How Investing in Myself Completely Changed My Life (Kimberly’s Story)

Ep: 225

Do your work and responsibilities make you feel like you don’t have control? Does your life look good on paper, but inside, you’re feeling burnt out and unfulfilled?

If you have all the components of success but you’re still not finding fulfillment, then there’s something deeper at play.

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment®, Blake welcomes Kimberly to share her story. Her personal journey highlights the impact that truly choosing to invest in yourself can have on your life and the people around you. Through the program, she began to understand the value of personal growth, and it changed almost everything in her life for the better.

In this episode, you’ll learn why Kimberly felt that other coaching programs weren’t going deep enough, and how our unique process, along with the community aspect, helped her in ways she couldn’t have imagined. You’ll hear how she gained control of her calendar to become a better leader, and how she learned to make more time for things she enjoyed. She also shares why she believes that investing in yourself is the greatest gift you can bring into your life and the lives of those around you.

Life exists beyond the hustle & grind. If you want real change, then it’s time to invest in yourself.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Where other coaching programs were falling short (4:31)
  • How coaching opened up her options in ways she hadn’t imagined (8:42)
  • Learning to listen to what her body was telling her (20:40)
  • She wanted to survive, but learned how to thrive (30:37)
  • Why investing in yourself is the greatest gift (39:13)

Favorite Quotes:

  1. When we’re unsettled in our careers, we underestimate the true cost of staying. – Blake
  2. The vista just opened up so much wider than I had ever anticipated into what options there were, and it just expanded way beyond what I ever would have imagined myself to be looking at. It was remarkable. – Kimberly
  3. I made the critical decision to trust the program because there were so many success stories, and I knew what I was doing wasn’t working. – Kimberly
  4. You take it to a much, much deeper level. And that’s where the change happens. That’s how it actually starts working. – Kimberly
  5. When you invest in yourself and you do this work, you’re not just investing in yourself. You’re investing in your husband and your kids and your co-workers and everyone that you interact with. – Blake

Additional Resources:

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.
We can help you do just that.

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to https://thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: https://thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

For other programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

Transcript

Kimberly W 0:04
When I started, my vision was narrow, I really was just hoping to survive. I wanted something that was going to help me survive better, is probably the way I would say it. And it’s not about that, it’s not surviving better, it’s thriving. And what you learn in the program is to detach from the outcome, an outcome is going to happen, but you don’t prescribe what that outcome is going to be, you allow the outcome to reveal itself. And when you allow yourself to go through the program that way, then that’s when the magic happens. That’s when you start expanding your horizon, you start seeing the possibilities. I wish it had been around 10 years earlier when I needed it. But I’m glad I did it now because it will change the rest of my life.

Blake Schofield 1:00
Hi, I’m Blake Schofield, founder and CEO of The Bridge to Fulfillment®, mom to three, USA Today top 10 professional coach, and former corporate executive who got tired of sacrificing my life for a comfortable paycheck. My mission is to expand women’s perspectives and empower them to achieve greater impact at home and work without sacrifice. This is The Bridge to Fulfillment®.

Blake Schofield 1:34
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Bridge to Fulfillment® I am so excited to have my client Kimberly on the podcast today. Her personal journey in so many ways aligns with what I have learned for myself about the impacts truly of choosing to invest in yourself. And understanding the value behind personal growth, how it can literally open up and change almost everything in your life. And so I’m really excited for her to share her journey with you because I have no doubt she will inspire you to see more about what’s possible for your life. She will help you better understand the journey of maybe coming into more of who you’ve always been. And I think help show you that there’s life beyond the hustle and grind, sometimes incredibly intense corporate environment that many of us have grown up in watched our parents grow up in and have known to be what we thought the only option was. So with that said, Kimberly, welcome.

Kimberly W 2:40
Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

Blake Schofield 2:42
So excited to have you! All right, lady. So with that said, Would you just share a little bit with our audience so they can get to know a little bit more about you what was going on in your life when we connected? What were you really experiencing or struggling with? And what led you to kind of get connected with me and The Bridge to Fulfillment®?

Kimberly W 2:59
So I remember it very clearly. It was I think 2 AM In the morning, and it was another series of years where I hadn’t been sleeping well, I had anxiety, I had a lot of burnout. And I was like this can’t continue. Something has to change. And I had been following you and watching your program from afar. And at that moment, I was like “Nah, this can’t continue anymore”. So the next day I called you or you know, submitted a request to talk to you, being something had to change. I was in a loop where I knew I couldn’t get out of it because I didn’t know what to do. And what I was doing just kept this circle going around. And the burnout and the anxiety and just this kind of dark cloud of depression was just weighing on me. And I didn’t want my life to be that, that way. And I knew I needed help. So I started with the program.

Blake Schofield 3:52
Awesome. What else you tried beforehand? And how long? If you’re really honest with yourself, because many times we aren’t. But how long have you really look at it you said I was going in circles. What did you try before? And how long do you really think it was that you were suffering from this lack of clarity, burnout, cycles of really being unfulfilled, before you got to that point where you said, “No more!”

Kimberly W 4:15
It had at least been 10 years, and I had had it to very severe burnout time periods, I guess you would call it, where all I could manage to do was get up in the morning and then just go to bed. Nothing else was happening. And what I had tried is I’ve worked with other coaches, but the programs were always a combination of some group and then the 1:1 was like that bonus that was thrown in, you get one free 1:1 or two free 1:1. And I knew I needed many more 1:1’s than just these two little freebies that got thrown in on the coaching program. And this coaching programs weren’t really ones that were geared in a different direction. Sometimes you just have to try programs to find the right fit. And then of course I did a lot bit of reading books and watching videos and trying to do it myself, but I wasn’t going deep enough, they were very surface level. And so it wasn’t lasting, it wasn’t making significant change. And it became very apparent, I needed help, it was much more deep than just something I could do on a weekend or read a book. And while those are all great things, and I do those now, and I applied them now, I’ve played them a little differently now going through this program, but I needed someone to really coach me through what the future could look like. And at that point, it was really more about my career. And I’m sure we’ll talk about how this is like a holistic program in the end. But that’s where I started, it was about how do I, where do I move forward? What do I do, and I was in that cycle, easily 10 years.

Blake Schofield 5:48
I appreciate you saying that. Because one of the things I think often when we’re unfulfilled in our career, and we get to a place where we just say “I’m done, I can’t do this”, is we underestimate the true cost of staying and continuing to try all these little kind of surface level things. Because we’re not actually stopping and saying like, how long have I been unfulfilled? What have I done? What is this actually costing me in the process? And so like I said, I really appreciate you saying that, because until you can really stop and see it, I think we justify it. Because we’re surrounded by people who are burned out and unhappy. And they’ll tell us, “Well, that’s just life, you just need to get over it or just get a hobby or learn how to de stress or learn how to care less, or whatever”. All of those things are that people say and so to be able to look back now and say, “Wow, I was working. I was taking all these actions, I was trying to solve the problem. And it wasn’t really working”. It’s important because for me, I spent 18 years in corporate and I would say it was a decade for me too before I really unlocked what was truly happening. And it doesn’t have to be a decade. You don’t have to go through all this pain or misalignments. And I just want more women to understand that that I think sometimes we think that you have to suffer but you don’t.

Kimberly W 7:06
Oh, I agree. I think anyone who is stuck, or in a circle needs to seriously look at your program if your program I don’t think was around 10 years ago when I needed it. And originally, I really ended up waiting too long, I probably went about two years longer than I should having followed you. And knowing what your program was about before I joined. Because I just wasn’t making any progress. And you’re right about being with people who are in the same state you are, you don’t, you’re kind of all in the same boat together. So you don’t realize the impact is having on relationships, on your health, on just, I mean, my house was a disaster because I had no energy to even do a 15 minute little declutter or cleanup because it was just all exhaustion and I was really mostly just trying to survive. And yet, when people would look from the outside, I was looking successful. I was looking like, “Oh, you’re you’re continuing to grow in your career”. But it was in a trajectory, I did not feel that I had control of. I would just get a promotion, which sounds wonderful. But it kind of started just having a mind of its own, in a way. And I felt out of control. But then at the same time kind of guilty because I should be happy that I’m being successful. And I’m promoting and I’m getting more responsibility and going up the corporate ladder. But it was not necessarily in the direction I wanted to go.

Blake Schofield 8:31
Yeah. And so you said you initially came in for your career, you were burned out, you lacked clarity on what you wanted to do next. What were your goals? At that point? What did you think that you would get out of this journey?

Kimberly W 8:42
I wasn’t 100% sure what I would get out. And I really thought it would be just about my career. And I don’t know that I knew 100% if I was in the right industry or doing the right type of work, I really felt it was just going to give me a path in corporate. And there might be still a degree of that in the future. But I was a little more like, “Am I doing the right jobs? Am I going in the right places?” And it was so much more even within that category of career. It opened up how to look at industries differently, how to look out my realm of genius, and what I really excel at. Because before, I would take an opening or a project because it sounded interesting or “Well, let’s try this. This might work. This might be the missing puzzle piece”. And I really thought in the program I’d have clarity, which I did, get but in a much, much deeper way than I anticipated the clarity to be. I kind of just thought it’d be like “Okay, great. This is how you improve. This is how you become more of a leader. This is how you continue to grow”. A little bit of touching at what have I excelled at, but in the end, it turned out to be a lot more about what I excel at and what I’m gifted with and less about, it’s this next level or it’s this next typical journey, the vest has just opened up so much more wide than I had ever anticipated into what options were there. I really thought it was going to be within this type of industry, or within this type of work. And just promoting within that, and it just expanded way beyond what I even would have imagined myself to be looking at. It was remarkable.

Blake Schofield 10:22
I love that. You know, and it’s interesting hearing you say that, because you said, you went through these programs before, you know, I have worked with many different coaches and consultants, myself. And I think the approach that we have here is very different. And we say that every client comes on and says it’s a really holistic program, it’s really different. It’s deeper, it gets to the root cause. But despite that, right, we always still come in with the perspectives of what we know. And what I see or you say is, I came in wanting clarity, and I thought it would sort of help me fit in the box of this cookie cutter, this is the right industry, this is the right role. And instead, what happened was an expansion of understanding who you were, and a lot of different options you didn’t even really realize existed. And I love hearing you say that because it’s about a big part of my heart is to help people understand there’s so much more possibility for your life. And you have to get out of the box to see it. And you are angry that and get out of the box. But even knowing that you are coming into a program that was structured differently than it was holistic is focused on Elvis, you still okay, with what’s the box I fit in?

Kimberly W 11:32
Oh, absolutely. When I first started the program, I made a critical decision at the beginning, that I would trust the program, I trust the process. And I would trust you. Because there was a moment where I’m looking at the work that needed to be done and kind of just perusing ahead, not, not diving too deep, but just kind of looking at what the roadmap ahead was looking like. And some things I was like, “Oh, well, we’ll see. We’ll see about this”. It’s getting into some areas that I might have side I had in the past. But I made that critical decision to trust it because there were so many success stories. And I knew what I was doing wasn’t working. So when I made that, at the very beginning, I’m going to trust this process. And there’s a lot of very deep reflective work, that I allowed myself to go through, sometimes, extreme emotions. Sometimes I was mad about what I was having to challenge from things that I’ve either grew up understanding or the circumstances I currently was seeing, and the box suddenly just kind of went away. And that was a bit uncomfortable. It was a little like awkward, like, “Oh, no, now you don’t know what this looks like”. But then at the end, when I kept pushing through and kept with it, and kept continuing the deep reflections in the program and all the exercises we go through, then the pieces were coming together. And there was more and more clarity.

Kimberly W 12:59
And it was very exciting. I went from being extremely depressed and feeling no, like no hope, like this is just going to be it until I retire. And then life happens after I retire. And that was not how I wanted to live. And then all of a sudden, as I went through the program, pieces started coming together. And it became very exciting. All of a sudden, the whole outlet change, really, the whole life changed. Because things that I learned applied to other areas, they started with my career. And then I learned how to apply them to the other areas. And that just started opening up so much excitement, a lot of my anxiety started decreasing, my depression started decreasing, where I am today versus where I started in the program. It’s like, almost like a whole different world. It. It’s really remarkable and very exciting.

Blake Schofield 13:52
I love that. So I’m sure whoever’s listening to this is like, “Well, how did you do that? How is that possible?” Because that’s where our brain always wants to go? The how. And I often say if you knew the how you would have done it yourself. That’s why we have the program. That’s why we have the process, but if you had to maybe answer that as best as you could, for somebody who wants to understand how in the world? Because you have this remarkable shift or change. What would you say?

Kimberly W 14:23
That’s a very complex answer. Because there’s a lot of levels in this program. You start off the program at the beginning, trying to take control of your calendar. And that was something I never thought I could do in my life. And yet I was able to do it in my work schedule. And what’s resulted in that is I’m far more productive. I’m a much better leader. I know how to organize my time to the Met. And I’ve written more control of it than I would have told you I could have been at the beginning. That was probably the biggest shift because what happened is I started controlling my calendar versus my calendar controlling me, I also was able to open up time for other things that I wanted to do, other things that might have been goals that “Oh, eventually I’m going to get to it”, but eventually never comes. And now I see, “Oh, this pocket of time, I can work my schedule that now this is important to me, I’m going to put it here and I’m going to be able to work on it or enjoy it, or, or do it whatever it might be”, that has been the biggest change. Now it took, it took a while for me to get control of my calendar. And now that I have it, I can’t ever release it, that it won’t ever get out of control like that again. And you do learn that there’s an ebb and flow. So if there’s a high pressure project happening, yeah, that might, my calendar might not be ideal. But then it doesn’t stay like that, because I can control it and put it back into its place. And that helped me free up time to do the program work.

Kimberly W 15:57
And it became kind of a snowball, like it starts small, and then you just make little tweaks, you realize that works, or that doesn’t work. And you just keep modifying it until you get it to where you need it. And that was probably the how that made the biggest impact in my life. Because I was concerned, starting the program, how am I going to do all this work with my schedule? And I have no energy and I am depressed? How am I going to do it. And that’s why I think that, I mean, that’s why you have the program starting there. And then throughout the whole program, I continued to modify it. And then I’d say the second part, besides getting control of your calendar is the work is so deep, there are aspects of it that you probably have read in a book, or you’ve seen on a video maybe with another coach, but you take it to a much, much deeper level. And that’s where the change happens. That’s how it actually starts working. And everyone who comes in the program is like, how am I going to do this? How is this going to work? And it’s kind of funny when you sit on some of the group calls when you’ve been in the program for a while. If you watch the new ladies come in, and you’re like, yeah, just trust it. Just it’ll do it. You don’t know, you don’t know how to explain it. But it will happen. And you do see it, slowly but surely, the how becomes through the deep work, the deep reflection, being honest with yourself, that’s very key and controlling your calendar.

Blake Schofield 17:29
So what would you say to somebody who the word deep work might dredge up some anxiety or fear? I don’t know what that looks like. What could you say to them about what that journey looks and feels like?

Kimberly W 17:44
I can see that. There were some moments where, that I had an emotional reaction. And what was important is that you’re there to support and help walk through that. And there were some times when I had a very strong mix of anger, and being upset because I thought there was a dream I was letting go of. And in reality, you helped reframe it in what worked for how I was gifted. And in that your recommendation was to journal out some feelings. And I’m not a big journaler at all, but I have embraced that practice a little bit more. And when I do find that there’s something happening, either my body is telling me something or I’m having an emotional reaction, I now know to pause, journal out what my feelings are. And then you can kind of see it more reflective. It can be intimidating when you started and especially if you’re in a place of exhaustion to be like how do I have the emotional energy to do this and you take it slowly and little chunks, you don’t necessarily sit down and say okay, I have two hours right now I’m going to work on this program and you finish it and start to finish. Oftentimes, some of that is you start it, you come back to it in a day or so where other parts you’re like, “Oh done, I just finished that in 15 minutes, I thought it was going to take me an hour”. And so the program works, it’s gonna be different for everybody the areas that I had an easier time going through might be difficult for somebody else. So everybody’s journey is going to be different. And that’s so important to understand that when you come in, every journey is different. And yet, when you’re in the calls, you know, okay, these people get me. I’m not alone. They’re struggling with the same issues that I’m struggling with. And I’m not sure how to break through. It’s shocking how many women when they come together and talk about it, how this is a common problem. And yet your program is allowing an opportunity for it not to be a problem and to move forward and to have excitement and joy and progress in all areas of your life. So when you go into that deep work, you just have to take a breath, take it slowly work with the support when you need it. Not let that support go too long. There were times when I just I should have reached out earlier on the support. But it shouldn’t be something to be overly fiery. You just walk through it together.

Blake Schofield 20:13
One of the things we’ve been talking about is, right, emotions that came up for you. And I think that’s where sometimes it might feel uncomfortable. Because the reality is most of us haven’t been taught how to deal with some of the things that can feel hard or scary. And I often talk about in this program, we teach you how your brain works, and we help you understand how to use your emotions to work for you, as opposed to your emotions driving your life. How has learning how to listen to your body, your emotions, and what you’re experiencing on a day to day basis changed or impacted your ability to in terms of how do you deal with your emotions and what’s coming your way?

Kimberly W 20:57
This was the area of the program that I was the most uncomfortable with, because normally, I would not be an emotional person. There’s an important part of that that’s very different. It’s not that you’re an over reactive, over emotional, it’s not you’re not forced into being like that. What it really is saying is “Wait, my body is having a reaction. What is that reaction?” And then what I learned in the program was to be able to describe it. So I’m feeling dread. That was a big one, there was a little period of time where the word dread was the best way to describe what my body was feeling. And that helped to explore “Well, what is that dread coming from?” And when we work through that together, it became more clarity, “Oh, well, you don’t have to go do that you think you have to because you’ve been taught that way, or that’s what everybody has told you, since the beginning of time, that you need to do that, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case”. And so I became open to understanding what my body was telling me, which was so different. I would have never thought in a million years that I would say that. And then what I can do is I can stop and say, “Okay, wait a minute, what’s happening here? Why did I have that reaction? Or why am I feeling this way?” And you can take a moment and reflect and it it’s not like these deep hours of reflection is a meditative state. And the moment you can quickly say, “Wait a minute, something’s happening. Let me process this very quickly. Let me see what’s happening”. And then I can react differently. I’m not again, one that would normally fly off the handle or anything like that. But I might be in a meeting.

Kimberly W 22:36
But now, instead of being in that meeting and getting frustrated, I can take a moment, process it and then ask the right questions for clarity. Am I misunderstanding? Wait a minute, what are we all talking about here? And it is just deepened my ability as a leader to pick up on what other people are feeling. And then I can pause and say, “Wait a minute, let’s talk about that. You just said you just said something there, let’s let’s talk about why you’re feeling that way”. And I’ve been able to take what I’m learning and apply it to the women that work for me. And that gets really excited because then we’re just multiplying all of this. But I really did not understand how to use how you’re feeling emotions. And in a way that was not emotional. So now I can take that and figure out what’s happening. My body is telling me something, I need to listen to it. And then it continues, you know, say over and over with the clarity. The clarity isn’t just this AHA moment through this program. But you get it every day, as you’re applying what you learned, as you iterate things that have been working that suddenly aren’t working. Okay, what’s happened? What shifted? Why is my body now anxious about this? It’s truly, it was something I did not expect. It was truly out of left field for me to be in this state now.

Blake Schofield 23:52
And how has the ability to recognize I don’t have to be emotional, I can do deep work. Sure, deep work doesn’t have to mean two hours. It can mean five minutes of pausing, I can feel my emotions and not be overly emotional. But I can use my experience in a day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute to trust in myself, to be able to make better decisions, to be less stressed, to do all those things. How has that unlocked or changed things for you, on how you feel on a day to day basis, relationships, etc. Because for me, that was one of the most impactful things when I began to understand your inner compass is never wrong. And when you learn to tune in to that inner compass, it’s game changing.

Kimberly W 24:39
It is game changing and it takes practice. I’m still learning how to do that. So just because you know graduated the program I feel, well, I’m learning what, I’m continuing to learn what I learned in the program and fine tuning, tuning into my body. When I first started the program, all I felt was a anxiety and it would go through my body, it was almost like an electric furnace, if you will, through my body. I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, but I could feel it. And I thought I had to quench it. And the program, what I learned is to kind of let it flow through me and acknowledge, “Okay, I’m feeling this way, well, can I do anything about it at 3 AM? No, it’s not wise for me to get up and send the email, I don’t need to, I’m just gonna let it flow through my body”. And then, as I practiced that more, I was able, then if I did wake up to go to sleep very quickly. And that was shocking. That was amazing. When I started to learn to process this, and again, I’m talking about things I never would have ever said, these things, I never would be in a position and talking about letting anxiety flow through my body. And yet, as we practice, and I think that’s a key of this program, is you learn it, and then you have the opportunity to practice it. And when it’s not quite right, it’ll come up again, and you can practice it again. So you’re in a safe space as you’re practicing these tools and strategies. So you don’t feel like oh, well, I really messed that up. You didn’t mess it up, you just learned that’s not the right way to work.

Kimberly W 26:18
And there’s a huge mind shift that happens, along with the understanding how to reflect on your emotions, and how to reflect on what your body is telling you. And you don’t feel as unempowered, I guess, you feel more empowered is the way I guess you would say it when you come out of this program, because you’ve learned tools and strategies and that you say that throughout the whole program. And at the beginning, you’re kind of like, “Okay, sure, sure”. But you really do at the end, truly learn things that you can apply to all areas of your life. So I apply it in relationships, I apply it and business relationships, and it helps me to enjoy life more. I don’t feel like I’m about to make a mistake all the time. Because now mistakes are learning opportunities. And you can, you know, “Okay, well, I’m gonna do that, again, that was clearly a disaster, or that kind of worked, or that sort of worked”. And you reframe everything. And that totally changes your mindset. And then your emotions help trigger and not in a bad way, but in a way to say, “Hey, wait a minute, pay attention to this”. And sometimes that’s in a joyful way. That happened to me, as we went through the program towards the very end, I had a moment of “Oh my gosh, this is it. This is my realm of genius. I’ve just experienced it, I want more of this. I want, this was amazing”. And so it’s not always a negative thing. It can be also the very positive things, and then you pay attention to them more and say, “Okay, I want more of that. That makes sense”. It’s really does change everything, the way you look at it. And I know a lot of people are going to be like, Okay, this is overselling this. But it truly does impact all areas of your life.

Blake Schofield 28:00
You said when you came in, you thought it would be career only, obviously to the journey you learned differently. You talked about that you came in wanting clarity and how you got clarity with that clarity looks like was very different than probably what you expected for the women that are sitting where you were, that are burned out, exhausted, feel trapped, don’t have energy or suffering from depression and feeling like they don’t know how to get out of the rut that they’re in. And they believe that with clarity and transitioning into the right next role, they’ll get where they want to go. What would you tell them about what you’ve learned about the tactics and external versus the internal and the emotion in terms of your journey?

Kimberly W 28:46
When I started, and I didn’t know this at the time, until reflecting back, my vision of what was possible was very narrow. It wasn’t that it was 100%. wrong, it was just very narrow. And as I continued to go through the program, and part of the uncomfortableness is expanding your vision challenging things that you thought to be true, are they really true? And all of the tactics that you talk about and that you teach, help you question? Is this really true? Is this really how it has to be is this the only option and you break down a lot of the black and white thinking and I’m still working through breaking down black and white thinking to see the gray. And where the gray, what’s in the exciting part about the gray area is that’s where the realm of possibilities are. Whether it is in your career, whether it is in what does your just your house look like? What did how does the operation of, with, if you have children or pets, or how does that all look? What does that really look like? Am I doing it this way, because that’s what I was taught to do? And as you start coupling together, the toxics, you start listening to what your body is telling you, you start doing this work, the puzzle pieces start coming together. And that’s where the clarity comes. And the clarity comes in bits and pieces.

Kimberly W 30:09
So it’s not like all of a sudden, the picture is like, “Oh, I had this in piece and this in piece and they go together”, well, no, sometimes you have the end piece and you’ve got a centerpiece. And then as you’re working through the program, you will sometimes or at least for me, I would go back and be like, “Oh, that thing that I just did two weeks ago now makes a little more sense in light of what I just learned here”. And it’s a remarkable process to go through. When I started, my vision was narrow, I really was just hoping to survive, I wanted something that was going to help me survive better, is probably the way I would say it. And it’s not about that it’s not surviving better, it’s thriving. And you have to pass through all of these various tactics to get to that clarity. And it can feel very intimidating. The program itself is not intimidating. But taking that first step can be very intimidating and acknowledging I need help and saying, “All right, let’s investigate this. Let’s trust the process. Let’s trust that it’s going to do what it says it’s going to do”. And what you learn in the program is to detach from the outcome, an outcome is going to happen, but you don’t prescribe what that outcome is going to be you allow the outcome to reveal itself. And when you allow yourself to go through the program that way, then that’s when the magic happens. That’s when you start expanding your horizon, you start seeing the possibilities, you’re put in a place where you feel you’re in control, and you can choose what you want your life to be like, instead of feeling like it’s being chosen for you.

Blake Schofield 31:58
Thank you. So based on what you have learned, how has it changed your perspective on your career, your Secret Sauce Transferable Skills, and ultimately, what’s possible for you, in all of these years, until you at some point, decide you don’t want to work anymore?

Kimberly W 32:17
I think the key thing is I know what to say no to. I can very easily and quickly say “No, that I’m not going to succeed in that, I’m not going to have fun in that”, whereas before it was more, “Okay, let me try it. That sounds interesting”. Now I can be a lot more focused and narrowed. And so if something comes to me, and it’s very clearly not aligned with my transferable skills, and my secret sauce, or the type of environment I work best in, I can easily say “No, that’s not for me”. And for my career, what’s exciting about this is I don’t know where I’m ultimately going to end. And I’ve become comfortable knowing the path will reveal itself when it needs to. And I do know ideas of where I think it should go and how I think I can be productive and help others, because I know when I’m really good at and I’m comfortable saying “Actually, this is what I’m really good at, let me help you in this area”. And not “Well, I think I could do a good job. Let me try it”. I just go “No, that’s not the right thing for me. That’s not the right opportunity for me”. And it puts me in a place of I guess you would say it’s kind of fun. It’s almost fun to say no, because I don’t have to worry about it. I don’t have to worry, am I going to be successful? I don’t have the stress of that. I just clearly “No, nope, that’s not for me”. And at the same time, what you’re allowing yourself to do is as you go through the evolution of your path, you allow for new things to come in. And then again, this kind of goes back to what your body is telling you where it’s like, ‘Yeah, actually, this does fit. Let’s explore this more”. And that’s kind of what you start learning as you just start exploring more and more.

Kimberly W 33:58
And one of the things I know that I had mentioned, at some point in the program, I didn’t know that I necessarily want to be retired. I kind of want to be in something I love doing for the rest of my life. And maybe the amount of stress or the amount of hassle I put into it changes. But the goal is to get into something where I’m productive for the rest of my life. For society, not just “Oh, I’m going to retire at 65. And that’s, that’s the end and now I’m gonna go you know, like a sit in a rocking chair”. That’s not exactly, that’s exactly why my personality. And that’s what’s exciting. It was not that place when I started. I dreaded what the future was gonna look like and I was hoping to survive to retirement. Now, I don’t know what the future looks like. I feel comfortable that no matter what comes, I have transferable skills. I know how to put myself in the situation to keep moving forward. Whether that’s you know, a lot of layoffs are happening right now a lot of companies are shifting how they’re hiring and that in the past would have given me concern, it doesn’t give me concern now, because there is always an opportunity. And sometimes it’s a matter of finding it. And I hope to be able to do this till the day I die.

Blake Schofield 35:17
Thank you, I love that so much. Because when we can move, he goes back to that old adage, “When you do the work you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”. And I truly believe and I’m very passionate that we all deserve a life like that. And if more people understood, it’s possible for you too, it’s not just some people, it’s possible for everybody. If you do the work, and you really understand what your gifts are, and how you work best. And you remove the barriers that are in your way, it really is possible to love what you do and be excited and energized by it. And I love how not only have you been able to take these skills and see it for your future, it’s changed the trajectory of the work you’re doing inside your current company. Right. So you would have never likely thought that was possible, oh, I can control my calendar, my stress levels, you know, down, I am doing work I enjoy. And yet again, it shows how much transformation is really possible through allowing yourself to trust the process with the right person and a proven process that gets you results.

Kimberly W 36:24
It’s not just transformation. For me, within my current role. I’m also transforming my team, whether they like it or not, they get the advice whether they like it or not sometimes, but I’m seeing it and helping them manage their calendar and helping them get into their times of flow and what works best for them. And we’re moving projects quicker and more efficiently and more accurately, and they’re enjoying their jobs more. And when they aren’t enjoying something we talk about it and we work through well. Okay, that’s just one of those tasks we all just have to deal with. So let’s, how do we minimize it? Or where do we put it to where it’s not so much of a burden for you. And that’s very exciting. And they’re getting some of the benefits of what I’ve learned here to apply to their work environment, and maybe their life depending on how they’re taking it from there. But this program really changes so much. And I would encourage anyone who is on the fence to talk and explore more about it with you. I wish I had been around 10 years earlier when I needed it. But I’m glad I did it now because it will change the rest of my life.

Blake Schofield 37:31
Thank you, thank you for the honor of just being part of your journey. It’s been inspiring to watch you take this work and understand it and apply it. And I often say for me this work is about throwing the pebble in the lake. And then it’s the ripple effect that happens from that. And I see already that you understand that you’re applying it. And there’s beauty in that, because I think the women that come into this program are leaders and they care about other people, and they want to make an impact. And so when you invest in yourself, and you do this work, you’re not just investing in yourself, you’re investing in your husband and your kids and your co workers and everyone that you interact with, because you can take these learnings and start to see Oh, other people are struggling with this or other people don’t know these things. And there’s real power. And before we wrap up, I have two more things. And it’s tough because I could talk to you for another hour. But we were talking before we started that at some point. And this journey, you began to understand what I have understood and what’s fundamentally changed the game in my life, which is that personal development is the infinite game, that this isn’t checking boxes, it really is becoming more empowered and a better version of yourself. What would you say about that learning or that lesson, Kimberly, that you think you could share with women who either haven’t really invested in themselves before or don’t really understand because they haven’t been through a journey that’s really transformational about what you learned there and what you would have told yourself back when you didn’t understand what was possible.

Kimberly W 39:13
One of the greatest things you can do is invest in yourself. And we hear that and we read about it. But taking action to do that. You’re saying to yourself, I trust that you have a future, I trust that you can continue to be the best self that you are. And it really pays off in the end whether it is an improvement in your career or growth in your career, or whether it’s just an improvement in your life or reducing your anxiety, it pays dividends over and over and over again. And it is the infinite game like you talk about where you are continuing to improve. And it’s not a chore to do that. It’s not like you feel like oh, it’s a checkbox. Let me add to this to do list that I know ever finish, one of the things that came out of this was the development of habits, things that were good, like health habits that I had been trying for years to improve, I was able to do them much more effectively and much more quickly to add them into now just everyday parts of my life. Because I learned to control my calendar to allow time to work out or to control my calendar to allow time to cook, I would never have thought I would say I enjoy cooking.

Kimberly W 40:28
And now I enjoy that process of learning, what’s the proper way to hold a knife, what’s the proper way to cook ends without crying. What is it becomes fun. I don’t know, by the way, the proper way to cut onions without crying. I haven’t learned that yet. But it becomes an enjoyable part of your life. And so it’s not this separate to do. It integrates. And you learn, “Oh, you know what I really do perform better when I have eight hours of sleep. So let me work my schedule”. So I’m getting that eight hours of sleep. And it could be something minor like that, and something much more major, like budgeting or trip planning or whatever it might be. But that personal development and saying to myself, my life is worthy to be a full life. And you just naturally integrate it, where you start out by the way, you’re not there, I for sure was not there. But through the program. Now, adding a habit or doing an improvement becomes almost natural, and certainly fun. And I don’t really enjoy working out all the time. But now I’m learning to enjoy what types of workouts I like, like it just keeps going and multiplying. And it’s that personal development and personal investment. That is so worth it. In the end, you did the hard work upfront. And then it just flows after that.

Blake Schofield 41:54
I like to describe it as a cheat code for your life. Because I remember when you are going to come in and you’re like, gosh, I don’t know if this is a good time. And I have all these other financial investments and you want to travel and I want to renovate my home. And these are really common things. And we spend money all of the time on these things, when we’re really not leading lives that feel fulfilling, and we’re leading lives that we’re stressed. And we are not taking care of our health and we’re not happy and we’re anxious. And we’re spending money and all these things thinking they’re gonna make us better. But personal development in the same way that you said is what I have learned is it’s a cheat code for living a happy and fulfilling life. And then I get to go travel if I want. But I love my life every day. And that is so much more important than any gadgets, car, house, whatever I was going to buy that never filled the void of distress or anxiety or frustration, everything I felt when life was misaligned, or when I didn’t have the habits or the tools or the strategies to know what I needed and how to trust believe in that and then take action to create what I wanted.

Kimberly W 43:06
Absolutely. The investment you put into it pays off later it in ways you don’t expect it. I mean, your everyday life is better how much? I mean, that’s priceless, really. And all of those things that I said yes, my house does still need to be remodeled. But now I see opportunities and how can I make that happen faster. It is a cheat code, you go farther, faster. And it’s not just cutting corners, it’s like, more accurate, more perfect is I mean, perfect is probably not the right word. But you’re getting there and you’re enjoying your life so much more, because you are learning to control your calendar and control where your energy level is and know “Okay, well I perform a certain way at a certain time of day. So I’m going to schedule my life to revolve around how my body naturally is”. And then your body starts performing for you. And it’s very hard to explain and articulate truly the growth and change that happens without it starting to sound like like this over, this over emphasis. But it is remarkable. It is absolutely remarkable who I am today and how I enjoy my life. And what I do with my life, is so much different than where I was when I started the program. It’s night and day and in ways I never thought possible but also in ways I never even thought of and the, that investment and that saying to myself, yeah, that I need a better everyday life because that saying the days are long, but the years are short, is really true because then all of a sudden you find yourself 10 years later, 10 years later, and I like missed 10 years of my life in a way that I could have been living this earlier. Well if your program again wasn’t around them, but had it been and had I ended up like waited 10 years, but it’s just it’s worth every penny and to know that it pays out just not just when the pro, in the program when it ends, it’s gonna pay out in the future, it is the cheat code.

Blake Schofield 45:08
Well, I cannot, I don’t think I can say anything better. So with that I’m going to close. Thank you, Kimberly, for sharing so much of your personal journey, that experience, and honestly your mentorship of other women and helping them to understand what you now understand has changed the game for your life, and obviously a proven process that does the same for other women. And it can be really, like I said, and you said this, and it’s true, I think it can be really challenging. I often hear from women, it seems too good to be true. And it’s why I want you guys to hear directly from the women who are in this program to let you know, it’s not this program was built from 20 years of personal challenge. And I have uncovered every rock and been under every single challenge that every single woman that has ever come to me has. And there’s a level of depth, knowledge, and sequence that enables us to do things that other people can’t. And so like I said, thank you again for just being a light and sharing your personal journey, Kimberly. And for those of you listening, I hope she’s inspired you to take one step today, closer to the life that you really want to lead. Until next time, have a great one.

Blake Schofield 46:32
Thanks for joining me today. Rather than hope the grass will be greener, identify what the right next step is. We can help you do just that. Get clarity on where you are in your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optimal paths to get there, and the right next step to take. Start your complimentary personalized career fulfillment plan at https://thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan. Again, you can get your personalized career fulfillment plan at https://thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan Thanks again for joining and have a great week ahead!