Kim Corbin Joins Us On the Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Kim Corbin
Kim Corbin is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business coaching podcast.
When I started the show, I never considered that I would be having conversations on certain subjects, but todays episode is one of those that has arisen a few times.
It is something that most of us have spent time doing when we were young, but stop doing, because it seems uncool to do it as adults.
But todays guest has taken that logic and turned it on its head, as she is bringing skipping back into the adult world.
Yep, that type of skipping that you might have done as a kid.
Our guest created iSkip in the spring of 1999 when she became so inspired after skipping for the first time as an adult that she decided to invite the rest of the world to join her.
She began organising regular group skipping events in San Francisco, and in January 2000 quit her corporate job to pursue her dream full time.
How The Dots Joined Up For Kim
She poured her heart and soul into her vision, recruited head skippers in as many as 60 cities, and attempted to start a writing and speaking career.
Unfortunately, that didn’t go so well.
She ultimately skipped herself into financial ruin, and would spend the next several years going through what she calls the “post acute skipping hangover” phase of her journey. But as soon as she’d think her skipping path had come to an end, a newly inspired Skipper offering a unique contribution to the skipping world would skip onto the scene.
So what was it about skipping that wouldn’t let her go, even when she hit the dark point of perceived failure?
And does she see it more a boost for your mental happiness, or for your physical health.
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Kim Corbin.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed weighty topics with Kim Corbin such as:
How skipping is the perfect way to break down those mental barriers that can help you overcome anything in life.
How she realised that to create a movement was more about inspiring the passion within her than it was in others.
How she loves to visit Burning Man each year in Nevada, where they build a city from nothing, and then take it down again afterwards.
Why Derek Sivers TedTalk on “How to create a movement” is a great watch and can demonstrate the tipping point of making things happen.
And lastly……..
How she now sees the dark points of her life as the true opportunities that life will have in store for her.
How To Connect With Kim Corbin
Derek Sivers Ted Talk
Return To The Top Of Kim Corbin
If you enjoyed this episode with Kim Corbin, why not check out other inspirational chat with Shawn Stevenson, Dorie Clark, Jo Na Williams and the amazing Derek Rydall
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Full Transcription Of Kim Corbin 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, Barry. It’s me a course in It’s me. It’s Episode 298 of Join Up Dots today. And it’s it’s a funny old show today because when I started to show I never considered that I would be having conversations on certain subjects. But today’s episode is one of those that hasn’t risen a few times. It’s something that most of us have spent time doing when we were young but stopped doing because it seems I’m called to do it as adults. But today’s guest has taken that logic and turned it on its head as she is bringing skipping back into the adult world. Yep, that type of skipping that. You might have done as a kid now guest created escape in the spring of 1999 when she became so inspired after skipping for the first time as an adult, but she decided to invite the rest of the world to join her. She began organising recolored groups keeping events in San Francisco, and in January 2000 quit her corporate job to pursue her dream for time, she poured her heart and soul into her vision, recruited head skippers in as many as 60 cities and attempted to start a writing and speaking career. Now, unfortunately, that didn’t go so well. And ultimately, she skipped herself into financial ruin, and would spend the next several years going through what she calls the post acute, skipping hangover phase of our journey. But as soon as she think her skipping path had come to an end, a newly inspired Skipper offering a unique contribution to the skipping world would skip onto the scene. So what was it about that skipping that wouldn’t let her go even when she hear the dark point of perceived failure? And does she see more of a boost for her mental happiness or for her business? physical health. Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Kim Skipper Corbin. How are you?
Kim Corbin [2:08]
I’m doing great. Thank you
David Ralph [2:11]
is funny thing radio show because as I say, I’ve never dreamed in a million years I’d be having conversations with skippers, but I’ve had I’ve had you skip out of at a Michelle Joanie from New York Skipper. I’ve had david rope warrior who was the skipper who broke the world and jumped lumps record in skipping the so many skippers out there. And it’s quite obvious why that should be because it’s a really good, healthy thing to do, isn’t it?
Kim Corbin [2:39]
It really is. And you know, I always like what, especially when I’m talking to people in England, to make the distinction that the kind of rope or skipping that I’m doing is the kind that does not involve a rope. I once did an interview with the BBC in England and we did the whole interview and at the very end, the host said and where do you buy your rope? I said, Oh, I don’t skip What’s the rope? And they were like no rope like it just, I think in the in England there’s it’s more jumping rope is more commonly called skipping rope. So that seems to be a common common misconception sometimes.
David Ralph [3:13]
Yeah, but yeah, I think you’re right. I think when you think about skipping you think about boxes, basically. Well, once you get to the adult world, and you see them and it is always the rope business, isn’t it? And the last time that I have what I actually do skip, and I skip when I’m at my peak happiness, and I don’t care what the world thinks of me, and generally I will sort of skip when it’s sunny. And it’s a fun thing to do. But I only do it when my kids are around or if I’m trying to embarrass someone. So how do you actually bring that into your world but you don’t feel that kind of that the world is looking at you but you’ve gone slightly mad because it is unusual, isn’t it for an adult just get
Kim Corbin [3:54]
it? Actually that is I believe what is the most beneficial part of how Being a skipping practice. When I first started skipping, I’d skipped as an adult I had this vision basically that I should try and start a skipping movement. It was right when the.com world was getting going. So, you know, there it was just a perfect storm of timing. But I was from Indiana and and couldn’t really imagine I had the idea but then I thought Can I really go skip by myself down the street. And it was it was challenging and even still, I’ve been skipping now for 15 years and there’s still an inner dialogue that happens where my my kind of more sensible rational self says, You can’t skip here. People are gonna think crazy, or you’re gonna annoy people with your joy, or No, don’t do it like, like this protective part of me. And at the same time, I have this joyful, free spirited, Skipper inside he says I love skipping and I’m going to choose to be in the moment anyway, and so is an active choice each time you do it, and the more that you do it That translates into other areas of your life where ultimately you can become a lot less concerned about what other people think and realise that in today’s world, it’s crazier to inhibit someone’s joy by judging them versus actually just, you know, letting it out and being joyful.
David Ralph [5:17]
Yeah, no, I think that’s absolutely right. And I think out of all the conversations that I’ve had, when I was speaking to Michelle Joanie, and I’m desperately trying to look at what episode she was, because it was a while ago now. She was one but when she was talking about what she brought into the world, Episode 263, that’s when it was if you want to go back and listen to that, listeners, I thought to myself, this isn’t about fitness. This is about mental barrier breaking. And if you are willing to skip around the streets of New York or skip around some major city, with the world looking at you, that really does set you up to be able to overcome many fears that hold people back, isn’t it eight, you’re doing it in a public space?
Kim Corbin [5:59]
Absolutely. And for me that has been that’s what that’s what turns me on most about skipping. What’s interesting is when I first put up I skip and the national media, international media really, because I was on the BBC, like I said, I was in People Magazine, and I had all this national publicity and they all wanted to talk about the fitness aspects, which surprised me because that wasn’t really where I was coming from. In fact, I couldn’t get myself to exercise at all when it first started. So it’s kind of like, Wow, what a how interesting that I was chosen to be called to skip when I wasn’t into fitness. But they always wanted to talk about that because it is a really valid form of fitness. And that’s what people understand. And I think as we are evolving, collectively that people are becoming more open to kind of the, what you’re describing like the freedom and the more spiritual aspect of skipping and what it can give us but a lot of people want to play it safe, especially in the media and just talk about the fitness benefits from which are pretty amazing. Really
David Ralph [7:00]
Well, yeah, I can see VR Batman, interesting. rb, I can quite see the fact that if you skip and you’re bouncing up and down, you’re going to get fit. But I would have thought the BBC being the organisation that they are, they should have gone for the clever route. And I wouldn’t say I was clever, but when I first saw you and I saw Michelle, the mental aspect was the first being I felt kind of almost embarrassed for you when I first started reading about it. And I mean, that was a great disrespect. I felt to myself. I don’t think I could do that. I really can’t do that. But then once I broke through that thought to myself, no, actually, I think if I did decide to do it, I would love it because it is you’ve made that leap. And you’re almost saying to the well, look at me, I don’t care.
Kim Corbin [7:47]
Yes, I choose joy over fear. And I really feel like and to be my individual self and to do what makes me happy versus being afraid of. We know what this collective kind of Conventional wisdom that we all have bought into, which to me is crazy, because we all skip this kit. And so it’s so fascinating to me that it’s gotten to this point that we’re like, oh my gosh, I couldn’t do that when it’s the most natural thing ever. It’s really it’s just it fascinates me to no end. And, and I and I still like yesterday, I went skipping around my boyfriend’s neighbourhood. And, and you know, it’s every time it is a choice to choose that joy and not buy into the fear and like, oh, other people wouldn’t want me to do this and it’s so liberating.
David Ralph [8:33]
I guarantee you listeners, you might be listening this thinking, now, that’s not me. I’m not gonna go skipping. But if you do, if you do you come out of a pub one night, for example, when you’ve had a few too many and you think about this conversation, and the fitness isn’t part of it. It’s just the ability to skip. You will not be able to skip without laughing or at least smiling. And I think when you look at kids, I was talking to my wife today yesterday and my daughter Who’s nine coming up? 10. She just laughs and she jumps and she just so joyous all the time. But little kids are little kids love that don’t know. But as you proceed through and you hit into sort of teenage years and adulthood, you certainly don’t laugh as many times a day and you certainly don’t jump and do handstands and all that kind of stuff. And I wonder why? Because it obviously is a great thing to do. Because you look at little kids and they’re having the time of their life. But as adults, we just kind of, I don’t know, do we just become more serious? Do we think that we can’t do these things? We’re not allowed to have fun in our life. Well, what do you reckon, Kim?
Kim Corbin [9:35]
Well, I think that it’s just the way that our culture and society has trained us to be from but when you get in junior high is when it begins, I think and it’s, it’s like you really, there’s a lot of pressure to fit in with the pack and to be like other people. And it’s I think it’s an ingrained part of us that now as a culture, that we’re ready to evolve beyond and that we need to evolve beyond like, we need people Who can have their own inner authority and their own sense of right and wrong and who who know that like being joy in the world is a great thing. And that, that this kind of outdated I have to be like everyone else thing is really no longer serving us.
David Ralph [10:16]
I think he’s a badge of honour not to be like everybody else now and I, on a daily basis, I speak to people, and I’m always caught on because I come from a corporate background I for many, many years, I went to an office and I worked. And there’s still that kind of mental aspect where I kind of go, yeah, I can understand how you earn a living when you go to an office and you work and you get paid. But when I see people like yourself doing this, and I kind of think, Well, it sounds great, but how to make a living from it. But that is the sort of brilliance of doing things your own way that you can actually almost have you taken at you can create your own income. You can Have fun, you can do enjoyable stuff, and you can do stuff that nobody else does and still make a living
Unknown Speaker [11:05]
did it? Well, did you start?
Kim Corbin [11:08]
Well, yes. And here’s the,
from the very beginning when I first started skipping, and you know, I was so it was it took me for such a ride, like I had this vision to start a skipping movement and put up I put up a website and then all of a sudden, you know, all these other people who’d been skipping for years started coming forward to the website, the national media started interviewing me. And it was really quite, you know, like it was it was quite a ride.
And I’m totally gonna lose my train of thought of what you
David Ralph [11:38]
asked me about making an income?
Unknown Speaker [11:41]
Oh, yes.
Kim Corbin [11:43]
So and my dad is such an entrepreneur. And and I was like, Dad, I’m I’m gonna leave I’m gonna quit my job and leap and and I believe that the net will follow. I was very young and naive about how these things worked. And I just thought that my reward for saying yes to my college. was going to be that that would happen. At the same time. I, I’ve always felt very adamant about the fact that skipping is free. And it’s not something that I wanted to try and find a way to, to charge people for it at a level that I would be able to support myself. So I just had this kind of wishful thinking early on, and how its evolved for me personally, is that I skipping I have a day job that I absolutely love at New World library, which has allowed me to continue the thing I love most about the skipping movement, which was that I had a way of helping to shift consciousness and bring positive energy to the world. But now my day job at New World library allows me to do that. And that allows the skipping movement to just be what it is and to be my vocation and to be my passion without the stress of trying to figure out how I’m going to get it to support me. It’s, it’s different, really, and that’s how I have my cake and eat it too. I have this incorrect Double job working for a company that I just I’ve been here for 10 years, and I’m so grateful for it. And I have skipping movement. And it gets to just evolve at its own pace without the pressure of trying to make a living from it.
David Ralph [13:14]
But But you didn’t do that. First of all, you went the full hope, didn’t you? And you
Kim Corbin [13:18]
and I, I’m still working on a book on it. And back then I when I wasn’t like I had no no plan. I mean, my plan was I was going to write a book about my experience. Only the thing is, is the book that I’m ultimately writing is about the hero’s journey and how when we say yes to a calling, that that means all kinds of things, including that you’re going to go through a dark night of the soul and be faced with deep deep stuff. Um, and so I didn’t realise that then. And when I look back at the book that I wrote that was going to be this thing that was going to save me financially. It has this kind of like, come on, if you just skip like me, everything will be great attitude to it, which I don’t think is really all that helpful. For people who you know, like skipping the last thing that they would want to do,
David Ralph [14:05]
what was interesting about baseball is but you’re in a corporate gig. And like so many people, you get an idea. And you didn’t just sort of start off with that idea and try it locally. Or it seems to me you You really did go full steam ahead. And you recruited head skippers. You’re in 60 cities. Was it a case of overexpansion? Was was that the problem? Or was there just not enough kindred spirits to make it work?
Kim Corbin [14:35]
Well, skipping, skipping is free. The challenge there was lots of energy around it. But because skipping is such a challenging thing for most people to do, you know, it’s it’s hard to monetize it and and I didn’t want to monetize it like I’m I had been,
David Ralph [14:52]
why wouldn’t you want to monetize it if you’re leaving your gig? You know, because around here, I don’t know if I have these in America, but they do these things called boot. camp, when you meet in a local park, and a woman shouts at you or and you rolled around and you talk just it’s, it should be free because you think he’s in a car, but the woman charges you and you go there and it’s very, very popular. You see loads of them. And so she Yeah, she’s monetizing something. Why couldn’t you do that in skipping?
Kim Corbin [15:18]
Well? Well, that’s a Michelle Joanie is doing that with her skipping club and it’s working well. Um, but as far as like being able to support myself on that exclusively, it wouldn’t work and because skipping is such a deep rooted fear for so many people. It’s just I don’t know it’s if I did do groups gifts I did leads, you know, some paid skips I did. You know, I tried everything. I really did. But ultimately, like I my philosophy around it, being free came from having gone to Burning Man, I’ve been to Burning Man 15 times and that’s a very it’s a non commercial, create for the sake of creating.
You know, it doesn’t have to be about money kind of
David Ralph [15:59]
burning. Moon so we all know this.
Kim Corbin [16:01]
Oh, you’re not aware of Burning Man.
Burning Man is a festival that happens in the desert in Nevada and every land the week before Labour Day and Labour Day weekend, where 60,000 people from all over the world come and build a temporary city called Black Rock City. And there’s no commercial vending at all. It’s all a gift economy and but it’s like a fully operating town. Like for instance, the camp that I camp with, we build the Black Rock roller disco and we bring a floor out there and skates and build a roller skating rink. There’s bars, there’s places to go get your hair wash, there’s it’s it becomes like I think it’s the third largest city in Nevada for that week. And then at the end, it’s all in Oh, and also there’s it’s an art festival. There’s an amazing huge large art, art, installation installations and sculptures and everything you can imagine. And then at the end One of the biggest principles of Bernie man is Leave No Trace. Or then you basically we clean everything we walk around and pick up little pieces of feathers and strings and completely Canvas the desert so that we leave it as it was when we came. But the non commercial aspect of that, and the fact and also a lot of the artists will burn their arts, a little bit of cute, amazing, beautiful art sculptures and then they burn it at the end. And it’s all about creating the, you know, the inherent value in creating and being a creator and bringing forth ideas into the world without having to have the financial end of it be a motivating force. That sounds
David Ralph [17:42]
brilliant. It’s one of those things once again, you first thought of why why would you do this but of course, as humans, it’s the ability to create, isn’t it that’s what really sets us apart from from the rest of the species in the world really. And the fact that there’s an no real reason to do it but people I loving doing it. But yes, joy. Yes. amazing thing to do.
Kim Corbin [18:08]
Yes, yeah you definitely Google Burning Man and check out the images you won’t believe it it’s it is extraordinary experience it’s like visiting another planet and the other thing is that it’s really intense weather conditions so there can be if you don’t drink water you die which is like really was like I had never experienced that kind of relationship with my body where it was like wow like this is really edgy and there can be white out dust storms where there’s like 80 mile an hour winds and and like your tents and everything get blown over. It’s very challenging as far as the weather goes too so it’s it’s edgy. It’s not just like all Peace, love and happiness, although there’s a lot of that there too.
David Ralph [18:50]
So if you take the concept of burning men and bee species to all the listeners out there as well if you just sort of sit bare where you’re listening to this show wherever you are in the box You’re on the train or you’re at work. And you think, right, I’m going to create something. And I’m going to create a movement where we’re going to get loads and loads of people into a desert, where it’s baking hot. If I don’t drink enough water, they’re gonna die. And they’re going to build this town. We’re not going to pay them to do it. And then they are going to enjoy themselves. And then they’re going to take it down and have to wander around for hours on end trying to pick up every little thing. You would think that is never going to happen. That is never going to happen and why would it happen? But that person Mr. Burning Man, or whatever his name is, or Mrs. Burning Man, whoever started by had that idea, and managed to take it through to fruition and created what we’re talking about created a movement. And that is the power isn’t it? That is when you get to that point when belief becomes contagious, and that belief actually spreads across and that’s when you’re starting to cook on gas. It’s, it’s fascinating and it’s not one of those kind of conversations I’ve had very many times and Join Up Dots. But that dream that that belief that is so big. And literally every single person must have said to Mr. Burning Man, what’s the point? What is the point but I still did it. And they did it and they’ve carried it on. It’s fantastic, isn’t it to think that
Kim Corbin [20:19]
it really it really is. Yeah.
David Ralph [20:22]
You see what Mr. Burning Man, what am I making this very simplistic?
Kim Corbin [20:26]
Well, that’s simplifying it. It was actually a community of people in the Bay Area, and it started on a beach. And it was, it was like, I’d say four or five different people who were kind of the central organisers, and it got so big that the police shut it down one year. And so they that was when they ultimately took it out to the desert. And and then but my first year was 1997. And when I first went, there was 15,000 people there now they’re 60,000 people there. And it’s and there’s definitely. And in the early days, it was really about kind of anarchy. They went out there they shot guns, they, you know, there’s they drove around wherever they wanted. And then as it’s grown, it’s been there’s there was kind of a division between those original people who that was their kind of their whole world and their community. And it was that and then the group that has built it into a business now a nonprofit, and they’re really trying to figure out ways to take the Bernie man principles out into the world. So Larry Harvey is the I would say the main spokesperson, and he was one of the central people who started it, but there were others involved as well that aren’t aren’t a part of it anymore.
David Ralph [21:42]
I’m gonna try and get Larry Harvey on the show.
Unknown Speaker [21:45]
There you go. I’ve never
David Ralph [21:47]
heard of him, but he sounds like an interesting person.
Kim Corbin [21:50]
Really interesting.
David Ralph [21:51]
Well, while we’re talking about bees, have you seen the TED talk about how to start a movement? Have you seen this with Derek seavers or Derek cybers No, I have not if you haven’t go over on to Google after you’ve listened to the show, and type in TED Talk creating a movement, and it’s fascinating. They have this hill. And it’s like a festival or something. And so you feel like there’s a concert going on, but you can’t see the concert. So it’s all the people sitting around, chatting, waiting for the next band to come on. And there is one person who gets up and starts dancing like a lunatic really bizarre dancing. And everyone kind of looks around and things are it was this nutcase what was he up to and sort of having a laugh, but then somebody else joins in, and then two of them are dancing, and then somebody else joins in, and the show is a tipping point that takes you from I’m the lunatic, I’m the isolated one to the world doesn’t want to miss out. And once you hit that tipping point, you saw people turning around and thinking something’s going on over there. And the crowds were rushing to join in to jump around like lunatics even though I had no idea what was happening. Five minutes ago, and it was it was construed basically, to the fact that it was proving a point. But I like that, that we’ve life generally I think there comes a tipping point. And once you start on something, no matter how mad The dream is how big it is, you get to that point that suddenly success starts coming to you. And then that feels to believe and I think that’s really what we’re talking about today. Do we all became?
Kim Corbin [23:26]
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I actually I haven’t seen the TED talk, but I have seen that video. And I love being that person at parties. I really I really believe that deep within us all buried under these protective ego devices that are trying to keep us safe and help us stay with with the herd so we don’t get isolated. We’re so afraid of that is this joyful inner child that wants to come out and be expressed and feel free and and so I just love it. I’ve really gotten to know that part of me and I lead with that a lot of times and I’m often the first person on the dance floor. And by the end of the night, I’m never the last one on the dance floor. But I love doing that.
David Ralph [24:10]
I’m always the one standing in the corner with a point that’s that. I know you’re not gonna get me up there. First of all, I get forced. And I might do maybe a couple of dances just because at least I can say I’ve done it and then I disappear. That’s the way I operate. But let’s play some extra impressed that you’re a Skipper.
I am a Skipper. Yeah, I like it. I don’t do it all the time, because that might make me look a bit strange. But I’m certainly I can, I can see, I can see why we should all skip. And it’s not something that I think we should just dismiss because I think ultimately, as I said, right at the very beginning, it’s a way of breaking down those fears, those self limiting fears, as are these words. This is Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey [24:55]
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 [25:22]
Now, you took a chance, you say it was a calling? Was it was a calling? Did you feel passionately, but you weren’t a person to do this? And did you feel at the time that there was a need for it? Was there a risk involved?
Kim Corbin [25:37]
Um, I do feel like it was a calling. Absolutely. It came to me twice. I mean, the first time that I skipped as an adult, I thought, Oh my gosh, I could get my Bernie man friends to skip with me and I could do media and then it would start a people all over would start skipping. And I wasn’t ready yet to say yes to it. And I even tried to find a friend to be the skipper and I’d be her PR person. But two years past and then a series of synchronistic events happened again, I was walking a labyrinth twice a week to and really asking I was in my early 30s. And I was like what? What am I supposed to do with my life and I had I had was I was completely out of shape, I’d really overweight and I decided I was going to try and start running to the place where I was walking the labyrinth every morning and I made it like half a block and just collapsed in a heap and was like so frustrated and I thought I’m never going to ever be able to be fit. And then that morning my coworker told me a story about her the same morning of my run of her daughter who was five at the time asking her to skip with her and she took her by the hand and and she said and I did it but I felt really funny because adults don’t skip and to me that was the second calling. And and it was right when the.com thing was getting going and so my brother build a website for me and and it was and then it really just took me for a ride. I think that’s Why I feel like it’s a calling it really felt like something much bigger than me was running the ship.
David Ralph [27:05]
And Had you ever felt that before that kind of thing now, because I know what you’re talking about exactly when I started joining up dark. It felt like I had to do it. And even if there was never gonna be any money in it, it was still something that I had to do and I’ve never felt that before I’d always been right how much you’re gonna pay me right. Okay, I want more than that. I want more than a little bit more a little bit. Yeah, I do it now. And I was always fat. And this was the first thing that I ever did. And is that how success is gained ultimately over people who create huge wealth create huge success. Do you think they all get that feeling of I’ve got to do it no matter how long it takes. I’ve got to do this.
Kim Corbin [27:50]
I don’t know that. I think they all have that. I think some people are just you know, they’re in more of the it’s all about money and that kind of thing. I but I do think that for me Like when it does come from deep within like that, I think that’s where you have the possibility of becoming a self actualized person or it’s really what you’re meant to bring forward. And, and I don’t think that every entrepreneur out there has that by any means, I think in our world where so much as you know, focused on greed and getting to the top like, I think that a lot of times that’s where the the initial inspiration comes from. But I think true success is you know, like, for me it with the skipping movement, like I it brings me so much joy, it makes me so happy. And and I and it’s okay, that it’s not a but that the money’s not a part of it. In fact, I like it better that it’s not. And so so I think that they not everyone has has that but that when you do have that deep inner spark that that’s where the real satisfaction comes from, you know, when when you bring it forward and also the real challenges. I think that it’s like Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, which I never even knew of when I said yes to the skipping movement. But when we say yes to a call, it’s like, that means that we’re probably going to go through some pretty intense challenges on the way. And I think that’s why it’s such a deep drive from within for us to stay with it.
David Ralph [29:15]
Well, yeah, I agree with that. But I do also think that if you are on your entrepreneurial journey, and even if you’re not an entrepreneur, but you just can’t see doing something, you ultimately have to think to yourself, I’m not going to be earning any money from this for a long while. You’ve got to set your stood out in that regard. And I think the people that go right, okay, I’m going to do this, and within three months, I’m going to be earning a squilliam pound a month, then they’re going to be open to failure, big failure, because it’s just not going to be possible. So surely, the sort of the theme of the show Join Up Dots comes from the speech that we’re here later on from Steve Jobs when he started in his garriage or his garage. And you can imagine at that stage, right, he ever thought that he was going to create the most successful company that one of you know that the world has ever seen. So he must have done that not for financial, but just to do it just to see if he could do it surely.
Kim Corbin [30:10]
Well, I think it’s spot. It’s the follow your bliss, you know it, he loved it, and he’s passionate about it and he stayed with it. And that’s what skipping has been for me. And that sounds like that’s what your podcast has been for you.
David Ralph [30:24]
when when when does skipping become more vain you then when when does somebody sort of come to you and say, Kim, I never believe this, but I’ve now got my own mates skipping. Did you? Does that kind of thing happened as well?
Kim Corbin [30:38]
Well, it really did early on and I think that was that was what was the beauty of it. And I really when I first came up with the idea, I and people said Oh, you better trademark it You better you know, protect your idea. Someone’s going to take it take it and skip with it and and i from the very beginning was like No, I want this to be this is open source. I want this to be something that people do. Do take it and do their own thing with it and achieve new heights with it. And I want to sing their praises and and hold it up so and then as the head Skipper started coming forward and they would get media and like Michelle Joanie is a perfect example. And she came, she came along for me that really breathe new life into the skipping movement for me because she was she’s the first person in 15 years that really is like as on fire about this as I am. And so she’s a perfect example. But then there’s been over the 15 years there’s been others like there was a guy in Oklahoma who was declared the official skipping ambassador of Oklahoma by the governor for his fitness nonprofit and a street of phirman skipped a whole marathon and set a world record for skipping the fastest five K and a woman in Atlanta Georgia skipped the hundred miles to raise awareness for a wildlife sanctuary. It’s like there and and people would have their own groups and it’s just for me, celebrating the successes of others is What the movement is all about. And it’s, you know, it’s a small but mighty group, but it just for 15 years like they just keep coming, new skippers keep appearing.
David Ralph [32:11]
Because what I like about skipping is whether the rum, I feel like every step is ploughing into the pavement and I don’t run very often if I can help it, it’s not really me. But when you skip there’s a kind of fluid movement to it, which I didn’t find when I was running it. Did you know what I mean? There seems to be like a carrot tree of motion that you get thumbs up which you flew across the ground somewhat.
Kim Corbin [32:38]
Yes, it’s very it’s like almost like you’re flying. And the way I like to think about that is when we run or when an animal run say it is generally from a fight or flight reflex. I mean, like you’re running to, they’re running to get away from something or it’s, it’s this intense energy. And skipping is more of an energy of an animal frolicking and playing in a field. You No, it’s a lightness. It’s like and for me when I went on my skip yesterday, it’s not about skipping fast. A good skip is like put on funky music and really get into it. And maybe like, you know, you don’t go very far but you just really make the most of it in the short distance that you go.
David Ralph [33:17]
I’m fascinating though, because I’m listening to you and you’re saying that you didn’t want to monetize it. And you know, credit to that for going down that route. But I would monetize it from from an instant I can just see there’s so many ways to monetize this but I
Kim Corbin [33:34]
it wasn’t that I didn’t want to monetize it was that I explored a variety of different I tried to get sponsorship to skip across the United States at one point, I you know, lead I would lead skips it in the morning at for conferences. I now I’m doing a fundraising skip, which is actually a fun way to do it. Um, but so it wasn’t that I didn’t want to it was just that I would go down the different paths, they just didn’t really open up in a meaningful way that would support me.
David Ralph [34:06]
Now I can see that but I think that the element I would have gone through was would be be change your life. And as part of the package, you skip on, you know, that’s what I would have done almost kind of like skipping life coaching. But if you can break down your barriers and go down that route, then you’ve got a chance of doing great stuff. And we will give you a plan and a path how to take that forward. But skipping is just part of it.
Kim Corbin [34:31]
Well, you know, actually, I feel like that I feel like I’m, that’s what’s evolving now. But in order to be that truly and be authentic with people and bring that forward, I feel like you can’t teach anything that you’re not fully embodying in yourself. And so I had the, you know, the last 15 years have been this journey of through skipping, of really starting to figure that kind of stuff out so I can stand from a place where I can say, hey, Here’s what I learned. But when I first started it, and I was just this young just kind of free spirited and decide if if you just skip like me, everything will be fine. I couldn’t guide people authentically, like I could try to make it work for the money. But it wasn’t coming from a place of authenticity and experience. Like I hadn’t earned the right to Yeah, I hadn’t gone through the things I needed to go through which now I have, you know, 15 years later, I’m looking back. I’m like, wow, like, that’s what it takes to make a dream come true. And oh, okay. Like it’s leap, and the net will follow eventually. I just thought it was going to be this instantaneous thing. And it’s not and, and so I think what you just described is ultimately where it’s going. But it’s just been a very slow organic unfolding. That couldn’t before like I couldn’t from when I was then I just didn’t have the wisdom to be able to coach people yet.
David Ralph [35:53]
Yeah, no, I can see that. I can say that. Totally. I think I come from a background of coaching. So I actually could see how that would integrate into that self development which the world is crying out for. And if you can do it in a fun, different way to most people who do like webinars and Google Hangouts and all those kinds of stuff, I can imagine a skipping hangout would be would be great web doing it.
Kim Corbin [36:20]
Yeah. And actually, I just started I created a 21. And really my I’m really into 21 day experiments of trying new habits and starting new habits. So I created a 21 day skipping experiment that I lead people through. I just started it and I just actually have my first person that I’m doing it one on one just to kind of feel it out with her. Or the goal is just to skip a little bit every day. And then also do one other habit that you wanted to stop her star and to have and then we email back and forth and I’m like a system of accountability for that person and and then they get to see what happens when you just consistently choose joy and that way as you As a part of your life, so it I think I am moving in the direction that you said, and you’ve got good, good clarity of vision, I think and I look forward to going to that next phase.
David Ralph [37:11]
So So how different are you now from that young girl who was, you know, a visionary and wanted to skip? And I’m particularly interested in that, that dark point of the perceived failure, but yeah, why you wouldn’t let it go. Even when you hit that point. Let’s dwell back into that moment. I don’t want to dwell on darkness but is a key point of your journey. You are go into this and you put your heart and your soul into it. And it leaves you basically with a an acute skipping hangover as you say, what made you get through that? Was it friends? Was it your own self experience? How did you overcome that that darkness which we all feel when something that we put our heart into doesn’t go? Well?
Kim Corbin [37:57]
Yeah, it was really challenging. A big part of it was just I really felt like I had this belief that if I said yes to my calling in a big way, which I did, and it was a very public, I think that’s what made it challenging to is it was really out there on the internet and that kind of thing. I really thought that if I found if I fall, if I said yes, that my reward should be that it would go Well, um, and I and so through, like, I read lots of books about the hero’s journey and about the dark night of the soul. And I just really embraced that darkness as a time where it was, you know, it’s an opportunity for me to look deep within and to kind of learn more about myself and to realise how the world really works. And, and so, friends were a big part of it. And then And then also, like, I would think I got a job right away was uh, I started getting fired. I got fired from like three jobs once I quit. My main job like life had been so easy for me. And then I got fired from three jobs. What I was just
David Ralph [39:00]
like what were you doing was it was it because of skipping because your heart wasn’t in the job?
Kim Corbin [39:06]
I don’t know what it was one was this like I worked for this bodybuilders a 75 year old bodybuilder guy who and I was helping him publish a book and he and we just kind of clashed and and he fired me really unexpectedly the day before I was leaving for Christmas. And then I was working at a curves for women. And that just the woman there didn’t you know, I was just working part time and didn’t jive with her. It was just like it just took me a while to get back on the beaten path and I really felt I got really angry with life and like rip I felt ripped off because I was just trying to do the right thing. But now I what I’ve really was stepping into through the skipper movement was say, this journey of consciousness and really trying to bring forward my deepest truth and what’s what I’m here to do and that is not just rainbows and unicorns experience like Consciousness is everything, it’s the darkness and the light and I didn’t realise that yet. And now I understand that you can’t have the you know, the darkness makes the light it makes you appreciate it more and and I just have such a bigger picture view less naive you and but what happened in the for a while is I lost the magic to because I was just so it was such a magical experience and so I was so optimistic and positive and believed anything was possible. And for a while when I went through the dark times I lost that and and it took its take it took time but I also am a you know I’m a worker bee and I want to grow and learn and know about myself I’ve always been like that. So that was how I approached the dark time and then eventually, you know, I came out of it and and now I’m in this you know the led me to new world library where it’s just an even bigger platform to be able to help shift things on the planet. And whenever I write my book like They’re a great publisher potential publisher for my book. So it’s the path is still I see the hand, you know, the bigger hand and all of it now that I when I was in the darkness, I shared it. And I was just like, what the fuck man is crazy?
David Ralph [41:14]
Well, well, you never do, do you. That’s the problem. That’s the thing about life. And that’s the thing that really comes out big time in this show that, but dark times are your opportunities, but dark times are the learning phases of your life. And I just feel that totally. And now you’ve got to the point where you can say yes, this is true. That is where your experience has been gained. That is why you are in the right place now. Not because when things went well, it’s when things went badly. Listen to these words,
Steve Jobs [41:46]
you me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward how much you can take it. Keep moving forward.
David Ralph [42:02]
Were you surprised how much you could take
Kim Corbin [42:07]
I’m in hindsight Yeah.
I just kept getting back up and you know, and skipping on but then also but then this skip people these you know, I would think that it was over and I’d be like okay, I’m done skipping whatever that was fun time to move on to the next adventure and then as soon as I’d say that the guy who skipped the marathon would contact me or you know someone else would it never let me go like there was times when I was ready to let it go, but it never has. Let me go like it always was there kind of pulling me forward.
David Ralph [42:43]
What was fascinating about always is you should have let it go. You should have let it go. He just wasn’t working. It was putting you into financial ruin. It was making you feel less about yourself. You obviously your self esteem was out of whack. That’s why you were clashing with these people that you were working with the 75 year old bodybuilder and all that kind of stuff, because you were trying to force the issue instead of being authentically yourself. Because when you are being authentically yourself, that is when people migrate towards you, because you’re shooting a force of life, aren’t you? You’re exuding a passion. And when you are trying to do things that aren’t naturally you or you’re trying to make the best of a bad situation or you’re trying to get out of a dark situation. That is when things just go go a bit wobbly really isn’t it but it’s fascinating but even through to walk at times. If something is right for you, and it speaks to you is going to keep on coming back.
Kim Corbin [43:46]
Yes, absolutely.
David Ralph [43:48]
Well, why do you think but so many people will do what you’re doing. So many people will do what Steve Jobs did so many people will do. Take something on that is too big. for them and take something on that is ultimately going to fail. You can see it Burning Man, what’s the point in starting a city that you’re going to take down? That’s gonna fail? It’s a silly idea. But people go for it is is it once again back to that creativity? Is it life forces experience? Why do you think people do it?
Kim Corbin [44:22]
Well, I think it’s that creative spark within that wants to come out and all of us I think there’s a, an energy of it doesn’t have to be something as outlandish as Burning Man or skipping. I mean, it can just be being the best mom you can be. But there is a creative spark and drive and something that we’re all intended to bring forward. That’s, that’s in there. And I think that so many people are, you know, I feel lucky that I was not like everybody else when I was growing up. I hated it at the time, but, but I’m glad now because because of that it made room for me to be able to really go within and listen to it if I would have just followed the regular path that everyone followed. You know, I wouldn’t be in this have this amazing life that I have now where I really feel like I’m kind of on the cutting edge of consciousness and, and just, you know, being able to use my life to make things better and I just feel like everyone has that within them and just we haven’t necessarily been taught in our schooling and in the way that our predominant culture is to tap into that and listen to it, but I think it’s inside everybody at some level and it just, it can be anything. I mean, like my thing is skipping. So I think when we look like we think what our calling is, we think oh, it has to be this big grandiose thing and I think it can be just whatever brings us joy doing that more is is what starts it.
David Ralph [45:42]
So So what did you hate yourself when you was younger? I hate being different because you obviously are different because you’re doing something that is quite honestly different from most people that I’ve ever met. Yeah, why did you might not like that person.
Kim Corbin [45:56]
Well, I grew up in the Midwest, and really had a great Childhood very, you know, very all American. And usually the path that that that follows that is you get married, you have a baby, you know, like that. And I watched all my friends starting to do that, and it never happened for me. And I didn’t understand why. At first and I was I felt like a victim to it. I was like, This isn’t fair. Why is this happening to me? Like, why is everybody else getting all that I was just so upset? And actually now I mean, I did I just didn’t know then what I know now, which is that it’s because I have this amazing opportunity to kind of move in a new direction in life had way more in store for me than I could possibly have imagined at the time.
David Ralph [46:41]
So so you feel what life does have plans. But absolutely, you can’t see it until later on, but it’s it’s laid out in front of you and it’s just up to you to navigate your way through it.
Kim Corbin [46:54]
And to listen, you know, when the first book that I ever read that that shifted things for me was the road less travel by M. Scott Peck. And he writes in there about how about living an examined life and daring, it’s kind of, you know, daring to look within, which is kind of like daring to skip for a lot of people, like really daring to see what am I afraid of, and go through the therapy process and ask questions and learn from life like, and when I read that book, it just really was like, oh, like it was the biggest guideposts in the right direction for me to start living my life in that way.
David Ralph [47:29]
So before we just play the theme of the show, which is Steve Jobs, speech, what is the dream now we’re touched on coaching with touchdown, but skipping is really your thing. What’s the biggest dream that you can think of that you would aim for?
Kim Corbin [47:45]
That I’m aiming for now? Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I kind of figured out in the dark time that really, by My dream is to just be present so present in the moment and aware of what’s unfolding that I’m I’m embracing the next step that comes like that’s the bigger like, just way of being that is my dream. And then as far as the skipping project, like finishing this book, I mean, I’ve everything in my life has come relatively easy to me. And I’ve been at this book for 15 years. And so, you know, I it’s getting closer and closer. And I don’t know if I’m there yet, but that for me is the biggest missing piece or that that’s going you know, that that’s going to take things to a new level
David Ralph [48:28]
is interesting, isn’t it? But you can, as you say, you can spend 15 years doing something, but ultimately ivac can be as good or not as good as something that takes three weeks. But yes, what you learn about yourself doing it, which is the key thing,
Kim Corbin [48:47]
and that’s the doing of it and which is kind of what I meant when I said just being present to what is right now and doing the work that’s right in front of me now. You know, like I think that just if I you know, get up in the morning and I You know, take good care of myself, I skip a little bit, I work on my book, then I go to bed and it’s not done yet. Like it’s it’s not attached to the outcome. It’s just being and doing the work that’s in front of me right now and saying yes to what’s showing up in my life. Like, that’s my ultimate dream. And then I hope that a book that helps other people is what comes of it. But as long as I can just find the joy and the doing of what’s right in front of me, to me, that’s that is what true happiness is being happy with what what you have right now, whatever it looks like. Absolutely.
David Ralph [49:33]
I think it was Sheryl Crow trying to paraphrase this and she says, it’s not one having what you want. It’s wanting what you have. Which which I think is true, isn’t it? I think most of us look at other people and go, that’s what I want. My my wife’s a very big one on this. And she’s always saying to me, oh, yeah, they’re doing really well for themselves. Oh, yeah. And I go, how do you know? And she says, Well, you can see they’ve got the nice car. They go on holidays and I go to Yeah, but you haven’t seen that bank. statements, how do you know that credit card statements? And she goes, Oh, yeah, but you can just tell. And she’s very much like that she looks at what other people have as a benchmark to what she wants. But more often than not, it’s when you actually look at what you’ve already got. And you go, yeah, I’m already successful. I’ve got a lovely family, I’ve got a nice house, I’ve got all the trappings of holiday twice a year or whatever. This is success already. And it makes it easy to move on to the next level in your life, doesn’t it?
Kim Corbin [50:28]
Right, I think it organically unfolds from there, you know, and I think that’s why the choosing of joy and the things that make us happy. true happiness are so important.
David Ralph [50:38]
I agree as well. Let’s play the theme of the show. And this is the words that Steve Jobs said back in 2005. And when we we started talking about these nearly 300 episodes again, Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [50:49]
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 keep 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 [51:25]
So what’s your big.in? Life Kim, the one when you look back, and as Steve was saying you couldn’t have seen it at the time, but it was part of your growth.
Kim Corbin [51:41]
I think the dark times I think not getting the book contract that I was so sure that I was going to get would be the biggest.in and just where I was so like, pissed at life and like felt like what the hell like this isn’t fair, when in actuality it was this term. This opportunity for me to get the perspective that I need to accomplish the goal that I have, which is writing a book that’s going to take this experience that I’ve had and making it meaningful to other people. And so I think that I would say that, you know, the getting the call from my agent that the book contract that I had poured everything into and had been banked on financially was not going to happen would be a big old doc.
David Ralph [52:24]
It’s I say this almost every episode, but it’s so valuable to actually say to the world, but when you think that something’s gone wrong, it’s not necessarily it’s gone wrong. It’s just changing your direction to where you need to go. And I think it’s so true that we got our Oh The world is against us. This is never gonna happen. What’s the point? Everyone who’s done something in life when I’ve had those moments, but you assess and you look at it, and you go, okay, it didn’t work. What can I do now and there’s gonna be she start again and you start looking towards What you want to do and where where you want to end up more often than not, it’s a better version of what you first bought. Or just because you’ve got experience, you’ve got that understanding to be able to take it into areas that you couldn’t have dreamt when you started off on that very first dot. But the failures, other real true opportunities that life will have in store for us at night.
Kim Corbin [53:20]
Absolutely. as annoying as that can be at times. Yeah, it’s not very fun. But this too shall pass.
David Ralph [53:32]
Well, well, this is the end of the show. Now, Kim and this is the part that we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. We call it the Sermon on the mic, and I’m going to play the theme tune and when it fades, what age Kim will you choose and what advice Will you give? Well, we’re going to find out because now you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Music [53:56]
Here we go with the best speed of the show.
Kim Corbin [54:15]
Okay, so I’m gonna go back to my 22 year old self right when I was graduating from Purdue University with a degree in elementary education living in Indiana, fully expecting that I was going to get married and have kids and you know, do that traditional route. I was extremely overweight at the time I weighed 240 pounds, and was just, you know, really had always followed what other people wanted me to do instead of looking within and and figuring out what you know what was right for me. And so the first thing that I would say to that self is, instead of asking what life is supposed to give to you, ask What does life want for me instead and to really start that as a starting point for the whole way you’re looking at life and what is life trying to teach me, what are the difficult people in situations that are showing up here showing me that I need to see within myself so that I can be fully present in the moment and, and, and be happy with my life. Another thing would be to learn to love your body. I was so disconnected from my body for so many years. And I think that that is something that the skipping movement has really helped me to discover is that our bodies are had this tremendous ally and source of wisdom and this tool for us to use in our life. And I was completely disconnected from that when I was in my early 20s. And have just discovered it as I’ve gotten older. So anything that can be done to to connect with and love your body instead of pouring hate and judgement and all of these negative things that I did back then and to It would be a really good thing. And also learn to be your own best friend. I can remember when I was probably in my 30s that I had this just really sudden realisation I was being so hard on myself and saying so many negative things to myself and, and I thought I would never say that to a friend of mine and it was a huge pivotal moment like why would I do that to myself when I’m such a good supportive friend to so many people and, and it really started to, to shift things for me. And along with that is in learning to enjoy your own company and being able to be comfortable with solitude. I’m a really extroverted person and, and so I always was into being around a lot of people and when I moved to California from Indiana, I had to be alone a lot and it was challenging. But I took on the challenge and I learned to go to movies to myself and to just be with myself and just spend time quality time with myself and it has given given back so much She’s joy over fear would be a big one. Figure out the things that you love doing for the sake of doing them and find a way to make it a regular part of your life, it’s so important to, to just put your joy in the forefront often. And when you do that, it really makes people other others around you It supports them more because our world needs examples of people who are being the joy and, and living their true authentic lives. And that’s what the world needs more than anything in my opinion. And so the more that we can be that and be the change we want to see the more that we’re going to help affect change on a bigger level. And finally, I would say the best is yet to come. I can remember when I was in my 20s my friend and I joke about it and we were you know, we were graduating from college and we’re getting ready to start our real job. And I said to her, and what if like I feel like our best years have already passed us by and like what’s going to come now we’re just going to start working and It was a kind of not typical, pessimistic view for me. But I laugh when I look back at that now because it’s like, I’m 46 now and it just keeps getting better and better and better. And I think if we can just kind of keep that mindset and and realise that there’s just untold adventures and possibilities out there for us that, you know, life can be a magical, amazing adventure. And I know I’m glad that I’m on it. And so I would tell that 22 year old self to keep the faith girl because things are gonna get better.
David Ralph [58:33]
Kim How can our audience connect with you?
Kim Corbin [58:37]
Through I skipped calm is my website. And on Facebook, you can find the skipping movements. And I’m on Twitter at I skip.
David Ralph [58:47]
We will have over links in the show notes. Kim, 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 To build our futures, Kim cobin Thank you so much.
Kim Corbin [59:04]
Thank you skip on.
Outro [59:07]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are 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.
