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Audio digitally transcribed by Otter.ai

Introduction 0:01
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 0:19
Welcome back to another episode of the #PirateBroadcast™ where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. And it's a great day to have a great day. Thank you so much for being here, Terry. I think you're a pirate. Now officially, you're a pirate. Yay.

Terry McDougall 0:34
Good. All right. When I was a little girl, I liked the Pittsburgh Pirates, so I'm glad to officially be a pirate. Getting me here. Yeah, I mean, we live in a lot of different places. But I think that we might have lived in Pennsylvania at the time that they went back to back in the World Series.

Russ Johns 0:50
So nice. Nice. I want to tell people a little bit about you. And you're an author, speaker, coach, you help entrepreneurs and business owners kind of get moving forward in which is a very important skill to be aware of this year last year. For those who don't know, you kind of give us a backstory, how you got started and where you're arriving from?

Terry McDougall 1:17
Yeah, well, I mean, today, I'm an executive and career coach and author. But I've been doing this full time since 2017. And before that, I had a 30 year career in marketing, the majority of which was with two large banks. And I eventually rose to head marketing for several of the businesses at the last bank where I worked. And then I got to a point where I, I just felt like it was time to do something different, and just happened to coincide with some changes that were going on at the bank. So I decided to leave. And I said to myself, what do you like to do and what are you good at? And as a leader, I had always spent a lot of time investing in coaching and mentoring people on my teams. And I always felt like that paid off. For me, it was truly a win-win, because people felt, you know, happy and confident in their roles, they were doing a great job, but it made me look good, too. Because if you're a leader, you're only going to be as good as the people that are working for you. And if they can be, you know, self sufficient and competent and moving forward and, you know, have good, be happy at work, you know, get a lot more good, innovative work done.

Russ Johns 2:37
Well surround yourself with excellence and the best way to do it is to help them become excellent, right?

Terry McDougall 2:43
Yes, everybody is capable of it.

Russ Johns 2:46
Yeah, you know, one of my things, I always, I want to learn something every day, I want to create something every day, and I want to help someone every day. Yeah. And it's just, it could be that simple. It doesn't have to be complicated. However, you know, the last year and probably this year is also going to be a challenging opportunity for growth, for a lot of people that are not used to that, not used to coaching not used to self discipline in a way that provides value to themselves, you know, through coaching. So what are some things that we can do to unwrap and unlock our, you know, our excellence in ourselves in some of the techniques that you're talking about in your book, and in some of your coaching programs, to really kind of, you know, that moment in time where, you know, you're talking to somebody and they, all of a sudden they connect the dots in your eyes? And you say, Oh, I get it?

Terry McDougall 3:50
Yeah, you know, I believe it's all about the energy. And whenever we feel threatened, everyone naturally goes to that flight or fight response, right? Where we either want to avoid something because it's uncomfortable, it's painful, or if we feel cornered, we want to fight it, right? We won't be judgmental or defensive about it. And both of those levels of energy require a lot of energy, right? That's why we get that like that adrenaline spike whenever we feel threatened. But those levels of energy also cause us to sort of, I mean, physiologically narrow our line of sight, right, like we're so focused on that threat, that we don't see that there are actually opportunities around us. And so, you know, what I really try to encourage people to do is okay, well let's take a look at what's going on here. Like when you're feeling threatened or you're feeling like you just really want to avoid something That's not a state where you can actually get something done. So what you want to do is like, bring the heat down a little bit and you know, take a deep breath and step back and say, okay, what's my belief here? Because a lot of times, we are really reactive to things. And we think that we're immediately threatened, like, it's literally life or death. And if we really look at the belief, you know, like, a lot of times when I'm working with people in a corporate environment, and they're feeling really stressed at work, I'll ask them, like, what's the worst thing that can happen in this situation? And they'll say, Oh, well, it's sometimes they'll like chuckle a little bit, they'll be like, well, I could get fired. And we really look at that I'm like, okay, you know, you just got a really good performance appraisal and raise, yeah, what's the likelihood that that's going to happen? And when they really sort of take a look at that, they realize, okay, well, maybe I can, you know, let the heat down. You're right. Like, I don't need to react so strongly to this. And I will get curious.

Russ Johns 6:05
Lower to simmer.

Terry McDougall 6:07
Yes, exactly. And, and get curious about what's going on and start to venture a little bit out of that comfort zone, to say, Well, what are the possibilities here? And, you know, one of the things that I heard the saying not too long ago, which is growth never happened in the comfort zone, right, you got to venture out of that. But yet, a lot of times when we start to, you know, get to the edge of the comfort zone, we, you know, we do go into the fight or flight because it feels uncomfortable, and we feel like, Oh, my gosh, there's danger out there. And sometimes it's just, you know, I wrote about this little, you know, thought in my book that, you know, sometimes we're so fearful that, you know, we're so afraid that there's a Boogeyman under the bed that we don't even want to look. But then you look and it's dust bunnies, right? There's nothing there. There's nothing there. But, you know, a lot of times we just put the blinders on or and are like, you know, it's too dangerous to look, what if something horrible is there? Right?

Russ Johns 7:11
It seems like the best entrepreneurs that I've engaged with are the ones that understand the fears. And they also have this tendency, this this narrative in their, their mind's eye that they actually can see other obstacles that may not necessarily stop them. And, you know, hold them back. But it's, it's okay, recognize that it's there. Yeah, navigate around it, or through it or over it. And it's just continue. And one of the things we were talking about before the show is, you know, we alluded to the idea of just showing up, being consistent, practicing that discipline of, you know, being outside the comfort zone, pushing the boundaries, learning and earning, you know, these kind of practices that a lot of people they don't consciously do, and they just continue to participate in. And I think a lot of people have an opportunity to actually expand on that idea in that concept and, and be more diligent about it more react, act, you know, take action with that. So is that something you pursue in your coaching activities, making more people present in the moment, make sure that they're aware of the surroundings, make sure that they understand their opportunities, rather than their obstacles?

Terry McDougall 8:42
Yeah, I mean, it really is, it all begins with awareness, right? Because if you're not aware of what's going on, or even what's causing you to react in that way, you're really sort of, you know, a victim of the circumstances, rather than somebody that's, you know, in control of your own destiny. And I really try to help people, you know, if they're feeling uncomfortable, or in pain, or whatever, stressed out, there's a reason for it. And it probably is rooted in a belief that they have, you know, it's and a lot of times that's attached to a fear, which causes them to act in a certain way. But if you go back to what's the belief here, and for example, you know, sometimes people will come to me and say, well, I've got this goal, right? Or I've got something that I kind of have a sense that I want to do, I really helped them get really clear on the goal, you know, and it might be you know, if they're at a job they don't like, it might be like, I want to get out of this job. And I'm like, that's not a really clear goal. What let's like, what would you actually like to do that you're not doing now? I mean, it pertains to business as well. I mean, I'm working with a client right now who actually has a candle making company COVID has impacted her company tremendously, because she's trying to manufacture and people got COVID, you know, manufacturing, you know, in a socially distance environment is really difficult. But, you know, really, instead of feeling fearful that, oh my gosh, I'm not going to be able to make orders because I can't keep up with the volume or whatever, let's step back and say, okay, what is under your control? What can you do? And, you know, step away from that, you know, belief, even if it's like, very faint that, you know, I'm going to go to, I'm going to go out of business, right? You can't, if that happens, it happens. But being in a space where you're really believing that and it's having an impact on you is actually going to take away from the energy that you need to make yourself be successful.

Russ Johns 10:54
Well, there's people, there's people that actually, there's essentially two kinds of people, people that say, I can't, and people say I can. And they're usually right. Yeah,

Terry McDougall 11:09
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And I and coaching a lot of times, you know, I liked what you were talking about with the, the obstacles, because I think what happens and, and very often with very driven people to that they're like, they're on this path, and they're putting the pedal to the metal. And they're, they're, like, going so fast, that when they hit an obstacle, they're so close to it, that they can't see that there's any option, you know, and so they're stuck. They're just sitting there, like, you know, it's almost like they're on a trail, and they hit this boulder, and they're so close to the boulder that they can't see that there's any way around it. And, you know, what I try to do is like, help them step back, or maybe, you know, climb up onto a ladder and say, Oh, look, I can see beyond this. I use this analogy a lot, that it's sort of like, you know, trekking up a mountain, right? Like you, when you're at the bottom, you can see the top. And you say, well, that's my goal, that's where I want to go to, but you've got to take a lot of steps before you get there, and you're gonna run into a lot of obstacles. And sometimes people will get to a point where, you know, they hit that boulder, and they can't see the top of the mountain and they start thinking that, you know, I don't know if this goal is possible, right? Because they've sort of lost, they lost perspective. And a lot of times to will, will not give them themselves credit for how far they've come, you know, a lot of us will just keep, like, looking ahead and say, gosh, that, you know, that's way too far, you know, I haven't made any progress. And I really try to help people also look back and say, you know, like, for my one client, I'm like, you've run your business for 20 years. You know, like, you've overcome a lot of things to get here, you will overcome what you need to get past here, too. And, you know, and I think a lot of times, I've seen this in 2020, that a lot of times when you know people are under pressure, it actually inspires them to address things that were tolerable under different circumstances. Right.

Russ Johns 13:15
We're reflecting on a lot of different things. Yeah. And actually evaluating how important is this really in my life. And I want to speak in of importance. I want to I want to talk a little bit about the pirates in the room. Nick is in from Canada. That's great north and also Michael Hubicki, thriving mayor, he's out there doing some great work with mayor's around North America. And hello, Russ and Terry from from Frozen Bay of Quint, is it Darren Burch, he's here, here here in Arizona. Good morning, Captain. Good morning. Darren, how are you doing? Learn, Create help every day. Love it. Russ. And Silver Fox. Darlene in from Florida. Say thank you so much for being here on especially on YouTube. She's on YouTube. If you didn't know this, you can go to YouTube, you can actually get a reminder for the show. LinkedIn doesn't always provide that very effectively every day. But YouTube has a pretty good system. So if you want to connect on subscribe on YouTube, I'm growing that and Angie, she's up your way. Good morning, everyone in Wisconsin. Happy Friday. It's a Happy Friday. I love it. And Lorrie Scott in from Colorado, the queen of green. She's been on the show this week. So amazing individual doing some great stuff. Wendy? She's Chicago area. Good morning. Pirates. Good energy is a precious gift we receive from others. Absolutely. Howard Kaufman. He's in he he's a great honor. printer and a purveyor of some amazing mouth products that I use every day. Thank you Howard. Love it. That's an ongoing challenge. We get stuck in tunnel vision without stepping back and looking at the broader opportunity that is merging. It's the thing that the obstacle is the way right. So Michael Hubicki says, we have to think we have a problem with reality. We think we have a problem with reality. When in reality we have a thinking problem.

Terry McDougall 15:33
Yeah, yeah.

Russ Johns 15:36
Mike Baker in Florida, Darren, yes, a happy worker is a productive worker. And Russ nailed it. If each day we make a positive impact on the world around us. As little as making another person smile, we can make this world a better place. Great hosts and guests. Thank you so much, Darren, that means a lot to me. I really appreciate you and all the things that you're doing. Michael says, a self awareness and the victim mentality mentally immaturity, and victim mental victim mentality immaturity. I'll get it out eventually. So this is fantastic. Can't live in fear anxiety held me back for so long. I know I can we often pull our own obstinate obstacle in our way. obstacles. Yeah, she said obstacles, so. So all of these people, thank you so much for being here. I just really appreciate and love the pirate community. And Terry's talking about some of the things that she brings to the table, she has a book out, tell us about your book, Terry, and how people can track it down and get a copy for themselves.

Terry McDougall 16:51
Yeah, my book is called winning the game of work, career happiness and success on your own terms. And it is available on Amazon, all over the world. And it's also at Barnes and noble.com. I, I wrote this book, because when I first I, I'm the first generation college graduate, and I, when I got out of college and started working in the corporate world, I didn't really have any role models to kind of show me how you really get ahead at work. And I really thought that a lot of the things that I did at school would allow me to move up. And over time, what I realized that, you know, first of all, I didn't look at work as a game, I just work looked at it like, okay, everything's very cut and dry, you come in, do your work, keep your head down, and you'll get recognized and promoted. That's not how it works, you really need to think about how you add value, you need to advocate for yourself, you need to build networks, you need to really think about how you invest your time and energy, are you investing in the highest value work? There's a lot of mistakes that people make in terms of like, Oh, I have to finish everything on my to do list. And, you know, I was sometimes puzzled by people that, you know, would get promoted. And in my opinion, in my opinion, I thought, well, they aren't, you know, they're not coming to the meetings, they're not returning phone calls and aren't returning emails to me. Right. But they were focused on the work that somebody probably higher up in the organization thought was important, right. And so they were really investing their time where they were going to get the biggest payoff for the organization. And they were rewarded for that. And I think that, you know, a lot of us come in, we're like, well, I just want to be like that, you know, gold, so star worker, and you can do that, and you'll probably have, you know, get paid decently or whatever, but you're not going to move up, if that's the the approach that you take. So I just wanted to share a lot of the lessons that I learned and a lot of things that I work with people on right now, like, for example, identifying leverage points in your life. A lot of times people are just, you know, sort of spreading their energy like peanut butter over everything rather than, you know, prioritizing and, you know, setting goals and committing to those goals or time blocking or, or what I call task batching, where you're, you know, you're really using your time a lot more effectively. Instead of being you know, pulled in a million different directions like Oh, my,

Russ Johns 19:26
I want to I want to pause right here. I want to pause and talk go a little deeper on this because I think it's really important because I suffer from the factor. Because I always the busier I get the more I have a tendency to be more productive when the busier I am. Yeah. And it kind of perpetuates itself. And it's a source of burnout in a lot of respects and also, I think I have a difficult time focusing on I have a difficult time focusing on fewer things, because of the diversity in my interests.

Terry McDougall 20:14
Mm hmm.

Russ Johns 20:15
You know, I've climbed the corporate ladder more than once, was not necessarily what I would consider rewarded for that effort in a way that was valuable, long term. So I became, I've always been an entrepreneur on the side, I've always had a side hustle, I've always done things by my own, my own way. And one of the things that I've noticed about myself is, and maybe some other people can relate to this is that we throw a lot of things out there to see what our feedback is what find, what do we find joy in doing? You know, what is it that we love to create? And in what do we, you know, it's Ikki guy, the the process of identifying what you love to do? One of the, one of the people, what do people love you to do? What will they pay you for? What kind of brings you joy, and I'm messing it up. But there's a, there's a process that you go through. And it's an awesome, it's a process that you can go through it, you look it up, Google it. And I just love this idea that there are certain things that we love and enjoy will bring value to the world. And if we can find that combination that we find joy in, it may not be every day unicorns and rainbows, but we find something that we love to do. And that really is an amazing opportunity. And I just love when that happens in my life. And so how do you guide people to that point in their life? You know, you're in corporate world, they may not necessarily they they're doing what they went to college for and what they trying to accomplish, but they really are not finding any joy in their world. How do you steer him in a direction that is maybe more enlightening and more inviting?

Terry McDougall 22:13
Yeah. I mean, I actually work with a lot of people that, you know, have been doing something for 10 or 15 or 20 years. And they're good at it. They were educated in it, they make good money, and they hate it. And, you know, I will tell you that I'm so thankful that when I graduated from college, my boyfriend's mom gave me what color's your parachute? And she saiddo not even start interviewing until you read this book, and you do the exercises. And I'm thankful because I didn't really think about the fact that you should start with yourself and say, like, what is it that you like to do? And what are you good at. And that really helped me a lot whenever I started interviewing, because I could really, you know, speak with, you know, passion about why I thought I'd be good at the book, the jobs I was interviewing for, but I really help I say to people, when they come to me, and they're like, oh, I'm just going to happen, a lot of times they know what they want to do. But they'll say, they will immediately start saying, well, I'd really like to, you know, run my own business. But, you know, I got kids in college, and you know, the mortgage and my wife's at home or you know, whatever. Like all of the reasons why they can't do it are all bound up with the thing they want to do. And I just tell people like, look, these are two separate things. Do not kill your baby in the cradle. Okay, if this is the thing that you really want to do, it's okay. Honor it, put it over here. It doesn't mean you need to quit your job today. And go do it. honor that. Yeah. And then separately, start thinking, what are some ways that I could get closer to that? Let's brainstorm in like a fresh environment that's not, you know, infected with your fear.

Russ Johns 23:59
Yeah. You know, and it's like Angie says, and he says, if it's not a hill, yes, it's a hell no.

Terry McDougall 24:07
Right. Right. But you know, I mean, of course, we all want to survive, right? It's, you know, you were, I think somebody made the comment earlier about, you know, the victim mentality, you know, it's immaturity. Even the most I'm sure the Dalai Lama every once in a while is fearful, right? And it's just a matter of like, how long you stay in that, right. You recognize it? And then you say that you get curious about like, Well, why am I feeling this way? You know, what? Yes, darling, Can Can I shift myself to something that's more productive?

Russ Johns 24:41
Well, we have, you know, anybody that has been in business long enough, picks up a lot of skills they don't even recognize they have,

Terry McDougall 24:49
Yeah, true.

Russ Johns 24:50
It's all these ancillary skills, you know, negotiating, navigating, you know, moderating, you know, bringing a meeting together. Other, you know, sending out emails, course, communication, all of these things add up to an abundance of effort and time and energy. And there's two ways I love what Mike Rowe says about work. It says, If you can't find the job you love, learn to love the job you have. Yeah, sure. So there's a lot of things that we can actually, it's perception, it's our own reality, you know, we can choose to have #gratitude for what we have. And right now, a lot of people are grateful for the job they have, they may not love it, they may not feel, they may feel like something is missing. And a lot of times what we can do is have a hobby or something that brings us joy, yes, allows us to enjoy our work more.

Terry McDougall 25:51
So yeah, so true. I mean, you know, I think maybe because I, I grew up in more of a blue collar background, and I, you know, I thought, Okay, I'm going to get educated, and I want to go out and get like a good, you know, high paying job. So I can, like, go to Hawaii and stuff like that, you know, something I wasn't able to do when I was a kid. You know, there were a lot of things that I wanted to do. And so that was part of what what drove me. But you know, and so I was very career oriented. But you know, happiness is not about careers, you know, it's about spending your time doing things that bring you joy. And, you know, a lot of people do look at their job, like a job. And that's fine, right? You can go to work and do your job. But if it's like draining the life out of you, you might want to take a second look at it. But if it's just like, yeah, it's a job, but I have all this other stuff over here that I really enjoy doing. And that's fulfilling. I mean, I really feel like it's about balance. And, you know, even in my last corporate job, you know, I would look at I was at the last company I was at for 12 years. And I'd say the majority of the time that I worked there, about 70% of what I did in my job I enjoyed and then there was about 30% that was like a pain in the neck. Right? But the balance was fine. But then, you know, in the last couple years, the balance shifted, where, you know, I was like, I have to work so hard just to do my job. And it, it just wasn't the tank was getting down to empty because there wasn't enough, you know, being deposited into it, too. You know, for me to be able to tolerate the things that were not I didn't enjoy.

Russ Johns 27:33
Well, when your tank gets low, you have to look at other opportunities to get a refill.

Terry McDougall 27:39
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Russ Johns 27:41
Darlene says that's my approach with clients strength based. My clients start the same, Terry. So Mike Baker, do, do what you have to until you can do what you want to. That's absolutely true.

Terry McDougall 27:56
Yeah, I completely agree with that.

Russ Johns 27:58
I mean, you know, it's just think others for how they help us. And I thank you Hiett for being here. I really appreciate the fact that you everyone's here today. Darlene says, Don't stay where you're infected with your fear. Wow, I hope I quoted that correctly.

Terry McDougall 28:18
It's close enough.

Russ Johns 28:20
It's good. We love it. Jenny Gold, JennyGold's in the room. Good morning, Russ and Terry. Jenny's awesome individual, out of Colorado. So there's so many things that we can do with our lives and so many choices we have, you know, it often confuses me, you know, yes, kids in high school, it's like in school, what do you want to be when you grow up? It's like, it's, it's the wrong way to pursue it. Because it's like, you don't know enough about life to even understand what now joy. And a lot of lot of careers, you know, very, very valuable careers, are not necessarily oriented to go into college and get out of college. And go the trades. You know, I grew up in the construction industry. I was a musician made a good living. And it brought me a lot of joy and a lot of experience, and amazing, amazing life. And I've had so many different experiences that it's just, man, it's just I wouldn't...

Terry McDougall 29:29
the world is full of possibilities. And we get so stuck a lot of times thinking that like, oh, there's just one path that I take and oh, if I fall off the path and then you know, my life is over. You know what, sometimes when you fall off the path you discover, I can go in any direction. I don't have to stay on a path that somebody else carved. Like we all I mean, I truly believe this that we all have gifts. We're all here for a reason. And if we want to live a happy life Find out what that reason is and go do it. You know, like, we really admire people, you know, in the public world that, that kind of live what we call authentically. Right. But yet sometimes we feel like oh, well, you know, I have to live according to a rule that somebody else made. Right? Why? Like, why would somebody else have the right to judge us? Right.

Russ Johns 30:25
That's an amazing idea and an opportunity. You know, the two most important times in our life is the day we were born and the day we find out why.

Terry McDougall 30:35
Yeah,exactly.

Russ Johns 30:36
And it's really important for us to, to enjoy everything we can, and I would suggest that you become a pirate, so you know, cuz it's okay, right thing to do. Now that you're a pirate, Terry. So Terry, before we wrap up today, I want to allow people to know how to connect with you and, and reach out and if they want to engage and continue the conversation.

Terry McDougall 31:04
Yeah. I'm sorry.

Russ Johns 31:07
No, how do you how do you like to have people connect with you?

Terry McDougall 31:10
They can reach out to me through my website, which is TerryBMcDougall.com also on LinkedIn, and my handle on LinkedIn is TerryBMcDougall, I have my books on Amazon. And I also just started a podcast, which is called Marketing Mambo. And, you know, I mentioned I had been a marketer for 30 years, and I just, you know, talk about, you know, following your heart or whatever, I just realized that I love talking to smart people about marketing. So that's what I do. And so if you're a marketing nerd, like me, maybe you might enjoy some of the conversations that we have out there. And that the podcast is at marketingmambo.net.

Russ Johns 31:54
I got into advertising in 85.

Terry McDougall 31:57
Yep, so yep. We're, that's about whenever I started my career, too 86.

Russ Johns 32:05
So thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here. And everyone connect with Terry, if you're not connected, tell her you're a pirate and let her know you're part of the community and you want to connect and engage, learn more, start a conversation, allow people the opportunity to, to open up and have a dialogue about life, liberty, and some of the things that are important to you. And also, you know, we recognize that we all are part of this community, and we're all doing something that we can do to help each other out. So I encourage everyone to connect with the #PirateBroadcast™, subscribe to the YouTube channel, the podcast, leave a review. It helps everybody expand and you know, inspire other people around the world. And I just thank you so much for being here. I love you all. Because #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree and you #enjoytheday. Thank you so much for being here, Terry.

Terry McDougall 33:06
Thanks, Russ. It was fun.

Russ Johns 33:07
Be in touch. Take care.

Exit 33:11
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