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Join me as I speak with Amanda Crowell Ph.D. She is a cognitive psychologist, speaker, author, and coach, and she is focused on changing our perspective on the world of work. Her new book Great Work: Do What Matters Most Without Sacrificing Everything Else comes out on June 7th, 2022.
Hey welcome to sheet coaches coaches, I'm your
Candy Motzek:host Kandi motsek. And I'm going to help you find the clarity,
Candy Motzek:confidence and courage to become the coach that you were meant to
Candy Motzek:be. If you're a new coach, or if you've always wanted to be a
Candy Motzek:life coach, then this is the place for you. We're going to
Candy Motzek:talk all about mindset and strategies and how to because
Candy Motzek:step by step only works when you have the clarity, courage and
Candy Motzek:confidence to take action. Let's get started. Hey, everyone, and
Candy Motzek:welcome to this episode of she coaches coaches. I have an
Candy Motzek:amazing guest for you today. Now, this was a woman that I met
Candy Motzek:at PATA palooza. And if you've been following me for a while,
Candy Motzek:you've probably heard some of these interviews. Let me
Candy Motzek:introduce you to Dr. Amanda Crowl. She is a cognitive
Candy Motzek:psychologist, speaker, author and coach. And she is focused on
Candy Motzek:changing our perspective on the world of work. It is possible to
Candy Motzek:do great work. Now those are capitalized, great work, launch
Candy Motzek:a successful business, make a scientific discovery, raise a
Candy Motzek:tight knit family and manage a globally remote team without
Candy Motzek:sacrificing your health, happiness and relationships.
Candy Motzek:Amanda is the author of the forthcoming book, great work do
Candy Motzek:what matters most without sacrificing everything else. And
Candy Motzek:the creator of the great work journals. Her TEDx talk has
Candy Motzek:received more than a million views and has been featured on
Candy Motzek:Ted's ideas blog and Ted shorts. Her ideas have also been
Candy Motzek:featured on NPR, Al Jazeera, the Wall Street Journal courts and
Candy Motzek:thrive, thrive global. That was a mouthful, Amanda? Hey. Oh, so
Candy Motzek:glad to see you here. Welcome to she coaches, coaches.
Dr. Amanda Crowell:Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.
Candy Motzek:You tell me a little bit more about your book.
Candy Motzek:This is fascinating.
Dr. Amanda Crowell:Yeah. So great work is a book about
Dr. Amanda Crowell:figuring out what you were here to do. And then taking steps to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:get closer to that vision without ever feeling
Dr. Amanda Crowell:overwhelmed. So the book has sort of three, three parts to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:it. The first is what is my great work. And, you know, often
Dr. Amanda Crowell:people don't quite know, you ask them, you know, who are you? Who
Dr. Amanda Crowell:do you want to be in? The answer that comes back very often is
Dr. Amanda Crowell:either that's an irrelevant question. I am who I said I was
Dr. Amanda Crowell:going to be, I'm stuck. I've made all of my choices. And now
Dr. Amanda Crowell:this is who I am. Or, I'm not sure I always felt there was
Dr. Amanda Crowell:something bigger for me, but I don't know what that is. And
Dr. Amanda Crowell:then every now and then you get people who are very clear about
Dr. Amanda Crowell:what they want, but they have no clue at all, how to get closer
Dr. Amanda Crowell:to it. So the first little bit of the book is about, you know,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:looking at your life, evaluating what's happened in it, thinking
Dr. Amanda Crowell:through what you've enjoyed, and figuring out the first one I
Dr. Amanda Crowell:would call inkling of what your great work might be. The second
Dr. Amanda Crowell:half of the book tells you how to get a little bit closer to it
Dr. Amanda Crowell:following the great work method, which is what's also in the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:great work journals, which is a very time management
Dr. Amanda Crowell:productivity, step by step process that I've discovered
Dr. Amanda Crowell:over the last decade is a way to actually do remarkable things
Dr. Amanda Crowell:without feeling overwhelmed. That's why I felt like I needed
Dr. Amanda Crowell:it because I was constantly striving on 17 fronts at the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:same time and getting on what I like to call the roller coaster,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:the productivity roller coaster of doom, which is like where
Dr. Amanda Crowell:you're utterly overworking and then you like nosedive into
Dr. Amanda Crowell:burnout and recover just just enough so that you can overwork
Dr. Amanda Crowell:again and then burnout and overwork and burnout. And as
Dr. Amanda Crowell:like I can't live like this. I mean, once you have kids, it
Dr. Amanda Crowell:feels, you know just really adds another layer of things that you
Dr. Amanda Crowell:feel like you're obligated to do well at. And then I had a couple
Dr. Amanda Crowell:of full body rebellions at one point I had an autoimmune flare
Dr. Amanda Crowell:up that really, really kind of brought it to the forefront like
Dr. Amanda Crowell:either get this under control or, or your body is just not
Dr. Amanda Crowell:going to allow you to go any further. So the great work
Dr. Amanda Crowell:method is something that I learned how to do out of sheer
Dr. Amanda Crowell:necessity, so that I could continue to do great work
Dr. Amanda Crowell:without like sacrificing literally everything else. my
Dr. Amanda Crowell:health, my happiness, my marriage, my children, all of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:it. So the second half of the book is or the second little bit
Dr. Amanda Crowell:of the book is about that. And then the last part is kind of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:related to the TED talk that I did, which is about mindsets.
Dr. Amanda Crowell:What are the things that keep us locked in what I call patterns
Dr. Amanda Crowell:of defensive failure, which is where we fail by not doing
Dr. Amanda Crowell:anything to avoid having to live through the the excruciating
Dr. Amanda Crowell:experience of failing for real, and so mindsets, self expertise,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:understanding who you are as a very specific person, what works
Dr. Amanda Crowell:for you in terms of your productivity and time
Dr. Amanda Crowell:management. So it's really, it's really a sort of step by step
Dr. Amanda Crowell:pathway to doing what you were put here to do without having to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:give everything else like speed everything else to it.
Candy Motzek:Yeah, and I mean, ultimately, you can't do great
Candy Motzek:work if there's none nothing of you left to do it with, right?
Candy Motzek:Yeah. And if you have no resources or resilience, because
Candy Motzek:you've been on that hamster wheel of productivity for so
Candy Motzek:long, there's just nothing, you got nothing to give. And it's a
Candy Motzek:very joyless existence. Like, you know, when I've seen people
Candy Motzek:in that place, you say, you know, what do you want to do?
Candy Motzek:Who do you want to be? Who are you? They're like, zombies.
Candy Motzek:Right, like, and I think that without some intention, and some
Candy Motzek:personal reflection. There, that is an easy path for people to
Candy Motzek:fall into, because they think they're doing all the right
Candy Motzek:stuff, right. Like, you know, they graduate, they get into the
Candy Motzek:right school, they take the right degree, they make the
Candy Motzek:right connections, they make the, you know, the first post
Candy Motzek:degree career move all those things that we're supposed to
Candy Motzek:do. But if if it's not done with any, any of the underlying
Candy Motzek:import that you're describing, you're just you're building your
Candy Motzek:house, it's like a bunch of sticks that you're building on,
Candy Motzek:on nothing, right? Yeah. Hmm. So interesting. Do those does you
Candy Motzek:the way you described it? It sounds like the book and the
Candy Motzek:journals actually go together that they mesh together very
Candy Motzek:well? Yes. And what were you know, somebody was to read your
Candy Motzek:book. I know, it's not quite out yet. But if someone was to read
Candy Motzek:out, where would they start? Like, what's the one thing for
Candy Motzek:them to start with to begin with?
Dr. Amanda Crowell:Yeah, so it kind of depends on where that
Dr. Amanda Crowell:person starts their own sort of life journey, some people really
Dr. Amanda Crowell:do know where they're headed. And they're just overwhelmed all
Dr. Amanda Crowell:the time, they get stuck in analysis, by paralysis by
Dr. Amanda Crowell:analysis, where, you know, they're doing too many things,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:and everything's just eking forward, nothing's getting any
Dr. Amanda Crowell:traction for, for somebody in that position, where you kind of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:know where you're going. The second little bit of the book is
Dr. Amanda Crowell:a great place to start, which is to say, the question, at the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:heart of the great work method is how can I get a little bit
Dr. Amanda Crowell:closer, I find that people overwhelm themselves, they think
Dr. Amanda Crowell:I need to do 1/100, of becoming the world's best movie star this
Dr. Amanda Crowell:week, if I want to be the world's best movie star in 100
Dr. Amanda Crowell:weeks, but it really doesn't work like that, actually, it's a
Dr. Amanda Crowell:you have to chip away at it and do what feels really kind of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:what I would call aspirational in the sense that you have to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:stretch forward a little but also attainable, and attainable
Dr. Amanda Crowell:aspiration. And that grows over time, what feels like an utterly
Dr. Amanda Crowell:overwhelming step today will feel very doable in a few weeks,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:because you'll be further down the path. So I would start in
Dr. Amanda Crowell:the great work journals, I would just start doing the weekly
Dr. Amanda Crowell:pages, which asks you what three things can I do to get a little
Dr. Amanda Crowell:closer this week? And then the daily pages? What can I do to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:get a little closer to what I said I would do this week,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:today. And I find that even just doing that even if you don't go
Dr. Amanda Crowell:through the goal setting or read the book and learn all about
Dr. Amanda Crowell:yourself expertise, and all of that can just transform your
Dr. Amanda Crowell:experience of great work, because it feels like Oh, I see
Dr. Amanda Crowell:how it's a part of my daily life. I don't have to wait. I
Dr. Amanda Crowell:don't need to be given permission. I don't have to know
Dr. Amanda Crowell:how to do it. I can just begin. And that, right, there is such a
Dr. Amanda Crowell:massive shift that really sort of describes the difference
Dr. Amanda Crowell:between the people who do great work, and the people who are
Dr. Amanda Crowell:hoping to do great work.
Candy Motzek:So there's a little thread here that I'm
Candy Motzek:curious about. So it's this just began. So it's the having the
Candy Motzek:vision, like your example of I want to be a movie star, just
Candy Motzek:having the vision. I mean, that's probably not necessarily
Candy Motzek:most people's vision. I
Dr. Amanda Crowell:was saying I want to get a I want to build a
Dr. Amanda Crowell:career in corporate social responsibility. Sure.
Candy Motzek:Okay. So that's the vision. So being knowing
Candy Motzek:that that's where you want to go, at least the qualities of
Candy Motzek:it. And then just starting Is that what you're saying? I just
Candy Motzek:sort of want to be really clear there.
Dr. Amanda Crowell:So I don't eat for a while at the very
Dr. Amanda Crowell:beginning. I like to say that you have to get in the river.
Dr. Amanda Crowell:First you have to get in your boat and get in the river so you
Dr. Amanda Crowell:can be carried that you have a chance of being carried
Dr. Amanda Crowell:downstream, right in the great stream of great work. And for a
Dr. Amanda Crowell:while. It really kind of feels like when you're doing something
Dr. Amanda Crowell:completely new. Like you're just paddling your boat around in
Dr. Amanda Crowell:circles, you're not really getting anywhere. That's okay.
Dr. Amanda Crowell:That's what it's meant to be, you have to figure out, you
Dr. Amanda Crowell:know, in the example of corporate or social
Dr. Amanda Crowell:responsibility, you might just be having conversations with
Dr. Amanda Crowell:people looking at job descriptions, reading books,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:talking to anybody who will talk to you, and it doesn't
Dr. Amanda Crowell:necessarily feel like you're getting anywhere, but what
Dr. Amanda Crowell:you're doing is you're sort of establishing the space that
Dr. Amanda Crowell:you're meant to be in. And then eventually, it gets to the point
Dr. Amanda Crowell:where you understand the space a little bit, and you can be a bit
Dr. Amanda Crowell:more directional, a bit more intentional. And then it's a
Dr. Amanda Crowell:question of, if you look, you know, at the long term goal of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:getting a new job, then it's a question of like, where's your
Dr. Amanda Crowell:old job? And what's the space in between? And how can you just
Dr. Amanda Crowell:start this week, maybe you decide, you're going to get an
Dr. Amanda Crowell:interview with somebody you met at a networking event three
Dr. Amanda Crowell:months ago. So this week, all you're really going to do is
Dr. Amanda Crowell:find that person's email address and send them an email asking
Dr. Amanda Crowell:them to have like a zoom coffee with you. And that can be enough
Dr. Amanda Crowell:for a whole week to get a little closer to great work. So
Dr. Amanda Crowell:eventually, you start to become more intentional. And then when
Dr. Amanda Crowell:the moment arrives, that what the next thing you have to do is
Dr. Amanda Crowell:actually start applying for jobs. And that has a whole set
Dr. Amanda Crowell:of things that can be done over the course of a week or the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:course of the day. The key always being that as long as
Dr. Amanda Crowell:you're taking, as long as you're taking it seriously, and taking
Dr. Amanda Crowell:at least a step, every day, every week, you won't get
Dr. Amanda Crowell:nowhere, you'll get somewhere, you'll probably get where you
Dr. Amanda Crowell:want to go
Candy Motzek:over the course of time, even if you find out that
Candy Motzek:that particular role isn't exactly the match for you.
Candy Motzek:Right, but just knowing that helps you as well. Now, the
Candy Motzek:other thing that you haven't mentioned, but I'm curious about
Candy Motzek:is when you do these three things, you know, you plan on
Candy Motzek:doing three things, and then you do three things, for example,
Candy Motzek:reminding yourself of your progress, you know, and like
Candy Motzek:just sort of reinforcing that, hey, I'm doing a good job here.
Candy Motzek:I'm making progress, like, you know, that celebrating even
Candy Motzek:this, the tiniest steps and creating that, you know,
Candy Motzek:creating that environment, it's not just that you're looking at
Candy Motzek:the list, and yes, I did them, but that you feel good about
Candy Motzek:doing them tooth, I chose this, and I did it yet, right?
Dr. Amanda Crowell:Yeah, exactly. Right. And in the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:journal, the great work journals, at the beginning of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:every day, and the end of every day, there's a place to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:celebrate exactly that. There's a little gratitude section at
Dr. Amanda Crowell:the top that can help you remember, I don't really know
Dr. Amanda Crowell:anybody these days, who's not dealing with a little bit of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:depression, a little bit of anxiety, we all need a reminder
Dr. Amanda Crowell:that everything is not terrible when we're having that moment.
Dr. Amanda Crowell:And I feel like the gratitudes are really just very grounding
Dr. Amanda Crowell:in that sense. And then at the end of every day, you say what
Dr. Amanda Crowell:was my favorite memory today. And it could be a joke that your
Dr. Amanda Crowell:son told you, it can be a moment when your husband brought you a
Dr. Amanda Crowell:coffee, it could be the moment where you find out you get the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:job, but it doesn't have to be. And then at the end of every
Dr. Amanda Crowell:week, you collect your feet, three favorite memories of the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:week, and that goes in the weekly page. And then you get
Dr. Amanda Crowell:this log of your life. And I think my favorite part of the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:journal though, is actually you've done the three things,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:right? You get to be done. Because that's the other feeling
Dr. Amanda Crowell:we never, ever have. I'm done. I did it, and I'm done. And if you
Dr. Amanda Crowell:can build more done into your life, where now you have no
Dr. Amanda Crowell:guilt, no regret, no resistance to the things you need to do to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:build resilience in yourself to take that nap to watch TV to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:make yourself an actual dinner. That is a habit of great work.
Dr. Amanda Crowell:That is the kind of stuff that makes it possible to get out of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:the grind. When you were describing the the feeling of
Dr. Amanda Crowell:the zombies who like are just so exhausted and overworked. Yeah,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:they, you know, they, they're sacrificing exactly their great
Dr. Amanda Crowell:work to the grind. Like they've chosen this grind over the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:remarkable transformation of doing what your was sent here to
Dr. Amanda Crowell:do. And I think that's just really sad. I think our world
Dr. Amanda Crowell:is, is struggling in part, because so many people have
Dr. Amanda Crowell:sacrificed their joy, their resilience, their contribution
Dr. Amanda Crowell:to the to do list. And I don't think that that's doing us any
Dr. Amanda Crowell:favors.
Candy Motzek:And I would I would even argue that they're
Candy Motzek:sacrificing themselves. Yeah, right. I mean, the great work
Candy Motzek:that you're you know, that you've been describing sounds
Candy Motzek:amazing and completely doable. For people like this is not
Candy Motzek:something that it's not something that's unattainable.
Candy Motzek:Anybody could accomplish this. But they have to be on their own
Candy Motzek:to do list. You know, they can't be sacrificing themselves on the
Candy Motzek:altar of somebody else's dream. It has been so great speaking
Candy Motzek:with you. For the listeners, anybody who wants to find out
Candy Motzek:more about you, where should they go? Can you share with them
Candy Motzek:a little bit?
Dr. Amanda Crowell:Yes, you can go to Amantha crawl.com. And
Dr. Amanda Crowell:we'll put that in the show notes, I'm sure. And there, you
Dr. Amanda Crowell:can find out about the great work journals, which are
Dr. Amanda Crowell:available on Amazon, and Barnes and Noble and all over all the
Dr. Amanda Crowell:places, that can be a great place to start and then get on
Dr. Amanda Crowell:the list. So you can hear about the book when it comes out on
Dr. Amanda Crowell:June 7, which is very exciting. There'll be a lot of launch,
Dr. Amanda Crowell:launch parties launch events that week to and all of those
Dr. Amanda Crowell:would be great ways to find me. And I also have a podcast called
Dr. Amanda Crowell:unleashing your great work, where we talk about all these
Dr. Amanda Crowell:ideas. And yeah, that would be how to do it. Awesome.
Candy Motzek:Thank you. Thank you for joining me. Okay,
Candy Motzek:everyone. That's it for this week, and I will talk to you
Candy Motzek:again next week. Thanks again for listening today. Please hop
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Candy Motzek:give me great ideas for future episodes so I can help you best.
Candy Motzek:Join me again next week. For more coaching, support and
Candy Motzek:teaching to help you become the competent coach. You are meant
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