THE IMPERFECT SHOW NOTES

To help make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who like to read rather than listen to podcasts, here are our show notes.

These show notes come via the Otter.ai service. The transcription is imperfect. But hopefully, it’s close enough – even with the errors – to give those who aren’t able or inclined to learn from audio interviews a way to participate.

Blair Glaser  00:00

When I went for a visit to the ashram there was this time where I was like chopping these potatoes and I was like this is never going to end. But all of a sudden I got so absorbed in the task. And I was on a sort of Kundalini high from the from the service. And when I wanted to live in the ashram, I thought I could do this I could be chanting all day, like, you know, peeling carrots and cleaning up after people and the job that I ended up getting was as an assistant to a swami

Achim Nowak  00:33

Hey, this is Achim Nowak, executive coach and host of the MY FOURTH ACT podcast. If life is a five act play, how will you spend your for that? I have conversations with exceptional humans who have created bold and unexpected FOURTH ACTS, listen, and to be inspired. And please rate us and subscribe on whatever platform you are listening on. Let’s get started. I am just delighted to welcome Blair Glaser to the MY FOURTH ACT podcast. Blair is a writer and executive and organizational consultant and a leadership mentor. She specializes in helping leaders step into their authority and create truly collaborative cultures. Blair likes to say authority is attractive. And I love that phrase. I was itching to have a conversation with Blair because Blair has truly lived multiple acts. These acts include living in an ashram getting a graduate degree in becoming a licensed a graduate degree in drama therapy, and becoming a licensed psychotherapist entering her first marriage in middle age, and after decades of living in New York City and upstate New York, packing up with her husband, and moving to Los Angeles. Hi, Blair.

Blair Glaser  01:59

Hi, Achim. I am so excited about this conversation due to confess, I wouldn’t say we know each other well, but we have crossed paths at different stages in our lives. And originally in New York, and I most recently had the pleasure of spending time with you and Erin in Los Angeles and your beautiful. Thank you.

Achim Nowak  02:21

When you were a young girl, a teenager growing up and you thought about who you wanted to be in life. What are you thinking about Blair?

02:32

I knew exactly what I wanted to be in life. When I was young. I wanted to be an actress and a singer. And I knew that because I lived in New York and my parents took me to see The Fantasticks, which was then the longest running musical.

02:47

Yeah, I remember the

02:49

smell of that theater and the threadbare covering on the seats, the purple seats. And there was this woman singing right at me. And I had chills up and down my spine. And I thought, wow, I mean, as I look back on it, I think it was my first spiritual experience. But I thought I want to do that and make people feel the way she made me feel.

Achim Nowak  03:18

What I’m also if I remember this correctly, The Fantasticks was running in a pretty small theater. Right? Tiny. So where my mind is going as you’re talking is, you had a very intimate experience, and there’s an intimacy to that theater. And if we think ahead to the work you’re doing now, there is a level of intimacy in what you do, even though it doesn’t look like this. Right?

03:40

Always. Always intimacy has definitely been one of the cornerstones of my work.

Achim Nowak  03:45

I love that you said that for me, too. I’ve always chosen intimacy overscale. So I know exactly what you mean.

03:52

Yes, yes, sometimes to my great dismay. But it is really a true core principle of mine to see overscale. Yeah.

Achim Nowak  04:04

Well, hopefully we’ll get to talk about that a little more. One of the things that has always intrigued me about you because you’ve written about it and spoken about freely is that you spend some time visiting an ashram of a certain denomination, but then you live there for a while. And as you know, I’ve been to that very same ashram. Yes. But unlike you, I didn’t move in that’s an a profound choice to say I’m going to leave one life and submit and I mean, submit in the best possible sense to a completely different life.

04:44

Yes.

Achim Nowak  04:47

What moved you to say hey, I think I want to live in an ashram or this Ashram.

04:58

So I Around the time when I came into connection with the teacher of that ashram, I was pretty depressed. The classic signs of people that get involved in spiritual kinds of groups, I felt isolated. I had some tools and knowledge about it, which is different than a lot of other people. But still, if we look at the timeline, we were living in the eye, this was the 80s and early 90s, when new age and wellness was booming. There were no psych meds yet. And I had a longing that I felt very gradually over time, as I tested it, this teacher and her practices started to make sense to me as a place where I could find the inner connection that I was looking for. It wasn’t that I met her and said, I want to move into the ashram. It was a long period of testing and feeling that my life was changing as I was doing the practices, and then wanting to have a relationship with this teacher to get really into the fire of spiritual growth. And there was nothing that I loved more than waking up at dawn and chanting and focusing on my spiritual life. So even though it was a choice, it was also very much a calling. And the last thing I’ll say about it is that it was a reset. I mean, I got to push pause on all of that ambitious striving and go to a place where this there was a schedule, there were rules I could follow. There was a process that I felt that I was gaining mastery in and my meals were cooked for me. And I had a room. And that was very powerful.

Achim Nowak  06:49

One aspect of that particular community that’s very important there was having a kundalini awakening and Kundalini as if you’re not familiar with it, that is a call it the big energy, the the energy of the world and the universe, the divine in the awakening, as we suddenly feel it move into us, in us through us. And it changes how we experience ourselves in how we experience the world. And that’s part of the attractions of this Ashram but other communities. So I’m curious, did you have that big awakening? How did you experience that? Or did you yearn for these long did your long for it?

07:35

Well, I will say that I have had experiences of the truth, which is a really esoteric thing to say. And I don’t want to take too much of your your listeners time talking about that. But I believe the awakening happened in a dream. In this dream. I was in college and in college, I worked as a waitress and I was waitressing in my dream. And the bell rang to come pick up the food, but I couldn’t find myself. So I went through the double doors, looking all over the restaurant for myself. And I ended up in a party with a lot of smoke and people chatting, I couldn’t find myself. And all of a sudden, the teacher poof comes out in her red robes and walks towards me. And you know, she’s very playful. And she cocked her head to one side and said in her slight Indian accent, so you’re looking for yourself in these places. And in the dream, I started to laugh, and she’s laughing with me. And she takes me by the hand she says complex look for you. And that, to me, was textbook, you know, sort of an awakening dream where I realized there was another place where my identity existed that was beyond these physical forms and roles.

Achim Nowak  08:57

Another memory I have of that community in the center in New York. And I remembering it because you talked about having been a waitress is I would do Seva, which is selfless service. And I would work in the kitchen. And the whole idea is that you know, save a man doing stuff that you used to think you are too hard shit to do, right? So this was about humbling yourself about cleaning bussing tables. And that was part of my learning when I would do save ourselves with service. I worked in the kitchen, which is normal life. You know, I’m not a kitchen guy at all. And I would clean up after people. And I would imagine living in an ashram, you did a lot of seva. You did a lot of very mundane tasks. Is that Is that correct in that assumption?

09:46

Well, no. And that’s what’s so funny is that when I went for a visit to the ashram, there was this time where I was like chopping these potatoes and I was like this is never going to end. But all of a sudden I got so absorbed in the task and I I was on a sort of Kundalini high from the from the service. And when I wanted to live in the ashram, I thought I could do this. I could be chanting all day, like, you know, peeling carrots and cleaning up after people. And the job that I ended up getting was as an assistant to a swami which is very different than what I had thought of, and a whole different ballgame.

Achim Nowak  10:29

I’m obviously really curious. Since when we moved to an ashram, that’s it’s a commitment to a certain kind of life. At one point, you said, I have to get out of here. What? What prompted you to decide to get out of there?

10:48

Well, there are three factors. And because I’ve written a book about this, I don’t know if I want to tell them all. But the surprise factor is that I started to become bored. I was bored. I was doing the same thing every day going those programs the same introductory message that we would give the people that were there for the first time, the same structure. I started to remember other callings that I had and felt that I had now had enough self esteem to start to pursue them.

Achim Nowak  11:21

Nice. I’m a big fan of drama therapy. It’s a very, instead of a niche that combines so different things, and I think it attracts people with unique backgrounds and say, I think drama therapy is what I want to do. You mentioned that you drink drunk to being an actress after seeing The Fantasticks. How did you go from there to ashram to oh, let me get a master’s degree in drama therapy.

11:55

So I did want to be an actress when I was young, and I studied it fervently for many years, I went to Northwestern for theater. When I got out, I thought I wanted to try it again that I felt I had enough self esteem and I had moved beyond the crippling insecurity. And I got a job as a writer at Playbill online. Playboy magazine was just going online. I was doing data management, I was doing interviews, and it was a great way to be in the theater world use my writing skills, which by the way, I had developed even more at the ashram and also be, you know, have time to go on auditions. So probably I don’t know, it’s about 26. And I was in a show it was an off off off off off off Broadway show. And I had a friend of mine come to see. And she looked at me and she was like, Why did you do this show? Because it was really, really bad. Yeah. And her question just caught me off guard. And I realized in that moment that I was going to be looking at a life of getting small parts in maybe decent shows, and then having long spans of not working. And at that point, I had done so much personal growth and healing. I knew that that’s really what I love the most about theatre is its ability to help the actors transform. And that’s when I thought, I want to teach acting, and I want to help people grow through acting. I thought I invented trauma therapy. But I didn’t. And while I was contemplating getting my master’s, I talked to people at playbill. And I became the first actor advice internet columnist with a column called Ask. Cool. That was cool.

Achim Nowak  13:44

The column was asked Blair. I always wonder when I see columns like that, are those real questions that people send in? Or are those questions that the writer invents? Because they think that well, that’s just the 60 questions. So let me just make it up. Did you get real questions?

14:02

I got real questions. I really got questions, I swear, although I have thought that when I read these other columns, but but I did get real customers. That was one of the ways that I could convince them to let me have the role is that people would write in how do you get a job in New York City? In theater? How do you and so once it became a thing, then people actually started sending more questions directed towards me and the kinds of things I write

Achim Nowak  14:30

you know, what really strikes me as we’re talking is that each next step so far in your story is in a way, it’s a hybrid identity. It has part of past interest, but it also moves you into something new. So it’s not a full break. It’s a continuation evolution and and your previous yearnings desires are integrated into what you’re doing next step. Am I reading that correctly?

15:00

You’re not only reading that correctly, but I want to bring us into the present by saying that because you’ve described it so well that it’s really an evolution of the skills I’ve already developed, but yet still a yearning to grow into new skills. And that that has been true my entire life that I have the unique ability to guide other people through similar processes. So while I’m working with leaders, and organizations, I’m also now offering individuals read, you know, going back to individual work, that holding environment, questioning environment, help them understand what all of the skills they have developed, were purposed for in birthing this new evolution.

Achim Nowak  15:43

Well, then also by go again, I mean, anything by going back to individuals you’re going back to, to me, it’s the highest degree of impotency right in the work, you know, it’s the one on one I, that’s what I do as an executive coach, and it’s just so incredibly satisfying. I agree. We just talked about as Blair and writing, I’m we’re fellow writers, I’m realizing how many parallels you and I have is, we’re

16:10

Nikolas arts.

Achim Nowak  16:15

Here’s where I want to take the concept in. On my podcast, most people are writers or write books, it’s not always the primary thing they do it, but it just turns out the way. And I’m always curious, when I started writing, seriously, and then I knew I was clear that I was writing about stuff that I wanted to write about, but I was writing for an audience. So I wasn’t writing in my journal, I wasn’t writing to discover new things about me. I was writing to engage an audience. So what’s your relationship to your potential audience or potential leader? When you decide what you want to write about?

16:57

I think that I’m still discovering new answers to that question. What I will start with is a question that I have. And I will ask around, usually people in my world online, if that question resonates for them, or it’s something that I’m seeing in my work, and I form a basic opinion that this is now happening, and I can talk about it as a thing. So I have several audiences. I mean, one, one is leaders and people in the workplace. Another are, I would say people similar, you know, 40s 50s 60s, who are still growing, still interested in growing, I’m interested in cultivating a relationship with a younger reader, because I think that the memoir of living in the ashram will appeal to those particular identity struggles. So I’m still answering that question. But I do love to write into a question to find out what my thoughts are about it. And to surprise myself in that way. Since you

Achim Nowak  17:57

mentioned the memoir a few times, and we don’t have to go the details. I know you’re chopping it around right now. It has a wonderful title. And you’ve already used the verb in it, but cook maybe would you just mention the Title and Title? Yes. And why you chose that title.

18:13

The title is called this incredible longing. And when I first reached out to the teacher, a letter that I wrote was answered, probably about nine months after I wrote it having forgotten that I had written it. And she sent me a poem on a very dark day. And that poem, in that poem, where’s the line? It is this incredible longing, that makes our meeting possible.

Achim Nowak  18:46

That’s it That’s powerful. It’s also very seductive, isn’t it? When you get oh, yes, it’s like, okay, honey, I’m running over to you.

18:57

We’re not gonna get into all the dark shit about how seductive the you know, the whole organization is and was, that’s definitely a piece of it. But we can talk about that in another podcast, maybe?

Achim Nowak  19:09

Well, maybe. But since you alluded that we don’t have to go deep on it. But in the last two years, during, during the pandemic, you know, there have been lots of like Netflix documentaries about people who were in spiritual slash cult, like organizations. And I’m not labeling where you were like that at all. But the common denominator is that, you know, we, it’s possible to become pulled into a very tight set of beliefs and operating norms that at some point become restrictive, you know. So maybe can you speak about that without necessarily being about your Ashram but the sense that we are going to community, belonging and then belonging can actually get killed, right? So

20:03

totally. I do think that the ashram that I lived in had those shave your elements, I wasn’t barred from leaving, there are certain checkmarks for cult that massage on doesn’t have. And yet, it kind of fits the bill. I mean, there was groupthink, and there was a set of beliefs that you were, you know, really supposed to adopt. And I think what protected me ending up like a lot of the people in the documentaries that we’ve seen, and I have written for HuffPost, and one or two other publications about seeing these documentaries, and the ways that my ashram was similar is that I tested it for so long, you know, there was the meeting, then there was the rejection, then I had the dream that I still didn’t want to be involved. And I watched my best friend got involved and still resisted it, then I was having a really hard time. And I did, you know, I was on the edge of really doing something drastic. And I tried to remember the mantra, and it turned things around, you know, I felt this oceanic experience of inner peace after after sitting down and that was me by myself experiencing it, nobody could take it from me, I wasn’t when I experienced that I wasn’t in a group. So then when I went into the group, and I saw some of the group thing, and I saw some of the ways they pushed the classes, I could be disdainful of it, because I had already owned my own experience of the power of the practices.

Achim Nowak  21:36

A word from your sponsor, that’s me. I invite you to go to the website associated with this podcast www.my, fourth act.com, you will find other equally inspiring conversation with great humans. And you will also learn more about the my fourth act mastermind groups where cool people figure out how to chart their own fourth acts. Please check it out. And now back to the conversation. The wonderful segue to the word authority that is part of the work you do as an organizational and leadership consultant. And I love how you own the word authority. That can we play with this one because I authority gone bad can go into ego mania, it can go into grandiosity and all those things. authority at its finest is what for you Blair?

22:44

I want to talk about it in two ways. There’s, there’s no authority, and there’s professional authority. And it’s important distinction, personal authority, I like to say is confidence plus creativity, it’s really about being in the driver’s seat of your life. Yeah, nice. Our authority can be decreased when we experience things in which we are victim. But through going through the healing process of that victimization experience, you can get back into your authority, you can get back into the driver’s seat of your life. So it’s always available to you personal authority, professional authority is different, because the power that you have is dictated by the role that you’re playing in an organization. So you can be a person that is very evolved and standing in your personal authority. But if you’re working in an organization, and you’re sort of mid level, you can’t necessarily bring all that authority into the role only as it pertains to what you’re doing, if that makes sense. Does that make sense?

Achim Nowak  23:51

Totally makes sense, right?

23:53

Um, to speak about authority gone bad. I would argue that those people who abuse their sense of personal authority are not actually in their authority at all. That they’re being driven by something else. And you know, the true aspects of who they are kind of fled the building, and they’re on some kind of track. They’re very out of control, in all honesty. doesn’t mean they’re not powerful. Yeah. Yeah.

Achim Nowak  24:26

Well, and the same thing is I don’t want to go back to the spiritual gurus. But the same thing is true spiritual gurus who have incredible authority, but they’re all these tails of it. going off the rails are going wrong and gurus abusing the authority they have and we don’t need to go into the mud with that, but as you’re describing it, it’s cutscene cutscenes. All of it is connected. It’s why you have to talk about professional role and this is where my mind man, my mind went When I first met you, you were a single woman. And I believe, if I’m wrong correctly that you had never been married. I don’t know if you were looking to be married. But sometime in your 40s, you met a fellow wonderful man who I had the privilege of meeting recently in LA. And you did get married? And? Well, let’s just stop there. Well, how how did that come about? Were you surprised? Did you expect it? Did you just surrender to what was happening? How did it go from? Oh, I’m getting hard to get to. I’m getting married now.

25:44

I mean, do you have another hour?

Achim Nowak  25:49

Just give me the juicy details Blair. Okay.

25:53

I didn’t want to be married, I had wanted to be married since my late 20s. I thought it was gonna happen with someone who got cold feet, and left. I been trying ever since that particular relationship to find the right partner, and it took the rest of my 30s and most of my 40s Before I met him.

Achim Nowak  26:19

And what was it about Aaron?

26:25

There are two things. I mean, first of all, he was incredibly persistent. I got to test him for a long time. And it kept showing up, and it kept showing up. And he kept showing up. I mean, I could say so many nice things about my husband, he’s calm, he’s caring, he’s laid back, he’s very easy to be with. But we have similar visions, and we are both late in life, trying to recreate ourselves. And that’s a wonderful joint vision for us, because we know exactly what we’re doing together and how to support each other. So there’s timing, and there are so many things about him. But I can also say that, you know, I had spent so much time data gathering with all the men that I had these relations, lots of research, were Glaser lots of research, that, you know, after a nice period of testing, I really got okay, you know, this is about as good as it’s gonna get. This is a high quality partner for me.

Achim Nowak  27:27

I just appreciate the way you described your journey into into marriage. Since we talked about acting and roles, professional roles, you know, husband and wife are our roles that we can sort of settle into, we can make choices about it. Maybe those roles don’t are completely irrelevant in your marriage. I don’t know. But how does that play out in your fairly new marriage with Erin, it’s been how many years?

28:04

It’ll be four in October. I’m so glad you asked that. Because I think when we met, I was really working on some thought leadership, about leadership in intimacy. And I have brought a lot of those skills and ideas into our relationship. They’re definitely roles. But one of the things that Aaron and I do together is discuss who’s in charge of what. So we make it very conscious, you know, I’m in charge of the kitchen. And he understands that, you know, I delegate cleaning to him, that works, we don’t fight about it anymore, because it’s just an understood. At the same time, he really takes care of the house. So if there are things that I have questions about, if there are things that I want to be fixed, I run it by him, he’s really the one that has the final authority on whether or not we’re going to do what I want based on a number of things, you know, the availability, the finances, all of those things. So we use our different skill sets in those ways. It’s a looks a little traditional, but it’s kind of not in the other ways, too.

Achim Nowak  29:21

Yeah. And it’s okay to be a little traditional and all of that. Oh

29:26

my god, I forgotten that in today’s world. Yeah. But I think you’re right.

Achim Nowak  29:32

Yeah. You you use this beautiful phrase, my bad I’m paraphrasing now, but you just said about where we’re two people who are little later in life are reinventing themselves and we have a clear vision for what we want. And as part of your reinvention at a certain stage in your lives you you are living in sexy, glamorous Woodstock, New York, and you picked up and you’ll live in a very wonder for Venice, California, was it easy to make the decision? Was it difficult? How was the adjustment go, you know, people joke about the New York la difference, describe your experience of that.

30:14

The Hudson Valley was such an incredible home for so long and part of me will always live there in the VISTAs and the weather and my community. But it was so exciting to now that I had a partner venture out and create a new life with him. And he’d lived in LA for a long time. I lived in LA before I got involved with the ashram. But this was going to be creating co creating our life rather than him stepping into. I mean, I met him in the Hudson Valley, but it was really my home. And you know, there’s something about together just creating it and knew that felt right. And moving west felt right to that. And I gotta say, I don’t have to do winter again. And that feels incredible. I know you live in Florida.

Achim Nowak  31:04

Hello, greetings from Florida.

31:07

We thought we were going to try it out for like six months. And then the pandemic happened a month after we moved here. And, you know, the best thing was being able to get outside every day, because it wasn’t 20 degrees. So I really enjoyed that. But we didn’t really get to give it much of a try, because we were in lockdown. So we decided to stay. And I’m very happy. And we’re both very happy here.

Achim Nowak  31:37

If you were to give our listeners a little because this is called the my fourth act podcast, and I don’t want to force my language on you. But this is a new act for both of you both together and in your individual pursuits. Right. So beyond being there with a partner who’s ready to explore. What are you exploring for yourself? Right now Blair?

32:04

I’m looking for what my impact is going to look like in my fourth act. And there are a couple of avenues that I’m very inspired by. I love my executive coaching work and leadership and organizational develop, I love it. And moving out here, I’ve been able to work with two companies in the area so far. I love writing. And since I’ve moved here, I’ve sold pieces to publications that have broadcast my work to a wider audience. And I’m going to continue on with that, as I also try to find a home for this book. And then the third thing I’m kind of developing, and I still in the question nation, nascent phase, but it is about moving back to working with people in a more personal way on their personal issues. And it has to do with what I’m calling the COVID reset. And finding a lot of people that I’m talking to are in a phase of deep disorientation. And having spoken to you about how I’ve lived my life, you can understand that that’s a territory that I’m familiar with. So about being able to reach people in that phase and say, Hey, I’m a partner for you here. I can be a creative thought partner, a way to contain all of the things that you’re experiencing, exploring help you be intentional about your data gathering about how you want to move forward in your life. So I’m moving back towards that, you know, we didn’t talk that much about the phase where I was actually a therapist for 15 years, working mostly with women empowerment, and running empowerment workshops. So it’s kind of going back to that but different. And I that’s as much as I can say about it right now.

Achim Nowak  33:46

No, no, what I’m going to appreciate about it is a I hear you saying it in the spirit of what’s the appreciative discovery, you know, as you’re being led back to something, but at the same time, finding why that work is important now, you know, over time. So you mentioned this, you mentioned your writing. I’ve had the pleasure of reading some of the pieces you published in the last year. I mean, you’re such a good writer, and you’re getting strong reactions to the pieces you’re writing. If you were to just pick one if the listeners wanted to read one piece and I’m especially proud of where I’m proud of the story this piece tells on the message it delivers where would you send them?

34:35

Wow, well, you are asking me to like pick my favorite child.

Achim Nowak  34:39

Yes I am. You can do it player. You can pick a favorite child.

34:46

Oh my god, I have I’ve too but All right, so

Achim Nowak  34:49

you’re allowed to have to mention one of

34:51

the pieces that I’m really proud of is called when your mother looks younger than you and I delve into my relationship with my very beautiful Bull and very, I would say invested in her beauty mother. That piece, you know, took a long time to write and a long time to sell and I found a great home on oldster, which is an author named Sarah bottons substack magazine. And then I think the other one that got a big reaction and even caused one of my idols to reach out to me, Clarissa Pinkola Estes is about a man stealing my ideas, and the pitiful way I handled it and what I would do differently, and why is important for today’s workplace. So

Achim Nowak  35:38

it’s, I’ve read books, I recommend both highly.

35:43

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Achim Nowak  35:46

I want to hang out with your mom from all in and I want to offer my mom as an example. My mom was very beautiful. She mean, she’s 97. She’s still a beautiful woman. But at some point, she started to get vitiligo, which is, you know, when the skin gets white, so what Michael Jackson had, and it was not very visible. But my sense was that when that was happening, she became even more obsessed with how she looked, it became even more important. And the way it was played out in relationship. To me, especially where perhaps my brother is. We had to look perfect. So she looked perfect. If that makes sense. We had to wear the right outfits. So we represented her well. So that was an ordinate obsession with how her son’s looked as a representation of her beauty. How did your mom’s beautiful appearance get played out in relationship to you? I’m curious. Well,

36:48

I think we have a very similar experience. Yeah. And, you know, as a woman, and maybe you have this experience, too, but I definitely felt her contempt and internalized it. So I had to work through a lot of my own feelings of inadequacy around the way I looked.

Achim Nowak  37:10

Yeah, make sense. So based on what you Blair know about life today, if you had the chance to be a little fairy godmother and whisper some wisdom into a younger Blair, who wants to be an actress, and this is not about changing the trajectory of your life. This is we all have the chance to impart wisdom to others. What kind of wisdom would you like to share with her if you had the chance to do that? Okay,

37:42

I hope this is not a disappointing answer. But I wouldn’t share any wisdom from how I am now with her then. Because she wouldn’t understand what I was talking about. And she was incredibly resourceful. I was able to draw in mentors at a young age, I was able to get questions that I couldn’t even articulate answered through books and things that people that I was experienced, you know, exposed to. So I do want to, you know, I mean, one of the things that I had someone back then tell me, is that feelings change? That was so powerful to me, then that was something she could almost hear. She could barely remember. But that was a really big one for me then. So I’m sorry if that’s a disappointing answer,

Achim Nowak  38:43

not at all. The answer any answer is of interest to I mean, it the deeper question is, what are we ready to hear a win? Right? And that’s an interesting one. And And who do we choose to share information with, right? And our understanding of that social context? Yeah. Some of our listeners might be listening to you and go, I just might drink like Blair has, has done so many different things in life. You definitely had multiple acts and there will be more than when you’re not done. But if somebody’s listening and has Inklings about, well, maybe I would try this or maybe it would try that but I don’t know how like, I will never succeed at it. So many other people are already doing that, or who am I to say that I should do that or I’m gonna make a fool of myself or you know, those doubts. What as a as an authority mentor, as a psychotherapist, what kind of thoughts do you have about that?

39:59

You there’s a lot of talk these days about imposter syndrome. Yeah, every time someone talks about it, they think that they’re like the only one that has it or that, you know, they shouldn’t have it and they should fix it. It’s always been by my side, the imposter syndrome. It lives in the leaders that I work with. I haven’t met anyone that doesn’t have some sense of doubt, or inadequacy that they’re up against. And basically, my best shot at helping you move forward with your inner dreams is to say, ignore it, ignore, ignore, ignore, find what it is that you want to do more important than those voices. It’s not going to be an easy battle, but it is going to be a battle nonetheless. And if you need help, call me.

Achim Nowak  40:50

On that wonderful note, first of all, thank you for the gift of this conversation and and if people want to learn more about you or find you, where would you like to direct them?

41:02

My website is Blair glaser.com. That’s B L A IRGLASER. I’ll be having information about my COVID Reset program up soon. But in the meantime, you’ll find everything you need to learn about me and how to contact me. I’m also on Twitter at Blair Glaser. I’m on Facebook. I’m on Instagram and you know, I don’t like I find LinkedIn very dry. But you know, I guess if you’re at LinkedIn person, you can connect me with me there too.

Achim Nowak  41:39

In other words, Blair gets around and you can find her. Thank you, Blair. It was such a pleasure for me to have this chat with you. And until we speak again, be well, you to such a joy. Thank you and keep like what you heard, please go to my fourth act.com And subscribe to receive my updates on upcoming episodes. Please also subscribe to us on the platform of your choice. Rate us give us a review and let us all create some magical fourth acts together. Ciao