007a Connect the Dots with Alon Ozery

​Loura and Stephen discuss their takeaways from the prior episode with Alon Ozery.  They talk about their paths to learning their true selves and ways they have learned to use and deal with ego.

​Links:
www.inspiredinteraction.com
lsanche@inspiredinteraction.com
www.stephenmchristopher.com
Alon Ozery's Interview

​Transcript

Hey, how's it going? Stephen Christopher here with my awesome co host Laura Sanchez for today's episode of the exciting unknown, connect the dots episode from the recording that we just did with Alon Azeri. From ozery Bakery, a 250 person bakery and Canada, one of the most kind of unique and the biggest in North America.

Absolutely amazing guy. We had a great, great interview with him. So I know that this connected outs episode is going to be very, very good. Yeah. He was an amazing guy. I'd never met him before. I mean, I know you had you knew him before.

But it was my first time to interact with him. It definitely was a pleasure to just hear him and how what he's experienced in the world and how he got to where he was. Yeah, he's, you know Alon is amazing guy.

And one of the things I said to him was, you're one of the most courageous people that I know. And we can we can talk about kind of his reaction to that because it was very It was very limited. there was almost no reaction right?

There was reaction that basically nothing he was uncomfortable about. He said it's very uncomfortable. Which is interesting, because when we go back to the beginning of the show, one of the things he said was that he loves the was that he loves it when people like, like, talk about his baking and like, Oh, this is the best bread ever that that kind of fills him up.

Yeah. But then you gave him a compliment of your one of the most courageous people I know. And he was like, Ooh, that doesn't feel good. Yep. And it was because if I recall correctly from when we talked to him, it was because it was a very big, deep, meaningful comment, yes, or compliment and he had said, Well, you know, I like it more people to say like, Oh, I really like your pita bread, or I like your flat bread or I like the fact that it smells really good.

And it brought us all together and we got to laugh about it and stuff like that. And I think that that's just a really good reminder that we all need to constantly be aware and more open to receiving the compliments that we get in life. I did a video, this is what it makes me think of I did a video not too long ago.

What if we believe all of the positive things that people say about us? And we believe them, and we took them as fact? And what would our life be like if those were the beliefs that we constantly instilled in ourselves as opposed to?

Oh, well, you know, they don't really fully know me kind of this imposter syndrome, or we brush it off a little bit. We're like, Well, you know, that was cool, but no big deal. What if we really took the time to like, deeply accept and feel the impact of all the positive things that people say about us?

It would be very interesting, and I've done this experiment and it was quite uncomfortable. However, it was very impactful. Hmm, that's interesting as I know that that's that's a challenge for me. You know, there are times when you say things to me like, oh, Laura, but you're really good at this.

I'm like, Oh, yeah, okay, whatever. Because I think for me, there's always In the struggle between ego and being humble, and where's that balance of being humble, but yet accepting that this is maybe an amazing skill that I have, or this is a talent I have or something that I really good at. That doesn't mean you have to be egotistical. And where that's that's a struggle for me as where's that line?

Yeah. Well, I encourage everybody to listening and myself, you Laura is just to allow those things to impact us a little bit more. Because people say people say those things for a reason. And even if every single one isn't absolutely perfectly true, it people have this really good perspective on us that often we don't have on ourselves.

And what they're saying is pointing to something and reaffirming something that we may not necessarily always allow ourselves to, to affirm in ourselves. Yeah, we minimize it. we overlook it, whatever the case may be. Yeah, yeah. So any other, like, takeaways or a pattern maybe that you saw with Alon and some of our other guests?

Yeah. So, purpose, talking about purpose, or actually, I want to get rid of that word purpose, because it freaks me out. And I've struggled with it a little bit. I want to use the word passion.

Because I think that's a lot better. Because I think, I don't believe that we have this one single purpose that we're here and we're meant to live, I believe that we can have things that we are passionate about. And when we follow those, those are the things that a lot of times show up as people like, Oh, you found your purpose.

It's more like, Hey, this is what I'm passionate about. And this is how it's being expressed right now. And Alon talked a lot about that, you know, like finding these passions. And when he follows these things, then really cool stuff unfolds.

I mean, even with the taking the sabbatical. I mean to me, that's a Passion because the way he was going, he was not passionate about it, and something else was starting to show up. And even though maybe it hasn't fully unfolded yet, to me, that's still following your passion and following that, that guidance.

And when he talked about this kind of ties into passion for me a little bit, but when he talks about the about him coming out, which, you know, you look at somebody who has a life built, right, three kids, a wife, a great, you know, literally a great family, a great relationship, a very, very large, very successful business.

And that's something that could have really, I'm guessing in his mind could have had a massive impact, but I've seemed relatively calm about it. And he just felt he was like, yeah, I'm feeling this and I've got to follow it and I'm gonna follow, follow this path and trust it, but when he talked about coming out, he talked about it wasn't about sexuality.

It was about following his passion and his true self of like, I don't have a choice. I think he said, I didn't have a choice. People were like, oh, when did you choose to come out? Like, I didn't have a choice?

It was who I was. Yeah. So actually just acknowledging whether, you know, it's your true self or acknowledging that passion, gets you those results. Yep. I think that that was really important. I mean, especially in today's world, where, you know, there's all of these very heated subjects, right.

And a lot of people place a lot of the heat and the emotion around the subject specifically. And he did a very, very good job of articulating what it truly meant for him, that it wasn't just about him being gay, it was about him following his passion and this and who he truly was and his true self and not just sexuality.

You wonder what the world would be like, right without us going down that road. You Wondering what the world would be like if we were able to have conversations about, I'm doing this, whatever this is I'm doing this because it's my true self.

And I'm not hurting anyone by doing that. And but it's who I am. It's what I feel it's my passion. That's a very different discussion, then what you're doing is right or wrong or blah, blah, blah. I mean, that's pretty powerful. Yeah. Um, what else you got? You got anything else in your little list? I think the thing one of the things that was a really good reminder. He was talking about his decision to take the sabbatical. And I think we were talking asking him, you know, was it hard and what does it feel like?

I can't remember how many months in he is at this point, but he was like, Well, yeah, he's like, you know what the first things my ego was like, holy crap. What if my company doesn't need me? What if they do just fine without me? That's scary.

Because most of us, when we have a company and we build it, it does become part of our identity, it becomes part of how we value ourselves how we show up in the world. And, you know, he said that one of the things he's learned through this process is when that arises, and that it continues to arise at different times.

When it arises to say, Okay, wait a minute. Alright, I acknowledge I'm feeling this way to acknowledge it. To then just kind of let it be like, yeah, you're feeling like you might not be needed.

That's normal. Yeah, let that sit for a while and then be able to say okay, what does that really feel like? What am I really feeling beyond just I'm not needed? Going kind of that layer deep.

And then I thought I loved the fact that he said and then maybe I've read some humor into it, which is like, okay, yes, you know it you feel it. But let's be real. Do they really not need you is the world gonna fall apart kind of that that chest have waited in it.

How impactful are you really? And most of us, I think would say, you know, what we do is not rocket science. Yeah. Right. And other people can do our jobs just as easily as we can. And bring that humor to it, I thought was really a good reminder and a good tool for some of us to use. Yeah, yeah, I agree. That's, that's super, super helpful and really, really good reminders. Very good reminders.

Definitely, definitely. Anything else? Um, let's see. So I did have one other thing on my list, actually. And it's going away now. Where'd it go? Oh, so it right in alignment with what you were saying. One of the things he said is, it happened really quick.

When when he started the sabbatical. It was like a couple days. And his mind start saying, Well, how, how would they gotten along this many days? And I think it was like two days maybe? Like, why haven't they call me yet? It's been a couple days.

And so that's it. That was a really good kind of additional reminder about how much our ego and our mind can mess with us. And just it, it just happens so often, so frequently and so fast and so consistently, that using a tool like awareness to say, Okay, wait a minute, hold on.

Of course they can. Of course, they can last this long. And it also helps me remember how much a lot of times our ego is tied into our work, or tied into our business or tied into something that we've created, kind of, like you said, around.

Oh, well, of course, they're going to need me like I'm the one that did that. How many people how many times have you had a friend or someone say, Oh, I can't take a vacation. There's no way I could go to Europe for three weeks. And you're responses will line up and their responses. Oh, my company would fall apart.

Right now Well, okay, wait a minute. Is that your ego talking that you just think they would fall apart? Or can you make a different decision, which is I'm going to build a company where I can leave for three weeks, or I can leave for a month, and they're going to do just fine. It's all a matter of how you see it.

Are you building the company to feed your ego? Are you building the company to feed the life that you want? Yep. So yeah, there's Wayne Dyer, which is funny Wayne Dyer? interview.

Yeah. Now another one just came out from me, which is, I don't remember which book it was. But he gives this example and tells the story and ultimately the the result of the story is there's a thing called rule number six.

And rule number six is don't take yourself so goddamn seriously. And in this example, that he was sharing is, you know, this person people kept coming into this leaders office freaking out and the leader Just say hey, you know, Darcy, remember rule number six.

And then john would come in and freaking out about somebody say, hey, john, you know, remember rule number six, and they would go out and they would be much calmer. And the person observing all this said, What is this rule number six?

And why are they so calm all of a sudden when you remind them of it, and it's just don't take ourselves so seriously, like, we're there's no need to get all riled up about some of this stuff. And when we are, we're not, we're not showing up as our best self and we're not creating in that really calm, energetic state.

You know, that reminds me of another little connect the dots from someone else right about the you may think that whatever you're doing in the moment is the most important thing in the entire world.

How this person talked to you, this employee who, you know, maybe didn't do what you asked them to do that it becomes all consuming, but in reality, it's this small Right, don't take yourself so seriously. I mean, that's probably a really big ticket takeaway in all aspects of life.

Yeah, love this stuff. This is so cool. Awesome. Connecting the Dots. I feel like a grown up. I'm like, Wow, look at that document over here. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it is cool. I mean, we're, I don't know, 678 something episodes in.

And now this connect the dots is really starting to, it's starting to unfold. And really, I think show at least me why it was so important and why we had this intuitive thought to do it like this. And we're like, well, I don't know. Like, let's see how it actually works.

And now it's, it's showing up why it was so important. Yeah. And how now looking back across the the first or the episodes we've done so far, look at how few themes there are that are coming out. It's true. We're talking to people from all walks of life that don't know each other that are in different industries, different backgrounds, but yet different ages different everything's Yeah, yeah.

There are a It'll be interesting to see when we're 30 episodes in or 100 episodes in. Is it really the same five or six? My guess is it's gonna be that, but I don't know.

Maybe I'll be surprised. Yeah, we'll find out. Yeah. So Awesome. Cool. Well, hey, thanks everybody so much for checking out this episode of connect the dots, where we went back and connected the dots connected the dots from the episode with Alon.

Make sure to stay tuned for the next episode that will air on Monday of the exciting unknown podcast and what's coming up after that. If you ever have questions, or if you ever have like a topic or somebody that you want us to maybe interview or something specifically that you want us to go, go and talk about, please share it with us.
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We're always looking for those things. So a lot of times we can get that really good external feedback. So if you ever have that, please let us know. And until next time, embrace the exciting I know Awesome