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Julie Ostrow Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Julie Ostrow
Julie Ostrow is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast.
She is a lady who believes that there is nothing better in life than a good laugh.
And although many of us do this, when a close relative falls over, or some other unexpected rib tickler occurs not many of us ever think of bringing this merriment into our business lives.
You don’t go to work to enjoy yourself, appears to be the mantra that so many people live their lives by after all.
But when you consider the health benefits that chuckling can bring to you, such as a huge boost to the immune System by releasing endorphins, protecting the heart by improving the function of blood vessels, and helping to bring about better sleep then its simply not something to laugh about.
How The Dots Joined Up For Julie
We should all be doing it more, and certainly making sure we do it whilst at work too.
And so our guest over the last fifteen years has taken this approach into the corporate world where, she coaches individuals and teams to reconnect, communicate, and be more productive…through humor, laughter, and improvisation.
She wants us to find the childlike side of our characters and bring it once more to the fore.
Be the person we were before life became serious and paying the bills became our number one focus.
And with the honour of being crowned the American Laughing Champion of 2013, where she fought her way to the top prize by demonstrating such high class cackling as best maniacal laugh, best multiplex laugh and the best laughing fit, there is no doubt she has the credentials to educate, and inspire whilst entertaining too.
So when did she find that there was a need to bring this kind of thinking into the corporate arena?
And what the hell is the best multiplex laugh?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show, to start joining up dots, the one and only Julie Ostrow.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Julie Ostrow such as:
Why it is so important to trust your gut intuition and go where it takes you even if it scares you. Going past the fear allows you to grow.
How she believes in corporate land we all play a part or role as we believe its what is expected of us.
How many times she has tried things and they didn’t work at first, but she knew there was something in it to work at making it better.
Why negative stores and gossip is so prevalent in the world and people thrive on that negativity.
And lastly…..
How we all want to feel alive in life, and have the ability to make choices everyday, because we want to make them.
How To Connect With Julie Ostrow
Return To The Top Of Julie Ostrow
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here– enjoy
Transcription Of Julie Ostrow Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, hello there. Hello there world is Episode 253 of a Join Up Dots. It seems to be laughter week. If you listen to yesterday’s show, it was a chap who was going around corporate America, teaching people to be happy in the office place. Well, today’s guest has cranked that up and she’s a lady who believes that there is nothing better in life than a good laugh. And although many of us do this when a close relative falls over or some other unexpected rip tickler occurs. Not many of us ever think of bringing this merriment into our business lives. You don’t go to work to enjoy yourself. Used to be the mantra that so many people live their lives by after all, but when you consider the health benefits that chuckling can bring to you, such as a huge boost to the immune system by releasing endorphins, protecting the heart by improving the function of blood vessels, and helping to bring about better sleep, when it’s simply not something to laugh about. We should all be doing it more and certainly making sure we do it whilst at work too. And so our guest over the last 15 years has taken this approach into the corporate world where she coaches individuals and teams to reconnect, communicate and be more productive through humour, laughter and improvisation. She wants us to find the childlike side of our characters and bring it once more to the fore be the person we were before life became serious, and paying the bills became our number one focus, and with the honour of being crowned the American laughing champion of 2013 I never knew there was one where she fought her way to the top prize by demonstrating such high class cackling as best maniacal laugh best multiplex, laugh and the best laughing Fate, there is no doubt she has the credentials to educate and inspire whilst entertaining too. So when did she find that there was a need to bring this kind of thinking into the corporate arena? And what the hell is the best multiplex laugh? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up does but one and only Judy austro. How are you, Julie?
Julie Ostrow [2:18]
Hello, I’m very good. David, how are you?
David Ralph [2:21]
I’m very well, I’ve got some I was reading that. And I actually wrote that introduction many, many months ago, because you were booked on early November sometime like that. And you couldn’t get your skype to work. It wasn’t laughing, although I was chuckling a bit from this side of the pond. But But you, your your mantra of life was put to the test at that time, wasn’t it?
Julie Ostrow [2:43]
It was it was and I had my serious hat on. I use my serious part of my brain. And you reminded me when you sent an email saying, well, hope you’re laughing through this. And I read that and I thought to myself, wow, David’s got a really good point. And the reason I bring that up is because Cuz even though like you said, I was crowned the American laughing champion, and I go into corporations and I teach them and coach them to use these humour and laughter and improv methods, because I’m human, I still falter and get way in to the minutia of the little stuff. But as soon as I was reminded to laugh at it, I was I was able to laugh at it and then eventually free my mind from all the stress about it, and I found another solution.
David Ralph [3:27]
Because you did not that you did make good service that night because I’d been recording all day and you were the last show. And about an hour beforehand, one of my mates contacted me and said, Oh, do you fancy a beer and a carry? And I went, No, I can’t I can’t be this lady’s coming on the show. He went, Oh, okay. We won’t. And then unfortunately, you couldn’t. So in my side, it was like the clouds are open then God was speaking to me and and the path towards alcohol and curry was laid in front of me.
Julie Ostrow [3:57]
Well, I know it seems like a laughing matter that I got trumped by by an Alan curry, and that’s okay. But also I that’s it that is an excellent testament to, to being open to what happens, I know that I can be single minded and focused, which is good, almost to the point of not finding the funny. And so when I have these examples to share with people, people appreciate it. The oh my gosh, she’s human too. And I, what I’m getting to is that you are open to this and we didn’t look at this as Oh, a failed opportunity. Even though I was frustrated that Skype didn’t work and I tried all these avenues, but you got to spend time with a friend. And eventually it worked.
David Ralph [4:41]
Is it a truth of life? I suppose we’ve touched on a different theme on this show than I was expecting. But the things that you can do something about it’s worth doing something about and the things that you can’t just let it go.
Julie Ostrow [4:56]
Yes, and that the Serenity Prayer pops into my Head Tennessee I don’t
Unknown Speaker [5:01]
think I know that one
Julie Ostrow [5:04]
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference
David Ralph [5:13]
I did know that as soon as you started saying it I thought yeah I remember that from my past somehow and but that is a true visionnaire that my my my kids and my wife gets get very stressed about stupid stuff. And I kind of float along as I say like a twig on the mighty stream of life and my wife goes How can you be not bothered? So Well first of all, it’s your Baba is not my Baba. And secondly, you can’t do anything about it. It’s just it’s fail you but if it is something to do about it, if you know the windows broken or something, then you can get it fixed. But when it’s something that’s just out there, life would be better Judy, wouldn’t it if you just let it go as I say,
Julie Ostrow [5:51]
yes. And and when I do laugh at a situation. It is. The situation is the same say If, for example, say if I’m trying to get a job or a gig and I’m pushing hard, pushing hard, pushing hard, and maybe the results aren’t what I want it to be, I can be stressed about that situation. Or I can laugh about it. If, if I have a health issue, guess what if I laugh about it, or if I get stressed about it, the situation is still there. So laughing at a situation or a predicament doesn’t necessarily take away the seriousness of it, but it helps us deal with our situations better. And and I know that I’m more pleasant to be with because if I’m stressed, I look in the mirror and I think Whoa, you want the laughing championship and you’ve got this serious look on your face. And then I’ll look in the continue to look in the mirror and I’ll laugh at myself. This is crazy. Why are you getting stressed about someone else’s behaviour? Why are you getting stressed about something that you know you cannot change?
David Ralph [6:56]
This dumb I’ve been to that laughing championship because I looked into it. And as I said in the introduction, I’d never heard it. I didn’t know that there was such a thing as laughing championships but you want it. How did you get into it?
Julie Ostrow [7:12]
Well, last year was the first American lamping championship and it was held at the 88 conference and that is the Association for applied and therapeutic humour, where there are doctors, practitioners, laughter leaders, scientists who are studying the humour and laughter and healing connection. So on the Saturday night of that conference, they had a laughter camp championship. And Albert nurenberg, left colleges out of Canada created this championship and how I got involved in it. I found out about it that Wednesday before the conference, I signed up, and immediately I was in and then David, I thought, Oh my gosh, what have I done? I actually thought Oh crap, what did I just sign up for? I have no idea what this is, I’m probably going to make a complete fool of myself, Well, this is something else that we could dig into deeper, signing up and committing to something that you don’t know much about. But you’ve got that feeling inside of yourself that intuition or guide from God or spirit, whatever you want to call it. I call my intuition and spirit guiding me to go somewhere with this feeling that something good is going to come of it. And I can look back in my life and those times when I followed my intuition. And even though my mind was saying, Are you sure about this? Julie, you haven’t done this before. I think you should just go back to your room, or just hide up in a ball. But every time I committed to something, and following my intuition, it always turned out good. There was joy, and there was so much good from it.
David Ralph [8:54]
We call that the body compass. on this show really is when you You’re scared, and you’re going to go and do something and you think now actually, I don’t know why I did this, I won’t do this, I’ll sit at home and watch a box set of friends instead that’s, that’s going to make it all better. But actually, those feelings are what you need to focus on. And once people realise that, and I realise it almost on a daily basis on a weekly basis, they’re scary things, it might be reaching out to somebody I’ve never spoken to. It might be doing some certain things in a different way. But when I’ve gone past it, I always look over my shoulder and thing wasn’t so bad, was it? But it was still scary at the time. So you felt that strongly even though that you signed up for it, but it was going to be something that was going to make you look stupid, and you could have easily gone and watched friends?
Julie Ostrow [9:41]
Absolutely. Yes. Even though I’ve never really got into the show friends, but I see your point.
David Ralph [9:47]
Well, not even the little monkey. He was good. Everyone loves a little monkey, Judy. Especially the ones with the hats and the little little outfits. You can’t If you had a monkey, would you dress it up like a butler?
Julie Ostrow [10:05]
You’d have to, you’d have to as long as he could do he or she could do laundry. And
David Ralph [10:10]
I like the fact that you said hey, first of all, that says a lot about you is another man in the house. He’s gonna do my chores. That’s what you were saying there.
Julie Ostrow [10:20]
Yes, there are times when my husband ends up doing much more laundry than I do. And he jokingly calls himself Cinderella. It’d be
David Ralph [10:28]
great if you dressed him as a monkey. I don’t know where my where my brain is going on this now.
Julie Ostrow [10:34]
I am so glad you did not take dress him up in a in an outfit that Cinderella outfit your dress it Cinderella would wear but no.
All right, is about laughter right. So I’m laughing about all this.
David Ralph [10:47]
Absolutely. So. So you stand up in there and you’ve got to how do you laugh when you expect it to laugh? Because that’s the thing that I love today. Do you stop fake laughing and Bane? It takes you over
Julie Ostrow [10:58]
it salutely
David Ralph [11:00]
people around you a fake laughing that you kind of go bc stupid and it kind of tickles you because it’s so stupid.
Julie Ostrow [11:07]
Yes. And when I lead laughter sessions for groups, specifically retirement communities they they look at me like I’m crazy when I start laughing the fake laughter and when people look at me as I’m smiling or laughing, they might have this uncomfortable laugh. And then they realise, oh, wait a minute, I can do this. This is fun. Another way to say it is that yes, you are correct. It’s that fake laughter and then the contagiousness of the laughter,
David Ralph [11:45]
because he’s totally Funny, isn’t it to watch somebody else lose it when they’re laughing hysterically. You can’t but not laugh as well. So imagine putting it in a room of especially with scientists as judging you, you must have just gone I’ve gone mad somewhat.
Julie Ostrow [12:05]
Well, I’ve been I was I’ve been a part of the a th, for about seven years. So the people in that audience about 250 people in the audience who are watching this championship back in San Diego, at the conference, I knew a lot of the people and I felt the love. I felt the laughter and it was a very supportive community. And I’ll tell you when we started laughing, I know I felt uncomfortable. But as I let go, here’s the part. It it’s here’s the key. We’re talking about laughter championships, but what I’m about to say, applies to our life. So when I started laughing in these different laughs for part of the competition, I felt uneasy and I could hear it in my laugh myself that it felt sounded fake. But as I started to let go, I really Embrace the laughter and I judged myself less. And I just allowed my body to just go to the point of feeling like the whole room went away, just went poof. Like when you’re meditating and everything else goes away, you end up being in this nice soft space. Wherever you go, whether it’s within yourself or far away. That’s how I felt when I was laughing. And studies have shown that when you’re laughing, same thing goes on in your brain as when you’re meditating.
David Ralph [13:36]
Because I kind of snigger more than laugh, things, and me, and you see kids, don’t you and they’re laughing hysterically and you think, What are you laughing at? And somebody said to me the other day, but a five year old will laugh 300 times a day or something and an adult will have four or some kind of stupid statistic. Did you find that people are almost lightened up laughing now because they don’t know what their true laugh sounds like.
Julie Ostrow [14:06]
Yes, I think that’s a reason. I also believe that there’s a certain age. And the number 13 pops into my head started at adolescence, where we start questioning ourselves judging ourselves. There’s peer pressure, there’s criticism, and then college, who am I going to be? What am I going to be 20s I have to try to figure out what my career is climb the corporate ladder. In other words, society’s pressures start to mount and we lose our childlike playfulness. We lose our ability just to be free in who we are. And I remember laughing a lot as a kid. I remember laughing really loud and not even not caring if I disturb anybody.
David Ralph [14:55]
Because you’ve got a bit of a mad love for revenue from what I was reading of you. Got one of those laughs is no don’t tell me what a multiplex laugh is. It’s one of those annoying ones in the cinema where everyone turns around and looks at the person laughing because you’re halfway through Schindler’s List and you’re thinking what is she laughing it sick
Julie Ostrow [15:22]
mother Have you seen it? Well, I will say what I do laugh during parts that
David Ralph [15:28]
parts of the movie nothing called sick on the show before that that but that’s a first
Julie Ostrow [15:33]
Well, not you but that statement was kind of funny and sick. Are you gonna edit this part out? Because I don’t mean to insult my hope the host of the show.
David Ralph [15:41]
No Yoko’s life this is it? This is what they will hear.
Unknown Speaker [15:45]
This is it. Oh, fantastic.
Julie Ostrow [15:48]
But I do laugh. If I feel like something is funny. I will laugh. I went to an improv workshop on Saturday in the city and the instructor was he was intelligent and He would say things that I think were funny, but they were very subtle. And I just let out my loud laugh and I was the only one and then I then I covered my mouth in an apology it being apologetic. Oh, that was too loud. So even now, at my age, I still cover myself up and I think oh, I shouldn’t do that. Oh, maybe I made someone else feel uncomfortable. I’m like,
David Ralph [16:22]
cuz cuz I image at the retirement home. My first thought was like false teeth flying out. You’re getting people laughing so much, that they’re all grabbing each other’s teeth as I fly across the room and stuff. And have you had any moments when you’ve made people laugh so much that they have actually lost control somewhat Julie?
Julie Ostrow [16:43]
Yes, yes.
And loss of control might not have been the spinning of the teeth. It might have been not been falling out of their wheelchair, but one particular group in their 80s and most of them Catholics just they shared that information with me. And they shared how when they went through Catholic schooling, the nuns were extremely critical. And they had to behave and they had to not speak up, they had to be seen and not heard. And for them laughing uncontrollably and eventually putting their hands over their mouth to to stop them that was being uncontrollable, that was laughing uncontrollably. And it was interesting because I was half their age, yet. They were treating me like I was an instructor like I was a professor, a teacher, telling them you know, you have to do this. So I started out by saying, it’s possible that when you were growing up, you were told not to laugh not to act up during school or church. Well, I’m giving all of us permission to act silly and I would just start laughing.
Fake, but because I’ve been laughing, fake for a while my body clicks in and checks in like, Oh, this is what we’re supposed to do and then it becomes real. So when I first start with that fake laughter these, these, these senior citizens are looking at me is if they’re gonna say, You’re crazy, you’re nuts. And I said, I know it might look like I’m, I’m being crazy. And, and, and all all weird and wacky and they all nod their heads and one woman spoke up and said, Yeah, they’re going to put us in the crazy house. And I said, Well, if they do, I’m going with you. And they all started laughing. So I believe that when I act foolish, it gives other people the permission to act foolish. I haven’t been committed yet. I haven’t committed and committed to an institution yet, but I’ll let you know if I haven’t. Address.
David Ralph [19:00]
But when you were a young girl, were you somebody that liked the laughter in life? Were you surrounded by laughter in your family or is it now important to you because you didn’t have as a child?
Julie Ostrow [19:12]
That’s a good question. I’m the youngest of six kids grew up in a Catholic home, and we laughed a lot. And my mom had a sense of humour. My mom, my father had his sense of humour. And all six of us picked up on that and we all have our sense of humour. Sometimes it’s sarcastic, and sometimes it’s just plain silly. We’ve played jokes on each other nice. April Fool’s Day jokes.
And
Unknown Speaker [19:42]
I thought sort of thought of a few things. I don’t know if this is
Julie Ostrow [19:47]
nice to share. But
do you have April Fools in the UK?
Unknown Speaker [19:52]
Yeah, we do. Okay, well,
Julie Ostrow [19:55]
I don’t know. This is no this is not healthy humour. This is hurtful. But we had runners in our house, a runner from the back door to the kitchen and a runner is this, this plastic covering, so you can protect the carpet with the spikes on it. Exactly. So one of my sisters flipped it over. And my father would come down in the morning barefoot. And he was not a tiny man, he was a big man. So to put all of his weight on that, he did it with gusto. And we were still all upstairs either sleeping or getting ready and we heard
Unknown Speaker [20:38]
we did laugh at it. And then I think well that that’s completely against what I’ve
Julie Ostrow [20:44]
been learning in the a th about what is healthy humour and what is hurtful humour is finally about reason.
David Ralph [20:49]
Well, When, when, when, when when does something not be funny? That’s what I always say. I laugh at some dreadful things and people don’t look around at me. If it makes You laugh It makes you laugh. You can’t do anything about it, can you?
Julie Ostrow [21:03]
No, no. And I, but I do think that if so if I’m looking at something, say if there is something in Schindler’s List that you think is funny, and you laugh. That’s what you think is funny. Now, what if, if I am sarcastic to someone, if I make an insult, which I say, Oh, no, that’s funny. I was just joking. I believe that it is. It is important for us to acknowledge when other people’s feelings are hurt. Yes. And I’m not. Yes, you agree. Yeah. And I also I, I believe we shouldn’t tiptoe around each other either. So we can be ourselves laugh at what we should laugh at what we think is funny. But if someone tells us you know, Julie, when you said that, it really made me feel uncomfortable.
David Ralph [21:56]
He’s like when the people go, I don’t want To be rude, but you know they’re going to be rude straight upwards. But they boy Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah, I don’t mean to be funny. Well, you’re not going to be funny you’re just gonna say something awful afterwards so when you got your trophy back back back on to that that trophy what was there? Did you seriously how long did you have to laugh for because that laugh you were doing now I can imagine that just sets the whole room off once you start going because that was good that was starting me off actually.
Julie Ostrow [22:34]
That’s my real lab started up fake nuts my real laugh
David Ralph [22:38]
when this does it go from fake to sort of normal Ben. Because because that was kind of somewhat haha start started off and then he just became a bit hysterical at the end. Is there a point when you realise that you’re being taken over?
Julie Ostrow [22:56]
Hmm, that is a good question.
I notice it. I noticed when it happens, but I don’t know. But I do know that it’s a different timing, to elaborate and to explain what I’m thinking, and that is, if I am super stressed, it takes me longer to get to that fluid, comfortable, real laugh. If I’m more stressed and in my head and worrying about things, I’m going to do more of a fake laughter longer. And, and I’ll be more tense. But as I let go,
that it becomes real. I don’t I’m not sure if I answered your question.
David Ralph [23:38]
Yeah, no, I can say that. Once you once you became authentic, I suppose. And you just relax. That’s when it becomes the real love, isn’t it? And that’s what life is all about, isn’t it once you just relax, takes us all the way back to the start of our conversation really. And you just go with it when things go your way and you become relaxed and natural and it all plays you stripes and stuff?
Julie Ostrow [24:01]
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
David Ralph [24:04]
Did you have a realisation that you could take this into the corporate world? Or did you see somebody do it before you? Because I’ve worked in companies for many, many years. And the last thing that I wanted was people having a good time. So the fact that you’re going in there and doing these courses where there’s improvisation, and there’s fun, I imagine the employees love it being with you for a day. But did did you see somebody else do it? And you think that’s a good idea? Or was it your own thing?
Julie Ostrow [24:33]
It was my own idea. Because I was in the corporate world for a number of years, and I would climb the corporate ladder. I would do what I was told, but there was always something within me that was a little bit of a rebel. And I would question how things were done. People don’t like that. That’s not the way we’ve always done it. And wherever I worked, I tried to find my tribe. I tried to find my funny tribe. My humour tribe and I would throw out my humour, my sense of humour, where ever I went whatever job I had, and studying at the second city. I trained in improvisation. And I noticed the correlation between the rules and the guidelines of improvisation to to life and also where I volunteered for a bereavement support group. So I can even elaborate on the the rules of improv and how that worked. And it’s accepting what people have to say listening and being in the moment. And the whole whole idea of improv is have to be in the moment because right now, if I’m having this conversation with you, and you’re saying something to me, and if I’m thinking about what bills I have to pay, or what I did yesterday, and worrying about what I did or didn’t do yesterday, I’m not with you right now. And I’m going to miss out on what you have to bring to the table. Same thing with with relations. Hips, and with family or or friends.
David Ralph [26:06]
I can say, Ben, and we’ve improvisation. You’ve really got to be in the moment, haven’t you? As soon as somebody says something, you have to react. And more often than not the rules of improvisation is you never say no. You always have to go with what the other person has led you into.
Julie Ostrow [26:24]
And that’s it. That’s definitely a basic rule. And it’s the workshop I went to on Saturday, is that it’s okay, if your character says, No, that’s one thing too. But the basic is accepting what people have to say. It’s because it’s very easy for us to say, No, you know what, I’m going to try this. No. How about that idea? So being in the corporate world in a brainstorming session, here, let’s try this. No, we tried that last year. It’s not going to work. Well, how about if the three of us work on this know we already tried that. So if you’re in a corporate world, and Your team members or your manager constantly shoots your ideas down. How many times would you want to put yourself out on the chopping block and make yourself vulnerable to give your ideas? Zero.
David Ralph [27:11]
So So how do people get round that man because we were talking about a key point in life, we’ve all been in jobs where we have a great idea and we throw it forward and the management either dismiss it or they just, you know, don’t even say anything really. How do people get their ideas out? And especially in your environment, where you’re bringing such positivity and morale? boosting content? How do I get it food and middle manager because that must be your gatekeeper, isn’t it the mid middle managers, they’re always the worst ones in companies. They’re the ones that just kill fun left, right and centre.
Julie Ostrow [27:50]
Yes, and what I found is no, I’ll leave. I definitely leave where I worked. And I leave names of companies where work and I leave all of that out but I think Seeing similarities across the board. And that is what you just said. And I believe it’s they don’t want to change the status quo, because how they are how they’re operating, it works just fine. They’ve got people, they who are reporting to them, they’re in control, they still have their paycheck, they’re still able to pay for their boat. But it’s key for them to understand that if there’s even a minor shift in an attitude in there, people say if they’re being heard, there allow a little bit of creativity and there’s really a connection and communication and teamwork, people are going to want to work harder. And ultimately, there was going to be more productivity. So that’s the key message. The key message is listen to your people. Allow them to share their ideas.
communicate with them for sure.
David Ralph [28:50]
I always surrounded myself with teams when I was a team manager I was always just just bring me ideas bring me ideas, don’t bring me issues. Don’t bring me problems. Just bring me solutions. And ideas and we’re go with it. And people react well to that don’t pay. Middle middle management are, as I said, better world’s worse. It doesn’t matter what country you’re in. And it is the case but they are frightened of rocking the boat higher up, because ultimately they want to be higher up. So they want to be in that gang. And they are suppressing the people lower down because it kind of builds to their status, their ego, whatever. And I know this is a sweeping generalisation, but it’s true as well. And so they find themselves in that middle ground where they can’t interact with the people sort of that reporting to them and they come interact with the people that they report up to. So they just find themselves floating somehow trying to justify their their performance on a daily basis.
Julie Ostrow [29:47]
That’s Well said. Well said. Well said they might agree with what their team members say to quote unquote rock the boat, but you’re right if they then present it to their higher ups than their We’re going to be looking at the will be looked at as the ones who rock the boat, and their heads will be on the chopping block. So staying with the status quo is safe.
David Ralph [30:08]
I was always a boat rocker I was, and it didn’t do me any good in my career at all, I missed out on so many opportunities because I just didn’t want to play the game. I wanted to play my own game. And when you’re playing your own game, it’s great. But when other people don’t want to play your game, you do find yourself in black holes and stuff. And I found that more often than not, I was I was the world’s favourite of people reporting into me, but the people that I reported into, they hated me for that reason. I was the sort of free spirit trying to do things myself, trying to change the morale. I was a great one to saying, you know, if you’ve done your work by certain time go home. And the managers used to say you can’t do that. I’ve got to be here till five o’clock and I’ll say, well, I’ve done the work. I’ve done everything I expected of them. Why can’t I go home? Well, I just gonna sit there all afternoon, just go home. And it got me into so much trouble. But I look back on it and I wouldn’t change it for a moment because I think what it gave me was the ability to challenge and I think that’s what the listeners need to do. And I think that’s what we all need to do. We need to look at our situation and start challenging because otherwise we’re just like blunt knife somehow that used to be able to cut bits off and now we can’t even cut a piece of cheese because we’ve just allowed ourselves to go rusty and blunt over a period of time.
Unknown Speaker [31:35]
Wow.
David Ralph [31:38]
rentee Judah you bought out on me?
Unknown Speaker [31:41]
Oh, well. Wow, that’s well said. That’s.
Julie Ostrow [31:49]
That’s good. It’s, it’s not a good thing to be be silent on a radio show. But maybe the listeners can hear the rocks in my head as I’m just kind of shaking my head and Yep, David’s got it. He’s got it and I rock the boat too. It’s very possible if you are in I were in the same company, we’re either rocking the same boat, or I was in my boat rocking mine or you were in the other one, rocking your boat too. And I always tried to find humour and I question what was going on and, and if there’s a process in place, and it works for the people who act like minions, and if I say, hey, let’s do it this way. And, and with a sense of humour to it really confuses people, because that’s not the way it was done. There used to doing something the way that the company’s been doing it for so many years and again, and I will say this is generalising as well. But doing things the same way because it’s comfortable, works for a lot of people and I would get bored. I would get bored with the way things were done and I would like to be able to use my own Creativity and say, hey, let’s do it this way. And I I would always throw out kind of quirky humour and it didn’t always fly. But when it when it did fly, I found my people. I found my my funny and my humour people. And one job I had in my 20s. I was there for five years and they were a large number of us around the same age. There are a handful of us, Lisa Bruno, if you’re listening right now she moved to the Netherlands. She and I sat next to each other reported two different bosses. But she and I were on the same page. And she was one of my my humour peeps, and working with people that I connect with on that level, that humour level more relaxed level would make me want to work harder. So even though she and I weren’t on the same projects, we would help each other out because we became camaraderie. mean comrades, excuse me, comrades, and we built rapport and we want to help each other out. And hey, you need help editing, you need to edit that newsletter while I’m done with my work. So I’ll edit that for you. And there were, there was always an ulterior motive. Okay, I’ll help you. So we can get out of here at seven instead of nine. So we can go to happy hour.
David Ralph [34:21]
That’s the way to do it. If you can find kindred spirits that are, you know, and she probably had talents that you didn’t have and you had talents that she didn’t have. So, together, you were more rounded, therefore more effective, but you wanted to work together.
Julie Ostrow [34:37]
Yes, absolutely. And I’ll try my humour out everywhere. David. I went to the gym the other day, and I was in a strength training class and we used a Bosu ball. Do you know what a Bosu ball is?
David Ralph [34:48]
You know, is it a thing that I’m pregnant women bounce around on?
Julie Ostrow [34:52]
It looks like if you hold it up against your belly, it looks like you’re pregnant. Right? It’s it’s half of a yoga ball on a really hard piece of plastic. Can you balance yourself?
David Ralph [35:03]
And so what you doing that you just well
Julie Ostrow [35:06]
you do some strength exercises balancing Well, I was doing a squat, I had it out in front of me and with it sticking out and I turned to this woman next to me who I’d never met before, and with a serious voice and face I asked her business bosu ball, make my stomach look big. And she and talk about finding your people. She looked at me straight face and she said, I have no idea. And basically what she was saying was Leave me alone. Don’t bother me with your stupid questions. Well, then a couple minutes later, I didn’t give up. A couple minutes later, I asked. I asked the instructor the same thing. She let out a huge laugh. And I thought Yep, I found my people. So I don’t give up. I think that’s a good example to you know, not to get shot down. Okay, that person didn’t get my humour or maybe she didn’t really understand what I was saying. But that’s okay. I still tried to find someone who’s gonna who I could connect with just for those couple minutes.
David Ralph [36:06]
Yeah, absolutely. And you’re trying to connect because you love what it brings you. That’s that’s the risk, isn’t it? You’re willing to put yourself out there because you love doing it and I’m gonna pay words now that actually emphasised that fact totally. This Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey [36:20]
My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [36:48]
You’re doing that on you. You’re doing what you love. You’ve gone out on a limb, you’re hustling like mad, you’re getting clients, you’re getting gigs. You’re putting yourself in situations that could go flat. They may not respond to you But you’re still willing to do it because it’s something you love.
Unknown Speaker [37:04]
Yes, yes.
David Ralph [37:07]
Why? Why are you doing that?
Julie Ostrow [37:10]
Well, because go back to that corporate world go back to. And I’m not bashing the corporate world if I’m speaking to them there is a value to these companies. But what I found about myself was, I was not happy. So whatever I was doing, I was good at marketing. But I wasn’t happy because I wanted to do something that really tapped into my creativity. And I look back on my corporate career and my struggles as a similar to a DNA helix. So one end, I am going along my corporate world and all of a sudden something happens and hits me. I need to be doing something more with my life. In college. I wanted to be a speech pathologist. And I did And I can even tell you why I didn’t go on that path a little bit later. But then I would, I would look into art therapy and music therapy, and I got so excited. I got the pamphlets from these institutions, and then the job was going okay, and it was fine. So I put those pamphlets away, went back on the corporate world, same disparaging remarks and challenges in the corporate world and not being who I was and, and the keys I wasn’t being who I was, I was trying to be someone that I’m not. And in, in large organisations, like it or not, you have to become someone you’re not. You have to hide who you are. And I wanted to continue to be who I am. And I’m, I’m passionate about making people laugh. I’m passionate about connecting with kids and giving them encouragement, and encouraging the kid in us. And so continuing on that path of finding something creative and then going back into the corporate world and every time I go back into the corporate world, I found myself getting caught up in the same minutia and the same challenges of trying to be someone. I’m not. And, and that is why, and when I’m and I create something on my own, and I myself, and then I get this positive reinforcement, I get this instant gratification from, from the audiences and the groups I work with that. Hey, thanks for putting this little bright spot into my day. And thank you for these tips. I’m going to take these back to our to our group. And that’s a long answer to why but I have to, I have to be myself and I, I cannot be a parallelogram being shoved into a square hole. I can’t
David Ralph [39:58]
but do not think that everybody feels was about quite deep down everyone. And I take totally what you’re saying about playing a role in corporate land. And I know why we do it. Because we want the the managers to believe that we can do certain things. So we play the role is all acting all the way through. And that’s where I always fell short because I didn’t play those games. And so I could do certain things very, very well. But I got overlooked a lot of the time because they couldn’t see that I could do it because I never played that role. So I can see why you have to do it. But the nuts and bolts of this conversation is that every single listener out there, every single person on in the pubs or the buses or mowing the lawn, wherever they’re listening, want to do their own thing. Nobody wants to wake up every morning and go, right. I’m going to spend 12 hours a day doing stuff I don’t want to do. We want to do what we want to do. But we’re frightened of actually going for it, aren’t we?
Julie Ostrow [40:56]
Yes, yes. Look at the faces of the people on the trains and the buses. was on their way to work? Do they look happy.
David Ralph [41:03]
I see people coming off the train in the evening. Now, I used to be on the train all the time. And now I see them and they look great. I don’t know what it is about them. But I just seemed like that that same night, their energy is gone somewhat. And I get out and you see them direct their bags and whatever up the road. And you know, they’re going to do it next day. And I did it for years and years and years. So I know how it feels. But I just look at them. And now I’m not doing bear. I just think there’s a life out there guys, every single one of us got a dream, every one of you has got a passion, every one of you after 10 pints would tell us what you most wanted to do in life. But for some reason, we forget that we can go out and do it. And it’s not going to be easy. You know, we do not tell people to just punch their boss in the face and quit and go out and do it because that really isn’t what this show is all about. But it is about going for happiness and going for the things that you want. Taking risks being action takers, and going for the dream because I believe that we can get it. Do you believe that we can all get it, Julie?
Julie Ostrow [42:09]
Absolutely. And, and it could be that stay in the corporate world. And I realise where it really seems like a corporate world bash. But what about taking a tiny step? So those of you listening, what about taking a little step? So you’re on the bus right now, when you’re listening to this? What about if you had that thought in your head you want I’d like to write a book? Well, and you might be thinking, Oh, my gosh, I don’t have anything to say, why don’t you go to your library? Take a take a writing class, if they have them in your library, or you know what I mean, start small. And because taking a huge leap off of that, that cliff, you’re not really sure. Okay, that’s fine. Take a little step. Take that painting class. Or if you said, You know what, I’m not really that outgoing. One is just put yourself out there, go to a networking meeting that has nothing to do with Any of your interests and see if you can meet people who have a completely different interest than you. So I guess what I’m saying is maybe the first step. Second step is slightly step out of your comfort comfort zone. See what it feels like?
David Ralph [43:13]
Yeah, did you set your clock 20 minutes early just for breaking the routine that you’ve had the last five or six years just to work slightly different way and you’ll start to find things occur to you that you didn’t have before. I was a walking zombie for many many years I went to work I came home I went to work I came home and all the time every now and again this passion for something would burst out and it was normally after a few points to be honest, where I’d suddenly start getting very motivational and I can do anything in life and but then the next morning I’d wake up with a head and being artist got to go to work, and I forget all about it. But when I came to taking my leap and we don’t call it a leap on here, we called it a slider five we believe that you should transition before you actually decide to do something. Look at some And think what two years time that is what I’m going to aim for. And bear with bear in mind, most of us have spent 30 years doing what we don’t want, we can wait two years to sort of get the dream, but then slide through, when I suddenly decided that I was going to do that vein, everything come together. For me. It was just a mindset shift. It was me realising that it was down to me, nobody else, no one else was going to set this show up. Nobody else was going to speak into this microphone. No one else was gonna laugh when Judy austro couldn’t get a Skype working from the other side of the Atlantic, all that kind of stuff. It was down to me to do it. And it was down to you, Julie as well, wasn’t it? It was down to you to go, I’m going after this. I’m going to make my decisions. And I’m going to make sure that those decisions work. And I might not work first all but it’s going to work and I’m going to get there somehow. Do you agree with that?
Julie Ostrow [44:51]
Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. And there are times I’ve tried different methods I’ve tried targeting different audiences. I’ve tried this method of connection, and some don’t work. I also know that maybe I’ve perfected what I talk about that connects with people. I also have perfected how I stand up and give a little pitch about what I do. And first couple of times, I spoke and said, This is what I do. This is what I want to do. I sat down, I thought, what did I just say? That didn’t make any sense? And it’s very, you know, and it’s very easy to shrink back and think, Oh, my gosh, I sounded so stupid, who’s gonna hire me? And that’s the defeatist attitude. And so if I think, Oh, my gosh, I failed, everyone’s going to pay attention that I failed. People are so obsessed with their own failures, they don’t even pay attention. And it’s not like they’re having it’s not like they’re all critics in the audience and teachers in the audience with their red pen that says see me after class? No, I think there’s, there’s a larger group of encouragers than discouraged. So wherever I go, and I stand up and speak, I usually get the oh my gosh, that sounds like a great idea. Or it, it’s very important to focus on the positive what you did stand up and give yourself credit for taking that art class. And, and so it doesn’t look like anything who cares. You took the class.
David Ralph [46:29]
I spent years standing up doing courses and presentations and live stuff. And when he come together, it was amazing. But there was some times where it just the audience liked it, but I just felt flat somehow. Do you find that when you’re doing stuff, although you want it to be rocking and rolling and I seem to be liking it internally, you kind of missed a beat on that one. Oh, that should have been better. How do you get over that?
Julie Ostrow [46:56]
I’m hard on myself. Ask. Ask my husband and My friends, and then I eventually snap out of it. I’m not saying, you know, weeks or months, but maybe the next day, because on my drive home from a presentation, I think that wasn’t really what was I thinking? Yes, it was good. I got positive feedback. People want me to come to their groups, but I can’t wallow in that. I spend a little time maybe the ride home, maybe 45 minutes an hour, depending on where it is. or even the flight home and I think, Okay, what could you do differently. So then the next time, make sure that it is your best. And if I were to, to think oh my gosh, you’re a failure. I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that expression or if it’s just yet so if you throw the baby out with the bathwater, but one thing is wrong and you throw the whole thing out. That’s not necessary. What you can do is just tweak it a little bit and that’s that’s what I try to do.
David Ralph [47:59]
And so it’s a The essence of the whole show what we’re saying to the audience out there, if you’ve got an idea is not going to be perfect. But it’s an idea. And an idea that you really resonate with is damn sight better than spending your life doing something that you don’t like doing. And I do agree with you, it has sounded a bit like a corporate bash. But deep down, what we’re talking about is happiness. And if you’re in a job, and you’re not happy, do something about it. And if you’re in a job, and you like the company, but you just got bored in the thing that you’re doing, try to work out how to get a different position, or can you volunteer after hours on that team so that they get to know you. So when they’re looking for somebody, you might be the person that they thinking about? I had a bloke in my last office, and I was the corporate trainer, all the guys and the ladies used to come over to me all the time asking for my opinion. And this guy came over to me and he said, I really want this job. I’m sick of doing this, but I want this job over on it. And I said, Well, I’d be going over there at all. Now I’m open not looking for anyone. I said, Yeah. But I know they’re not looking for anyone at the moment. But I might be looking, why don’t you go? No, I couldn’t do that. I said, Why don’t you send an email? And if you can’t go over there, send an email. And we’ll send it to the director of it asked to go out for a coffee. And you can just have a chat with him. And he went, yeah, I will do and I went, No, you want, I’m going to do it for you. And I grabbed his laptop, and I sent it. And within seconds, he got a response back going, Yeah, that sounds great. And what you’re doing for lunch today, and the director took him out and sat there and told him what he needs to do to prove to himself that he can get across there, you know, and he gave him like a blueprint. And he worked at it, and he got the role and he’s over there, and he’s loving every minute of it. But he’s initial thought was, oh, that’s not going to happen. This isn’t going to happen. They’re not looking for this, all that kind of stuff. And just by being proactive, well being forced into being productive by myself, he actually cut through bad and found out that it was an opportunity at the end is amazing in that,
Julie Ostrow [50:03]
that is and I, I’m wondering if his attitude has changed if, if he has gotten other opportunities to step out of his comfort zone and take a risk, since he’s been in that position, I’m not saying jumping to another position, but I’m wondering if he, him being forced to step out of his comfort zone. I wonder if that made him a little bit more confident to maybe speak up or take on more projects when he originally would have thought that I don’t want my help.
David Ralph [50:31]
But did you not find that the initial momentum quite often stops people due to first thing and you go right, go on, go go again. Go get out. No, no, no, I’ll wait till next. And it’s like, it’s taken so much out of them to do the first step that if I keep going, if I can get closer and closer to what they want, but for some reason, I see all the time they leave a job that they don’t like doing, and they kind of go to the same job again somewhere else, just because they’ve kind of moved on and then they get there. And they don’t like it. And then I start thinking, actually, my old place wasn’t too bad. I wonder if they take me back. And they try to get re employed at the company that they didn’t like, first of all, so they, they get caught in what they really want. But what they want is to be happy, just be happy somewhere.
Julie Ostrow [51:21]
Or here’s the question to or do they have you met people who are happy being miserable?
David Ralph [51:26]
I think people like having a story. I think people like to be able to stand at the coffee machine telling you why life is gonna be crappy. I think it’s more juicy, isn’t it? You know, if you’re in a company, you don’t, you never care about the people that are married to each other, but you care about the people that are having affairs.
Julie Ostrow [51:52]
Unfortunately, I think that’s why reality TV here is such a success, but we don’t have to talk about that. You know, the real Reality TV, but I think you’re right. And if negative negative press negative stories get more attention, but I, I don’t want to live that way. Because I know I’ve had I’ve had struggles in my life and just know my mother passed away when I was 25. So there was a and I saw her struggle through cancer and I think there was a good chunk of my life where I was just just surviving, I think emotionally, because after work, I take the train, I go visit my mom, and I will do whatever I could for her. And there was a time so good chunk of my life where I was focusing on cancer focusing on death, and I don’t want to do that. It granted it was a long time ago, but we’re talking about life and what happens to us, but I don’t want to live like that. I got I got married last month. To a wonderful man, we had a wonderful ceremony. He’s got a wonderful family. And, and here’s the difference. My I just felt my whole body change. And when I was talking about those two different issues I felt my I sat up straight when I was talking about the wedding and the wonderful man and now I’m, I’m feeling extremely grateful right now. And that’s why I feel kind of some tears coming through. But that’s, that’s what I want to feel in my life. That’s what I want to feel. And that’s why I want to continue with my passion and continue to write these books that I’ve started. And I want to live in my heart and my body and my soul. Not Not my head telling me that what I’m feeling is wrong.
David Ralph [53:51]
You want to be alive, don’t you?
Julie Ostrow [53:53]
Yes, absolutely.
David Ralph [53:55]
When I left my corporate gig, if I’ve said this on it, any other shows, I’ll be amazed. But it’s true. Somebody said to me, what are you going to do when you leave this company? And I said, I’m going to look at clouds. And they went, What do you mean by that? I said, I would like the ability to be able to choose my time. And if I want to lay in the grass, just looking at clouds, I’m going to do that I’m not going to be by the clock anymore. And I looked at me like had gone mad for a nanosecond. And Ben they went, that’s what I would like, as well. And what we were talking about really was once again, being alive, being doing the things that you want, when you want, experiencing whether having the wind blow through your hair, on a Tuesday afternoon, where you would have been in an air conditioned office, driving a convertible car through a desert road, just as the sun’s going down all those kinds of things, which I believe now are in our grasp, if we want them and they may not be the things that you would want, they might not be the things that I would want, but the ability to choose. That’s the key thing is Julie
Julie Ostrow [55:01]
Mm hmm. Absolutely.
And not have someone dictated for you whether it is your, your boss in the corporate world? Or how about this, whether it was a family member, a sister, a brother, who or a mom and dad who always told you what you shouldn’t shouldn’t do. And I think whether you’re, I’ve talked to a lot of people who have the same similar experiences, whether you’re 20 3040 or 60, those family issues still come up. So what what voices are you listening to? Are you listening to that, that that person inside your head that tells you you can’t do that? And I know when I started to jump out on my own I, one of my sisters said, Why don’t you get with a good solid company? And just base She didn’t say the words played safe, but secure, get with a company where you’re secure and you could have insurance well That was just before AIG, and everything with the large corporations went went belly up. So what is solid, what is safe? so encouraging your family members and your loved ones to play it safe. But what Jim Carrey was saying in his speech, how safe is a safe company, I’ve experienced the same thing that he was talking about. I’ve gotten laid off a number of times, when I was, you know, I was the last one to hire be hired, of course, the first one to be let go. So what voices are you listening to? Are you playing it safe? Because someone else told you to? Or do you want to be alive?
David Ralph [56:38]
I want to be alive. I want to enjoy every moment of my life and I want to, I want to have the dream. And I’m not going to give up until I get the dream and in many ways, Julie, I’ve already got the dream and I think you’ve got the dream as well Haven’t you because you know what you want. And you know that you’ve got the ability inside you to make it happen.
Julie Ostrow [56:59]
Hmm. And I think one other tip to, to share is when I do get in my head, and that’s when I tell myself What are you doing? Or you need to work harder, you’re not working hard enough or what are you doing to committing to write these books, that’s when I tap into my tribe. That’s when I type in, tap into
my friend Lisa, who is
same sense of humour, but we push each other. That’s when you that’s when you reach out to those friends who will say, you know, David, get back on track, get off the couch, write that book or get that other programme out on the air, do it. It’s okay to get outside encouragement. And the key is, go to those people who love and support you. Don’t go to those people who you know, aren’t really ready to jump out on the limb themselves, because they’re afraid to jump out. They’re afraid of you jumping out. So go to those people who support you.
David Ralph [58:00]
I’m going to play some words now. And it’s the theme of the show. And it’s hugely powerful, almost 10 years old now. But these were the words that Steve Jobs said back in 2005. And I like to get the flavour from every guest whether they are relevant to their lives. So this is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [58:18]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [58:54]
How they make you feel when you hear those words. They’re words that so many people have heard hundreds hundreds of times, but Did I have any resonance to you at all?
Julie Ostrow [59:03]
Huh? Absolutely.
Connecting the Dots when you look back, and I also love how he slightly paraphrase Robert Frost poem. That’s what he did. Taking a different path and that has made all the difference that going along your life and taking that step even though you don’t know what’s going to happen as something as simple and fun as a laughing championship, committing to it, and then looking back. I connected the dots too. After winning the laughing championships. Albert Nuremburg got me on the couple of radio shows. I then got more confidence people heard me they wanted me on other radio shows. I then had more confidence and then I reached out networking, and people wanted me on their TV shows. So looking, looking back, I see how committing myself to something and, and, and hanging on to the self confidence and keep going. But what I love is that you got to keep going forward don’t look looking backward, you connect the dots and keep going forward. And that as I keep laying the stepping stones for my life, I can look back and say all these all these steps have been connected.
David Ralph [1:00:26]
And do you have a big.in your life God, I love to ask this question, but do you have a big dog that when you look back you go? Yes. That’s when the true Julie was born.
Julie Ostrow [1:00:40]
During one of my corporate jobs that I had while I was working one particular company, I drove home for my sisters, by myself back to the city of Chicago and I just started crying. I thought what am I doing? I’m working in the corporate world. In a city and I’m just driving home by myself, and I called my friend from college. I went to school in North Carolina, I called my friend and I said, you know, that offer that your mom gave me a couple years ago, that if I wanted to take some time off and live in North Carolina, I could see with them I said, I’d like to take her up on that offer. And I had no idea what was going to happen. I thought I was going to take just three months off just a sabbatical. Well, the decision for me to leave that job and go live in Wilmington, North Carolina is right near the beach. It was scary. But that was my big dot and my decision. And as soon as I made that decision, God or my angel, I’m not sure who it was. Maybe it was my mom. I don’t know. But everything was lined up. So that decision was the big dot. And all these other little dots were thrown at me as hey, here’s one that works. And that is I had a job waiting for me. I had a place to stay. And then I thought, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? I have an apartment. I have to sublet it. Well guess what within two days of posting that I needed to sublet the apartment, a gentleman who was going to be working for three months, paid up front. And then yes, and then a week before I decided to give my notice from that company, we get letters stating that from the previous quarter, we got our management bonus. So it was more than $3,000 more than I even expected so so a management bonus that I was not expecting. So I had a job, a place to live, apartment taking care of, and money in my pocket. And all of those things, all those dots connected my path down to North Carolina, to slow down and, and listen to my heart, my intuition, which said, you know what you need to do something having to do with humour. It’s not something that everybody can do. You have this gift, and and don’t minimise it.
David Ralph [1:03:01]
love that story. something so simple, can lead to greatness and that that’s really a message that the listeners need to know just that one thing, the one thing you might be scared of doing, it might lead to something. And if you leave listen to every single one of these episodes, the person’s big story will be very closely linked to Julie’s, I might say, in a different way might be a different situation, it might be a different location, whatever. But it’s still that they put themselves out there. And they’ve done something but more often than not, is uncomfortable. And then they’ve done another, and another, and another powerful stuff, Judah. And this is the end of the show now and this is the part that we call the Sermon on the mic. And this is when I send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the young God, what age would you choose and what advice would you give? Well, we’re gonna find out because I’m gonna play a tune now when it fades you up. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [1:04:06]
Here we go with the best of the show.
Julie Ostrow [1:04:26]
Hey, Julie, you’re eight years old. I know that what I’m about to tell you, you might not grasp, but I have a feeling you’ll you’ll get the gist of it. Hey, my name is Julie also, and we haven’t talked in a while. I’m your 47 year old Julie. And yeah, good to see you. Great smile. Glad you still have that laugh. One thing I didn’t tell you and one thing you might not have known as you’re going through your little kid life right now. But you know how much you enjoy those little things and you’ve lived And you giggle really loud. When someone might just snicker at you, you know how you keep laughing? You do, we’ll keep going. And one thing as you travel through your life, it’s possible that you’re going to have a little voice inside your head that says, What are you doing? You should be just like everybody else. Well, guess what? I want you to ignore that. I know you’re asking what ignore what people have to say. Yes, you were raised to be respectful of your parents and adults, but just not. But don’t take in what everybody says. You know, that little voice in that feeling that you have inside your soul that you’ve talked to occasionally? Yes, you know, the one that is your guide. That guide is going to guide you along the way and listen to her. It’s possible you’re going to have a voice in your head that’s going to tell you she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. But that comes This inside your belly is who and what you’re going to follow. And I want you to laugh a lot. And if there’s time, there’s going to be a few times when people tell you that you laugh like Woody Woodpecker. Just smile and laugh and say thank you and go on your merry way. I love you, Julie. We’ll talk soon.
David Ralph [1:06:22]
Julie, I haven’t thought of Woody Woodpecker is how can our audience connect with you?
Julie Ostrow [1:06:29]
They can reach me on my website at go find the funny.com so that’s g o. f as in Friday, I nd the funny.com. I’m also on Twitter at at Julie austro.com. My last name is spelled o SS and Sam T’s and Tom r o w. And you can also find me on Facebook. I look forward to connecting with everyone and David, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk with you today.
David Ralph [1:07:00]
A pleasure. And thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And please come back again when you have more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Julie, thank you so much.
Julie Ostrow [1:07:15]
Thank you. Happy Hi.
Outro [1:07:17]
David doesn’t want you to become a fated version of the brilliant self you or wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life, head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
Unknown Speaker [1:07:44]
And that’s it.