From Burnout to Breakthrough: Terri Broussard's 4 Steps to Real Transformation

0:00Commit to do the work, but also commit to that next me set. But when are you going to take time out to put time on the calendar to invest in self? And so if you're not having a check in with self, like a one on one with your manager or your financial advisor, you know, or even your kids, you know, if you're asking your kids how you're doing as a mom or dad, then you don't know if you're failing. So I don't know where this quote comes from, but I love it. And it's you don't have to set yourself on fire to keep others warm. The great me set, Terry Broussard. Four hacks on how you can actually acknowledge where you're at and look to make a change.

0:40Go have that me set and come back and be the leader that you want to be. How can a concussion lead to a massive change in your life? Terry Broussard's great me set is going to show you how. All right, Terry. So change. Some people get forced to change. Some people make a change proactively. You had, well, I'll let you tell the story of the injury so that we can actually take it from there and work out how did you navigate that change? Yes. So, you know, the last time we chatted was in 2019. And so much has changed since then. 2019, I was at the height of my lobbying career and was involved in D.C.

1:26lobbying. And at a reception, out of nowhere, this man starts moving furniture. At a lot of political receptions, there's a VIP section with nice love seats and chairs so you can rest. And I see him moving what is kind of like a love seat or a chair because he thought his cell phone was underneath. And I later learned this. And the next thing I know, the chair hit the back of my head. and I find myself in a hospital with a doctor telling me I had a major concussion and he could tell that I was type A and he knew my type. He challenged me to truly lean into putting my phone down, leaving all screens behind and resting because if not, it would have a major, major implication in my life.

2:21And he was right. I ended up being out of work for several weeks and months But to go back to where you started, you say some people, you know, proactively change. Others are forced to change. I put myself in that latter category. About six weeks before my accident, I kept hearing crashes. You know, and I remember telling my mom that I was hearing crashes. My baby brother was driving about an hour to work at the time. And I told my mom to tell him to slow down because I was convinced like he was going to get an accident. and she's like you need to slow down you were talking to me on the phone while you're driving and I didn't need to slow down I was working on a master's degree at an Ivy League program I was zigzagging the country lobbying in all 50 states and I think it was on like nine or twelve nine profit boards it was ridiculous and so I told her I was like you know I made a deal with God I will slow down after graduation it was September and that was going to be in May and my mom's just glad and she you know it's the story you all hear she's like not on your time on his and so i found myself you know at home on my sofa for weeks trying to find the center of my life and you could either think of it i got a head start on covet or it was this rebirth of the beginning of my new way of living yeah yeah and it's like um i don't know how to put it other than there's a thing that hits you where you sort of know I need to make change and you feel like, you know, I should change and maybe I need to change.

3:59And then somehow the universe ends up helping you with that decision, I guess. Absolutely. You know, I, I hold both the beliefs that are religious and spiritual. And so I firmly believe the universe has your back. and I think I'd been getting signs for a long time, but I wasn't in alignment with myself and truly connected to source to even understand that it was my intuition and that I needed to listen. I always thought I had a spidey sense. You know, Southwest Louisiana, we joke that all Cajuns and Creoles have spidey senses, but it was truly, I was being led by spirit and intuition. And so when I didn't listen, it was like, you have a hard head.

4:44I was taught younger in life that you can listen to the taps on the shoulders, or if you miss that, then you get the two by four over the back of the head sort of thing. And if you still miss all of those taps, all of those things, then somewhere along the line, the proverbial Mack truck comes down the road and bam, Terry gets the Mack truck, some guy moving a chair, boom. Yes, a very long journey. But that was the start of me just really becoming fully aware of my own intuition, putting my health first and having this mindset of what I call the great me set. And that's where - The great me set.

5:29I like that. It's not a selfish way, but you put yourself first so that you can be your best to leave the legacy behind that you desire and take care of your community and others. You know, and so for, I think the last time I was on your podcast, I was sharing that leaders turn moments into movements and talking about the movements that we can make. But I now realize leaders still do that. But as leaders, and I hope your action coach family is listening to this, the greatest movement that we will ever have is the one inside ourselves. we have to cultivate that movement for change there first yeah i want to go back a little ways because i want your story to help other people understand what do you think it was that you didn't listen to your intuition for that period of time you just kept running down that road i guess yeah you know it's i have to say like i definitely heard car crashes for about six weeks before my accident.

6:33And I remember just thinking at the end of the day, I was so depleted because I'd have to finish my work. And I was traveling a lot. When you travel, you're on the road, you're externally facing, then you have to come back, sit at the laptop and catch up on all those emails, you know, the emails. But I was stopping my workday at nine o 'clock at night and then pivoting to my personal inbox and taking care of all the to-dos for the charity galas or this nonprofit or this bored, not spending time with my then husband, I've since now gotten divorced, or myself. So I really couldn't even hear those taps on the shoulders.

7:12So now I tell people a tap on the shoulder might be something not coming easy. And a real life example for me, in January, I sight swipe my car and um it was so frustrating and like another thing on the to-do list and on Saturday it was like the same thing and so I was like whoa pause universe what are you trying to tell me you know what am I supposed to be listening to and I think that it's being fully connected itself at all times how many times do we get in the car and we're still in the last meeting, you know, so we're starting that car on autopilot, but not attuned to even taking the moment to say, thank you universe for allowing me to have a car and gas in it.

8:02And universe, I ask that you get me to the next destination. Same. You know, so, um, you know, when, when things don't come with ease or you're repeating the same lessons, you're like, this is happening again and it's happening against me it's happening to me no it's really happening for you yeah yeah I think that uh you know it's fairly easy when you're on the other side of this though like Terry when you look back you can see it fairly obviously but when you're in it how do you take note of that or how do you do that like I mean does it take coming to a Terry session to actually do this? Like, how do we start to notice better the things that are going on in our minds and our lives and our hearts and actually listen to ourselves more?

8:53Yeah, I'll share with you the hacks that I use to always have, you know, the great me set first and foremost. And it's not But like, you know, that as a resource or tool, it's not really a one and done. It's a lens and a way of living. So, I mean, the first one is just pause. You know, you can't be the hamster in the wheel. You need to, you know, you need to separate those two and get off the hamster wheel. And then just, you know, if it's during the workday, maybe take a couple of bread, like a little box bread. But if it's just during your daily life and you're feeling overwhelmed, like literally just stop, plant your feet on the ground and, you know, maybe hold and touch a table and just get in alignment and find that center place.

9:45Even sometimes when I'm walking through the airport, I'll just for me, the way that I'll pause is I'll just call in the universe. Universe, thank you for traveling with me here today. And that usually prompts me to reconnect to self. And so after we take that moment and pause, the second step is really to state the intention of what we want. What is it the behavior that we want to change? What is it that we want to call in? Who is it that we want to be? You know, so shortly after that accident, it was everything was like, how can I get healthy? You know, so I began a weight loss journey, which I'm now in year seven.

10:26I've dropped 60 pounds. I'm meditating. I had a workout with my trainer this morning at 530 in the morning. I'm so committed to that. You know, no dairy for me, no eggs. I have this routine on top of supplements. You know, I'm committed to that. So it's taking action and creating a plan and sharing it with others. I have to tell my parents. My challenge, I think, for a lot of people, Terry, is that they don't get the six-week pause that you were given, so to speak, to do that. And I think when you're really just being busy, it's tough to make that shift. I think it's hard. So take the pause and then decide.

11:11Are there any tricks or tips you've got for people to help decide who they want to be or where they want to be type thing? So those are the first two hacks. And then I say, you know, for the third hack, you really have to attract what you want. You know, if you're listening today and you're unsure of where you are and if this is needed, just start. take the first step, take a pause, you know, begin to set an intention of how you want to live and then attract the people and the things around you. I had to start, you know, hanging out with people that want to walk around a lake instead of a happy hour with, you know, tortilla chips and salsa and margaritas.

11:54And then after you're attracting the people and the things that you want and the tools, because you'll find that the tools will start coming with these. You'll start scrolling podcast this morning. I just needed a podcast about, about food because I've been leaning in more on chocolate lately. And poof, here's Gwyneth Paltrow on Goop talking about how food fuels you and her family's connection to food. And it was the booster shot I needed to get a try. And then the fourth one is commit to do the work, but also commit to that next me said, when are you going to take time out to put time on the calendar to invest in self?

12:33And so if you're not having a check-in with self, like a one-on-one with your manager or your financial advisor, you know, or even your kids, you know, if you're asking your kids how you're doing as a mom or dad, then you don't know if you're failing. So you need that moment with self to check in and see if you're failing. And it automatically restarts you at the top of those four hacks because you're taking a pause and tuning in to go. Got it. Got it. So you mentioned something in there, you used the words lean in. I find a lot of people when something's new or something's different, they sort of lean out rather than in.

13:10How did you find yourself leaning in more rather than, you know, leaning away when it felt uncomfortable, leaning out? Yeah, you're so right about that even when we desire to create change sometimes we we can be resistant to getting started you know i am a student of if i'm gonna do it i'm gonna take that first step um that will show me that i can do it and the fear kind of is gone you have your confidence and then you just continue the next step and i even ask that universe i'm like you know order my next divine right action. Or if you're, you know, not using a spiritual lens, it's like, what can I do next that feels just as good?

13:54Because when we feel good, we feel confident in taking that next step. You know, but for me, life post concussion, it was, you know, I never want to go back to where I was. So I'm committed to doing what I need to do. And right now I'm in a place where work is, I am over capacity at work. I don't like using the word overwhelming because there's a negative connotation that you can't handle something, but ability and capability, you know, those two things go hand in hand. So you can have the ability and capability and not enough time and resources. And so I've had to tell myself, I can either work myself to death till nine to 10 o 'clock at night, or I can choose to step away from the laptop, have a healthy dinner, which will allow me to go to bed and sleep well.

14:43So again, it's just making those conscious choices and what next might feel good and set you up for success. Dang, dude, I feel like I've time traveled a million years from Terry 2019 to 20. I feel like it's a different version. But this is something that I think is really interesting with people that we are on a journey of growth and change. That is what life is. It's about growing, about changing, and about doing those things. Literally on the way here today, I was on the phone with a friend of mine, and we both hit a point in life, and we were both discussing that I think less is more ought to be my motto for a little while sort of thing.

15:24I'm there with you. Definitely trying to rewire my brain, my heart. is we put so much of ourselves into anything that we do. You know, anyone that's listening to this podcast, their head is telling them they have to continue driving. Their heart is like, you got to put passion in it. Their hands are used to moving, you know, acts of service. And so like, you have to rewire all of you to even have like physiological shifts and also a psychological shift. And it's something that I just have to focus on every day because as a recovering perfectionist, all those things, we all fall back. But when you said that, Brad, it took me back to 2019.

16:08I've since moved. I got divorced, downsized on size of where I lived, and focused on creating a sanctuary, a place that was beautiful and where I wanted to spend time. But in that move, all of my plaques and trophies and awards, and if you have given me one and you're listening, I apologize. But those are in storage. I have a single one in the house. I don't even know where my Ivy League master's degree is right now because those are just things. And I don't want a reminder of an old way of thinking and living. I want to truly be connected to self and focused on that great me set in my rebirth every day.

16:54How does one get out of the more, more, more disease? Oh, my gosh. I mean, I don't recommend a concussion, but... You're like, have a guy belt you over the head with a chair. That's how. You get a... It did work for me. You know, I went from chairing one nonprofit gala to one... I think I chaired like maybe nine in like a span of six years. It was crazy. You know, we just have to say, like, I am worth more than any achievement. I am worth more than any social ladder I can climb. My family needs me to be present. My partner needs me to be present. I need to be present for myself. And so, like, to what ends?

17:39You know, are you going to take your, you know, your six dozen whatever under 40 awards to the grave? No. You're not even taking them to work. So why does it matter? You know, I'm working now on downsizing my closet. Hard as because I'm a girl. But why do I need to spend five extra minutes thinking I don't have anything to wear when the problem is I just can't see what I have to wear. And there's a new tag, you know. I do love being a guy in that way. I know I have long sleeve Tommy Bahama T-shirts. I have jeans in the in the in the winter and I have shorts in the summer. And that's it. I have one brand of shoe, one brand of cowboy boot.

18:21Like I'm just, I love that Steve Jobs idea of you just got your uniform. It's what you wear. It's my biggest choice is, is it going to be a blue t-shirt or a white t-shirt today? You know, real tough, real tough decision making going on in my world around what am I going to wear? If you go back to your definition of success, like when we talked about it last time to today, obviously your definition of what makes you successful today is very different to where it was five years ago. You know, there's actually, there's a through line. I was always self-driven to create change in my community and operating from a place of self-depretion and to a point where I didn't think about myself and how I created that change.

19:16And so I'm sure your coaches tell people it's not the what you do and what you do with your employees. It's the how you do with your employees, how you make them feel. So it's the same thing with ourselves and our bodies, right? It's how I make myself feel at the end of the day. So I still want to create good in this world. I still tell everyone I'm a storyteller for change. and that change is creating positive impact in communities in the world but now i've added something on the back end and the greatest change we can ever create is within ourselves so that we can be fully present as leaders to drive that change yeah yeah i've i've it i don't know how to put it other than there was a great quote and i forget who made it but you know that the you can't give from the empty cup sort of thing.

20:10And it's, and I think that if I look at the distinction I'm seeing and drawing from you, it's that you were giving so hard to everybody and you got to a point where you were just empty by giving to everybody. And I think the lesson from that is really powerful that you've got to give to yourself. You don't have to, give up yourself to be able to give to others is probably the simplest wording I can add to it absolutely you know I I also I don't know where this quote comes from but I love it and it's you don't have to set yourself on fire to keep others warm you know that was the old terry 100 that was the old terry dang you know it was funny because I did that when when my first daughter Kobe was born I was 10 years into building Action Coach and I remember Vic who was my then um chief sales officer who stepped up to be CEO took me aside at a conference one day and he said dude you're just done you need to go and I'm like yeah I think I need to take some time out I'll go up to the hotel room he said no no I don't mean from the conference or from the room I mean, from the business, you need to go rest up, relax, because you're just mad at everybody.

21:35You're angry and you're, you know, and he saw me because he'd been with me a long time. He saw that I needed to get out and go and refine, you know, myself. And I think that's a great lesson that you're putting in front of all of us today that there is. I love your wording, the me set. But what a great gift and ally, you know, your colleague gave you by saying, I know you, I love you. You need a timeout. Like, go have that me set and come back and be the leader that you want to be. and you know like you can feel it you know at there were points in my professional career where I was so driven by goals and goal wins and you know not necessarily being first on the scoreboard but we were consistently ranking first out of all the other teams in our company and so while I didn't want to be first in that scoreboard I also didn't want to regress in the work that I was doing which naturally implied you had to be first.

22:36But I'm sure my employees could feel it, right? They didn't want to let me down. So they were probably, you know, duplicating my ways of working or they were afraid to say they were burned out because in society back then, there are repercussions if you say you need to take a break. And so much has changed in the workplace. Mindfulness is centered. Everywhere we turn, there's a new tool. So why don't we take advantage of that invitation the universe is giving us and just say we're slowing it down for ourselves and those around us? Yeah, I found that, you know, using AI tools and let's be blunt, 10 years from now, robots are going to do most of the dumb stuff anyway.

23:19So we're going to have to find other things to do, you know, maybe three years, maybe five years. I don't know how many years. I mean, I love watching the Tesla cars roll off the line and just drive themselves. to where they need to be. I'm wondering how many months it's going to be before the Tesla just delivers itself to your house. It'll just roll off the line and drive to, it'll come off the line in Texas and it'll drive to my house here in Vegas and go, hey, Brad, I'm here. It'll send me a text message when it arrives. You know, that's where we're going to. And by the way, my friend who told me to stop, we're both Australian men, so no one ever says I love you when you're two Australian men talking to each other.

24:03It's just not done that way. But that's his way of showing you. Hey, one thing I want to ask you about that I think is really important. You, when did a TEDx talk? Two or three tips for anyone that wants to do a TEDx talk. What are the keys to getting, A, accepted to do a TEDx and then making it great? Oh, I love this question. It's a whole thing. You know, what I learned through the process, and I ended up, I did not have the capacity and bandwidth to find a TEDx talk for myself. I ended up hiring a company that does this. And what I learned from them is it takes between 80 to 100 applications, the TEDx talks, to get accepted to one.

24:51Now, I got incredibly lucky, not once, but twice. I was actually, now that I think about it, three times. So I got reached out by a TEDx program and asked me to be a part of their program. And every TEDx has a theme. And it was like, you know, be a boss lady, you know, kick some ass, take some names. That was the vibe. And so I was like, this is so in alignment with me. I believe in women empowering women. I believe in creating change makers. sign me up you know so then that same company although they didn't find that one for me they were still working on other things they helped me begin to craft my message you know practice all the things well during the cycle you truly want to get a coach um that's part of that tedx that can be a helper to you and i had a great coach but in every tedx um it's led by someone who apply to get the license.

25:51So the person of this particular one, she came on a call one day and she's like, I want more. You're not giving boss babe energy. You're giving meek and mild. You kick ass. And I had to stop and think, is this how I want to be remembered again? You know, I hadn't even gotten to the great me set then because my talk was about leaders turning moments into movements. But that conversation led me to the great me set because I was like, this is not the legacy I want to leave behind. I don't want people to think that being a leader means you have to be loud and proud if you choose to be soft with sincerity.

26:31Those are, neither are bad. And so I ended up pulling out from the talk and then just saying you know now's that my time just a couple of months later someone contacted me who was starting a TEDx and wanted some speakers from Texas and invited me without an application to get on the TEDx stage and that was actually the TEDx talk that I gave that was called the great music um so it's so funny how when something is not serving you the universe will redirect you to what is right for you. But so I would say 80 to 100 applications is usually the norm. Throughout the intimidation, it is a grueling process, but don't allow yourself to be stuck in this mode of, I can't do it, I'm intimidating.

27:25Also lose procrastination. You need every bit of time to prepare. I probably didn't prepare as much as I would have liked just because I was letting work get in the way of it. Don't be like me here. And third, you know, again, I'm sharing something with you that I didn't really practice, but practice, practice, practice. You know, I'm not one to practice because I feel like I've become like a robot. So then what I decided to do was to record my talk and to listen to it time and time again. And the last week as I listened to the recording, then I was in front of the mirror making my gestures. So that way, when I gave it, I could just do it mostly from memory and muscle memory and not from memory here, which can make you robotic.

28:13Well, hey there, and thanks for listening. I've noticed that 78 % of you are brand new, which means you haven't hit the subscribe button yet. By subscribing, you help us bring on even better guests, better quality content, and serve you better with even more podcasts. So please hit that subscribe button. It only takes a second. It makes a huge difference. If you support us, we're going to support your success and help you achieve big success together. Yeah. Yeah. I love it.

28:43Telling your origin story. Tell me more about that. Why is that a passion? Oh my gosh. I love people's origin stories. I'm actually soon launching a podcast called Roots in Rebirth, where I want to tell people's origin stories. Who you are is always integral in where you are now and how you got there. And, you know, there's always an emergence or some change that allows for you to have this rebirth. So I was born in Southwest Louisiana to a family that really believed and creating change, but igniting that change that they led. So my grandparents built a Catholic church. It actually burned down.

29:31And then my mother and father stepped up, and they rebuilt that second church on the same piece of land. And, you know, my father would often say, it's not for the people that I know. It's for the people that I'll never know and never meet. You know, he's no longer here. He passed away, but that church is still a place where marriages are happening, families are congregating and babies are getting baptized. And so I just watch them time and time again give my vivid memories of my mother when I was in kiddo garden, working at a reading academy, you know, and I was sitting there on her side. And then later I remember being in fifth grade handing out, back then we were giving punching cookies.

30:12Can you believe that? But passing out the punching cookies on paper plates, they probably honestly were styrofoam. But I've always been led by service and giving back to others. And so that is the through line that I've had in life in my career. Love it. You're on the Big Success Podcast. Terry Broussard, please learn, study, do all you can. And we'll be back next week with more of your success. You've been listening to the Big Success Podcast with the number one business coach in the world, Brad Sugars. To learn more about how to achieve business and personal success, as well as how to level up or listen to past episodes, visit www.bradsugars.com.