Episode 1346: Interview with Lena Scullard About the Power of Choice

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining us on episode 1, 346 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Lena Scullard: I'm Lena Scullard. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talents, your treasures, to live out your calling, having the ability to recognize how everything is a choice.

[00:00:28] Is key. And one way to be inspired to do this is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:47] I want people to

[00:00:48] feel strong. I want people to know that they're capable. I want people to

[00:00:52] stop playing the victim and stop going about their lives impulsively. I want them to be very [00:01:00] intentional and understand that they are the creators.

[00:01:07] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself.

[00:01:26] Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:40] In today's podcast episode, I interview Lena Scullard. Lena shares with you why she focuses on confidence and success and why that's so important for you as well. Lena also talks with you about the power of choice and what that really means. And I also asked Lena about acceptance and forgiveness and how that fits [00:02:00] into the power of choice.

[00:02:02] I've got a new book coming out. called Inspired Living, assembling the puzzle of your call by mastering your time, your talent, and your treasures. You can find out more about it and sign up for getting more information over at InspiredStewardship. com Inspired Living. That's InspiredStewardship. com Inspired Living.

[00:02:26] Lena Scullard is on a mission to help people improve their confidence and sense of capability for achieving success. Her programs focus on expanding self awareness and challenging attendees to be strategic with their decisions. Lena uses a dynamic blend of performance and conversational style to create memorable experiences that leave people excited about applying new ideas right away.

[00:02:51] Lena is a keynote speaker, a workshop facilitator, and an emcee, and she has served clients in a variety of industries, including hospitality, [00:03:00] healthcare, education, administration, and those who serve in leadership roles across virtually all industries. Welcome to the show,

[00:03:08] Lena Scullard: Lena. Hi, Scott. I am so excited to be here on this beautiful

[00:03:13] Scott Maderer: day.

[00:03:14] Absolutely. It is a wonderful day this morning. So let's start here. We talked a little bit in the intro. It always gives people a little bit of information about who you are and what you do, but I like to talk about what's behind that. So can you unpack a little bit about your journey and what brought you to the point of now you're out in the world speaking, doing all of this and sharing this message about confidence and

[00:03:40] Lena Scullard: success.

[00:03:42] Sure. Absolutely. So as a kid growing up, I was a theater kid. I love to be on stage. I love to be in front of people. And so in that area of my life, I had quite a bit of confidence, but I also was diagnosed at the age of 8 with type [00:04:00] 1 diabetes. And because of that, I was also the weird kid. And so there were also a lot of areas in my life that I wasn't confident.

[00:04:09] I think my diet regimen caused me to have a weird relationship with food and body image. And so coming into my adulthood, there were parts of my life that I felt very confident in, and there were other parts that I didn't. And starting out my pursuit of profession, I really wanted to work in the Originally, I wanted to be an actress.

[00:04:34] Then I decided that wasn't realistic necessarily for me with the other things I wanted in my life. There's a lot you have to sacrifice to pursue that career. So I really wanted to stay with the arts though. I really wanted to be involved with marketing or management. And after years of not finding a job in the career that I saw for [00:05:00] myself I got to a very dark place where I had a very big chip on my shoulder and a lot of anger.

[00:05:06] About the world and how I was told it would be if I got a degree and what wasn't happening for me and the lies I felt I'd been told about reality. And very dark place that I went to. And I was lucky enough that I had some really good leadership at that time in just a customer service job that helped me understand.

[00:05:33] Life doesn't always deal us the cards that we expect it to, or that we work for, and we have to make a choice. About what we're going to do with the cards were dealt and I realized I can continue to be angry or I can look at the circumstances of my life and do something different and think differently [00:06:00] and choose to feel differently.

[00:06:03] And what was amazing is when that happened, I started exploring other opportunities. That I hadn't even realized were in front of me anymore. One of those was, I went out and got a substitute teaching license and found out that I really loved teaching. I really loved inspiring people to think differently, to expand their perspective, to have dialogue and debate about.

[00:06:31] Things going on in the world and when that happened for me, I discovered purpose and it's one of the things as a professional speaker that I'm most passionate about talking on is purpose, because I feel like we're programmed to pursue success and achievement in a way that leaves so many people feeling.

[00:06:55] defeated or even unsatisfied with their life. But when I [00:07:00] discovered purpose, it didn't matter that I was in a customer service job. It didn't matter what job I had. I knew that I could pursue my purpose in life. And when that happened, I found myself stumbling into corporate training, which was the best accident that could have ever happened in my life because I absolutely fell in love with it.

[00:07:22] I spent over 10 years of my career as a facilitator, as a instructional designer, as a performance consultant before I decided, you know what, I want to go beyond my privately held company that I've worked for. And I really want to take some of these very cool messages. That I've learned around professional development out into the world simply because discovering those things specifically around purpose.

[00:07:54] And also around cognitive and behavioral psychology, that was the kind of development [00:08:00] that really drew me in and that I saw people have the biggest kind of light bulb moments in their life was understanding that we're programmed to think a certain way. And once we expose that, we can change it. It's life changing for so many people.

[00:08:16] That's what led me to where I am today is just really wanting to help as many people as I can turn on that light bulb that says, if you don't like the circumstances of your life, or if you don't like the outcomes that you are getting from your relationships, from your work, from your life.

[00:08:42] Then you have to start by changing your mindset and thinking about things a little bit differently. And when you do that, you will see new opportunities and new choices, and then you can make different choices so that you get different

[00:08:54] Scott Maderer: results. I want to circle back to a couple of things. So you were early on, [00:09:00] you were doing work that wasn't necessarily work you loved.

[00:09:03] It sounds in some of the customer service and some of that again, good things came out of it. But it wasn't necessarily your dream job or the thing that you love. I

[00:09:14] Lena Scullard: felt, I felt so stuck because it wasn't what I saw for myself. And I just felt like I was on this mouse wheel every day that I walked into that customer service job.

[00:09:29] And it's not that I didn't like the people around me, but I just felt like it was sucking the soul out of me. Like I was meant to do more in my life. Then greet them, take care of them and say, thank you. And

[00:09:42] Scott Maderer: And that's the dot I want to connect. So that's, that one's one you didn't like.

[00:09:47] And then by changing your mindset, you started finding new opportunities, but then eventually you ended up doing the corporate training. And it sounds inside the company, I'm not talking about when you launched out on your own. And it sounds like that was actually a job that [00:10:00] you really enjoyed and loved and.

[00:10:03] Found fulfilling in a lot of ways. Is that, am I hearing that correctly or was that is that also a job you hated so to speak?

[00:10:10] Lena Scullard: Oh goodness. No. When I found myself in corporate training, I was surprised to find how quickly I absolutely fell in love with it. But I don't think that it was because it was the work itself.

[00:10:24] That I fell in love with. I think it was because I had through the substitute teaching experience discovered in myself a purpose that went all the way back to why I was so passionate about the arts in the 1st place. And that is. And I can summarize it. It took a really long time for me to get to this concise statement, but I decided my purpose.

[00:10:54] And that's 1 of the things I tell people stop waiting for the universe to tell you or show you what [00:11:00] your purpose is. You get to decide every day and you can change your mind if you want to. But you have to decide what you want your purpose to be in this life. And so I decided that regardless of the job that I had.

[00:11:12] My purpose every day was going to be encouragement. I want people to feel strong. I want people to know that they're capable. I want people to stop playing the victim and stop going about their lives impulsively. I want them to be very intentional and understand that they are the creators Of the reality they face tomorrow.

[00:11:37] So with that purpose in mind, I think I found that my work in corporate training really aligned. With what I wanted my impact to be on the world and that's why I think I fell in love with it. I actually in order to get there had to change my attitude in my customer service job that [00:12:00] I hated so much because I was close to getting fired and they were very clear about that.

[00:12:05] They told me 1 slip up. I was gone. So the 1st thing that I had to do was. Changed my mind about how I felt about my customer service job, but in identifying my purpose, it changed the way I looked at the customer service aspect as well. It wasn't just robotic exchanges with customers. It was real conversations and getting to know customers and making them feel good about themselves.

[00:12:32] And that changed. I think my whole career trajectory. It wasn't finding a new job. It was finding a new mindset about my place in the world.

[00:12:42] Scott Maderer: And that's what I wanted to call out is that idea? Because I think a lot of times people are like. I hate my job. It must be because I have a calling somewhere else.

[00:12:53] Or conversely, people will be like, I feel like there's something else I should be doing, but I really love my job. So I'm [00:13:00] not going to go do it. And in both of those situations you're right. You're wrong. It's cause it's not really about the job or the assignment that you're doing that day.

[00:13:11] It's about that internal mindset that you have that lets because again, you have to leave something that you loved to go do something else that at least. You think you're going to love even more and enjoy even more and you've been doing it for a while and you find out whether or not that's true or not.

[00:13:30] But that takes overcoming a lot of fear to what helped you launch out on your own? I think

[00:13:40] Lena Scullard: it was really that continued Exploration of my strengths and talents, and I think it was also learning about confidence, like the neuroscience right of mindset and attitude [00:14:00] and confidence and realizing that.

[00:14:04] I have an unlimited amount of resources, especially at my disposal. I feel so grateful to be living in the day and age that we're living right now. There are literally endless resources for people wanting to do, learn, or start any task. For me, it was just a matter of learning. If I'm going to do this professionally, if I'm going to go out on my own and speak and train, I have to learn the business side of things.

[00:14:38] I am really good at facilitating and conversation and dialogue. I am really good on a stage in front of a room. I have my theater roots to thank for that, but I really had to learn about the business side of things right and how you write program descriptions and how you market yourself and contracts and fee structures and things like that.

[00:14:59] But [00:15:00] all of those resources are out there. You just have to go be willing to take action. And I think that's another reason why I wanted to do this is often you see people go to these conferences or these trainings and they hear these amazing stories and leave inspired and then they do nothing and. So making change in your life requires action of some kind.

[00:15:25] You must do something different today than you did yesterday or nothing isn't going to change for you.

[00:15:34] Scott Maderer: My podcast has a faith based component as well. And can you talk a little bit about how your faith journey through that journey that you went through when you started as a kid and by the way, every kid is the weird kid you were a substitute teacher too.

[00:15:50] You've seen this as an adult, when you walk into a school, it's you suddenly figure out. Oh, it wasn't just me. Every kid is treated like those [00:16:00] kids are horrible to each other.

[00:16:04] There's nothing meaner than a middle school. So you know, you went through all of these journeys. How did your faith journey intersect with all

[00:16:13] Lena Scullard: of this? I'm so glad you asked that question because I recently have started speaking from a faith perspective because it is such a huge part of my life, but it wasn't traditionally part of my business model in the corporate world.

[00:16:30] I grew up in the church. And I did all of the obligatory youth ministry things. I sang the songs. I learned the prayer. I had my first communion. I was confirmed.

[00:16:49] And while that found a place deep within me. The second I became an adult, and I think this happens to a lot of people, the second I [00:17:00] turned 18, that was not a focus for me in my life I went out to pursue the silver screen and to get a degree in the theater and to become rich and famous and walk the red carpet and stuff like that.

[00:17:13] Yeah. God didn't have a place in that. And I really think that's partially why I fell into such a deep place of kind of depression and darkness for those years of my life. And it wasn't until I started to experience that attitude change, that mindset change, that I was asked To come and participate in vacation Bible school summer for those are that don't know what vacation Bible school is.

[00:17:46] That's that week of the summer that all the kids come together and

[00:17:51] Scott Maderer: all they have to get it's the gateway drug to getting volunteers to hook into doing things at church.

[00:17:56] Lena Scullard: Oh, gosh. It's so is because all they asked [00:18:00] me to do is use my education, which you Talent for theater to do a skit every day.

[00:18:06] Can you just come for about a half hour every day and play this part with the pastor and do this skit? The kids will love you really ham it up. And so I had agreed to do that and you're right. It's a gateway because the next thing I know. I am the co director of the youth program for the church.

[00:18:26] I am the project lead on Vacation Bible School. I have been for the last five years. I coordinate the whole thing. But not only that, but I've served as a vice chair on the church council through COVID. I really felt like God put me there in that chair at that time for a reason. Because. I'm probably one of the younger people on that council and had the innovation [00:19:00] and creativity to find ways to get us through the pandemic.

[00:19:04] I don't know what would have happened with our church through the pandemic. If there hadn't been someone there to say, you know what? I'll learn zoom. We'll figure out how to stream. We can keep services going. And then now as a professional speaker, it's really important to me that I continue to give back to the church.

[00:19:27] So I lead worship once a month. And that is really valuable to me as well, to be able to continue to study scripture and again, align. Any sermon that I give aligns with that purpose that I have for myself in helping people understand that they are valuable and they are capable and that. They can take action and being able to [00:20:00] give that message alongside the message that we can do all of those things easier and with more joy when we know that God walks beside us when we know that Jesus walks beside us.

[00:20:20] Is inspirational for me in my life. I feel like since I've started speaking to the world and started volunteering as a speaker for church, my relationship with God has gotten so strong daily conversation and. Daily prayer and asking for guidance and in the direction and the choices that I make.

[00:20:49] I also feel like I, when I, especially when I talk about mental resilience is one of the talks that I give, I really feel like [00:21:00] my spirituality and my faith plays such a huge role. In my ability to be mentally resilient when hard things happen in life, my ability to take a step back and sit in a space for just a minute with God and ask and say this sucks.

[00:21:22] I'm going to trust that this is happening to me for a reason and that I can make something great out of it because I know that. God doesn't put things in front of me that I can't handle and that everything is there to teach me a lesson or to help inspire others, I think, is also a really valuable part of me on the faith side of my life.

[00:21:54] Scott Maderer: You've mentioned the word choice probably about 20 times since we started talking[00:22:00] and I think that's important because you're talking about choice as something that we have the power of doing. But again, I think you mentioned it offhandedly earlier. Sometimes when we're in the, when we're in those dark spots, we don't feel like we have the power of choice we feel stuck, I think was the word you actually use was stuck.

[00:22:25] Can talk a little bit about for that listener out there, that's hearing what you're talking about and gone. I don't have, I can't do this. I don't have the power of choice. I'm stuck in a bad job. I'm stuck in a bad relationship. I'm stuck in a bad financial situation, whatever it is.

[00:22:41] What would you say to that listener that's hearing what you're saying right now and is going I can't do that.

[00:22:49] Lena Scullard: I completely relate. The number of debates and conversations that I've had with people about this idea of the power of choice and the [00:23:00] idea that I hear often, and I'm sure everyone hears often is that I didn't have a choice and my

[00:23:06] Scott Maderer: response.

[00:23:06] I love those. Yeah, I had to. I had to. So

[00:23:12] Lena Scullard: 1 of the earliest. Thought leaders that I was exposed to through professional development training and my discovery of cognitive and behavioral psychology and kind of the neuroscience of attitude and action was Viktor Frankl. And Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps and he survived.

[00:23:39] And after the liberation, he wrote a book called Man's Search for Meaning. It's one of my favorite books and he describes just the horror and atrocity of what they went through as prisoners, [00:24:00] but he took his time during that experience to make scientific observation about what was happening to them and about how different people responded differently.

[00:24:16] A huge part of my life, I feel, is just based off this one quote, because it has stuck with me, and that is, he observed that between stimulus and response, between the things that happen to us, that we don't get to choose, and our response, we all have a space. And he said, it's in that space that we have our greatest human freedom.

[00:24:49] It is a freedom that no one can take away from us. And imagine the situation he was in when he discovered this. But he said, that is our freedom [00:25:00] to choose. We don't get to choose what happens to us. But we always get to choose how we want to think about consciously. and behave as a result. So that's why the power of choice, I feel like is so important in my life.

[00:25:23] And it was pivotal for me in getting myself out of that really dark stuck space. Oftentimes it's easier and I totally get that it is easier to say I didn't have a choice or it's easier to be the victim or to place blame on the things and the people around you that create the circumstances that are happening to you.

[00:25:53] But what I also found is that when you take ownership of that space, when you take [00:26:00] ownership. For how you choose to think about and feel about what's happening to you, the feeling of empowerment that you get from that and that little piece of control that you get back in your life is so powerful, and it's so empowering.

[00:26:21] When you give all your power away to the things that are outside of yourself, that's the fastest and easiest way, I think, to get stuck. Or to end up living a life that, at the end, you feel wasn't even your own. Because you let everyone and everything else control every aspect of your life, including your own self esteem and your own self image.

[00:26:43] When people feel like they're in a place where they don't have a choice, I will agree with you that you didn't have an easy choice. that you didn't have a good choice, but you still had a choice. [00:27:00] Even if you couldn't choose what to do, you still got to choose how you were going to think about it and internalize it.

[00:27:09] And that's a powerful thing. When you start to take ownership of that in the worst and hardest of situations, you'll be surprised at how Much more confident and capable. You feel in coming out the other side of those circumstances

[00:27:28] Scott Maderer: and as people are journeying through that, another part that I know comes up is around the idea of.

[00:27:37] And like you just mentioned, sometimes we have choices, but it doesn't feel like we have any good ones it's here's 17 choices. They all are terrible let me choose the this one's bad. This one's worse. This one sucks. And let me figure out where in this continuum do I want to go?

[00:27:57] How does the our ability [00:28:00] to. To go through periods of acceptance of forgiveness, and sometimes that self acceptance and self forgiveness too. How does that fit into this relationship with our power of choice?

[00:28:13] Lena Scullard: The program that I teach, and acceptance is a piece of that, is called Stitch It Up, and it's really about that space that Viktor Frankl talked about, and it's a system for self reflection in that space that helps you move from your awareness of what's happening to you and how you're feeling about it, through to an intentional action of how I'm going to move forward from this thing.

[00:28:42] So there are four A's that I teach people. It starts with Awareness, then we move through Acceptance, Then we choose an attitude and then we choose our accountability. Awareness is the piece where we understand that so much of what consumes our energy in times of challenge [00:29:00] and stress is worry over things we have no control over.

[00:29:06] So when I talk about this with a Christian audience, I talk about giving God what is his but it's really about differentiating in any given situation. What is causing me stress and where do I not have any control? What are the things that I need to let go of? And when I ask people for examples the typical things come up, we can't control the weather.

[00:29:30] We can't control road construction. There's all these things, but inevitably somebody brings up other people's behavior. And it's one of the hardest things to accept that we cannot control other people's behavior.

[00:29:46] Scott Maderer: But it would be so much easier if everyone just did what I told them, right? Or

[00:29:50] Lena Scullard: if I could just, yeah,

[00:29:54] Scott Maderer: if everyone just did everything I said, it would be so much easier.

[00:29:59] Lena Scullard: And there's [00:30:00]

[00:30:00] Scott Maderer: always inevitably somebody

[00:30:01] Lena Scullard: too, who's been really hurt by someone who says, I can't I can't accept, I can't forgive. I can't let that person off the hook to which I always talk about. I say, there's 2 things that really helped me with this in my processing of other people's bad behavior.

[00:30:21] 1 is. Everybody is doing the best they can with what they know based on their history and life experiences and perspective of how the world works. They're just doing the best they can with what they know. So that helps because it really their behavior is disrespectful or incompetent or inconsiderate as it feels to me, their behavior is really more about them.

[00:30:50] Then it is about me. So that helps me forgive and let go. And then the second thing I let people know is that when you learn to [00:31:00] be intentional in that space, when you learn to let go of people's behavior and really ask yourself, what do I want the outcome of the relationship with this person to be and choose attitudes and actions that help you get that outcome, then you can develop.

[00:31:25] A circle of influence, and we hear that term, right? Like your circle of influence. Nobody has ever been convinced to change or be different through force, fear, condemnation, right? Anger, belittling, and yet. Our egos cause us to do this. Like we lash out at people thinking that it's going to change them in some way.

[00:31:52] That's not how we get people to change their behavior or their attitudes. We do it through influence. And you can only [00:32:00] influence. When you're good at taking that injury or insult from that person, and then finding the space to process it and say, you know what, that says more about them than it says about me, and I want this to come out of this interaction with that person.

[00:32:19] So I'm going to think about and say. This I'm going to behave this way so that I get the outcome that I want. That's how we grow influence. I believe

[00:32:29] Scott Maderer: one of the things that I've said to people using your terms of awareness first and acceptance as you said, awareness is what do I actually have some control over?

[00:32:38] What does God actually have control over? A lot of times acceptance is once I've given things over to God, am I going to pick them back up again or not? If I can accept it, I can leave it with God when I can't accept it is when I'm like, and hey, here God here handled it. Oh, by the way, here, let me have it back.

[00:32:57] I'm going to carry it around for a while longer. [00:33:00]

[00:33:02] Lena Scullard: Yes, but I think awareness is the first part because if we don't take that time to really. Think through what we do control and what we don't, that we just continue to worry about and try to control everything, trying to control everything. And we waste so much time and energy and resources in that way.

[00:33:20] And

[00:33:22] Scott Maderer: I believe it was Mark Twain. He said, maybe it wasn't Mark Twain because he was a DS, but it is one of those writers. But he said something along the lines of the great the greatest day in my life was when I discovered there was a God. The second greatest day in my life was when I discovered there was a God.

[00:33:41] The greatest day is when I discovered it wasn't me.

[00:33:45] Lena Scullard: Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Absolutely. The other

[00:33:50] Scott Maderer: thing I want to say too, with acceptance is that usually in

[00:33:53] Lena Scullard: an acceptance conversation like this, Letting go of what we can't control dominates the [00:34:00] conversation, which is understandable. It's one of the hardest things to do.

[00:34:04] I always also remind people that there's another side of that coin, and that is that you do have to accept control for what you can control. And I've seen lists on social media, long lists of things I can control, but it really comes down to 2 things. Your conscious thoughts. And your actions, those are the only 2 things in the entire universe that you have total and complete control over what you think in your brain.

[00:34:34] And what you actually do. And so sometimes harder still is taking accountability for those two things, right? Because again, sometimes it just feels good to behave badly. Sometimes it just feels easier to blame and be the victim, but really taking ownership of what you can do is so empowering.

[00:34:58] Scott Maderer: So I've got a few questions [00:35:00] that I like to ask all of my guests, but before I go there, is there anything else about the work you do or the message that you share that.

[00:35:07] You'd like to share with the listener.

[00:35:10] Lena Scullard: Sure. I have a few different topics that I'm really passionate about, but at the end of the day, when I come into an organization to speak or do a training, the end goal for me is helping people understand that in any given situation in their life, they have the ability.

[00:35:35] To take a pause, step back, look at things from a bigger picture, a different perspective, and then make different choices that will get them better outcomes. And what happens. When we're able to do that at an organization level is that you get teams of people that are more productive with their time are more [00:36:00] confident in dealing with each other and the other people that we need to make our organizations run with all of the emergence of AI and the things that people are worried about.

[00:36:11] I. Feel completely confident that no matter how much technology takes over, companies will not run without people and people are complex, emotional thinking beings and helping them continue to develop emotional intelligence throughout their life is vital. I think to any company success. Technology regardless.

[00:36:36] That's my message is if you feel like people are struggling, getting burned out, stressed out, stuck, that's when I go in and try to help people see how to get unstuck using choice.

[00:36:52] Scott Maderer: Absolutely. So my brand is Inspired Stewardship. And I run things through that lens of stewardship. And yet that's one of those [00:37:00] words that I've discovered over the years means a lot of different things to a lot of different people different people here at different ways.

[00:37:07] So when you hear that word stewardship, what does it mean to you and how has that understanding affected your life?

[00:37:15] Lena Scullard: Stewardship was one of the things that actually attracted me to start following you and your podcast. And it's one of those words, I have a speaker friend, we do a workshop together called building ships, right?

[00:37:28] And so it's relationships, partnerships, leadership, but stewardship is one of those ships that I think is about committing yourself to service. With something that's bigger than you, that's bigger than just the loved ones around you. And it's not just about being kind in the world, [00:38:00] it's about action. I think, but I'm a very action focused person.

[00:38:05] So to me, stewardship is not just being, but doing of service, applying yourself to serve something bigger.

[00:38:21] Scott Maderer: So this is my favorite question that I like to get. Ask everybody. Imagine for a minute, I invented this magic machine and with this machine, I could pluck you from where you are today and transport you to the future, maybe 150, 250 years, but through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life and see all of the connections, all of the ripples, all of the impacts you've left behind.

[00:38:44] What impact do you hope you've left behind in the world?

[00:38:47] Lena Scullard: Oh, that's such a good question. It's one of the activities that I do in my Mission Accomplished program. So that's the name of my goal setting program because it starts with the idea of [00:39:00] legacy. So I'm actually very good at this question.

[00:39:04] Scott Maderer: What I would tell people, it's the nicer version of the write your own obituary question.

[00:39:09] Right.

[00:39:10] Lena Scullard: Yeah, exactly. So

[00:39:13] Scott Maderer: I didn't have to kill you. It's

[00:39:14] Lena Scullard: my Angela, right? It's people won't remember what you said or what you did, which often is in an obituary, but people will remember how you made them feel. So I hope that the legacy I leave behind is one that people say. Lina made me feel strong. Lina made me feel like I could do and conquer anything.

[00:39:42] Lina helped me realize that I can accomplish things and that I'm capable.

[00:39:58] Yeah, that's, [00:40:00] at the end of the day, that's really what I want my legacy to be. I want to help individuals. Be intentional with their choices so they can get the best possible outcomes and see that they can be their own heroes. Be your own hero campaign. I'll

[00:40:19] Scott Maderer: have someday. So what's coming next for you as you finish out the rest of this year.

[00:40:24] What's on the road map?

[00:40:26] Lena Scullard: We've got school starting up. I do a lot of back to school kind of staff rallies, especially around this idea of purpose. I think that it's one that a lot of teachers this teaching is a calling, right? Nobody goes into teaching to get rich. And

[00:40:48] Scott Maderer: if they didn't do any research

[00:40:53] Lena Scullard: But we also know that we're losing teachers at a rapid rate and it's one of the [00:41:00] professions experiencing the highest amount of burnout right now.

[00:41:03] And I think we also can all agree that it's 1 of the most important roles that anyone can play in the development of. Our tomorrow because these kids are going to be our leaders and our society of tomorrow. So inspiring them to recommit to that calling that they first felt and that purpose and that passion.

[00:41:29] And I think also understanding how we can develop a sense of purpose in our youth is really important. So I talk about pursuing purpose. Over potential, I actually hate the word potential to describe human achievement, because I think it's pointless. That's what's coming up for me. Fall should be pretty jam packed but I do still have some dates open if anybody listening is a school administrator and is [00:42:00] interested in letting me come and inspire some.

[00:42:04] Recommitment to purpose in their staff. I would love to have a conversation.

[00:42:10] Scott Maderer: And you can find out more about Lena Scullard on her website. It's at Lena scullard. com. That's L E N a S C U L a R D. com. Of course, I'll have a link to that over in the show notes as well. Lena, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

[00:42:31] Lena Scullard: It takes practice.

[00:42:36] It's a daily habit of, I like mental fitness as a term over mental health. It takes practice to spend time in reflection with your conscious thoughts. It takes practice to recognize that space between stimulus and response. So spend some time every day, whether [00:43:00] you like to journal, meditate, exercise, whatever that is, find an activity that allows you to be alone with your thoughts.

[00:43:09] And just reflect through that idea of what is my purpose? What am I feeling called toward that goes beyond roles, motherhood, spouse. The job title you have. Go deeper than that. What are you meant to do for others in this world? I think once you figure that out, everything else just falls into place.

[00:43:36] It gets really easy to know what to do with your day, how to make decisions, what to say yes to, what to say no to. But again, it is a practice. You have to practice that reflection every day.

[00:43:54] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and [00:44:00] listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspiredstewardship.

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