JM Guthrie 00:27
Joe, we just got off with our girl Tracy. Cool lady with a really interesting perspective. Great interview. What were your thoughts?

Joe Quattrone 00:45
Well, I mean, I think if you’re listening to this, and you happen to work in the advertising field, it’s gonna be a pretty damning episode. I don’t think the advertising industry comes out with a very, you know, they’re definitely not unscathed. There’s some, some bruise dyes and stuff like that, some black eyes. But I love what she’s doing. I love how she’s created this dead simple framework, to actually, you know, pick yourself out of you know, that doldrum that you’re in and turn your life around. I mean, it’s such a simple framework that I feel like anybody can follow. And at the end of the day, it starts with yourself. And I mean, I know that sounds cliche, it sounds like it’s all the things that you would expect, like a life coach telling me about I’ve got to go do something about myself. But it’s so true man, like everybody that I talked to that’s got a lot of anxiety in life, or they’re, you know, they’re dealing with some depression they’re dealing with, they know what they have to do. They just haven’t begun. Yeah, it sounds simpler than it is. But if she can make an impact, like God bless her, you know, yeah,

JM Guthrie 01:52
I think the thing that I found really interesting is 20% of the solution, she said, is just understanding or identifying what those thoughts are, she calls him sabotaging thoughts. And then 80% is actually putting into action things you’re going to do to make those decisions for yourself that you just mentioned. And I think the coolest thing, and this continues to be a theme for me, as we have these interviews with this variety of different types of people with different perspectives and different backgrounds is all of these practices and all of the thinking and the mind share that that we’re hearing aligned so closely to what the original mantra of our show was, which was, you can change your relationships, so it stops with substance and specifically alcohol. But to do so you have to make that decision for yourself. And so I think it’s cool to be able to bring a bunch of tools to bear for our listeners of ways that they can start to think about things a little bit differently in order to really get to that one better day at a time that we talked about. And

Joe Quattrone 02:55
listeners, you want to check out the end of the episode, you want to stick around at the very end because we do get into something that I think will be near and dear to a lot of your hearts. She gets into working with her daughter Gracie and the journey that they’re on together. And I know a lot of you are starting to think about that as you’re having kids, have had kids or certain to raise kids, how to impart some of the wisdom on them that you’ve been discovering during your Mito journey. So I’m really happy for Tracy that she and Gracie have found a really comfortable working rhythm and how they just kind of stumbled into it. It’s a pretty neat story as well. So stick around for that one at the end.

JM Guthrie 03:35
Tracy plush cord the founder of self made you and the co host of the Tracy and Gracie becoming podcast is a certified life coach who helps men and women learn how to think to achieve their goals and overcome the obstacles in their life. Tracy has mastered and now teaches a simple framework necessary to manage your mind and eliminate any obstacle in life including overeating, over drinking, time management, career and relationship changes. And professional development. Tracy dedicates her work to ambitious lifelong learners, yearning for solutions and seeking a better way to create the results they desire and deserve. She instills confidence in a call to action that leads to maximum achievement and happiness. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the fuzzy ish podcast. I’m your host Jay. I’m Guthrie with my good friend Joe Q. And today we are welcoming our friend Tracy flesh court. And I’m really excited for today’s show. We’ve been working on a lot of things on our side specific to what fuzzy ish is who we are, the story that we want to tell, but also the impact that we want to make as an organization. And so there’s a lot that we’ve been working on specific to giving back to the communities that we care a lot about. And one of those communities and the one that Tracy fits right into is mental wellness and finding the best you. She’s the founder of self made you. And we’ll let her tell you a little bit more about that. But one thing that we can share is that she comes from the same background as Joe. And I, unfortunately, was an ad executive for some amount of time looking forward to hearing some more about that. And realize at some point that helping herself and helping others was really what she was more interested in doing. And said, she white, I think she white knuckled her way into her own business. And it seems to be pretty successful. Seeing all of the results and feedback and testimonials that you can find on her website that will ask her some more about but anyways, without further ado, Tracy, welcome to our show.

Tracy Pleschourt 05:47
Thank you, I’m excited to be here. And I think you guys win the award for Best podcast title ever. Love it.

JM Guthrie 05:57
Appreciate that. Appreciate that. It’s interesting, it started with an idea that sort of spawned off of a commercial entity that we’re working on in this sort of background, and has turned into something much bigger with this idea of me totally helping people to sort of find a better relationship with their weaknesses in their life. And obviously, alcohol has been the big one for us. But tell us a little bit more about self. Tell us a little bit more about you. And sort of your background. And then obviously, we’re really interested to hear some more about self made you considering it, you know, I think it aligns, there’s so many parallels with what you talk about, or at least what we’ve been able to see on your site. And the way that we think so is just really exciting to hear some more.

Tracy Pleschourt 06:41
Yeah, well, so I come out of 20 years in the advertising and marketing industry, I was absolutely tickled to have found my way there. And looking back, I would say it was a very successful run. While in it, I probably didn’t see it in the same light, it seemed very stressful. And I felt like I was constantly, you know, trying to cross some elusive finish line. As I was trying to climb the corporate ladder, I held one of the highest positions, especially for a woman in the agency. And I was very proud of the work that I did, it wasn’t on the creative side, it was actually on the operational side. So I had a direct, you know, influence and impact on the employees experience. And I did have some exposure to clients as well. So I felt like I had the best of both worlds, you know, I, I got to work amongst some of the most creative minds in the industry, on, you know, some of the sexiest brands out there. So it was so much fun. But I truly did not have the coping skills to navigate the stress that came along with it, you know, really long hours trying to start and raise a family trying to you know, navigate long commutes and climb that corporate ladder, led me to coming home at night, always believing I had to take the edge off. And I wasn’t capable of doing that myself. So I was constantly looking for all of the, you know, solutions outside of me. And the two that were so easy to come by were food and alcohol. And so I would find myself in this pattern and use it’s a slippery slope because it’s a pattern that’s so easy to create when you know you’re just not wanting to feel stress. The numbness feels great. And so now looking back, I can see so clearly how easy it was for me to fall into that pattern. And I also look back with so much empathy and so much compassion for that person that lived for years in so much shame. Thankfully, I don’t have any of those rock bottom stories. But I can honestly I can feel like my heart beating out of my chest as I tell the story because the shame that I would wake up with every single morning for drinking myself to sleep every single night was unbearable. It was absolutely unbearable. And I wanted so desperately to find a way out of that. But it became such a coping mechanism for myself that I kept thinking, you know, I seem to be the common denominator to all of my problems. You know, I’m overweight I’m stressed out. I’m, you know, I wasn’t admittedly an overachiever. Some Nothing I did was ever quite good enough. And I just looked at myself as the king of the common denominator to all of my problems. And it wasn’t until I had, I intentionally tried to shift my thinking, just as another means of an attempt. Like, I felt like I had tried everything I tried dry January, and I tried, you know, fasting, and I tried low carb, and I tried it all, I tried all of the alcohol alternatives, and nothing seemed to ever work. And at one point in time, it dawned on me, what if I started to think of myself differently? What if I stopped thinking of myself as the common denominator to all of my problems, and I started thinking of myself as the solution, then what, and I had to sit with that for a really long time. And obviously, you can probably hear it and what I’m saying that there was a life coach influence on that thought, that didn’t just come into my brain, sadly. But I did have a life coach at the time that was kind of helping me with my train of thought around things. And it wasn’t enough to just like, initiate a new way of approaching this problem. And that is when I recognize, oh, my God, I have been thinking about all of my problems wrong, like, what if I’m the solution, and it’s just a matter of how I’m thinking that actually needs to change, if I stop looking outside of myself for the solution and start going within? What would that look like. And so over the course of several years, I started to put that into practice. And I recognized how dramatically my life was changing in the corporate world, with my weight and with my drinking. And that’s when I realized, you know, as much as I love the impact I have, I have the ability to make here in the advertising industry, I knew I was being called for something more. And so I left and started self made you and now the programming is, you know, we’ll talk about the programming, but it’s really started to expand into unlimited top topics, timeout

Joe Quattrone 12:27
timeout, I’m not gonna let you off the hook that easily, we’re gonna get into all the great stuff about self made you in a minute, but like you’re talking to a couple of Reformed ad executives here. I can’t I can’t let this topic go. So your plate sounds all too familiar, right? Somebody grows up, they get into the childbearing years, they have a couple kids, you know, they’re burning the candle at both ends. Burnout is a real thing. And you want the pressures on you to find the solution for how you need to pick yourself up, you know, from, you know, potential pathways that lead towards alcohol, alcoholism, or food addictions and stuff like that. It’s never the advertising industry’s fault. But the advertising industry is ageist. Right? They don’t really know how to scale and make money, they actually don’t pump any net new money in so it becomes a zero sum game. So they create this, you know, Game of Thrones style, like an echo chamber, in which all agencies fight for dollars, you know, when are we going to start calling attention to the shitshow? What is the advertising industry? Because in my opinion, we are we’ve for far too long, we’ve let 25 year olds try to market to 55 year olds, like, when are we going to let maturity sink in in the advertising industry a little bit? When are we going to invest in building it out to a more healthy industry versus one that just brainwashes people into buying products they don’t need? Anyway, that’s my rant. That’s my soapbox. I don’t want to let you off the hook. I want to hear what you have to say about that. Do you feel my animosity towards it?

Tracy Pleschourt 14:01
Yeah, yeah, I, you know, and I had that same sort of animosity, because it was an easy target for me to point at and say that was the cause. And part of my growth has been really taking on a level of responsibility for my results and choosing how I want to think about my decision to leave that industry. And I just chose to think of it as complete. And it really afforded me a lot of lessons. You know, it was through adversity that I learned so much about myself, so I can relate to the animosity, absolutely. I’ve just chosen at this stage because I have, you know, I just don’t want to feel like that because that animosity really leads me to behave in a way that has never served me and I’m not saying that. That’s it. The same for you. Because I can relate, I really can’t relate to everything that you’re saying.

Joe Quattrone 15:06
I feel totally the same way. I’m just in a way I’m kind of doing it and just to kind of get a little bit of provocation into the mix. But if it wasn’t for me leaving my two jobs, I wouldn’t be working with JM and having all the experiences I’m having right now. And I’m having a blast. I love the consulting for my build, I love being a part of this podcast. And I wouldn’t have time for that working with Gary anymore. So I totally feel the same way. So two

JM Guthrie 15:31
things. I’m the only one on this show today that is still somewhat in that space, because I am still W tattooed within more of I would say technology consulting, but definitely with a marketing spin not necessarily ad agency. But I have been there and done that. So two things that come to mind listening to both of you. One is Tracy, you mentioned sort of flipping the script to decide you are going to worry about yourself and not those things. Are those pressures around you whether it’s your job or eating or drinking or you know, the things that were happening due to those pressures. Was there. Was there a moment you mentioned it was over years? But was there? Was there kind of a moment? Like, did you have a time that you can reference back to that was kind of like the Alright, this is it? I’ve got to figure this out. And then those years came behind it? Or is it something that happened sort of more organically over time? Due to the constraints and pressures of the different things that you mentioned earlier?

Tracy Pleschourt 16:33
Yeah, it was definitely over time. And it was, you know, through my own experiences that I’m sure we can all relate to, you know, over indulging, because alcohol was so widely available, and it was almost used as an employee benefit. Like yeah, right. Literally innovation. Yep. to woo people. Like we had the beer on tap, and they’re in the fridge. Yep. Well, that was way before it was even like the norm now. Like, now people have like the microbrews inside the agency. But yeah, we had the beer fridge and and that was always where he would start the tour of you know, the the wide eyed kids that wanted to someday become an advertising executive or an account executive, you know, and so it’s like, I see it now and go, Oh, well, God, it makes perfect sense why so many of us fell victim and you know, what starts out so innocent, it really leads to such destructive behaviors. And I saw it in myself. And sadly, I saw it, in eyesight, destroy people that were at the highest level that had the most phenomenal minds. I’ve seen it destroy their minds and their work, and their ability to relate to other people and to relate to the client. And you just it was so destructive. And so even though I was right there, I was like the passenger on the ride. Thankfully, I had the wherewithal to see how destructive it was, I wasn’t too far down the path that I couldn’t, I didn’t have any more control, I had just enough control, that I could see it for what it was, and I still saw the ability to pull back from it. And honestly, it really is kind of back to how I could tap into empathy. I have empathy for why the agency, you know, branded, why we had the culture we had, I can see it all so clearly now. You know, I can take the blinders off from feeling victimized, and really see the peripheral of why it was necessary. We were trying to attract and retain the best and the brightest. And, you know, we did what we thought we needed to do. And that was like, really leaning into that sexy party, you know, alcohol and all the other things are widely available and promoted, you know, and so I just can see it now much more clearly. And so I don’t have the resentment that I once did, I now can look at it with just kind of a sense of discovery.

JM Guthrie 19:34
Yeah, it’s interesting. I had a conversation with a teammate of mine yesterday, and we were talking about something that’s unrelated to alcohol, but similar in context. And what I was saying was, there are lots of people that will pay to learn about this space or this experience, and you are being paid to actually experience it and the value in that is enormous. It’s not just for today at this company or the next days while working for this company. But for exactly what you just said right to be able to reference back to how that felt, how that made the other people feel the impact that it had directly on people personally and professionally, put you in a position not only to be more mindful for yourself, but obviously, it also allowed you the luxury of creating your own business and to be able to provide that that experience and that knowledge to other people that aren’t fortunate enough to have experienced it themselves. And there’s just so much to say for that. So congratulations.

Joe Quattrone 20:36
So in 2023, now that drinking is starting to become seen as passe specifically with Gen Z, or at least is starting to show some cracks in the armor. What does a modern advertising agency do to attract and retain talent? Do you think there might be a rise of something like a chief life coach one of these days or chief life officer, somebody instead of having a beer fridge, maybe there’s like a mental wellness guru, or, you know, available on the floor or something like that, like, what are some ideas you might have, from your perspective as a current life coach, that might help companies that are trying to attract and retain talent?

Tracy Pleschourt 21:12
Yeah, and I guess to be fair, I think we were a little bit more comprehensive in our thinking in in the attempt to attract and retain because we did go beyond just the party benefits, like we did have a nice, you know, offering of health and wellness, we had the meditation room, and, you know, we had the massage therapist that we would bring in and so but as the person that was really in charge of the culture, so here’s me taking a lot of responsibility for, you know, starting the tour at the beer fridge. I really made it my mission, to get to know the people that we were attracting, and you know, the ones that we wanted to retain, I wanted to know what mattered to them. So that they felt like they were actually working at a place that supported their values. And I think more of that, I feel like, you know, I’ve been out of the corporate world now for a while. So it’s hard for me to say if that has grown, or if people have taken their eye off the ball, but I had a real, you know, passion for corporate and social responsibility. So it led me to really looking at the individual, and understanding what mattered to them. And where are we aligned, like, it wasn’t a matter of, oh, let me manipulate our core mission statement. So it looks like it aligns with you. But let me point out where we are aligned. So that person felt like they really landed in the place that they were supposed to be. So I think you know, more of that certainly can be really helpful, because now you’ve got a person that doesn’t feel like they have to be somebody else. They feel like, oh, my god, yeah, I am totally aligned. And it inspires them to be more of that. So if they are somebody that’s, you know, super into mental fitness, or physical fitness, or, you know, being more environmentally conscious, you know, they get to do that. And do it like an own it, not have to hide it, you know, and so I think, yeah, investing the time to really understand the individual and, you know, not just from what are they going to bring to the table, but who are they as a person?

JM Guthrie 23:47
Yeah, it’s actually interesting, I think you said empathy. I think that’s a core tenet of empathy is what you just mentioned, as well. And I think Joe and I talked about this a lot, both on the show and outside, if more people could just care a little bit about how others feel and think, in the, in the corporate world, in just the world itself, we’d probably be in a much different place, considering all the conflict that we see both here at home and around the world. So we subscribe to that mantra for sure. When you’re talking to somebody back then or now within the self made platform. Is there a way that you help somebody that isn’t necessarily so easily able to sort of hone in on the changes that they need to make for themselves to sort of establish maybe where the right starting places are when they’re setting off to try to sort of create this better outcome for themselves? Yeah,

Tracy Pleschourt 24:45
definitely. So, you know, I think it starts with understanding why you are where you’re at. Like, it’s really hard to be like, Okay, here’s what you need to do differently. If you don’t understand that What got you to where you’re at, like so really starting to understand yourself, like, understanding the neuroscience, we all have that three pound organ that exists between our ears, but do we really understand, you know, what it’s responsible for, like, that’s really important to know, and what the, you know what the effects of it and what it’s capable of doing. And it is, every minute of every day, it’s sabotaging you if you have no sense of awareness. And so I like to really start with where are you right now. And let’s talk about why it makes perfect sense that you’re there, like without the awareness of how your brain can, you know, be your worst enemy, you’re going to make it mean something about your humanity. And that’s going to keep you in the spin, it’s going to keep you stuck, right where you’re at. But but if they understand that normalcy, the humanity of the way that that brain is functioning, and it’s just actually doing its job, but you know, you’re reacting to fear based narratives, I want you to instead of reacting, I just want you to respond, I want you to have a heightened sense of awareness to it, realizing you’re listening to saboteur narratives that are trying to keep you safe, when you’re not in any danger on them, like, that’s what happens. And so having that awareness is going to limit dramatically, it’s going to limit the risk of sabotage. So I like to explain neuroscience, just explain the science of your brain. It takes about 10 minutes, not that hard. Secondly, I like to explain the saboteur narratives that they’re most likely listening to, and they’re birthed from your inherent strengths. So like I said, the saboteur narrative that I’ve fought I still fall prey to is this hyper achiever narrative that attaches my worthiness to my achievements. And, you know, the finish line just keeps on moving, because I never slow down enough to even celebrate the wins. And so I make it mean, you know, I’m not as worthy, I’m not as good, you know, I, I hear those narratives. But now the difference is, I don’t react, I don’t hide, don’t go numb. I just acknowledged what it is. That’s just, you know, a function of my primitive brain trying to keep me safe, and I’m not in any danger. So instead, I’m going to respond. And sometimes the response is like a deep breathing technique. Sometimes the response is, you know, it can be a meditation, it can be journaling, anything that just kind of slows things down for a moment, once I have the awareness of what’s actually going on. And that affords me to operate from the part of my brain where I can, I can actually leverage the strengths like empathy, like discovery, like innovation, but when you’re spinning out over here in fear, you have zero access to those strengths. So the first step is awareness. Like really understanding yourself, your brain, knowing which narratives which saboteur narratives, you’re most likely you uniquely are most likely to be hearing, and there’s 10 of them. So we offer an assessment so that you can be more on the lookout for it, and limit the risk of being sabotaged. I’m

JM Guthrie 28:42
thinking about like the carrot, the caricature on your shoulder of the sanitized narrative, right? There’s like,

Tracy Pleschourt 28:48
yeah, totally. And I mean, I like the people pleaser is a rather universal narrative, the judge where you’re judging others, where you’re judging yourself, I should have done this, I shouldn’t have done that. Right. Or you’re judging circumstances. I’ll be happy once I land this client. Right? That’s judging circumstances.

Joe Quattrone 29:10
How big of I’m going to set this one up in a little bit of a ginger way here? Because I see it might be a little bit weird for some of the audience members out there. But how much does comparison traps have to do with this? So like, when I was researching you and your kind of efforts around Ceph made you the title of your company led me to believe that it was about money, they clicked into it a couple of different layers deep and I realized it’s not about money at all, but the connotation around self made, you know, lends itself to thinking it’s about money because usually when people say self made, self made millionaire, self made billionaire or whatever the case may be, but as you and I both know, being self made isn’t about how much money you have. It’s about how much happiness you have. So but I can’t help but think the people that are pursuing self made in terms of money and finances are caught in this comparison spiral where they’re constantly comparing themselves to where they think they should be based on what the market on Instagram or wherever all these flashy Showboats believe they are. Is that a big thing? Do you see that when people come to your practice? Like, are there people that think it’s one thing and they’re like, wait a minute, this is like self help, this isn’t gonna teach me how to build like a YouTube funnel or something?

Tracy Pleschourt 30:29
Well, no, because most people are, most people hear from us through word of mouth. So it’s usually explained to people as you have to meet Tracy or you have to check out a self made view because they show you how to solve your problems or achieve your goals in a code in a counter intuitive way in a completely different way. So it’s usually set up for the person that lands in my sandbox. I wish I had people who wanted to become Self Made Millionaires and self made billionaires knocking on my door, because I feel like I could really make a huge impact, because Could I get them there? Absolutely. And the journey is going to be so much more satisfying than without me. And so I mean, I’ve never even dreamt of taking that kind of a marketing approach. I actually market myself as you know, it’s more of becoming self made is more of a purpose driven identity, less of an ego driven identity, it’s really a matter of learning how to take responsibility for all of your results, whether they’re intentional or unintentional. And it’s an ability to like, almost indirectly, to model that behavior for other people. And that’s kind of that exponential effect, where I believe will have a pretty big impact on the world, I see it all the time that people that I coach, I end up getting their kids into programs, because it’s so meaningful to the parents, they’re like, Oh, my God, if my kid learns this, you know, at 10, what are they going to be like, you know, how happy of a life are they going to have ahead of them, they are probably going to be able to detour some of these pitfalls. I hear that all the time. And so it inspires me to teach this at a younger age I, my marketing approach is really to talk about us as kind of filling the gap that formal education creates, you know, formal education teaches you what to think, and then tests you on your ability to memorize it, they don’t really teach you how to think in the context of like, take, utilizing yourself as the solution. They’re constantly teaching you about all of the external variables that you can lean into. And so we teach a completely different approach to that. And so it’s all about learning to trust yourself. It’s all about self control. And again, it gives me an opportunity, it teases it up so beautifully for me to talk about the real definition of self control, just like I can, you know, you’ve teed up the real definition of what it means to be self made. It gives me these great talking points. And I think that they’re interesting. And I can capture the attention and hopefully carry on a conversation and make it meaningful. We all have these saboteur narratives. And so yeah, that comparison and despair that I think, especially you know, us, overachievers, high achievers, we can all relate to that, you know, we’re always looking to measure. And so who are we going to measure against other people and their achievements? And so it kind of goes back to do like, when you think of your level of competence, are you going within? And thinking about it from the perspective of your ability? Or are you immediately thinking about the list of achievements? Right? It’s the difference between confidence and self confidence. And so that’s what I’m out there teaching is, it’s all about the self. And so I use the acronym self, to teach people how to really create self control, self confidence, self trust, and so it starts with a decision. seems so simple, but most people jump right over that step. It’s like, what is it that you want? Why do you want it? I don’t care if we’re talking about, you know, becoming sober or learning how to drink moderately, make a decision. Isn’t it? What is it that you want to start with a decision? Secondly, you eliminate self sabotage? How do you do that you become more and more aware, you understand yourself and become aware of what are the narratives that I’m most prone to listening to. And I love to go deeper in that and help people understand why those narratives are there. But that doesn’t matter so much as just what narrative should I be looking out for? Yeah, you see them, and you’re going to eliminate that self sabotage, and then leverage your strengths like empathy, discovery, innovation. And then the fourth step, finish with the decision. So step one, and four are the exact same thing. So this literally could not be any easier. It’s just relying on yourself, SEL F. And then that fourth and final step finishes with a decision, I say, Finish with a decision that’s so easy. It’s hard not to do, like one step. Very easy, not a self sabotaging step that says, I’m going to stop drinking for the rest of my life. Like, that’s probably not a simple step. Right? That’s incredibly hard. It’s one step that’s so easy, it’s hard not to do. And when you literally utilize yourself every step of the way, now we’ve got the compounded effect, the incremental compounded effect working on our behalf. I

JM Guthrie 36:30
love I mean, we have a tag of one better day at a time around here, which, I think, encompasses a lot of what you just said, and certainly, we have found success in focusing on just having a better day at a time. And you know, after a while, it becomes a lot easier. And it makes a lot more sense. And it’s just sort of more natural. One question I have a lot of what you talked about is more reactionary, to sabotaging thoughts. And obviously, those are going to come at some level of clip, even when you’re in the best of ways, as a person, how much do you talk about things that people can do to try to bring the volume of those types of thoughts down? Right, like, how much do you talk about? Here’s some ways that you could maybe do it for me, let me set it up by saying, I find that exercising, and in particular, lifting weights, just puts my whole body, mind and soul in a better place, and I have less of these sabotaging thoughts, for whatever reason. And then I’m able to handle them in similar steps. So you just mentioned better because there’s less of them. And I’m excited for the next day of sort of the same kind of cadence. How much of that do you talk about as part of your practices and the folks that you talk to on the selfmade? Side?

Tracy Pleschourt 37:49
Yeah, we talk a lot about you know, those supporting tools, I think it’s always going to start with the foundation of yourself and really having a heightened sense of awareness. But for sure, there are supporting tools like exercise, like you know, for the people who want to lose weight, we tell them to cut out the refined carbohydrates, cut out the sugar and flour, because sugar just makes you crave more sugar. So ice cream, heavy.

JM Guthrie 38:19
That’s my kryptonite.

Tracy Pleschourt 38:21
Exactly. Mind you. So you know, it’s but it all it always starts on what is it that they want? What is it that you want? Why do you want it because the best practices are going to shift based on what it is that you want. So there is no like, one, you know, script, one set of, you know, a list that is appropriate for everybody. We customize everything based on what it is that you want. And so I can answer that question when, you know, somebody is very specifically coming to me and telling me what they’re, you know, struggling with. But overall, to really quiet down that mind chatter. I would say, you know, paying attention to not only mental health, but I would say physical health to your point. metabolic health, yeah, really like getting out the things, getting the things out of your diet that are causing inflammation that are causing, like the energy lols the cognitive like slow down and being mood swings. So I think looking at health comprehensively, you know, emotional, mental, physical metabolic, I think is really important. Journaling, deep breathing, when those narratives are hijacking you, you are in this dysregulated state, you know, your nervous system is dysregulated. So what you want to do is regulate it and your body’s looking for safety. So anything you can do, to feel safe, you know and all of those things, I think, have a place, but you just have to find what works best for you. So, you know, insight, what your audience is listening to us talk about is only 20% of sustainable change. 80% of sustainable change comes from application. That means you have to be willing to try things you’re trying with curiosity so that you can refine, so there’s so many great options to turn the volume down on those saboteur narratives. But you’ve got to find what’s right for you.

JM Guthrie 40:36
You gotta believe.

Joe Quattrone 40:37
Let me ask a personal question here. We’re all parents here. What’s it like working with Gracie, do you feel a sense of gratitude to be able to impart some of these genuine, real life lessons to somebody that’s actually probably going to impact her more than her own college education? Like, talk to me about working with your daughter in the business? Yeah.

Tracy Pleschourt 40:59
Saying that, you know, I feel like I’m living the dream. Is it folk cliche, but it’s every day, I think, how did I get myself here? Like how my daughter went to college, and she landed on psychology, and then she shifted to marketing. So I was like, oh, psychology, yes. And then she’s like, actually, I like marketing. I’m like, Oh, shit, marketing. And then she went back into psychology. And I’m like, Okay, there’s hope. And the ironic part is my sister is a clinical psychologist. And so she started to go down that path, and I’m like, there’s lots of red tape, the impact that you think you’re going to make is going to be a little bit harder of a path, not saying you can’t do it. But coaching, let me tell you sister coaching is where it’s at. Like, you get to make quick impacts. And it’s so rewarding. And you don’t have to worry about things like insurance, and you don’t have to worry, you know, it’s like, there’s just depending on what it is you’re looking for. So she, you know, came on board as a marketing assistant, and then watched me coach other people in more of a group setting and, and saw the life changing and transformations that were happening. And it didn’t take long before. She was like, Oh, my God, this is amazing. This is what I want to do. And that was part of the impetus of starting a coach program and certifying coaches, who now have the opportunity to come work for you. But it was really because she had this desire. And I’m like, well, I could send her to a school where I, you know, paid the bucks to get certified. Or I would like, indoctrinate her into our culture, teach her what I know, and save the money and like, have her as a pipeline. Like she’s got a huge following social media of young people that certainly weren’t following me. And so it’s just been this win win win. She’s learning from me. I’m very inspired by her every single day.

Joe Quattrone 43:10
So quick tack on events. So who are you guys inspired by? You clearly know what you’re talking about when it comes to neuroscience and physiology. So are you out there, checking out Gary breka and Andrew Huberman and Barbara O’Neill and all these people like the

Tracy Pleschourt 43:24
characters, Ed, my lad, I love his great. Yeah, I love the law of attraction. So, Esther Hicks, I think she’s super interesting. I love organizational psychology. So Dr. Benjamin Hardy, I’m actually in his program right now. He’s launching his fourth book next fall. And so he’s using businesses and people as case studies. So I’m like, Oh, I’m your girl because we totally aligned so love his work. He partners with Dan Sullivan, who is widely known in the psychology arena. So those yeah, those are a few of my faves. Very cool.

Joe Quattrone 44:13
Well, we should probably head over to the segments now. But real quick before we do are the Kirk Kirk Cousins leaving the Vikings in the offseason? Do you have any insight on what’s going on over there? And I

Tracy Pleschourt 44:23
had a belief that I mean, it’s highly highly possible. Makes me sad because I think I

Joe Quattrone 44:31
like her. We’re both Washington fans and Kirk was in our life for a while and I kind of was upset to see him go but happy that he’s done well with you like that.

JM Guthrie 44:43
We did that. Yeah, to see him go. We were bumped. Yeah.

Tracy Pleschourt 44:47
Did you guys watch the quarterback series? We did? Yeah. Super cool. That highlighted him? Yes.

Joe Quattrone 44:53
Cool. He’s cool, dude. So let me see. Let’s go with a round of News. So I pulled an article from CBS News recently talking about Gen Z and how they’re exploring, being alcohol free exploring this sober, curious lifestyle. It says here that according to the National Institute Institute on Alcohol and alcoholism, more than one in 10 Americans over the age of 12, that’s kind of crazy. 12 years old, have struggled with alcohol in the past year. But the article goes on to say they’re really there’s some really promising trends that are being driven by this generation like the the advent of the zero proof bar and completely silver bars. Me and Jay M have talked about those types of experiences at length, dry January, coming into prevalence, and really being driven by the youth youth culture. And some of the people that they’re interviewing here in this article talk about how a lot of this stuff really stemmed from the pandemic. And when we were home full time, it led to over abusing alcohol and drinking every single day. And then people had to pick themselves up by the bootstraps, because it was going to end miserably for a lot of people. Do you buy into that? conscription? Do you believe that the pandemic had a negative and now positive effect on where we’re headed with this alcohol free movement?

Tracy Pleschourt 46:20
I do? Yeah, I do. And I think that for a lot of people, it’s all about feeling connected, feeling part of the tribe, like that’s one of our lives. The purpose as a human being is to feel a part, we’re constantly that’s what our brain is looking for. And so I think that when alcohol, you know, consumption was very glamorized, we bought into, you know, well, then I should partake, so I feel part of the tribe. And it was very, you know, foreign to abstain. And so most people would kind of shy away from even if they felt like it was to their benefit to abstain, they then fell outside of the tribe. And so I can see how, now that it’s becoming more widely accepted, to not only abstain, but to kind of lean into these new, you know, non alcoholic cocktails and new brews, and all that kind of stuff. I can see why people are more likely to feel comfortable to lean into that and to be, you know, less apprehensive about, you know, their personal thoughts and feelings about alcohol. Yeah, and I think if, for reasons we all know, it’s, it’s such an easy substance to use as a coping mechanism. So COVID Absolutely, you know, so many people felt isolated, and they had no coping skills. And that was an easy substance to use a tool to use to get rid of that isolation.

JM Guthrie 48:10
Yeah, I mean, I totally agree with all that I love the tribal nature of what you talked about. I think people are more comfortable talking about not drinking now, because we’re fortunate to be in a world where it’s okay to say. So. I also think it’s interesting how this movement of at least, taking a look at the relationship with alcohol has created a situation where the people that didn’t necessarily end up in a ditch and needed to get out of it. Or like holy shit, I’m addicted to drinking, like, I can’t stop, like, they just thought it was part of their life. And then when they go to sort of take a look at it, it’s a lot harder than they thought to not pick up the bottle the next day, or, you know, a few times a week. And so I think bringing light to that as part of all of this is a huge, a huge aspect of going forward. And I really think Tracy, a lot of what you talked about with the sabotaging thoughts are created by putting these kinds of substances in our body, at least, you know, a few times a week or enough that it is creating some sort of chemical reaction in our body. And so the more we’re able to understand those thoughts, and improve them through better relationships with alcohol or exercising, or at least understanding what those are, is going to be the path forward that we’re going to see a lot of success in the future. So super exciting stuff. Yeah,

Joe Quattrone 49:29
I agree. Cool. Jim, do you want to introduce the next segment? Product Surprise, surprise?

JM Guthrie 49:34
Yeah, I will. Alright, cool. So So Tracy, we’ve had such a great conversation today and appreciate you coming along hopefully we can have you back on because I think so many of the core tenets of self made you are center to what we think about particular to fuzzy edge podcast and even more particularly me total, because there’s no way that you can change anything in your life whether it’s sabotaging thoughts or your relationship with alcohol, or anything that isn’t necessarily lining up right in your brain without being to your point committed to it that 80%. And so thanks again for coming. But we talked a little bit about the things that we can do to create a better mindset, and things that maybe you do from a practice perspective, in a moment of uncertainty. So we like to call these products and practices. One of the products that I’ve been using a lot lately is fake beer, as we’ve talked about many times, but there’s a new one, there’s an actual Corona zero now. So there are times where I just want the flavor of a Corona with a lime in it, and now have that available to me. And it’s been incredible. We do Taco Tuesdays at the house, most weeks, the kids nine, six and four. And there’s something about having a fake Corona with me, that sort of completes the picture on my end. So anyways, what about you, Tracy,

Tracy Pleschourt 51:03
My husband was second to that one. He likes Corona. And I would say when I was learning to live without alcohol, I first leaned heavily into dessert.

JM Guthrie 51:18
Yeah, ice cream,

Tracy Pleschourt 51:20
let’s go. I gave myself the permission to eat whatever desserts I wanted to. And that was super helpful for me. I love that. Um, so that was early on. And now I am a competitive person. I’m more competitive with myself. So I love pickleball. I like playing, you know, any sort of game like board games, but I’m also really competitive with things. Like, you know, biohacking and wearable. So I love my aura ring. And I get really competitive with, you know, my sleep score and my readiness score. So I would say for those people who really like data, and really find themselves to be competitive and with themselves and in a good way that really yields some nice results. Get an aura ring, I think that they’re pretty darn affordable in the context of all that it brings to you like what you can learn about yourself through these, or a range that tracks your sleep. They track your body temperature, they track for women, they’ll track your cycle, they’ll track your oxygen rate. So if you have sleep apnea, and you might not even know it until you start wearing an aura ring. And that’s going to tell you how many times you wake up in the middle of the night. So fascinating. So that would be a product that I love.

JM Guthrie 52:45
Yeah, I love that one in the context of competitiveness, too. Because I’m here for that,

Joe Quattrone 52:50
I would add a pretty unique spin on this. brushing my teeth. And it’s not for what you think it’s not good to try to keep me away from alcohol. I am five and a half years off of alcohol. So I don’t really get tempted that much by alcohol anymore. But I am going through a sugar detox. So I’ve, you know, gained a bunch of weight over the past 10 years since I started having kids. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to get that off. And I’ve really gotten into fasting. And for like the past three weeks, I’ve fasted for a minimum of 12 hours and I’ve done 24 hour fasts like six times. And the thing that keeps me going when I really want to when I crave something to kind of get my mind off of it as I make my mouth feel clean. So I go in and brush my teeth. And now I feel like I cannot cannot let any food enter this temple. And it keeps me going for like another six hours or something like that. So brushing my teeth to eliminate brush

JM Guthrie 53:51
to teeth. All right. Cool. Well, Tracy, thanks so much for being here today. We really enjoyed it. This was an awesome conversation. And there’s so many similarities, as I’ve mentioned, or we’ve mentioned through the time that we’ve shared today. Definitely look forward to having you again. Thanks for coming.

Tracy Pleschourt 54:07
My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Joe Quattrone 54:09
Thanks a lot. We’ll be in touch with Tracy. We’d love to see and stay in touch with the guys who will follow you on social media and will keep going with you and recommend you to everybody. You sound awesome. So thank you.

JM Guthrie 54:19
Alright everybody. Thanks for joining the FUZZEE’-ish Podcast. I really enjoyed the conversation today with Tracy and my boy Joey Q. For this in all of our other full length episodes and some of the other content you can go to the website, which is gist fuzzeeishpodcast.com. You also find all of our social channels there. So until next time!