The Sow to Speak Podcast with Kristy Mandour

In this month's Kris Notes, I'm highlighting the debut book written by my dear friend, Kristy Caruso. It is a collection of musings, lessons, and personal reflections about her journey as a parent and the ways that her contemplative practices colored her experience. Local artist extraordinaire, Keren Vita created the gorgeous illustrations that complement her words so beautifully.  As Kristy states, Lessons From the Nest was "Written as an artifact for my boys, I invite you all into my story and my heart."

Kristy and Keren Vita will be joining me soon for a longer conversation to share their experience as creative collaborators so stay tuned for that as well.

You can purchase Kristy's book here.

For now, please sit back, relax, and enjoy my celebration of Lessons From the Nest.

Details to register for Sow to Speak's Get Ahead of Your H.E.A.D. Workshop on Zoom on June 14th, 12 pm (E.S.T.)

⁠⁠REGISTRATION LINK HERE⁠⁠ 

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series focuses on bringing topics we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, reset, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Linktree⁠

This special three-part mini-series on leadership is here to give you more clarity and confidence in how to make an impact as a leader that can last a lifetime.

Join me and Dave Casullo, CEO of Rock City Development and Daneli Partners, as we share our perspectives and insights on three key areas within leadership.

If you missed our first conversation, The Power of Influence, you can listen in here.

This episode is all about: Builders.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

You can learn more about Dave and the work he does here:

⁠Daneli Partners⁠

⁠Rock City Development⁠

Get Ahead of Your H.E.A.D. Workshop:

on Zoom on June 14th, 12 pm (E.S.T.)

⁠REGISTRATION LINK HERE⁠ 

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series focuses on bringing topics we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, reset, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

⁠⁠Website⁠⁠

⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠

⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠

⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠

⁠⁠Linktree⁠

We think A LOT. Not the least bit shocking, I'm sure. Any guesses on how many thoughts we think per day? Or more importantly, the percentage of those thoughts that are repetitive? Get ready to have your mind blown as I share both numbers at the top of the episode.

No matter the numbers, sometimes our thoughts are for us, and more often than not, well, they're not. The good news is there's something that you can do about it and I'm going to share with you ways to flip the light on your thoughts and have them be more supportive than unhelpful in today's episode.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Manifest with Cathy Heller podcast

Kris Notes episode on Katherine Morgan Schafler's book The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control

The Closet Series episode on Enhancing Your Intuition

Register for the Get Ahead of Your H.E.A.D. here.

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series focuses on bringing topics that we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, reset, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

Website: www.sowtospeak.com

One-Stop Shop: https://linktr.ee/kristymandour

This special three-part mini-series on leadership is here to give you more clarity and confidence in how to make an impact as a leader that can last a lifetime.

Join me and Dave Casullo, CEO of Rock City Development and Daneli Partners as we share our perspectives and insights on three key areas within leadership.

First up: Influence. This word carries with it so much power and oftentimes much misinterpretation. Living in a world that is consumed with influencers, it can be difficult to hear the call and gain clarity on how to create true, genuine influence as a leader. We all have our own unique mark and contribution to make in the world. Dave and I share clear and doable ways that you can amp up your influence and implement into your life the minute the episode is done. Enjoy!

HIGHLIGHTS:

Dave shares Bates Communications' storytelling framework:

1. The Set-Up (The Who, What, Where, When)

2. The Build-Up (Give enough context about the setting)

3. The Scene (The dilemma/challenge moment)

5. The Resolution (What came to be)

6. The Lesson (What was learned)

You can learn more about Dave and the work he does here:

Daneli Partners

Rock City Development

Book recommendation by Dave: The Beggar King and the Secret to Happiness : A True Story

Get Ahead of Your H.E.A.D. workshop:

on Zoom on June 14th, 12 pm (E.S.T.)

REGISTRATION LINK HERE 

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series focuses on bringing topics that we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, reset, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

⁠Website⁠

⁠YouTube⁠

⁠LinkedIn⁠

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠Linktree⁠

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. " - Albert Einstein.

This episode is all things intuition. It's a biggie, so I'll be dropping in mini-episodes throughout the season that covers different ways to tap into and remind you to access this ultimate superpower. We all have this innate ability. Sure, some of us were born into the world with it more easily accessible, but we all have the same ability to partner up with it for a lifetime.

Intuition is one of the most important relationships you will ever have because not only is it with you for as long as you have a pulse, but I believe it's a direct link to that essence that is bigger than all of us and connects us all as a collective. Your intuition is not just created to protect you but, equally important, is there to guide and as an inner compass. And if you let it, you can let it be a constant scavenger hunt that has you on the lookout for the golden tickets that are always in and around us.

IN THIS EPISODE

I highlight a few different ways for you to reacquaint or continue to build your relationship with your intuition. I offer exercises that range from noticing where intuition hits you in your body and the feeling and sensation it creates when your body tells you "Yes" or "No."

I also share creative and playful ways to allow yourself to shift into a receptive mode so that you can practice noticing when your intuition is speaking to you.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control by Katherin Morgan Schafler

Check out my Kris Notes episode on Katherine's book https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/nyv4WCSAcAbhttps://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/nyv4WCSAcAb

Developing Intuition by Shakti Gawain

REGISTRATION LINK HERE for Sow to Speak's workshop "Get Ahead of Your H.E.A.D." on Zoom on June 14th, 12 pm (E.S.T.).

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series focuses on bringing topics that we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, reset, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

Website

YouTube

LinkedIn

Instagram

Linktree

"Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings."

This is one of the best quotes about ideas I've ever heard. Wings and weight are needed for ideas to take flight. We know that, but it's much easier to offer this sage advice when we do not have the idea. When we do, we all know it's much more nerve-racking to give it legs. That is until you get used to practicing it.

This mini-episode aims to inspire you to dust off that idea (you know the one) and do something with it. All ideas sound great... in our heads. Where the truth comes is having courage and faith in acting on them. The actions do not need to be big at all. Most ideas built into something sustainable started with tiny action steps. In this episode, I share my company, Sow to Speak, as an example of something that started from a seed of an idea and grew from there. It had ups and down and all arounds, yet still, something stuck, and I followed it.

I hope this episode inspires you to let your idea lead you to follow its nudges. The more you practice listening in, the clearer you'll be able to hear the direction it gives you.

EXERCISES FROM THIS EPISODE

The 5 Whys Exercise

1. At the top of a paper, write down your idea. (E.g., "I created a workshop called Sow to Speak.")

2. Then write the question "Why?" and answer it. (E.g., To help entrepreneurs get clear on their messaging.)

3. Then write "Why" again and answer it. (E.g., Because then they'll feel more excited and connected to their business and audience.)

4. Repeat "Why" again (E.g., Because they'll have more integrity, confidence, and purpose for what they created and who they created it for.)

5. Repeat "Why" again (E.g., Because we need more conscious businesses and brands that better the world.)

The Short Senses Exercise

*This exercise is a shortened version of the 5 Senses Exercise. The aim is to have a strategy to catch when you're focusing on your idea, and the naggy inner voice pipes up in your head so you can quiet it down. It's fast, and it works.

1. Name three things that you see. If possible, pointing to or touching each item creates an even stronger result because it brings in the additional sense of touch.

If you want to expand to all 5 Senses, it could look like this:

1. Name five things that you see.

2. Name four things that you hear.

3. Name three things that you can feel (physically, not emotionally)

4. Name two things that you can smell.

5. Name one thing that you can taste.

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series focuses on bringing topics that we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, reset, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

Website

YouTube

LinkedIn

Instagram

Linktree

We are so excited to kick off Kris Notes, the first sub-series of The Closet Series. Kris Notes is a wink-wink to the much-loved Cliff Notes that aided us all in junior high and high school English class.

Once a month, I'll highlight a book I've devoured to share with you, the bits that had me squealing with pure joy and wincing with pure humanness. These books make me wish I could shout their message from the rooftop and drone drop them on every doorstep, so instead, I'll drop it from my mic. I'll take an exercise or question directly from the book to pose to you or create one from insight gleaned because we all know knowledge attained with no application does jack squat. There needs to be integration into your life for the message to stick. So think of these exercises as mental sticky notes for you to put into action.

First up: The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power by Katherine Morgan Schafler

This BOOK.

"We hand women the boulder of balance, remind them that it's impossibly heavy and that's what makes them superheroes, and then parrot-preach self-care at them: 'Balance and self-care, balance and self-care, balance and self-care.' Yes, thank you. I heard you."
Cue: Long-awaited exhale heard around the globe.
There is nothing that THRILLS me more than a rebellious, powerful, wise, and genuine reframe that challenges the strait-jacketed antiquated societal labels that do nothing other than make us feel crappier and less deserving about ourselves and our natural deepest desires.
The last time I was in awe of a bounded tour de force was Glennon Doyle's Untamed and Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic.
All three have in common: cracking your heart wide open with their fierce radiant honesty that makes you feel "wholly" moly SEEN—soul balm at its best.

Schafler flips the script on perfectionism as a superpower to behold, not a character flaw to begone. By understanding what type of perfectionist you are, and you can be many (take the quiz here), you see yourself in an ENTIRELY new way (not a NEW you, a new way; very different and very needed), and you become your biggest ally.
It's witty, whip-smart, and loving - like the best friends we could ever ask for who will tell us the truth with kind candor. If I had a dollar for every time I dropped my head and whispered, "Thank you" and "Damn, I wish I wrote that line"...

Learn more about Katherine Morgan Schafler, buy The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control, and take the quiz all right here.

You can follow Katherine on Instagram here.

The songs mentioned in the episode are:

Shadows of the Night by Pat Benatar

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by Carole King

I Go to Extremes by Billy Joel

Burning Down the House by The Talking Heads

Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears

Waitin' on a Sunny Day by Bruce Springsteen

Unconditional (I) by Arcade Fire

Age of Anxiety by Arcade Fire

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series focuses on bringing topics that we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, reset, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

Website

YouTube

LinkedIn

Instagram

Linktree

These three words will support you in stopping your ruminating mind in its tracks.
Whatever situation you have playing over and over again in your mind, put this three-step grounding question practice to work and see how it instantly allows nagging rumination to alchemize into healthy reflection.
Then take more aligned action and see how you move forward a bit quicker and lighter.
✔️Keep
✔️Change
✔️ Leave
1. Keep: What behavior of yours would you keep? This question allows you first to celebrate what you did well or are proud of.
2. Change: What behavior of yours would you change? This question gives any regret a chance to surface and then helps be proactive next time.
3. Leave: What behavior of yours would you leave behind? Possibly linked to your answer to number two and also gives you a chance to practice letting go.
Examples:
✔️Internal cross-departmental workshop
Keep: Your warm, competent delivery style.
Change: The room setup. More round tables, fewer rectangles.
Leave: The caffeine for afterward!
✔️ Feedback conversation w/ direct report
Keep: Direct communication style
Change: Setting it up for earlier in the morning (when you both have more energy)
Leave: Having another supervisor in the room
It gives you more agency over how you handle situations that may seem slightly out of your control.
Give it a shot and see how it goes.

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series focuses on bringing topics that we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, reset, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

Website: www.sowtospeak.com

YouTube: Sow to Speak

LinkedIn: Sow to Speak by Kristy Mandour

Instagram: @kristymandour

https://linktr.ee/kristymandour

If you are looking for leadership concepts that work, along with fresh insight to have you see your ability to influence as a leader from a whole new perspective, you're in the right place. We hear about leadership all the time and for a good reason. We are in dire need of leaders who have their feet on the ground, hearts centered, and eyes focused on a vision that serves a purpose greater than themselves and a world better for all of us. Our next guest is going to show us the way to do just that. 

Dave Casullo is CEO of two successful startups, Daneli Partners and Rock City Development, each serving to accelerate the region of Central NY’s economic progress through real estate and leadership development.  Dave considers himself a steward and an upbuilder, and he shares what both of those roles look like and how you can do your part to contribute to our community here in the Mohawk Valley if you’re local. And if you’re not, how you can use Dave’s wisdom to contribute to upbuilding and serving your own community. 

Learn more about Dave and the work he and his teams are doing here: Rock City Development and Daneli Partners

Leading the High Energy Culture: What the Best CEOs Do to Create an Atmosphere Where Employees Flourish

Sow to Speak's The Closet Series invites cross-industry guests to discuss topics we often keep in the closet so that you can leave feeling more relieved, refueled, and ready to make your own unique contribution to our world. 

Because sometimes, the smallest spaces are where the biggest insights emerge.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

Website: www.sowtospeak.com

YouTube: Sow to Speak

LinkedIn: Sow to Speak by Kristy Mandour

Instagram: @kristymandour

https://linktr.ee/kristymandour

Feeling in need of a reset?

A reset is the It Kid of the most desired feeling of high-achieving leaders like you. Which is probably equally relieving and unsurprising.
It's the top response clients give when I ask them, "How are you feeling?" or "What do you need most right now?"

If I had a box of Milk Duds 😋 for every time I heard: I need a reset.

So it got me thinking...

There is so much benefit in reflecting on moments when you were not feeling your best and possibly didn't show up your glowiest to a situation when really what you needed beforehand was time to reset.

There's also that thing called life happening at lightning speed, and you don't always have the luxury of reflection in the middle of the day, but you also don't have time to burn out to a crisp. So what do you do?

When you're shifting gears from one meeting to another or transitioning from your work life to your home life feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, or frustrated, this strategy is one to keep in your back pocket because it is super fun, incredibly effective, and easily accessible.

The Closet Series brings topics that we often keep in the closet to light so that you feel less in the dark and more relieved, inspired, and ready to get out of your head and back into your life. 

Have questions on emotional intelligence and mindset that you want to have answered in future episodes? Send them in with the subject line: The Closet Series Q&A to [email protected].

Looking to bring Sow to Speak into your organization for Kristy's signature "Get Out of Your Head and Back Into Your Life" keynote or half-day workshop?

Let's jump on a call for you to learn more.

Learn more about Sow to Speak:

Website: www.sowtospeak.com

YouTube: @sowtospeak

LinkedIn: Sow to Speak by Kristy Mandour

Instagram: @kristymandour

https://linktr.ee/kristymandour