E291: “Chronically Curious” – Sarah Noll Interview

I got completely inspired by this conversation with Sarah Noll Wilson, and I bet you will too.  Sarah is an executive coach, an author, and an entrepreneur with over 15 years’ experience in leadership roles. Beyond that, she has a creative background as she studied theatre in her undergrad.  In this episode, we talk about how she was diagnosed with panic disorder in 2013, and how that was the impetus for her to learn a multitude of coping mechanisms, including mindfulness techniques.  That experience truly set her on the path to writing the book, “Don’t Talk About the Elephant”, and informing her current style of coaching and way of being present with life.    KEY TAKEAWAYS- gratitude (and better coping mechanisms) to deal with stress are like muscles, it will be a while of in-depth practice before they get automatic. If you have problems with avoidance – avoiding conflict, avoiding challenging situations, etc. – the ability to observe it will help you deconstruct its power on you in those situations where it gets triggered.  A lot of adults raised in a Western, North American way don’t necessarily know who they are, because we’ve been conditioned to look at outside metrics, which confuses us on a deep level. To get back to ourselves, we need to learn how to be vulnerable. Vulnerability leads to authenticity.    BEST MOMENTS - “I know that I don't have myself figured out that I never will. Because, again, internally, externally, we're constantly evolving. I'm… not naive enough to know that. ‘Yeah, I've got it figured out.’ It's like, ‘oh, I got this figured out. And then I'll figure this out.’ And then I'll realize 10 more doors I need to go into.”  “What I learned in my work is, when we are talking about topics such as avoidance of connection, avoidance of conversations, avoidance of a vulnerability, it raises the emotional heat -- because the emotional heats already in the room. And so, what I've discovered in my work is sometimes when we can take a topic that's hard, and just give it a little lightness, a little playfulness, a little levity. It can make it easier for people to say, ‘oh, yeah, me too’.” “There's a beautiful mantra that I hold with me for my theater days. But it applies in these moments, which is have the discipline to learn the lines, and then have the faith to forget them. And the idea is like: ‘do your work to know your role, your part, your character at such a level that you don't have to worry about it… you can just be, you can just come from that moment.” “I don't want to talk about the weather. I want to talk about what's been hard or what's been amazing and to have people pause, and be heard and think in a way that they don't normally.”ABOUT THE GUEST  With 15+ years in leadership development, Sarah earned a Master of Science degree from Drake University in Leadership Development, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Northern Iowa in Theatre Performance. She is certified in co-active coaching, conversational intelligence, and is a frequent guest lecturer at universities. Sarah is an executive coach, a motivational speaker, and a specialist in helping people implement skills to overcome panic and ADHD. When she isn’t helping people build and rebuild relationships, she lives in Des Moines Iowa with her husband Nick. She enjoys playing games with Nick and cuddling with their two fur babies, Seymour and Sally. CONTACT METHOD Sarah’s website https://sarahnollwilson.com/ Sarah on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahnollwilson/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahnollwilson https://www.instagram.com/sarahnollwilson/- Sarah’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sarah.nollwilson Sarah on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahnollwilson/ Buy “Don’t Feed the Elephants” on Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09NBC14N6?keywords=sarah%20noll%20wilson&geniuslink=true ABOUT THE HOST  The ‘Mighty Pete Lonton’ from the ‘Mighty 247’ company is your main host of ‘Fire in The Belly’.  Pete is an entrepreneur, mentor, coach, property Investor, and father of three beautiful girls. Pete’s background is in project management and property, but his true passion is the ‘Fire in The Belly’ project itself. His mission is to help others find their potential and become the mightiest version of themselves. Pete openly talks about losing both of his parents, suffering periods of depression, business downturn and burn-out, and ultimately his years spent not stoking ‘Fire in the Belly’. In 2017, at 37 years of age that changed, and he is now on a journey of learning, growing, accepting, and inspiring others. Pete can connect with people and intuitively asks questions to reveal a person’s passion and discover how to live their mightiest life. The true power of ‘Fire in The Belly’ is the Q&A’s - Questions and Actions section.  The ‘Fire in The Belly’ brand and the programme is rapidly expanding into podcasts, seminars, talks, business workshops, development courses, and rapid results mentoring. CONTACT METHOD https://www.facebook.com/mightypetelonton/ https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mightypete https://www.facebook.com/groups/430218374211579/ Support the show: https://www.facebook.com/groups/430218374211579/