00:00:02
Welcome to the A World of Difference podcast. I'm Lori Adams-Brown, and this is a podcast for those who are different and want to make a difference. All right, listen up, because this can change your life. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or just not yourself lately, I need you to hear this. You don't have to go through it alone.

00:00:22
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00:01:12
You deserve to feel better. So don't wait. Go to www.betterhelp.com difference and take that first step for your healing today. All right, difference makers, I am so excited for all of you out there listening to the World of Difference podcast all around the world today. Buckle up, because today's guest is Bringing the Fire.

00:01:34
I'm here in Northern California. She's in Southern California. We've been friends for a while, and you are in for just the most amazing wisdom from an incredible woman. If you're ready to ditch Burnout, stop, step into your full potential, and lead with wholeness, then you are in the right place. Today, I am thrilled to welcome my friend, April Díaz, a powerhouse communicator, a game changer in leadership development, and the visionary founder and CEO of Ezra and Co.

00:02:06
April doesn't just talk about leadership. She actually redefines it for us. With over 25 years of experience in coaching C Suite executives, Olympians, pro athletes, and emerging leaders, she knows what it takes to level up. And she just all around knows what's up. She's that kind of friend.

00:02:26
And she's not just here to inspire you. She's here to give you the tools to actually transform. Her groundbreaking wholeness assessment and holistic leadership pathway are revolutionizing the way top businesses and organizations think about leadership. Leadership is changing, and let's be real who you are determines what you do. So if you're ready to stop playing small and tap into your fullest potential and lead with authenticity and power, then stay tuned, because April Díaz is about to change the way you think about leadership forever.

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Let's dive in.

00:03:10
Hi, April. Welcome. It's so good to be here. Thank you for having me, my friend. Oh, I'm so glad you're back.

00:03:18
And it's great to see your face. I know there's so much happening in the world as we record this in Women's History Month. And although some forces would like to erase us, we are still here. We're still still on the calendar. Google, you can't take that away from us.

00:03:39
Especially the women that work at Google, one of whom is a very good friend of mine. I know that this is. I know that's not okay. I know, right? But I live here in Silicon Valley.

00:03:50
You're here in California too. We are facing things in our day as women that are not new. Nothing's new under the sun, but at the same time, there's like a new version of it happening for us in this particular time and space. So when I talk, when I think about that, when I think about you and the great work you're doing in leadership with women, I know that you as a person, like every woman or human being out there, you have been formed by all of these aspects of your life. Different friendships, you know, people that you love that have helped you become the leader and the woman that you are today.

00:04:27
Give us a little bit of insight. Into the cultures and the places that. Formed you and your leadership. So I grew up in the middle of the country, squarely in central Illinois. I was born into a little farming community, 16,000 people, all white, European.

00:04:44
I don't think I saw a person of color in the first, probably eight years of my life. It was just. It was just very white middle America. And then my family moved to Texas, and I was 8 years old when that happened. That feels like one of those milestone kind of moments to look back on, to go, this actually really shaped and formed the trajectory of my life.

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You know, like, you make a one degree trajectory shift, it changes the entire destination and not just the direction, but the destination of your life. And that was the first time, I mean, I lived in a big city and there was all kinds of people from all over the world. And that really shaped me, like, on a foundational level. And then we moved back to that small little community in central Illinois. And I have done a lot of reflecting on my story, because when I was in my late 20s, I used to tell people I'm half Puerto Rican because of my husband.

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I'm half Korean because of the community that I was living in and serving. Actually, this is my early 30s. I was saying this. And I'm half Ethiopian because my two oldest kiddos are Ethiopian. And people would say, like, well, first of all, that's 150%.

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And I was like, I'm a whole lot of women, so you just take the whole 150% of me. But then somebody called me out and said, but you're white. And I was like, oh, you're right. And I had not done really any work to explore my own origin story in my whiteness. I had so much identified and really connected with all of these communities of color and different cultures globally because of where I have lived, that I kind of forgot and really dismissed my whiteness.

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And yet it formed so much of who I am. And so, like, I started rewinding back in my story, even, and looking at my high school years. I was always. I always felt like I was on the outside and I didn't really belong, in part because I think I was a strong female voice, leader, ambition, all of those things, but also because I found myself in that external connection with, like, the onlys of my high school. Like, the only Mexican girl, the only black guy, the only Latvian girl, the only Iranian girl.

00:06:55
Like, there was a lot of onlys. And I found myself so attracted to the ones who never felt like they really fit in, even though I was kind of by majority fitting in. So it's been a really interesting kind of reflection, journey of owning my whole story. To be able to see, like, where I've come from really matters to where I'm going. And it's all connected.

00:07:17
I love that. It's so interesting to think about a younger version of April and being with the outliers and the leadership that is embedded in that. Like, just the leadership that kind of finds you. And sometimes we seek leadership, and sometimes it just shows up right in front of us and we make a choice. But it sounds like you.

00:07:40
That move was really significant in your life. You talk a lot, and this is such a needed conversation right now because I just feel like every woman I know has a level of exhaustion that is just kind of like, there. Low grade. Yeah, right. And this isn't just in the us this is, like, globally.

00:07:57
There's geopolitical events happening. I just was recently in Taiwan and we watched, like, everybody on the world Stage this meeting in the Oval Office with Zelensky and Trump and my direct report, who's not a very political person, amazing, very strong, smart Taiwanese woman in Taipei. And she asked me the next day in the office, you know, is China going to invade Taiwan now? Like that's what we're worried about after this meeting. And I thought, man, the exhaustion that women are having to face just in a work environment, raising kids, bearing the emotional labor, doing all the things.

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And even now we're seeing women get arrested in the United States, in the office buildings, dragged out of town halls, they're erasing the literal word women from government, they're taking away awards. There's a woman I know high up in the CIA, they're taking away an award named after her. And as we look at ourselves and we are human with our human limits and we want to be there for ourselves, but we're told to self sacrifice. And put others first all the time. As women.

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Explain to us what you think holistic leadership looks like. So I think there's a couple of different parts. One is I'm really passionate about holistic leadership because we're whole people and a lot of what leadership has been taught to us. I was actually at a breakfast this morning and I was talking with a young woman of color and she works for one of the United States senators. And she told me that she's in some leadership classes right now.

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And I said, I'm going to guess that most of what you are being taught in your college courses is stuff that has been written by older white men. And she goes, yeah, actually you're right. The reason why holistic leadership matters so much is because so much of what we have been taught has been about externals. It's the KPIs, it's the goals, it's the metrics, it's the strategic plans. And I'm not against any of those.

00:10:00
But it is external. And we have seen what happens when the internal doesn't match the external and it does not hold up. It is not sustainable, it is not holistic and it is really shallow. And so holistic leadership has to involve the whole person. And so if you are not expanding your internal capacity, you will not get the external results that you actually want and you will not do it successfully and sustainably over time.

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That's why we see so many folks that do not finish well, is because the externals are not matching the internals. There is a, there's a performative measure to the work that we are doing in leadership. So I think that's a really important piece of why this really matters. But then what holistic leadership requires is first it starts with physical, because your body is the basis for your whole life. It is the vehicle by which we do everything.

00:10:56
So the work that I do with leaders, we start with physical, but then it involves all six parts. It's physical, emotional, mental, relational, spiritual and renewal. It is in that order on purpose. When we work with leaders through that process, we get that kind of successful, sustainable results. And then the other thing that I'll say kind of in response to this whole erasure of so much and women, I mean, I have all the fury and rage about that because it is so.

00:11:28
There's so much injustice to it and it is, it's just the tale as old as time and I'm so sick of it. However, there is a part of me that has a hope and has a maybe like a relentless optimism that this is the last stand for some of this old stuff dying. Because all of that is power over type of leadership. It is, it is oppressive, it is, it is forceful, it is diminutive, it is hierarchical. And I am just convinced that the future of leadership is power with.

00:12:07
And women do this better than anyone. And so there's an element of like all of this shit show happening and going. I don't actually care. I'm not going to give attention and energy in that direction because actually what we need to be building is this power with type of approach so that it creates the sustainable, holistic way of leading. I'm just convinced that's the future.

00:12:28
And so I want for women to go, not to get distracted over here in the shit show, but to go, okay, what does it look like for actually to have power with, for us to be generous and generative in the ways that we are leading holistically because we know that when that happens, actual change and transformation can take place. Oh, I could not agree more. It reminds me of a conversation we had actually with our only third time guests. We were our mutual friend, Dr. Scott McKnight.

00:12:55
Yes. Yeah, we love him. He, you know, he's talked a lot about this and not just as he's speaking, but in his books, you know, and when we see power over, you have to, if you're going to have that type of power and it exists in systems, you have to be a certain kind of leader to not be abusive because the system allows that so easily and sometimes even encourages it. And so I totally agree. I think women around the world, in my experience, whether it's places I've lived or places I've traveled.

00:13:27
Like, you know, Vietnam is a place I've traveled quite a bit. And the women are so strong. I was actually telling my spiritual director about this yesterday, because I do. My husband gives me birthday trips. It's the thing.

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And so, because I'm like, I don't care about presents, but I need to get away. I love to do it. You're the experience, girl. Adventure, high value. And so, and I went to my first trip he ever gave me.

00:13:52
We were living in Singapore and I went to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay and Vietnam. And I did. I toured the Hanoi Hilton and saw, you know, the history of the war they had against the Americans from their perspective. And there were so many pictures of women fighting and the. We didn't send any of our women because we didn't do that.

00:14:09
And we're trying to roll it back again. And so. But their women are just so strong. And I would see them out selling in these like little micro, you know, small businesses in the Ha Long Bay area on that tour. And one of the men actually said to me, one of the Vietnamese men said, you know, our women are just really strong.

00:14:26
They kind of just like carry the country. I'm like, yeah, I already noticed that. Like, I very much observed that. And so. But the relational aspect of it, I'm not saying every woman is born with a relational bent, but it's really hard in most cultures around the world as a woman to survive without a certain level of, of relationship building expectation.

00:14:48
And so I 100% agree with you. I think women are carrying a lot. Of the change in leadership. They are positioned for those roles that in talent development, I'm recruiting for. And, and I, I do agree with you that that is a threat to the patriarchy in a specific way.

00:15:09
And so we are seeing a lot of backlash. If, if, if we didn't have power as women, why would they be coming after us and trying to erase us? Exactly, exactly. It is a good sign that there is a fight against it. And I just think, like, carry on, carry on, warrior.

00:15:26
It's what we do. I love that. Yes. So how can somebody expand influence and impact without sacrificing ourselves, especially women? This is something I am unpacking now in my 40s.

00:15:40
I wish I had understood it sooner and saved myself a lot of therapy and grief and hard work to try to come out of it. But this message that we're often told and women in our lives that just give everything for everybody else and there's nothing left for themselves is considered a hero in some ways, but it's actually not serving us. How can we really expand who we are as leaders without sacrificing ourselves completely? Yeah, it feels like again, one of those age old questions, right? Because we've been trained in one direction.

00:16:08
And so that is actually kind of at the heart of what I would say is how you expand your impact and your influence holistically is by training differently. So we've been trained in one direction to take care of everyone else's needs, to care for everyone else, to, you know, sacrifice yourself at the expense of everything. So we train differently. I am a big believer that it is about training. It's not about trying because trying is about hustle and force and willpower and grits and all the things that like, are just about yourself and that just doesn't last very long.

00:16:45
And I think that the trying actually leads us more down the road of burnout, which will not expand our influence and our impact. We'll just be more exhausted, we'll be more overwhelmed, we'll be more a shell of ourselves. But the training is actually where you get different results. So I, um, I am, would not necessarily call myself a runner. Um, there was a season of time when I ran and in that season I actually started running because I had been told, or I had believed some lies that I was not a runner.

00:17:16
And so it was kind of one of those exercises of breaking through those self limiting beliefs and going like, okay, I'm going to run. And one of the, the very first commitment that I made to claim the fact that I was a runner was that I was going to run a half marathon. And I was 33 years old. I had three kids under the age of four. I was in an executive role.

00:17:35
I just published my first book. Like, there was a whole lot of external things that looked really great, but there was some internal things that were really holding me back that was limiting that expansion and mainly within myself, but then externally as well. So I made this commitment that I was going to run a half marathon and I had to train for it. Like, I couldn't just go try. Like I, I hadn't run a mile since high school, which was like 15 years beforehand.

00:17:59
Like, I was not a runner by any stretch of it. I didn't have running shoes, I didn't have a sports bra. I had absolutely nothing that would have qualified me to be able to run 13.1 miles. But I made this commitment and then I did the training right. So I Followed a plan.

00:18:13
I knew how much I was going to run every week. I knew what I was going to eat. I knew what my rest days were. I knew what we're going going to be long runs and shorter runs in order to expand this internal capacity, my lungs, my muscles, my breathing, my endurance. And as that expanded in me Internally, I ran 13.1 miles twice.

00:18:34
I did two. And that, I just think like that that mindset and that that embrace like of a posture is a really important starting point, is to shift from a posture. I'm just going to try harder versus I'm going to train differently. You will get different results with that in and of itself. Is that a good starting point?

00:18:58
Makes so much sense to me. And you know, I was thinking recently about, I for some reason know a lot of marathon runners. I'm not one of them, but especially these days. Maybe you're supposed to be. Come on, girl, for your 50th birthday.

00:19:14
There you go. No, I, I've always loved running. It's not something I've not loved to do. I've never thought of myself as not a runner. I'm just not sure that marathons are my thing.

00:19:22
But especially in the San Francisco hills, I like literally know people that just love that. I'm like, wow, that's wild. I mean, driving it up and down, it is scary enough for us. But I think about that too. And I think about how, just in light of the question I'd asked you, you know, prior to that one about holistic leadership, people that run, they have to figure out how to rest what looks like in the middle of a marathon.

00:19:44
And that's just wild to think about because I think that one area I'm working on I struggle with is how in a very busy corporate job as an executive and a tech company where I travel and I also have a podcast and I'm a mom and I have all these things. Like it's hard to figure out how to rest, but we need that. And so what are your like, kind of quick and dirty tips about how to figure out how to rest when you're still moving? It's still going. Yeah, yeah.

00:20:13
So rest is both something that you, it's like a state of being and doing, I think. So. One thing that I would share with you and with those who are listening, we've got an energy expanders exercise. It's a really simple three part guide, three step guide that helps you to figure out who and what energizes you and exhausts you and how much Energy is in those different quadrants. And I'm just a firm believer that it doesn't really matter.

00:20:41
Like, your life is your life, and you actually do create the life that you have. And whether or not you actually want it is another question. But you have created this life, right? Like, you have chosen into all of these things. Mother, wife, executive podcaster, global traveler.

00:20:57
Right. Like you have said yes to those things. So in that, what does it look like for you to manage your energy? I'm a big believer that you actually need to manage your energy more than you need to manage your time, because time is finite and energy is expandable. And so I would guess, well, because I know you, we're friends, a lot of these things that you do are very energizing.

00:21:20
So you might have a very busy schedule, but you are energized as a result of the activities that you're doing, the conversations that you're having, the planes that you get on, the people that you meet in those places, they are energizing to you because of who and what you are spending time in. Some of the work is still to define, like, what is exhausting you and what are some of those things that you can get out of or delegate or just stop doing and entertaining. Right? There are some things that we're kind of mindlessly doing and behaving in ways that are not serving us well. And so having the awareness of that then allows us to even make some of those changes.

00:21:58
That's a separate conversation. But then the other piece is you absolutely still need rhythms and practices of rest and renewal. We're recording this on a Friday, and we talked before we hit record. Like, we just have been running both fast and furious, and my kids spring break is next week, and I'm like, ready to collapse into the weekend. Like, I'm going to be in my PJs, no makeup, under the covers, reading a book.

00:22:21
Like, most of the weekend, I'm tired because I've been running hard, doing things that are energizing to me. But still, you have to recover. And so part of what is even energizing is in the recovery. What does recovery look like for you? Is it under?

00:22:37
Is it on the couch? Is it reading the book? Is it drinking the wine? Is it going for a walk? You know, what are the things that are going to help restore your soul, to recover your energy, to recover your life?

00:22:49
And you have to be able to. To find ways to build those into your calendar, just like you are building in meetings and you're building in you know, goal execution, et cetera, because that is a part of how you're going to be able to stay in the game over the long haul. That's so good. Yes. You gave me some new insights, even to what that looks like for me.

00:23:10
And I think everybody listening is probably thinking of those things that drain you and energize you. I had this conversation just yesterday with my college kid who's studying aerospace engineering and like many aerospace engineers you could imagine, has a level of introversion. And so, you know, managing his desire to be social and have friends, but also realizing that, especially because he's like the COVID teenager. You know, all three of mine actually were, like, in those years where you're being supposed to be very social, but you weren't because you were locked down for a year and a half, and then the next year they were masked and all that. And so it's just like everything shifted.

00:23:51
Nothing's been the same. We're almost five years in, and it's still. It's a problem. But, you know, just talking with him about what drains him, what helps him, and, you know, I was even explaining, like, it's okay, I have friends in my life. I have a good friend that works at Apple, and he's like the first to leave our book club on Tuesday nights.

00:24:08
And it's fine. We just know that about him. Like, he is so great in the moment, but he's got finite amount of, like, social energy, and he's like, very good listener and he's a very good friend, and he's all in when he's there, but it's like he stopped out and he's gone. And it's like, bye, we'll see you next time. And it's okay.

00:24:24
I think we all. That's such a good exercise for all of us to figure out what drains us and what doesn't. So that is exactly what I love and I want to see more of us doing. Because you have to lead yourself holistically first. No one else is responsible for that.

00:24:38
Right. Like your friend who leaves a book club early, you could kick him out, or you could be like, hey, I can see it's time for you to go. But, like, he knows I can give my best to this capacity. And then I'm going to need to just hit the eject button and I'm going to need to go home and put myself to bed, because if I'm going to be good for the next day, and I just think, like, if we do more of that, it Changes the culture, it changes the narrative. It opens up more possibility.

00:25:01
It gives other people permission to be able to do the same. And so you have to be able to do that for yourself. And if that feels really, really hard, then take a very small step. You know, do one thing and do it with somebody who is safe or you feel like you can be brave with and be like, I'm just gonna take this one small step. I'm gonna hit the eject button from the book club 30 minutes earlier than everybody else.

00:25:23
I'm gonna bounce as soon as we're done. As soon as we close the book. I'm not gonna stay for the extra 30 minutes of chatting at the end and just giving each other that. That ability to get a win builds confidence, it builds momentum. It creates some of that ability to do it in bigger ways and in more consequential spaces.

00:25:41
Absolutely. Well, I mean, that kind of leads me into my next question for you, which is burnout is real. It's something I talk about just because I've. I happen to have worked in industries. Where it's high burnout.

00:25:53
Right. I'm not working as an air traffic controller, and I have no plans to with the current FAA situation, although I really hope we keep people safe because I fly a lot and fly to London. I'm like, please. But, yeah, I worked disaster relief. That's a high burnout rate.

00:26:08
I lived the nonprofit I worked with in Indonesia. The particular island I worked on, Sumatra, had one of the highest burnout rates. And then I work in tech as a global executive. That's a very high burnout rate, too, as a woman, and so we're seeing that a lot. But how can we avoid, as leaders, burnout, especially in the current reality with all the geopolitical events and all the things we're holding?

00:26:32
Yeah. Okay, so this is not going to be the first thing I'm going to say, but I'm going to say this. One of the ways to lead yourself holistically first is I think we also have to answer the question, what are the things that only I can do? And when you're a leader, when you're a woman, when you're gifted, we think we can do all the things for all the people all of the time, and we just. We can't.

00:26:59
I mean, that's just not human. And so there is very much a discipline and a proper ego check of going, there are things that other people can do that I don't need to do, period. And what's the benefit if I Gain the whole world and lose my soul so there's some self awareness, there's some self leadership in going deal with that first. And the more you have that articulated and it changes in seasons and it changes with capacity levels and all of that. But answering that question fairly rhythmically, you know, from season to season in our life, I think is part of what helps to save us from some of that burnout.

00:27:44
That's a little bit more meta, really. Practically speaking, research shows that your body, the reason why burnout happens is because we are not metabolizing stress. So stress can do one of two things in our bodies. It either metabolizes through our bodies like we metabolize food, or it metastasizes within our bodies like a cancer does. One of two options.

00:28:10
Burnout is the result of stress, unprocessed stress. So we are metastasizing that stress and it is literally killing us. And it is showing up in all sorts of ways, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, relationally, in every single part of ourselves. So science shows that the best way for you to metabolize your stress, to work it through your body is to move your body with an elevated heart rate for 20 to 60 minutes every single day. So I know that there can be some ability challenges with that.

00:28:43
That's the most effective way. There are other ways to metabolize stress, but. But ultimately it is about moving that stress through your body and getting it out through like a good sweat so you can do it in other ways. Laughing, crying, orgasms, all sorts of other ways for you to metabolize that stress through your body. You can figure out other ways, but that's the most effective way, is to move your body at an elevated heart rate for 20 to 60 minutes every single day.

00:29:08
That is the most effective way to avoid burnout. That is such good information. Because we are so sedentary and our lives with long commutes in Silicon valley or on MRTs in Singapore or wherever we are, where we sit a lot and we're, you know, typing and people are getting carpal tunnel. It's just the amount of sitting and all that. We weren't made for that.

00:29:28
We were made to walk. We were made. We were made to move. Like one of our, you know, what do we want our little babies to do? I mean, for me, my twins, it was a competition which twin was gonna walk first.

00:29:36
And they love that whole story, but. Well, one of them does the one that won, right? They're very competitive. But yeah, we were made to walk and made to Move. And yet so much of our lives, especially our work lives, increasingly has us in front of screens.

00:29:52
And our phones were designed. I mean, I. I know these people in Silicon Valley that design these things. We're in this, like, you know, it's attention. Our attention is a commodity, and they want us on our phones.

00:30:04
And it's like, there's money if we just pick it up that gets, you know, exchanged. And so it is so hard, increasingly hard to carve out time for movement, and takes so much intentionality, and it feels like an impossible thing. But I hope listeners, wherever you are in your world, you're hearing this, whether you have to buy a little, you know, treadmill that they sell and hopefully walking underneath. Yeah, you can put them under your desk or put them under your bed or walk around your kitchen table. I mean, it's.

00:30:33
It's really hard. Or if you have a local ymca, if you're in the United States, I know sometimes people can get even really cheap if you're, you know, if you just lost your job, sometimes there's financial scholarships for that, but just to move in a pool if you have some differences. But it's hard. I mean, I'm. I'm saying this to myself because I also struggle and have to really work hard at that, and I don't always do well.

00:30:53
Yeah. So here could be a mindset shift. Um, you said this is really hard, like, four times as you just responded to talking about, like, the realities that we are in. Right. Um, it is hard, but what else is it?

00:31:09
It is an opportunity. The alternative is disease and burnout and mismanaged relationships and long work hours and unhappiness. It is also possibility. It creates strength. It helps you to sleep better.

00:31:27
So anytime, like, I. I start hearing words like, this is really hard, or it's impossible, or like, the odds are stacked against us, I go, okay, this. That's like a little bit of a warning sign to go, okay, but what else is. Is it. What is on the other side of that?

00:31:41
Because if you lean into the hard, you continue to push into the hard, and then you don't do it because it's like, it's too hard. It's too hard. There's too many obstacles. There's too many barriers. There's too many reasons.

00:31:50
I can't. But if we can shift the mindset into what else is it? Then it opens up creativity and possibility and even desire to do it because you're like, oh, my gosh, if I am avoiding burnout, if I am more energized what are the benefits that exist for me there? And that's how human behavior works. We run towards those pleasures.

00:32:15
We want to avoid pain. And so shifting the conversation from it is hard to it is filling. What else could it be for you? I mean, just. Can I put you on the spot?

00:32:25
Oh, 100%. What else is it for you? Yeah. No, I love this mindset shift. This is very exciting for me as an eight.

00:32:31
I love challenging. And I know that you're like, we're challenging each other. Same, same. This is my sweet spot for another enneagram8woman. I think that when I shift it, like, springtime's a little easier for me now that I've been living in the US For a few years, and I'm starting to finally figure out seasons.

00:32:47
Although I'm still. It's still hard for me. California's still weird. I know. So, I mean, like, for example, it's been raining this week, but I love the flowers in my neighborhood.

00:32:56
And one of the things I enjoy about springtime here is I want to be out walking around my beautiful neighborhood. I live in a beautiful community. We have a lot of rose gardens and just beautiful flowers. And so that is something I want to do. And I actually listen to podcasts.

00:33:14
So if you're listening to this podcast and you have an opportunity to get outside while you're listening to it, put your earbuds in and just go for a walk. Or after you've listened to the podcast, invite your family member or your friend, your neighbor, your maybe your spouse to go walk and talk about the things that you learned in this episode. I love. I'm a quality time, love language person. So if I can walk with someone else, like my husband or one of my kids, I just.

00:33:39
That's so much more fun for me. Yeah. And that, I feel like, also even cycles us back to the beginning of when they're. When we're in this season or in seasons where there is chaos, overwhelm, loss, uncertainty. Connecting ourselves back to nature and to beauty is really important.

00:34:02
Like, it does so much for our minds, for our emotions, for our relational world. I mean, there's. There's so many benefits. Science has proved all it 100 times over like that. That being in beauty is so important for our soul's health.

00:34:17
And so, yeah, I think you kind of just took us full circle and it's not. It's not hard. It actually is. It's beautiful. It's wonderful.

00:34:23
It's in. It's an. It's expanding like we've talked about earlier too. Well, I'm living proof of that because it actually helped me heal from my trauma. I go to the cliffs in Santa Cruz, which is not far from my house, and I, when people ask me like during that time, where was I going to church?

00:34:38
I was like on the cliffs of Santa Cruz with my bible and like a cup of coffee. And it was just the beauty of nature that God put there to help us heal. And I am a firm believer in that. And the redwoods, the forest bathing, all of that has been so I'm really blessed, so privileged to live where I live. It's a beautiful place and I hope wherever you are, you can find that beauty that April's talking about.

00:35:01
Okay. So I want people to know where to find you and any fun, like freebies or things you want to advertise, this is your moment. Yeah. So I mean, azarendco.com is the best place. E z e r dash a n d c o dot com.

00:35:16
It's my website. We're in the middle of a brand new website so you can keep checking back. It's going to be much better than it is now, but that's the best place to find me. I'm on LinkedIn. Would love to connect with any of y'all on the LinkedIn space.

00:35:28
And then like I mentioned earlier, this energy expanders exercise I think would be really valuable. Like if you are feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, stretched thin, feeling like there's just like pent up energies, you know, stress that needs to be metabolized. That energy exercise is so practical, it's helpful, it's super simple, but it'll give you some actionable next steps and really simple shifts to be able to do. So we'll link that in the show notes. It's also available on our website and it's just a really helpful guide to get you moving in a different direction.

00:35:59
And like I said in the beginning too, you shift your trajectory and you wind up in a different destination. And I just am a big believer that you always have the capacity and the control to be able to shift your trajectory a little bit and be in a much better place down the road. Thank you, friend. You are a beautiful soul and you're doing so such good work in the world. I'm so grateful for you and I appreciate you so much.

00:36:23
Thanks for being on the show today. Thanks, friend. Wow. Just wow. If you're not feeling fired up after that conversation with April Díaz, check your polls for real.

00:36:35
This is what leadership should look like wholeness energy, stepping into your full potential without burning out. And listen, since we're celebrating Women's History Month, so let's get real for a second. As women, we've been conditioned to push through, to give, to hustle sometimes, and oftentimes at the expense of our own well being. But here's the truth. Taking care of yourself isn't selfish, it's strategic.

00:37:03
It's how we stop sprinting and start running the marathon of leadership. So here's the next step. April mentioned an incredible free energy exercise to help you recharge and show up as your best self. It's linked in the show notes, so check it out. Do not skip this.

00:37:21
If you are serious about leveling up and about leading from a place of strength and wholeness, start here. We also have an amazing recording with her in our Patreon community. So if you get a patreon www.patreon.com aworldofdifference. You will find this episode with her so raw and vulnerable and just an actual it's worth so much. I.

00:37:50
I don't even know how to. Put a price on the conversation that I had with her because there were like two different moments and this even a short conversation where we both just teared up about the things that she's been through, her own health journey, the things that absolutely tried to take her out. And if you've ever been in a health situation, a health crisis that absolutely kicked your butt, then you will relate to this because she talks about some very vulnerable, deep longings of her soul that was crying out and what that was like for her and what she did in that time to reconfigure how she lives and how she leads and that kind of diamond that only comes out of just years and years of just being buried underneath the surface that erupts with this violence volcanic eruption into something so priceless and beautiful can only be birthed out of the fire of. That kind of experience. And she actually shares that so vulnerably with us on our Patreon community.

00:38:53
So you can see the link to our Patreon community also in the show notes. It's called Difference Makers. For all of you difference makers are welcome to join and consider this your invitation. We are waiting for you there in this exclusive episode together because I don't want you to miss what she has to say. It was truly impactful for me, not only because I've watched her go through that journey, but because the way she puts words to it now and how she explains it Like I said, is just absolute gold.

00:39:21
The kind that only comes from a. Fire that you've been through. So if this episode that you're listening to hit home for you, please think of five friends that need to hear it and share it with them. It really can make a difference in our friends lives if we just have even a small bit of connection like this. There's a lot of science that's beginning to show us that because of our attention being a commodity that is sold here in Silicon Valley, from moments where you pick up your phone or go to a particular app, especially in social media, that people are just being drawn to all types of things that may or may not be good for us.

00:39:56
But if this episode has been something that's been life giving for you, that's transformed you even in a small way, or certainly if it's been in a big way, there is some research that shows that a friendship can really be more sustained and cultivated if we have these small little bids for connection. And it could be as simple as sending somebody a text to say, I was thinking about you when I listened this episode. I thought it might, you know, spur on a conversation or even not just. Leave it at that. Just thought of you when I heard this episode.

00:40:22
Share it with five friends who need to hear it today. And that is a way that you can not only allow this conversation to make a difference for you, but you can make a difference for others. That's what we're all about in this community, this whole ecosystem that we're building here. So tag me, tag April Díaz and let's keep the conversation going. Because when we show up fully charged, we change everything.

00:40:43
I'll see you in the next episode. Hey friend, let's talk. If you've been feeling stuck, uninspired or just plain over it in your career, this is your wake up call. It's time to stop waiting for that right moment and start making moves. Because no one is coming to rescue you.

00:41:00
If you want to check out the Mastering the Career Pivot. My brand new masterclass is designed to help you take control of your career pivot with confidence and land a job you actually love. This isn't some fluffy follow your dreams nonsense. This is real strategy to get unstuck and take action now. Right now, here's what you get.

00:41:20
One hour of video training with me, breaking down the exact steps you need to take. One hour or maybe two hours depending on your process of self paced exercises to map out your career pivot. Plan a free career pivot guide to walk you through the process, a clear, actionable roadmap so you can stop second guessing and start making moves. And if you want to go even deeper, you can grab the Pivot package. A powerful set of tools, including a detailed workbook and three must have spreadsheets to track your job search, networking and applications like a pro.

00:41:50
And let me just say, if you're going out there expecting to just apply for a job, the first job, and get it, maybe you're one of those people and maybe you do. But if you're like most of the rest of us, you get a job based on people you know. And statistically speaking, that's true, as well as in my own lived experience and career journey. So networking is really a huge part of it, but a lot of us don't know how. And so a spreadsheet where you can track that, break it down, figure out what to talk about.

00:42:14
I have some sample interview questions or you can do informational interviews. There's so much there in the Pivot package that is part of my own journey that helped me when I did a career pivot several years ago. So here's the deal. This course will save you hours of frustration, second guessing and aimless scrolling on job boards. Not helpful.

00:42:30
You don't have time to waste and your future is waiting. So let's get after it. Go to loriadamsbrown.com careerpivot and sign up for Mastering the Career Pivot today. Because your next chapter, it's not going to write itself. Before we go, I just want to take a moment to thank.

00:42:46
Thank you. Yes, you. The fact that you're here, tuning in, leaning into these conversations and doing the hard and beautiful work of making a difference in this world, it means everything to me in this episode. If it spoke to you, if it brought you healing, hope, or even just a new perspective, I'd love for you to help us spread the word. Subscribe to the podcast, leave us a review and share this episode with someone you think might need to hear it.

00:43:16
Your support helps this community grow and also helps us to keep having these important conversations. You are such a vital part of this journey and every time you listen, every time you share, you remind me of why we do this. Because you are out there making a difference in your own beautiful, messy and imperfect way. And that that matters more than you know. So thank you for being here, thank you for showing up, and thank you for making the world a little brighter, a little kinder, and a little more whole.

00:43:49
Until next time, take care of yourself and keep making a difference. You are loved.