Hello and welcome to today's episode.
I'm your host, Joy Pereira, and I'm so pleased to be bringing you the very best ideas and interviews in this podcast, Nerds of Joy, to broker and grow your digital strategy, amplify your business, and broadcast yourself with less fear, to create real life opportunities for greater success, and intentionally design the life that you deserve.
It's long overdue, right?So sit back, listen curiously, and enjoy the show. Hey entrepreneurs, the first rule of the game is it's so important to surround yourself with the right people that have done the things you want to do.
People that can mentor and encourage you on this wild journey of entrepreneurship. I know I was obsessed with knowing the exact play-by-play required to take the leap, but this was not exactly the best way to think.
There was a lot of work to do in the early days.One of the best lessons I learnt from one of my early mentors, Randy Zuckerberg, was that you don't always have to follow a linear path.
Joy, hi, it's Randi.I just wanted to say, I can't believe it's only been one year since we first met in Australia.Jim and I were so lucky to have met you and to have you helping to build ZI with us now.
And we're so excited to work with you and help you find your way as an entrepreneur.So I can't wait to see you on the call later today.
I know it's going to be super crazy hour for you, but please know your commitment does not go unnoticed and we super appreciate you.
In careers and business, we are so obsessed with knowing the next right move that sometimes we're afraid to take the leap or seize the opportunities that are presented in front of us for fear of messing up.Essentially, that's it.
Some sort of fear bubbling from within.And so we talk ourselves out of life-changing opportunity and label it with all the negatives, which are simply repackaged excuses driven by fear.
We might say it's not challenging enough, not enough money, the people are horrible, it's not going to look good on my resume and so on.
But sometimes some of the opportunities you think are not really for you could actually be the tonic you need for your ails, your stagnation, your feelings of unworthiness or being stuck in a current role.
Sometimes we need to find the joy in a new situation.Sometimes we need to branch out and do something that is a little scary to retrain or stretch out a current way of thinking.
And if you are a people pleaser or someone that really worries about what others think, or you're worried about the optics of it all, then this episode is for you.Going out on your own is a hard thing.
Being an individual or pushing up against the grain can be difficult, because not only do you have to contend with the thousands of thoughts knocking around in your monkey mind or the judgment from other people, but the self-criticism you yield
with great power or velocity internally, and that is the worst kind of self-loathing.Just the language of calling yourself a loser is the cognitive bash-up that can dampen your spirits.
It's okay to feel a little weathered or beaten, but to beat yourself up and believe it? is next level, and something that I've worked hard not to do.But in honest disclosure, I did do it often.
It was symptomatic of my perfectionism, as well as an industry that uses phrases such as, you're only as good as your last gig.It's really horrible how we eat ourselves to deliver.
There is a big shift in the mind to go from fixed mindset to growth mindset, but this episode is not about all that.So if you need, check out a few videos online to become more agile in your thinking. Go for it, but beware.
Often, the influences giving the breakdowns and solutions are all about pitching you.
I've been reflecting on some of the big and audacious moves I've made in the past few years, often without a safety net, and something I would have not dared to do 10 years ago.
It's been fraught with worry, self-doubt, but also with incredible wins, turbo-charged growth and personal development, and some amazing new connections.
I spent a lot of time wondering if we truly can connect online to forge deeper connection and business.And it was something I was doing that was so totally foreign to my creative arts industry I'd been working in for over 20 years.
Then the pandemic hit and suddenly, literally, the connected world had to go online to do business, classes, catch-ups, you know the drill, because you lived it. So how did you come out on the other side of this never-ending pandemic, in a lockdown?
Did you use the opportunity to rest and recalibrate?Did you take like a duck to water with tech?Were you able to see new opportunities in the digital world or re-skill with the extra time of not having to be stuck in traffic for three hours each day?
See, this was a time where change or adaptation was essential.There were protocols to adhere to and an evolution of the way we do things.
It was an opportunity to develop and improve the mind, body and soul, although some people also experienced severe hardship and loss.
Some of us got really sick, including myself with COVID, and it was a reality check to see how very fragile life can be and what's most important.I've been thinking about the frame of mind we need to do new and difficult things.
What if we were working towards something?How very disciplined do you have to be to qualify to be an athlete at the Olympics?
The dedication, drive, physicality, training, discipline, mindset, and focus to get yourself across the line, to be judged, win, score, or be the fastest, to be a champion.
As a little creative artist growing up, I was not that much into sports, except for skateboarding and snowboarding.But as a shy thing and as a girl, there were not really these things available to me in the burbs of Sydney.
The community did not exist for me, and so I was a lone skater girl, freestyling up and down the long driveway of our house.
I'd sometimes try to do more difficult tricks, but honestly, my inspiration was mostly built by watching Marty McFly, because we didn't have these kinds of sports on TV, and there was no internet or YouTube videos as we know it today.
I look at the little 14 or 15-year-olds competing for their countries at the Paris Olympics, and I smile.I'm so proud of them, their tenacity, and I understand the immense pressure they feel to nail their tricks in front of a global audience.
They want to medal.So if we don't have the opportunity, community or drive, how do we rise to do more and be better?The Olympic motto, sitius altius fortius, faster, higher, stronger, is something I learned in the year 2000.
See, I was a young thing and got the role of production manager across many Olympic sports.The only sport I knew through and through was tennis.Because of that summer, I was obsessed with the Australian Open and Stefan Edberg.
I can't believe I just voiced that on my podcast, but here we are. I went for the interview as I'd been invited by a sports manager that had worked with me in a creative capacity at the Sydney Opera House, so unbeknownst to me, I was a shoe-in.
I was employed by the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games for close to two years in the lead-up and presentation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and it was a massive learning curve.
I had to work out the creative segments across so many sports I had never seen in real life, and work with the sporting bodies, federations, logistics, protocol, infrastructure, emergency services and more.
We had meetings with over 100 people in them spilling beyond the biggest boardroom table I'd ever seen.So my point here is sport was something I'd never imagined doing, nor understanding.
But I was able to bring the creativity for the spectators and build a synergy with the sporty people.
It was a curation of music, announcers, scripts, animations, creative moments, medal ceremonies, and ideas to make the energy within the room or in the venue electric.It was taking the leap and going for it.
And what I discovered is that it was possible to apply a creative lens to the sports.
It was all part of the groundwork in me creating the juj or mojo of other events I'd eventually creatively produce, and they were skills that would be used in the live event world.It didn't always have to be jazz hands, high kicks and thespians.
It could be rowing or volleyball, cycling, canoe, kayak, slalom or athletics.See, that was a brain change and a way of thinking.
We pen ourselves into very specific roles because it's what we've been trained in, studied at university for, or what we've done.But what if we were open to the possibility of doing something different?
I certainly couldn't be a granny on stage, stage managing a massive rock gig with 16-hour days, back-to-back for months on end, touring internationally anymore.
Let me be a crystal ball to those of you that think you are indispensable, not looking after yourselves or have a very rigid way of how you present yourself to the world.Our priorities shift.What once was exciting might have become humdrum.
And when you know better, you do better. I guess what I'm saying here is to get out and try to dabble in some things that are interesting to you.
Often we're so busy for the paycheck work that we deny the opportunity for evolution and we dismiss it as folly.I sound ancient using that word, but I love it.Folly, frivolous, fraternizing, yeah.
Grab a pen, write this pearl of wisdom down that I'm about to drop. I now know every deviation or detour is a possibility for something new.Seize it, be open to the opportunities, or make your own.
We have a brilliant window of time to reach higher or do other things. Imagine the integration of mind, body and spirit being one with yourself.Totally calm, focused and open to the new.
Like the meddling athletes, it takes time, dedication, practice and all comes together in that very moment.Some are left heartbroken. What might you do today to feel that joy of achievement?
Something hard won that brings you great success and satisfaction, that makes you proud and grateful for the opportunities.Don't let a new possibility slip away.I'll see you next time.
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If you know this episode could help a friend, please share it with them right away to spread the joy and follow me on my Instagram at joypererecreative to see what I'm up to and to find out how to work with me. Thanks for listening.
I love producing this podcast, and I really want you to have the digital gains you deserve.
I'll be bringing you more of the very best conversations and stories to exchange ideas, nail your time, and hit your goals for optimal results in your work, life, and business.It is within you.Don't just sit there.Be curious.Curate your life.
