Episode #3: Emily Guerra

Hugo: [00:00:00] all right, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the tracking happiness podcast. And today I’m here with, uh, Emily Guerra. Am I pronouncing that right?

Emily: Emily Guerra.

Hugo: Oh, Guerra. All right. Yeah. So see, I’m from the Netherlands. So last names are not my strong suit, even though I have an impossible last name. To pronounce.

Um, uh, but yeah, so last year we did the interview for Emily. Um,

Emily: hmm.

Hugo: what was the date again? You were, you were way better prepared than I am.

Emily: Yeah. June 13th, 2023. So quite literally a year ago this month, which feels just so full circle.

Hugo: Cool. Yeah. All right. So lots to talk about, I guess. Um, but for our listeners and viewers out there, um, yeah, this podcast is about mental health struggles, or at least overcoming them or learning to live with them. Um, so yeah, that’s what we’re going to talk about. So to get us started, um, [00:01:00] Emily, um, who are you?

Where are you from? Uh, how are you doing? And what do you do?

Emily: Good question. So my name is Emily Guerra. I am the founder of the productivity flow and I am a certified productivity life coach. And what does that actually mean though? So I focus on empowering self employed women and overcoming different mindset hurdles as well as optimizing. Their systems, tools, habits, and routines.

So that way they can not just boost productivity, but actually live out that work from home lifestyle that they dream of. And so I have a website, a blog, an online course, a bunch of coaching programs, and I offer a ton of freebies and free tricks through text messages every week. If you are so interested, you can totally sign up for that on my website. Um, but really like, what am I all about? I am all about. It’s about meshing mindset and productivity systems and hacks, which is really not a natural mesh for a lot of people. But that’s why I love it because I so believe that [00:02:00] our thoughts and our emotions really guide our actions and our actions guide our results.

So in reality, it’s our thoughts and our emotions guiding our results. And so how do we optimize that and how do we overcome our own internal hurdles? That’s really what I focus on. Bye.

Hugo: Wow.

Emily: Oh,

Hugo: and this is where I, as a terrible podcast host shine through with my awkwardness and my weird questions, but I, I didn’t notice the single, um, in there, um, my last guest was the same. Like I asked, how are you? And it was just as perfect. Perfect introduction. Like, wow, that, that sounded really good.

Um,

Emily: say fair

Hugo: Yeah. Um, second, um, feels like we skipped towards chapter 10. Um, so yeah, lots to unpack. Uh, I’m sure we’ll get to that, but, um, where, where, um, so, [00:03:00] all right. Sorry. Um, where you’re from the States. Um,

obviously.

Emily: I totally skipped that part. I am from the States. I live in Los Angeles, California, born and raised.

Hugo: Born and raised in California, Los Angeles. Yeah, cool. I, I, I, I visited once. Um, cool city, lots of cool people. It feels like, um, like, like maybe the most diverse place on earth. Well, that’s a big statement, but it might actually be. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Emily: to Chicago for a year and ended up moving right back to LA because I missed the diversity and I missed having a craving for Thai food and then for Mexican food, you know, within the same week and being able to go get it. Like that to me is one of the best parts about LA is the diversity in food, but also the diversity in people.

I feel like we can be [00:04:00] Very comfortable in our own skin and,

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: wear the funky thing

or my hair used to be purple at one point and it just felt so like natural and comfortable because everybody was like, Oh, your hair is awesome. Like, that’s so cool. Whereas I feel like in a lot of other cities or states that may not be the case.

Hugo: I feel like if you dress up like a, like a clown riding a unicycle while throwing knives around, you’re just normal. You’re just about normal.

Emily: Beach.

Hugo: Venice Beach. Actually been there too. And

Yeah.

it sounds, sounds about right. Yeah.

Emily: Yeah. Yeah.

Hugo: But then in Chicago, it’s like, who is that? What are you doing here? Just be, just be normal.

Right?

Emily: exactly. Like, calm down.

Hugo: Um, all right. So mental health struggles, or at least overcoming them.

Emily: Mm hmm.

Hugo: Um, for those who have not read your interview, I suspect that will be most because this is a podcast. This is a video. [00:05:00] So,

Emily: Totally.

Hugo: probably a totally different audience. Um, what, what’s your story about?

What’s your mental health story like?

Emily: You know, great question. I feel like my mental health story honestly started when I was a kid. I grew up in a divorce, in a divorced home and it was not the most amicable divorce between my parents. So for me, they actually started sending me to therapy when I was around nine years old. Yeah.

Exactly.

Hugo: Uh,

Emily: because they wanted me to really be

able to cope with now living in two homes and going back and forth. And, I really applaud them, because at that time, I was the only kid I knew in therapy, and it really just wasn’t that common. And so I really applaud my parents for having me go to therapy at such a young age and for having me stick with it

Hugo: well,

Emily: it enabled me to

build this foundation of mental health, to really understand [00:06:00] why I’m acting the way I am, why other people are acting the way they are. And that like helps me, you know, cope with the divorced home, but also just like with life in general. Right. Thank you.

Hugo: it’s such a young age. That’s, that’s

Emily: Yeah.

Hugo: like, cool that your parents, well, of course it’s a shitty situation, but, but to be able to know that your kid needs the tools to, in order to, to at least understand what’s happening and understand the emotions that come with it. Uh, yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s pretty nice.

Emily: Oh, totally. And I thank them to this day for it because I’m still in therapy to this day and I don’t think I will ever stop because I’ve learned that you always need somebody to bounce back and forth with. Right?

Hugo: Hmm.

Emily: when you’re going through your

life and you’re going through traumatic experiences, you’re only seeing one perspective. And you need somebody to help

you see from a different lens, because oftentimes when you can see from a different lens, [00:07:00] that’s when growth happens. And if you’re just so focused in and narrowed in on your problems and what’s going wrong, then it’s really hard to get unstuck and to actually move forward. So

Hugo: Yeah. Yeah.

Emily: throughout high school and college. So throughout high school, my grandma was actually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and she moved in with my mom and I and taking care of her was just a lot, you know, watching somebody deteriorate right in front of you is traumatic. it’s really challenging, especially because my grandma was my best friend. I loved that woman more than anything. And so was just a lot to handle. Right. then moving into college, I actually started getting trauma induced seizures. They are called disassociative seizures, which is like a super, super, super rare form. [00:08:00] And it, you know, Basically comes out of trauma because I was not processing trauma correctly. My brain kind of started freaking out. And so then I would just get a seizure

Hugo: and.

it’s like when people think of seizures, they think of like bodily movement, but that’s not it, right?

Emily: It was it actually, but very, like,

it was, I honestly don’t remember them. I would

Hugo: Oh, wow.

Emily: for them. So I don’t know what the

exact actual seizure was like, but I do know that I would wake up on the ground and like, there’d always

Hugo: Oh, wow.

Emily: me. And so like everyone

around me said that it looked like a normal seizure.

And like, they assumed that I just had a seizure disorder and. It wasn’t until going to a neurologist and like getting a bunch of tests done that we discovered like, no, I do not have a normal seizure disorder, normal seizure disorder, but like, I have a very rare form of one, which was kind of wild to hear

Hugo: And

Emily: I,

Hugo: what age was this?

Emily: I was 18, [00:09:00]

Hugo: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Emily: so it was definitely like a. Big, I don’t want to say slap in the face, but it kind of was because I felt like I was really trying to grow. I was going to therapy. I was like really working on myself. And then to hear that I’m not working on myself well enough to avoid

Hugo: Hmm.

Emily: seizures, it really put me down

for a while. And my seizure

medication ended up actually repressing my, um, appetite. And so within two months, I ended up losing 40 pounds and I became 80 pounds, which

Hugo: Oh, wow.

Emily: Cause I’m five, three and a

half. So 80 pounds for five, three and a half, really, really, really skinny.

Hugo: I’m doing the conversions in my head for the European listener. So 80 pounds, that’s like one, one kilo is two and a half pounds if I’m correct. So that’s, that’s yeah, really a lot to lose in two months. Oh my Lord.

[00:10:00] Yeah.

Emily: absolutely. And that that in and of itself is really scary. Right.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: But here’s the thing.

Before then, I’d always felt like I was kind of chubby and I, when I was a kid, I was made fun of for being a little chubby. And so when I started losing this weight, I was like, Ooh. I can wear a crop top and be fine with it.

Like, this kind of feels nice. Like, I’m okay with this almost. And like, it was just a completely 180 from where I was before. then I started wearing clothes that I would really, I’ve always wanted to wear and just kind of start getting a lot more attention, I think. And so that led to a lot of anorexic behaviors and tendencies that I habitualized.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: me a long time to overcome those tendencies and to be okay with my body and accepting of my body and not relying on the medication to keep weight down. So that was like a whole [00:11:00] other mental health arena that I was dealing with. And honestly, it was all through personal development and just focusing on myself, focusing on the inward that allowed me to, uh, Overcome epilepsy.

I no longer take my epilepsy medication. I am fully, I’ve completely beat it, which is like such a great feeling to say. Um, I’m also no longer anorexic and I feel very comfortable and proud of my body and I’m super, super healthy in that sense too. So it’s taken several years. But I have done it and like that experience has really made me want to help other people overcome their own mindset hurdles that especially self employed people who work from home because that’s who I am. And I know all the struggles that can come with that. And there’s a

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: there. So just like using my own background, my own experience, but also I’m super passionate about studying and. [00:12:00] Learning new techniques and ways to overcome and practicing myself. So combining all of that is really what led me to fat, to create the productivity flow in my coaching business.

Hugo: Cool. Yeah. So, so just, just a short recap then. Um, like first the divorce. Then as a result, like, is it a direct result? Can I say that? Or, um, I don’t know. You started having this, these, this associative, uh, seizures

as a result of that. Oh yeah.

Emily: honestly, but there were probably a mix of reasons why I ended up getting those seizures.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: Starting from the divorce

way back when I was a kid all the way through things that happened to me throughout high school, I think.

Hugo: yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, like as a child, like,

A divorce already is, is like such a big impact, um, especially if it’s not an amicable divorce. [00:13:00] Um, yeah, that can mess up your mind, um, with or without therapy. Um,

Emily: Totally.

Hugo: so, all right. So then at age 18, disassociative episodes. start happening. Uh, you get medication, but that leads to, uh, extreme weight loss.

Um, essentially. Wow. Yeah. Oh, wow. Um, but then, then, uh, another question. I think this is my third question of the interview.

Emily: Let’s do it.

Hugo: We are 30 minutes in and I’m just now asking the third questions.

Emily: can talk a lot, clearly.

Hugo: No, it’s nice. It makes my job easier. Um, No. So, so. So, um, those experiences, um, they led to you finding what you do now, um, and finding that your passion is in helping others go through stuff that’s similar to what you’ve been going through. Um, is that, is that a weird thing to say?

Emily: Not at all. I think that’s exactly it. Like, it’s [00:14:00] super fair to say because without me Going through traumatic experiences, but then overcoming them, I wouldn’t be able to help anybody else overcome any kind of mindset hurdle, you know? And so I think it’s very much created who I am today.

Hugo: Yeah. Yeah. And another person I interviewed was exactly the same, like even though he, he, um, uh, had endured a physical accident that led to. Um, traumatic brain injury. Uh, it basically had to relearn pretty much everything that he once knew. Uh,

Emily: crazy.

Hugo: that led him to find his passion for helping others through therapy.

Emily: Yeah,

Hugo: and in the end he said, I wouldn’t change it. I wouldn’t go back and try to prevent what happened to me. Uh, so powerful in a way.

Um, it’s, it’s, yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s why these types of conversations to me [00:15:00] are so, so inspiring because, um, so many people are dealing with their own stories, their own hurdles, uh, mostly behind the surface, a bit like underneath the surface, um, but then to hear people like you and the other people I’ve interviewed, um, say that, you know, what happened to them?

Yeah, it sucked. It sucked. It sucked. Um, but it helped you find, um, another part of life, another pathway to a fulfilling fulfilling life. Um,

so great. Yeah,

Emily: like if I hadn’t started building that foundation of learning how to overcome certain things, particularly learning how to shift my mindset and shift my perspective, then when COVID hit, I feel like I would not have handled that as well as I ended up handling it because that would have totally derailed me. Right

Hugo: yeah,

Emily: COVID, I really felt like I was

kind of getting my life back together. And like, I was [00:16:00] longer having, um, episodes. I was still on my medication, but I was still like, hadn’t had a seizure in over a year. So I was on the up and up with that. And I was really starting to be more healthy in the sense of like my, um, weight loss.

And I really started focusing on working out again and on like actually cooking. And like, even if it was just a Trader Joe’s frozen meal, I considered that cooking because I was like,

Hugo: yeah, yeah,

Emily: honestly, I stopped drinking a lot more.

And in college, that’s. Kind of hard to do, when you’re like living in a sorority house.

Hugo: yeah,

Emily: really focused on not

drinking and on like taking care of myself my senior year of college.

Hugo: yeah.

Emily: right

Hugo: happens.

Emily: And then COVID happened. So right before,

I graduated, hit lockdown hit. I ended up losing both of the jobs that I had lined up for post grad. And had to [00:17:00] move across the country and with family just to save money and figure out my next steps. I did take like two to three months to sulk and be mad at the world a little bit. But I think if I not, had not had the experiences I had before, that period would have been a lot longer.

Hugo: Yeah. So, so moving to family, that was your move to Chicago to all the way across the States. Yeah.

Emily: yep, exactly.

Hugo: And you lived with one of your parents then? Or, uh

Emily: moved in with my oldest brother, his wife, and their three kids. My

brother is 12 years older than me. So

Hugo: okay.

Emily: was, he already

basically had built a life and everything. So I just joined for about a year, uh, which is so generous. And I’m so grateful

Hugo: But, but still, I can only imagine like you’ve got, you feel like you’re on the up and up living in LA and then kablam, COVID hits, the world turns to shit. You move all the way to a place that freezes over. Uh, [00:18:00] it becomes a, an icy hell in winter. Um, without your, yeah,

Emily: like I

Hugo: exactly. Yeah.

Emily: my friends, I moved away from the life I had built, and I moved into this, really I moved to the suburbs of Chicago, so I didn’t even move to the city, I moved to the suburbs,

Hugo: Oh yeah.

Emily: not who I

am as a person, so it was just like the amount of change happening. I. Felt like I was losing myself. I very much felt like I don’t know what my next step is. I don’t know how I can get there because I don’t know what it is. And so like, I just really was sulking for several months and very angry at COVID, very angry at the world,

Hugo: Mm hmm.

Emily: politics, angry at everything

for like taking away my life before it even really got started.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: my therapist was like,

Let’s think about this. Like, are

Hugo: So is this actually the same therapist that you started as a kid?

Emily: So not the same therapist. I started as a kid, [00:19:00] but I have had my same therapist since I was a sophomore in college. So

Hugo: wow.

Emily: been like

Hugo: To this day.

Emily: eight years now,

Hugo: Oh, wow.

Emily: A long time,

Hugo: That’s a

Emily: because she

Hugo: yeah,

Emily: right?

Hugo: That’s a

strong relationship.

Emily: Exactly.

Yes.

Hugo: And then while in Chicago, you did remote remote sessions. I shouldn’t. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, okay. So I interrupted you. Sorry about that. But then your therapist.

She, or he,

Emily: asked me, basically, she was like, Are you

okay with waiting for life to happen to you? Like, because that’s what you’re doing right now, like you

are

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: to happen to you. Is that what

you’re okay with? And I was like, no,

Hugo: Just ripping, ripping the bandaid off.

Emily: that bandaid

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: real fast, but that’s what I

needed. Right? Cause I kind

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: a little kick to be like,

Hey, stop wasting time.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: blaming outside forces.

Take control, take [00:20:00] your power back, do what you can. And like, that was a very pivotal moment for me because that was when I actually started becoming self employed. And I just naturally started freelancing out social media services to make some money to be able to move

back to LA. And within a couple months I had. a pretty sustainable freelance business.

Hugo: Cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Emily: I really realized what the connection between productivity and mental health was, because there was just a lot of gaps.

I feel like in my work with these freelance clients. And that’s when I eventually decided to start the productivity flow because I wanted to help other people. Fill those gaps and help people actually connect the dots. So without COVID, I don’t think I would be here today. And like, looking back, I’m so grateful that I did have the time to figure my life out.

And I did have the chance to kind of sulk [00:21:00] for a little bit, but then empower myself and take my power back because I would not be here and talking with you today. So lots of like mindset shifts that happened in there to make, action happen.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: think that’s really what life is all about.

Hugo: Exactly. Yeah. So, so even though like the first domino is pushed by a biotherapist in this case, then all the other dominoes that follow is you taking action and you following, following whatever you feel energized towards or what pulls you maybe. Um, very cool. So then, all right. So you, you are like, all right, bye bye Chicago.

See you later.

Emily: Honestly, it was during the winter.

I just,

Hugo: Oh yeah.

Emily: born and raised

in the West side of Los Angeles next to the beach. I am so spoiled. So when it hit like 20 degrees, I was like, I got to go like this. Can’t, I can’t

Hugo: 20 degrees [00:22:00] Fahrenheit. That’s freezing, right? That’s sub zero Celsius.

Emily: It’s freezing, especially for me.

So that was really when I was like, you know, I got to, I got to do what’s best for me. I got to be in a place that I know and love that I feel really comfortable with where all my friends are. I have so much family also in LA too. I have three younger siblings. I have a little nephew.

So just coming back to them was also really important for me. So there’s a lot of reasons why, but that winter was really the trigger for me being like, I got to go.

Hugo: Hell no.

Emily: Yeah.

Hugo: Yeah. Cool. Yeah. All right. Cool, man. Um, so then your therapist, she’s back in LA. She’s like, welcome back. And then she’s, she sees you taking on life headfirst, you know, just knocking it out of the park, I guess. But, but, you know, you experienced the difficulties that people around you are also [00:23:00] experiencing and you’re like, Hey, I got a trick for that.

Is that a bit? It’s a long story short, I guess. But

Emily: story short, you summed it up pretty well because that’s basically what happened. And it was actually like, I ended up helping one of my freelance social media clients out a ton with optimizing their systems, creating templates, understanding tools, plus with like overcoming different mindset hurdles.

Meaning we finally. Created a vision and like understood what’s been preventing us from going to that vision. And like, now we can understand our priorities and create goals. And I helped one client out so much that he was like, you got to start a coaching business. Like

Hugo: yeah,

Emily: have helped me a ton and

like, I just hired you for social media and I’ve gotten so much more out of it.

So you need to do, you need to optimize this. And I was like, you know what? That’s a great idea. That sounds so fun. And so me, so I just ran with it. And I’m going to be honest, I don’t know what I’m doing half the [00:24:00] time with the business part of it. The coaching part I love. It’s so fun. I am in my element whenever I am with a client, but the business part of it has been a very big learning curve. So just goes to show though, that I’m kind of meant to be doing this and I’m meant to be learning this and it’ll given my past experiences, it’ll definitely lead me to somewhere bigger and better.

Hugo: exactly. Yeah. So, so what you’re describing is basically like, you’re like, you’re doing what you love, but a part of that is still outside of your comfort zone.

Emily: Totally.

Hugo: which means you’re just learning and growing going forward. If you had not felt that, then that wouldn’t be, that wouldn’t necessarily be good too, right?

Emily: Totally.

Hugo: I,

Emily: as exciting or fulfilling.

Hugo: yeah. So like, what the hell am I doing? If you don’t wonder that once a year or once a month or once week, week, once a day, like you’re, you’re just too deep inside your comfort zone. Right.

Emily: I agree with that. Totally. I so agree with that. And I think [00:25:00] that’s where we can really get stuck, right? If we stick inside of our comfort zone instead of asking those kind of tough questions and getting reflective and wondering, okay.

Could I be doing something a little bit riskier,

Hugo: Oh yeah.

Emily: me a bigger reward.

So it’s like kind of playing the game of life.

Hugo: Well said. Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s something that, that, all right. So sometimes you feel a bit overwhelmed and you’re not in a situation where you can make that decision. You know, I am, I’m gonna pick the risky move here, but, um, that, that decision is not always the best. Like, if you’ve got the mental headspace to do that risky move, go for it.

Emily: Absolutely.

Hugo: Just be aware that, you know, when, what your mindset even is, like if you are in a position to take the risky route or take the safe route, um,

Emily: that because I [00:26:00] think we can so often push ourselves because it’s the thing that we think we have to do to grow. Right. And we have to first ask ourselves if we’re actually ready to do that

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: you know, because we don’t want to

skip over anything that’ll make doing that action or pushing forward harder.

We want to make that as easy as possible. And so, it’s about really understanding, okay, where am I preventing myself, um, from being my most productive self? And like, what can I shift to make sure that I overcome that, but then can boost my productivity and actually hit that goal.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: which is how

I come to each coaching session with like, what is the hurdle that we need to overcome in order to achieve this goal?

That’s really ultimately how I help people.

Hugo: And, and how, so what does that look like? Do you give them tools? Do you, uh, is it more than, [00:27:00] is it advice? Is it anything,

uh, like, yeah. Yeah.

Emily: the client and it very much depends on number one, the kind of mindset hurdles that we are experiencing, and then also the kind of goals that we want to hit. I personally love using as many tools as I possibly can. I create a ton of templates and guides and things like that.

I will help you you. For example, I just did this with a client this week. So it’s very top of mind. Um, I will help you like track your week and understand your energy levels. So that way you can actually align your biggest and toughest tasks with when you are highest, high in energy. And so

Hugo: Hmm.

Emily: a template to do that.

And I worked through.

work through it with you in order to be able to use the tool that I provide you. So I think it very much depends on the kind of goal. But that being said, I have a ton of tools in my arsenal that I love sharing whenever I possibly can.[00:28:00]

Hugo: Um, do send me links to whatever you have and I’ll drop them in the show notes because

Emily: Perfect.

Hugo: I feel like, like those tools, even though they are like, in essence, they are pretty simple. Like they can be a spreadsheet with just like 10 rows or three columns. Um, exactly. But then,

Emily: said

Hugo: um, they can be so life changing.

Um, I have one of those spreadsheets. It’s super ugly. It’s a mess. I’ve been, uh, it’s basically a journal. Um, it’s, it’s actually where the, where the name tracking happiness, uh, originates from. Um, I just started journaling one day over 10 years ago now, and I added a little, a little great to each day. Um, like on a, on a scale from one to 10, how happy were you today?

Um, it’s so simple, but it’s, it’s just one column, right? It’s, it’s, it’s, It’s one column in a spreadsheet, but that has taught me so much, so much, um, [00:29:00] realizations that, hey, the way the world moves around me, and the way that I feel by that, and feel, and that I am moved, pushed, and pulled by

Emily: Yeah.

Hugo: specific things.

Um, I’ve learned so many things about that. Even though it’s, it’s the, Like if I showed you, um, this spreadsheet or any other person and I’m like, Oh, I’ve got the tool. I’ve you, you must see this. I’ve got the best tool out in the world. And then I opened the spreadsheet and I, um, they were, they would be like, what am I looking at here?

This could be an, this could be a notepad.

Emily: Literally. I love that. But honestly, I think it’s the simplest tools that are the most effective.

Hugo: Hmm.

Emily: overcomplicate it, if

we make it so challenging to do, then we aren’t going to do it. We’re not going to follow through. Let’s make it as easy to do as possible. That really, I think, [00:30:00] is kind of the essence of boosting productivity.

If you can simplify it and streamline it, You’ll likely do it.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: that’s really how I, the

lens that I create all of my tools through.

Hugo: So, so just to circle back to, to your story then. So if, if one of the listeners or viewers out here is, is experiencing a bit of the same that you experienced, right? So, uh, they moved away to a place where they are not as happy as they could be, they feel down, uh, without, you know, feeling a bit stuck in a rut, what would you say to those people?

Emily: I would first say that it’s happening for a reason. You are probably going to learn something that will completely change your life. And the only way it will change your life is if you are open and receptive to learning it. So it’s really about shifting into that growth mindset and having an open mind and wondering, okay, what can I [00:31:00] learn from this?

How can I move forward with this lesson? And what is it trying to get me to change? So having that lens is really, really empowering because then you can always figure out a way forward.

Hugo: Yeah, yeah. So basically you just have to have to. believe that in 2 or 3 or 5 years, you’ll look back at this period and think, hey, it was a shitty period, but it at least helped me find my path forward.

Emily: Exactly.

Hugo: Ah, cool. But then, um, alright, so, but that sounds, you know, I’m just advocate, devil’s advocate here. Um, it sounds a bit

vague.

Um, Like, uh, well, a lot of people that I’ve met are like, like I’m, I’m super passionate about journaling and I can speak for hours about journaling, but then after my speech of two hour, my two hour pitch of why journaling is the greatest thing in the world, their, [00:32:00] their reaction will be like, uh, you’re just writing down your thoughts.

You’re thinking them anyway. So why, why should you write them down? Right. Um, what do you say to those people?

Emily: Well, I can honestly get into the science, like with journaling, for instance, if we wanted to actually like why journal, I could literally talk about the science of it, what that does to your brain and how you can literally process things differently. So that’s really like what I do in my coaching sessions is because I will help you actually understand why, why do you want to do these tricks?

Because I love learning about the brain and learning how. Our thoughts are formed, how our beliefs are formed and how those scientifically create our actions and how that creates our results. I find it so fascinating. And so I’m like, honestly, kind of obsessed with learning about all that. And I bring that to my coaching sessions because not the average person does not understand neuroplasticity or things like [00:33:00] that.

Right. But I do. And so that’s the kind of things that I would always love to bring up. And I find that whenever I do talk about the science behind our thoughts and our mindset, my clients will always be like, Oh, well, I totally get it now. Like,

Hugo: yeah,

Emily: will absolutely do that

because then they, they understand it, you know, it’s not so vague anymore.

So I know I’m not fully answering your question. I think the reason I can’t fully answer that question is because it really depends on. The person and the mindset hurdle. And I don’t want to offer a vague tip that’ll like be so general. No one can actually apply it.

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: want to be like, if you really

are curious about how your mindset works, a great book to start this journey with is called mind your mindset by Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller. It’s a phenomenal book that very simply explains the science behind your mindset and your thought processes and your beliefs. So definitely start with that.

Hugo: Cool. Yeah, that’s really appreciated. [00:34:00] You mentioned neuroplasticity.

Emily: Mm

Hugo: Neuroplasticity as a non native speaker, that’s a tricky word.

Emily: Oh, yeah. I

Hugo: So I,

Emily: it up all the time.

Hugo: I, won’t try to say it again. But, but for, for the listeners or viewers out there who are not familiar, can you explain what that means?

Emily: So neuroplasticity is just a really, really fancy word that means our brain can change based on how we use it. So neuroplasticity is actually the thought and belief formation process. It is when you, so right now you are absorbing new information. You’re intaking new experiences, right? So your brain is processing all of the new, new experiences. And it’s meshing that with all of the old experiences and old information that you have stored in your subconscious mind. Now, All of this old information stems back from when way back when you were a kid [00:35:00] to yesterday. So it’s pretty much every experience in your life that you have stored in your subconscious mind. Now, neuroplasticity is the process that takes the new information, takes the old information and meshes it together into one thought. One belief or one story, and then the more that this thought, belief, and story is used, the more that it’s thought, believed, or said, then the stronger the connection gets, the stronger it gets. The harder it is to change and overcome, unless you are bringing in new information that switches it up, that changes it, which is really how you shift your mindset. You bring in new information that weakens the neural connection, that storyline, that neuroplasticity created, so that way you can kind of break this old habit or self limiting belief, and then you can rewire your mindset for success to empower yourself and create habits out of that.

Hugo: Wow. Um, you, you are literally [00:36:00] amazing at answering questions. Like first of all, there again, wasn’t a single hum in there. My

Emily: I, I, honestly have explained it

Hugo: my mind blown.

Emily: times this week, so I think it’s just one of those things where you practice it and

Hugo: Yeah.

Emily: second nature. But thank you,

I appreciate that more

Hugo: Oh no. Yeah. So to, to listeners and viewers, this is not scripted, even though that, that was perfect. It couldn’t have been said any better. But then just just to summarize, like, it sounds like neuroplasticity, but God, there I go

Emily: right?

Hugo: neuroplasticity allows first, for example, a pessimist to train him or herself into becoming more

positive and optimistic.

Emily: that was a great

way to put it, a very simplified, great way to put it. Yeah.

Hugo: my words to get there. Yeah, thanks for the compliment. Um, yeah. So, so powerful. It’s been really nice [00:37:00] chatting with you about these, these, these minds, mindset things, you know, like I, I truly believe like mindsets do work. create the way like they, they form the basis of how you view your life and interact with it.

Um, but then to a lot of people, a mindset is just so abstract. Um, thanks for just breaking down that barrier and making it more,

more actionable in that sense. Um, yeah. So if, uh, listeners, viewers want to learn more about you, where, where can they find you?

Emily: You can find me at theproductivityflow. com. I have a ton of blogs with a ton of free resources and a lot of those tools that we were talking about earlier, so definitely check that out.

Hugo: Cool. All right. So I’ll make sure to drop those links in the show notes. Um, is there anything I should have asked you like, this is a, this is a lazy, a [00:38:00] lazy question from, you know, I’m the host, I should know what I should ask you, but, but just, you know, I’ll be lazy here. Is there anything I should have asked you?

Emily: You know, I like since we’re really focused on mindset today, we covered a lot and I don’t want to overwhelm any listeners with the new tips and everything, but I think really the one thing that I always love to kind of bring up and talk about is the link between mindset and productivity and why. I’m spending, I’m creating a business that unites them because I feel like it’s just not an obvious that people probably don’t understand. And I think that really stems from this hustle culture that we are so stuck in this like drive to do more, be more, get more done in less time. And like, I just want to say to end us off that being busy hustling does not help our mindset. It actually really hurts our [00:39:00] mindset. And so that should not be the goal. The goal should be more effective, you know, being motivated and getting focused and finding your flow and getting into the rhythm of things that really should ultimately be the goal, not focus on like so much output and results, because that leads to burnout, overwhelm, and a whole bunch of mindset hurdles that. don’t want to have to deal with, especially if we work for ourselves from home. So I just wanted

Yeah. That’s like adding a little bit of salt to your dish and then. Food. Food.

Yes,

Hugo: The lid comes off

Emily: Exactly.

Hugo: Yeah, yeah, that’s that’s very nicely put by you Yeah, so great to have had you here Yeah

I’ll drop everything in the show notes, uh, to, to listeners, to viewers. Um, yeah, do hit Emily up. Um, she’s all the way in Los Angeles, but I’m sure she would love an email or a message [00:40:00] or a friend request or anything. Um, yes. Thanks for this nice conversation, Emily.

Emily: Thank you so much for having me. I truly enjoyed it. I had so much fun.