435-Shift Perspectives, Embrace Challenges: How It’s Happening for You 🔄🔥 – TTST Interview with Nicole Kernohan

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​Nicole is a High-Performance Coach and Chief Operating Officer of the international coaching company, Elevated Worldwide.  She trains and empowers business leaders, sales leaders & entrepreneurs to use the power of the mind to achieve true transformation.

 After an episode of MS partially  paralyzed her in 2003, she began the in-depth study of the mind and body and has lived healthy for 20 years. She also has 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and corporate business.  Nicole has been featured in Forbes, Success and other platforms as an expert in positive psychology.

“Find people who know you, not just who you are – that’s where true connections and growth lie.”
– Nicole Kernohan 

fERGIE’S tOP 10+ Knowledge Nuggets and Take-Aways

  1. Nicole realized she was different from others when she went against the grain, a pivotal moment for her.
  2. Seeing problems as opportunities for solutions was instilled in her by her parents.
  3. Discovering your true self is more important than others’ expectations of who you should be.
  4. Nicole’s passion to help you uncover who you truly are, guiding you to find the answers within yourself.
  5. Listening deeply involves paying attention not just to words spoken but also to body language and tone.
  6.  Embrace the mindset of “How is this happening for me?” to shift perspectives during challenges.
  7. Asking impactful questions like “And what else?” helps uncover deeper answers and solutions.
  8. Focus on what you truly want and get your goals in alignment with your authentic self.
  9. Shift from tiptoeing through life to boldly living without fear or regret.
  10. Be open-minded and continually explore your potential without being too fixed on specific outcomes.
  11. Don’t let misunderstandings about your positivity overshadow your authentic self.

Level 🆙

Fergie

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Music Courtesy of: fight by urmymuse (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/urmymuse/58696 Ft: Stefan Kartenberg, Kara Square

Artwork courtesy of Dylan Allen

Speech Transcript


 

L. Scott Ferguson: [00:00:00] To shine today, Podcast Varsity Squad, it’s Scott Ferguson and I got an awesome sauce interview with my good friend, Nicole Kernohan. She is a little spitfire that is a fantastic coach. She was the one that will kind of hold that mirror in front of you and help you realize and lean into your ultimate human potential.

, she’s with Elevated Worldwide. I have three pages of notes here, and I know that if you really shut off everything, really internalize And kind of listen to what she’s saying. The knowledge nuggets she drops are absolutely life changing. She is somebody that I respect immensely. She rocks the stage.

She has two awesome giveaways at the end. So please stay tuned to them. And also if you like it, or somebody that’s maybe a little bit struggling a little bit in life right now, this would be a episode that you might want to pass on to them. Share it with them, run all the directories and whatnot.

Spotify, iHeartRadio, Apple [00:01:00] across the board. So also if you if you do like it, please subscribe or like my sponsors and affiliates absolutely love that. So without further ado, here’s my really good friend from elevated worldwide, Nicole Kernohan, let’s level up. Time to shine today. Podcast Varsity Squad. This is Scott Ferguson. And I got introduced by my awesome sauce friend, Nicole Kernohan here by another really good friend of mine Fred Moskowitz. And the second that we got introduced and we booked the podcast, Nicole went out and put an Instagram post saying she’s coming on the show.

I’ve never had, well, I’ve had it done before, but it was like so professional. It was so super cool. And I’m so blessed because me and Kind of. She’s like my sister from another Mr. Squad out there. You were both, , you would level up mindset coaches and she’s a high performance coach and chief operating officer of the international coaching company elevated worldwide.

She trains and empowers business leaders, sales leaders, and entrepreneurs to use the power of the mind to achieve true transformation after an episode of. MS partially paralyzed her in 2003. She began [00:02:00] an in depth study of the mind and body and has lived healthy for 20 plus years. She also has 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and corporate business.

Nicole has been featured and get this squad Forbes success and other platforms and as an expert in positive psychology and Nicole, thank you so much for coming on, please introduce yourself. The time to shine today, podcast, varsity squad, but first. What’s your favorite color and why

Nicole Kernohan: my favorite color is yellow,

L. Scott Ferguson: yellow.

Love it.

Nicole Kernohan: Yeah. Unique. Isn’t it?

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. It’s the color of the sun out there. And , I’m in South Florida and the sun is not out today because we have all your guys’s from Toronto pushing down on us right now. I’m just kidding. Awesome. So Nicole, we, we wrapped a little bit off Mike and stuff, but. Tell us, tell me a little bit about the roots that you have, , where you kind of came from and what, and also into a little bit of that MS story and how you use that positive mindset to really, , crush that.

Nicole Kernohan: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Scott. What a beautiful introduction. [00:03:00] Thank you. It is interesting. My journey, I was born in Toronto, so I was born and raised in Mississauga, just outside of Toronto. And I lived a normal childhood up until I was age 20 while I was in university for business.

And that, which is when I had the MS episode. So I became paralyzed on the right side. Out of nowhere, knocked me off my tracks. , you just don’t expect something like that to happen. But that really was the moment for me where I realized I was different. , you talked about positivity and leveling up and, , this is, I knew that that was kind of who I was.

I was a positive person, generally speaking, but an episode like that, or an experience like that, where most people Would turn into fear, worst case scenario, learning all the work, , what, what my future could look like, like the victim mindset, which is understandable. I actually immediately went the other way.

My [00:04:00] family thought I was naive, , I don’t think she heard the doctor. I don’t think she heard when they said, you might not regain functionality. You might be paralyzed forever. We hope you will recover, but we don’t, we can’t confirm that. It’s like, I didn’t hear it. I heard the words. I remember hearing the words and it immediately went out.

So that was a pivotal moment for me. And that. Perspective, that mindset shifted my healing, my trajectory, right? It shifted, it shifted how I was able to get through that experience very quickly.

L. Scott Ferguson: Did you mix kind of holistic with medical research, , together, along with the power, , power of the positive mindset, , to kind of like hit it from like three different angles or were you just one way or the other?

Nicole Kernohan: No, it’s cool, Scott. ’cause I didn’t know what I know now. I didn’t know, I hadn’t yet studied positive psychology at all. Right, right. I was just graduating university where I took a, had a business degree. So my background was in business. I hadn’t studied health or nutrition or holistic anything. Right. So it was more, I did do all three.

Okay. [00:05:00] But it was more by default, not be like, not as intentional, if that makes sense. I feel you. Now looking back, I would do it or if I was doing it again, I would be intentional about it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Nicole Kernohan: At the time it was just, I know I’m gonna heal. And I will find any possible way and I’m, I’m open to anything.

I’m not, I would never turn something away. I just was like, I’ll try that. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try that. And it ended up including a very broad holistic approach. So,

L. Scott Ferguson: what I hear in that is like so many people think, Oh, I have lack of resources. Right. But it’s really lack of being a resourceful.

That stops people in their tracks. Right. And that’s, you just became resourceful and you were 20 years old, like two decades on this earth only. So like, where did you get your family felt you’re the naive. I’m sure they just loved you to death and that’s why they were, they’re feeling that way. But like, where did, what clicked for you?

What was that moment? What was that, , Eureka. What was that moment that said, dude, I’m going to flip the mindset. I understand you’re, you’re backed into a corner. You have no choice, but like, what was it? Do you remember what you were thinking where you’re [00:06:00] sitting? What was the atmosphere like when you really realized that?

Nicole Kernohan: I will preface by saying my parents are entrepreneurs. They run businesses. So this idea of being resourceful, they, I, I did have that modeled in my life,

L. Scott Ferguson: there was a

Nicole Kernohan: lot of struggle at the beginning, , for them starting a business and they became extremely resourceful. So I did get, A modeling of there’s always a solution.

There’s no problem, nothing, not a problem. There’s a, it’s just an opportunity for a solution. So I kind of, I would say I was raised with a bit of that perspective, which I’m super grateful for. And you know what, Scott, it’s interesting. I would say. It is who I am like I today I like to help people remember who they are that dig in and peel off the limiting beliefs in those layers and find out that find out who that is.

It always has been who I was, was optimistic. Did you play sports? I did martial arts. I know you said you did. I did karate for 10 years.

L. Scott Ferguson: That can help. [00:07:00] Absolutely. That brings it forward. Absolutely. That was probably

Nicole Kernohan: the biggest piece for me that, yeah, that brought that again, that same perspective, right?

Cause martial arts definitely allows you to step into mind over body, like realizing how much potential is inside of you and, , being able to find solutions and be creative.

L. Scott Ferguson: So how did that roll over into, into coaching? I mean, fast forward a little bit, you

Nicole Kernohan: know,

L. Scott Ferguson: a lot of it, whatnot, but like, how did really coaching kind of come into your life?

Nicole Kernohan: So after my MS episode, I, I did all the things, which is a story for another day. Although I’m happy to share if, if anyone listening wants to ask my protocols personally for my own personal experience, I’m not, I’m not a medical professional. But after that, when I, when I regained functionality and started moving forward, I actually got into business.

I’m sorry. I was already working in corporate, but I got into, or I started working in corporate after corporate. I opened a retail business in the health field because I believed [00:08:00] that my healing came from health. So I had this passion to be an entrepreneur and a passion to be a health professional. So I opened a retail health business and I became a nutritional practitioner, which is, you probably don’t even know this about me.

Cause that’s not who I am today. And what, what I discovered in this field of Of helping people with their health was that the foundation I, I stumbled into a seminar. Sorry. Let me just step back a second. I stumbled. Take your time. Proctor doctor. Nice.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. And that’s what

Nicole Kernohan: that’s that was 10 years ago now.

So I’m on this journey. I worked in corporate. I opened a health food store. I’m helping people with their health and I’m loving it. In my head, I’m thinking I found it. Like I’ve matched up my life experience of healing MS and my background in business. And now I’m a business in health. Like we’re in, and then I stumbled into positive psychology seminar with Bob Ponder.

L. Scott Ferguson: And

Nicole Kernohan: then I was like, wait, hold [00:09:00] on light bulbs. The light comes on in a dark room. I’m like doing cartwheels looking around. Why doesn’t everybody else know this?

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Nicole Kernohan: Do, we, did, did, did it just me? Did I, did I grow up under a rock or did everyone learn this in school? Like how do I, I didn’t know that you, about this conscious and subconscious mind.

I didn’t know that you can dream something illogical.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. I thought

Nicole Kernohan: you should set a logical goal. How can I, how can I? Dream about illogical goal. Sure. So that was kind of where I transitioned into coaching as a long way of sharing the journey into coaching, but that was my first introduction. Once I discovered positive psychology and the power of the mind, I couldn’t, I couldn’t unlearn that.

And I decide to go in both. It

L. Scott Ferguson: seems to me that, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, but you, you really got into really asking yourself powerful questions, right? Because a lot of people are affirmations. Affirmation, I believe in affirmations, right? But I also believe that our human minds are programmed to be problem solvers, [00:10:00] right?

So that’s why my clients, they, they do their affirmations, but they also come up with powerful questions to ask themselves every day. ’cause everything’s a question. You’re nodding your head right now, right? And your mind’s actually saying do I want a nod in my head or not? But you you talked about the subconscious, right?

So you you the powerful questions get the subconscious mind going So what kind of like powerful questions you think really the the one you ask yourself throughout your life is the one that? You’re still yet to answer

Nicole Kernohan: Ooh, that’s a good question. I will say that this question I have a current answer for today.

Right. And I’m aware that I never know all and I’m open to discovering that it may change. But the biggest question and the biggest question is, who am I? Yeah, I love that. Who, who am I really? Not who should I be? Who do my parents think I should be? Who do my friends, who [00:11:00] does society, , how am I supposed to show up?

What should I value underneath all of that? Like, who really am I and why am I here? I

L. Scott Ferguson: love that. So real

Nicole Kernohan: deep going in deep. No, without a

L. Scott Ferguson: doubt. I mean, but that’s why you’re successful. And that’s why. I would come to you and say, listen, , we need to talk, , I need to find out who I am a little bit.

And if you haven’t at your success found out, then you’re the right person to really help me get there. So then what do you think? Nicole makes a great coach.

Nicole Kernohan: Actually, I love the way that you’ve introduced this concept of questions.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay.

Nicole Kernohan: Because I believe a great coach is one who is going to help you.

Uncover who you are in that as an example, but you were going to be the one who’s going to uncover the answers to your challenges, solutions, and a coach will help you so I could, , a good coach will ask questions. We’ll peel back a layer. One of my favorite coaching questions. I’m sure you [00:12:00] use it either consciously or unconsciously is, and what else?

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes.

Nicole Kernohan: The all question and what else, and what else, and what else it’s the, it’s fourth time down, fifth time down that you really help someone find those deeper answers. So

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that. Just keep on digging and digging. And like, I can like obviously listening with all your senses, not just your ears. Really, I call it listening with my neck.

Cause when I’m coaching, I’m really kind of leaning in and picking up all of their stuff. And also it sounds to me like. You might coach from a place of neutrality. Meaning, and what I mean by that is, clients that I’m blessed to coach in person, I go out to their car and I put them in the driver’s seat, right?

And I say, okay, see this rearview mirror? It’s small for a reason. That’s your past. That’s therapy. You need help there. That’s therapy, right? And it’s a great place to learn from, great place to visit here and there, but this dashboard in your car, , or the windshield, this is huge. It’s scary. Like where are we going?

But since 2011 ish or so, they’ve been putting this thing on the console [00:13:00] called the GPS. That’s what I, it’s like, I can’t buckle your seatbelt if you choose to start your car and drive, but you plug into where we’re going through the questions that I’m going to ask you. Cause that’s the GPS is like, where are we going, , and then they’ll help you get there.

I love that. I just can see you really. Coaching from a place of neutrality. Is that true?

Nicole Kernohan: Absolutely. Yeah, that’s actually probably one of my biggest philosophies, is Open to everything attached to nothing, , nonjudgment. I don’t know your life and your past. And I can’t, I can’t judge or answer your questions for you.

I may not have the right solution for you. I have, I may have other clients who’ve had similar experiences. And if you’re open, I can provide some thoughts or ideas that maybe work for them and you have to be. They want to decide. But yeah, neutrality is a beautiful place to be. And for people to feel that from you, right?

To truly feel that you’re not just trying to, ,whatever. It’s not your agenda. It’s not the coach’s agenda. It’s,

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that. And you’re [00:14:00] a true coach. The reason why I asked that is I find out there’s a lot of people, we’re getting flooded in this world with coaches. Everyone’s a coach, right? And I get it.

That’s fine. It’s great. Great. I love what I do. I don’t work a day in my life all those other cliches, , but it’s like i’m not a consultant, right? Like sometimes if it has to do with real estate because I have been a real estate broker for 28 years And I do know what I invest in real estate I can put on my consultant hat and help people that want to level up there But if I tell you if we’re if i’m coaching you and i’m like go do this and you’re like fergie That didn’t work.

I I suck right so the coach will help you get there through the questions that they ask I love it. I can just see you doing that. So then Let’s say you’re in discovery session. Do you work one on one with clients?

Nicole Kernohan: I work with some clients one on one as well as quite a few in group format. Love it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it So let’s say you’re in discovery session making sure the right horse for the course the right coach it what is some of your secret sauce?

If you don’t mind sharing that maybe helps them kind of identify that [00:15:00] initial blind spot. Ooh.

Nicole Kernohan: To be honest, one of my biggest gifts, I would say, which I’ve practiced is to listen to the words that they use. As soon as I hear the words, I can’t because I’ve tried that. I should do this. It is an indication of a deeper belief, right?

Or a hesitation if you’re, or if they, if they’re like, I want to do this thing, but. , you can just hear their, , you mentioned it, right? Not just the words they say, but their body language, their tone, the words are powerful.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes.

Nicole Kernohan: That’s one of the biggest things. And when I hear their words and what their challenges are, we can assess.

Like I may, is it the right fit or not the right fit? And to your point, there are a lot of coaches and there’s some that I really trust that may be a better fit if, depending on their need.

L. Scott Ferguson: Mm-Hmm. , so, Hmm. Thank you for saying that as well, is that it caught me in mid sip of my mushroom coffee. It’s like [00:16:00] you’re, you’re willing to hand them off to a coach to be a better fit.

I love that. That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful. So maybe you’re still in this discovery. , the conversation. Is there any good question, Nicole, that you wish they would ask you, but never do.

Nicole Kernohan: That’s a good question. , I do, I do like to know I would like them to know my style, my personality, , are they open to receiving feedback? Are they not open to receiving feedback? , so I kind of asking me, I mean, I may, I may share that depending on how far we go in the conversation.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure.

Nicole Kernohan: But I do think as a client, because I think as coaches, we also need coaches as a client. I like to know the style of the coach. What is the process they use? What are the, , their style and what’s expected of me as the client,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Nicole Kernohan: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

L. Scott Ferguson: So what’s your strengths with coaching? [00:17:00]

Nicole Kernohan: I, you shared a few of them.

I would say, I think one of my biggest strengths is always. Knowing what’s inside of them is not reflecting, is not necessarily reflected in what is their, their external results as an example. The words they’re saying, the experience they’re having, the circumstance they’re currently in is absolutely not a reflection of their potential.

L. Scott Ferguson: I

Nicole Kernohan: like to say, like, that, you will give up on yourself much sooner than I would ever give up on you. And. And I don’t want you to give up on yourself. I want you to believe in yourself as much as I do. And there’s nothing that you could do that would make me believe that you’re not a completely capable soul that has unlimited potential.

Well, I appreciate those cheerleader on the sidelines, right? You can know that never gonna. It doesn’t mean that behavior and actions. Won’t hurt you, like you may, , as a, like, not, as a client, you may do things that are not in your best interest. [00:18:00]

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. And we

Nicole Kernohan: can talk about those, but I won’t judge you as a, as a human in that scenario.

No, that’s transparent. That’s How about weaknesses? Yeah. What are my weaknesses? Yeah. With coaching. Maybe it’s the same thing.

L. Scott Ferguson: Maybe it’s the

Nicole Kernohan: same. I never give up on you. Right. Yeah, I

L. Scott Ferguson: can be. I don’t know. You want so bad for them. You want so bad for them and I can appreciate that as well. Yeah. I love it.

That

Nicole Kernohan: actually, that, that was a weakness. I think that’s actually a good example. I’ve, I’ve moved through that a lot more because of what I shared a little earlier, open but unattached. Yeah. Whereas when I was earlier in my coaching, I was open and attached and I wanted it so much for them that I would do too much.

I would help too much. And now I’m like not enabling them to truly step into their power. So I’ve, , I, about eight years ago when I was first into that, into getting into coaching eight, nine years ago, I caught myself with that habit of, let me just help you. , I want to help you so much.

I’ll [00:19:00] do it for you. No, no, no. That is not. How you’re going to allow someone to truly step in to who they really are and who they’re meant to be. So

L. Scott Ferguson: yeah, if you like, and I’m blessed to coach professional athletes, couple of major league baseball players. I mean, the coach can tell you, and it can help you get there, but you’re the one that’s got to take that back.

 What I’m saying? You’re the one that’s got to really do this. I love you want for him so much, but they really want to step up. You got to hold that mirror and say, this isn’t exactly who you are. , there’s more to it than this. It’s beautiful. So have you seen the movie back to the future?

Nicole Kernohan: I have. Okay. I love it. It’s been a while.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes. It’s you can’t believe next year, 40 years old. It’s insane. I’m 52. So I would have made me like 12, , when it came out. So

Nicole Kernohan: it might’ve been too

L. Scott Ferguson: nice. So let’s get in that DeLorean with Marty McFly. Right? Let, let’s go back to the, the double deuce, the, the 22 year old, , Nicole, I don’t know if it’s currently on yet, but the 22 year old Nicole and not some to [00:20:00] change anything.

You live challenges, but you blast the doom. You learn so much from them, but what kind of knowledge nuggets, what you drop on her to maybe help her maybe shorten a learning curve or blast through maybe just a little bit quicker, not so much with the MS, but with the mindset side of it.

Nicole Kernohan: Oh my Scott. So. , I, I appreciate that question.

I never, I, and I also appreciate your wording of it. I don’t wish it to have been different and not, and I’m actually referring to even past Ms, more like my corporate career, my entrepreneurial journey. I don’t wish it to be different. However, there were some major struggles that if I knew what I know now, I wouldn’t have repeated.

So one of them being. Understanding what you truly want. So when I opened my retail health business, I thought that was my, my purpose. What I realized later was it was actually logical. Now, for most people leaving corporate, opening a business seems [00:21:00] illogical if that’s not in their background. But as I mentioned, my parents were entrepreneurs.

They owned retail businesses. In shopping malls. I opened a different type of business. It was health business. They had fast food. But it was very logical. It was logical. I had all this business experience, business education. I’d grown up with this. I knew how to run. It was a franchise model. I knew how to run a franchise model.

So I built that dream thinking it was my life’s purpose. Now that I know what I know now, it was actually, I picked my goal because I could connect the dots to it instead of picking what do I truly want? Who am I really? And what am I meant to do? Even though I cannot connect all the dots yet. And the willingness to, I wouldn’t have opened that business value, having flexible time.

It was open seven days a week. , I, there’s things that I value that we’re not in alignment with it. But at the time it seemed like it was a logical step.

L. Scott Ferguson: When I was in the military, , I did, , multiple deployments and tours, Iraq and [00:22:00] everything. And we would, we had a lot of downtime, right?

So we’d work out, work out, work out. So when I got out of the military. It was like, I’m going to be a personal trainer and that’s it, man, because that’s what I knew, right? That’s what is it kind of move forward. More things came into light of what I was really meant to do. Same thing. Like, again, you’re like my little sister from another Mr.

Man, like I’m telling you. So cool. Yeah. With martial

Nicole Kernohan: arts background. So.

L. Scott Ferguson: How does Nicole want her dash remembered? That little line in between her incarnation date and her expiration date. Hopefully it’s way down the road. Your life date and death date. How do you want your dash remembered?

Nicole Kernohan: I want my dash remembered as being a sunshine.

It took me a while to accept that word because it seemed, , the academic part of me was like, that’s so fluffy. And I’m just honest with who I am. And I love being a positive light. That is me. By others, just being in my presence. [00:23:00] I hope that it lifts them up even that’s awesome. Even without words and even without, , so took me a while to get, to be, feel confident enough to even say that out loud.

Cause I used to think, Oh man, it’s, I’m annoying. I’m so positive all the time. And I’m, I’m petite. So I’m only five feet tall, not six, one or six, two. Yeah. But I see

L. Scott Ferguson: you jacking some iron there, man. On Instagram, small and mighty. You don’t make excuses. You make adjustments. And that’s amazing, man. That’s, that, that’s the, that, that is a good coach.

Like someone that you can see making adjustments instead of excuses. I mean, that’s the best women’s basketball coach. Pat summit said it a little bit more bluntly winners make excuses, losers make adjustment, or I’m sorry, winners make adjustments. Let’s turn that around. But no, and I respect that. So what do you think then Nicole, people might misunderstand the most about you?

Nicole Kernohan: Actually I, I know some of, some of what people have by people telling me misunderstanding my positivity as [00:24:00] Like not being real. So, I mean, I don’t experience this, hopefully not on a regular basis, but since you asked the question, I know it as I, I have experienced thinking it’s not authentic.

Like you can’t possibly be positive, Nicole.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Nicole Kernohan: And what you just said, Scott was, is why I’m positive all the time. I don’t have a bad day. I might have a bad hour. I might have a bad moment. I’ll

L. Scott Ferguson: do man. Right.

Nicole Kernohan: But the reason I don’t have a bad day is It’s because when something happens to me, I can quickly, I might feel sad or frustrated for a moment.

I’m human. I don’t, I would never ask someone to not express all of their emotions. And I can quickly say, how is this happening for me? Or where is there an opportunity to shift? So when someone sees me out in the world, they think you can’t possibly be positive all the time. Life can’t be perfect. It is not perfect.

And I choose to not have a bad day. I’m not, it’s not, it could, if I didn’t, it wasn’t intentional, it could, there are major [00:25:00] challenges in life. I’ve had many and I still do. It’s just I have trained myself. It’s through, through practice and repetition. Raps, you

L. Scott Ferguson: put the reps and you choose to do something.

And, , even at my age, I’m 52 years old, but , I’m on the mats with 25 year olds, five mornings a week wanting to strangle me to death, ? And so, and when I go to bed at night, I, I have a protocol that the first 90 minutes is mine, man. I got cold plunge that I have out of my patio that it.

Must be done. I have my non negotiables. And once I know that I can get through those, most of my days are, are what I want them to be because I choose that. But I have bad days all the time. Like Fergie, you ever pissed? I’m like, hell yeah, I get pissed a lot, man. , I just, I have the conversation is, , what kind of problem is this for me to solve?

And that’s it. That’s beautiful. So Nicole, what is your definition of a life well lived?

Nicole Kernohan: A life well lived is don’t sweat the small stuff, [00:26:00] be who you, be who you really are, be authentic. Love it. When you’re trying to be someone you’re not, or you’re showing up, you’re going, , like if I came on this podcast and I’m showing up as this one person, but that’s not who I really was.

Yeah. Yeah. That’s exhausting. It’s, that’s not a life well lived. That’s the life Why ? Where I’m like, I’m exhausted at the end of the day because I was just being someone. I’m not all day just be willing to figure out who you are. Show up as who you are and do not sweat the small stuff. And it’s all small stuff, which is the name of book.

Yeah. But not, I

L. Scott Ferguson: say I regurgitate Everything is a regurgitation. Right. But regurgitate from the year 2000, I think there’s a movie one of Ryan Reynolds, , the heartthrob today, whatnot. But like his, one of his first movies was Van Wilder and he’s like. He says to Tara Reid in the movie is like, don’t take life too seriously.

We’re not making it out alive. And I was like, that hit home in. The year 2000, I’ve lived my life that way, , and it’s so true. , we’re not, we all have born with a death sentence, right? It’s like, dude, so why, why even [00:27:00] sweat the small stuff? Like you said, I heard,

Nicole Kernohan: Another quote is most people are tiptoeing through life, trying to make it safely to death.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s awesome. That’s so true. I’m going to steal that one too. Oh, just

Nicole Kernohan: live. Love it. Be

L. Scott Ferguson: who you are. Love it. Oh my gosh. . Time to shine today, podcast, varsity squad.

We are back and Nicole, like we’ll definitely meet up somewhere in the coaching realm and I hope we do. And hopefully we can grab a coffee or something. We can talk about some of these questions, 15, 20 minutes, but today you got five seconds with no explanations. And I promise you they can all be answered that way.

Do , need to go do a Kata to get in mindset here or anything like that? You’re good. That’s

Nicole Kernohan: all I need. One breath.

L. Scott Ferguson: All right, let’s level up. Nicole, what is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

Nicole Kernohan: Find people it’s not who , it’s who knows you

L. Scott Ferguson: love it Sure, one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

Nicole Kernohan: Watch my watch my words. [00:28:00] Don’t say I should I don’t say I can’t Watch my words. And one of the biggest words is I choose.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes So you see me kind of walking down the street or maybe in an event you like man for he looks like he’s in his Dole jumps a little bit what book might you hand me that really has leveled you up?

Nicole Kernohan: Oh, so many. One of the biggest ones is a little deeper. It’s called psycho cybernetics. Yes.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. By Maxwell Maltz, right? Absolutely. Got it. Like this

Nicole Kernohan: idea of identity, really figuring out the self image side of who you really are.

L. Scott Ferguson: And Matt Fury took over the company and I had him on just recently as well.

Yeah. He’s great. Yeah.

Nicole Kernohan: He does the audio book version. I guess.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes, absolutely. So your most. Commonly used emoji when you text

Nicole Kernohan: big smile with teeth,

L. Scott Ferguson: nicknames growing up.

Nicole Kernohan: Nicky, not a lot. Gotcha.

L. Scott Ferguson: Any hidden talent and or superpower that you have that nobody really knows [00:29:00] about until now?

Nicole Kernohan: Yeah. I’m a black belt in karate, but because I’m so petite, it’s real sneaky.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Just checkers or monopoly.

Nicole Kernohan: Monopoly.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Headline for your life.

Nicole Kernohan: You are enough.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Any, you buy into any superstitions at all?

Nicole Kernohan: Nope. I believe in, believe in fate, but in some, in some capacities, but you have, you have the control. You have some control over that as well.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Go to ice cream flavor.

Nicole Kernohan: Caramel.

L. Scott Ferguson: Beautiful. There’s a sandwich called the sneaky Nikki build that sandwich for

Nicole Kernohan: me. What’s on it. Gluten free bread, tomatoes, lettuce, a slice of organic grilled chicken and hummus.

L. Scott Ferguson: Ooh, sounds great. Make it up. So favorite charity and organization like to give your time and or money to

Nicole Kernohan: I like [00:30:00] to Support teens in mental health for you.

And there’s some local, , support groups here, but just that’s an area. You want to help them shift when they’re still young.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes. As Whitney Houston said, their future, right? So best decade of music. And you can elaborate on this one. 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s.

Nicole Kernohan: 90s.

L. Scott Ferguson: 90s. That’s because

Nicole Kernohan: that was the time I was probably like 16.

That’s the time of, , I think I had a green day and some of that stuff.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, absolutely. It was like

Nicole Kernohan: a nostalgic time of life.

L. Scott Ferguson: I’m doing the math from what you said the back of you. So you graduated right around 2000 99 2000 nice nice right at the turn of the century. So nicole, how can we find you my friend?

Nicole Kernohan: So you can find me at nicoleKernohan. com As well as keep elevated. com keep elevated. That is the company that i’m a partner With Tony [00:31:00] child and and then if they want to reach out directly, they can, you can email you as well.

L. Scott Ferguson: Excellent. And in Kernohan is K E R N O H eight N out there squad. And it’s a, and also keep elevated.

They have a fantastic website. I’m actually kind of browsing through it right now as we’re kind of talking, it’s, it’s fantastic. And you also are offering our squad out there, a digital version of your abundance journal. Tell us a little bit about that.

Nicole Kernohan: Yeah, absolutely. It’s one of the fundamental differences between those who are highly successful in all areas of life versus those who aren’t.

It’s not just education. It’s not just experience. It’s a way of thinking, right? We’ve talked a bit about this throughout the show, thinking of solutions, thinking best case scenario, , looking for things on the abundance in an abundant perspective in an open mindedness. So it’s a journal to kind of help guide through some questions and concepts to [00:32:00] help shift you and into more of an abundant perspective.

L. Scott Ferguson: Fantastic. They can also purchase the physical copy on your website, correct? Awesome. Not on their

Nicole Kernohan: website, but they can reach out directly. Oh, really?

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. So you can reach out. Beautiful. We’ll put yeah, I’ll put your email address in the show notes if that’s cool.

Nicole Kernohan: Yeah. Awesome. Yep. Perfect. It’s not all I keep elevated.

L. Scott Ferguson: Awesome. So you’ve got also like maybe possibly offering or you are offering like a 30 minute, 30 second, 30 second strategy, no 30 minute strategy call.

Nicole Kernohan: Absolutely. I would love to. No, I’d love to do that. It’s, it’s one of my favorite experiences is to, is to have that initial conversation to wake someone up a little bit, like to see something that they didn’t see before, to help them feel their, their potential a bit more clearly, or answer some questions of why they’re stuck.

So yeah, 30 minutes. It’s pretty short and sweet. We’ll do a strategy session, but I’m, I’m I don’t offer that free very often for those who know me. I twisted her arm a little

L. Scott Ferguson: bit. [00:33:00] She promised not to do any of those, those moves on me and whatnot, and to give it away 30 seconds or 30. There I went again, 30 minute, , half hour of power, , with, with my good friend, Nicole.

Nicole, if you could give me one last solid and leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can take with us and internalize and take action.

Nicole Kernohan: I love Wayne Dyer’s quote. This is again, kind of going a little deep for us is be a person who is open to everything and attached to nothing. Yes. And that is a perspective.

It doesn’t mean that you’re not working towards goals and achieving incredible things. Yes. It means that you’re not attached to them. If that doesn’t happen in the time that you expect, you can still feel worthy. You can still get back up. You can still keep it going. Those who have made it to those, the greats have fallen down so many times.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. We all have like, it’s

Nicole Kernohan: inevitable. So if you can, can be [00:34:00] open. And unattached and say, okay, that method didn’t work. That method failed. I’m not a failure. I’ll try another method. I’m, I’m still right. And so just being open to shifting and being unattached to your results and not allowing that to reflect

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s awesome.

And squad, we just had, sorry, it took you a little longer than usual squad, but I got really ingrained in my good friend here, Nicole, who, , she got MS at a really young age. And she, at that moment, she really realized that she was different, , different than others. And when her parents really instilled with her, there’s no really no proper, Problems there’s opportunities and she took that even though her parents loved on her and they were thinking she was a little crazy She’s like that crab crawling out of the bucket, and people wanting to pull her back into safety But she’s like f that man i’m getting out of here.

You taught me how to do this I’m getting out of here and i’m gonna do it and she’s a coach that will help you uncover who you are, And she’s gonna do that with some really So when you talk to Nicole, be ready to answer some [00:35:00] awesome questions because she’s really going to be digging in knowing that who you think you are is not who you really are with your potential.

She’s a coach that really, again, listens with her neck. There’s a lot of words that you’re going to say. She’s not going to just pick up on the words, she’s going to pick up on your mannerisms. , she’s going to really lean in and almost be a mirror to you to really help you find those solutions and find that, that’s going to get you going.

And if you’re starting to work with a coach, whether it’s Nicole, which we hope it is, but really find out their personality. And if they’re going to be open to feedback from you as the client, , a lot of coaches out there, I love you all, but you can get really egotistical and you’re not open to that feedback.

A friend of mine, like Nicole here, she is open, and she wants you to really kind of understand what you truly want. You might not know it at an early stage, young age, but really keep working forward to what you really want. If you don’t know, there are people out there that can help. You might think, , there are people out there along the way that you can ask like my good friend, Leah Woodford would say, , get your asking gear, get out there.

And if not, just let [00:36:00] me make a warm introduction to my good friend, Nicole, who, Is full of sunshine. She’s honest. She pays it forward. She’s somebody that’s planting trees She’s never gonna sit in the shade of and what I notice a lot is she’s out there doing it for the intention Not the attention. She’s not like look at me.

Look at me, even though she’s a little five foot spitfire Like throwing up some awesome weight, but she’s not out there bragging about it. She’s out there showing you. Hey This is me. I can do it. And so can you, , she wants you to not sweat the small stuff. She said, there’s a lot of people she used to quote this.

Like I use quotes. I can regurgitate everything that so many people are tiptoeing through death, , tiptoeing through life just to get to death. And I want you to just plow through, , like Wayne Dyer said, Who I was blessed to meet when I was young, and I didn’t even know I was meeting an icon, , be open to everything and attached to nothing.

And that’s what my good friend, Nicole does. She levels up her health. She levels up her wealth. She’s absolutely stunning. She’s earned a varsity letter here at time to shine today. You’re such a go giver. Thank you so much for coming on. Absolutely. Love your guts.

Nicole Kernohan: Thank you so much, Scott. That was awesome.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yay. Chat [00:37:00] soon.

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