#24 Soaring Beyond Barriers with Former Black Hawk Pilot Elizabeth McCormick

Have you ever gazed up at a Black Hawk helicopter (or at least seen one in a movie), marveling at its power and grace, and wondered about the person at the controls? Join Devin with guest Elizabeth McCormick, former Army Black Hawk pilot turned motivational speaker, as she  reveals the determination it takes to soar both in the skies and in life.

Elizabeth shares her journey from a career-ending injury to finding new heights in the corporate world and eventually, the keynote stage. Her passion for empowering others shines through as she recalls her own struggles and victories, demonstrating that resilience isn't just about bouncing back—it's about leaping forward. Join us on this flight of discovery, where productivity tips and personal stories blend to create lessons on growth, impact, and the relentless pursuit of what's possible.

Guest Website: http://pilotspeaker.com

Elizabeth's Confidence Boosting Strategies: http://SoarYourLife.com 

MUDWTR: http://mudwtr.com/devin

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome to the possibility mindset podcast. I'm Devin Henderson, I'm your host and I believe that something greater is always possible for you. All right, we've got an exciting guest here with us today, but before I formally introduce Elizabeth here, just if you're listening and you want the full experience, go to YouTube, because we do get animated with our faces. We speakers tend to get into this and so it's kind of fun to watch us in action. You know what I'm saying. Elizabeth is saying no, just listen is fine. I think they should watch. But you know, also, if you are listening, one of the best ways you can support us is to give us a five star review on Apple. We would love that and share this podcast. We can extend our impact. So, and again before we introduce Elizabeth, just one product to let you know about. A lot of you listeners know I drink mud water. I'm a hundred days off. Coffee Elizabeth 101 days, just as a trial to see how it works. Are you a coffee drinker?

Speaker 2: 1:03

So I would be personally more than 50 years without coffee.

Speaker 1: 1:07

Wow, really.

Speaker 2: 1:09

Never been a coffee drinker, just never got into it. Okay, that's good to know. Unusual for a pilot too.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Unusual for a pilot.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Yeah that's.

Speaker 1: 1:17

I want to pick your brain later about coffee.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Okay.

Speaker 1: 1:20

All right, rather than taking you down a rabbit trail right now, but I am very curious. But anyway, mud water is a mushroom based coffee. I'm trying it. I've been drinking it for a long time, but I'm trying to drink it only over coffee just to see if it helps really. Helps me with my focus, helps me sleep better, helps me with my energy, and it's also supposed to boost immunity. So some of our listeners have already purchased it and are trying it. So I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of results they get. So to purchase this, you can go to mudwatercom slash Devon Mud water is mud and then WTRcom slash Devon will put that link in the show notes. Give it a try, get yourself a deal and let us know how it works for you. So, all right, okay, maybe it's something you'll add to your arsenal, since there's no coffee, right? Well, we'll see.

Speaker 2: 2:05

We'll see no.

Speaker 1: 2:05

All right, All right. Well, later we'll have the talk about what you like to drink. So, okay, awesome. Well, hey, let's. Let's introduce our awesome guest. This is Elizabeth McCormick. Everybody. She was recently named one of the top 30 motivational speakers in the world the world. She is currently number five on the list of leadership experts to follow online. These are incredible numbers. By the way, I suppose you know that Now Elizabeth is a best selling author, with more than I can't believe this either 19 published books on entrepreneurship and leadership topics. How do you, how are you, able to speak at 100 events a year when you're writing 19 books? You are blowing my mind here.

Speaker 2: 2:48

I have ways.

Speaker 1: 2:49

Okay, all right. All right, I'm writing one book right now and it's kind of like my. It's like my second, but it's really my first. So it's and it and I even have a ghost writer and it's still time consuming and you've done 19. That is absolutely incredible. So congratulations. In 2011, elizabeth was awarded the US congregational veteran commendation and as an army.

Speaker 2: 3:13

That'd be congressional.

Speaker 1: 3:15

What did I say?

Speaker 2: 3:16

Congregational.

Speaker 1: 3:17

Did I say congregational? I've been in too many churches. The US congressional veteran commendation. I even read this beforehand thinking I'm going to nail all these big words. You know I usually don't. Well, as an army black Hawk pilot, elizabeth flew command and control air assault repelling and top secret intelligence missions and transported high level government VIPs, including the secretary of defense. Everybody welcome Elizabeth McCormick.

Speaker 2: 3:51

Hello.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Wow, so great to have you here.

Speaker 2: 3:53

Great to be here.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Now, when you're speaking on stage, typically after an introduction like that, you have some video that plays to show some of you in action. Is that right?

Speaker 2: 4:01

Well, you know, when I flew helicopters we didn't have great cameras like we do now.

Speaker 1: 4:06

We didn't have cell phones.

Speaker 2: 4:08

So you know, I have footage of similar missions, but it is not me flying.

Speaker 1: 4:14

Okay, but it's like it could have been you, it could, right. So it's like simulate what you did, which is crazy awesome. I mean, maybe you've seen the movie. You know Black Hawk Down, right, how did that land for you when you saw that? Was that an emotional experience for you to see that played out? What kind of feelings did that movie stir?

Speaker 2: 4:35

So it's really hard to watch any military movie and not go uh-uh, it doesn't do that.

Speaker 1: 4:40

It's like the skeptical right Right.

Speaker 2: 4:43

So, yeah, the skeptic in me comes out. So I'm always like, yeah, it doesn't do that, yeah, it does that. So the movie that actually had the most physical effect on me watching was when we Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Yes, the Vietnam movie. I saw that one yes.

Speaker 2: 4:58

There's the scenes where they're in the helicopter and it's down at the treetop level.

Speaker 1: 5:00

Okay, in and around the mountains and in the terrain.

Speaker 2: 5:03

That is the most like flying a helicopter.

Speaker 1: 5:05

Okay, that was legit. Mel knows how it's done.

Speaker 2: 5:08

Yeah, that movie I saw in the theater and I'm sitting there and I'd already been injured another story I'd already been injured so I couldn't fly anymore and I just was crying and my I call him the keeper husband because I have a starter so my keeper husband says he's like, looking at me, like what are you crazy? And I was like it's like that.

Speaker 1: 5:29

Wow, and you would know. Yeah, obviously, it's not like I'm going to be late, because when I watch movies about magic with magicians, I kind of watch it also through a skeptic's eye, kind of like okay, all right, you know, you just look through it with a different lens than everybody else, you know, so I can see how. Yeah, that would be like that.

Speaker 2: 5:49

I'm horrible to take to the movies for anything in the military, my family's just like sit away from us because I'm like it doesn't do that, did you do?

Speaker 1: 5:57

that.

Speaker 2: 5:58

That's not right. Their uniforms are messed up.

Speaker 1: 6:01

You're heckling the movie.

Speaker 2: 6:02

Oh it's horrible.

Speaker 1: 6:03

Yeah, they're on popcorn at the screen I love it. See, you remember when we met. I don't expect you to remember this.

Speaker 2: 6:11

I don't remember.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Okay, it was a long time ago. It was it at NSA meeting and it was what do you call it? Where the um. It was the younger generation of people.

Speaker 2: 6:23

What was it? The youth camp.

Speaker 1: 6:28

Yeah, this was like. It's kind of like the newbies in NSA or anyway first-timers first-timers. But there's also like that, was it like the gen at gen X or?

Speaker 2: 6:36

gen Z or something. Yeah, they have a gen X, y and yeah, that's what it was.

Speaker 1: 6:40

We were at one of those meetings and we were supposed to stand up and turn around and meet someone and you were sitting behind me and I said, hey, you know I'm Devon, you're I'm Elizabeth, and all that. And then all of a sudden you're like yeah, I was a black Hawk pilot and it was just like what, and you told?

Speaker 1: 6:55

Zach that when you came, I said, oh yeah, she was a black Hawk pilot, and you said, yeah, a lot of people are surprised by that. So, yeah, I do. That stood out to me, so I always remember that encounter and, which is amazing, I can't tell you why it surprised me so much. I think it's me because you look so sweet, look like such a nice person. Missions and take people down. I think that was the part that surprised me. So, yeah, do you get that a lot with people like whoa, whoa, what?

Speaker 2: 7:21

yeah. Yeah yeah, and I I'm maybe play it up a little. Okay, you know okay, cuz like when I was in the military, my hair was cut shorter than yours. Okay, all right, and I would you know, I didn't wear makeup and you don't do the nails, you don't do I mean it? Was very masculine, because that's what I needed to be to fit in okay.

Speaker 2: 7:42

So since getting out of the military and I did eight years of corporate work and then I started speaking and it seems like every year I get more feminine. It's like I find out who I really am right but by doing that it really creates this kind of dichotomy in the contrast Sure, which on stage is really exciting, like my old flight suit and I added Rhinestone zipper to it.

Speaker 1: 8:06

Oh nice.

Speaker 2: 8:07

So I purposely like play up. Okay the contrast of power and femininity nice, I like that.

Speaker 1: 8:13

That's cool and you wear some kind of bracelet or something too on a big rhinestone cuff bracelet.

Speaker 2: 8:18

I have those made nice and then merchandise them and sell.

Speaker 1: 8:23

There's some meaning to that, or is it just like hey, we're cool power, what's that? What's that all about?

Speaker 2: 8:27

So in a longer presentation, when I have 90 minutes or so, I talk about Different strategies to create an invisible suit of armor between who you are and how you want to show up. So it's kind of like chain mail. Oh, so it's kind of like Wonder Woman's, you know, cuffs and chain mail of a suit of armor. But how do you create that suit of armor so that other people don't get in and you don't let their energy affect who you want to?

Speaker 1: 8:50

be Wow. Okay, that's great. I think my daughters could Take something from your message. Yeah, sounds like they'd love, love to hear you?

Speaker 2: 8:58

I have. You know, I have them in an online course that I I give away, so we'll give them. We'll give them to all your list. Everyone listening gets one to everybody wins. All right, but I'll make sure your daughters get them.

Speaker 1: 9:07

I just want you to know. We have a giant following at this point, don't we, zach? So we're gonna be giving away what a couple million of these, I guess cuz yeah, no, well, thank you for that, that's great. So so you're in town. I am speaking to Vennessa. You're in town, here in Kansas City, to speak to our local NSA group, the National Speakers Association, tomorrow morning right so what are you gonna be teaching speakers?

Speaker 2: 9:31

So tomorrow morning I will be doing bits and pieces of my keynote. That gets me booked at 100 plus events a year. That's a lot.

Speaker 1: 9:39

Yeah, that's amazing, I did a hundred. Love speaking that many.

Speaker 2: 9:42

I do I? I did 153 one year, wow, not. 2013 was like my tipping point year and all these requests were coming in and I went to my again keeper husband.

Speaker 2: 9:53

I went to the keeper husband. I said you know, if I take all these, I'm gonna be traveling from one event to the next event, to the next event. He's like, well, you've never had, we've never had this, never been that busy, right? He's like, why don't we take you? Take them and see what you know, as many that can fit, and see how it is. So the month of September of 2013. I was only home three days.

Speaker 2: 10:14

Oh, wow and I came home. I remember coming home October 6 after speaking in Casper Wyoming in the middle of a snowstorm Fun. Yeah having a drive in that. Yeah, and I came home, I was exhausted and he looks at me and he says this was too much.

Speaker 1: 10:28

Yeah well, it's good to know, it's good to look the pendulum swing and say, yeah, you don't know until well. So have you purposely chosen like a hundred is the cap in point. Now, does that feel right to you? 120 is the absolute, absolute max now.

Speaker 2: 10:41

It's different now, because now I'm doing virtual, since the pandemic virtual and we've gotten person, so there's a little bit of a mix there, so it's a little bit different. I'm I done more than that, but really 120 in person traveling on the road events is is the max.

Speaker 1: 10:57

Okay, okay, I will tell you I'm more like I'm trying to keep it to like 35, just to give you perspective, but I'm like three a month is great. That was kind of a purposeful commitment just for personal life and family, and so you know how old are your, how old are your children? Yeah, 16 all the way down to two. Yeah, I'm trying to be.

Speaker 2: 11:15

Yeah, right, I mean my youngest is 19.

Speaker 1: 11:18

Okay, yeah, so it's a different so it's a whole different place.

Speaker 2: 11:22

It's a whole different mindset. Yeah, you know, my husband loves and appreciates me more when I'm gone, sure.

Speaker 1: 11:29

So I can relate to that. I can relate to that, yes so I come home.

Speaker 2: 11:32

There's flowers in a car. We miss you. I like that. Yeah, that's great.

Speaker 1: 11:36

So these speakers tomorrow listening to you talk? You're just gonna like talk shop with speakers. Hey, here's how you get booked. Here's how you stand out in the marketplace. Here's how you can elevate your speech for more impact. I mean, are these the kind of ideas you're covering?

Speaker 2: 11:48

I will. What I'm really gonna do is I'm gonna do a little bit of like. I'll do my introduction. I have an introduction video and a walk-in music and like impressive intro. Give them that this is what experience, Right yeah and then I'm gonna say, look at, what are all the strategies, what did you, what did you notice that you want to do in your business? And actually I'm gonna have them tell me. I have my list.

Speaker 1: 12:07

Yeah, things we're gonna cover. If they don't bring something up, I'm bringing it up, okay, but.

Speaker 2: 12:10

I want them to kind of experience it, so it's super interactive sure and they're gonna tell me the things they see and we're gonna do that like four different times with different vignettes from my my main keynote speech, and then I'm gonna talk about energy and how being on stage is a responsibility. Okay so with our we're, we're in charge of the audience's experience and also their energy and what I see a lot of speakers doing. They speak about really hard topics. Yeah, yeah like you know, cancer and drug addiction.

Speaker 2: 12:41

And different things that are really deep and hard for audiences to kind of process. Yeah and they don't always have a way to get them out. Okay, Okay so there's a really big responsibility of being in the front of the stage and knowing that when you take an audience through an experience, you have to bring them to the other side. Okay, Okay so I'm gonna talk just a little bit about that, and then I'm gonna be emotional part of it. It can be triggering for people.

Speaker 1: 13:06

Yeah, it's a mind game at times. Yeah, when we got that gravity of a topic, yeah, let's see my stuff's more light. You know what I mean, so, but but there are other people who need that.

Speaker 2: 13:17

I mean I talk about gender bias, some right so going through gender bias and I but I do that very Intentionally, in a light way, because I speak to a lot of male dominated audiences and I don't want a Male audience to feel uncomfortable sure that I'm bashing them right, right. So, yeah, we need it.

Speaker 1: 13:37

Well, you do so I need it I need to be bashed.

Speaker 2: 13:40

Thank you so. But yeah, it's, you know. So it's a more about like, what kind of thinking, being being more intentional and thinking about the experience you're, you're putting your audience through. Yeah, yeah, okay and if you bring them up, you gotta bring them. You know, if you bring them up, you can bring, keep them up, but if you bring them down, you gotta bring them back up.

Speaker 1: 13:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you want them on a roller coaster. Oh yeah, ups and downs.

Speaker 2: 14:00

Yeah, if you're doing everything in one, at one level, you're not gonna hold their attention sure people zone out.

Speaker 1: 14:06

No, I completely agree. That's why I love the inner activity Portion of it. That's just what audiences in general love today. That planners are like Are they gonna be doing anything? Because we need to get them off their phones and engaged, and people love that. So I know you have that. Now. When did you realize? Hey, I've been doing this. I'm a veteran, no pun intended, but you've been doing this, you know, for a while. You know your thing. It's time for me to speak to speakers also about how they can be better. When did you realize I've got things to teach speakers?

Speaker 2: 14:34

So I, being a helicopter pilot, you learn how to take like you have a mission right. You learn how to break that mission down into teeny, tiny little tasks, sure, and then get time on target okay. Yeah, how many times do speakers do that?

Speaker 1: 14:47

Right right.

Speaker 2: 14:48

Right, I'm really really good at strategy, right, right, I'm really good at breaking complex tasks down, including the speaking, the industry, keynoting different things. Yeah, break complex systems and breaking down into a simple, step-by-step sequential framework to do it the right way. Okay, okay, and so with that, what happened is speakers were coming to me for one-on-one.

Speaker 2: 15:09

Okay, right, and then they were telling other people and I've done little to no advertising and could have a very. I turn a lot of it down now because I'm so busy, but I'm in a very robust business. Wow, that's great. So with that it comes over to okay. Now I'm gonna move it into chapters, but I don't sell anything I don't wanna make. I don't like to make money off my NSA friends.

Speaker 1: 15:28

Well, that's awesome because I mean you can only impact so many people one at a time with a mentorship relationship. So I like how you've said how can I impact more people and still be protective of your energy, which is a big part of you?

Speaker 2: 15:39

And time, yeah and time, Because I will tell you you can make more money. You cannot get your time back, so to me, everything's about impact and influence.

Speaker 1: 15:49

Okay, awesome, so Very in line with NSA's ideals, right, I love it. Okay, so take us back a little bit. How did this sweet Elizabeth Cormack, who I met in that ballroom at NSA?

Speaker 2: 16:02

How's that Orlando?

Speaker 1: 16:04

Oh, I think it was before that. I think it was like even before that.

Speaker 2: 16:10

The first one I ever went to was DC, so it was DC and Phoenix. It might have been DC then. Yeah, that was my first one.

Speaker 1: 16:14

I'm thinking like as far back as I can remember and yeah, that might have been it. That was my first year.

Speaker 2: 16:19

I'd already been speaking for like eight years, but that was my first one, nice, that I attended. That worked in my schedule.

Speaker 1: 16:27

Okay, so how did you come to be a Black Hawk pilot? Give me the story. How'd you get there?

Speaker 2: 16:34

So unemployed military wife.

Speaker 1: 16:35

Okay.

Speaker 2: 16:36

Five years of college, all right. Almost three degrees Okay, and could not get a job? Wow, because we were stationed at a military base for Polk Louisiana.

Speaker 1: 16:45

Okay.

Speaker 2: 16:46

Which didn't even have a Walmart Like it was in the middle of nowhere Swamps. So, yikes. I was a military wife there. The only job I could get was working in a pizza place.

Speaker 1: 16:55

Okay, after five years of college, was the pizza good? No, bummer right Cause it's like the one thing free pizza.

Speaker 2: 17:04

It was a cheap chain, oh was it All right.

Speaker 1: 17:06

all right, You'd know it, but I'm not gonna say it. Yeah, all right, good for you.

Speaker 2: 17:09

So yeah, so I worked there and I was just miserable. And one night I looked at the starter husband Okay, he was in the military and I looked at him and I thought you know, if he could be in the army, why can't I be in the army?

Speaker 1: 17:22

Why not what?

Speaker 2: 17:23

else is possible. Yeah, when you have a possibility, you might say Possibilities.

Speaker 1: 17:25

What else is possible?

Speaker 2: 17:27

Yeah. So I decided I was gonna be a helicopter pilot, but I wanted he was an ambulance medic. And I wanted a cooler job than that.

Speaker 1: 17:35

Yeah, you just wanna up the coolness a little bit. Yeah, just to keep that edge had no idea what that was From dough roller to blackhawk pilot. Let's make the jump.

Speaker 2: 17:43

Right, and my degrees are in art, with a minor in mathematics and an associate's degree in engineering. Okay, because I wanted to go into architecture.

Speaker 1: 17:50

Okay. So, so the engineering might have played a little bit into that. It helped a little bit, yeah, okay, all right, and the mathematics Sure sure.

Speaker 2: 17:58

So you know, but I so I just went onto the base and sat in the where everybody got breakfast in the morning, and anytime I saw an officer walked in, I would say because I knew with my college I can go in as an officer. And I said what would you do different?

Speaker 1: 18:09

Hmm.

Speaker 2: 18:10

What would you do different? Well, you know, I just really researched it and I think that's one thing for listeners it's amazing how luck turns into probability and possibility when you've done your research, you know. So I just asked around like for weeks and asked everybody, like you know, what would you do differently? What would you do if you had to do it over? And I always asked what's the coolest job was, and everybody said it was being a helicopter pilot. Okay, all right, let's do that. Yeah, well, didn't know, it was hard.

Speaker 1: 18:40

Yeah, well, my daughter just said, dad, I want to get my pilot's license this summer. Yeah, she's just been thinking about piloting Isn't that great.

Speaker 2: 18:50

I know I'm like all right, hey, what else is possible? How old is?

Speaker 1: 18:53

she 16. Oh, perfect, so which is the age right?

Speaker 2: 18:57

You have to be. Is it 17? You can fly with an instructor younger. Okay, so you can get lessons All right, but what I highly recommend, if you have that in this area, is civil air patrol.

Speaker 1: 19:08

Civil air patrol Okay.

Speaker 2: 19:10

You should get free flight time. Oh, okay, so as a dad, okay, that's a good thing. Yes, yeah, because flight time's expensive.

Speaker 1: 19:16

Civil air patrol. Civil air patrol Got it, got it. There's usually one.

Speaker 2: 19:21

It's a little bit of a military experience, but that's good for the discipline you need as a pilot. But it also and anyone that's in their teen years that's interested, I tell them. That's where, like in Dallas, the civil air patrol has an agreement with Southwest Airlines to get simulator time.

Speaker 1: 19:34

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2: 19:35

And so they actually get to go and fly the simulator and do things like that.

Speaker 1: 19:38

Oh, that's so cool, she's so adventurous. She just went to Alaska by herself to visit a family up there Loves flying. I mean right now as a passenger, I know Alaska by herself, Loved it. Got home okay, it was great. But I just I'm all about instilling the possibility mindset in my kids. No way I'd be like, nah, you don't need that. That doesn't make me feel comfortable. It's like go get them.

Speaker 2: 20:01

Yeah, try it, tiger, get it. Yeah, why not?

Speaker 1: 20:05

So then, how long did you fly the helicopters?

Speaker 2: 20:08

Just shy of eight years.

Speaker 1: 20:10

Eight, that's. I thought you were gonna say four. I don't know why I was thinking four felt like the so it's flight school.

Speaker 2: 20:15

Well, when I went through, flight school was a little over a year.

Speaker 1: 20:18

Okay.

Speaker 2: 20:19

And then now it's longer because there are other trainings involved. And then your commitment your contract is six years after flight school.

Speaker 1: 20:28

Okay, okay, I see. So I don't know what you can share. I don't know how to properly ask this question, but is there? Are there any missions that stand out to you that were I mean, I'm sure they were all incredible. Anything that was like a significant life-changing moment for you.

Speaker 2: 20:45

So probably the most life-changing moment that helped me be more aware and present of who I am and how I show up on a daily basis was when I got out of the aircraft we were doing snow qualifications under night vision goggles.

Speaker 1: 21:00

Wow, okay.

Speaker 2: 21:01

So that's. Blinding snow at the blizzard, okay, so the first, it was the Fort Drum, New York, and the first snowfall of every year we would have to fly with an instructor pilot. Okay and prove we know how to land in snow.

Speaker 1: 21:12

Okay.

Speaker 2: 21:13

Like if you're in blowing snow, there's like three different landings. You can. You can kind of step down and blow it out. If there's not a lot, you can roll, roll through it and roll in front of the year dust cloud as you're landing. And and then there's like I can't remember the third one now, but there's like three different ways.

Speaker 1: 21:28

Those were the main two. Did you have a favorite of those two that you remember?

Speaker 2: 21:31

I mean, I liked the softer, like step it down.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Okay.

Speaker 2: 21:36

It just depends on what kind of terrain you're in. If you're on a runway rolling through it's fastest and easiest.

Speaker 1: 21:41

You know it's flat. There's nothing questionable there.

Speaker 2: 21:42

If you're not sure, you don't want to start rolling and hit something or like, have rough terrain where you could damage the helicopter. So you know, so we, you would do it during the day. And then you get we had to sign it off that you're qualified.

Speaker 1: 21:58

So you're doing it during the day, but you're using the night vision, so no first, we do it during the day.

Speaker 2: 22:02

So, like the day before, we did your day so the next day, the next night, because you're for go day shift to night shift and have to. You can't be on duty for more than so many hours, so the next day we would come in late and do night shift and do night and we do night vision goggles. Now it's an instructor pilot and he's like every like eight minutes he's bringing another pilot in because he has to get the whole unit certified, so it's just like bam bam bam, they just hope it keeps snowing, right, so they can.

Speaker 1: 22:27

Or Well, there's enough snow down on the ground, so it's so okay, it doesn't have to be actively snowing. Okay, I see, I see.

Speaker 2: 22:32

So we're just. The point is blowing it to land, so it's pitch dark. So they turn off all the building lights. So it's pitch dark because we're in night vision goggles right. So you've got the big toilet paper tubes in front of your eyes that you're looking through and so I come out.

Speaker 2: 22:48

I come out, so there's a row of people lined up in the building and somebody on the radio and the instructor pilot radios as he's done with one. He radios and somebody walks out and you switch and the guy well, one gets out. And so I got in and you get in and you plug into your headset and do you do that first before you get in so they can be up on comms with you as you get in. And then you get in and you strap in and then adjust the seat, cause short legs, girl, only girl so had to always adjust the seat and then get, you know, pick it up to a hover, go over, do your landings, with the instructor pilot talking you through, making sure they're good, and if they're not, you redo them until they're good. So, and then you get up and as you're going back, he radios in the next person. So my instructor pilots Paul Santos. He gets up and he radios in for the next pilot, which is my friend, brian. So Brian comes walking, walking out of the hanger and he, I get out.

Speaker 2: 23:41

The last thing you do is unplug from your radio. So I get out, he gets in plugs in the radio gets in, make sure the door is shut. I start walking away. As he's adjusting the seat he come up to and hover they move over. It's not too far, it's between the runways. Where it's like snow, where the snow is built up between the runways, come up to a hover, go over to buy the runway and I'm walking away. Now, pitch dark, can't hear anything. I'm walking away and as I'm walking away, all I hear is and then and then pieces of debris are like flying by me. As they came down to land they had drifted slightly, which is hard to tell under night vision goggles and blowing snow.

Speaker 2: 24:26

They had drifted slightly. The one wheel hit kind of at an angle sideways. They had a critical rollover mass and they flip, basically flipped, and turned the helicopter on its side. So as soon as it went too far into the side, the first thing the first blade hits and the blades start crumpling apart, and then the blades went, the pieces of the blades went through the engines and shredded the engines.

Speaker 1: 24:52

So nobody was hurt, Okay first question no, no, right, right, I mean, I'm on the edge of my seat. I don't know about the listeners are too. I'm sure this is crazy.

Speaker 2: 25:00

I don't tell the story very often, so she, I mean, it sounds like a signature keynote story to me.

Speaker 1: 25:04

But yeah, I got better ones, believe it. Oh yeah, wow, so they're just longer.

Speaker 2: 25:08

I mean compact 좀 los poult、 the cleanestrrr, you know he, so I mean, but the debris like flying by me and I'd like you know, dropped to the ground.

Speaker 1: 25:16

Yeah, hit the desk.

Speaker 2: 25:17

And you know they I'm not up on the radios, the people inside are so by the time I got back to the building, they were had already had the fire department, that's on the call and everybody's there, but everybody's OK. Totaled the $18 million helicopter but which of course everybody immediately has to like take a drug test and take. You know you have to do all those testings anytime anything goes wrong and then created a it's a class A incident investigation with and the National Traffic Safety Board OK, so it becomes a big deal.

Speaker 1: 25:54

Wow, and are you kind of a witness in that situation?

Speaker 2: 25:57

Not really because I couldn't say it Sure sure.

Speaker 1: 26:00

I mean, they asked they did, they did Blackness. Yeah, I thought nothing.

Speaker 2: 26:04

So you could see the static in the air as the debris was right.

Speaker 1: 26:07

You're just hearing it right. You're just like something went wrong. That chopper went down, yeah, and it was close.

Speaker 2: 26:13

They did interview me. Did everything go OK? Was it was? Did the instructor pilot do what he was supposed to do, which of course he did? Right, it was his job, yeah, you know. And they just found that the area that he because he had to pick like a different spot every time they went into land to be to make sure there was snow there, ok the blow, so the spot he picked just wasn't really level and it just happened to slide and it's shift over and slide and end up being categorized as pilot error, which is bad right.

Speaker 2: 26:40

Because, it was a mechanical.

Speaker 1: 26:41

It wasn't anything else but so what's the lesson there? I mean you talked about it. It helps you show up differently.

Speaker 2: 26:48

It could have been me, it was as close, I mean, they interviewed me, you know and everything you know. What would you have done different?

Speaker 1: 26:54

Right, you know OK.

Speaker 2: 26:56

It just kind of heightens your awareness.

Speaker 1: 26:58

OK, it's, it's, it's. It's a rude awakening that whoa. This is like you know.

Speaker 2: 27:02

You get used to it you get into your place and a little bit and it's a wake up call to oh wow, these, these things happen.

Speaker 1: 27:09

Oh, it's, yeah, it could happen. So if this is just the tip of the iceberg for the adventures and I know you said the other stories are longer are there any other experiences you'd want to share that have taught you some of the big life lessons that maybe say you share with your audiences?

Speaker 2: 27:23

Oh, so many Like I can flip through my keynote mentally, you know. But you know one of the things, I think that ties in for your listeners and the theme of your show.

Speaker 1: 27:33

That'd be great. That would be. That's perfect. I like how you're thinking.

Speaker 2: 27:35

So I talk about being in a potential zone, not a comfort zone.

Speaker 1: 27:40

OK, OK.

Speaker 2: 27:41

So that's one of my opening stories. So like they, I get hired a lot for like the opening keynote because I get them all like thinking differently about things.

Speaker 1: 27:48

So what's your story about potential over comfort? Is there a story to support that one?

Speaker 2: 27:53

So it's about how I became a helicopter pilot after. I did the research. I went out to the flight line. I, you know, went to the chain link fence and looked at the helicopters for the very first time and I went, yeah, nice.

Speaker 1: 28:06

You know, just fell in love, right.

Speaker 2: 28:08

Well, it's not so much a love, as you have moments of destiny. Ok, all right, and that was a moment of destiny. I just I knew I was supposed to fly those helicopters. I couldn't even tell you which ones they are now. Right, but I just knew I was supposed to be out on if not that flight line, a flight line I knew it was going to happen. I saw it with extreme clarity, ok, and it was like a download you know, have you had those?

Speaker 1: 28:32

Oh yeah, oh yeah, yes.

Speaker 2: 28:33

So it was like a download. I knew I was supposed to do this and it just kind of filled me. And it filled me so full that when everybody else afterwards told me, no, I didn't believe them.

Speaker 1: 28:45

Wow, you just kept saying what else is possible.

Speaker 2: 28:48

I'm, I'm, I'm in my potential zone, not a comfort zone. It was not comfortable to go to the recruiter and do the I knew the process because I'd done the research and tell him I want to go war on officer flight training program and he said no, you can't do that.

Speaker 1: 29:05

Really.

Speaker 2: 29:05

It was not comfortable to go to the flight doctor and to do my flight physical and he'd tell me little girl, don't you know flight school is really hard. You know it wasn't comfortable to go take my testing and have a sergeant and the recruiting station tell me you know, young lady you know, don't you know?

Speaker 1: 29:25

it's hard to down to you.

Speaker 2: 29:27

And I'm like I took calculus five. I'm pretty sure I can handle a standardized test, you know, and but every, every single step of the way, it wasn't until the very, very, very last step, which was an interview, that I had anyone show me any Belief.

Speaker 1: 29:45

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 29:46

So all the way. I mean, we're talking months wow months of everyone else saying no, you can't do this, and everyone else being against. What I thought was possible and I, you know and this is something I teach in my in my presentations is sometimes you have to believe in yourself more than anyone else believes. And they're not going to believe, though, until you believe.

Speaker 2: 30:07

Yeah, interesting Like your belief has to feed theirs. It doesn't come the other way around. I think we spend too much time looking for external you know, external positives and external you know you have to external belief that you're supposed to do something and and and the signs you know that you're supposed to do something and a lot of that really generates from within.

Speaker 1: 30:31

Yeah, Well, so the listeners who are trying to make whether it's a small shift or a big shift in their life or in their work, how do they persevere when, if they keep hearing no, no, not for you, you can't do it? How, in the moment, like because in that you've, when you're feeling like because there might have been times of discouragement for you, or where you're like are they right? Should I just give up? Should I quit my biggest, my?

Speaker 2: 30:52

biggest. My biggest discouragement was when I was in actually in flight school. So I'd gone through basic training, candidate school, oh, I'm finally in flight school and my flight instructor didn't believe women should fly.

Speaker 1: 31:05

And I was the only woman in the class not just my class.

Speaker 2: 31:07

I was the only woman. For the five classes ahead of mine, the six classes I mean, out of 12 classes, 20 students, 240 pilots, I was the only woman.

Speaker 1: 31:17

Wow.

Speaker 2: 31:18

And he tried to fail me because of gender bias. Wow, so how do you show up?

Speaker 2: 31:23

when someone screams at you every day, when they try to fail you, when they look for everything that's wrong and tells you nothing is right Like that level of negativity and everything. And what I, what I realized is again, you have to believe in you more than anybody else and you have to. Sometimes that's it's. It almost becomes like a single-minded focus where you just filter everything else out and you just show up when others would quit. They wanted me to quit, yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:50

They wanted me to quit.

Speaker 2: 31:52

I refused to quit. I showed up every single day, get the best I had in the moments I'm in, and sometimes that's all we can do.

Speaker 1: 32:04

Believing yourself, give it your all. Don't quit and just show up Over and over again, show up.

Speaker 2: 32:09

I just spoke for a big technology company and maybe 10% women, and I spoke to the men too. I mean it was a big audience and I had women coming up to me after. I mean, shockingly, number of women came up to me after saying I'm not heard, what do I do? I said you keep showing up.

Speaker 1: 32:28

There you go.

Speaker 2: 32:29

You keep showing up, because when you just keep showing up, consistently, doing your best, eventually they have to see you and have to listen and realize you're not going anywhere.

Speaker 1: 32:40

Hear that girls talking to my daughters. Listen to this. Keep showing up, don't go anywhere.

Speaker 2: 32:46

Yeah, just stay focused, I love that.

Speaker 1: 32:48

That's great I love. Thank you so much for that wisdom. So then, obviously, you went from the piloting to the entrepreneurial corporate world. What was that like? For what did you say? Was that also an eight year period before?

Speaker 2: 32:58

you started speaking Because I'm like eight. Now I'm more than eight speaking now I'm at 14.

Speaker 1: 33:03

So I'm OK, stop doing math, stop.

Speaker 2: 33:07

Stop doing math.

Speaker 1: 33:08

No math here, so how did your army pilot principles translate to the workplace?

Speaker 2: 33:14

Not very well.

Speaker 1: 33:15

OK, ok, all right.

Speaker 2: 33:17

So you only fly two or three days a week, ok, so, the other days you're expected to have a job. You're actually evaluated in how you do that job, because you're expected to be an excellent pilot.

Speaker 1: 33:27

OK.

Speaker 2: 33:27

So my other job was logistics contract negotiation, property management, inventory management, things like that so at my last assignment, at least in Germany and import, export, things like that. So when I got out of the military, that's what I got a job in is a warehouse manufacturer doing inventory management, import, export, logistics, supply chain.

Speaker 1: 33:54

Was that a hard transition to me? I know you were working while you were piloting, but when you went completely away from the piloting, did you miss it? Was it hard to be? It was hard right.

Speaker 2: 34:03

I still miss flying every day, but I was injured. Ok, I have another long story. I was injured while my unit was stationed in Coast. We were deployed in Kosovo doing UNDT. Is that story appropriate for now?

Speaker 1: 34:17

I know it's probably a long story, but I know the listeners are going. What Wait?

Speaker 2: 34:21

because you're a? No, I mean.

Speaker 1: 34:23

Because I know that you were. Let's see, there was something. You received the congressional, not congregational, veteran accommodation for your service to the country and community as a disabled veteran. So could you just give us anything you want?

Speaker 2: 34:34

to talk about. You want to know about that, or you want to know about I'm injured. There's two different things I know. Ok, all right, well, tell us about the injury. You lose the whole afternoon here, you know.

Speaker 1: 34:41

Tell us about the injury first, I promise. I won't keep you here all day, but I am super curious what happened.

Speaker 2: 34:46

Negligent medical care.

Speaker 1: 34:48

OK, shouldn't have happened OK.

Speaker 2: 34:51

Blessings in disguise For me. I was a single parent and the unit I, after September 11th, the unit I was with, went to Afghanistan, so it ended up being a blessing in disguise as a time. You don't know that At the time it was devastating. Because I have inner ear you stationed tube damage that would cause me to never fly again. I see so because I received negligent medical care.

Speaker 1: 35:12

OK. So even though it was a blessing in disguise, it was still hard to leave that world. Oh my gosh, horrible OK.

Speaker 2: 35:17

Horrible, devastating depressive incident.

Speaker 1: 35:23

How do you make it through those times? Right, because this is a different kind of a challenge.

Speaker 2: 35:26

I was single parent. My daughter, who's now we won't tell, never mind. So she was five.

Speaker 1: 35:33

OK.

Speaker 2: 35:35

So sometimes, if you can't show up for yourself, you show up for your kids right.

Speaker 1: 35:38

Yeah, you know there's a new purpose. Yeah, you're living outside yourself at that point, totally.

Speaker 2: 35:43

So I needed to find a job right and I needed to provide a living for her, because it was just her and I.

Speaker 1: 35:48

Right.

Speaker 2: 35:48

So yeah, so I put out all these resumes on this new website back then called monstercom. Ok, all right I sent out my resumes and I got a call back for a job. And then I came back and it was for a warehouse and a bad part of Dallas. Ok, and I'm doing inventory management in a union tough warehouse, tough guys but they felt like I could handle it and they wouldn't give me too much crap because I was a military and woman, you know.

Speaker 1: 36:18

They just felt like so you finally get respect. You deserve it. I did, I got some respect.

Speaker 2: 36:22

I did, I did. I was there almost five years, worked my way up from an inventory accountant to being over the over purchasing and part of the warehouse. Even the union employees reported to me and worked my way up pretty well. Got headhunted to another company.

Speaker 1: 36:37

All right.

Speaker 2: 36:40

Did a lesson a year at that company. I found out they were hiring illegals in falsifying documentation.

Speaker 1: 36:45

OK.

Speaker 2: 36:46

And a lot of them reported to me in the warehouse. So back. I don't know what it is now, but back then that meant I could go to jail. So I was like, uh-uh, no way. So I started gently, quietly looking for another job, and one of those job interviews called and asked for a reference.

Speaker 1: 37:08

OK.

Speaker 2: 37:09

And I came back into the office and all my stuff was packed up and out on outside the building. Oh wow, oh wow.

Speaker 1: 37:16

OK.

Speaker 2: 37:16

So I was like oh, all righty then.

Speaker 1: 37:17

So then what happened after that?

Speaker 2: 37:19

So after that I got real with my job search, because at this point I wasn't a single parent, but I just didn't know there was anything else.

Speaker 1: 37:27

OK.

Speaker 2: 37:29

So I did a real quick cut where you customize the resume and the cover letter for every single job you apply for and within two days I had two calls and two jobs. And I had two interviews within a day of each other, two offers within a day of each other and both decent jobs. So I took the one closer to the house. It seemed to have the other one's government. I was kind of tired of government work so I took one in manufacturing, about five minutes from my house, and was an international contract negotiator.

Speaker 1: 37:57

Oh, ok, all right, that sounds like as cool as Black Hawk pilot.

Speaker 2: 38:03

So I traveled my main client was in Lyon, France. Oh fun, Multi-million dollar client.

Speaker 1: 38:10

Wow.

Speaker 2: 38:11

And negotiated multi-million dollar contracts and did site inspections and made sure quality inspections and things like that.

Speaker 1: 38:17

It's amazing. All you're bringing in your experience to the stage to teach people. So at some point you said time to be a motivational speaker. I've done it all. So what was that transition like? How did, like you said, the moments of possibility? Yeah, and so what was that like?

Speaker 2: 38:35

So it was funny because I was working in that last job as an international contract negotiator. The manufacturer was five minutes from my house.

Speaker 1: 38:44

Like it was close.

Speaker 2: 38:45

And the other job was across Dallas, fort Worth. So it was like an hour drive each way, so suddenly I'm like five minutes from my house. I got involved in my kids' PTA. Oh, cool I got involved in the community some and they found out. I was a helicopter pilot which I didn't really advertise, but they found out about it and they were like, hey, will you come speak to the Career Day for the kids? Will you come speak to our?

Speaker 1: 39:07

youth program, will you?

Speaker 2: 39:08

come, and then it became the Boy Scouts.

Speaker 1: 39:10

And it was the Girl Scouts Then it was the youth church groups.

Speaker 2: 39:13

Then it was just kind of organically spread out and I was saying no to a lot because I traveled and was busy. So I said no to a lot but I said yes when I could. And then one day my phone rang and it was for a business luncheon.

Speaker 1: 39:33

Oh yeah, stepping it up a notch, right Right.

Speaker 2: 39:37

But I was booked, I was busy. So I turned them down.

Speaker 1: 39:40

You were speaking for the Boy Scouts that day, right?

Speaker 2: 39:43

Well, I was booked from my corporate job, but I just always said I was booked there you go.

Speaker 1: 39:46

None of their business why I was booked.

Speaker 2: 39:49

So I just said I'm sorry, I'm booked.

Speaker 1: 39:51

I say I'm booked. When I have a hair appointment I'm like I'm booked, I'm busy, that's important it is, I get you.

Speaker 2: 39:59

So I said no, I'm booked and they're like well, we'll pay you. And I'm like wait, I could get paid. I've been doing this for free, this time and I could get paid.

Speaker 1: 40:11

It had just never dawned on you after that point. I mean I knew Ziegsigler and John Maxwell and the.

Speaker 2: 40:16

Biggies, but I had no idea there was anything in between.

Speaker 1: 40:19

Sure, how much did you get paid for your first?

Speaker 2: 40:22

gig $500.

Speaker 1: 40:23

$500.

Speaker 2: 40:24

And since then she For a 45 minute lunch.

Speaker 1: 40:26

That's good for a first one. I think my first birthday party ever was $20. Hey, and she's doubled her fee since then. Is that right? That's a Mark Mayfield joke. I think he made $70 on his first gig.

Speaker 2: 40:37

He's like.

Speaker 1: 40:37

I've doubled my fee since then.

Speaker 2: 40:39

Yeah, yeah, wow, but that's good, I'd have to have a calculator to figure out Sure.

Speaker 1: 40:44

No, I know she is.

Speaker 2: 40:45

Let's see. You want to know.

Speaker 1: 40:47

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 40:48

So the tech company gig that I just did this last weekend Tell us Was $25,000.

Speaker 1: 40:53

There you go, all right. So a little more than $500. Now you want to become a motivational speaker.

Speaker 2: 40:57

14 years, 14 years, of doing a lot of rotary clubs chicken dinner.

Speaker 1: 41:02

Zach's jaw just dropped. He's like what?

Speaker 2: 41:04

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 41:06

Yeah, so that's great. So, whatever that is, I can't really do the math on that, but that's great.

Speaker 2: 41:12

I had another one that was supposed to be 25,000 euros.

Speaker 1: 41:16

Oh wow.

Speaker 2: 41:17

So which would have been not like, with the exchange rate depending. But it would have been a little more. There you go For a big pharmaceutical company we would all recognize yeah, nice, and but they couldn't get the paperwork together fast enough and I was going on vacation, I didn't want to mess with it on vacation so. I withdrew from it.

Speaker 1: 41:34

Yes, nice.

Speaker 2: 41:36

I said no, keep me in mind for the next one. Let's plan ahead more there you go. And the company. It was a management company, event management company that was booking me in Europe. They really respected me. I think they respected me more Because I withdrew and said, no, let's do it right.

Speaker 1: 41:51

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 41:53

Then doing it all last minute. That's great. Yeah so she was like well, definitely be working with you in the future.

Speaker 1: 41:57

That's awesome. There you go. It's nice that you're at the place where you can kind of, you know, not stress about every call that's coming in. Yeah, yeah, you get used to it, don't you?

Speaker 2: 42:07

It's not like, like, if you're listening and you're like, wow, I'm going to be a motivational speaker next week.

Speaker 1: 42:11

Like I mean I did. It's a climb, I did a hundred Rotary Clubs.

Speaker 2: 42:16

In fact, in my first 18 months that I decided after I got laid off from that job. I did 163 Rotary Clubs in 18 months.

Speaker 1: 42:27

Wow.

Speaker 2: 42:28

Just to polish the content, just to know what to do when the AV, just to build confidence, just to the delivery.

Speaker 1: 42:36

That's one thing too when people come to me and say how do you get started? I'm like look up your local Rotary, kiwanis Clubs, lions Clubs, because they're always looking for a cost-effective solution for like an after lunch speaker. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 42:50

Cost-effective equals free. Pretty much yeah.

Speaker 1: 42:53

And that's where you can polish. You need a place to be kind of like bad, you know.

Speaker 2: 42:57

Yeah, so it's. You're never good the first time.

Speaker 1: 43:00

Yeah, no, so that's great. So your book right? The Pilot Method the Five Elemental Truths to Leading Yourself in Life. Pilot has all the periods after each letter, I'm assuming that's some kind of acronym.

Speaker 2: 43:10

Do you want to?

Speaker 1: 43:11

share what that acronym is. You're going to like it. I'm sure I am.

Speaker 2: 43:15

So the P is for potential.

Speaker 1: 43:16

Ah, see, this just worked out. Great, yeah, potential possibilities. Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2: 43:19

So the P is for potential, and it goes back to what I said earlier you have to believe in your own potential before anybody else will.

Speaker 1: 43:25

Okay.

Speaker 2: 43:26

So like it is literally impossible for someone else to believe in your potential when you don't.

Speaker 1: 43:30

Okay.

Speaker 2: 43:32

So I is implementation. It doesn't do any good to believe in your potential if you don't do something with it Okay, okay, yeah, right. So implementation, how do you be more effective? L is three pillars of leadership. That. I teach, communicate, aviate, navigate.

Speaker 1: 43:45

Nice, the eights, yeah, the eights.

Speaker 2: 43:47

Communicate aviate navigate, I love it yeah yeah, I would add a motivate in there and a couple other ones, but I like communicate, aviate, navigate, can.

Speaker 1: 43:56

Ah, there you go, boom See, so clever Can leadership so good.

Speaker 2: 44:01

So, oh, it's optimal performance.

Speaker 1: 44:03

Okay.

Speaker 2: 44:04

Right. If you show up depleted, how can you give to anyone else?

Speaker 1: 44:06

Right right so how do you?

Speaker 2: 44:08

how do you? It's more about a self-discovery.

Speaker 1: 44:11

Okay, in optimal performance.

Speaker 2: 44:12

I'm not like prescriptive. Here's what you do, right, it's do what, what you know you need to do. Okay, right, that's great. And then tea, because it's different for everybody, yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:21

You can't have a straight blue friend friend.

Speaker 2: 44:22

Yeah, some people need like they want to meditate and do yoga and I would freaking fall asleep yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:27

Right, right, it's like not me right.

Speaker 2: 44:30

So for me, I work out. I have other ways that I. I have that kind of chill time Right. So I think everybody's different. I really, it really bothers me when I, when these like articles and magazines say in order to be successful, you have to wake up at 5am and do these. The most successful people do these things before 5am. Then I'm like I'm a night owl.

Speaker 1: 44:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 44:54

Like I get more done from like 11pm and 2am. Yeah, you know than I ever would waking up at 5.

Speaker 1: 45:00

I'd be half asleep for three hours. Yeah Well, that's good, and I think that's just like a, a maturity thing. You get to know yourself over time and realize there's these formulas that work for other people, but it's it's not all encompassing. You got to find what works for you. It's really annoying to me when when someone else shoves it and says this is what you should like to stop shooting me Right Right Off of your perspective, but you know.

Speaker 2: 45:23

This is what works for me. It could work for you, but, like I, I think everybody has their own like key times, a day where you're most productive. Oh right, Totally Mine is in the morning, mine's like the eight to noon. It's that coffee? Um well, it used to be.

Speaker 1: 45:39

Now I'm trying to make it the mudwatercom slash devon.

Speaker 2: 45:44

So for me, my, my most optimal time is like from 11 to two.

Speaker 1: 45:50

Okay.

Speaker 2: 45:50

That's like when I'm just on fire. Yeah Right, so like I very rarely will schedule a lunch meeting or lunch day.

Speaker 1: 45:55

Oh yeah, sure.

Speaker 2: 45:56

Because I need to be working here in that time.

Speaker 1: 45:57

Okay, gotcha, so I'm more yeah. Yeah, that's, that's interesting. I early afternoon is when I start to okay, I need like a nap, I need to get out and go for a run or something, so that's interesting.

Speaker 2: 46:07

Yeah, like four or five o'clock I could take a nap, okay All right, so it's just a little later, but then I'm up until one or two AM, usually most days, so especially when I'm writing.

Speaker 1: 46:16

Yeah. So what's the T in pilot? T is tenacity, tenacity, it's not giving up. I was guessing words. I was like what is it Not giving up? Just showing up, it's showing up. It's showing up.

Speaker 2: 46:25

It's showing up when it's hard because you know it is. Guess what it is. So we know going in that life is hard. Is you're going to discover things that are hard? So you decide you're going to be true to you and show up, or some people don't.

Speaker 1: 46:41

Yeah, yeah, thank you. So much of what you said has really helped support the possibility mindset and why people come to this podcast. So this is awesome, especially that potential factor that's and just showing up, and I just love those factors. Can I ask you a couple more personal questions? Okay, what do you do to spark your creativity?

Speaker 2: 47:02

Hmm, sleep.

Speaker 1: 47:05

Okay, it's a good one.

Speaker 2: 47:07

No, it is.

Speaker 1: 47:08

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 47:08

Because when you don't, when you aren't sleeping good, it doesn't flow.

Speaker 1: 47:12

Yeah Right, do you ever have trouble turning your brain off? Oh yeah, see, that's me.

Speaker 2: 47:17

All the time yeah.

Speaker 1: 47:17

But if you can get to sleep then you're getting that rest to wake up fresh and yeah.

Speaker 2: 47:22

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 47:23

What's what about it? Like a day off, Like you're away from family, you're away from friends, you're not gigging, you're not like what's a perfect day. Look like for Elizabeth McCormick.

Speaker 2: 47:32

So I would. I would work out not early in the morning like 10 am.

Speaker 1: 47:38

Okay.

Speaker 2: 47:38

I'd work out like get some sunshine. So whether it's nice enough, you know, just sitting this on and read, or get some sunshine.

Speaker 1: 47:48

I'm a big live in Dallas, right, so good opportunities to get some rays down there. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 47:52

We get some sun, and then I would, you know, do some reading or research or, you know, stimulate my brain.

Speaker 1: 48:02

Okay, nice. So Get the wheels turning. Yeah, it's funny how other ideas can yeah help you with your own idea, Even if they're sometimes like barely related.

Speaker 2: 48:11

it can just trigger some little thing Exactly. Yeah, I get that. And here's the biggest thing with that, and this is this is not so much how I became creative, but how I become productive in creativity. Okay, ooh, that's good that is good. And the next thing is whenever I'm reading a book, I have a notepad or a journal next to me and I'm writing the stimulus.

Speaker 1: 48:30

Okay.

Speaker 2: 48:30

My thoughts, my ideas, what I want to do, different things. That's great. Not necessarily what's written in an overhand book, sure, and when I am like watching another speaker, I put a line in the middle of the page and the left side is what they say and the right side are my thoughts. So I always separate out my thoughts from what somebody else says. So I can I can protect their intellectual property and mine so smart, so respectful, that's great.

Speaker 1: 48:55

That's awesome, so you don't have to dig through it later and think where did this come from, or?

Speaker 2: 48:59

did they say this or did? I think this I mean that's important to differentiate. So yeah, and then I can just go through, and I just look through the right column and then, if I need to recall where it came from, I look at the left column.

Speaker 1: 49:11

Okay, okay, so you're. I love that. So you're in your ideal day. You work out, you read a little bit, you learn what's the? What would you top it off with? You have movie watcher, do you take walks? What do you get out and what brings you to life? I? Would eat, eat. Hey, right here.

Speaker 2: 49:27

Yes.

Speaker 1: 49:28

What's your favorite kind of food? Everything, everything.

Speaker 2: 49:32

So, which is why I work out to eat there you go.

Speaker 1: 49:35

I don't work out to work out, I work out to eat. I love to eat. I think that is a great intention. What was it that's awesome?

Speaker 2: 49:41

Was it Miss America or Miss World Universe or something? And it shows up every once in a while in the viral videos stuff and it's like the best answer of a pageant contestant ever and they're like what would you do when the pageant world's over? What will you do different? She's like I would eat every bit. That's awesome, that's funny. I was like yes it's my friend.

Speaker 1: 49:59

There you go.

Speaker 2: 50:00

A woman after her own heart, that's awesome, but I had you know you have somebody told me something and it's not popular. Please, no, don't shoot. The messenger is not me, but a bureau agent told me this when I first got started and I had recently had my youngest child, so I was struggling with a little baby weight Right and I was just starting off pretty much and she said no one wants to hire a fat motivational speaker. Would definitely not be politically correct to say nowadays.

Speaker 2: 50:35

But it's something that really stuck with me because I was like you know what that's kind of right, like right if you can't motivate yourself, right? I mean, obviously there's health is please, please, you know, obviously there's health.

Speaker 1: 50:46

No, we understand what you're saying. Yeah, it came from somebody else to me that made you think.

Speaker 2: 50:50

Not, not in a judgmental way but just made you go and and honestly, I need to be more healthy. Yeah, I need to take care of myself, yeah, and there's, there's that.

Speaker 1: 50:58

And then there's also certain things you can't see behind the scenes, emotionally Like why wouldn't that person speak into me because of where they're coming from, whether it's something that tips you off about their appearance or their attitude or their character you always have to be thinking about. If we're going to be motivational speakers, we really do need to be intentional about a really well balanced how are we showing up? Are we showing up in every way? So I understand what you're saying.

Speaker 2: 51:21

I mean it was jarring at the time because I felt like it was super judgmental and you know I have friends that are.

Speaker 1: 51:29

I have thyroid issues and other things and health issues, you know, and I was like ooh, and she's like you know, yeah, yeah, no, you're just going to read between the lines there and realize it was. It was well intentioned and didn't. Yeah, no, I get it, no.

Speaker 2: 51:41

I'm with you. It was like wow, I didn't really. You know, you think about your content and you think about your delivery, and you might think about what you wear and polishing your shoes, sure, sure.

Speaker 1: 51:51

Dressy shoes, you know there's certain things like that. You look at me and you're like, oh, not those. Well, not those.

Speaker 2: 51:55

But you know, you just think about. You think about certain things. You might not think about, things like that.

Speaker 1: 52:01

Sure Sure. And it's not about a really even. It's not about a status thing. It's about you don't want what the way you look or behave to distract from this awesome impact that you want to make. It's like oh there, you know, it's even can go to the extreme of you look too good up there. You know, it's like well that person's not too much bling or whatever's going on.

Speaker 2: 52:21

That it's like yeah it can be not relatable, yeah. So there's a balance there between so sloppy and too good, you know so you know, and tomorrow when I speak to the speaker, you know, it's not one thing, it's everything. And I think, and the other piece I say a lot is perception, is reality, their perception.

Speaker 1: 52:41

Okay, right.

Speaker 2: 52:42

Is their reality. Yeah, so how are you showing up on video? How are you showing up on a podcast? How do you show up in all the things that you do? And it kind of forces you, kind of kind of like that helicopter crash and as I was walking away, it forces you to be more aware.

Speaker 1: 52:56

Sure, well, let me say you have shown up very well today and I appreciate you being here. So I felt lucky, we're honored to have you on the podcast, because I know when you come into town like this, there's a lot going on and it's a tight schedule.

Speaker 1: 53:10

So thank you so much for coming, but I do have two last questions, if that's all right. Okay, before I ask those questions, remember one more time try mudwater, just give it a shot, it might be for you. Mudwatercom slash devon look for that in the show notes. Follow us on YouTube. Share this podcast. Five star review. We appreciate any of that, all the comments. It really goes a long way and helps us get more traction so we can have a bigger impact. I want people to hear this message from Elizabeth so you can help us make that happen. All right, so two last things. Your website, I know, is I got it right here pilot speakercom.

Speaker 1: 53:42

Pilot speakercom Is that the best way for them to get a hold of you.

Speaker 2: 53:45

That's my first question Really pilot speaker on any social media platform.

Speaker 1: 53:49

Okay.

Speaker 2: 53:49

All right, so anywhere. But can I give a gift to everyone, please, okay.

Speaker 1: 53:53

Yeah, that'd be great.

Speaker 2: 53:54

So you know those confidence boosting strategies I mentioned earlier for your daughter. I want to give to all the listeners Nice, and you can find those at soresoaryourlifecom.

Speaker 1: 54:05

Great Soar your life. Would you make a note of that for me Please? He's soreyourlifecom. What Thank you for that free gift for the listeners. I know you all appreciate that and you can connect with her at pilotspeakercom or pilotspeaker on social media and let her know how much you appreciate that.

Speaker 2: 54:18

So that's great.

Speaker 1: 54:19

Okay, then last question. Question, one last piece of advice for my daughters. Anything goes.

Speaker 2: 54:30

No matter what you do in life, you have to fly First. Lead yourself.

Speaker 1: 54:40

Boom, that's great. Thank you so much. I love it Everybody. Elizabeth McCormick, thank you for your service, my honor. We appreciate that and we're going to close with our catchphrase, something that really embraces the possibility mindset. We asked the question what else is possible? So I'm going to say what else and then I'll have you say is possible? Okay, Pretty easy. All right, got it Okay, all right. Thank you so much for joining us and remember to never stop asking the question. What else is possible? See you next time.