Finding Your Genius Without Burning Out

We invite strategist and soul whisperer Taryn Voget to unpack why excitement is a reliable GPS for purpose and how to dismantle the beliefs that keep us stuck. We share tools, stories, and a simple lens to move from burnout to a truer expression of genius.

• excitement as practical guidance for purpose
• Taryn’s path from consulting to the Genius Lab
• mixing neuroscience, strategy and energy work
• burnout warnings and the role of rest
• the 30-ideas list and 90-day challenges
• ego-driven hustle versus inner-led desire
• how beliefs script fear and resistance
• paradox of gifts hiding under deepest doubts
• second-person exercise to unlock your voice
• saying yes to a new expression of genius

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Big Question: What’s Missing?
• 3:46 Meet Taryn: Genius Lab Origin Story
• 9:05 Consulting, DVDs, And A Walkabout Reset
• 13:55 Shamanic Training Meets Executive Coaching
• 18:43 Excitement As GPS For Purpose
• 25:28 Finding Purpose By Following Curiosity
• 31:58 The 30-Ideas List And Fear-Excitement Edge
• 37:48 TEDx Dreams, Ego vs Inner Desire
• 43:28 Beliefs 101: The Inner Saboteur

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

Good day out there to all of my listeners, and I want to welcome you to Is Your Way in Your Way. That's the name of the podcast for those new listeners out there. And I'm your host, and my name is Cassandra Crawley Mayo. And for those new listeners, the title of my book is Is Your Way in Your Way? And we talk about topics related to personal improvement, business improvement, and also topics that will enable you to do some self-reflection. So if you think about the things that you really want to do and you're stuck and you can't figure out why, that's what this podcast is all about. Because it's time, it is time to finally say yes to your genius. And let me ask you this: have you ever had a sinking feeling you're doing everything right, but still something is off? Like you're spinning your wheels, you're stuck in a cycle, and you can't quite put your finger on it. Or have you ever felt like there's something bigger inside you, something that's meant to do, but you can't figure out how to access it? Like, like what's holding you back? And who you see on our screen is my special guest, Taryn Voget. And also, what we're getting ready to do now is we're gonna do like what I'm calling a transformational journey rooted in faith designed for purpose-driven women, ready to stop spinning their wheels and start living their best lives. Hello, Taryn Wilget. What a pleasure to have you on my show. Oh, thank you so much for having me. I am really looking forward to our conversation. Yeah, so listen, what I'd like to do first is to read your bio because my listeners are always curious. Well, who is she to talk about saying yes to your genius? So I am going to read it so they can see what qualifies you to do so. Now, Taryn is a strategist, she's a coach and a soul whisperer who helps people unlock the brilliance buried in their subconscious, shipped, long-held mental patterns and realign with their deeper purpose. This is gonna be so good. With a rare fusion of neuroscience, corporate strategy, intuitive healing, and shamanic wisdom, she guides high performers and seekers alike into profound clarity. As the founder of the Genius Lab, she offers something far beyond therapy or business coaching. She delivers transformation at the intersection of intellect and intuition. If you feel stuck, now let me say it again. If you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure about your next chapter, this episode is your invitation to a breakthrough. Wow, guys, this is this is gonna be good. So, what I what I usually say, if you're sitting down somewhere, write notes. If you're driving, just know that you can replay this and also know to share it with individuals where you know this will be in their best interest to listen to. And so, Taryn, let me ask you, even though I read what you do, what you're about, what is your backstory before you became your before your genius lab was created? What was going on with you?

Speaker 2: 4:06

So I, after college, went right into consulting. I worked for a big consulting firm, Accenture. And for yeah, for a lot of years, I just did these big corporate transformation projects, big global complex transformation projects. And I did that. I started my own consulting firm when I was 28, still doing the same kind of work, just under my own banner.

Speaker 1: 4:27

Wow.

Speaker 2: 4:27

And then I woke up one day, I was probably about 30, and I thought, I'm tired, I'm burned out, I'm working way too many hours, and I'm working on everybody else's projects, not mine. And so for about a year, I just kept thinking, gosh, what am I gonna do? I want to build something new, I want to build something that's mine, I want to build something no one's done before. And I had no idea what that is, by the way. And I kept thinking about all these ideas. And simultaneous to this, I was taking um a bunch of classes on the weekends around uh behavioral science and neuroscience, because I find the topic really interesting. And then one day I was driving to this class that I ended up becoming a coach in, and this flash of lightning just hit my head over the Golden Gate Bridge. I mean, not a literal flash, but you know, it was like boom. And I saw the whole idea for the Everyday Genius Institute. I saw the name, I saw what it was gonna do, how I was gonna do it. And it was this idea that I would take people that are really brilliant at what they do, deconstruct how they do it and reverse engineer their genius, and then package it back up into a book and a DVD set that would then teach people how to do anything from wine tasting to study strategies to talking to kids. And I had a bunch of products that I then went on to build and create around that. So I really deeply got to understand how genius works, and uh, and that's where the genius lab was born. And uh that for a bunch of years, yeah. And then it was one of those things where I kind of ran out of money because I think I underestimated how much money it takes to actually run a product business. And this was kind of before it was sort of that weird intersection where DVDs were still hot, but they were kind of fading out, and and the online tools just weren't what they are right now. This is 15 years ago. And so I just was like, you know, I'm kind of out of money, I'm really tired. I was doing it for about four, four and a half years, put everything I had into it, and I went on a walkabout. I sold everything, and I thought I would take six months off. It ended up being two and a half years. In that time, I ended up getting into executive coaching. Um, and actually, SpaceX was my first client, crazy enough. So there I was coaching rocket scientists. It was a wild, it was a wild ride. Um and uh and I I went back into the corporate world, but with a very different skill set and a very different approach and a very different sort of thing I was doing, which was really helping leaders and executives and companies take whatever they were doing to the next level. And uh I did that, and then about a year ago, it just kind of kept knocking at my door. You need to kind of redo everyday genius, but do it differently this time. And so I don't want to say I restarted because it never left, but I just sort of put new energy into everyday genius and got my YouTube channel back up. I've done a bunch of videos, got the genius lab kind of fired back up in a very cool way. Um, I've actually never offered the genius lab to just anybody who wants it, but I I made that offering available and that's been really interesting. Uh and so anyway, so so I here I am, you know, still doing genius, but my real passion in the process of all of that, the part I kind of forgot was I went to shaman school. And I went to shaman school because I thought if I could just develop my intuition, I could really deconstruct someone's genius better. That was my thought.

Speaker 1: 7:38

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2: 7:39

What ended up happening was I actually learned how to help people change their limiting beliefs, have deep personal transformation, heal out trauma and wounds that stop people. And so it was a skill set that I brought into executive coaching and I bring into my work. So whenever somebody works with me, they get what's your genius, but also the removal of blocks that are getting in the way. So it really, yeah. Now listen, what is shaman school? What is that? So if you think about shamans, it was really the name for healers in villages. And every village for a long time had a healer, and it was for physical ailments, mental ailments, spiritual ailments, make it rain, whatever it was, right? They were people that were just fabulous hears. And shamans, I think it's a very broad term for a lot of different kinds of healing modalities, but just call it a healer. And it's actually not called shaman school, it's called healing the light body. Um, and it's through the Four Winds Society, but it's really about how to create deep transformation using a lot of energetic tools if you know how to tap into that. And so I learned how to do it and then added on my own take on it. And I think my work has gotten much quicker because I've kind of figured out ways to make it deeper and faster. Okay. But it's really about helping people um create a transformation so that they can step into the next best version of themselves. Right.

Speaker: 9:16

Now, in the beginning, it it sounds like transformation, trans transforming was a sweet spot for you. In the beginning, what was it about transformation that was so intriguing?

Speaker 2: 9:35

What's interesting to me about transformation is that I think there's this human desire to always go to the next level, whatever that is. And I just really enjoy the energy of going from wherever someone is or a company is or a team is to the next best thing. And the thing I love about transformation is the energy of excitement. It's like my favorite juicy energy. And often in a transformation, there is excitement to do the next best thing. And I just love that energy and and helping, like I said, people, teams, and companies go from that to this excited energy. And I just love that.

Speaker: 10:09

Oh wow, wow, that I I get that. Let me ask you about you talked about uh G your excitement and the GPS for your destiny. What is GPS for your what is GPS? What's that one for?

Speaker 2: 10:25

Yeah, so here's what I've discovered both in the genius lab and just working with literally thousands of people at this point is that whenever somebody is doing what excites them, and excitement is a charged word for people. Some people call it passion, some people call it curiosity, some people call it interest. But that thing that just kind of is like, ooh, that's cool. When that energy is present, it is a it is a potent energy because here's what it does it creates the momentum to actually do the work, whatever the work is. And it doesn't always have to be a paid job, right? It can be a passion, a hobby, a side hustle, uh taking care of kids, you know, raising kids, like it could be anything. It doesn't really matter what it is, whether it gets paid or not, but there's interest, there's curiosity, there's passion. This podcast for you is something that you find interesting. Whenever that energy is present, some really cool things happen. It's a very high vibrational state. You know, if you think about how you feel, you know, excited is like, oh God, that's a good one. You know, love is a good one, you know, sad and depressed. That's really bomb. When you're in that high vibrational energy, a bunch of things happen. Number one, you get better ideas, you're tapped more into the bigger field of ideas. So better things come to you. Number two is greater synchronicities happen because the universe loves nothing more than to create that kind of energy. So you get more synchronicities when you're in that energy of excitement. And it also, interestingly enough, brings up anything within you that is not that to be transformed. It's kind of like if you were in a dark room and you start shining the light, you start seeing the shadow more. And so that's true within us as well. When we start raising our energy and our vibration, the things that are holding us back or getting in our way become really apparent. And we've kind of got to work through them to then get to the next level. And so it's kind of this complete package. Excitement is kind of a complete package, it's the fuel for greatness, it's the vibrational state for ideas and synchronicities, and it's also the state to create transformation for us to take everything in our life to the next level. Oh, and so that is the foundational element of what I call genius. Now, people think genius is this big thing and it's way outside them, and they don't have it, but that is actually not true. Einstein, right? Yeah, everybody thinks that it is not true. I say that you know, everybody has a genius. We're all in the process of geniusing. At some point, it looks like it is genius.

Speaker: 12:42

That's Max. My listeners know Max, and I apologize. Sometimes he's quiet, but I think he's feeling the energy. And Max, you wake up. Yeah, come on in, Max. We'll take you a bring your little genius off, Max. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay, all right. Oh, how distressed. Max has something to say. Yeah, he always has something to say. Um, I apologize, listeners, and to Taryn, and hopefully she hasn't lost her train of thought.

Speaker 2: 13:23

Well, what I would what I would say to the listeners is back to genius, is that in my experience, the foundational element of genius is passion and excitement, curiosity, the word you want to use, whatever it is. Locking into that unlocks everything brilliant within us. And so it it really is about tapping into that. And I think a lot of us, myself included, have told ourselves a lot of stories about why we can't do that. And sometimes we hide our excitement even from ourselves. Okay, and that is is true for for many, many people that I work with.

Speaker: 13:58

Yeah, yeah. Let me ask you, how can one find that gene? Like, like what do you share with your clients on how to find because everybody a lot of people talk about my purpose? Like, what is my purpose? What is it that I should be doing? You know, they're so fixated on that and not even understanding what they're currently doing is probably their purpose at that time and how it can change. Um, so those people like listeners, some of my listeners who are stuck and and would love the energy that you and I are having, what would you suggest they do to move forward?

Speaker 2: 14:41

So, purpose is interesting. And here's what I've discovered about purpose, because this took me a long time to figure out. And I kept asking myself that question God, I feel like there's a purpose. And if I just knew what it was, then I could get on track. Right. Then I could be doing my thing. And then I had a light bulb moment, and it wasn't actually all that long ago, it was about a year ago. And I thought, you know what, actually, here's the deeper truth. When you start feeling what's my purpose, what's my purpose, what's my purpose, that is actually your soul knocking at your like head saying, Your purpose is to actually follow your excitement and to tune into what that is. Because here's what happens when you actually are in the energy of something that excites you, call it your passion, your curiosity, whatever you want to use, but let's just call it excitement. When you're really in that and you're really doing it, you can't help but feel on purpose. And so it's usually when somebody's not doing something that lights them up, that whole thing of like, what's my purpose? What's my purpose? It's because it's just asking you to find what excites you and to go do that because then you automatically feel on purpose. It's an interesting thing because here's the thing with purpose purpose is whatever you want it to be. You know, if you want your purpose to cure cancer or end world hunger or to be a great neighbor or to be the best mom or to, you know, love on animals wherever you see them, your purpose can be whatever you want it to be. It really can. There's nobody out there above you saying this is your purpose. It's you deciding what you want it to be. You will feel on purpose when you're doing what excites you because that is the the bigger part of you in your spirit saying, It's kind of what you came here for, is do this thing that lights you up. Like that is your GPS for your life. Many of us aren't actually doing that to the level that our soul would love us to be doing that to.

Speaker: 16:32

The work that you do, um, if you get a client, do you have clients that that are struggling with figuring out what excites them?

Speaker 2: 16:42

All the time. And this is really where I do a lot of coaching. And it's because a couple of things. Number one is a lot of us don't have practice in making decisions on a daily basis about doing what excites us. Now, what excites us isn't always a career. What excites us could be you know what, get up and go for a walk because you might have a great idea on that walk. What excites us might be read this book, go hang out with a friend, you know, go spend some time in your garden. It it is it is not the big things, it's in every moment saying, What's going to excite me? Because when you make those call them micro decisions on an hour by hour, day-by-day basis, you start building the muscle and you start putting yourself more in the energy of excitement, which is an energy that wants to build on itself. And bigger and bigger things come. So it's kind of like it's kind of like when you try to give somebody advice and they don't listen. You at some point you just stop, right? Until they take some action, in which case you might give them some some more advice. Kind of the higher version of you or your or the part of you is doing that. It's like giving you advice, like go do this thing, but it's communicating through the energy of excitement. When you don't listen, it stops giving you, it stops giving you that until you take action. And then it's like, okay, she's taking action. Now you can do go. Here's some more ideas for what she can do that would excite her. So it's a muscle. Excitement is a muscle. And if, and and we're not trained for that, you know, we go to school, the school system. There's nothing inside of that system that is stoking the flame of excitement for anybody, unless somebody's really self-motivated, and you know, people are, but it's the system itself is not designed for that. Right. If anything, I would actually argue it's the opposite of that. Um, and then we go into the corporate world, and the corporate world is not worried, Cassandra, about your excitement, it is worried about the status report that you need to get done by Tuesday. That's right. And so we don't have a lot of practice. And so if we're stuck, it's because we need to kind of build that muscle up, and this is how you do it.

Speaker: 18:34

Okay, okay. And so share again how do they build that by doing what?

Speaker 2: 18:42

So here's here's a couple of exercises. Okay. Okay, so let's take a scenario where somebody is in a career, a job, a company, maybe they've even built something themselves and they're just no longer feeling it. That phase is over, and there's something's knocking at their door, being like, you need to be more on purpose with your life. Now, what do you do? Because you just have no idea what the idea is, what the thing is, where the curiosity is, right? There's a couple things you can do. Number one is I would get out a piece of paper and a pencil. Okay, and I would just say, if you had a billion dollars and you never had to work again, okay, list 30 things that would light your fire. And almost on everybody's list is I would travel, I would do this, I'd do that. Get all those out of the way. There's 10 right there, right? Right. And then the next 10 get kind of interesting. It's like, well, what I might do is I might start writing that book I've always wanted to write, or what I might do is actually open an animal shelter, or what I might do is launch that podcast, or what I might do is actually build that bakery. Like there's those, right? Okay. And then you keep going because then it starts getting really hard until you get to about 30, because the last five are pretty tough. Yeah. You go until it gets hard where you really have to like search your soul for the answer.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:52

Because that's usually where the intersection of fear and excitement are. And somebody once said, and I love this, excitement or fear is just excitement without the breath. Fear is just excitement without the breath. Because usually the thing we fear the most is actually our greatest excitement. And those two energies go together, and we have a hard time discerning what's fear and what's excitement. But the truth is, it's excitement that just is um a little afraid to express itself. That's where the juicy stuff is.

Speaker: 20:25

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:26

That's where the juicy stuff is. And I'll just give you a personal example. So a friend of mine, this is about a year ago, she said we should do a TikTok challenge. By the way, I've not been on TikTok. I just didn't feel like it was my place. Yeah. She said, 90 days, we're going to do TikTok. You want to talk about triggering fear in me is to be on TikTok just riffing on whatever without a script. Oh man, you just hit all my fear buttons. You know, there's probably something in here, and I should do it. I don't know. Anybody on TikTok, I can just do whatever I want to do, I guess. And I'm just going to commit to 90 days. And so I did 90 days of TikTok posts a year ago. And I've actually kept up with it. And be and and here's what it was. The first one was terrifying. I was like, oh my God, what am I doing? Yeah. And then what you realize is that fear is all in your mind. And the greater the fear, the closer you are to the great the breakthrough. So you gotta kind of push through it and get to the breakthrough. The breakthrough for me was actually getting out my camera and filming the TikTok. And so and it sounds dumb because now I'm like, how was I ever afraid of that? It's just TikTok. A year ago, it was like a real thing. I was terrified. And this I've done film, you know, this is not like I'm not a stranger to this medium, but for some reason it just hit my hot buttons, and so I did it. And and that is where you know you're just on the brink of breakthrough, is when the fear is the highest. And so you write down your list, you figure out where the intersection of fear and excitement is, and then you give yourself a task. And the task might be, you know, 90 days of something that's gonna terrify you. I'm gonna do 90 days of actually building new recipes, I'm gonna do 90 days of podcasts, I'm gonna do 90 days of whatever the next day is for you. Okay, because the first one you do, you're gonna be like, Well, that wasn't actually scary, and then you get some practice, and then you build an incredible skill that then is exciting and brings you more, more ideas, more stuff. And and that's just kind of the engine of how it works. Uh-huh.

Speaker: 22:15

Oh, that's good. Yeah, because listen, I want to do the my listeners, don't even know this. I'm just sharing. I want to do a TEDx talk. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, what in the world? I am like fear. It's like, why does that keep knocking on me? A 10x. What? What am I gonna say? What am I gonna do? So you were very helpful there. I haven't made the decision yet to do it, but that's something that I've been wanting to do in the last month. I don't know what's going on.

Speaker 2: 22:46

Right now, they're taking applications for TED Talks, and there's it's in September, end of September. If you get invited in, I'll send you the link actually after this. Uh so they are they're accepting open invitations for the big TED stage, and you yeah.

Speaker: 23:00

Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, with that, let me ask you what's the difference between an ego-based desire and a true inner inner desire? Wrestling. Oh man, that is the best question.

Speaker 2: 23:14

And I will tell you what. Um that that is such a fabulous question because it is hard to discern uh sometimes. And I'll just give you a story from my personal life. So when I did Everyday Genius the first time, Everyday Genius Institute 15 years ago, I would say that came from a very divinely inspired place. It was incredibly also ego-driven. I wanted a business that would be successful. I kind of wanted to prove myself I could do it and do something no one's done before that everyone thinks was so cool. And it was all of those things, but it I pushed myself so hard from that ego place to just make it and prove it. And and beautiful things came out of that work. So it was great, but it was really a place of more about me. What did I want? What was going to make me feel worthy, valuable, interesting, you know, all those things. Inside of that was excitement. So it wasn't, but the push to burnout, which is what happened on that journey, was a very ego-driven push to burnout. You know, so then I unravel all that. I go on my walkabout, I kind of come back to the corporate world in an interesting way. And then after all that kind of got settled out, healed out, the desire that was pure came back through for everyday genius. It wasn't about me proving anything, it was truly about being of service with this work. And it's not that I need the fame. I'm just genuinely excited to help people with a transformation. And I I because I'm in that energy, it's not a burnout energy. It actually creates more excitement and more fuel. And I can't wait to get up and do it. And then the minute I start to feel overwhelmed, I say, this is not how genius works. Genius is an excitement is not meant to make you feel overwhelmed. I stop and I said, you know what? Stop. You're not meant to feel overwhelmed. Now it's not that there's not a minute here or there, but it's just in general, the overwhelm is a very clear signal that you got to scale back and think about it differently, maybe get more creative about how you do it, remove some things that are making it too busy, you know. Because again, passion and excitement is a beautiful energy. The minute it starts to feel overwhelming is the minute we've stepped over into doing more than we actually need to do. Oh, that is so good.

Speaker: 25:25

Oh my gosh, because I was a burned out queen. Yeah, me too. Right there, right there with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And many of my listeners are. They're just burnt out, they're exhausted. Wow, that's that's good. That's good. And when I think about the times when I was burned out, I was trying to prove something to others that I can do this. So therefore, I had to work harder, work longer hours. And for some of my listeners, I said, because I was always the first African-American female in all of my leadership roles. And with that, I was like, okay, they think they think I'm I'm a number, I'm a quota. And I was listening, oh no, I'm gonna prove to them. And I was exhausted. So you are right on. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2: 26:19

And I I speak, I have walked through this fire. This is not like me sitting here being like, you should do this. I have walked through this fire of burnout probably three times in my life to the point where I was laying on my couch and couldn't get up. I was so exhausted. I know what that is, and uh, it's taken me a long time to really understand how it's supposed to work and to retrain my brain. Okay, that's good.

Speaker: 26:39

I love that. Oh my goodness gracious. Okay, following your passion will also surface your deepest blocks. Okay, so when you move toward what truly lights you up, it's just like the book I wrote, which it took me 12 years to write it, like starting a podcast. Man, was I blocked? I was like, okay, I'm not supposed to write this book. Um, what am I gonna say? I don't even what am I gonna sound professional? Am I gonna sound intelligent? You know, I just what why why does it bring up the most outdated, limited versions of who we think we are?

Speaker 2: 27:28

Well, it's kind of what I said earlier. Excitement is a very high vibrational, very light-filled energy. You feel light when you're excited is a light-filled energy. When the light shines bright, it really casts the shadow much more visibly. And so that shadow within us is the blocks, the like you just said, the outdated versions of us, the outdated thinking, these limiting beliefs that aren't true, but in our mind we think they are, because that's just kind of how beliefs work. And beliefs, let's just take a pause and talk about beliefs because I'm super passionate about beliefs. So, what is a belief? A belief can be both something really empowering. Kind of, I think of it like the angel on my shoulder being like, You can do it, you're loved, right? You know, um, people are wonderful, you know, like these beliefs that are just really feel-good, empowering kinds of beliefs. That's like the little angel on your shoulder, yeah. Like, all the good things, little cheerleader. And we we all have really positive beliefs, otherwise, we just wouldn't exist here, you know. Um, the little I call it little devil on the shoulder, just to kind of give the visual analogy is the ones of like you're not good enough, you don't deserve it, you're not worthy, nobody's gonna want you, you're not likable, you don't have anything to say, you don't know how to say it right. You know, all those things that are like, now here's the thing with with beliefs that little kind of devil on your shoulder, if you will, it's like whispering all that into your ear, which is really just us with that inner dialogue, but I think the visual's helpful because when I say this part, it'll make sense. Is that little devil on your shoulder wants to stay alive at all costs? So take a belief like I have to work hard to make money. Many of us have that belief, yes, especially in American culture. And especially I live on the West Coast, West Coast culture is even more so than almost anywhere. I have to work hard to make money. Okay, so that's a belief, and that little devil on your shoulder is like, you've got to work harder to make money, you've got to work harder to make money, and then your whole reality is architected around that being true. And so then you work really hard and you make some money, and you're like, see, I was right, I have to work hard to make money.

Speaker 1: 29:29

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2: 29:30

And if I don't work hard, that little belief starts triggering a ton of fear in you.

Speaker 1: 29:36

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2: 29:37

That if I don't work hard, I'm not going to have money, my life's going to fall apart, all of that. And so it keeps that fear keeps the belief alive that something bad is going to happen if that's not true. Right. Right. That's the devil at work, if you will. And I say devil, I say that jokingly because it's really just a part of us, you know, believing this, right? Right. And so when you can recognize and ask yourself, what would I have to believe to be true in order to feel this thing of fear? You know, that, you know, I have to work hard, no one's going to support me. Like, there's usually something below I have to work hard, I'm not supported, something like that. When you kind of get in touch by asking, okay, what would I really have to believe to be true to feel this fear that I'm feeling around, you know, not making money or but not being supported or being alive because I'm not working hard. When you can really like hear what that is and you can shine a light on that just by seeing it, it often starts to make no sense. You're like, I'm not supported. Well, is that true? I mean, I look around my life and I am supported, like magical things have happened. You know, people do make sure I'm okay. I've got, you know, resources, I'm creative. Like you realize, like, it's just not true. And then it just starts to unravel by itself. And and so we've all got a lot of these beliefs, and many of them aren't true. But that little devil of our shoulder is working hard to make sure that we keep the belief that they are so that little devil can stay alive and with us. Like I'll stay with you forever as long as you believe this. Right. Right. I always give that little devil a voice because then it becomes kind of outrageous, right? I want to be with you forever. You can't let me go. I'm going to make you feel really afraid. Oh, and as long as you feel afraid, you have to keep me so I can stay with you forever. Right. Like you can give it kind of like this creepy weird voice, right? So it's patterned. And then when you can unravel it, you realize that it was never true. We just believed it was true and were too afraid to have any other belief. And every one of them is like that. You know, people don't love me. I mean, think of all of them. If I do this TED talk, I'm gonna be laughed at, and nobody's gonna think of anything good to say, they're not gonna respect me. Like it just endless chatter, right?

Speaker 1: 31:39

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2: 31:40

So when you get really in touch with the fear, what am I really afraid of in giving this TED talk? And I'm just gonna use an example because you mentioned it. And then you really ask, like, what would I have to believe to be true to feel this fear around creating a TED talk? And when you can really shine a light on that within yourself, and you can sit with it, you can realize, well, it's not true. Now the belief is going to try to convince you, yeah. But look at all this data, you know. And if you did get laughed at, everything would be horrible. And so it starts triggering all this fear, but again, that fear is you on the brink of a breakthrough, still walking through it, right? The devil loves nothing little devil on your shoulder loves hates nothing more than you actually taking action despite the fear.

Speaker 1: 32:16

That's good, yeah.

Speaker: 32:18

Because, you know, I was gonna ask you, how does one move through that inner resistance? That's hard, man.

Speaker 2: 32:25

Yeah, I love to tell you it's easy, it's hard. And some beliefs are harder than others because there's some really sometimes there's some really deep trauma and some really deep stuff there. So some of those are harder than others, some are just like once you shine a light on it, you're like, well, that doesn't make any sense. Move on. One I've been playing with, just to give you a fun example, is I thought, wouldn't it be fun to win the lottery? I just had this idea like, wouldn't it be fun to win the lottery? I have a belief that I can't win the lottery, and I was like, Well, is that true? Millions of people win the lottery. So I've been trying to rewire my brain to win the lottery because I think it'd be really fun. Now, that that one's not such a hard one for me to unravel. The much harder one for me to unravel is this thing of like, people don't like me, which is so funny because often our greatest limiting belief is the exact thing that we are the best at. And it's it's like beautiful people think they're not beautiful. So the paradox is like your greatest gift and skill and ability and an attribute is usually where your deepest limiting belief is. Crazy paradox. Wow, that's yeah. So, like for you, for example, I would say probably your greatest skill and attribute is actually sharing your message publicly, and yet here you are with it being one of your greatest fears. Uh-huh. And it's just the paradox of the way it works, right?

Speaker: 33:34

Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Wow. Well, listen, this is weird. Back in my corporate days, I remember I was in the hotel business, and there was a guest that used to come often. And then one day she'd asked me to um, because she talked to me for a minute. I'm like, okay, one, I guess there's a problem in the hotel or whatever. And she asked me, she said, I want you, and I know you can be a great speaker. And I looked at her like a great speaker. I'm in this, I'm like, I'm trying to run a hotel. What are you talking about? And and she said, So this is what I want you to do. I want you to speak on something, but I need you to videotape it for me. And then I want you to send it to me. And I looked at her like videotape. Oh my god, I don't even know what to say, you know? And and I have never forgotten her. And she lives somewhere in New York working for this big, I don't know, I don't know. But that has resonated with me ever since she said it, and that was years ago. And one of the things I found even on my vision board, I always wanted to be a speaker. And I was like, where did that come from? And then I'm like, now like I could speak at corporate, but to speak on my own, my own business, you know. So you that that resonated with me when you were talking about, I can't do that is here, but yet I can, you know, like I speak all the time. So that that was interesting how it's coming back to me. And now I want to do a TEDx talk. I'm like, oh boy.

Speaker 2: 35:14

You know what's so cool about that story that I just ooh, I love it so much. Is this little angel walked into your life in the form of a guest at your hotel, right? That sparked something in you that you've probably been thinking about for 10 years or however long ago this was. And and what that little that you little human angel did was see something in you that you didn't necessarily see in yourself, lit a little flame that's been burning and now it's a bit roaring.

Speaker 1: 35:43

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 35:43

Right? Yeah. And it might have taken however long ago this was five, 10 years. Right. Uh more. I think that that's really these little, I call them angels. These little angels appear on our path to help us step into our fullest destiny. And if you really think about time not being linear, right? Maybe you weren't ready 10 years ago. Again, I don't know how long ago it was, but but that person was there as a guide to help you really step into your highest destiny.

Speaker 1: 36:09

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:10

And and and it just looked, it just looked like a guest at your hotel. And I think these things happen all the time because it really is when you're meant to do something, people see it in you before you see it in yourself. That's also true, too.

Speaker: 36:20

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:22

Wow.

Speaker: 36:23

Wow. Okay. Now, um, so we kind of talked about some tools um that that to move through the fear and into your genius. Are there any other tools you like to share um in your toolbox? Because my listeners are really struggling with taking that next step or doing that next chapter. Any tools you could share?

Speaker 2: 36:54

Yeah, I think a big one, especially when you're tired and burned out, is it often takes a lot of energy to launch something new. And so I think there is often an inquiry. Let's say you're in a corporate job and you're tired and exhausted. Often what is needed is a period of rest before a big creation or idea will come through. And so I think oftentimes people try to move too fast from burnout into excitement. And while that can happen, yeah, in my experience, a little bit of rest is needed. And the rest, though, to be productive in the rest. Now, the rest might be I'm just gonna stop doing a bunch of this and create more space in my life. You know, I'm no longer gonna go to these meetings, I'm no longer gonna help this friend, I'm no longer gonna say yes to all these work projects, whatever. Like there's a a not-to-do list in in all of us.

Speaker 1: 37:43

Okay.

Speaker 2: 37:45

And using that space to create some rest, but then filling it with not watching Netflix and being on our phones and numbing out, but fill it with little moments of excitement to rekindle the flame. And it feels like that takes a lot of energy, but when it's at your excitement, it doesn't. You know, it's like again, I'm gonna read a book today. I'm gonna go, you know, hang out with my friends because it's fun. I'm gonna go just sit in the park under the sun. They can be the smallest of things, but they're moments just for you that feel good. And so it's being productive in the rest without trying to launch, you know, the next big thing. Because that will happen, but it will happen when you have enough energy to do it. And do you know? And so I I think because when you jump from busy corporate burnout to this thing that does excite you, but there hasn't been a period of rest and you're and you're burned out, right? Uh it won't be the highest, it won't be the highest version of the thing because the highest version of the thing needs fresh energy, and it's really hard to have it when you're depleted.

Speaker: 38:51

Right, right. It's just like relationships. I get out of one and get another, and that doesn't work, so then I get out of another one, right?

Speaker 2: 38:58

Yeah, you need some time to reflect and integrate what just happened.

Speaker: 39:01

Yeah, exactly, exactly. It's a good analogy.

Speaker 2: 39:04

That's a good analogy. Yeah, so I think for one thing, it's really an honest inquiry of am I ready for the next thing, or do I just need to be better about saying no to some things and creating some space to build mini excitements? Right. Number one. Number two, I would say is for anybody listening, because this is sort of a self-improvement podcast, I would say you've already been geniusing for a very long time. You have an incredible amount of skills and abilities. What might have been a passion 10 years ago is just served its time. You've built the skills, you've done the thing, and you're ready for the next expression of you, the next genius of you, if you will. And and and it's okay, right? Because here's how genius works, right? People think that genius is one thing. I really don't know anyone that's done one thing their whole life. Even if you look at someone who's done painting their whole life or music, they've done it through different angles and lenses and tried different things. For myself, just to use myself as an example, I've done consulting and coaching in some way my whole life, but it's in very different contexts, doing very different kinds of that work and building a lot of different skills with different angles. Um, and so that the thread has been consistent, but the actual job has changed a lot.

Speaker 1: 40:12

Right.

Speaker 2: 40:12

And so I think, you know, I can't speak for your past, but my sense for you is that there's been a real sense of community. You know, that's kind of in some ways like I think the hotel business or the hospitality business is like that, making people feel at home wherever they are, right?

Speaker 1: 40:25

Yeah, right.

Speaker 2: 40:26

You know, and community in a hotel is is a beautiful way to build kind of hospitality and community, but so is a podcast. It's a different expression of the same genius.

Speaker: 40:35

Wow. So when one says yes to their genius, what happens? Magical things happen.

Speaker 2: 40:42

Um and and when I say yes to genius, I think a lot of people have been saying yes all along. Maybe when someone's ready for the next thing, it's like, what's the next thing I'm gonna say yes to? The next expression, the next uh angle, the next lens with which I'm going to look at this thing that I really enjoy. And so just I think your example is a is a great one. You know, you go from corporate where that that was a passion probably for a long time. It no longer became a cash after you built all the skills and you were ready to to take it to the next level and build it through a different lens and build the skills of community and hospitality through a very different lens. I often think the best speakers do this too. They they're really good at making their audiences feel welcomed and feel like a part of something and feel like um like there's something in them that's special, you know. And my sense is that's kind of what what you do when you speak. And so again, it's hospitality, but on a stage. Does that make sense? And so your genius, you've been doing it all along. You're just ready for a different expression of that genius. And so for anyone listening, you've been geniusing all along. You just may be ready for a new expression of how to genius. And so that's where the excitement comes in because that's your that's your soul saying, This is what's next, this is it. And if you're not hearing the whispers, that's okay. You might need a pause, you might need a pause, do little mini excitements, and then the bigger one will come.

Speaker: 42:05

Wow, so many nuggets. I I was gonna ask you something else, my last question, but you've done it. And I'm like your first person, second person, third person. You used it like in a movie, you know, and you said I love that. And I was gonna ask you for my listens, but you just done it. You just did it. Um for individuals that are like I was, and I'm not saying I will always be this way, but just stuck, just like I am with the TEDx, you know, I'm a little stuck here now. Okay, so I wanted you to use the second person and imagine as you're talking to a person that's stuck, but you because you're you in other words, you how how some how how you see someone, not how they see themselves. So if you were to talk in second person to individuals that are stuck, how someone else sees them, how would you how would you see them? And you said you already got a gene, you already got your genius.

Speaker 2: 43:21

Well, this is what I do in my healing, right? Is that I I can literally step inside somebody, that's the second person. I can step inside them and see their genius, I can see the blocks, I can see a lot of patterning. And so, like in your case, just because you and I are having this conversation, like I can really step in as you and say the stuckness is it's in the throat, right? What do I say? What do I say? That's where it feels stuck. And so that might not be true for everybody, but for you, I feel that. Like, what do I say? And what I would say then is okay, you're not sure what to say. That's okay. What I would do, you talked about the second person. Imagine you're in the audience. What do you want to hear? If if you were both on the stage and in the audience at the same time, what would you want to hear you saying? Because it's an interesting exercise, right? The first person is you, second person is stepping into someone's shoes, third person is kind of seeing it like a movie. Yeah, and so this is a is a powerful exercise because when we're not sure a decision to make, often if we can just shift our perspective into one of those, we can get more information. So let's just do this real time since we're here. Cassandra, imagine you're in the audience. What would be the most interesting thing that Cassandra on stage would be saying to you? Would she be saying? Would she be talking about blocks? Would she be talking about her journey? Like, what'd she be talking about?

Speaker: 44:40

I'll probably be talking about um what happens when your way is in your way.

unknown: 44:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker: 44:49

And what it would feel like when you get out of it.

Speaker 2: 44:52

Yeah, and exactly. So there's your talk. Yeah, you know, and and so it's if you're imagining you're in the audience listening to yourself talk, and then you can say, Okay, is that interesting? Would I actually want to hear that? Because here's the funny thing we always create for ourselves, really. And I always tell myself, if I find it interesting, surely somebody else, at least one other person on the planet, is gonna find it interesting. Right. So make the talk for you, right? Imagine you're the one in the audience, because I can promise you there's 50 people in the audience that are feeling the exact same way you are, or that want to hear the exact same information. You're your own best audience member, and you just write the talk you want to hear. And that's the second person perspective. You're sitting in the audience listening to you, yeah, hearing the talk that you want to hear, and then that's just the one you end up writing. You snap back into yourself, and you're like, I'm gonna write that talk.

Speaker: 45:36

Wow, that's good.

Speaker 2: 45:38

Well, thank you. Thank you. You know, it's funny. My sister's a baker, and I always say, How do you know what to bake? Well, I'm just it's because what I want to eat.

Speaker: 45:46

Right. Yes, right.

Speaker 2: 45:47

So she makes recipes she wants, she doesn't care about everybody else. And according to K they're amazing. Exactly.

Speaker: 45:52

That's what I do with gifts.

Speaker 2: 45:54

I don't want that gifts, so I'm gonna give them that. Yeah, so do the same for that. And it's and and for anybody listening, this is a great exercise. If you don't know what to do next, well, what do I want? Do I want you know, this kind of coaching in my life? Do I want this kind of store in my life? Do I want this kind of experience in my life? And then go build that because you're if you build it for you, a lot of people are gonna like it.

Speaker: 46:17

Right, right. Wow, Taryn, that was great. Yeah, well, as my listeners know, I always say when I'm really enjoying a conversation, I could talk with you longer. But as they know, we can't talk all day. So, with that said, I'd like my audience and my listeners to know how can they get in touch with you?

Speaker 2: 46:43

One of the favorite things I do is my newsletter. It's a bi-weekly newsletter on strategies of genius, motivation, you know, tips around passion and purpose. It is really a fun, feel-good newsletter. So please, it's free. Sign up for my newsletter at Tarin Voget.substack.com. It's on Substack, and it's free. And it's the best way to keep in touch with me. And then you can, you know, get to all my other places from there, my YouTube channel, and there's a bunch of great videos on my YouTube channel around this. And uh check out my services. But really, my Substack is my favorite thing. Uh, so find me there and subscribe. It's free and just enjoy it every couple of weeks. It's it's a really fun feel good in your inbox.

Speaker: 47:18

Right. Well, I'm definitely gonna subscribe to that. Thank you. Yes, Karen, thank you so much for all those nuggets. Um, a lot of things you spread, I'm gonna call them diamonds. It's like you just sprinkle, which which to me it lights up, you know, and that's what you've done. If you lit me up, you've lit others up. And I so appreciate you being my guest today. And I always tell my guests, and I said it once, I'm gonna say it again. Please share this podcast with someone that you know that it's gonna be a blessing to them. And also, if if in fact you missed some of the tidbits that were spoken, you can replay it and replay it and replay this. And this is gonna be on all podcast platforms. So, again, Taryn, thank you so much. And my guest, as I always say, bye for now. God bless you and know that I love you. Thanks so much. Thank you for having me. What a wonderful, what a wonderful show.