Episode 48 – How to Show Up Virtually with Kathryn Janicek- Media and Digital Presence Expert
“We go through our professional lives and we don't know what people are carrying with them each day.” - Kathryn Janicek
Failed it! Fam, do you get the feeling that you’re failing at everything recently? Or that you don’t feel present at home or work? You’re not alone. On today’s episode, we’re excited to introduce you to Kathryn Janicek. Listen in as she talks through her vulnerable experience during the pandemic on being a founder, entrepreneur and mother all at the same time, and how she’s successfully getting through it one day at a time. Get ready to hear some important bits of information in this inspirational episode!
In today’s episode, Kathryn talks to us about:
Building a business while going through IVF
Feeling guilt personally and professionally during the pandemic
Harnessing the power of listening
What being a media trainer looks like
Why Zoom Fatigue is real and what you can do to combat it
Links from show discussions:
Kathryn’s Website: www.kathrynjanicek.com
Kathryn’s Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynjanicek
Kathryn’s IG: www.instagram.com/kathrynjanicek
About the Guest: Kathryn Janicek helps you build the life you want to live.
Through high-level media and public speaking training, she helps you: grow your business, make more money, attract more clients/fans/patients, move up in your career, increase your brand equity, be more confident and have a more fulfilling life by sharing your message.
Kathryn is a three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist. Her 25+ years experience as a media exec and spokesperson helps her clients find the confidence to say “yes” to more speaking and media opportunities and make sure their messages reach their audience.
She trains teams and individuals on everything needed to perform the best on stage, in the media, in videos and in any interview situation. This includes: verbal communication, body language, messaging, breathing to perform stronger, wardrobe, makeup, hair, the mindset of how to become a great speaker, confidence and how to stand out.
Clients include:
Fortune 500 CEOs and Executives
Healthcare Executives
American Dental Association
College of American Pathologists
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
Uber
Zurich
Chicago Bulls
Hedge Funds
Financial Firms
Law Firms
About the Host: Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the failed it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
Episode 48 Transcription:
Erin (00:00):
Hey friend, are you a leader who is career-focused, goal-driven and possess a life long learner mentality? Do you dream about achieving your goals and spend hours Googling how tos and gurus? Does a side effect of your awesome, might I add, personality include perfectionism, the dreaded imposter syndrome and the ever-present fear of failure? Well, you've landed in the right place. We just became virtual BFFs. I'm Erin Diehl, the founder of the improv training company improve it! And a recovering perfectionist turned failfluencer. Inspired by the improv rule, there are no mistakes, only gifts. This podcast is the creative outlet you need to not only motivate you, but the people that you lead. Through interviews with corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, and even comedians, you'll walk away becoming a more empathetic boss by realizing that failure is a part of the journey and you must fail in order to improve. In the scene of life, we all have our own unique guests that we bring to the world, and it is our mistakes that help to unwrap them. Welcome to failed it!
Erin (01:20):
Hey failed it! Fam. I'm going to start today's show with our failed it! Fam member of the week. This one is from, this is a lot of letters. Hahehdxbe-374Shdhd. So if this is you and you left a review failed it! Fam member, I'm not even going to repeat that cause that's a lot of letters and a lot of, a lot of numbers here, but I appreciate you leaving this. This person says, get your earbuds and listen. Great advice on how to become a better leader and a better human being, how to face challenges of life and celebrate our uniqueness. Inspiring! Noteworthy! Fantastic! Thank you friend so much for leaving this review. You are an awesome failed it! Fam member and for leaving this review, I am going to gift you our newest offering. It's a mini course on zoom fatigue. This is coming out the week of March 29th. So stay tuned for that, but send me an email at info@learntoimproveit.com. I'm going to hook you up. There is a zoombie improv toolkit involved in there for you to help your eyeballs and your mind get over this zoom fatigue. All my friends at the failed it! Family, if you could leave us a review, it really does mean so much and it brings more people to the failed it! Fam. We're sending out gifts every week and reading one of those or one of these I should say on the show. So thank you again friend for this review. Let's get to failin' it. Hey, failed it! Fam. Welcome to the show. I am so excited to introduce today's guest. This is my friend, Kathryn Janicek. Kathryn, say hello!
Erin (03:12):
The applause, the applause, the applause. The curtain opens. Here she is, here she is. Oh my gosh. I'm so excited to have you. I'm going to give the failed it! Fam a quick highlight reel of your background. Okay sis. So we're going to give you the highlights. Then we're going to go to the low lights, if you will, but we are so excited because Kathryn Janicek helps you build the life you want to live. Through high-level media and public speaking training, she helps you: grow your business, make more money, attract more clients/fans/patients, move up in your career, increase your brand equity, be more confident and have a more fulfilling life by sharing your message. Kathryn is a three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist. Her 25+ years experience as a media exec and spokesperson helps her clients find the confidence to say “yes” to more speaking and media opportunities and make sure their messages reach their audience. She trains teams and individuals on everything needed to perform the best on stage, in the media, in videos and in any interview situation. This includes: verbal communication, body language, messaging, breathing to perform stronger, wardrobe, we gon talk about that, makeup, hair, the mindset of how to become a great speaker, confidence and how to stand out. Some of her clients include Fortune 500 CEOs and executives, healthcare executives, Uber, Chicago Bulls, hedge funds, financial firms, law firms, and more. Welcome again to the show Kathryn!
Kathryn (05:02):
Hi, long time listener. First time caller.
Erin (05:09):
I love it so much. Well, okay. We're listen. First time caller, we have a lot of callin' to do. There's so much to unpack here. And I, first of all, you have this 25 plus year career in television. You're an Emmy award winner, a three time Emmy award winner. So I want to just share with the failed it! Fam how we met. So I remember this is years ago, Kathryn, I'm gonna take us back. Okay. So I think an intern of yours reached out to me and this is right when I first started improve it, we scheduled a meeting, you and I met in a French bakery. I remember in the West Loop, we had coffee and we talked and we connected and I was like, this is awesome. And then somehow we kept in touch and then like four years later, you and I both got into the 10,000 small business program from Goldman Sachs. I think it was...
Kathryn (06:01):
You walked in the room and I was like I know you!
Erin (06:01):
I know! Which it was like the first day of school, right? Like it, it was a very intimidating feeling because we were in this cohort of what, 39 other business owners. And we were all there to grow our businesses. And we didn't know anybody. And it wasn't, it was very, I mean, we quickly get to know each other. It's almost like you go through the trenches with these people. You come out the other side, but we saw each other that day. And I was so excited and I really do think that the universe really was aligned for us there because you and I both, we didn't know it that day. But as we kept talking, we were both going through infertility issues. And I found my IVF sister. Right. You really helped me.
Kathryn (06:47):
That was really, it was definitely something that no one else in the class knew and no one would know, you know, we go through our professional lives and we don't know what people are carrying with them each day and why they might look at you weirdly or whatever is why they might not be in a great mood. And we all think like, what did I say to her when I, but we don't know what they're carrying. We don't know that that person went and got their blood tested that morning for something, or they're trying to have a child or, or they're on all kinds of different hormones because they're getting their eggs taken out or they're trying to get pregnant at that moment. I don't know how it came up in our conversations, but it did. And I was going through IVF at the time. And you were too. It was just, it was, it was really cool to have someone to be able to share stories with at that moment. And also as we were building a business it was very, it was a rare thing for two people to be building a business together or at the same time, and then also be going through this major transformation physically. Right.
Erin (07:45):
Totally. And I will just, yeah, I can't remember how it came up, but it was so I felt so lucky to, to know you. And I feel like the universe puts people in each other's path at the right time. And we, I mean, connected on so many levels and exactly what you said. We had already birthed our businesses. We were trying to bring to light physical children and like exactly what you just said. You don't know what somebody else is carrying. I really believe that we were put in each other's path at that time and now are great, good friends because of that experience. But I really believe that was the universe. Do you think it was sort of divine timing too on your end?
Kathryn (08:23):
I do. And then it was really neat to know you during the pandemic too, because I was able to say like, okay, what do we do with the nannies and what are you doing and what, you know, and neither of us could tell each other what to do, but it was really good to hear what decisions, you know, am I crazy to think this, can I bring someone back into my house? Should I not have anyone? It was just, it's been really great because we have children who are about the same age and just and also it's really unique going through that and also building a business, like not having, you know, maternity leave. I remember when you texted me one day and you said, what are you doing with maternity leave? And I said, I don't know. I don't have maternity leave. I own my company. You know, I don't, I'm taking two weeks off. Maybe. I don't know when can I get a nanny in here. I, I remember not knowing. I said, don't ask me, I am not the expert. Like, I don't know what I'm going to be doing because you, I think you asked me that like when I had a month left in my pregnancy and I said, I still don't know what I'm doing, you know? How will I know?
Erin (09:21):
Right. So spoiler alert for everyone on Kathryn. She did end up having a beautiful baby girl named Zofie. So just throwing that out there. So yes, we were, we were going through IVF together. We you were probably like four or five months further. Zofie, is how old is she now?
Kathryn (09:40):
She's going to be two in a couple of weeks.
Erin (09:43):
Two okay! Yeah. So she's like four months or five months older than Jackson, my son. So we were pregnant around the same time, both business owners, both figuring out what maternity leave looks like for our businesses, both figuring out how to run a business and, you know, go through the struggles of infertility. And just a side note for the failed it! Family, in April, we are going to be doing some shows, very specific to infertility working mothers. So stay tuned on that. And Kathryn you're like the warmup to that. So I'm so excited to have you on the show. And I'll say this to our miracle babies, we'll call them. They met over brunch prior to the pandemic and they will meet again. Right. They will. I know I live in Charleston, but you will come down here.
Kathryn (10:28):
I am we already know we're coming yes.
Erin (10:33):
Good. Okay. So they're going to meet again. I want to start here on your story, Kathryn. I want to talk about what this past year has been like for you as an entrepreneur, a founder and a mother. Talk to us a little bit about what you've experienced through all of this.
Kathryn (10:53):
It's hard. It was, it's been really, really hard. I, I'm not gonna sugar sugarcoat it. It's been hard. It's been there's a lot of guilt, a lot of guilt about extra TV time that I didn't want to sneak in with my daughter. We were really clear about, we didn't want any screen time before 18 months. And with hitting the pandemic when she was one, it was, it was, it was hard. I mean, I, I had, you know, my mom was saying like, Oh, she can watch Sesame Street while you work. And it's so much more than that. You can't have a Zoom call and be meeting with somebody or coaching a client and have your daughter right there watching Sesame Street. So it's not just even the guilt about the Sesame Street. It's just that that's not a babysitter, right.
Kathryn (11:41):
That's not a nanny. And when you, when you, all of a sudden, the government everybody's tells you, you know, you can't have someone from the outside in your home, you get scared. And so we did, after a couple months, we paid everyone for a while. And then we were just like, we can't do this. We don't know how long this is going to be. Right. We, all of a sudden it was looked like it was going to be a lot longer than we all thought. And so we went without a nanny for like all last summer and into the fall. And my husband has a full-time job. I have a full-time job. If somebody tells you like they work for themselves, it doesn't mean that they don't work full-time, like I'm in my seat, you know, eight to nine hours a day. It's, it's a full time job if you're busy, if you have a good client load. And so it was, it was hard. Now I didn't have to homeschool. My child is very different. You know, we don't have a teenager who was knew what she was missing. So I do know that we're lucky that she's small. And so she is not going to be any worse for the wear from this last year, but we are.
Erin (12:41):
Girl, amen amen.
Kathryn (12:43):
It, it really tested you know, your like personal relationship. It tested, you tested me as a, as a mom. It tested me definitely professionally. I feel like there were weeks where I really abandoned my team because I was barely staying above water and I wasn't communicating with them hourly or daily even sometimes, you know? So I felt like they just, you know, they, they were paid their full time, but it's like still they weren't being challenged or stretched and, and they needed it. They were in the middle of a pandemic and they needed, you know, something to do, right, that would have helped them cope a little better. And I was barely trying to stay, you know, alive and keep up with my emails and keep up, you know, with my daughter. So I feel definitely as much as I said, I will never feel that mom guilt, you know, it crept in. And I felt also like employee, employer guilt too, because I felt like I, at times let down my team. Again, they still were paid. It's not like I had to let anyone go. I felt like I abandoned them emotionally because I wasn't there. And they were going through things too. I'm trying to make up for it now, but I definitely felt like I wasn't as communicative during the deepest part that I could have been, because I was just trying to keep up here.
Erin (14:02):
Girl. Thank you for sharing that because I will say that's why this show exists. Because a lot of people, women especially have said in the past year, I feel like I'm failing at everything. I feel like I'm not a present at home. I'm not present at work. I can't do it all. Cause we've had, you know, our kids are young. Like you mentioned, we don't have to homeschool, but we still have to be present. Our job is to show them love and to teach them love right now. Right? So we are still consistently showing up at home, showing up at work. We, our clients need us. Our team needs us. And I've heard from so many women. This is something that we've never had to do on this level before. Right? If you have kids who are old enough to be at home, virtual schooling, women are home becoming teachers, their parents, their workers.
Erin (14:51):
That's a lot, not, that's not one job. Those are, you know, you can be a parent and a worker, but you're not usually a teacher. And those things are usually separate. Right? You go to work, you come back home and your child is there. Or you pick them up from school. Then you go into mom mode. It's it's hard. So I appreciate your vulnerability with that. And the screen time thing, don't you worry. Jackson Diehl's favorite word right now is Coco, which is Cocomelon, which is a Netflix show that I never thought I would ever hear about in my life. But I ask every morning, what'd you dream about? Coco. So we give that on the weekends, but that is a product of the pandemic. And that's, you know, it's just, we all gotta do it. We gotta do it. We're doing our best. We're doing our best.
Kathryn (15:37):
Right. We're doing our best.
Erin (15:38):
So, all right, let me ask you this. This is women's history month. We're at the very tail end of it right now. So who is one person in your life, you, you may know them you may not know them, who you've witnessed just fall on their face, time and time again, but you see them stand back up and there's somebody that you really admire. Is there a specific woman that you can think of who has really just shown time and time again, their bravery by failing and standing back up and standing back up?
Kathryn (16:10):
I don't, I don't think there's one specific person. I think that all the strong women who we know have all they're strong because they have failed and they pick themselves up, they've fallen on their face. They've fallen, you know, whatever it is they've and they are strong and we respect them now because of the fact that they have fallen so many times and had to pick themselves up, you know, you, don't just, you don't, you're not born strong. You're not born empathetic, you're meaning you, you become more and more empathetic. And I think, and strong women, I think know their boundaries, strong women know how to do really great self care. And how do you get to that point? It's because you didn't have it before. You probably didn't have good boundaries. You didn't have good self care.
Kathryn (17:03):
So I can't really name one specific person, but I think that any strong woman that you come across has failed. I know, and, and not set those things up and now they do. And that's why we respect them. We're like, wow, they've really great boundaries. And they have really great self care and they're really, you know, successful. Well it's cause they failed over and over again. I just, that's why I love the theme of your podcast because we need to talk about that. We have to talk about the fact that that's how you become great.
Erin (17:30):
Absolutely. Okay. So you just led me right into where I want to go next, because that is the theme of the show. Obviously we use that improv rule , there are no mistakes, only gifts. And that really means that failures are inevitable, failures happen because we're trying, right. So what would you say? We look at them as gifts. We say, thank you because they taught us a lesson. They become a part of our life. They become a part of our story. If you had to highlight one gift, quote unquote in your life in the past few years that you think somebody here today on the failed it! Family could hear and really just relate to, what would, what would be a gift that you've had or a fail that you've had in the past couple of years that is notable?
Kathryn (18:21):
Well, I have to mention like my first two engagements, like my first couple of wedding engagements, total failed.
Erin (18:30):
I thought you meant like client engagements. Okay. We're talking to marriage engagements.
Kathryn (18:35):
And I will say that I have to put this out there because someone might be going through this right now. You can break them off and you'll be better off if you know beforehand and you break it off before then go. I remember being in them and going, well, I'll just get married and we'll just get to, because I was so embarrassed. I want to break off the actual weddings that my mom and dad had deposits on places, you know, and they would've been out money, but imagine the heartbreak, if you would have went through it. So just aside, I would say personally, I would not be where I am today. I don't even know if I'd be alive, literally, quite possibly. If I would not have failed at my first two engagements. So I'm going to put that out there. Okay. Well, it's, I gotta be honest.
Kathryn (19:16):
I gotta be honest. Professionally, uh not listening and not listening to my team. I specifically I was at a television station and I was told to come in and be a bulldog. We need a bulldog. We need to come in and we need to stretch the team. We need to challenge the team. You know, they're not doing the things we need to do. So we need somebody to come in and clean up. Right. And I did, I came in and I was hard on them. I was I stretched them and they weren't having it. You know? And if I look back right now, these were young women who are in their twenties and thirties and they were having children. They were growing their families. They, they, I don't think that they were that focused on moving up. And I came from my point of view of like, everyone wants to become the executive producer.
Kathryn (20:05):
Everyone wants to get my job, you know, and I was coaching them to get my job. And literally they were happy. Like they, they were good, awesome people who are happy in their roles. And I didn't listen to them. I didn't, you know, I, I could have done a lot of things. Like I could have engaged them differently. And I could have invested time and the more time and the people that wanted to, I needed to challenge the people who wanted to move up and listen when and take, when someone says, no, I don't want to become an executive producer. I want to stay a producer or a writer and not go like, that's crazy. Maybe it's just, she doesn't have confidence to do it. Maybe she literally wants. Like that's her dream job. And that's awesome. Like to be a television producer or a television writer in Chicago is an awesome fricking job. And I should have sometimes I think like should have let that alone and totally failed at, at sometimes in my life at managing people, not listening to them, hearing them, not really hearing them.
Erin (21:09):
Kathryn, this is honestly one of the most on a relatable level, this is one of the most real fails I've heard because a lot of times we talk about things that have happened to us as fails. And you're, you're looking at this through your own lens of I failed because I didn't do this, right. Instead of it being like this happened to me, no, I did this and I failed. And that's especially on the piece where you're talking about your team. I think that's so interesting. And a lot of people in the failed it! Family listening to this show are leaders of teams. And I think it's really important to know what you just said. A lot of people are happy where they are and it is our job to show them what the next level could be. But we also need all different types of people in this world. If people were type a, you and I, you and me sis, we get each other, we know each other. We're super type a, but we also have this mentality where, you know, we're achievers. We want to get things done, but we need achievers. And we need people who are saying, I'm not complacent. I'm happy here.
Kathryn (22:14):
They were totally achieving, yup yup.
Erin (22:16):
So they were achieving at their level. And I think that's something so interesting that you've noted about yourself. I love that. And I appreciate you sharing that realness with us because I think a lot of leaders out there are probably thinking the same thing. I want my team to go to the next level. At the same time, I think we really need to take a step back and look at the individual. And I think that's what you're saying here, is listening to the individual, each person on our team. It's like children, each child can be parented differently, same with a team, right? You're not going to parent kid A like your parent kid B, that's the same way we have to look at our people that we lead is we aren't going to lead each other. We're not going to lead individuals the same way because they all have different needs.
Erin (23:00):
And it's so cool. You realize that. And I'm sure now that was back in your news career, right? So I'm sure you're taking that lesson learned into what you're doing today, which is so cool because you help people show up in this remote world, which I'm sure I got to ask, business is probably booming. Right? You're probably seeing an uptick because everybody's online. Everybody's looking at themselves in this tiny camera talking. I became a failfluencer in 2020, which is, I turned my profile from Instagram, from private, which was like pictures of my dog, Big Diehl and, and Jackson. And now, you know, it's more of a public thing and I'm sure are you seeing an uptick in people wanting to be better on camera, wanting to show up virtually?
Kathryn (23:48):
Yes, I was up last year, and am up this year. I am. I know how, I'm very grateful. I know how lucky I am. You know, I don't love that word lucky because I knew what people needed and I went after it and I create a business that definitely was around a need. Okay. So I don't know if it's, it's it's luck, but last year well, a lot of people were not doing well in their businesses. I know I'm very grateful that I was up. Was it hard, especially having those moments where, you know, as a woman, as a female business owner, like also taking on the primary responsibility of my daughter for so many months and also having uptick in business, it was hard, but gosh, I'd much rather have that hard than the opposite hard. Right? So I have nothing to, I have, I don't have anything to coin right now, but I, I it's horrible because we all have something that's hard, it's hard, you know, but it's a different, it's different.
Kathryn (24:49):
So yeah, what happened was the world. There's two aspects of my business. One is I am a media trainer, so I help people before they go on television. So I have a lot of big clients that you've heard of that you've seen on CNN, The View, MSNBC, and I get them ready. And so what happened was all of a sudden March, they worked all their media interviews were going to zoom. So I jumped on and I helped them with their lighting, help with their background, making sure they didn't have a light switch behind them, you know, in their office, making sure they weren't going live in their bedroom, you know, with a bed behind them. If they're going to go live in their bedroom, at least let's, let's get a better background. So it doesn't look like you've got a bed behind you. So there were a lot of things that we had to tweak really quickly. And I brought in, you know, I've got a director of photography that helped with the lighting and stuff. The things that, you know, they're really in my realm of it's TV background, you know, what do you wear on a, on a zoom television interview? Or if you're on a panel or whatever, all those things.
Erin (25:51):
Wait, I have a question. What's the biggest fail you've seen someone do on Zoom in this past year, what's the biggest zoom fail you've seen happen?
Kathryn (26:01):
Lighting is a fail. Like if you are, if you're not lit right, no one can connect with your eyes. No one can connect with you and be able to really have this moment where they can trust you. And if you're not lit well, if you're in a dark shadow or if, you know, if you've got a big, bright window behind you and we can't see, you know, we can't see you, we can't watch your eyes and your emotion and all the things that happen that really help deliver a message. 80 to 90% of your message is like, literally not even what you say, it's how you look, it's how you deliver it. So if we can't see if we can't connect, we're not going to trust you. And that's, and that's really hard because then they're not going to remember the message. I can't say a specific lighting thing. Cause it's all lighting. It's just like, if you, you gotta really focus on lighting and audio because you could be wearing a Hawaiian shirt who cares? I wouldn't suggest a Hawaiian shirt. I would say always solids or something that's really not distracting when it comes to clothing. But if you're lit terribly, doesn't matter if you're wearing a Hawaiian shirt and you know, and you've got a bunch of bracelets that make a bunch of noise. It doesn't matter. Cause we can't see you or we can't connect with you.
Erin (27:08):
It's so funny. I never thought I would own a, a ring light. I've I've gone through two. I have Molly Ringwald. She RIP, she had to go down she's she had a small funeral. And then now I'm on Lord of the Rings. So I, I never thought I would be this person. Okay. I have, I have ring lights on ring lights and I'm, I'm talking to Kathryn and right now I'm in my I'm in my podcasting closet. So failed it! Fam. You can't see this, but I have the worst lighting because we're not using this video, but Kathryn and I are using it to talk. And there's a door knob behind me. This is a fail right here. If you could see this, this is a Zoom fail. It's a Zencaster fail because that's what we use to record.
Erin (27:56):
Hey, failed it! Fam, do your eyeballs hurt from staring at your screen? Do you walk away at the end of your work from home day with your arms out like Frankenstein, your eyeballs glazed over and feel like you need to do a swift face plant onto your bed, which is also conveniently located next to your laptop. If this sounds like you, and I've got something for you. For now, for the next two weeks, you can receive our zoom fatigue, zombie toolkit from improve it! It's a mini course for you and ironically, it's not on Zoom, to teach you why you get those zoombie feelings after being on one too many video calls, how to build boundaries with your schedule to minimize video conferences and give you some best practices for when you have to present on video. We've got video, we've got audio and a toolkit for you to stop the zoomfatigue. Head over to learntoimproveit.com/zoomfatigueminicourse to get yours before it's gone, that's learntoimproveit.com/zoomfatigueminicourse to get yours before it's gone. This course will only be offered for a limited time. We end our sales on April 11th at 11:59 PM. So grab yours before the zoom apocalypse.
Erin (29:29):
Let me ask you this. What would you say to somebody right now who is experiencing zoom fatigue or camera fatigue? What would you tell them to do?
Kathryn (29:38):
I don't know where I read this, but I read it a couple months ago and it was, it was really good. And it kind of like, oh yeah, this is easy. Just shut it off. Like if you've got a conversation that you can do on the phone or without looking at, it's amazing how much someone's distracted by seeing themselves, you know, they're, they're, they're going and they're judging themselves. They're like, oh my hair, oh, I'm gray. If you've got a conversation that maybe is the second or third or the fourth time you've met that person. I get that the first time I really like to see the person, I like to connect with them. I want them to see how excited I am to talk to them. I want all of that, all of those interpersonal things to happen, but you don't always have to have your camera on. You don't always have, you know, when I have my camera on, I also have the lights on and stuff and it gets, you know, you start to get a headache after the day goes on.
Kathryn (30:28):
Right. I've got a big training all day long. I'm exhausted afterwards. So I think we all can kind of back off a little bit and decide, you know, is this a phone call? Could this be just a phone call? And then I can walk around. I can like do some stretching when I'm talking or get the blood moving. I don't have to be like standing at my standing desk or sitting on my chair. I think just maybe shutting it off and having a real conversation. Then you're just connecting with the person's voice and you're really listening to them instead of going, oh, I really like that green blouse that Erin has on or whatever it is, you know, or I really love her hair. It's so shiny. I'm not thinking about all that. Cause I'm literally just thinking about what she's saying.
Erin (31:07):
Thank you so much. First of all, I washed my hair for you today. First time in literally six days. So you're welcome.
Kathryn (31:14):
It looks great.
Erin (31:15):
Thank you. And number two, that's great. We actually heard this. We live on zoom. I'm a zoombie. Like I live on zoom. My house is zoom now for real. So we created this mini course coming out called zoom fatigue and it gives you a zoombie improv tool kit on how to combat some fatigue. So it's just, it's going to be a small little, small, little mini course, super fun. But I think it's a fun thing to share with the failed it! Fam right now, because I like what you said, Kathryn, there's those tips are included and more, I like that a lot. And I feel like I will say this, the fact that we have to live in this world, I think that we will always live in this world to some degree. I think this isn't going away. The hybrid of this will continue to be here. We found this digital age through what we just went through. So Kathryn, your work is not going away. It's just going to become more needed than ever. So let me ask you this. After you've looked at your gifts, quote, unquote, or your fails, what would you say is your life's purpose and bonus points if you can make it a hashtag.
Kathryn (32:25):
Well, first of all, there's a reason I've never had a tattoo is because I like literally cannot come up with one like hashtag you know, I, I I always thought that idea of having a tattoo. It'd be really cool, but I can't like think of one thing that defines me or, you know, one specific thing. There's so many different things speak to me on different days or different moments. But it kind of, you know, I can't come up with really a hashtag just like I can't come up with like a tattoo as much as I think it'd be super cool to have one someday. I'm just, I'm not afraid of the pain. I just, the branding thing. I'm like, I don't know, you know, tomorrow I might not be really into that Japanese symbol that I want to put on when I was in ninth grade in high school, which I totally wanted in ninth grade and you know. But my biggest thing is I like to help people and I know it sounds really broad, but it's in general, if I can help someone say yes to that opportunity, whether it's they get a phone call or their their department has asked them to give a quote on in the wall street journal or be, you know, boy, we're really looking for a female spokesperson and my company really wants me to do this, but I'm an engineer or I've been this, you know, in the background this whole time, I'm really smart.
Kathryn (33:44):
But you know, I've never had to be on a panel or on stage or whatever. I love the fact that I work with someone and all of a sudden they have the confidence to do it. They feel way more in their skin doing it now and they succeed at it and they realize too, they didn't just do it. But now they're able to they actually can move up in their career faster because they're more visible now. They've shown up at a conference and unbid on stage either as a keynote or a panel, they've been quoted in a magazine or newspaper in their trade magazine or been on TV. And they're just more visible now. And if I can make men and women and really, you know, more visible in there as, as the expert, they are, it just makes me feel so great. I, I've never had this feeling in TV where I can, the way I feel right now, how I am able to help people. It's just, it's it's I feel so lucky.
Erin (34:42):
And I can see that in you. I really can't. I feel like you're doing your life's work. It took you a long time to find it. And your news career helped you get to this point, which is so cool. So Kathryn is awesome. I know that to be true everybody listening here today, she she's changing lives and I think your work, I don't think I actually know your work is so needed in today's day and it will continue to be needed. So I love that. And you do, I see that in you, when you actually can watch somebody blossom and transform, I can tell that lights you up. I just saw that if you could see her face right now, failed it! Fam.
Kathryn (35:22):
It makes me sleep better at night. Right. I really get to do what I really love. I love it.
Erin (35:27):
That's it. That's it. Okay. So what would you do even if you knew you might fail?
Kathryn (35:34):
It has nothing to do with what I do right now. I, I always wanted to be on Broadway. I always wanted to be in a musical. That's what I did in high school. I loved it. And I remember my father had I couldn't decide whether I was going to do performing arts or journalism. It was 1993 and I was looking at colleges and my dad said, which is really funny because you look at what journalism has become since, you know, with layoffs at newspapers. Cause I was going to be a newspaper journalist and my father said, choose the one that's going to actually make you money. And then you could do the other one on, on the side. And he was telling me like, go to school for journalism and then do the theater on the side. Well, I did journalism. I ended up in college switching into television broadcast and I'm glad I did.
Kathryn (36:20):
I really, I love my 20 plus years of television, but I never got to do what really excites me and that is perform. And, but, but in the last few years having a daughter like I dance and I sing around her and we put on like, we do total fun dance breaks in the afternoon. Like, like between dinner and bath time, my husband takes part in it too. And I feel like I'm on stage, which is so awesome. And she's absorbing it. And she see her movements that are not my movements that are totally her movements. But if I knew that I was not going to fail, I would chuck all of this and I'd say, we're moving to New York and I'm going to audition for a big musical. And I would love it. I would just love it.
Erin (37:05):
Kathryn these are things that I, this is why I need this podcast. Cause I never knew that. I never knew that.
Kathryn (37:11):
Wouldn't that be fun, like to perform six nights a week. And like, and what's funny about that is I'm terrible at memorization. Like I, you know, I tell my clients like when you get up and give a speech, make sure to have bullet points, don't memorize anything, just really get up and authentically perform it. So it's funny that I want to be on Broadway because I can't memorize a script. I cannot, I, I failed it in high school. I remember being at like dress rehearsal and having to go line, line. Cause I couldn't remember my lines. And it was really embarrassing because the other kids in high school like had their lines down and I was not the lead and yet my lines were not memorized. But I still think in, what's neat about that theater dream is that I'm not too old. Like I can totally do it someday. I could do community theater someday.
Erin (37:59):
Yes you can. Janice Holbrook. Yeah. My mother, she still does community theater at 67. So go for it. Yes you can. Yes you can. And I also have a good friend, previous neighbor who is in the Lion King when it safely reopens. She has been on the lion King on Broadway for the past five years. So or longer probably. So we got an “in” for you. Okay? Okay. You're welcome. You're welcome. Okay. So this is the final thing, Kathryn. This is called the fail yeah lightning round. Okay. There is a little improv, a little thinking quickly on your feet here. I got you - super easy. All you're going to do is I'm going to ask you a series of questions and you have to respond as fast as you can with only one word answers. But no, you can't fail. But if you say more than one word, I'm going to give you a big "fail yeah!" Like that with like a weird voice. Okay. Are you ready? Okay. Are you ready?
Kathryn (39:05):
I'm not ready, but I'll never be ready for this.
Erin (39:07):
Yes! You're ready. So you've got this. Okay, here we go. You ready? Here we go. Fail yeah lightning round. Here it goes. Okay. One word to describe your early career.
Kathryn (39:19):
Fun.
Erin (39:20):
One word to describe where you're currently at in your career.
Kathryn (39:24):
Exciting.
Erin (39:25):
One word to describe your future self.
Kathryn (39:29):
Organized. I'm just hopeful on the organized part.
Erin (39:34):
One word to describe your favorite boss.
Kathryn (39:37):
Open.
Erin (39:38):
One word to describe your least favorite boss.
Kathryn (39:42):
Weak.
Erin (39:43):
One word to describe your parenting style.
Kathryn (39:47):
Progressive.
Erin (39:48):
One word to describe your work from home style.
Kathryn (39:52):
I'm going to say same. Cause it's literally the same thing every day. And I like it that way.
Erin (39:56):
Okay. I'm not going to fail yeah you because you almost had two words, but I'm gonna give it to you there. Same. Okay. One word to describe your on camera style.
Kathryn (40:08):
Easy.
Erin (40:09):
Oh, and one word to describe this interview.
Kathryn (40:14):
Fun.
Erin (40:15):
Yay. You nailed it! You didn't fail it.
Kathryn (40:19):
I want to explain the easy part because it has to feel easy. Like just really like in the rhythm and you it be totally prepared or you won't be in the moment, right? You won't be in the moment you just got to, like, I think a lot of people are really scared of doing media and scared of getting on stage or whatever and it should be fun and easy and, and it takes a long way to get there. Right? You have to do a lot of things for it to feel easy. But I have easy as my new feeling of how I want things to be. I think that a lot of times we make things too hard. We feel like if it's not hard, we didn't achieve it. Right. We didn't fight for it. And I think that it's okay for things to be easier in our lives. Right. And to come easier for us.
Erin (41:07):
Amen. I I'm with you. And I love that because that's one of the biggest rules of improv is if you're present, the show will go on the show. You have to be in the moment. You can't be thinking ahead. So if you're there, you're present, it's easy, right? If you're out of your head and you're not there, it's hard. So I love that.
Kathryn (41:23):
If you're really nervous about it and I can have to give credit where credit is due. I have a really great coach slash therapist. And she has told me, cause sometimes I feel like I don't deserve it. If I don't work really hard for it, if a client comes and it just comes out of the air, I'm like, well, I didn't deserve it. Like literally I feel like if I didn't fight for it, I shouldn't get it. You know? And she says, please like be okay with when things come and they're easy. And I really want to think about that going forward. We don't have to have, I don't have to have a list of 20 things that I have to get done on a Saturday because this is what I do to my husband. And it's not fair.
Erin (42:01):
And that's true. It's so true.
Kathryn (42:03):
I know that I can have an easy Saturday, right?
Erin (42:06):
Preach, preach. The Diehl family is listening. Okay. Cause we, after moving we've we, we are telling ourselves we're done. It's time to enjoy the fruits of our labor, literally. So, okay. Where can the failed it! Family find you on all the things?
Kathryn (42:25):
They can find me at KathrynJanicek.com. That's the same on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. On my website I've got a new course for healthcare. It's the prescription. It's the media prescription. It's for specifically for healthcare experts who want to get into the media or need some public speaking help. It's a class you can just download. So that's going to be that's on the homepage now, too. So I'm excited. Like if, if anyone needs help, I'd love to see if I can help you.
Erin (42:56):
Yes. And we will post links to all those things in the show notes here. And that's so awesome. I did not know you created that course. Smart, love it, need it, necessary. So I want to thank Kathryn for being my friend and coming on here to share your wisdom, your light with the failed it! Family. And we are just so grateful for the courage that you've had and all that you do to help people show up as their best selves in this crazy world we're living in. And so know, we appreciate you and to the failed it! Fam fail yeah failed it! Fam fail yeah.
Erin (43:38):
Friends. Thanks for tuning into failed it. I am so happy you were along for the ride. If you enjoyed this show, please head on over to iTunes, leave us a five star review and subscribe to the show. So you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Now, if you're really feeling today's show, please take a screenshot and tag me on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl and share it to your stories so we can bring more people to the failed it! Family. I'll see you next week, but I want to leave you with this thought, what will you fail at today and how will that help your future successful self? Think about it. I'm so proud of you and you are totally failing it. See you next time.