Okay, so what's the problem? that this solves. So it was like that reverse that mathematical question the algebraic question of solve for x. We know what x is resilience. But what is the opposite of resilience? And it took me a good year. And I mean, I was doing market research with people thinking, Well, yeah, it has something to do with purpose. And it has feel as though that I was getting little bits and pieces of the equation. And now I've been able to put together what I call the blueprint to build resilience. And what the problem is that resilience solves is burnout. And burnout can happen a lot of different areas of our lives, because of the things that are going on in our lives. So when we did a survey recently, and 95% of the people thought that burnout was only because of poor work life balance. Well, it's a lot more than that. Yeah. No, it's far more than that.

Doing everything right, and still get burned out, because you're doing too much. Or you're in balance. Yeah.

Well, it's actually more than that. It's actually that there's a saying that I came across a quote, that it's actually the accumulation of hundreds and 1000s of tiny disappointments, each only noticeable on their own. The symptoms of it are, firstly, you end up with health, to the physical symptoms of chronic exhaustion, forgetfulness, impaired concentration, and yet, chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting and headache, anxiety, depression, and anger. Now, anger coming from where I come from corporately? Well, that's a recipe for workplace violence. Right? Surely, I can see that, because of the fact that there's unmet expectations. And like one story that I recently heard about where the hospital staff have access to the gym facilities at the university, they're allowed to park in this parking area where they don't have to pay for parking. Right. It's a perk for employment at working with the hospital, because we want for them to be healthy, and to have that stress relief and to keep themselves healthy. Go ahead, use the gym. Yeah. Read parking overnight. All the slides changed. And now the parking costs money. Right? Yeah. See, even Jeff is upset of audit. Is that imagine the outrage, the frustration of this change, that all of a sudden happens? You weren't anticipating it? And so now, what does that include me? And where do I go to park? And how much is it? And can I get a monthly pass? And why even want to pay for my parking?

Yeah, do I take an Uber? Do I take a bus.

And so then you end up with the emotional side of the burnout, which comes into the feelings of helplessness trapped, defeated. You start detaching yourself from people feeling alone, you don't return phone calls or emails, or regularly come in late. You have a lack of motivation, increased cynicism. That is one of the very key symptoms emotionally is the amount of cynicism. Like,

I find for me, it's as to do with, you know, I know I'm getting up against it when I keep wanting to take naps instead of work. For me, one of my roommates here, she's just all over today.

He's just wanting part of the attention. Yeah. So when I started really looking into burnout, I realized that and some from even my own market research, the people I talked to talked about a loss of motivation, where they feel like everything just gets thrown at them that there's even too many opportunities there. And so they have to sort through and prioritize the lack of money and time. So then you're getting into your financial burnout. And that to be successful. There's this belief, I have to sacrifice my priorities. So My family, what do I got to trade off in order to be successful? And the distractions vary a lot of sense of feeling like there's getting to be more and more ADHD where I can't stay focused for a long period of time. So most people, though, when I did the research was that okay, well, we're just going to meditate more. We're gonna breathe, increase your support system, I want nothing to do with people. And you want me to be reaching out to people to support me. Right? Change your diet. Just yeah, right. And so. So really, what I've come to realize, and it's part of the blueprint is to help people to connect to purpose. They've lost sight of why am I doing this? And what is my purpose in this? As well as also helping them to increase productivity by using and utilizing the subconscious. And when I talk about that, there's a tool that I teach about, that's called automaticity. Dr. John bark is the one that has written extensively about what automaticity is, but what automaticity is, Jeff, let me ask you, the last time that you drove your car, did you think about it?

No, it's autopilot.

Yes, exactly. So how would you like to have it that the things in your life that you want to change are the things that you find that are difficult to do, we could put on autopilot, so you're not even thinking about them? You just automatically do it?

That sounds attractive.

Yeah, that idea of getting up and doing your push ups and sit ups? How about if we turn that on automatic so that you just get up and you do it instead of the resistance? And if we can have that with even the things in the workplace?

Yeah.

Resist and being able to increase their productivity at the same time, but then the last part of the blueprint taught is the aspect of elevating the emotional engagement. The reason why it is that we're in burnout, is because of the fact that we're not encouraged to use emotional intelligence. In most of our the areas of our lives, no, or that we're not challenged, for sure. No, and especially at work. What are we supposed to do with emotions?

We're not supposed to shifts in a workplace. You're not supposed to be shared. co workers.

But yeah, where does your creativity come from?

Your emotion? Yeah.

Emotional part of your mind. Great. So so we want to encourage that emotional engagement. And so that is part of the pillars of the blueprint. So when you finish off, you then have the ability to add, adapt, resolve, and emerge through change. And things that are unexpected. that go against our expectations.

Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty good stuff.

Thank you.

So how do we get more Pamela?

Well, I have a gift actually, for your audience. It is the simple toolbox to build resilience. And how do I get it to you? Do I put it in the chat or

That'll work?

Okay.

And we'll put it in the show notes.

Okay.

Oh, wonderful. Okay, so when they go there, they just share some information with you. And they get the simple toolbox to build resilience.

Yeah. Now, the toolbox. It's not just one tool. You're given the ebook, which is the first gift of resilience. I'm not going to give tell you what the gift is. You have to get the book. And then there's also the free masterclass where I go into more detail on burnout, and an explanation of the blueprint.

Wonderful.

And there's a number of other tools I have about 50 tools in my toolbox.

Nice, nice well, and those of you who are listening, that's the simple toolbox to build resilience and we'll have a link for you. But also remember to share this episode and that maybe even that link with somebody you No, in healthcare in corporate management, and those areas where we know there are, you know, maybe your friend who's taking care of their spouse or their family member who is a caregiver, they're just not it's getting better. But up till now caregivers have been very underserved as a group, because we didn't used to think of them as a group.

No, when I was a caregiver, there were no resources. And it was like, it was a labor of love. Absolutely. But the thing is, is that there were no resources. And it was just like, Well, how do I know what to do? How do I know? And the thing is, is that there was very little support, even though there was home care that was coming in, during the day so I could work my job. But the rules were so rigid. At first, well, we can do his laundry, but we can't do yours. Well, who do you think is doing your job when you're not here? Yeah. And so there's no pay, there's no compensation. There's the only compensation is that you will have a much deeper love for that person because you've served them. Yeah.

In your work, you also help connect people to resources, like because there are poor and I Aggie, and I know we have, we're in two different countries. But here in the States, we have programs for caregivers, now we're through disability, where social security where they can get wages as a caregiver. And then of course, we also have family and medical leave legislation where people can take time off work, and all that kind of stuff, you help with some of those kinds of resource.

Thinking about, you know, the other part of it is in the advocacy, learning how to advocate for that person.

Oh, yeah. And you have to be your own caseworker. A lot of times.

Yeah, yeah. Which is unfortunate. Because you're not paid, you're not trained. And yet, you're the one who's making life and death decisions. For this person. There was a number of times, we'd be in with the doctor, and the doctor would prescribe something. And I'd be like, Well, what about this? And I would just ask the dumb question. Yeah. Is to get the doctor to stop and think, or the doctor would write a prescription for something. And then the pharmacist is like, well, I don't know that we can do that. What do you think? And you're just like,

I don't have enough information? Yeah.

After my husband passed away, he told me I should write to the College of Physicians and Surgeons and get my doctorate. Because I had the amount of education almost

All the hours. Yeah,

Yes. That's absolutely

That's crazy. Okay, so also, just what is your website?

Basically, I use a lot of different landing pages, the best way to get in touch with me is through that build resilience. Okay, that toolbox? And one of the things that will that one of the tools is also a, a one on one consultation.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

All right. So we'll see. Let me see if I can put this on the screen for folks who are watching

There is an email to reach out.

Yeah, what is an email so that people can reach out if they want more than the toolbox already, or they want to book you to speak or something like that? We want to give them a quick and easy way to reach you.

Okay, so that is the best email to reach. Yeah.

So then can I share that website?

Yes.

Okay. So the website, folks, is buildresilience.ca. And if it's still under construction, email, pamelacowan@buildresilience.ca. If the site still under construction. So reach down? Because you know, you want her to come speak to your group or your convention? And let me see Charlotte, do you have any other any questions for Pamela? Before we sign off?

No, very interesting. Pamela.

So glad you were here to be in our studio audience. Thank you for that.

I think you have a real sector. And I suspect you need someone to figure out how to put it in into motion. And guess who I'm going to talk about? Jeff?

There you go. I'll take that. That is what we do here at speaker club.com is help people with get out there and get in front of the audiences that they want to be in front of.

So Jeff, can I ask you one question we still. So I used to do make a pretty good living out of doing my training, I train people to do their own investing in the stock market in 10 minutes a day. And then throw in a half hour somewhere along the day, the week to just tune things up. So I historically have way outperformed most of them mutual fund managers and the financial planners. But there are so many people out there who paid a lot of might make really impressive glitzy hour long presentations to enroll people in looking at their work. Some of them I suspect, haven't been doing it for more than a few months. But the Jeff, my real challenge is how do I distinguish myself out? Among the 1000s of people who want to take money to teach you how to invest?

Charlotte, I think the main answer is the one of the first things we start with and is to find a niche audience to start with. Pick a group of people, whether it's hired women or women in business, or men Lee about to retire, or new dads or whatever the case may be, and go after one niche first. Conquer that niche. And then you'll after another one. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It scratch your niche. Because part of identifying that niche, like we've been talking with Pamela about caregivers, and that group is they self identify and put themselves into groups. So find niches that identified themselves and put themselves into groups and hang out together. And that's the kind of work I can help you with, we hear it's figured Coop can help you do that work. And if you don't have to stand out to everybody, if you you know, if you can stand out to to a niche like we're talking about you're we're still talking about millions of people. And you get to become their champion, and then they'll tell more people about you. And then you go after another group.

I kind of shied away from really just focus on burnout, like, Are you kidding? How many people are burnout, but really, when I started looking at it is like, all kinds of people suffer from burnout. We have in the past, and I'm coming across more and more people that I'm calling serial burnouts.

Yeah. Make sense? Absolutely.

And who's the biggest serial burnout of all,

I'm gonna say doctors, or you yourself.

Because I had to find,

Find your niche right.

Now, I was also running five businesses, as well, while having these children. I did not want for the phone to ring. Because every time the phone rang, it was something else for me to do. But I learned lesson. No, I then my husband got sick. And I had a job that was very demanding. For during that same time of where we had like 110,000 clients, and 14,000 employees. We were one of the fourth largest employer in that sector in Canada. Wow. Yeah. And then when my husband passed away, did I slow down and take a rest? And no, I started working in financial industry. And so

Oh, wow. Well, yes. I've

Got one more question that popped up when you had to get a moment or you have an answer for her. It sounded like,

Go ahead.

Okay. Okay. There are so many financial advisors out there now that it's almost impossible to talk to a group that doesn't have one out of five of unsafe seems as financial advisors. So I'm stepping on a lot of toes. I've got people who are just going to say she does it wrong and discount me. How do I handle that question of every group I talked to has already has financial advisors.

You create a topic that's agnostic, as far as that, as far as financial advisors. In other words, you present a topic that does not number one, threaten them, or make people defend them to you is you're presenting something that that you help with the does not interfere with them selling life insurance or selling, whatever it is they're selling. What you sell is a bonus. It's not a competitor.

Interesting. Thank you.

You're welcome.

That's the perfect way to look at it.

And that's the way you'll be able to get into those groups. Because like you said, every rotary every networking group has financial people. You need to be able to go in and not be competing with them. You need to be able to go in and actually, part of your talk is if you haven't hired one of these people, you need to hire them. And then I can teach you this other stuff that will make you a better customer for them. Whatever the case may be.

Thank you.

You're welcome. And I'll be around for a few minutes. As we wrap up, Pamela, any final words for our audience on resilience?

Yes, that is that really, if I were to sum up resilience, in one word, it's the word rest. Because rest breaks down to R, which stands for replenish, meaning to multiply and replenish, there is no word in a dictionary that says, is just plain Plenish, which means that you already have everything that you need. You just need to restock it and keep yourself replenished. The E stands for emotional need, and to acknowledge and meet your emotional need. The ask for silence. The world that we live in, is a very noisy place. And our brain needs the time to read to have that silence. When there's too much happening, it is harder for the brain to take it all in and absorb it all, especially being you have to understand the brain is dealing with six degrees of time, not three, like what we understand, because there's the past the present the future. And then there's the hidden past the hidden future, and the hidden present, the stuff that we don't see that your brain is already trying to absorb and take in and process. So So I'm almost challenging you to reconsider the idea of even a 15 minute break. Maybe it's more in the aspect of instead of just taking a 15 minute break, how about you find something that puts you into flow, something that you enjoy doing something that causes you to lose all aspects of time and place where you just feel at peace and at one with that with that activity. T is for true and true to your purpose. There are two best days of your life, the day you were born, and the day that you realize and can stand true in your purpose. And that's what I hope I get the opportunity opportunity to do is to help you to find what that purpose is. And I have a very scientific deep dive on finding out what that is.

That's wonderful. Pamela, thank you so much. Wise words from Pamela Cowan. Thank you very much for being here. We had our guests Charlotte Hudson in the live studio audience segment here, Charlotte. That is this episode of Behind the Lectern. So we hope that you all will pass this on to the people who need to hear it. And share with us and join us for the next episode after this one. Jeff Klein signing off for Behind the Lectern.