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You are listening to episode 154.

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Welcome to the You Are Techie

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podcast, where it's all about

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growing in your tech so you can find

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the tech job of your dreams. And

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now your host technology

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learning coach Ellen Tomi

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,

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Welcome to the podcast. We are

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doing something super fun today. It's

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all about you and breaking

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into tech that goal, I know you

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want for yourself, but Kim, seem overwhelming

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and confusing when you're on one

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side of the fence . Don't worry,

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we've got you covered. We're sharing

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with you advice from the trenches,

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from some of our favorite success stories from

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women who have been there before, from

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not working in tech, from staying at home,

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from doing jobs, completely unrelated

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to crossing that chasm into technology

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and exactly the advice they have

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for you. When I host my podcast

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guest , I ask this one simple

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but powerful question, what

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advice would you have to a woman, specifically

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a mom who's considering diving

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into UX or diving into

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development? They wanna break into tech. What

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advice do you have for them? And we have

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some gems for you, <laugh>

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. That's right. The women of

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hard podcasts are powerful and

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I know it's just what you need to

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jumpstart your new year. Take

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a listen, Alex cords ,

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Just start doing it. You

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know, start going for it. If you

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even have an inkling

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that what you're doing now isn't exactly

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what you want to do, when you think, okay,

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like tech might be the next step, like

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I would just start taking those next

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steps. It's okay to have, you

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know, some of those, what I'll refer to as

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like more limiting beliefs,

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you can still keep taking steps

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and not be sure if it's the right thing.

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Because at the end of the day, to me,

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the important thing is that you're

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exploring what lights

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your fire. Yeah. What

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fits in your life. And

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not necessarily like, yes, tech is

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still, could still be the end goal, but

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it's better to have explored that and say

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like, oh, actually, like tech

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wasn't exactly what I thought than

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to have never tried it at

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all. I think it will help you grow as a person

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in general. But I will also say that tech

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is such a big industry that

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there's a lot to explore.

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So even if you go in thinking I

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wanna be a UX designer and you

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end up more in product management, like

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that is perfectly fine as well.

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And honestly , that's a little bit of, of what's

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happened with me. Yes, I still do design stuff,

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but I do a lot more, I

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guess, product management type work than

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I initially thought I would and I'm enjoying

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it.

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Alexander Thomas , you always have to remain as

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hopeful as possible because

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there's times when

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I was down at the dubs being like, I'm a

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stay-at-home mom again. I , again,

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I , that it's a , that's such a priceless

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position to be in, which is great, but you're like, I

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wanna do something for myself. And you're like, how

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in the world I'm gonna do this when I'm juggling the

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kids? And you know,

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you're , you're super tired and if once

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you sit down at your computer to start working on something, they're

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knocking on the door, be like, Hey, what

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are you doing? And you're like, ah , you

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know, so I can be really tiring. But you, you

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have to be a little selfish.

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Stay as hopeful as possible

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and , um, surround yourself by people

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that will encourage you and

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keep driving, moving you forward. Like my husband,

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he has seen, again, the up and

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downs of me trying

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to figure out what I'm passionate about. And if

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you're really interested in tech, I'm

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like more the merrier. Like please, please

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jump on my computer, take those free

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courses or whatever paid courses,

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like just explore, just

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do it. Set some time that

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I ended up doing a timer thing that I

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would set timer for like 52

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minutes, then the timer goes off and I take

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a break. And then I do that several times

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that my son got adapted to it. And as soon as

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the timer goes off, he's like, okay, mommy, go back to work.

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Oh , that's awesome. And um, and

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again, it takes a lot of planning and

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organizing and discipline mm-hmm

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. <affirmative> . But as long as you set

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that time, even if it's just little baby steps

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mm-hmm. <affirmative> , that motivation

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will keep growing and that hope

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will just keep burning brighter in

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you because it's going to be

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scary. I still have a lot of fears.

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You just don't wanna let those spears

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stifle and stop that progress because it's

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gonna be worthwhile. And even if,

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if you're at the position that you are

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still waiting for that job, just keep building

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things, keep doing things, keep talking

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to people and build

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those sincere relationships because those will

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bring, those would

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be blessings and those

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will also bring avenues

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that will lead to awesome

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opportunities.

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Erin Ziva . No, I love this question.

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And first of all, I wish I could give her

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a hug because I understand how

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she

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Feels. <laugh> . Me too.

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But second of all, I

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would say if you are thinking about a

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career in tech, any

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tech or UX or

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development or whatever, you

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are so much farther along down

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the path than you realize that

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you might as well just take that leap. Because

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most people think of it and go, I would

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never wanna do that <laugh> . So if you're considering

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me do that, you do wanna do it. So

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go for it. Just do it. It

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is going to be hard because you will not

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know the answer right away, no matter what you're

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doing. Ux, software development, all of

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it. You are not going to know the

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answer right away. You're not gonna know if you chose

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the right path right away mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But

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you get far enough down the path. You

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either love what you're doing or you found

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an alternate path in tech that you

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do love and you go that way. But

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you have to start. And so starting is

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the key. And the other quote

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that I have hanging up that I always

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look at, that I go to all the time

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is never give up on a dream because

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of the time it will take to accomplish it.

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The time will pass anyway by

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Earl Nightingale . You

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have to go for it. This is

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a dream, but it will take time

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and it's worth it. And you

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will grow, your family will grow, it's

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gonna be awesome. And

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the last thing would be get a mentor or three and

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don't listen to everyone because

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people do not understand what you're doing and

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they cannot see your goal the way you

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see it. So choose a few people like

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Ellen says, who you're listening to and tune

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out everybody else. And that's all I have.

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Caitlin Meyer , can I say get over it?

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If you don't know . I , I

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always say one of the things I need

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to learn is , uh, grace <laugh>

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. And boy , I

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, one of my weaknesses is I need

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to learn how to , uh, not be so

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direct <laugh>. I love it.

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Okay . So get over it. And , and what's the No

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, I take a chance. Mm-hmm

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. <affirmative> , I mean, just try. I never said

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no to any opportunity that came

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across my plate. And even

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though in the back of my mind I

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was like, oh , you guys are nuts.

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Like, why are you having me do

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this <laugh> ? I never let

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myself say no. And either

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you learn that it's not something

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you're interested in. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> or

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you learn that you love it or you learn

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that it's going to help you get to the

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next spot of your career.

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So take chances. Don't

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say no to new opportunities or

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new people that come across your path. Mm-hmm

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. <affirmative> , I could have easily looked

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at you when you said, Hey, do you wanna

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try some ux? And then like, no,

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that's not what I was hired for. <laugh>.

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But in , I didn't, I looked at you and I said,

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sure, why not? Mm-hmm . <affirmative> . And now

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look where we are. Right. So always

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allow yourself to say yes to

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new opportunities. If

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you might learn that the path

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you wanted to go down isn't

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the right path for you mm-hmm.

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<affirmative>, but at least you took that chance. You

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tried it and now you're

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like, oh, I thought I was gonna really

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like Scrum, but

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I actually really like

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UA more <laugh> . So

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so try it and build

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up . I mean the the thing that

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it's gonna give you is skills. Yeah

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. It's gonna let you know yourself better.

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It's gonna give you more skills, it's

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gonna help you figure out what you

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want. And then once you figure that

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out, it's gonna help you how to get there. So

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try it, do it. Don't

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let your own brain get in the way. It's

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so easy for people to talk themselves

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outta things. I mean, there's

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plenty of times that I could have talked myself

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outta things and been like, you're nuts, <laugh>.

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But I think the last

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piece of advice I would get there is

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really surround yourself then

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with people who are gonna support you. Mm-hmm.

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<affirmative>. And not try and

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talk you out of it and say you're crazy. Like

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really? And you know what? It

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might not be like Zach

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has no idea what I do on a daily basis.

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<laugh>, I can't explain it to him. <laugh>

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, but he's a mechanic and so he can't explain

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his job to me <laugh>. And

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so there's certain areas that he's

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just, he can't support me in

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cuz he doesn't understand what

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that is. And so I need to find my

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support in different areas. Mm-hmm.

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<affirmative>, you know, so Zach

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doesn't understand tech mm-hmm.

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<affirmative> , but I know a lot of people who do

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and a lot of people who can give me

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that support, and I'm looking right at

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you <laugh> , but

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find those people, ask

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for advice, ask them

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to help build you up and

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support you. And it could

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be your mom, your grandma sister,

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a boyfriend, a high school

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teacher, I don't know. But

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find those people and really hold

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on to them and use them.

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Don't just pretend

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they don't exist. Like really talk

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to them and tell 'em what you want and

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people are gonna help you.

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Brittany , Kate , I would say that

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if it's something that you're interested in and

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you want to figure

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it out, like just go for it. Like

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jump in and do it because that's

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where you learn is in the doing. And the one

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thing that I really appreciated with

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Ellen's program is that she's

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like, you can change your mind. <laugh>

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like just get started mm-hmm.

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<affirmative> and follow through with

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the, you know, the project. And if

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along the way you've figure out, wait,

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this isn't quite it, you know, that's

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fine, that's great. Like, it's this mentality,

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like this growth mindset mentality, right?

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Of being, being okay with

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failing or , or , you know , whatever

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that , that is in your mind. Right? Cause

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it's not a , a failure to change your

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mind, but you might feel like, oh, but I'm not like

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finishing this program

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or whatever. But that's

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not what the point is. Right? The point is, like

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we've discussed earlier, figuring

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out who you are and what you want for

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your life and, and what you, your desires

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are. And in the process you're like

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able to recognize these capabilities

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that you have that maybe you didn't realize

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until you actually jumped

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in and went for it and did that . Yeah

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. And did the

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Work. Well what did you think? Is that exactly

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what you needed to jumpstart your new year? What

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did I tell you? Those are some amazing

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women, aren't they? I

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hope their advice inspires you, inspires

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you to take action and to believe in yourself and to

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understand that it is such a journey.

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There's not one thing that's

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gonna get you over that line. It's

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a massive amount of focused effort

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on your goal. And I hope you have

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that supportive, amazing community

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around you to get you over

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that line. I can't wait to see

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you next time. Thanks.

12:38

Hey, if you enjoyed listening to this podcast,

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