How HGTV Founder Traci Schubert Barrett Found Significance Beyond Corporate Life

How HGTV Founder Traci Schubert Barrett Found Significance Beyond Corporate Life – YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr7g5CNd2e0

Transcript:
(00:00) what is our mission what are we trying to accomplish why do we exist and when we can clarify those things then you know we can build a company that’s not going to waiver it’s a fabulous filter to have a mission and so you know I do that with people for their own personal life and it all came from that experience being able to see a company from start to a billion dollar Empire and know that much of that success was based on not just good programming because in the beginning if you watched HTTP in the beginning it was a lot of
(00:37) gingham and doilies like it wasn’t you know we didn’t have the money to create these fat fast flashy shows so we just had to hold on to who we wanted to be what our vision was and what our core values were and if we stay true to that if we operated with Integrity internally that would shine through externally hello everyone and welcome to the flow over fear podcast where it is our mission to help you to rise above fear and realize your ultimate potential in leadership and life I’m your host Adam
(01:13) Hill and it is my goal to share with you the human side of high performance my guests share their experience with fear anxiety struggle Challenge and most importantly despite all of it how they Rose above it to achieve incredible results so if you’re ready to rise up let’s get started hello everyone and welcome to flow over fear thank you so so much for being here today because we have a great show my guest today is Tracy Schubert Barrett and she’s a sought after International speaker best-selling author of what if
(01:50) there’s more finding significance Beyond success and the founder of navigate The Journey a leading business and Consulting and leadership development firm one as one of the founders of the wildly popular National cable television network HGTV yes that’s right HGTV she enjoyed the amazing ride of taking a fledgling idea and turning it into a billion dollar media Empire but after over 20 years in the media industry Tracy began to wonder what if there’s more to our vocational lives than just success
(02:25) and in a leap of faith she quit her executive job and went on a soul-searching journey leading her to create the Strategic life map process with a masters in Professional Psychology and over 30 years of business expertise Tracy specializes in coaching c-suite Executives and Business Leaders helping them break free from living on autopilot and discover purpose and Clarity for the future chapters of their life Tracy thank you so so much for being here thanks for having me I’m excited what an exciting resume you have
(03:02) I mean just as one of the founders I know a lot of people who listen to this are probably fans of a lot of the programming that happened that that occurs on httpb I mean it’s part of our daily lives and personally I just want to thank you for maintaining the Integrity of the nature of the show which is home and garden television I’m I’m I I think and and actually keeping it home and guard in television I see a lot of these you know these channels and and uh just moving over to aliens or or like History Channel doing car shows and
(03:37) maybe I’m speaking out a turn here but I just wanted to thank you for that I see that everywhere so well you know it is so amazing that you bring that up and I think it says something about your own business Acumen to notice that because when we were starting HDTV our founder Ken Lowe he kept saying that over and over again which is we need to stay true to the promise of cable television and the promise of cable television back in the late 80s early 90s was to create networks that were devoted and dedicated
(04:08) to one Niche right so like you had the news networks you had you know um back back when we launched there weren’t that many cable was like the New Frontier much like the internet is today and we wanted to be different we wanted to stay true to home and Garden programming and it’s not that easy I even mentioned this in my book about how you can be tempted by things you know are going to bring ratings because ratings brings advertisers and brings money and so it’s tempting for networks to run reruns of Golden Girls or friends
(04:45) or whatever it is that they can get the rights to because that’s going to give easy viewership and easy money and I think it’s a great lesson for any entrepreneur you know when you’re starting a business and trying to launch a business and the early years of HGTV were not glamorous or easy you know we were selling something that didn’t exist basically and trying to convince people that was going to be great and yet there were cable networks all around us failing and going out of business so there was no guarantee but because we
(05:18) stayed true to our mission and vision I think this Scrappy small group of people who tried to get this network off the ground persevered and I think the lesson for me as an entrepreneur and HDTV was the most amazing training ground as an entrepreneur and I’ve used those same techniques in my in our current business navigate The Journey but also as we coach other companies that stay true to your mission you know figure it out decide who you want to be and stay true to that and I think that is the secret sauce of HGTV now HDTV
(05:54) which became you know grew into more of a conglomerate of of networks Scripps networks with Food Network and Travel Channel all that has been bought and sold a couple of times so who knows what the future holds you know these huge huge media companies um you know they’re I don’t know I hope it stays true because you know it’s kind of like my baby you’re like looking at it and you’re thinking please don’t mess it up um but I would say the original group that that starred at HGTV definitely
(06:24) believed in what what you noticed yeah so yeah and that’s that’s reassuring and I mean at least up until this point it seems like they’re staying true to that that that mission I mean I see a lot of programming that’s still expanding in in that direction and no ghosts yet or uh haunted houses exactly exactly but yeah and and I’d love to dig into your story and how you got started there how how that all worked out because I and but um and and just to kind of tie a knot on that because you interest you you mentioned
(06:56) something that was interesting regarding entrepreneurship and staying true to your mission so why why do you think it is that that the bigger conglomerates so to speak go for the is it just because it’s easy to say Hey you know let’s talk about aliens and what-if kind of questions or or things like that or or or are they doing it wrong what’s or or both yeah well I think when it comes to business and even to our lives and I I love talking about this and writing about it you know We As Americans will
(07:29) just you know you know talk about where we are um and what country we live in we just have kind of grown up in this world where success is measured by these very common metrics of wealth and fame and title Prestige and so companies are really getting after the bottom line right to be profitable and and I get that like profits are great because they mean you get to still exist and so many businesses fail so we do have to watch the bottom line we do need to run companies that are effective and effect and efficient and operate well but we
(08:10) also need to run companies that are healthy and we need to um run companies that are going to have longevity and Legacy and those companies are ones that really get behind what is our mission what are we trying to accomplish why do we exist and when we can clarify those things then you know we can build a company that’s not going to waiver it’s a fabulous filter to have a mission and so you know I do that with people for their own personal life and it all came from that experience being able to see a company from start to a
(08:48) billion dollar Empire and know that much of that success was based on not just good programming because in the beginning if you watched HTTP in the beginning it was a lot of gingham and doilies like it wasn’t you know we didn’t have the money to create these fat fast flashy shows so we just had to hold on to who we wanted to be what our vision was and what our core values were and if you stay true to that if we operated with Integrity internally that would shine through externally and so those principles you know I think
(09:22) sometimes people think oh that’s like warm and fuzzy and I don’t know but when you’re able to um talk about it and you have such a fabulous example and such a profitable and well-loved example is HGTV I think it’s it’s a very you know powerful tool to kind of convince people like hey don’t just do this for your company do this for your life and like and and it was part of the joy of HGTV is having an executive staff that that really wholeheartedly believed in doing the right thing and staying
(09:57) true to the promise of who we want it to be that Vision because there was no guarantee we were going to survive I mean oh sure you know it’s it just is never guaranteed for any company any startup yeah and that’s and and your start with HTTP I mean we’re I mean now we have a thousand different channels on Cable television with with all that sort of stuff I mean and I think you started with HGTV back in is it 1994 is that right yes yeah so before it was on air so it was just an idea when I was hired
(10:30) and just uh kind of still in the putting the pieces together and trying to find programming and you know trying you know getting the logo getting the brand together you know this is pre-internet so think about that you know that we didn’t have a lot of channels to say hey this is going to be you know something you should love and ask your cable operator to put on the air you know we were doing it you know old school and eventually you know the internet came and and that really helped as well to digitally get the message out there but
(11:01) yeah you just start one cable operator at a time one Advertiser at a time one program launch at a time so yeah wow and what was the timeline around that so you so you in 1994 what did what did the landscape look like was it I think CNN was probably already in the mix were there the History Channels and the was that already a thing yet no so back then you know you had um the Turner networks so Ted Turner was a pioneer of of cable and everybody really looked up to him you know he launched CNN he launched TNT TBS
(11:38) um and then you had Discovery Channel um I’m trying to think what else it was you know just really a handful of channels that were were out there and I think the reason why a lot of people looked at Ted Turner is because he also wanted to stay very true like he was like we’re gonna show news like and back in in those days you’d watch CNN it was like just news there was no like flashy talk shows or arguments or it was just like you know um we’re at the front lines of the Gulf War you know yeah so it was just really
(12:10) kind of delivering that and um and I think there were I believe about 25 networks that launched at the same time HGTV did at the end of 1994. so we worked all of 1994 to to you know work on Advertising work on distribution and work on programming launch the last day of the year December 31st 1994. there are about 25 other networks around that time that launched and only two survived so like us in the History Channel all the rest eventually went under and our just went away so I I love telling that because I think it really helps
(12:48) entrepreneurs as well to realize like you know there it was great that people were trying to break into this new frontier but it didn’t mean that you were going to succeed and I think um when you see huge companies you just think they just popped into an existence and I think HGTV was a little bit different because we didn’t have a huge distribution arm we weren’t owned by Turner networks we didn’t have you know we had um ew scripts but they were like local television and so this was new for
(13:18) even the company that was funding us so um it was a an exciting time and I think I was young enough to be super optimistic and think well if it fails I’ll get another job but to me this was like my dream to be in television and to be part of a startup and to be trying you know watching people I admired and I had the best mentors and it was a fabulous experience that’s incredible and what was it about the so HGTV out of the many that were that started in 1994 httb and History Channel were the ones that survived what was it about those
(13:55) two in particular that that made it was it the mission was it staying true to that what what made them survive and the others fail well I think it for me I think for HDTV I can’t speak as much to history but I can kind of guess that they did stay true to to who they were at least in the beginning um I think for HGTV it was um we really believed that people wanted this like that they wanted because the other now it’s coming to me too the other networks that were out there Viacom with MTV and um which you know we all grew up on and
(14:31) watching music videos that was morphing into something different as well you know um and so you know they were becoming more reality program based and a little racier and so I think you know HDTV knew you know what we can find our Niche we can we believed and we did a ton of customer research or viewer research and focus groups and all of that and knew that people wanted something in their house that they could just keep on that they knew wasn’t going to be inappropriate or or um stressful you know that it was also
(15:08) going to we had what was called the three eyes ideas information inspiration like every single show had to have the three eyes and so we knew we could teach but yet entertain and people want to learn and people I mean who doesn’t want their home to be their Sanctuary yeah and you know it’s our Nest it’s our it’s our safe space you know and so we just leaned into all of that and we believed it and so I think the biggest thing that worried us was just somebody bigger coming in and and just supplanting us and just
(15:45) saying we have more money we have more power we have more distribution angles and so we’re just gonna create the same exact thing and just Crush you and that never happened so but that was the only thing we just kept looking around like you know is somebody else kind of launched something and and it didn’t happen thankfully and we got enough traction enough and trajectory going that you know we were able to really really start um getting distribution and people finding out about us and it took a number of
(16:17) years and we bought the Food Network about five years in and so that also helped because we could do some cross branding and we rebranded food and re-strategized food to be more like HTTP true to the brand more entertaining more inspirational and so yeah it was a good it was a good strategy looking back thankfully yeah I think I think that’s helpful because I think a lot of entrepreneurs might have that fear of like you know what if the bigger guy comes out of the with that idea or that that you know it just sounds like the
(16:49) common theme Here is staying true to your values to your mission and making sure that that’s integrated into everything you’re doing and um and it’s funny you mentioned MTV I saw a funny meme about that earlier which I think they just celebrated 40 year their 40-year anniversary or something like that and it said well happy happy birthday to MTV celebrating his 40th year thank you for 18 years of music and I thought that was fun it’s so true it’s so true yeah I mean there is so much fear when you’re starting a company and
(17:20) you do you have to persevere and you have to you know know who you are because if you lose that you’re gonna make some really bad decisions if you don’t you know understand what your vision is what your mission is what your values are your you’ll make decisions that will you know seem like short-term wins but not long-term gains yeah yeah and I I can resonate a lot with that because and and I think that even exists well into you know uh maturity for businesses because you know I I run currently 100 year old
(17:55) business and we went through our own struggles where you know it and and there’s these periods of like you know where where you’re challenged by a lot of things and and I feel like that that kind of rings true in those moments where there are these like maybe Crucible moments where you have to realize like all right staying true to your values making sure that you’re doing whatever this is regardless of the risks this is what we exist for and that will lead to the bottom line so that’s that’s a powerful Mission and I mean if
(18:23) we’re keeping that entrepreneurial Spirit that’s uh that can stick with us uh so you must have had that I mean starting with something like HGTV which didn’t exist you know yet and it was a brand new kind of medium uh you must have had that entrepreneurial Spirit even even when when you started out especially with a you know going from psychology like having a psychology degree if I understand correctly to getting into television how did that happen for you well I actually had a business and marketing
(18:54) telecommunications degree so I um I always wanted to get into TV I thought I was going to be Jane Pauley and so I went to Indiana University because that’s where she went and it has an amazing Media School it’s you know one of the top 20 Business Schools and so I was like I’m just gonna dive in here move to a major market and then I realized you know maybe in front of the camera wasn’t as much for me I wanted to do you know help build things and do things behind the scenes and so I pivoted to that so you know I
(19:24) immediately went into television when um I was at HGTV and you know it’s a small group of people starting something you know as with any startup that does really well you move up the ranks super fast and you get a lot of responsibility that normally you wouldn’t get if you’re working at a giant Media company and so I became an executive pretty quickly I had a huge staff half and not a lot of HR Support because we were just building that department I mean if you can imagine I was hired with no HR like I
(19:52) was you know I had my boss interviewed me in her kitchen so so you know um I realized that I needed more education I wanted so desperately to be a good leader and I had a lot of fear around it you know I was thinking okay this is happening really fast and I have these people I’m responsible for and it’s a super stressful high-powered environment when you’re in the media world and I just decided you know I don’t want to get go back and get my MBA because I already have a business degree and I don’t you know really think that’s
(20:26) going to help me in leading people so I went back and got a Professional Psychology Master at night and on the weekends while I was working at HGTV so that’s how the psychology part came in and yeah so so it was super helpful though I think it really helped me be the type of leader that could could hear my employees I could I I knew that sometimes they just want to vent they’re not looking for me to solve and so I could hear them out and guide them through and then sometimes you know you just being able to read the room better
(21:01) being able to understand where emotions are coming from and how to get people to a better place and and so I became really interested in leadership and management I loved it and that you know the the giant part of my career at HGTV for almost two decades was just leading people and really through stressful high stress environment and so that just kind of became my sweet spot so when I I left I was able to kind of parlay that into what I’m doing now in that happened organically it wasn’t like this great
(21:36) plan but you know using that those uh that experience now to kind of pay it forward I guess yeah well that’s really interesting what you’re saying about psychology and business kind of being complementary and because I I actually did it in the reverse I was a Psychology major for my bachelor’s and then got my MBA later but I found kind of the same same thing it was it was interesting and I think it’s fitting too that your boss interviewed you in her kitchen for HTTP I mean it makes sense yeah exactly yeah
(22:07) so uh so so and what was your role or what role did you evolve into at HTTP vice president yeah so overseeing um the all the like advertising sales kind of um that area where you’re negotiating big contracts basically whether that’s for advertisers to be on air for talent to to be sponsored um and so you’re dealing with basically the biggest funders of the network right you know so and then I had a team that worked under me to to negotiate those things or to bring the you know the business takes you TV so in my role it
(22:46) ended up being a lot of of really just catering to the relationship a lot of account management a lot of the a lot of strategic planning a lot of you know developing leaders within so we had a lot of executive meetings um we had a lot of events where we were taking you know the talent that was on air and the advertisers and going to the HTTP dream home or you know but then we’d have these high stress intense weeks of negotiating The Upfront so you know it was a lot of travel you know I traveled a lot and a lot of entertaining
(23:25) and it sounds super glamorous and a lot of it was and fun and I had an amazing team like I love the people that worked with me and for me but you know it’s a it’s a lot it’s a big job and when you have you know a family and um kids and all of that it’s it’s a lot to juggle Yeah well yeah and it’s one thing to you know be whining and dining and doing all of this stuff but to also have the expectations of results that’s a big you know that’s that’s a big responsibility and and and so so you
(23:59) know yeah and that segues us kind of into like kind of where you’re where you’re going into now and and what your what your mission is now I mean you spent 20 years in this incredible company kind of you know what what people would think of as a as a dream job you founded this this company that turned into a billion dollar uh organization you’re at the top of the top of the chain uh something that many people dream of but what what was the what was the Catalyst to make the move into where you’re at now because I know
(24:29) that there’s there’s probably a lot of con inner conflict that happened to get you to make the leap yeah I really just kind of woke up in my 40s and you know I had two small kids at home my husband had a very demanding job and I just felt like what is happening I feel a little I don’t feel necessarily unhappy but I feel restless and in that I don’t have a lot of agency over my life you know this is very much pre pandemic so you know there wasn’t this you know people working at home and working you know it was still this kind
(25:06) of intense environment and I just kept I had been doing it for so long you know when you’re there in television for over 20 years you are kind of a little bit on autopilot and I noticed that a lot of other people felt this way around me like maybe not necessarily where I was but just in Corporate America in general um especially people that are in sort of they’ve elevated they’ve checked up all the boxes they’ve climbed the corporate ladder and we’re all just sort of like going through the motions and if I had a
(25:40) dollar for every time I heard the word golden handcuffs and I could have retired to Hawaii but everybody would just toss that around like oh it’s the golden handcuffs oh I can’t leave oh I can’t do the thing I want to do yeah and I guess I just kept saying to my myself well what if there’s more what if there’s more out there for me and what if there’s more to my identity than just HGTV and what if there’s more to my identity than just television or being an executive or for that matter just
(26:08) being a mom like what if there’s just more to me and more to what I want and I tried to wrestle through those questions but it’s hard to wrestle through those questions when you have you know hundreds of millions of dollars on you know that you’re responsible for and a huge staff and all that I I just could not wrap my brain around it so I decided to leave which much with the dismay of my bosses and my team who were completely confused what I was doing I just was like you know what I’m going to
(26:37) take a leap of faith and I’m gonna believe that my identity isn’t and shouldn’t be wrapped up in this and that I can pave A New Path for myself and I want to figure out what that path should be and I want to have more control over it and and design my life on my turn terms I have I have followed all the rules I have checked all the boxes I have achieved I’ve made a lot of other people happy but I really want to figure out what I want and so you know had the fabulous going away party and you know
(27:11) left and then of course the next morning you’re feeling like completely naked and what did I do oh my gosh I’m talking about fear I was just like okay I did it it’s like a really good really good now what you know and um that’s when I had to wrestle through so much so much fear so much uncertainty but eventually getting to a place where I could answer some of these key questions like how did I get to where I might I am today who am I why do I exist what do I really want and then start to kind of figure out where am I going what
(27:44) are the things that I’m good at what can I do and and some of that came through self-discovery and some of it came organically because people were calling me from the industry like hey can you coach me on this or help me on that and I was like well yeah I guess I could and so you know navigate The Journey just kind of eventually evolved through my Executive coaching and my husband doing strategic planning and we started this company and I was excited because I was excited to learn and are to use all what
(28:11) I had learned you know from an entrepreneur perspective and come alongside businesses and leaders and you know and through that I kind of you know wanted to Chronicle all of that in my book I wanted to write the book that I wish I had that when I was sitting at my desk at HDTV and feeling like I was on autopilot feeling stuck and not quite sure if I should stay or go or how do I even figure that out I wanted to write a book that people could read and hear my story but also learn how to wrestle through those questions and come up with with their
(28:46) own plan and some people read it and they’re like they find a way to fall back in love with what they’re doing and some people realize you know what it’s about time I make a move or some people are like now I’m finally going to go and ask for that promotion because I realize there’s more in me and I need to just get out of this desk and get into the desk you know a few desks over so I love the feedback that I’m getting that it’s just sort of waking people up you know getting them unstuck and getting them
(29:12) out of autopilot and really starting to make some like clear decisions for themselves yes and then the book is called what if there’s more and I I love that title because I mean I think that there’s that’s a question we internally even if we vocalize it in that way or or not it’s a question we all ask ourselves and you know for for those of us I mean I know for you know a lot of people the idea of the golden handcuffs is like boohoo you know like you know cry yourself to the bank kind of thing but
(29:40) they’re a real thing I mean like you know a lot of people uh are are stuck in situations where they’re not happy but you know they’re that that you know paycheck is hard to leave um and but you know uh that you have the courage to kind of take that leap and it sounds like without you know without a backup kind of thing I mean you have your you know your husband’s job and all that but but did what what was I mean I guess what was uh the how how did what was the difference between see you and somebody that might be sticking in that
(30:16) job that that just might stay unhappy I I mean was it a mindset thing what what was it in your DNA what how do you feel that was well I think um a lot of it had to just do with my faith that I I really do believe that this is the one and only life that we’re given I think that um the death of my father at 58 really affected me and watching somebody who’d never gotten to experience one day of his retirement he was an electrician so he worked really really hard his whole life and he loved his job you know he
(30:55) thought it was so interesting and I remember him telling me like I find great satisfaction and completing the job and doing and just electricity and all of those things you know and so he didn’t need to be in a white collar corporate environment to really appreciate and see that what he was doing was a value the thing that was hard to see is you know that he got cancer and died nine months later and wasn’t able to see the rest of his life and I think that really affected me because I I got to a point where I was
(31:25) like well you know life I I like to think of Life As long and and the road is long and I don’t want to feel panicked about that but at the same time life is precious and if I’m going to have some sort of impact in this world than you know what’s the best route for me to have that impact and it’s not to say I couldn’t have had it you know staying at HTTP I think I did have a great positive impact but I had lost touch with it you know right so I think you know the faith I had and knowing that I wouldn’t lose
(32:02) who I was I didn’t need to put my entire identity into this corporate role and I had people call me you know and say like what are you doing this is the you’re giving up the dream job like you’re never gonna get this back and you’re and I had some women say you know you’re really setting women back saying you’re just going to go home and figure your life out and it looks like you know and and at that you know time my husband you know had been in pastoral Ministry so it wasn’t like we had a wealth cushion
(32:34) I mean we were taking a big Libra it’s not like he was like some venture capitalist and I was like yeah let’s just see I’ll I’ll just you know whatever um we didn’t have that so it really really was a leap of faith it was it for both of us because we had a family to support and we were you know living in downtown Chicago so it wasn’t like you know this was the wisest looking thing on the outside but I think I always felt like you know what I have this massive experience I have an amazing education
(33:07) and I’ll figure it out like I’ll figure it out but and it’s gonna look different but that’s okay and if we have to downsize or we have to make Lifestyle Changes that’s okay too and I think my faith coupled with my experience and just that grittiness of being an entrepreneur really you know we didn’t have to adjust we were able to take build a company together we were able to to realize traditional success again but we just have done it differently we just have done it you know as as I say in my
(33:38) book based on this pursuit of significance rather than this pursuit of success yeah it’s pursuit of significance rather than pursuit of success I really love that because it kind of goes back to something you said at the beginning of the interview where you talked talked about how we’re conditioned to believe that success is measured by wealth you know uh our our Prestige all this kind of stuff so if success is not that what what what is your what would you look at as kind of success or should we or success the wrong word for it
(34:10) I think for me it’s just redefining what you want success to look like as opposed to Society right or social media or you know so it’s really understanding that again money’s not a bad thing but when you’re obsessed with it and you’re only in pursuit of it it will control your life right and position or title is not a bad thing climbing the corporate ladder or you know rising up through whatever ranks are rising up there is not a bad thing you know if you want that responsibility and you want to be a
(34:43) leader great but if that’s your if you’re only pursuing the title to be admired then you’re off track and and today and I see this with my own teenagers and and sort of the younger generation is obsessed with likes and followers and platforms and and if your Pursuit is just to be famous or just to have X number of followers again it is not going to satisfy you in the end it is not the metric you need to be measuring your life by so all of those things could be great and good in and of themselves within a proper perspective
(35:20) but what you want to do is redefine success so that you’re resting in the things that matter right so it’s not about the money it’s more about the positive impact it’s not about the title it’s more about my purpose and my unique talents and gifting that I have been you know uniquely designed and and can I use those things and the right good way you know and so when I start resting in those things and I then I can apply that to my entire life so it’s not just about work it’s also how am I as a wife how am
(35:54) I as a friend how am I as a mother how am I as a business person you know so I’m looking at the big picture of my significance as opposed to All My Success rests in this role you know our success should not at all rest in what we do it should rest in Who We Are nice I love that um and this is what you help people do now in your in the company that you’re in the company that you’ve built is that is that right so you help people kind of navigate that transition uh can you talk a little bit more about how you do that
(36:28) what what you do there yeah so um so I am an executive coach and and I help come alongside people and I help them answer these big questions and I use a process called strategic life map and it’s basically you know kind of those tried and true strategic planning techniques that we use with our businesses you know my husband does strategic planning and he’s a master at it he’s been doing it for a decade now over a decade now um you know coming alongside leadership teams and companies and helping them
(37:01) scale and grow I’m taking those same tools and applying them to your life but I’ve augmented them with a lot from my psychology background so I’ve taken a lot of things that I’ve learned through my master degree and I’ve woven those tools throughout these you know kind of traditional strategic planning tools and come up with this method of strategic life map it is the most comprehensive planning system for your life that I have seen out there and I really help you get behind you know how did I get to
(37:32) where I am today what are those self-limiting beliefs or labels or generational influences I’m still wrestling with and how are they holding me back and then we look at how you’re uniquely designed what your you know talents are your passions are your core values and then we look at you know your work in depth there’s a lot about um a lot of exercises around really understanding what it is you love about work you don’t you know where is your high productivity level all of those things and then we begin to craft a plan
(38:04) we we design a long-term Vision a short-term Vision one-year annual goals and and some objectives for you to be working on and so you walk away with a with a plan with Clarity with confidence with Direction on what’s the not just the next thing you should do but what’s the best next thing you should do and so I I do this you know with private coaching we do it group coaching and you know we we have online course materials so you know it’s it’s such a for me it is such my sweet spot I know it’s
(38:38) exactly what I should be doing I’ve been doing it for years I love hearing people’s stories I love seeing transformation and aha moments and so it is so satisfying and I feel like you know when you look at the trajectory of my career you know HGTV was definitely a fabulous experience and the shiny lovely amazing thing to have but what I feel I’m doing now is is like it’s the perfect thing for the stage of my life with all this experience I have you know the perfect mesh of of of you know corporate business career with
(39:17) psychology with you know Executive coaching is just kind of all meshed together so um it’s it’s really I feel so grateful that you know I went from that scared naked feeling the day after I left HDTV to where I am today you know by the grace of God like I have found it but I found it through doing this work so I don’t think I know a lot of it is you know um luck and blessings and all of that but but most of it is by doing the hard work of figuring this out what am I designed to do what is going to bring me
(39:53) the most joy and so because I’m the person who experienced it you know I went through this myself I feel like that’s what connects me to the people I’m helping go through it as well is like I’ve been in your shoes I know what it feels like yeah oh I love I love that perspective because that there’s a there’s a subtle difference in in talking to you that that I I hear that’s different from what I talk to other people who may have left their jobs and and I think it might have been a timing
(40:21) issue um if they correct me if I’m wrong because there’s a lot of like still a lot of gratitude that I hear from you in your experience with HGTV and and and the whole thing but you know a lot of people who leave their jobs it’s it’s kind of like the well it was so terrible and you know now I’ve found this freedom and all that kind of stuff so uh is timing important on on on taking that leap and what kind of questions should people ask themselves if they’re if they’re kind of thinking they’re not in
(40:51) the right place in their lives yeah that’s a great question I think it’s a combination of timing but it’s a lot perspective you know I I’m always coaching people to to no matter what you’re feeling at work to do the work of understanding why you feel that way and to always understand that it’s not always the company’s fault or the leader’s fault that we all have a responsibility to play and I think you know when you can leave a company well and you can be grateful for the experience and the opportunity and
(41:27) everything you learn because not any experience is all bad and you know just like not any experience is all great I had really hard days at HDTV and there were some people that I didn’t like interacting with you know like it was all normal it was a normal job with all its ups and downs um but I I was able to have perspective and and see the good in it and and be able to go after the opportunities you know to find the right mentors and to be supported well and so and then I made a conscious decision to leave well I I
(42:02) gave my bosses plenty of time I was way up front told them what I was wrestling through didn’t know which way I was going to go I was super honest and they were so appreciative and I let them decide like how long do you want to you know it was just staying true to their values my values and and I think when you can do that and leave well then you’re gonna look back they’re going to look back on you you know fabulously you’re gonna look back on them and so if you’re feeling stuck right now and you
(42:32) don’t like your job you’re not alone right and right and I but I would just say Okay first let me figure out is there something else I can do here it’s always easier to stay where you are than to leave so do that work of of understanding is this more about me is this about them is this one person or is it the whole job is it the industry is it the field I’m in am I not you know am I not really gifted for this type of work is it because I took a leadership job I don’t really like leadership I
(43:02) like being an individual contributor more so when you’re doing that work work of really wrestling through these questions you can make really wise decisions about whether you just need to redesign where you are or leave and and do something different and I think you know sometimes we just don’t give enough time to figure that out and I do think younger Generations they feel very empowered to switch jobs often and that’s great that there’s choices and availability but I do think you’re robbing yourself of an opportunity to
(43:37) like really know if this is the place for you you’re not going to figure that out in five minutes or a year or whatever you know you really have to allow yourself to be to grow and to fail and to succeed and to have people give you feedback and to wrestle through what that even feels like it’s hard sometimes it’s good sometimes you know so if you don’t rest in a place long enough you’re not gonna really understand who you are what you want yeah I I like that perspective that’s not when you hear
(44:06) that a lot like you know you have you hear a lot of like you know just Chase your passions take the leaves of Faith which are which are great messages but I really like that perspective of of you know where you’re at it’s it’s easier to to kind of make the change if if there’s something you could find in there that that is that is better for you or something like that because you know maybe subtle changes so those are important questions to get some self-awareness on um and I know that there can be a lot of
(44:33) and you mentioned you know one of the things you mentioned is you talk about um how you deal with the anxiety of leaving or making those changes making that change and embracing the adventure this kind of stuck out to me because I I really I I embrace the idea that Adventure is an antidote to anxiety can you expand on what you mean by that yeah I think you know it’s always scary any change is scary for people right because you don’t know what the outcome is going to be that’s really what the fear is you know the if you know you’re
(45:08) going to be successful in your next change or the whatever the leap you want to make then where is the fear right you know so but if you don’t know how it’s going to turn out then there is a lot of anxiety and fear around it and anxiety is really the emotion we feel around stress a stressor so you know when you’re dealing with stress you need to identify what’s stressing you and then you need to address those things right because you’re either going to fight flight or freeze right so we look at
(45:37) those stressors even if you address the stress if you still feel anxious that’s the emotion you’re carrying that’s your responsibility so if you’re going to make a change you have to deal with the fact that you don’t have 100 control over everything so you’re going to have to kind of let go and and take the leap and turn it in like you say into an adventure and say you know what this might not work out but at least I’m trying and if it doesn’t work out I can reevaluate and plan again but if you do the work you
(46:12) know this is why I love the process a strategic life map if you do the work and you do it well you’re gonna you’re a horse I’m gonna bet on because that means you figured out you’re not making a hasty decision you’re not just going for the the shiny toy you really are saying and asking yourself the right questions to figure out if this is the best thing for you or if you’re just dreaming this is just a Daydream or if this is something that’s real that you can go after and realize you know
(46:45) success and significance and yeah and what if it doesn’t work out I know that’s a lot of questions like that that people have what if it doesn’t work out what what how would you respond on to someone who might have asked that well I feel like I I coach so many business owners that have dealt with disappointment you know and and there’s no successful entrepreneur out there that has an experienced some sort of failure and if it doesn’t work out you know think of it as a learning opportunity what did I do right and what
(47:18) did I do did wrong and what were the things that weren’t in my control but I have to pay attention to because it whether it was the climate was wrong the idea was wrong the reception was wrong the marketing was like what was it and how can I refine that and then what can I learn as far as was that the right fit for me and then you know go back and try again just you know the great entrepreneurs persevere they have grit and grit is not about smarts grit is about persevering um and yeah failure is not final is the
(47:55) phrase goes that’s that’s great and well I I I Before I Let You Go I want to get into your book a little bit and kind of ask you a little bit about what that’s about because it’s it’s about your journey and um and and some of the things you text uh steps you took and and really helping other entrepreneurs leaders and and people ask the question really what if there’s more can you tell us a little bit about what you know how what you’re hoping to convey through the book and and um yeah just give us a little on it yeah
(48:27) so my Hope was to just get the message out there you know what was one way that I could really share this experience with as many people uh as I could and share a little bit of the process with as many people as I could and so writing a book was always a dream of mine I it was one I talked about for 10 years you know and then as soon as I hit 50 my husband was like please stop talking about the book and write write the book because you’ve been talking about it for 10 years and and so I’m glad I waited to
(48:59) write it though because I needed all that life experience you know I needed to really be able to have experienced the ups and downs of everything I had gone through and processed and thought about it and reflected before I wrote and it you know took me two solid years at a desk of writing it um so it’s no easy feat and um so I always say I should have a stamp on my book that was like this was pre-chat gbt right no tools like that out there to help me whatsoever um so this is really from my heart it’s my journey it’s my feelings and I love
(49:36) how it turned out and I love the response I’m getting that I’m meeting people that are exactly where I was and there’s so many people out there just that are struggling and want a better life and they really want to figure it out but they don’t know how or if this process would work so it’s great that I can share that with them and then you know after writing the book so many people were like are you making this a course do you have a course can I take a course you know how can I how can I do
(50:04) this with you and so I’m only one person so you know it’s hard to do one-on-one all the time so doing you know creating a course teaching doing the videos and and intertwining coaching in there whether that’s with the group or private has just been the best decision ever so it’s been great going through the process with now more people can have access to it so it’s been super fun yeah and the course is the Strategic life Map Academy and uh and it’s a six six week course right yeah you kind of and they
(50:40) coordinate I believe the next one is going on this fall correct yeah so you want to share a little bit about that yeah so um there’s a couple ways you can experience it one of the most popular ways is through the group coaching and in the next cohort is launching at the end of September and so anybody who’s listening to your podcast just to kind of reward your fabulous audience they can follow me on Instagram at Tracy s Barrett and if you follow me on Instagram you can just DM me Adam Hill and I will send you a discount code
(51:14) so I just want everybody to have the opportunity so um if you’re listening to this and you’re interested and you’ve resonates with you just you know follow me on Instagram and put Adam’s name in there and I’ll send you a code back I love that that’s so generous of you thank you and and because I know that a lot of a lot of people struggle with this and you have so much vast experience and I have so so many more questions for you and um and this is just one of those interviews where where
(51:42) you know we could go so so deep and we’ve only scratched the surface but I am grateful for your time and your energy and and what you do for the world the fact that you’ve chosen to find this purpose this Mission and help other people to find theirs and and pursue it that’s what makes that’s that’s how we make the world better and the book is called what if there’s more please check it out you can find it on Amazon and the course is the Strategic life map uh as as Tracy says find her at Instagram on
(52:14) Tracy spirit and uh DM my name Adam Hill uh it’s easy to spell so you won’t forget it uh and uh and you’ll get the discount code is there any anywhere else that uh people can find you Tracy they can find me at Tracy shuberbarrett.com super easy so if you want to see my website and and learn a little bit more about me a bit more about my story you can find the book there which is available everywhere and learn more about the course offerings so yeah awesome well thank you thank you so so much for being here this was an absolute
(52:47) pleasure I appreciate it thank you to everybody out there thank you so much for being here and we will see you next time hey everyone Thanks for tuning in to the flow over fear podcast if you’d like to learn more about getting into flow and learn the foundations of flow I have a free video series on my website at www.adamcliffordhill.
(53:09) com called the foundations of flow feel free to go there and download it and start your journey to Rising about fear and achieving greater flow in your life if you like this episode and I’m guessing you did if you stuck around for this long then please do me a favor and hit the Subscribe button and you will receive notifications when I have new interviews new Recaps and new trainings that pop up on YouTube thanks again for joining us