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Connect with Gail
https://soaringintogreatness.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2ETmkavYKd75Gz9NKBgPhw
https://www.facebook.com/gail.hamilton.9231
https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=soaring%20into%20greatness
https://www.instagram.com/soaring.into.greatness/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaillhamilton/

Connect with Russ
https://russjohns.com/
https://thepiratesyndicate.com/
https://nextstepnext.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nextstepnext/

Audio digitally transcribed by Descript

Introduction: [00:00:00] Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast™, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

Russ Johns: [00:00:10] Good morning. Good afternoon. Good day, wherever you happen to be seeing this, wherever you happen to be watching this. Thank you for joining the #PirateBroadcast™. And we're here with Gail today. Happy Tuesday, Gail. How are you doing?

Gail Hamilton: [00:00:24] I'm doing well and you?

Russ Johns: [00:00:26] Fantastic. Fantastic. I thank you so much for being here, Gail. I know that we connected over, I think matchmaker FM or some, I'm not really sure. I think actually somebody introduced us. Mears, was it?

Gail Hamilton: [00:00:39] I don't remember. I should have looked it up before came on, but I didn't.

Russ Johns: [00:00:44] Anyway. Friends of friends.

Gail Hamilton: [00:00:46] Thank you, whoever you are.

Russ Johns: [00:00:48] Thank you so much. I can picture her in my mind's eye and I know who it is and I thank you so much. And one of the things that people need to realize is that you are blind.

Gail Hamilton: [00:01:00] Yep. Yep. Totally.

Russ Johns: [00:01:02] You're an author and a speaker.

Gail Hamilton: [00:01:04] Yep.

Russ Johns: [00:01:05] And doing some great things out there. So talk a little bit about what you love to focus on, who you would like to help and how you like to help.

Gail Hamilton: [00:01:14] I'd like to focus on people overcoming obstacles and challenge and living the life that they really want and dream about. And yet they think, oh, I can't get there for whatever the reason that they don't think they can get there and help them see that they can. Just a little tweaking, change the way...one of my sayings is change the way you see and change the way you live. So it's all about what's in between your two years and it's about... we all have circumstances. We all have things. I have stuff in my past. If you were reading my book, you'll read all about my stuff and blindness was not the main deal. Even though people they go, that's horrible. You're well, yeah, it's been, and it affects everything I do in my life. But what was between my ears is what prevented me from really being happy and living and enjoying life to the fullest. So I like to help people know that you can do whatever that thing is that you're thinking about doing.

Russ Johns: [00:02:16] Yeah. So I'm curious about that. Being blind is one thing. However, mental blocks are another thing completely, entirely different thing that can affect anyone anytime. So how did you navigate beyond your limiting beliefs or your ideas that held you back?

Gail Hamilton: [00:02:41] I navigated them through them mainly because I was so unhappy and I was suicidal four or five to six times. I don't know, I lost count, but I went into therapy and I had no idea even the stuff that was going to be uncovered there. And  yet through that, I learned that one of my beliefs was that any sighted person was more valuable than me. That set me up for failure. So I was like, how'd you get over that one? And so I spent lots of years in therapy overcoming all the abuse and atrocities from our childhood and societal beliefs because society thinks blind people aren't capable and they have low expectations of us and teachers and people in general. And it's time to raise above that. So I got through it by going through it and going through the dark and realizing that yeah, I had value and worth and all that. And then I read a phenomenal book that kind of was the tip of the iceberg. And I went, wow. Oh, I get it. It's all about what I think and so I create,

Russ Johns: [00:03:43] There's such a powerful statement there because we have so much potential and so much opportunity in front of us that we have to think about what the opportunities are rather than the obstacles.  Because I think when we focus on the obstacles, we were talking before the show about, stop being a victim. You have justifiably some challenges in your world. Just like I have challenges in my world, not the same challenges, but we all have challenges.

Gail Hamilton: [00:04:12] And sometimes I tell people, it's like when a blind person runs into a chair, we have a couple options. We can sit down in a chair and cry. Oh, there's a chair in my way. I don't know what to do. Whoa is me. So there's the kind of the victim you can go under or over the chair. Which you can do, it's not real efficient and good luck in that, you can do that. You can ask for help. Hey, can you help me move my chair? Because it's my little obstacle today and I need help. That's okay to ask for help. A lot of people don't think it's okay to ask for help. You can be angry at the chair, or you can throw it across the room or hit it or whack it or whatever, or another way to handle it would be just to tap it when I have a cane or I when I have a seeing eye dog, I totally go around that chair. And I already know it's there but you can tap in, notice that chair's there and go, huh? It's a chair. Wonder how I'm going to get around that chair today, and then just go, huh, I think I'll go this way. Oh, maybe that way doesn't work. Maybe I'll go this way. That way works. Okay, cool. So an obstacle in our life is the same way. We all have choice about how we choose to handle them.

Russ Johns: [00:05:19] Absolutely. Absolutely. I want to remind everybody in the room today. Thank you so much for being here. Elize,'s here. She says, good morning, Gail and Russ. Good morning. Dee Riley from Edinburgh. I haven't heard from you for a long time, David Dee David it's really great to see you. We should chat. Yes, absolutely. Let's chat. Russ Hedge is in the house. Good morning. Thank you so much. Muhammad is here and one of the things and for Pakistan, thank you so much for being here. And then Russ Hedge says great attitude, Gail. Thank you so much. Good morning, everyone from Angie, love that you're here. Russ Hedge says good morning, Dee Riley, and then Angie says, we sure do have our own stuff. Absolutely positively. Marcia says,  happy June 1st. Can you believe it's June Gale?

Gail Hamilton: [00:06:20] Not really, but hey keeps on moving forward.

Russ Johns: [00:06:23] Yeah. Or the days keep ticking off. Sheri Lally says, good morning, all pirates. Sheri Lally says, good morning, all. Kenneth says, savor the flavor of the awesomeness in you sir for sharing this with us. Absolutely. And Jeff Young is in the house saying good morning pirates. Arghhhh some. Namaste. For everyone that's listening in right now, we're going to find a prize to give away to somebody at the end. So type in hashtag #piratenation. Here, I'll put it up here on the screen so everybody can see it giveaway on the #piratenation. And we're going to give this away. I know Marcia's you've been closed so many times Marcia, so hopefully you'll get the prize today. And so Gail this community is so inviting and considerate. I just really appreciate the fact that you're sharing this information because there are a lot of people that have had challenges last couple of years. And there are a lot of people that have challenges on a regular basis. And I know that May was mental health month and, we're all reflecting on how we can help each other and how we can help others around us. And what are some of the things you talk about that helped you on your journey as you go through life and coming from suicidal tendencies out to some more positive attitudes. Talk a little bit about that and go a little deeper, because I want to make sure that people have tools to think that they can make it, too.

Gail Hamilton: [00:07:56] Yeah, the tools.  I look at it like teaching piano and or actually taking piano lessons, which I've taught for 40 years.  First, you have to have the desire. You have to desire to learn to play the piano, the desire to come over...

Russ Johns: [00:08:19] Did you lock up? Are you there Gail? It looks like Gail froze here for a second. Gail, if you can hear me. If you can hear me, Gail, it's really one of those things that happens on occasion. So hopefully she'll pop back in and she'll get that going. Jeff Young says, okay, #piratenation hashtag #piratenation. Did you know it is better to use camel case on a hashtag for those that use screen readers? I did not know that and I'm not sure I'm familiar with what camel case is. You'll have to tell me, educate me. I really appreciate that. Dee says yes, frozen. Hopefully she'll come back. But for those that are around here, I just want to remind everybody that, let me go here. I'll take this off for a second. For those that around here and the idea that we can actually get past our obstacles. We have a huge opportunity here and hopefully... Cathi Spooner. Good morning pirates. Thank you so much for being here. Hopefully she'll come back. Our guest Gail is okay, internet problems, whatever happens, things take place. And we're okay with that because we could actually just get through it, get past it. Just another challenge, just another obstacle. And this is what sets the example of what we do here, pirates work through it. So is there anybody else that yeah, Kenneth says she'll come back. Oh, Marcia going to see the grandkids today beyond excited. Thank you so much. Camel case is when you capitalize each word so the screen reader can pronounce the hashtag correctly. Okay. I'll have to do some research on that. I have several friends that  need a screen reader. I really appreciate the fact that you shared that, Jeff, thank you so much as always. You're awesome. Thank you. Appreciate that. And one of the things that I want to talk about this week is we're giving this away. Each guest is giving something away, whether it's a strategy session, a phone call, their time, their book, an E book or some sort of a course. I just want to provide value to the community and make sure that you're able to receive some of these things that we have in place. And also one of the other things that I would like to share with you is the only way we can grow the pirate community and continue to grow the company minus that exists in this community is if it's shared out. And so I would really love to have people share this out. Subscribe, leave a review on the podcast. It's on Apple. It's on where all fine podcasts can be found and purchased. If you have time, if you have a moment and you would consider leaving a review that would really help out the show and the growth and the exposure in the show. And also I look forward to really having this year. Continue to grow out the #PirateSyndicate and help other people. I've been working this weekend. I know it's a holiday and I've been putting some things in place to allow that to work and grow and expand. So if you have somebody that needs help with the technology and the whole process of a show, just like this. And they want to build their authority and their business, and they want to build out their exposure, let's have a call. Let's have a conversation. Love to share some ideas with you. Because right now live streaming is growing. Podcasting is growing. I'm part of a community called WinJect studios. Some big players in the podcasting arena. So there's lots of things that are going on and people are actually doing some great things out there. So I want to be able to help as many people as I can and provide that service for business owners and individuals that want to be able to avoid the technology overwhelm and actually get some things out there.  I still haven't seen Gail back here yet today. We'll just continue to grow this thing. Hiett Ives, good morning. I'm here this morning, after a great Memorial day weekend. Did anybody do anything fun and exciting for Memorial day weekend?  Andy says, makes sense from Jeff Young and that Jeff Young said Wikipedia camel case. Thank you for mentioning it, Russ. Absolutely. We have to help each other out. And if there's tools out there that we don't know about, or I don't know about, that's something that we can all share, and this is the best place to share it, in my opinion is because it exposes this idea and this concept of supporting each other even more. So hopefully we can actually do more with this and we can actually produce some value to somebody else along the road. So like I said, if you have something, oh yeah, Dee says golf. So he's out golfing this weekend. Fantastic. I have friends that have been to the beaches. Golfing. People are starting to do a few things. So it's really awesome to be able to do that and get that stuff out there. Also, I hope you have a great week. I know there are a lot of people that are busy because it's a short week and it's hectic at times and hopefully you can get everything completed that you're looking to  accomplish this week. And so I'll be giving something away today. If Gail doesn't come back, Cathi says enjoyed time with our son for the last month before he goes back overseas with the Marine Corps, he leaves next week. What a great time, Cathi. Thank you so much. And guess what? We have Gail back in the room.

Gail Hamilton: [00:15:17] Sorry.

Russ Johns: [00:15:18] Gail returns. Thank you so much, Gail, for coming back..

Gail Hamilton: [00:15:23] Hey, it was a loss of electricity. Woo.

Russ Johns: [00:15:29] Oh really?

Gail Hamilton: [00:15:30] Yeah. I know. Special.

Russ Johns: [00:15:32] I'm so happy you returned. Thanks.  I figured I'd keep going until you got back. 

Gail Hamilton: [00:15:37] Yay for you.

Russ Johns: [00:15:38] Dee Riley says golf is like a religion here in Scotland. So we're talking about what people were doing over the Memorial day weekend. I'm on vacation this week for my birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Kenneth. And it's awesome. Marcia says she was enjoying food, family, friends, and fun. I love it. I love it. Wonderful weekend. So Gail, we're talking about challenges and then you gave us the perfect example. You dropped off the show and here we are.

Gail Hamilton: [00:16:16] Yep. Just keep on trying.

Russ Johns: [00:16:18] You're not even upset, so that's even better.

Gail Hamilton: [00:16:21] What can you do about it? I just keep trying. Get me back in.

Russ Johns: [00:16:29] It's ironic because this is the perfect example of how not to panic, how not to get frustrated over minor things, because in the end of the day it's a minor thing,

Gail Hamilton: [00:16:39] Yeah. I saw a movie over the weekend and one of the lines was perfectly imperfect. I like that. We all try to be perfect, but then we're imperfect. But you have to be okay with being perfectly imperfect. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that was awesome. So fun new line, perfectly imperfect.

Russ Johns: [00:16:56] Perfectly imperfect. I'm very happy with my imperfections. I'm perfectly satisfied. So talk a little bit about the book, we were starting to talk about the book and some of the things that you you went through and how you have helped others see a path through their challenges.

Gail Hamilton: [00:17:17] Yeah, I think I was talking about, I look at how to overcome it. Taking piano lessons, which I've taught for forever. And so first you have to have the desire to take the piano lessons, the desire to overcome your challenge, whatever that might be.  With blindness, I can't overcome that, but I can choose about how I want to cope with that. But I have to have a desire to how do I want to move forward? And so one of my favorite sayings that I came up with is my desire to fly has to be bigger than my fear of falling. So my desire to do the it has to be bigger than the challenge or the fear or otherwise, I'm just not going to do it in my life. As a blind person crossing streets,  I have to want to get to the other side in spite of the fear of, oh my gosh, I might be hit by a car today. Because if I let that fear run me, I'm never going to cross the street. And could I get hit by car? Yeah. But I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to do all I can do, which is listen to my traffic, but I'm not going to live in total fear about it because at the end of the day, whatever's going to happen is going to happen. So I have to desire. Then I have to have the tools. So in teaching piano, you have to get a piano. Some people come to lessons and they have no piano. I can't even believe that, but they show up without a piano or keyboard. So you have to have a keyboard, a bench, a light, some music would help. Electricity, batteries for that keyboard or pedal for that keyboard. So you have to have all the tools. And yeah. So in your obstacle, what you might need to take a class, or you might need to do some research on how to find somebody to help you or whatever it is, but tools is good. Then you have to have a teacher or mentor. Someone that's gone before you. So when overcoming mine, it was my psychotherapist. She'd been down that road, she'd done it and she could help me. So it could be a spiritual guru, it could be a therapist, it could be a book, it could be a mentor. It could be a TV show, something that has somebody that's gone through that thing that you want to be doing so they can help you. And then you have to practice. Practice makes you better. Nothing makes you perfect. And you have to do that every day. Consistency, love, discipline. And then you do your what's next. Oh, commitment. You have to stay committed to it no matter what and believe that you can overcome it, go through it. And I was like therapy, like I didn't want to just get in like a car and drive it and be my own person. That's true. I wanted to do that, but I didn't just want to polish the outside of my car. I wanted to get in. I took the engine apart. I cleaned all its little parts and I polished and it looked really good, and I found out how do you make an engine work? And then I put the whole thing back together, and this is figuratively. And then I put it all together and he got back in the car and drove it.  Psychologically. That was my like my little car thing. So you have to want to do all that and not just say, oh, I'm just gonna, do the superficial stuff. In order to get to the light, you have to walk through the dark and and then of course, when it gets to the end of the journey, learning a piano piece, you get to celebrate and so I used to have music parties  where I had food and we played in front of each other and ended all that. But give yourself a little treat for overcoming whatever that challenge is.

Russ Johns: [00:20:45] Awesome. I heard a quote the other day. I heard somebody say this I think it was James Wedmore, actually. He said both faith and fear require you to believe in something you cannot see.

Gail Hamilton: [00:20:59] I like that. That's nice.

Russ Johns: [00:21:01] So crossing the street is an analogy of you have to believe that you have to have the faith that you're going to get across. And you have the fear of, the possibility of something going wrong. However, it doesn't stop you from moving forward. They both exist simultaneously. That's something. And I love the analogy. I've been actually creating a track a day, musically, because I was a musician.  I was a drummer. I tried to play keyboard, I tried to play guitar, but I fell in love with the drums. Banging on stuff.

Gail Hamilton: [00:21:38] I could do piano and autoharp and sing, but drums. Oh my God, I could never. Hats off to you. I tried for two hours just to do a simple little rhythm. Failed.

Russ Johns: [00:21:50] We all have a gift. We all have a message. It's one of these things that we all have something to bring to the world and sometimes it's a great attitude. Sometimes it's the ability to inspire people to do something more like yourself. This is very inspirational to somebody that might be thinking about how do I decide to not be a victim? How do I decide not to feel sorry for myself? How do I decide that my life is not so bad? And for me it always starts with #gratitude. I wake up, I think, man, I'm so grateful. I have a roof over my head. I have clothes on my back. I have food on the table and so forth.

Gail Hamilton: [00:22:34] Yeah. Think of the things you do have instead of the things you don't have. And when you're in that place, you always think, oh, I guess I don't... if it's in your head to do whatever that it is, do that it. People always say how do I know if I should approach a blind person? Like how do we know if they need help?  If it's in your head, ask us, we'll tell you. Ask and you shall receive. We'll tell you if we need help or not. Because when you have a seeing eye dog, you don't look like you need help at three and a half miles per hour, but,  I can be just as lost at three and a half miles per hours. I wonder where that at, the dog's not showing me the way, the light pole is today. Yeah. Yeah. Like I better call somebody, find out what street is this today.

Russ Johns: [00:23:15] Man. It's so fun. I thank you so much for being here, Gail. And I know we dropped off a little bit, but the message that you have to bring is a gift. And the message that you brought today is so valuable for so many people. And I'd love the opportunity to have you connect with somebody in the community. And I know that we have it for anybody that hasn't typed in #piratenation hashtag #piratenation. Jeff gave us a lesson on camel case for reading a screen reading and I wasn't familiar with that. I'll have to look it up and learn that cause I have friends that are not sighted, but it's really all of these things come up and there's so many ideas that we can share in a brief period of time here. And sharing this out to somebody that needs it or somebody that needs to hear it. Or somebody that needs to be inspired by it. I think it's really important for us to continue to support others. And with your speaking engagements is that starting to become something that you're considering again?

Gail Hamilton: [00:24:19] I'm here. Yeah, absolutely. Call me up. I'll come over. Yeah. I've been on podcasts all around the world now, so it's kinda cool.  I just got accepted to do a TEDx Talk in  Breckenridge, Colorado in the fall. So that's pretty cool. Thank you. So that was yesterday's cool piece of news. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and see where the path goes.

Russ Johns: [00:24:42] Fantastic. Fantastic. I want to give something away. We have six entries. Let me bring it up on the screen here and I'll  share it out and make sure that we have something that we can contribute to the cause here. So let's share this out. So we're going to draw this let's draw. Drum roll. Yes. Okay. We're here. We're here. Come on.

Gail Hamilton: [00:25:17] We'll keep doing it.

Russ Johns: [00:25:20] Jeff Young winner winner chicken dinner. Do you know Jeff?

Gail Hamilton: [00:25:25] I do not.

Russ Johns: [00:25:26] Oh, now you're going to have to get to know him.

Gail Hamilton: [00:25:29] Hi Jeff.w

Russ Johns: [00:25:30] I'll provide an introduction to both of you in an email afterwards and make the connection there. So thank you so much for that, Jeff. I appreciate you so much. Jeff is an awesome individual. He's the LinkedIn guru. He teaches hundreds of classes a year on LinkedIn.

Gail Hamilton: [00:25:49] Oh, wow. Nice.

Russ Johns: [00:25:50] To anyone that wants his help and his assistance. An awesome individual that's there. So Gail, thank you so much for being here.

Gail Hamilton: [00:25:58] Thank you so much for having me.

Russ Johns: [00:26:01] Let's keep in touch. And come back on the #PirateBroadcast™. Whenever you got something to share with the community, the announcements and a future date, and let us know how you're doing on the TEDx event and Breckenridge in the fall and and continue to support the community here.

Gail Hamilton: [00:26:17] Absolutely. My pleasure. I'll definitely keep you posted on what I'm doing for sure.

Exit: [00:26:22] Thank you for joining the #PirateBroadcast™. If you found this content valuable, please like, comment and share it across your social media channels. I would love the opportunity to help others grow in their business. The #PirateSyndicate™ is a platform where you show up, we produce the show. It's that easy. If you want to be seen, be heard and be talked about, join the #PirateSyndicate™ today.w

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