Transcription
Bryan Paul Buckley 0:00
Episode 092 of the Elite Road Warrior Podcast. Welcome to the Elite Road Warrior Podcast where we believe you can leverage the road to transform your work, health and home life while on business travel, to ultimately master the business travel life. If you’re a road warrior, and a great chance you’re on the road right now then this podcast is for you.
Bryan Paul Buckley 1:00
Welcome to the Elite Road Warrior Podcast I’m your host Bryan Paul Buckley, fellow road warrior, husband of one, father of five and on a mission to help business travelers eliminate burnout and exceed results. I’m also committed to each and every business trip to becoming and remaining an elite road warrior, and I’d love nothing more than for you to join my master evil plan on this worthwhile road trip.
Bryan Paul Buckley 1:26
Well, I’ve been on a recent streak of finding some great guests who are also authors, which means I’ve been reading an absolute ton. And if you know anything about yours truly, I’m a voracious reader, and a huge fan of personal and professional development. In fact, it’s energy habit number five, Develop. Now if you’re in transition with your career, or you want to be, then this interview will be exactly what you need. So let’s meet today’s subject matter expert. Tracy Timm is the founder of the Instagram Career Academy. The proven clarity system that helps high potential professionals discover, define, and drive careers they love. She has a degree in behavioral psychology from Yale University and studied design thinking with the founder of the D school at Stanford University. Timm left a successful but unsatisfying career in finance, travelled once around the world on Semester at Sea and discovered her ideal career. She now is living her dream as a sought after career clarity expert, organizational advisor, speaker and author and lead you through the nth degree process a proven step by step strategy to achieve total career clarity, and we’re going to unpack that in this interview. Timm is a lively, enthusiastic and encouraging coach whose guidance will help you go from stuck in your job to unstoppable in your career and life. For more than five years, she has applied these lessons in her career advisory work with hundreds of individuals in one of the 100 fastest-growing companies. In a moment, I’ll be asking Tracy the following questions. What is a current and reverse life audit? What are the benefits of behavioral assessments? What is the nothing is wasted mindset? What is the four-part career pitch and why is it important? And as always, so much more.
Bryan Paul Buckley 3:35
It’s go time.
Bryan Paul Buckley 3:51
Well, I am live right now with Tracy Timm, where are you and how are you my friend?
Tracy Timm 3:55
Oh, you know what? I’m so good. I am in Dallas, Texas. in Dallas proper. I’m in my cute little office, despite most people not being in offices, but I work in an industrial space. And so I’ve got my own little fishbowl that I get to come to every day and it’s just a nice way to get out of the house, frankly. And you know what, Bryan, I’m in like such a great phase of life right now and that I really just want to share it with everybody. Like I wake up so grateful for business and my personal life and just to have another great day to serve people. So I know that might sound cheesy, but given the hard times that we’re in I feel like the world needs a little bright spot.
Bryan Paul Buckley 4:32
Absolutely. And that’s a pepper jack kind of cheese and I’m about the spice on there. So we’re gonna take that and you deserve Tracy some mad kudos here. Release of your new book. And obviously we’re going to unpack that. How’s it just feel to just get that out?
Tracy Timm 4:46
Thank you, sir. It’s oh my gosh, if y’all if you don’t like have a book on your heart, don’t write a book. It’s an undertaking for sure. But I did not expect how excited I would feel on the day that it came out. I mean, I woke up and was like Little kid on Christmas type of excited plus your birthday plus like the birth of a child Plus, you know, like it was all those things. And just the response has been incredible. I’m really just like I said, super grateful and excited that we’re getting such good traction with it. Yeah.
Bryan Paul Buckley 5:19
And deservedly so. And so once you give us the backstory of the new book, and the title again is Unstoppable, Discover Your true value define your genius zone and drive your… What was it? dream career. So thank you, I was close to a three. But nonetheless. So I’m… and you share this in the book itself with this. But for the listener who is brand new to you brand new to the book, just give us a little bit of that backstory and then we’re going to obviously dive into the framework and in…
Tracy Timm 5:51
Perfect, so in a lot of ways it was funny it’s on the inside cover the book, where you know, it’s not the acknowledgments, it’s the dedication, I think it’s called, I wrote to all the people I’ve told in the last 10 years that I would write a book. Look, I did it. So in a lot of ways, either Thank you, there’s been like a book on my mind for quite some time. And I didn’t ever think it’d be this book, frankly, as the first one. But I knew that I wanted to get a message out there in a bigger way and in a more sort of broadly impactful way. So book writing was always in my future, I just again had no idea what this one would be about. So unstoppable is really a break down step by step of the proven process methodology. You can think about it as your recipe, if you will, for going from stuck professionally, to feeling unstoppable in your career, whatever that means to you. Maybe you’re on a 00 on a one to 10 scale of clarity or maybe you lost your vision somewhere, maybe you just lost confidence. Or maybe all this uncertainty has got you questioning things. And all those things can make us feel stuck and paralyzed where we are. And the goal of unstoppable is to remind you of the amazing value-add individual that you are not in a cheesy way but in an absolutely value-driven way. So that you can discover that true value as a human, you can define your perfect, unique, amazing fit genius zone out in the marketplace, and then give you all the tools and skills and strategy to really implement that aka drive your career forward like a pro. And the inspiration for it. Frankly, first and foremost came from my own life. You know you hear this a lot from entrepreneurs who I had a problem that I solved Exactly. I had a great degree from a great school, I studied psychology, I went to Yale, I felt like I was sort of set up for success, except I had no idea what I wanted to do with that out in the world after I was done with school. And with the absence of a vision I got, you know, easily swayed by what everyone else was doing and what was readily available, which happens to all of us right sort of opportunities come and we’re like, well, I guess I gotta take one of these it’s burning my hands. And so my first job out of college was on Wall Street. And frankly, the very original inspiration for unstoppable which actually was first and foremost, the inspiration for my business and the career programs that we have.
Tracy Timm 8:08
And all those things was the fact that the only thing keeping me in that job was a lack of clarity. I was miserable. I was drinking NyQuil to try to go to bed because I was so anxious. I had like glimpses of hope in that I could see friends who had jobs that they love, but that made me feel even worse, you know, all those things. And yet, knowing that I was in the wrong place, I felt stuck there because I lacked a vision, you know, I lacked clear… what we call career clarity, in the simplest terms. And I remember reaching out to multiple resources and saying, Do you have a Java book? Do you have a program? Do you have a step by… if you have anything, could you just sort of wave a magic wand? I’d love that. You know, and I was just fascinated that even in today’s world where you can look up anything on the internet, right? If I want to, like jump my car, there’s a YouTube video for that if I want to bake a cake, there’s a recipe for that. I’ve never ever crocheted before but I could teach myself, right? And presumably, end up with a blanket. But there’s no step by step, sort of proven, updated process for career clarity. There’s no proven recipe and I thought that’s wrong. You know, there’s something wrong with that. And I was the first seed that I ever had planted that maybe this is a problem I could solve. And if I could solve it for myself, then I could certainly solve it for other people.
Bryan Paul Buckley 9:26
And Tracy, I loved it. And in the book, he talks about the moment you had with a co-worker going outside, and all of a sudden he just gets lit up. So I wanted you to give that quick example of that because it’s a very eye-opening experience for you, man. Like I’ve known this guy for how long and all of a sudden he’s got all of a sudden just so completely… but he is a co-worker with you and miserable with you.
Tracy Timm 9:49
Exactly. I’d known this guy for a year we sat on the same desk. We work together every single day for somewhere around, you know, 11/12 hours a day. And I thought I knew him, you know, presumably, I knew him better than most people in his life, and we were outside one-day walking, sort of on the balcony of our office. And we both noticed that there was some construction going on on a bridge that was adjacent to the building. And I just casually said, Hey, I wonder what’s going on down there because it was something different in our peripheral vision, right meant nothing to me. And he literally eyes on it. From the moment he put eyes on it became this whole new person and just started gushing about cement and rocks and construction and engineering. And it turns out that he had studied engineering in college, he was obsessed with construction, he loved all the different materials and the process and the people involved. And so for the next five minutes, he was like, off in never Neverland, you know, in flow, telling me all these amazing stories about how he had studied all this stuff that he loved, and I just basically, I mean, straight up, shook him by the shoulders like WTF man, like, why are you doing this? And what pissed me off about it was that remember, the only thing keeping me there was a lack of knowing what I wanted to do. And here’s this guy who knows exactly what to do. And he’s still staying there. Like what? Yeah, that was, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. It was one of sort of two or three major epiphanies that I had in that span of time, that really got me.
Bryan Paul Buckley 11:15
And you don’t even ride camels. So that was a big moment, right?
Tracy Timm 11:18
Huge camel hump, huge.
Bryan Paul Buckley 11:22
Hashtag, of course,
Tracy Timm 11:25
maybe we don’t run with that one. But it was mass, it was a big breakthrough for me just to see that it was possible, because I had forgotten that people could gush about work, or that they were passionate about things because I was surrounded by people who hated what they were doing, who wore golden handcuffs to their desk, and you only know what’s in your sphere, right? Like you can’t know what you don’t know. And until someone makes it available to you, it’s really hard to see other options for how things could be.
Bryan Paul Buckley 11:51
And as a result of that, you created a framework and I absolutely am a huge fan of frameworks. Elite roadwarrior group is built on a framework, the six energy habits framework. So as a result of that, obviously, it allows you to work through a process. So Tracy might just give us a 30,000-foot view, of course, usually from an airplane for most of us on business travel, here are the three major categories. And then we’re gonna unpack each of those with some further questions, but just kind of give us that 30,000 foot look,
Tracy Timm 12:17
yeah, I’m certainly so when I think about the nth degree, which is our proven methodology, it can be best broken down into three phases that encompass all of the steps that you need to take to go from stuck to unstoppable. And those phases are logical, they’re sort of like upstream, midstream, and downstream activities, if you want to think about it like that. So the first phase is going to be Discover, that’s what we call it, discover. And it’s really the process that you need to go through to discover your true value as a human being and then your value-add as a professional. And that’s the part that most of us skip, we go immediately into the midstream and downstream things, right, like, Oh, I gotta, I gotta pick a job title. And then I gotta start networking. And then I got to put my resume out there, and I got to do all these things. Well, if you haven’t taken the time to truly discover what is valuable about you, as an individual and the unique combination thereof of that value-add, well, then you’re not specific enough and targeted enough and clear enough to go out in the marketplace and actually make a case for yourself as a professional. So what that does, especially in these times of uncertainty with lots of people on, you know, on furlough or not doing their regular day to day, or maybe they’ve been let go, that just makes you a part of the noise. So the Discover process is really getting to a level of depth of understanding of who you are, to then go on to phase two, which is define.
Tracy Timm 13:34
Once we’ve done the Discover piece, then we could put all those puzzle pieces together in a sense to define your unique zone of genius as a professional. And this is the difference between you and I being athletes that are sort of amateur status. And finding an athlete that has the best shot of being a gold medal Olympic level winner, right that that’s the difference is if we can do a really good job to discovering our value. And then when we put those pieces together in the Define phase, we’re taking ourselves from employee to asset or from athlete to gold medal, right. But that’s still in the visioning part of the process, right? So as you guys all know, a sort of a vision is only as good as its implementation.
Tracy Timm 14:18
So you’ve got to go on to the next, the last phase, which is Drive. Which is what are you going to do to actually go and execute on this vision? What are the steps that are required in today’s world, to turn that vision into your reality? So those are the big three phases, it’s discover, define, and drive. And then within each of those phases, we’ve got a handful of steps to complete those phases to get to the next phase. And what I love about the nth degree as a process, and this is probably how yours works as well, is that you’re never necessarily complete. It’s more of an evolutionary process. If you read the book and you look at the imagery, it’s in a circle, you start at the top and you end back at the top. And I think there’s no better time than the present with the virus and everything going on and all the uncertainty in the world, too. Realize that you’re going to have to do this iterative process on yourself as you grow and evolve. And if you’re doing it on purpose as opposed to reactionarily, then you get to remain in the driver’s seat, you get to maintain some semblance of control and some semblance of certainty. But at the very least confidence and clarity,
Bryan Paul Buckley 15:17
which I love that you said, evolve and grow. Because that’s obviously key. Otherwise, it is just… it’s linear. You go from here to here. Yeah. So let’s unpack a little bit of the Discover phase. And I love what you did. So we actually go back a little bit, is a lot more of a workbook than necessarily just a book. And that was something that attracted me to the content. Yeah, because I want to do the exercises. And so for the listener on there, this is something where it’s all of a sudden, yeah, you got some homework, but it’s more like you work on unpacking and discovering, literally, that’s the first phase so much about yourself. So you walk us through this current life audits, and then also a reverse life audit. So the importance of that?
Tracy Timm 16:05
Absolutely. So what Bryan’s talking about is the very first step in the Discover phase. And we… what I’d like to call that is just: now. Where are you in your life right now? And you know, what, if you and I went up to 100 people out on the street and ask them, what are your top five core values? And what are the best things that you have going on in each of the major areas of your life? I bet you would get… we’d get a lot of stupefied faces, right? Like, what… how… when was the last time you took a step back and just audited your life? Especially if there’s something that needs triage in any specific area. So let’s say your finances or… if your finances aren’t where you want them to be, or your job sucks, or your relationship is falling apart, it can seem like everything is doomed, and everything is disastrous. But if you take a step back and do a full audit, we sort of break it down into eight core areas of your life, it’s Oh, gosh,
Bryan Paul Buckley 17:03
yeah, environmental
Tracy Timm 17:05
yes.
Bryan Paul Buckley 17:05
Financial, intellectual, you did have an acronym. In order of professional, social and
Tracy Timm 17:16
spiritual. Yeah, you got it. So if you break it down into those sort of major areas, and you can categorize them however you want, you know, some people are like faith, family, friends, yeah. And you just look at it from a global perspective, you what you actually find, and this is true, no matter who you are, and what you’re going through, you have some levers to pull. And in some areas of your life, things are actually not that bad. And what’s great about that is it allows you to have a foundation from which to move forward to better triage the areas where things aren’t working so well. So the importance of a life audit is just to give yourself some perspective, and it’s the very first step that we do. Yeah, it’s the very first step that we do. Gaining that perspective via life audit, in the “now” portion of this discovery process. Then we go into core values, which I think are sometimes overplayed and overdone, but never to the extent that we do it, which is taking your core values, and defining them in order to turn them into commitments. So not just stopping with, oh, faith is important to me, but actually defining how does that mean I’m going to live my life, what am I going to do differently, because that is an important value to me. And what this does is give us a foundation for what’s viable for you going forward. And by viable, I mean, potentially sustainable. Potentially sustainable because the only reason that I couldn’t last on Wall Street was not because I’m not a hard worker, not because I’m not smart, not because I can’t hang not because the pressure’s too much. But because it was an unsustainable environment. For me, from a core values perspective, I could only live so long against some of the things that I really deeply valued, whether it was freedom, because I was stuck at the desk, or it was integrity, because every once in a while you got to fudge the lines, right? Whatever it is, those environments where you’re not allowed to live true to your core values are inherently unsustainable for us in the long run. And it’s important to recognize that,
Bryan Paul Buckley 19:11
And I love how you used… you encouraged us to do it, it’s kind of descriptive, wow, for lack of a better phrase. And I’m still nuancing that because I think that’s super cool. And you gave an example in the book about to kind of be in a Midwestern life, where that matters to them. And that’s a value to them. So then taking a job that was going to be nowhere near that is automatically, well, no, I don’t need to go down the path of well, how much is it going to be? What could the package look like? And all of that, because automatically I know, it’s a value that’s not going to change on there. But I also love to Tracy, where you leave a little bit later in the book, we walk through the kind of the reverse life audit. So we’ll talk about that because obviously the now but then we’re looking into the future about…so to talk about that for a moment.
Tracy Timm 19:58
Oh, absolutely. So basically, I think you can take the same process of auditing where you are currently in your life. And you can use that same format those same categories and look forward now that you know your values and commitments and actually define what does an ideal expression of all of these things look like for me in this phase of my life, right now, if I could write my social life any way that I wanted, right now, what would that look like and be true to my core values and commitments? If I could write my spiritual life, if I could write my professional life, if I could write my financial life, like, what would all those component parts look like? If I were looking forward living my values, living my commitments and things were ideal. And it’s so important to have that level of specified vision for what you want in your life. I mean, you can get as woo-woo is sort of, you know, the secret and manifestation and all that kind of stuff. But if you just look at the core of our psychology, and the way that our brains work, our brains are tuned to things we already believe and things we’re already thinking about. So if you’ve ever bought a car, this is a great example. You probably research the hell out of that car, and you just… I want this color. I want this thing I want this year, I want this, whatever. And you’ve probably never even seen that car before. But now as soon as it’s top of mind as soon as you buy it, guess what your neighbor has it, your best friend has it shows up at your office,
Bryan Paul Buckley 21:17
you know what that’s called Tracy? I’ve learned this as a business traveler. It’s called DCs. It’s dark Dodge Charger syndrome. When I started driving a Dodge Charger as a rental car. I’m like, Holy schnikeys they are absolutely everywhere. It’s just Yes. No, you’re exactly right of that. But I love the process that you take people through of self-discovery, and you’re also big on behavioral assessments. What are the benefits of taking the time to work through these because I think sometimes you know, we get them at work. And we’re kind of like, yeah, yada, yada, yada. I gotta fill out the deal for them. Not necessarily for us and what we’re gonna gain from them.
Tracy Timm 21:55
Okay, so this is super powerful because what an assessment can do for you is finally legitimize who you actually are. Meaning when Tracy Timm was working on Wall Street, that was the Einstein equivalent of a fish trying to climb a tree and calling itself stupid every single day. And guess what this fish thought that you had to be able to climb a tree to be successful and that there was no environment where being a fish was not only not helpful, but was also a liability, right?
Bryan Paul Buckley 21:55
And talking. Just saying.
Tracy Timm 21:59
What do you mean and talking?
Bryan Paul Buckley 22:14
Oh, and a talking fish
Tracy Timm 22:31
yeah, that’s very awkward. I know.
Bryan Paul Buckley 22:33
Exactly. I mean, honestly, it’s a great point. good analogy.
Tracy Timm 22:37
Yeah. So when you take assessments, honestly, one of the very first ones that really moved the needle, for me was an assessment called the predictive index. And it was the first time where the person that I naturally am the informal, talkative people-oriented connects quickly, very sensitive, like all the things that I was, was actually written in a way where it sounded like a good person like it sounded like a professional, it sounded like someone that I wanted to be and could be and was valuable somewhere. It was a surprise myself to me, right, because I sounded valuable. Finally, as opposed to sounding like a liability, which is how I had felt my entire career. So I think if you’re feeling in… out of alignment from… we’ve moved on to the second step in discover, which is nature, if you’re feeling out of alignment, like you’re a fish trying to climb a tree, or you’re a cow swimming around in an ocean, and things just aren’t clicking for you, behavioral assessments are a great way to level-set on what your true values, strengths, behaviors, personality, gifts, talents, however, you want to phrase it, it actually finally puts those in perspective and shows you in what environment are these things that are core to you and hardwired in you actually useful and valuable, which is crucial in your career.
Bryan Paul Buckley 23:59
And I appreciate you listed a number of different examples that are in there. I think a lot of times we’ve taken you know, whether it’s, you know, it’s Myers Briggs, or the enneagram, or Strength Finders, or you know, a number of those, but also, and I really, really love just how we unpack and discover about ourselves. And I think sometimes we do it because a company is making us do it, it’s because we know whether it’s the new thing, or whether it is because they’re looking at hiring you. And it’s more for them. But this is the discovery phase, like he’s mentioned going from now to nature, how are we normally wired, how can we come alive? So I absolutely love, love how you did that. But you also did something was very unique. You talked about this, nothing is wasted mindset. So unpack what that is.
Tracy Timm 24:45
Yeah. So if we’ve already covered now, which is who you are, where you are in your life, what you value, and then nature which is your hard wiring, it’s the things that you were born with or that come naturally and easily to you without much effort. Then the missing puzzle piece we call nurture. It’s everything else, what have you learned? What have you earned over time that you can add to your toolkit that helps you add value? Again, this is all about value helps you add value as a professional, that can be your education, it could be your work experience, it could be your life experiences, have you traveled or volunteered? Or do you have a hobby or an extracurricular that you love, that could add more value in the professional world? All those things are crucial to really do a deep dive and discover. And the way that I learned this was, so after I quit my wall street job, I was trying to figure out the fastest way to test out the max the most number of possible futures that I could, because I’m all about efficiency. I don’t like wasting time. So I found Semester at Sea, which actually allowed me at 25 years old to test out traveling full time to test out going back to school to test out starting a business potentially, and then to test out what industry that would be in because I was, frankly, I was just reactionarily, and running away from money and going towards like nonprofit and social enterprise, which ended up not being a long term solution, but I got to test drive it, right? And so in the span of four months, I traveled around the world and I met incredible mentors, and I took classes and just had this incredible life experience that helped me figure out what I wanted to do next. The nothing is wasted mindset was taught to me by a mentor that I met on that trip because I told her, as many of us think, I think misguidedly, that if you’re making a shift in your career, whether it’s tiny or huge, it’s so easy to feel like you’ve wasted time in the previous job, previous role, previous industry insert previous thing here because you’re not doing that exact thing moving forward, right. So you immediately write that off as wasted time. And it’s easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater, especially if you had a rather traumatic previous job experience like the burnout. So she was like, Listen like you have two and a half years of working and living and learning. And that is only wasted if you choose to waste it.
Bryan Paul Buckley 27:03
Oh, say that, again. That was gold.
Tracy Timm 27:05
That is only wasted if you choose to waste it. And the way that you don’t waste it is by building a nothing is wasted mindset. So look at what you’ve done. Look at that work and ask yourself, what did I learn? And what can I bring with me? Just over and over again? What did I learn? And what can I bring with me? What did I learn? And what can I bring with me? And our job as professionals is to repurpose those trainings, that skill, the knowledge, the expertise that we learned from a previous experience, and figure out how to make it relevant and valuable in a new better fitting environment going forward.
Bryan Paul Buckley 27:45
Taking notes, I love that. That is awesome. Oh, nice. So what did I learn? And what can I bring with me? Yeah, and I think, I mean, how many times to Tracy, you talk to somebody in their degree that they got, they’re not using it all. And some of the jobs you look at, I remember one guy in an industry, and he was an engineer. And but he hated it. Like we would go out for lunch or go out for drinks. And he could just tell he was passionate about real estate, his passionate about some of these other things to your point of the story earlier, right. And all of a sudden, he got a chance for a buyout. And all of a sudden, he’s an unbelievably successful real estate agent. Wow. But it’s one of those things where it’s like one of these is not like the other. And so I really like the concept of that, especially if you do feel stuck to your point or you’re struggling through this, or you feel like you’re just going from job to job to job. But you also talk about ninja skills. So what are ninja skills? If we already talked about nothing is wasted?
Tracy Timm 28:41
Yes. So it’s really easy, I think easier conceptually to draw value from your education because our society has said education is boring college valuable, yada, yada. And then also your previous work experience because that’s where the majority of our resume is going to come from. And it’s where a lot of our professional skills come from. But I think one of the most untapped areas that people don’t actually realize has a ton of potential professional value is everything else in your life and, and everything else in your life means every other life experience. It means travel experience, it means any time that you learned a life lesson, it means how and when you volunteered and what you learned, it means your extracurriculars, it means things that you were forced to do that you didn’t really want to do. It was like everyone has a thing. Mine was like stocking shelves at CCA, which was such a good thing to do, but I was like Why am I doing this? Exactly. And you know, but you learn something about yourself in every one of those capacities. And it can only add value, it can’t detract value from you. So if you can harness it, then what you can actually do is, is add more value in a really unexpected way that can actually prepare you for a job that you may not feel like you have the world work experience to substantiate and we see,
Bryan Paul Buckley 30:02
especially when you’re taking it back to nothing is wasted mindset.
Tracy Timm 30:05
Exactly, exactly. And you get to add fun things to your environment that maybe you would never have thought you wanted needed would ask for. But because it’s inherent in your ninja skills if you’ve been doing something for five years on the side, and it’s fun, why not tell that to your employer, or why not add that into your business, or why not add that into your practice, and have more fun, because if it’s something you’re working on on the side, or you volunteer, or it’s a hobby of yours, you already like it, it’s already fun for you. So if you can monetize it, if it can allow you to add more value, which means you can leverage it for more salary, more time off more fulfillment, whatever, Happy Days, right? It’s, it’s ripe for the picking. So in our business, we call those your ninja skills, it’s the things that you get to pull out of your, you know, your sort of Ninja, I don’t know what you whatever.
Bryan Paul Buckley 30:52
And it’s not a ninja satchel, just so you know,
Tracy Timm 30:55
like a ninja. No fanny pack
Bryan Paul Buckley 30:59
we’ll go with fanny pack,
Tracy Timm 31:01
I own at least three packs. So I had to go there. But uh, yeah, it’s the things you get to pull out of your back pocket and say, like, look at this extra thing that I can leverage on, you know, your behalf, my behalf, whatever, that allows me to add more value. And so I just like calling them ninja skills, because that’s more fun.
Bryan Paul Buckley 31:16
It’s richer. And but I love Tracy, it’s just a matter of thinking about your life holistically. And it’s all these little areas like you’re seeing where nothing is wasted on this and finding out, wow, there’s so much to my life that I could use in a number of different ways. And so the part of the book that I really enjoyed, like we talk about the workbook is kind of that at the end of each chapter, you’ve got unstoppable. You work through each of these. So it makes these exercises a lot more tangible. One of the words we use in elite road warrior is called thinkspace. It’s taking time to think on paper. So it’s I’m literally thinking about one specific thing. It’s thinkspace. And this I took each day and I worked through each of these. And it was fun initially, it’s kind of like, I can’t really think of something. But then all of a sudden, flood state starts to go because I’m concentrating time to work on these and develop these. Yeah, so I want to turn a corner, you talk about these four areas of passion, skill paid for, and contribution. But I think you talked about more of what you love what you’re good at what the world needs in what you can get paid for. So let’s dive into that a little bit. And why is that important?
Tracy Timm 32:23
Yeah. So one of my very first clients actually is still when the Nth degree was being like birthed if you will like if we didn’t have a solid methodology, it’s probably like year two year one in the business. But I was coaching people and I was building it, right. And he was he graduated and then he was in some kind of seminar and he shot me this image and he was like, have you ever heard of this? It sounds so much like what you’re trying to build and teach. And it’s this ancient Japanese concept called ikigai. It’s spelled I K I G A I., as one guy I talked to recently was like, not Icky guy like that. Exactly.
Bryan Paul Buckley 32:57
Yeah, nice.
Tracy Timm 32:58
Like geeky guy. And when it’s it’s, it’s the Japanese’s a concept for your reason for being. So if you’re French, it’s like your raise on debt. Right? It’s, it’s why I get up in the morning, you could say or what’s really driving sustainability and success in your life, if you apply it to your career. The four concepts are, as Brian just said, what you’re good at what you love, what you can be paid for, and what the world needs, without which I’ll also rephrase as what you find meaningful. But it also needs a world need because if nobody needs it, it’s really hard to get paid to do it, you know, that you don’t really add a lot of value. So these four areas I find if you can find a role where you love it, meaning it just aligns with who you are, you just light up about it, you’re passionate about it, you’re purposeful sort of thing, right? And you’re also good at it, meaning you don’t have to, you’re not having to overcome sort of a significant barrier to actually executing well at this job. And the world needs it and you find it meaningful so it has and creates value out in the world. And then you can monetize it. That’s the genius zone right like if you have all four of those things you’re rocking and rolling you have a reason for being have a very good chance of having a long-term sustainable successful career doing whatever you’re doing.
Bryan Paul Buckley 34:24
So otherwise, it’s just a hobby, especially if I’m not getting paid for it.
Tracy Timm 34:26
You’re not getting paid for it you’re a volunteer right or it’s a hobby or it’s you know, your side hustle or what but again, it’s if you want this to be your career, then absolutely you’ve got to monetize it. What the Japanese use this for is a basically reframing their purpose in life. So even if you’re not getting paid for it, if you’re getting value back, that is a value exchange. So getting paid for it could be in your elder age, or maybe you’re not getting paid, but you get tons of fulfillment from what you’re doing or you get tons of flexibility or tons of freedom or We like a lot of F words flexibility, finances. So value… a value exchange in our world, especially when we’re talking about career is generally summed up in finances, right? But there’s so much more value inherent to feeling fulfilled, having more freedom, having more flexibility, having more fun. When was the last time we talked about fun at work, you know what I mean? All we do is like, put our head down, and think it has to be hard. And I’m watching this like horribly horrible Netflix show where this chick is in Paris for the first time and working and she’s like, and all of her coworkers are like, you Americans just work so hard, and nobody ever has any fun. And meanwhile, they’re like drinking wine at lunch and taking three-hour breaks. And like, you know, going to lose weight, but they’re getting their work done, right. And they’re just enjoying it and having fun. And so I find that, that we just so quickly and easily sum everything up in finances when it comes to this value, transition or value exchange when there’s so many other things we can also be focused on as well.
Bryan Paul Buckley 35:58
And I think it’s great too, Tracy because it just brings to light that there are more than just what I can get paid for. And I think the older we get sometimes, or especially as a road, warrior we may be really good at doing whatever our job is. But it’s no longer what we love to do, or we’re not feeling fulfilled at that. And it puts us in a spot where we’ve got to make those decisions. And sometimes for me, honestly, Tracy, it happens on a long flight. And you start getting to know somebody and talking to, you’re clicking with somebody, and it all of a sudden starts to come out, you know, do you love your job? And that pause like somebody’s never asked them that. And the longer they start to talk or you know, a couple double vodka tonics in, and the truth comes out, you know what I’m saying? And they’re not, this is not what I want to do long term. And I think it’s very, very revealing. So, kind of a little bit full circle here. Once we’ve got these elements here, we’ve got to be prepared to be able to share this with other people, whether it’s through the networking portion of the program, or in your case, where we’re talking about kind of this four-part career pitch, you can kind of find exactly if we don’t know exactly what that role is, or Yeah, who could be a person that could introduce me to that. So let’s kind of unpack a little bit of this career pitch and networking portion.
Tracy Timm 37:14
Yeah. So once you’ve done that discover phase again, that’s now nature and nurture. And then you’ve gone through the definition of your niche, that that’d be the fourth “N” in this process, part of defining your niche is also learning how to describe it well, to people who don’t know you, and don’t have any assumptions about you, right. So if you’re talking to somebody you already know who maybe you work with, or is close to you, they’re gonna already have some preconceived notions about who you are what you do, right, you’re in a bit of a box for them, you can 100% use this pitch to reframe that box. Or you can also use it to describe exactly what you’re looking forward to a brand new person. In our world, and especially in the networking piece, we really recommend that you start with people, you know, and you get really comfortable sharing what your vision is. But then, of course, eventually going to be talking to people you don’t know. And you’re going to have to properly and professionally articulate your value in a meaningful way to another
Bryan Paul Buckley 38:13
Your elevator pitch in a way.
Tracy Timm 38:15
Exactly.
Bryan Paul Buckley 38:15
Or if you’re sitting on a plane to sit next to somebody, you’ve got only a couple minutes there possibly to, especially if there’s somebody that you feel like wow, this person is influential. And can I succinctly share exactly what I’m trying to communicate that’s in my heart that I can get out of my head and out of my mouth. And you do that a with four parts? Can you talk about that?
Tracy Timm 38:38
Exactly. So what am I best speaker friends, his name is Paul M. Jones. It Phil Jones. Sorry, Paul Jones, I think that’s a bachelor guy, Phil is the worst, I think it is. He always says the worst time to think about what you’re gonna say is when you’re saying it. So these four lines is if you’re sad to think of what you’re gonna say is when you’re saying it. And so this four-part career pitch I find is really helpful for people who have a hard time sort of being on top of their speech in the moment and thinking and speaking extemporaneously. That’s a challenge. In fact, that’s something that we have to learn and like Toastmasters and things like that if it doesn’t come naturally to you. So this four-part career pitches, just a nice way to prep. Let’s say you’re in the grocery store, and you run into an old colleague, or you’re on a plane and you run and you meet the head of blah, blah, blah, company, like you want to be ready with what you’re going to say in that moment, to get your point across. And in this case, it’s to get your career vision across. So these four steps are super simple. The first is that you want to have a purpose behind what you’re saying. And that may sound silly and overstated, but my mom and I always joke like, She’s such a great mentor and influence on me. But every anytime I go into a difficult conversation, the first question she asks is, what do you want to get out of it? What’s your goal? Why are you having the conversation in the first place and if you keep that frame of mind, it’s going to dictate everything that goes on and you won’t get distracted. So know the purpose. Is the purpose to get an introduction is the purpose to pitch yourself as an employee is the purpose to figure out the job title? Because you know your niche, but you’re not necessarily sure what it’s called, there are plenty of purposes for a pitch, figure out what yours is, that’s number one. Number two, is, remember that you’re talking to a person who’s not in your head. So you’re gonna have to enroll them, this is what we call it enroll: step into your journey. You’re gonna have to enroll them into your story, which means you’re gonna have to give them a little bit of context as to what you’ve been through, and why you’re pitching them. Right. So that could be as simple as you know, I’ve had like what I did when I was 25. And I hated my job was, you know, I started my career off in Wall Street. But I’ve known maybe from day one, that that was not the right fit for me. And I really am looking to do something that is more aligned, that allows me to be myself and allows me to add real value in the world. That could be it’s as simple as that, right? It’s as simple as giving that person some context about what you’ve been through where you are in your journey and what you’re looking for. Okay? The step that comes after that is the very next logical follow-up step, which is, what are you looking for? So we call this one vision or envision, it’s your job as the speaker to create an image in that person’s mind that they can envision and understand, right? It is your job to create a vision that they can imagine and understand. Because if you don’t, then you will be put in the I’m very confused and don’t know what this person wants box, and they cannot help you.
Bryan Paul Buckley 41:25
As you can tell in their face. They’re burning too many calories. And how do I exit stage left?
Tracy Timm 41:31
Exactly. That’s when you get the horrible like, I’ll keep you in mind.
Bryan Paul Buckley 41:34
Oh, no, that’s Yeah, that’s always just wanna be friends. It’s about me. It’s not about you. It’s about me. Exactly.
Tracy Timm 41:40
We call that the kiss of death in networking. Absolutely. So the Envision part is you are creating a vision in that person’s mind for what you’re trying to do in your career. When and this can be as… as detailed as you want it to be without the person’s eyes glazing over. What I like to do is keep it as simple as possible and focus on the six W’s, the who, what, when, where, why, and how of this ideal profession that I’m pursuing. And when I used to do this, you know, right after I quit Wall Street, and when I was still formulating exactly what I wanted to do, exactly what I would tell people was, you know what, I’ve learned that I need to be working with people, but also on people, people need to be the focus of my work. It’s not enough to work with people, I need my work to be working on people. And I’m going to work on people. I know I’m not really good at taking something broken and fixing it. What I’m really good at doing is helping something that I see has really great potential and unleashing that, unlocking that whatever that is.
Bryan Paul Buckley 42:38
And that’s a great distinction to tell somebody when you’re envisioning them for the future self. And it leads into naturally if I’m hearing that, your last step is what? Asking you as far as looking to see anything you need. Yeah, absolutely. And if you set a purpose, big time, and but if you’ve taken me and I love this to this process, even though it’s very, very simple, it does take it to a place where if I’m, if I’m buying in, then I naturally want to help and I know how I can help you. Because you’ve been very, very clear, and you’ve not rambled forever. And I’m more confused hear what I’m saying? By going on the side roads, you just need to get down the interstates on there.
Tracy Timm 43:15
And part of this is great, it’s so crucial to enfusion that…wow Envision. Envision that perfect future state and not talk about the past. Because if you’re talking about what you used to do, that’s all that’s going to be in that person’s mind. And it’s gonna be the box that they put you in, right, because you’re talking about what’s ideal and future-focused, even if you’re not already doing it. That’s the key, right? It’s the only thing that’s going to get you closer to actually doing it. I had a great friend and mentor. He’s actually the guy who wrote the cover blurb on my book. His name is Sean Acore, he used to tell me like if you want to be a photographer, call yourself a photographer, if you want to be a speaker, call yourself a speaker, because by saying that you are who you are. And by saying that you are you will be and you don’t need to get somebody else’s permission to say what you want to do and to call yourself that thing. Because if you’re pursuing it, that’s what you are. Right? So he legitimized that for me, which was great. And then yeah, like you said, The last step is ask. So when you get to the end of that vision, go back to your purpose and say, Thank you for listening to me, networking partner, person on the plane, guy in the produce aisle. What I’m really looking for is an introduction to a person who could help me explore this further, what I’m really looking for is a job offer. What I’m really looking for is Do you know of a job title or an industry where people do that thing? Because that’s, I know what it is, but I don’t know what it’s called?
Tracy Timm 44:39
Just ask. Just ask and what’s great is that they have a brain that you don’t that has had experience I haven’t had.
Bryan Paul Buckley 44:46
Right so and assuming that we shut up long enough to let them answer
Tracy Timm 44:51
isn’t that the worst?
Bryan Paul Buckley 44:52
Yeah. And to get actual feedback. And Tracy this is I mean, this is a really, really good point, especially for leveraging a business traveler because you… We get a chance to do what? We’re all over the country, possibly all over the world, and we get to meet a lot of new people. And you never know. It’s amazing. I’ve sat on planes next to fathers of NBA stars, I sat on planes of CEOs of global companies. And you never know looking at that guy, who that person is or that woman who she is. And I think kind of the precursor to this is learning to ask questions to find out. Wow, this could really be a good chance Tracy for this pitch? Because I’m learning Oh, wow. I mean, they’re in an industry or in my case, you know, they work for a company with a number of business travelers, and to find out who’s the guy or who’s the girl? Or do they have something that could help business travelers get trained, and I don’t mean I’m products and services, I mean, on having energy on the road, so you can be at your best. nobody teaches us how to do that. We just deal with travel friction and gaining weight on the road and, and staying up too late. All those issues with there. But if I can learn to ask questions, and then I’m distinct on my pitch, it’s amazing. The gold that can come out of that.
Tracy Timm 46:05
Oh, my gosh, I know, isn’t that fun? I mean, I’ve even gotten clients on planes. Like it’s amazing. When you really open up and you’re clear. Clarity is the is… Clarity is everything. That’s why we focus on career clarity above all else because someone comes to me and says, I’m having an issue getting a job, can you fix my resume? Like your resume ain’t the problem. Exactly. I didn’t tell you. You’re not getting a job because of your resume. Trust me. Yeah, no doubt, there’s something deeper and it’s usually clarity.
Bryan Paul Buckley 46:34
And with that, I think that’s usually why most people put the global Do Not Disturb symbol on a plane, which is headphones because people just ramble. And it’s also more about them, as opposed to asking calculated questions on there. So Tracy, let’s come full circle on your Is there anything that is within the book that we didn’t discuss that you’d like to highlight? Or emphasize? Or any closing thoughts?
Tracy Timm 46:58
Wow, especially for the sort of elite road warriors that are out there? Um, you know, I think being on the road can really wear on you. And I think that the better question is not how to fix it. But why, especially nowadays, if travel was a huge part of your work. And now it’s not because we can’t, and you’re missing something, this is a good time to investigate what’s missing and why that’s important to you. So if you’re looking for a good step one, I don’t think it can be overstated, that starting with your core values is probably going to make the most sense. And looking deeply at those core values, we even have a program, it’s a very small mini-program. It’s like less than 100 bucks, where we actually do a career alignment scorecard. And we walk people through the process of figuring out their top five core values. And then we force them to use those almost as like a pro/con list for how your job is or isn’t aligned, or how your career is or isn’t aligned with even just your top five core values, let alone the rest of the things that matter to you in life. And if very quickly, people can see Oh, wow, my number one core value is my family. And yeah, I’m on the road all the time, or you know, I never get to see them. I’m not there for birthdays, yada yada yada. Like this is the thing I keep hearing. Well, you cannot live in that, that dissonance for that long. That’s right if that’s really your value. cognitive dissonance is one of my favorite things I learned in psychology in college if that’s your value, but you’re physically doing something that is not aligned with that value. That’s called cognitive dissonance. And your brain creates a lot of tension and anxiety in your body when you’re experiencing cognitive dissonance. So you can’t do it that long it is inherently unsustainable. So what happens is you either change your values, aka your beliefs, or you change your behaviors, but you have to change one, you cannot live with both at odds with one another. So I would just really encourage you that if you’re experiencing that tension, to investigate where it’s coming from, and maybe it’s one simple tweak, maybe it’s only one out of those top five core values for you, and happy days, if it’s all five, give me a call, you know, like maybe I can know if it’s one and it has more to do with your energy and things like that, then that’s Bryan’s bag. So figure out really the source the root cause of what you’re feeling. And that’s where I would consider starting in this process.
Bryan Paul Buckley 49:17
Love it. Love it. Love it. So before we completely end I’m going to do this roadwarrior lightning round with you. Are you ready?
Tracy Timm 49:24
All right.
Bryan Paul Buckley 49:29
You have a preferred airlines? What is it?
Tracy Timm 49:31
Southwest?
Bryan Paul Buckley 49:32
Boom shaka laka. I suppose you’re a Dallas girl? Yeah, they’re so cool.
Tracy Timm 49:35
They’re so friendly.
Bryan Paul Buckley 49:36
window or aisle?
Tracy Timm 49:38
100% window.
Bryan Paul Buckley 49:40
Okay, why?
Tracy Timm 49:41
I curl up in a little ball and I like to stick my feet like up into the seat. Like I’m that person everybody hates. I like stick my feet up on the side and then I always like curl up and put my arm up on the wall and I sleep. That’s my go-to.
Bryan Paul Buckley 49:54
I smell people like you and I’ve got the window seat. Just kidding.
Tracy Timm 50:00
I’ve got a friend Brittany works for American Airlines and she makes fun of me constantly. She’s like, you’re the person we take pictures of and send to each other.
Bryan Paul Buckley 50:06
Exactly. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Yeah, one thing you always do on a flight and you may have just answered that question.
Tracy Timm 50:12
You know what I almost always do a crossword as we’re taking off.
Bryan Paul Buckley 50:15
really?
Tracy Timm 50:15
Isn’t that funky? Yeah, I love crosswords. Like my dad got me into them. We used to do them together. And he did one a day like his entire life. So I usually almost always do a crossword and then I don’t know when I’m not feeling into the chatting, I sleep. I like to sleep.
Bryan Paul Buckley 50:29
Mine is read. From the moment… Did you know every single business traveler has a chance to read? You know why? We all have the same thing. No matter where we’re going, no matter where we’re flying. It’s a short flight, long flight. From the moment we sit down, we have to do what, get our seatbelt on and we can’t keep out our large electronic devices. And we got all these things going on. And it’s a good about 20 minutes until you hear we’ve now reached 10,000 feet you can put your approved electronic devices and it’s a great time to just read in maybe the book unstoppable just slid that in there right there. Alright, preferred hotel chain?
Tracy Timm 51:07
I don’t have one. I will own that I’m not maybe an elite Road Warrior and that I don’t have points anywhere. I’m not that person. I like to do Priceline last minute and get myself a deal. I like to buy the portfolio.
Bryan Paul Buckley 51:22
There you go. Yeah. Are you a rental car girl or your rideshare girl?
Tracy Timm 51:27
Depends on the trip. I like to have my own space and my own car generally speaking, but I do a lot of ride-sharing. And lately, I’ve been sort of price hunting on like, is Uber less is Lyft less like I have no loyalty is when it comes to your own business right now. Is my pocketbook.
Bryan Paul Buckley 51:44
Yeah, there you go. Nice. Least favorite airport,
Tracy Timm 51:47
LaGuardia
Bryan Paul Buckley 51:48
Oh, that was there was not a pause. There was not a pause with you. But it is improving. It is it is improving. Favorite city to frequent?
Tracy Timm 51:58
Rome 100% I haven’t been there in so long, but I got to live and study abroad there one summer in college, and I’ve gone back several times since then. And it’s… if I could just retire and be a little lady that speaks Italian and drinks a lot of red wine and gossips all day like that’d be my dream.
Bryan Paul Buckley 52:13
So it’s awesome. You may go find that on your values, so you should reach out. All right, last…
Tracy Timm 52:18
well in my 90s Anyway.
Bryan Paul Buckley 52:20
There you go. Last one biggest road pet peeve?
Tracy Timm 52:23
All right, dude, when you are at a stoplight, and the person you’re in the right lane and there’s one person in front of you and they’re not turning right. That has got to be my biggest like to to the extent that if I’m that person I will like scoot out into the intersection as far as I can to like let that person go by because I know I’m breaking my number one rule I cannot stand it because everything in Texas is right on red more or less and so if you’re just used to that you’re like why on God’s green earth would you be in the right lane if you’re not turning right because there’s all the rest of us who just want to make this right turn and go home.
Bryan Paul Buckley 52:58
So we have similar issues, my friend of mines days, those are the driving slow in the left lane. And yeah, you know you are so alright, Tracy.
Tracy Timm 53:09
Signal man.
Bryan Paul Buckley 53:14
He stays right. How do we find out more about you about the book all things Tracy Timm?
Tracy Timm 53:20
Yeah, so you can find the book at unstoppablecareerbook.com Tracy is spelled TRACY and Tim is spelled TIMM. So if you just look unstoppable and Tracy Timm, you’ll probably find it and you can get it at any major outlet, so Amazon. I even found it at Target recently which I thought was really fun.
Tracy Timm 53:37
Yeah, right. I was like oh my god, I wrote a target book. what it’s great. And then one of my best girlfriends was just traveling and we decided not to put it in Hudson news because there’s just so few travelers right now so she actually took it and put it on the shelf and took a picture for me and was like yeah, so that was adorable. And then you can connect with me directly at either TracyTimm.com or Nthdegree that’s Nth and the word degree .TracyTimm.com. It’s super easy to get in touch with me. LinkedIn is actually the only place I hang out online consistently. And so if you just find me on LinkedIn, you can connect with me, we can chat there, that’s easily the best place to get a hold of me as quickly as possible,
Tracy Timm 54:12
As most business travelers as well. I’ll make sure all the links are in the show notes. Tracy, you’ve been an absolute blast. And thank you so much for investing us as business travelers. And obviously anybody who’s listening to this you can hear her excitement and her… her knowledge on this go through the book. Even if right now you’re not in a spot where you are completely looking for a different career. There’s so much to gain just about exposure to your own life and maybe you even just confirmation you’re in the right spot. Maybe it’s a great resource for somebody else because a lot of miserable people that are in jobs right now that really need to plan they need a proven framework that obviously Tracy you provided for us so thank you so much,
Tracy Timm 54:53
Bryan from the… from email number one from you. I just loved your energy and your humor and you’re focused on helping people and so I’m so grateful. I’m grateful for the platform and what you’re doing and I hope we can do it again. This was a lot of fun.
Bryan Paul Buckley 55:06
Well, it’s good news. It’s buy one get one free, so I think it’s gonna happen. And it happened. So thank you, Tracy. Thanks.
Unknown Speaker 55:15
This is flat Caitlin, this is flat Caleb. And we’re the Buckley flat kiddos. Our dad takes us everywhere on the road. We stay in nice hotels, we drive cool rental cars. We meet people my dad meets on the road and we get to see the sights from the places my dad visits. We even get in a little bit of trouble on the road. Well, at least you do all because we’re flat kiddos. And you could do the same for your kids. Just go to eliteroadwarrior.com word.com/store to purchase your own flat kiddos. Today, you can choose an elementary boy or girl. You can even choose a toddler boy or girl just go to eliteroadwarrior.com/store to purchase your own flat kiddos. Today, your kids will love us.
Bryan Paul Buckley 56:14
I’d like to thank Tracy Timm for her time, her challenges, and these amazing insights for us to become elite road warriors in our career. You can find the transcript of everything referenced in this interview in the show notes at eliteroadwarrior.com/092 along with the free resource 10 business travel hacks guide in the show notes as well. eliteroadwarrior.com/092. And I’d love to hear from you and you can connect with me on LinkedIn at Bryan – BRYAN Paul Buckley LinkedIn page of elite road warrior and Instagram @eliteroadwarrior and as always, wherever you are, do something, anything just not nothing to master the business travel life. leverage the content from unstoppable to help you become and remain an elite Road Warrior today to eliminate burnout and exceed results. You got this.
References
7 Early Warning Signs for Companies to Avoid Business Travel Burnout
Top Ten Business Travel Hacks Guide
