[Ep#230] Turning Challenges into Growth and Celebrating Your Journey

Turning Challenges into Growth and Celebrating Your Journey

Feeling overwhelmed by challenges?

Welcome to the Women in Leadership Podcast! I’m Annemarie Cross, and I’m so excited to share this space where we support and empower women to overcome challenges and celebrate their successes.

In today’s episode, Turning Challenges into Growth and Celebrating Your Journey, I’m joined by the incredible Amy Yip. Amy is a mental fitness executive coach, keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, and author who believes that mindset—not circumstances—is the key to happiness and success.

Amy’s story is truly inspiring. She went from leading global teams at Google to following her passion for coaching and volunteering in Ghana, only to face unexpected detours during the pandemic. We’ll talk about how she navigated those challenges, the importance of celebrating small victories, and practical tools like journaling and walking to manage life’s overwhelm.

I can’t wait for you to hear Amy’s story and the powerful lessons she has to offer. Let’s get started!

Here are 3 key takeaways from this powerful episode:

  • Mindset Over Circumstances: Amy Yip shares her powerful belief that our mindset plays a crucial role in navigating life's challenges. She offers practical exercises like drawing a lifeline to reflect on life's highs and lows, emphasizing the importance of trusting that positive shifts will follow tough times.
  • Courageous Conversations: Fear often hinders our ability to communicate effectively. Amy presents the concept of “courageous conversations,” urging us to engage in honest dialogues without preconceived notions. This approach has the potential to significantly improve our relationships both personally and professionally.
  • Celebrate Your Wins: Amy opens up about the struggle to celebrate successes due to societal and familial expectations. She underscores the significance of acknowledging small victories, which can lead to reduced stress, enhanced joy, and improved physical health.

LISTEN NOW:

WATCH NOW:

RESOURCES:  

Jump straight to these golden nuggets:

00:00 Amy's past shaped her positive, passionate life.

03:54 Left Google to travel despite societal expectations.

09:34 Shift perspective; focus on growth, not pain.

12:25 Focus on controllable aspects to feel empowered.

15:11 Journaling revealed pressure of wanting kids.

19:22 Courageous conversations cultivate respect and understanding.

22:38 Curiosity and courage lead to mutual understanding.

25:42 Realization of self-awareness and communication tone.

27:17 Be quiet, listen, and control body language.

30:35 Overwork led to hospitalization and realization.

KEY TOPICS:

TOPIC: Introduction and Guest Overview

  • Annemarie introduces “Women in Leadership” podcast focusing on the empowerment of women.
  • Annemarie introduces Amy Yip as a mental fitness executive coach, keynote speaker, TEDx speaker, and author.
  • Amy's background: leading global teams at Google before leaving to pursue her passion for coaching and volunteering in Ghana.

TOPIC: Mindset Over Circumstances

  • Amy discusses the significance of mindset in achieving happiness and success, sharing personal stories of business growth and challenges during COVID-19.
  • Emphasis on mindset being more crucial than circumstances.

TOPIC: Reflecting on Life's Highs and Lows

  • Amy suggests drawing a “lifeline” to reflect on life's high and low points.
  • Encourages clients to trust that positive shifts will follow challenging periods.

TOPIC: Focusing on What You Can Control

  • Annemarie and Amy talk about shifting focus to personal responses and actions as opposed to uncontrollable circumstances.
  • Exercise: Drawing a box to differentiate controllable and uncontrollable elements.
  • Identifying potential opportunities in difficult situations.

TOPIC: Choosing Faith Over Fear

  • The conversation suggests focusing on positive outcomes and leaning towards faith rather than fear.
  • Practical steps to manage feeling overwhelmed: journaling, meditating, walking, and filling days with joy.

TOPIC: Family Expectations and Honest Dialogue

  • Amy shares a personal story regarding family expectations and an important honest conversation with her husband.
  • Emphasizes the value of open communication in alleviating internal fears.

TOPIC: Courageous Conversations

  • Importance of initiating conversations with genuine intent to understand the other person.
  • Amy notes improved relationships through openness and listening.
  • Annemarie highlights the trust built by giving people space to share their experiences.

TOPIC: Celebrating Achievements

  • Amy reflects on her struggle with celebrating personal achievements due to her upbringing.
  • Discusses past issues with overworking and the need for celebrating small victories for well-being.
  • Benefits of focusing on accomplishments: increased joy, reduced stress, and better physical health.
  • Amy's workshops focus on mastering the art of celebrating wins.

TOPIC: Overcoming Assumptions in Family Relationships

  • Amy discusses her book on bridging gaps between adult children and immigrant parents.
  • Shares deep conversations with her parents that revealed many incorrect assumptions.
  • Annemarie’s corporate story about encouraging team members to share life-defining events for mutual understanding.
  • Amy's approach to conversations: focusing on curiosity instead of agendas.
  • Reflection on self-awareness and the evolution of her mindset after becoming a parent.

TOPIC: Understanding and Relationships

  • Annemarie’s story on understanding differing love languages in families.
  • Importance of self-reflection and changing preconceived notions.
  • Emphasis on courageous conversations to enhance understanding and relationships.

HIGHLIGHTED QUOTES:

“I've learned that your mindset, not your circumstance, makes all the difference in your happiness and success.”
— Amy Yip [00:08:53 → 00:08:58]

“All the highs were only made possible because of some low that happened before it. And so, you wouldn't be where you are today unless all of those things had happened.”
— Amy Yip [00:10:45 → 00:10:58]

“Faith and fear are essentially the same thing.”
— Amy Yip [00:13:38 → 00:13:41]

“A courageous conversation is when there's some sort of shame, guilt, embarrassment tied to that thought you have.”
— Amy Yip [00:17:43 → 00:17:52]

“I will go into these conversations just wanting to understand them, just wanting to hear their story with no intention, but to talk to them the way that I hope my son talks to me one day.”
— Amy Yip [00:26:34 → 00:26:45]

“But it took 3 hospitalizations for me to realize this is not the way to live.”
— Amy Yip [00:31:08 → 00:31:13]

Courage in Reflection: “So let's be courageous for others who may not be courageous in doing that, and share what were some of the things going through your mind at that time?”
— Annemarie Cross [00:03:20 → 00:03:28]

“You know those ways of communicating with someone and let them speak because that space and exactly what you said that curiosity, people will often sense that even though we may not realize. It's our tonality, even, the energy, you know, that we may emit in that.”
— Annemarie Cross [00:27:46 → 00:27:53]

“Is that even though I might not agree with you, we can at least we can still agree, we can still laugh, we can still hug each other even though we may have differences, but what's the commonality? And the commonality often is the fact that there is love, you know, for each other.”
— Annemarie Cross [00:28:40 → 00:28:57]

Contact Amy:

A Personal Message from Annemarie

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YOUR SAY:

What did you think about the message shared today? What action step will you take to turn this around? Go ahead and share. We’d love to hear from you!

Please leave your comment in the box below, and remember to share and Like the show with your colleagues. Also, stop on by our Facebook page to say hello and to give us a shout out on Twitter – we promise to shout back! As always, we appreciate it.

2024-12-24T04:29:25+10:00

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