And to be honest now, like looking back on all of that, I cannot imagine doing it any other way. Like if I was just pitying myself and upset all day long and frustrated with the situation and angry and complaining to my friends constantly, would that have made my situation better now? No. It would’ve made it worse, and I’m so proud of myself for that.

So it is kind of like a, a lesson in even the worst shit that can happen to you. What good can you find from it? How can you get excited for the challenge that lies ahead? Like what? Hello my friends, and welcome back to not another Mindset show. I’m your host, Dr. Kasey Jo. My goal with this podcast is to take the science of mindset and behavior change and distill it down into actionable takeaways for you together.

We’re gonna. Unpack research around motivations, self-sabotage, willpower, and so much more. And we’re going to take all of that and translate it into strategies you can immediately apply to your health, fitness, relationships, business, marketing clients, all of the things. But just to be clear, it’s not all serious and sciency around here.

Q&A introduction

We’re gonna have a ton of fun too, and I’m so excited to share all of this with you. Alright, let’s go ahead and get into the episode. My friends welcome back to not another mindset show. Today we have a personal q and a. I went on my Instagram stories and I said, I have not been sharing much about my personal life in the last few years, and you guys like to get to know me, and I understand that social media is supposed to be social and I want to connect with you more without having to share everything about my life all of the time.

Navigating social media and privacy

And there are some reasons to why I’ve become not more private, not, I’m not private on Instagram, but I really don’t share that much about even just like what’s going on in my day to day and what I’m doing. I think a big part of it is just. Wanting to be more present in my life. Like guys, ya girl has been on Instagram for 12 years.

I have close to 4,000 posts. Just been doing this a long time and I think just as I’ve gotten older, I’ve cared less about sharing. The interesting aspect of this is that my business is. Largely ran on social media. That’s where I find people, where people find me, where I can educate and share about mindset and behavior change in psychology and all the things, things that I’ve been doing for years and years and years and years.

Decade, over a decade. Um. But this actually kind of like goes into the first question that I, that I have. I put up the question box and allowed people to also ask anonymously. There are some in that anonymous question box that I will not be answering. I can tell you that much. Um, but I figured this would be fun and you guys know that I love the q and as too because it’s an opportunity for me to really just answer the questions that you have and typically q and as span.

Both personal and professional. Like we talk about coaching strategies and things like that as well. Um, but this one is entirely personal, so I’m actually very curious to see the downloads and the plays and the actual listenership of this episode. Like if you guys even care about this, because to be honest, if you don’t, that’s okay.

Because like I said, I don’t share that that much about my personal life anyway. I also sat down to record this episode and one of my. Podcast lights are not working. So for those of you who watch on YouTube, if the lighting seems not as great, that’s because it isn’t. And I’m very frustrated by that. I literally was recording episodes yesterday, all day and was totally fine, and then I go to turn it on.

I’m like, cool. One of them is not working. So I had to pull out like an old ring light and try to make that work. But now I’m worried. It looks a little blue in here. But anyway, anyway. The first question I have, and by the way, if you have any questions, whether it’s personal business coaching and clients, anything related that you would like my input on you would like me to answer.

There is a link in the show notes of every single episode, including this one where you can. Upload a question that you have for me. You can share your name or you could not share your name. I’ve had HMCC students in the past wanted to make sure that they knew it was them. So they’re like, I’m an HMCC student from fall of 2022, and I’m like, oh, that’s cute.

What can be learned from Kasey’s experiences

Yay. Um, and a lot of times I do recognize their names too, because we get pretty close in our cohorts, especially for those who come to the live calls. Okay, I’m already getting kind of tangential here, which happens when I don’t have an outline for a podcast episode and I’m just answering questions. So bear with me the first question, is there something personal that we don’t know about you or something we could learn from your experience?

Um, so I kind of, like I said, I think what I do also, see I’m doing it again. This is what happens when I don’t have an outline. Um, but I do wanna note that for these q and a episodes, I don’t prep. Pair anything ahead of time. I just pull the questions and put them into a document to look at. So I really am like off the cuff, which I think is also a good way for you to hear from me as just like we’re hanging out right now.

You know, I didn’t like prepare research and prepare bullet points. I am just answering the questions. And to be honest, I barely even read the questions ahead of time. So what I was saying at the beginning about being more private on Instagram, um. Starting basically a few years ago did start mainly because of a very sudden change in my life.

It included a breakup and a move across the country, and two, to be honest, people were very nosy and. That said, it’s entirely my fault because I was sharing so much about my life. And so when things change in my life, then people want to understand why, and that is entirely on me. I’m not upset about anybody who is asking questions in my question box for years about what happened with my relationship or why I moved, and if there’s something bad that happened that they need to know about and all of this stuff.

Um. I am, yeah. I’m not upset by those questions because I created an environment where those questions are warranted. However, it made it really hard to like move on and kind of reset my life when I was getting dms and questions and. Constant things about that situation. Um, so I’m not gonna share honestly, I’m like, let’s do a personal q and a.

I don’t wanna share about anything. No, I’m not gonna share immense details about that situation. Just for the sake of privacy of other people that are involved and. What that means for other people. But yeah, it was a really, really, really hard time of my life and that’s when I started to pull back on social media when that transition was happening.

And then it kind of just stayed. And, uh, I’m will say with a hundred percent certainty, a lot of that is coming from fear that I don’t wanna have to like, go through that again and feel like I have a responsibility to speak to my community and my audience about what happened to me. Um, I will say however great.

Growth mindset, opportunity. ’cause this person’s question also ended with something we can learn from your experience because that was so hard. Like rug ripped out from underneath of me and making the decision to move. And this relationship ending that was three and a half, almost four years long. Um. And I really surprised myself through that entire experience about how excited I was to hit the reset button on my life and focus on myself and I.

Come and spend time with my community that lives in Austin. And that community has continued to grow and grow. And so many more of my friends have actually moved here in the last few years that I’ve been here. Um, which is crazy. I’ve been in Austin for about three years now. Actually, when you’re listening to this episode, it’ll definitely be three years.

Um, ’cause I’m recording a couple months in advance here. Um, so yeah, I think it’s one of those things where during that experience. I was constantly getting told by people like, you seem like you’re doing so well. Like, how is that possible? Like, how are you, okay, how is, how is all of this happening? And to be honest now, like looking back on all of that, I cannot imagine doing it any other way.

Like if I was just pitying myself and upset all day long and frustrated with the situation and angry and complaining to my friends constantly, would that have made my situation better Now? No. It would’ve made it worse, and I’m so proud of myself for that. Um, so it is kind of like a, a lesson in even the worst shit that can happen to you.

What can you, what good can you find from it? How can you get excited for the challenge that lies ahead? Like what the idea of like, wow, I had this entire life path paved for me and now we just took a really intense left turn. Now there’s so much uncertainty involved. I was excited. I still am excited for that uncertainty.

I still don’t fully know how my life is going to unfold as much as I plan to like stay in Austin. But I’m not currently in a relationship. I don’t know who I’m gonna end up with. And like, there’s so much excitement in that, like, who is he gonna be? You know? Um, where is my life gonna go? What that, what is everything gonna look like in the next five to 10 years?

Um. So, yeah, that’s what I wanted to share. And that’s actually not, even when I first copied and pasted this question in here, I was like, maybe I’ll talk about how I didn’t wanna go to grad school. And then as soon as I started recording this episode, I realized there’s probably a, a deeper. Situation that I could share about.

But fun fact, I really did not wanna go to grad school, especially not right away. I went from undergrad immediately into my PhD program and I so badly wanted to take a year off and figure out exactly what I wanted to do and exactly what I wanted to study. But my parents. Bless their hearts were so forceful that I need to immediately go to professional school.

I think they were mainly just concerned that if I didn’t go right away, that I wouldn’t go at all. And I honestly was not even sure if I wanted to go. But in a family of PhDs and MDs, you don’t really get a choice. However, obviously really happy with that decision. So I can’t be too mad at mom and Dad. Um.

I am now Dr. Kasey Jo, who researched Mindset for nearly five years, and now that’s everything that I do with my life and my career. I can basically thank all of my success to what I learned in grad school. So I guess again, like the things that feel uncomfortable, you’re not really sure that you should do.

It wasn’t like, oh my God, I’m being so forced to go to these PhD interviews and I want nothing to do with it. I just, I really wanted a break. I just really wanted to make sure I was making the right decision instead of just making the decision. And that was kind of like the crux of the situation. Um, but I’m really glad that I did, even though I was worried I wasn’t ready.

The coaching code

So sometimes if you leap before you’re ready and you have parents who just force you into it, it works out. Is that the lesson? I don’t know. Okay. Really quick, I need to take a mid episode pause to tell you about something really exciting that’s coming up. I’m hosting a free three day training series called The Coaching Code, and I really, really want you to be there.

Thousands and thousands and thousands of coaches have enrolled in this free training in the past, and this time we’re making it better. Than ever, and I’m not just saying that we’ve got brand new mindset and behavior change coaching content for you around some specific hot topics like GLP ones and AI inside the coaching code.

I’ll be diving into strategies and tips that you need in order to help your clients stop self-sabotaging. Stick to the plan and ultimately stick with you longer. If you enjoy my podcast, you’re going to absolutely love the coaching code. We get started on February 26th. So head to the show notes right now to grab the registration link and snag your free seat.

Future aspirations

Um, okay, next question. What do you see yourself pursuing next for your own personal growth? Um, oh man. I feel like I am personally growing, constantly being single and dating is constant growth. Being a CEO business owner and making really big decisions that impact other people in their livelihoods and them putting food on the table for their families.

Lots of personal growth in that. Having ups and downs in business requires a lot of mindset work. Um, so I’m constantly doing that. But as far as like something specific, I guess I really would like to do more public speaking. I do a handful of events already every single year. A lot of, a lot of virtual speaking, um, handful of onstage speaking.

I think that’s getting less and less just as our world becomes more and more virtual. It’s like we had the pendulum swing after the, like COVID. Situation and people were all online during that time, and then people wanted to be in person. Now we’re can, we’re kind of going back to like, virtual is easier.

Let me tell you. Trying to run a live event is not easy. And it’s not easy to get people to the point where they’re like, yes, I wanna get on a plane and fly and go to an event when I can just sit on Zoom and do it instead. But the in-person stuff is so much better. Um, and that’s part of the reason why I wanna do more of it, because public speaking on stage, being on stage in front of a crowd is.

Terrifying and so nerve wracking, but so energizing and once I get into my groove on stage, I’m having so much fun and there is nothing I feel like that really compares to getting off stage after just speaking for 60 to 90 minutes and looking out at a crowd of people and talking about the things that I’m most passionate about.

It’s the best feeling ever and I really wanna do more of that. And I do know that as much as I have been doing so much speaking over the years that I still have work to do, I’ve never taken a public speaking class. I don’t know if there’s something I could be doing better. I do know that I’ve become a better speaker over time for sure.

For certain rewatching videos from like two, 2019 is scary. Um, but I would like to do more of that and. Kind of continue to hone my skills in that area. It would be so awesome if at some point. In the future, speaking is a really, really big part of just like what I do in my business, whether or not that’s directly tied to um, the health mindset coaching certification or the work that I do, but just like going into maybe even other large corporations and businesses and teaching undergrowth mindset and how that makes a difference for professional development and success and performance of someone else’s business.

I would love to do that. Uh, next question. Are you dating anyone? I kind of actually already answered this. The answer’s no. The answer’s no as I’m recording this in November and actually this podcast may not be coming out until like February. Um, so no, if you got anyone in mind for me, send them my way, totally down for any matchmaking.

Tattoo tour

Um, how many tattoos do you have and which one has the most meaning? I actually have to count. For those of you watching on YouTube, this is gonna be funny. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. I say nine because I’m actually getting it removed. I’ll talk about that in a second. 9, 10, 11, 12. I think that’s all of them. Um, the one that I’m getting removed is actually you guys, please don’t laugh at me too hard.

It’s a dumbbell on my ribcage. And to be honest, I would keep it because fitness was, is so, is so much of my life, was so much of my life. I got into health and fitness coaching and studied health behavior change so early on in that change so much for me. Um, I wouldn’t be getting rid of it if it wasn’t the shittiest tattoo ever.

It was one of those like, walk in. Get the tattoo type of situations and it basically just looks like a big blob on my rib cage. It’s not very big, it’s like the size of a quarter. Um, so I’m getting that removed. I also have another wine, oh fuck, 13. I forgot the first tattoo I ever got. I have 13. I have 13 tattoos.

Um, I’m getting another one removed too. That was, it’s on my wrist and same thing. It just blew up. It was supposed to be super fine line and it needs to go. Um. Most meaning, oh gosh, every single one of my tattoos has meaning. Um, I guess aside from, I could start literally say like the least meaning are my finger tattoos ’cause it’s a flower and just like a little design on my finger.

But they are friendship tattoos. Like I got these both with a friend. Um, but all of the other ones have pretty significant meaning. The one on my forearm. That you probably see the most, even if it’s just like on Instagram content and stuff, it looks like it’s just flowers. It’s not, it’s actually a woman.

The woman happens to be me. I did not plan on this. I did not say, please tattoo myself on myself. But the artist who I got this done with, she actually went to my Instagram account and found a photo of me to use for her design, which is crazy. You wouldn’t know it by looking at it, but it is a woman and she kind of like has her hand on her chin like this.

This is how I was posing in the photo. So it’s that. And there are little roots coming out of her head. Then the roots are extending into all of the flowers, the floral pattern that you see. So it is a growth mindset tattoo, and the woman in the tattoo is actually technically me, but I did not plan on that.

But it is kind of cool that she did that kind of secretly. Um, so that’s really special. Honestly, I have a little triangle behind my ear and I got that in Bermuda. And Bermuda is a very, very special place for me. For those of you who have been following me for a long time on social media, on Instagram. I went there on a solo trip by my solo trip by myself, duh.

Um, little redundant there, Kasey. I went on a solo trip in 2017. I was there for a week and I met. One of who is now one of my good, good friends and will be for my entire life for sure. Meg. Meg also worked for me for a period of time at KJO coaching. Um, but we spent the entire week together, just kinda like on a whim.

We got connected through people on social media who said we needed to meet. And since then I have gone back to Bermuda probably 10 to 15 times since. 2017, and I just feel so at home there. And I have gone through so many significant life events where I have gone to Bermuda shortly after, and not even like intentionally, it was like those trips were already planned.

So it’s a really, really, really special place for me not to mention. It’s beautiful. The people are awesome. Um, yeah. Bermuda’s really, really special. But I don’t know what else I had. I have one, my first tattoo that I forgot about apparently, um, is actually my middle name in cursive, it says Jo. I grew up with two other girls, Hailey and Lindsay, who also just happened to have the middle name Jo, so it was Kasey, Jo, Lindsay, Jo, and Hailey.

I think that that’s a little bit insane. Honestly, it’s not that common of a nickname. Um, but still some of my closest friends to this day. Um, and we’ve been friends for basically two decades, which is crazy. And that was my first tattoo, was getting that with them. Um, but yeah, I’m gonna stop there. ’cause I mean, they all have meetings, so if you wanna know about all the, any of the other ones, feel free to DM me.

Qualities in a partner

But that’s, that’s that. Um, we don’t need to talk about every meaning of all of my tattoos on this episode. Uh, what do you think is the most important quality in a partner? That’s a hard question, guys. Um, what I will say is that most recently, what I have learned is a really important quality for me personally, because here’s the thing, thoughtfulness, attentiveness.

Really killer communication skills that those are really important qualities like baseline. But for Kasey specifically, what I have learned recently is something that I cannot go without that I did not realize was a requirement really for me to be happy in a relationship is to have someone who will expand my mind.

They are intellectual and intellectually curious and have unique opinions about the world and teach me things and inspire me to like think about things differently. Like I really need someone to push me and challenge me mentally. And given that I am someone who is very academic and intellectual, and I think a lot, and I’m in my head a lot, like I need someone who’s also like that, but then also has unique perspectives of their own.

And it’s not me just like teaching them or me providing the unique, um, opinions and ideas about the world. Like I need that from someone else too. And I did not realize that that was something that was super, super important until recently. So, yeah. There’s that. Um, how is Letty doing? Thank you so much for asking about Letty.

Letty’s health update

That’s so nice. Uh, Letty is my little 50% Siberian Husky Mix. I have had her for eight years. Homegirl has been. Ruit with me and moved with me and relationships with me and going through grad school and getting a PhD and starting a business like Letty has been around. And for those of you who are health Mindset coaching certification students, you have heard about Letty a lot because I use her as like the, the mock client example all the time in the program.

Um, but let, has had a lot of health issues in the last couple of years. Um, when I got her. They told me she was somewhere between one and three. They didn’t really know her age. She’s a rescue. Please rescue dogs, please rescue dogs. Um, and she’s the most perfect animal ever. Like, refuses to go on furniture even if you want her to.

So polite has never chewed anything in her life is so great around other dogs, like when I tell you this. Creature is perfect. And when people are like, I don’t know if I wanna get a rescue ’cause blah, blah, blah. Like, let me tell you, the number of dogs that have been purchased, like pure bred dogs that my friends and family have had are so, so much less well behaved than Luddy is like by far, by miles.

Um, anyway, so she is somewhere now between like nine and 12 and the more recent. Idea is that she’s probably closer to 12, which is like pretty old for a dog. Um, and I think when you get a dog, you don’t think about them aging and what life is gonna be like without them. And I have to be careful here ’cause otherwise I’m gonna get really sad on this podcast.

But, whew, I did not expect this to like, actually have like tears welling up. Okay. Get it together. Get it together, um, push down those emotions. So she’s had like on and off eye issues for a while. It’s kind of been. Chalked up to just like chronic dry eye. So that’s like not the biggest issue. The bigger issue is that she has some, um, discs in her back that are bulging, and then because of that it makes it sometimes hard for her to walk.

So whereas she used to go for like a 45 minute walk for me, with me in the morning and then a 20 minute afternoon, 20 minute evening. We’re like a 30 minute max in the morning and no more walks, which is. Already pretty sad and like watching her go up and down stairs and get up a little slower and just, you know, knowing that she’s uncomfortable is, is really hard.

Um, but luckily it’s nothing really scary. Um, when she started to slow down and like seem like she wasn’t very comfortable all the time, I was like, oh no, this could be really bad. They were worried. It was like a rare, um. Like de degenerative disease like neurologically. And if that was the case, she would’ve had like six to 12 months to live.

So that was a very scary time of my life recently. Um, but it doesn’t seem like that’s what it is. It’s just kind of like, like kind of like arthritis in her spine is the best way to describe it. So she’s doing all right. We are managing, we will probably be doing some puppy PT in the future. Like in a pool, which is crazy ’cause I’ve never seen her swim before and she’s only been terrified of water in the past.

Would you move to Australia?

So that’ll be interesting. Um, okay, this last question is so random, uh, but I said I would answer any of the personal questions that came through the ones that were actually like appropriate. Um, this person asked, would you ever move to Australia? And it, I left it in here honestly, because the answer is yes, like it’s a resounding yes.

I’ve been to Australia three times. And each time I’ve spent time in Sydney and I love Sydney, it is a place that I first visited, I wanna say like 15 years ago. And I have been guys, I’ve been all over the world. I’m so, so lucky and grateful of all the places I’ve gotten to see. There is nowhere in the world that I have been, that I have been like, no, I could actually stay here the rest of my life.

And Sydney is one of those places I really. Law of Australia, so especially with our current political climate. We’re not gonna get too far into that, but, um, perhaps it’s a possibility. No, I would actually have to, it would’ve to be a decision amongst my entire, like, friend group in Austin because we’d all have to move together and I think every single one of the people in my friend group would agree that it would have to be like a group decision to move to Australia, which is not too far out of the realm of possibility, I suppose.

Um, but for now, happy in Austin. I don’t think that that is something that’s, it’s a, obviously that’s a big move. That’s a big move. Um, but maybe eventually, you know, I can get to the point where I have a house in Australia and a house here. That would be fun. I would love that. Um, okay, I’m gonna wrap it up there.

That’s all I have for you today. Thank you for. Entertaining this personal q and a I really please, guys, I know I say this a lot with these episodes, that please send me a DM if you liked it and if you want more of this, but especially with this episode, ’cause I’m kind of like, should I have not done this?

Was this pointless? Are people even, do people even care? Or should I just go back to my usual stuff? Please send me a dm, send me an email, send me a something. Find me. Tell me whether or not you want more episodes like this. ’cause if it’s just like, here’s the thing, I’m happy to entertain if you, if this was just fun for you to listen to and you enjoyed getting to know me and me talking through these things, like I’m happy to keep doing this ’cause it’s fun and easy for me too.

But if it’s not fun and entertaining and you’re not getting something out of it, then I literally don’t care to do it. So I am here for you. Okay. That is all. I appreciate you so much, so much, so much, so much, and I’ll see you next time. And that’s a wrap for today’s episode of Not Another Mindset show. If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to hit that subscribe button so you get notified of the next one, because if you’re anything like me, if the episodes aren’t popping up for you automatically.

You’ll keep forgetting to come back to the show even if you really, really enjoyed it. So go ahead and hit that subscribe button and make it super easy for you. And of course, if you wanna see more episodes just like this one, I’d love for you to let me know by leaving a review. I know, I know it’s super annoying to do, but the few seconds that it takes means the world to me and also ensures that I can keep providing free education and value to you and just to sweeten the deal.

I am going to be picking a random reviewer every single month to receive a free workshop or product from me. If you’re looking for more free resources or just wanna connect, hang out, chat a little bit, come find me on Instagram. I’m Coach Kasey, Jo over there. That is where I hang out the most in the land of social media.

Alright, my friends, that is all I have for you this time. I so appreciate you being here and love to see you prioritizing your growth. I’ll see you next time.