Debra Kasowski

EPISODE 504 – Never Give Up. Never Give In.

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In this inspiring episode of Debra Kasowski’s podcast, she sits down with Lori-Ann Muenzer, Canada’s first Olympic Gold medal cyclist, to explore the powerful theme of overcoming the inner critic. Together, they discuss how this relentless voice can hinder personal growth and the importance of stepping beyond ordinary limits to achieve extraordinary feats. Lori-Ann shares her journey of defying expectations and breaking barriers in her sport, emphasizing that embracing vulnerability and self-compassion are crucial in silencing self-doubt. Tune in to discover practical strategies for transforming your inner dialogue and unleashing your full potential!

#loriannmuenzer #debrakasowski #motivation In a cycling career that has spanned 20 years, Lori-Ann Muenzer has seen it all. The glory of winning more than a dozen national titles. But there has been defeat and injuries too: Broken bones. Wrecked knees. Fatigue and exhaustion. The list goes on and on.

When Lori-Ann decided to win an Olympic Gold Medal, everyone said, ‘that’s…. impossible.’ She was 38 years old, working full-time, and racing against competitors half her age. Instead of quitting, she raised the bar and decided to quality for the Olympic Games. At 38 years old, Lori-Ann took on the world and WON Canada’s 1st Olympic Gold Medal in cycling at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. As a result of winning Olympic Gold, Lori-Ann is • a Business Mindset Skills Expert teaching entrepreneurs and organizations how to accelerate and achieve their goals in 6-12 months by shifting just 1 thing. • Co-founder of a children’s cycling program called LAMP—the Lori-Ann Muenzer Program • the Author of One Gear, No Breaks –which is available on Amazon

She is also the Holder of • 13 Canadian National titles • 6 World Championship medals • 11 World Cup medals • 3 Commonwealth Games medals • a 2x Olympian • has been inducted into 3 Halls of Fame Stay Connected with Lori-Ann Muenzer: Instagram  @LoriAnnMuenzer  Website: www.lori-annmuenzer.com

Debra Kasowski is the charismatic podcast host of The Millionaire Woman Show, 3X Best Selling Author, Speaker, and Certified Executive Coach. She interviews incredible speakers, authors, CEO, Business and Organizational Leaders and drops solo episodes with tips, strategies, and techniques for your success. *GET YOUR GIFT* Sign up for our Success Secrets Newsletter and download your FREE 10-page PDF of Reset Your Mindset at www.debrakasowski.com.

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1. Connect with Debra Kasowski on social media / debrakasowski / debrakasowski / debrakasowskiinternational / debrakasowski

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3. PURCHASE Debra’s books – Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your favourite bookstore GPS Your Best Life – Debra Kasowski & Charmaine Hammond The Entrepreneurial Mom’s Guide to Growing a Business, Raising a Family, and Creating a Life You Love Let’s Be Curious: Ask the Right Questions Get Better Answers, and Create What You Want

Slowing Down to Speed Up

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Does the thought of slowing down make you feel anxious or break out in hives? What if I told you that slowing down can actually alleviate these feelings? Do you think that slowing down will interrupt your momentum? In fact, it can give you a chance to regroup and refocus. Are you afraid that slowing down will force you to have time with your thoughts? Embracing this time can bring clarity and peace.

The thought of slowing down seems paradoxical compared to speeding up and what you think you should or could be doing. That’s the key. What do you believe you should or could be doing? Have you been conditioned to fill every moment of your day? Have you gotten caught up in society’s busyness?

Many people are caught up in the busyness of their lives and not nearly feeling as productive as they would like. The term “busyness” tends to carry different definitions for different people. For some individuals, busyness means being engrossed or focused on a particular task. For others, they may think that busyness is switching from 1 task to another. Researchers state that people focus on their priorities and not multitask to be productive.

Do you often find yourself worrying about not having enough time? This fear can be a powerful motivator but can also lead to a sense of overwhelm. Remembering that time is a resource we can manage, not a force beyond our control, is essential. Taking control of your time is not just a possibility, it’s an empowerment that can reduce these overwhelming feelings.

Charles Buxton said, “You will never have enough time for anything; if you want time, you must make it.”

In his book, The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level, Gay Hendricks introduces the concept of ‘Einstein time ‘. This idea challenges us to see time not as an external force but as a resource we create within ourselves. When we grasp this, we can break free from a victim mentality and take control of our time, using it to align with our priorities and values.

People often fall into a victim mentality when they feel a sense of lack, particularly a lack of time to do what they wish. However, when people take ownership of their time, they realize they can significantly reduce the time required to do what is essential to them. This shift in perspective can empower them to make the most of their time and achieve their goals.

Hendricks challenges us to change our relationship with time by not complaining about the amount of time we have. Pay attention to how many times you catch yourself saying things like:

  • “I wish I had more time to…”
  • “Where did the time go?’
  • “I would love to chat, but…”

Is it about not having the time or that the topic is not at the top of your priority list?

How does this relate to slowing down?

Thinking Time

Slowing down allows you to think about what you think about. It’s a chance to step back, gain perspective, and reevaluate. When you get caught up in the busyness of life, you run on autopilot without even examining where your thoughts and beliefs come from. Slowing down can change that.

Slowing down allows you to reflect on where you are spending your time and whether you are allotting it to your priorities and goals, giving away your time to please others, avoiding conflict, or feeling obligated.

Insights and Solutions

The process of slowing things down provides an opportunity for insight and creative solutions. Think about it: the brain is constantly stimulated by the environment by our laptops, cell phones, radio, and conversations. When does it have time to think? When you give your brain some downtime, the most amazing insights surface.

This is why I love coaching. It allows me to help people slow down to examine their thoughts and gain insights they otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to capture. This exercise of slowing down helps them understand what could be holding them back and what actions are required to move forward with decisiveness and intention.

Depth of Conversations

Another concept I love about time is that allowing us or giving others time to think or express themselves before answering the question can lead to deeper conversations. I read about teachers giving students extra time to respond to a question in one study. The average expected response was one second or less, during which the teacher asked the following question: This was barely enough time for a student to articulate their thoughts. When teachers started to pause for up to three seconds or longer to allow a student to respond, the researchers noted that the number and kind of questions shifted to ones, asking for clarification and elaboration. The interesting thing to note here is that teachers expected students’ performance to improve.

Be More Present

Slowing down helps you to enjoy some of the smaller things in life that you might miss when you are going at full speed. Are you able to have a conversation with someone without thinking about what’s next or where you must be? When your mind is racing with ideas and subsequent actions, you sabotage your effectiveness. Allow yourself to be present wherever you are or with whoever you are with.

Slowing down can be as simple as pausing and giving yourself five to 10 minutes between meetings. It could look like some journaling time at the end of the day. Slowing down could mean savoring your coffee or tea in the morning as you sit and contemplate your day. Slowing down can also look like taking yourself on a mini retreat by walking in nature, visiting a local museum, or going away for a few days. This process allows you to connect with your priorities, become more decisive, generate new ideas, and be present with the most important people, places, and things.

Slowing down can accelerate your most extraordinary growth.

Start Your Leadership Journey Now

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Start Your Leadership Journey Now with Debra Kasowski In this video, Debra Kasowski starts off with a profound quote by basketball star, LeBron James quote, “Leadership is not a sometimes thing it’s an everyday thing.” Leadership is about being a role model and providing mentorship, being flexible and adaptable, taking control of your own growth while fostering the development of others, and working toward a common goal. The right time to begin your leadership journey is NOW.

5 Ways to Live in Flow and Achieve Great Things

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Photo Credit – Vy Catherine Vu

I know you might be saying to yourself, “Who, me? Live in flow and achieve great things! Have you seen my life?” I have coached many people who see their situations and say, “But, this is going on…” or “What if this happens? or “How can I do this, when this is going on…” YES, and great things can be and are being achieved by people in those situations every single day, even by you.

1.    Be Intentional.

One of the most critical things about achieving success is being intentional with your choices and your actions. When you make decisions based on what’s most important to you – based on your values, you will align with who you say you are and want to be.

2.    Be Open to Hidden Opportunities.

Please pay attention to the information or feedback that you receive through your interactions or situations that come up. You may find an interaction or situation uncomfortable because it gives you an opportunity to use your voice, share new ideas, or even take a stand for something you believe in. The opportunity may be letting go of a belief that you feel that you’re not enough in a certain area.

3.    Feel All the Feels

You have a range of emotions. You may be choosing to avoid feeling those emotions because they make you uncomfortable or you feel out of control. Your feelings are giving you information which leads to better decision-making. If you want to understand your feelings, pay attention to what you were thinking before the feeling. Sky Nelson-Issacs said in his book, Living Flow: The Science of Synchronicity and How Your Choices Shape the World, “Our feelings drive the events in our lives.”

4.    Trust the Process

Sometimes the more you want control over situations the less control you have. Having a sense of control gives you a sense of certainty and predictability and you know life doesn’t work that way. Focus on trusting that your intentional efforts and actions will lead you to the outcomes that you desire or better.

5.    Do More of What You Love

Doing more of what you love allows you to feel more confident and competent in trusting in your abilities. You possess far more greatness than you give yourself credit for. Build a life that you love and do meaningful work that doesn’t feel like work and matters to you. Schedule your calendar with the intention and anticipating life’s greatest adventure on your terms.

The Importance of Self-Discovery and Being Yourself

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Photo Credit: Cherise Arcand

Endless possibilities begin with self-discovery.

Self-discovery is a process of deepening your understanding of yourself through self-reflection, exploration, and learning and growth. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Insist on yourself; never imitate.” Each of us has unique gifts to share with the world.

Have you ever been in a cycle of comparing yourself to others? It is human nature to compare yourself to others as a barometer of how you are showing up in the world. In fact, you may have experienced it with your parents or a teacher expressing, “Why aren’t you more like…?” Why? Because you are not! You are on your own journey just as they are on theirs. What you are good at may not be what another person is good at. We were not all meant to be the same. If you attempt to imitate someone, you can lose your own identity. This is why you must insist on being your authentic self!

Research shows that social media can be problematic as it can lead to social comparison that can be linked to negative psychological outcomes such as low self-esteem and depression. Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, “envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide.” When you start comparing yourself to others, you lose sight of your own uniqueness, talents, and gifts that are part of your own greatness. Jealousy is a call for action as it suggests that you want for yourself what another has. Envy is not healthy as it can be an obsession over wanting to be, do, or have what another has. Every time you imitate another person. you lose a piece of yourself and eventually, you may no longer know yourself to be you. It is important to acknowledge when you see social media posts of others that you are observing moments of time and not someone’s entire life journey.

Self-Reflection In a world where individuals can be quick to offer their opinions, you need to be able to use discernment. If you attempt to navigate your path based on other’s opinions, you can get to a point where you feel you have lost your way. One day, one person offers you one opinion. The next day someone else may offer theirs, and it can feel like there is a moving target. You may feel that you are getting caught up in societal expectations versus what may be best for you.

Self-reflection is truly about learning about yourself – your wants and desires, your likes, and dislikes, your strengths and weaknesses. who you are as a person, and what you want to be, do, or have. Discover what is working for you and what is not working for you. You may need to change patterns, habits, or routines. Journalling is one tool I recommend to my clients to help them to reflect and understand themselves better.

Exploration Nobody knows what your gifts are until you share them. You only know what you currently know. The more you expose yourself to new situations and experiences, the more you learn about yourself. Exploration requires that you step out of your comfort zone to try new things. How do you know what you like or dislike if you have never tried it? You might take a solo trip or go for dinner by yourself. You might take a pottery or painting class or even learn a new language. You might take a singing lesson or take on a leadership position. How do you know what you are capable of until you put yourself in the position to find out? People often underestimate themselves more than they over-estimate themselves.

Learning and Growth As you explore your opportunities, you will make mistakes along the way. Some people will see it as a failure. Failure is necessary for success. There are no true failures when you learn and grow from your experiences and circle back to discovering more about yourself and what to do and not to do. There is a richness of knowledge you can take away.

You can support your learning and growth in many ways: volunteering, reading books and industry articles, listening to podcasts or audiobooks, taking courses or workshops, attending conferences, networking with others, or participating in fitness or other group activities.

Your path is your path. Take time to reflect on what you want for yourself. Listen to other people’s opinions with discernment, curiosity, and caution. Explore what you are capable of, you may surprise yourself! Commit to continuous learning and keep a growth mindset.

Above all, insist on yourself! It takes courage to be who you are! You are braver than you think! Discover the best version of you!