327 The Company We Keep

Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will

327 The Company We Keep

It’s a fact of life that we will make poor decisions, sometimes in the form of negative influences like people, often times repeatedly when we’re young. It’s normal and completely natural to make mistakes, as human beings we are allowed and expected to grow and change, rarely we are ever the same moment to moment, which is why it is vital to choose actively everyday to do your best and put your best foot forward despite all previous hardships.

In today’s episode Sarah Elkins and Ricky Birkenstock discuss the importance of self awareness, growth, and taking responsibility for yourself when things are bleakest.

Highlights

• The past does not define you. You can use the negative experiences of your past as fuel to change your life for the better.

• No matter how dark things seem you can always find or make a better place to be.

• Taking responsibility for your own actions, thoughts, and wellbeing.

• Ditch the “Shoulds”

• Surround yourself with people who will help you grow.

Quotes

“I often like to say that life gives us lots of signs when we’re going down a wrong path. And I’m not kidding, I probably had fifteen to twenty signs before this incident so this was like the climax, the universe said; “Hey man, you’ve made your bed. It’s time to go.”.”

“The first thing that happened, I was kind of grasping in the cell as I just laid there thinking about how I had created this and how I could create something better. So I was already emotionally processing these things, the big piece was actually taking responsibility for my situation. Instead of blaming anything because that’s easy to do I just finally said, “Alright man, this is me. This is my behavioral track record has lead to a conclusion so let’s find some new behaviors to create new realities.”.”

“I think it’s a whole bunch of bullshit when people say awareness is everything. we have to define it and awareness is so important because it then gives us the ability to choose. Because before you’re aware you’re just going on the unconscious programming, you’re just going through the motions, you’ve got the software system in your head that says, “Hey I do this thing.”. But now you’re aware of it and you can catch yourself.”

Mentioned in this episode

Podcastify.me

Dear Listeners it is now your turn,

Who do you have in your circle, you’ve been asked this many times on this podcast, I want to know who your going to shed out of your circle, who are the people that are holding you back, and that doesn’t necessarily mean cutting them completely out of your life but it does mean making sure they aren’t influencing you in a negative way. Who will you shed from your circle, so you have room for the right people?

And, as always, thank you for listening.

About Ricky

Hey there! My name is Ricky Birkenstock! I've lived several lives in my short time on this Earth. In general, I've gone from the depths of personal pain to helping my clients explore their highest potential and achieve the level of life quality they desire. I've dubbed myself "The Life Quality Engineer."

Be sure to check out his LinkedIn and website at Ricky Birkenstock!

About Sarah

"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."

In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.

My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.

The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!

Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.

Be sure to check out the Storytelling For Professionals Course as well to make sure you nail that next interview!