The Connect With Purpose Project
Your purpose is not some distant destination reserved for a few—it’s already within you, waiting to be heard. Often, it’s in the quiet whispers we try to ignore that hold the key to our deepest calling. This podcast is about listening to those whispers and taking the first steps, even when it feels scary.
Our guests have faced the same struggles—feeling stuck, unsure, or burned out—but found their way by trusting that inner voice. If you’re alive, your mission is not complete. You’re here for a reason.
The Connect With Purpose Project
Do Your Past Decisions Spark Life’s Biggest Moves?
In this episode, Titan ONE founders Scott Lanaway and Mark Glucki join Nicole to uncover the ripple effects of life’s seemingly inconsequential choices. Together, they reflect on pivotal moments—some intentional, others less so—and ask: could forgotten experiences or decisions from our former selves have unknowingly guided us toward living our authentic purpose?
Using the iconic Price is Right Plinko board as a playful yet profound metaphor, the three dive into how every choice, no matter how small, can spark a chain reaction that shapes our lives in surprising and meaningful ways. Perhaps your past has more purpose than you realize.
Through this lens, you’ll be inspired to reconsider the weight of your everyday decisions and discover hidden potential in the journey you’ve already taken. Your true purpose could be just one ripple away.
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Know someone who's flipped the table on their career to follow their life's purpose? Let us know at titan-one.co.
It all comes back to really thinking about the human one to one connections. If
Scott Lanaway:we can make one person listening to this feel a little bit more empowered, to move in the direction of choosing to do things that fuel them becoming more of their authentic selves. Then to me, that's a success.
Nicole Gottselig:Hello and welcome to connect with purpose, where we uncover the journeys of remarkable people who have turned their passions into a Purpose Driven Life. I'm your host. Nicole Gottselig, whether you're on your own quest for meaning or simply curious how others have navigated their paths, this show is here to inspire and guide you along the way. Today, we're diving into what it means to live and work with purpose. If you're unsure whether you're aligned with your purpose. Stick around. Scott Lanaway and Mark Glucki from Titan ONE will share their insights on embracing authenticity, fostering genuine connections and transforming lives through purposeful actions. We'll explore their journey to finding purpose in their work, the challenges they've faced and the impact of living intentionally. Let's dive in. Shall we? Why don't you tell me right now who you are, how you got to Titan ONE, you know, why did you want to start this podcast in the first place? Like, what? Just, just, kind of, just give me a bit of background about you.
Scott Lanaway:I think that we've been on a journey, as we've gone through our personal and professional lives to figure out how we can take on new challenges and provide value in different ways and and through the work that we've been doing with each other and with clients, kind of realizing that, that we think that there's a really important opportunity or area to explore around how people connect with each other genuinely, and how that can and should inform things that we choose to do and how we spend our time. So that sounds very kind of high level and amorphous, but it's that feeling that we're we're trying to go towards, because we think that work feels better when you bring that energy into your working relationships internally, when you bring that energy into your relationships with clients, really good things happen, and it creates an environment that is more conducive to creating possibility and potential and seeing possibility and potential in the things that you do. So I think, I don't know if you would agree, Mark, but I just loosely speak, and I think that that's kind of part of what we're trying to get to, is we think that that actually lends itself towards a better balance between life and work? Yeah,
Mark Glucki:it's a it's a good way of putting it. I think we're all trying to figure out who we are, what we're doing. It's an ongoing journey through life, and we don't all have the answers. I don't think anybody does. So the idea I'm just not sharing them. I wish you would share Yeah, so where, where we are at life right now is where, you know, where, I guess we should be. Take it for what it's worth, but I think that that's how we've been treating the business is, there's the work and life are, are harmoniously working together, and we're always trying to find that right balance. And Shouldn't you have a great time at work? And shouldn't that contribute back to having a great life? And as owners of a company, we feel like there's a lot of weight on us to make sure that that that also is the case for everybody that works with and for Titan one, because there's a lot of bad jobs out there. We've had them. Everybody in our team has had them. Everybody in the world has had them. But isn't there a better way to live your life, and shouldn't work be part of that?
Nicole Gottselig:I mean, it's really like, you know, if as soon as you go to the Titan ONE homepage, it says, connect with purpose. The name of this podcast, it podcast is, connect with purpose. Which purpose is sometimes a really abstract word for some people. There's there's some of us that think, oh god, what's my life purpose? Why am I here? Is it different from my purpose at at work? Is it, am I in my life purpose or or I don't know, and there's a there's a quote that goes, if you're still alive, your mission on earth is, is not complete. So for those who haven't found their purpose yet, what, what helped you both when you were finding your. Own purpose in your own selves and actually, and how did you merge that with the company? You want
Scott Lanaway:to take a question, really good question. Yeah,
Mark Glucki:it's a great question. I I struggled with this for a long time. I guess I still kind of do sometimes, because there's so many opportunities in life and there's so many directions that you can go. I've probably had three or four different career paths, and a lot of my friends still say to me, I have no clue what you do for a living. And I don't think they ever will, because I kind of relate this to the game show Price is Right. You know that game Plinko on price is right, where you got the big board, lots of little pegs all over, and at the bottom are all of these winning opportunities of $500 $1,000 a couple of zeros in there. Take the zeros out, maybe make them$1,000 and you get these chips, and you start dropping chips at the top, and you go all the way down, and you land in something great, but you didn't know what it was going to be, and it's exciting. So I've kind of called this my Plinko ing, my way through life, where try and do different things, and who knows what's going to happen at the end, but it's going to be fun and exciting, and you don't really know how they connect together until way down the road you realize, oh, that's that actually made sense. I was, I golfed for a living, and then kind of left that. I worked in film for a living, and then kind of left that, and then I worked on the client side, and then left that, and now starting an agency and and running that, and I didn't realize how all of these things really connected together, and they were part of my Plinko board, until after the fact, I'm like, Oh, wow, they were, it was, I thought that I was failing along the way. I thought that I wasn't on the right path, but I didn't realize that all of these things connect together because they're part of who you are, and they part, they're part of what makes you connect with other people and find find some sort of similarity with people. And you may use things in the future. You may not but they still kind of come with you, like memories. Okay? First of all, you
Scott Lanaway:We're very good at Plinko. Played the game rather well. I wish I could play that would be amazing, but it was interesting, what you said about at different points in the journey, feeling like I don't know if this is working out the way I intended, or if I'm if it's headed overall in the right direction, or if I'm showing up in the right way to lead to the best potential outcome, and that, not knowing never goes away. So that's an interesting thing that I've had to try to, kind of figure out how to adapt to and be okay with and it's it's an ongoing journey, because there are kind of pros and cons to every decision, and there are so many potential distractions and choices in your Plinko game that can divert you in a different direction, and sometimes the things don't work out. I mean, trying anything that's new or different, and taking a leap of faith is a risk, and you are going to get hurt along the way. And there's no avoiding it like if it was, if it was, if, if certainty was guaranteed, then you know, there would be no stress in the world. And everyone would, you know, choose what they want to do and just follow the steps, and everything's great. So it's like you you do. It does. I think when you hit the wall as you're playing your planko game, you do end up learning things about yourself and being forced to make decisions about what I'm going to prioritize and choose to do next. Because I think some of the things that we've done, you know really well when you succeed, quote, unquote, that also comes with consequences and whole new Plinko games. And so you really do have to kind of realign on what, what actually matters to me through all of this, like, what do I actually care about? What? What gives me a feeling of lightness and joy, and it's not just about making something that's bigger or more, at least for us, it's it's not that way, like it's never been that way, even though that's what's kind of happened. I think because of you know, our intent and how we're trying to connect with each other and in the work that we do
Nicole Gottselig:as a team, you both seem to be stepping in some ways. You are working in your life purpose, bridging your personal with what you do at Titan one. But what? What does that look like in some Do you have some words that can describe it like? Do you have your own mission statement, for example, like something when you cut, when you wake up in the morning every day, and you are doing something creative, maybe you're working with a client or doing something personal on your own. Is there an overarching theme that sort of goes into that, that Plinko board, right? Like, so maybe it's like, is there one? Is it a word? Is. It a sentence like, what makes you feel alive every day.
Mark Glucki:The company has evolved a lot in the last few years, and this especially evolved again in the last year, post pandemic, where everybody's like, truly back into the swing of things, especially in the B to B space, where we play a lot, companies have changed. The people within them have changed, and so our company has evolved, along with it, trying to to meet the demand and also explore new opportunities that have been uncovered and that people are now ready for again. So we're actually working on developing a new mission and vision as part of who we are in this new iteration of the business world. But a lot of the things that have remained the same are the value side of things. And it all comes back to really thinking about the human one to one connections, making sure that when we wake up in the morning we know that we are going in we're going to help our team evolve. We're going to help be supportive leaders of each other, be supportive of our team members, be supportive of our clients, and think about their end clients and who we're trying to help. So a lot of that is around the human centered side of things, always trying to be a trusting, caring, encouraging type of person, and really think about how we would want to to be treated. Of course, this is the classic thing, treat others as you'd like to be treated. But in the business world, is like, help others people evolve and and achieve their goals in the same way that you'd want some of that support. I think that's a big part of what gives us joy and excitement in the daily life. And then the other side of things is being creative, having some time to explore and try out new things, create interesting concepts and come up with great ideas that could inspire you and make you excited to do something new and different and and give people around you the room and freedom to do the same.
Nicole Gottselig:I'd actually like to know a little bit more about that mark, because I think have if you're a creative person, which we all are, we are all creative in in our own ways, even if you think you're not creative, we really are creative, and there's something to be said for just having space to do nothing and being bored and so that you can allow your brain to do what it needs to do. How do you do that for first for yourself, and do you encourage your team to do that as well?
Mark Glucki:Okay, this is really, really hard, because I don't give myself the time to just shut off, and I find that my brain kind of goes numb. We've been working with a leadership coach who's been really amazing at helping us kind of figure out how to focus our time a lot more and understand the priorities that we have going on in our days, whether that be work or life, and then how to have that flow through into the team. So we're going to be actively working on this over the next year, but it's been really helpful already, looking at what distracts me, why it distracts me, and not blaming others for the distraction. I've all too often been like, oh, somebody distracted me. But what Valerie, our business coach, has taught us is that we choose to be distracted. We choose to spend our time doing certain things. And I make the choice to accept a distraction. So I also have the choice to not be distracted. And it's a little switch of the flip in my brain that has helped me recognize that distraction is a choice. And I think as we work on that and develop that skill, we can encourage each other as well to maintain focus and not choose to be distracted.
Nicole Gottselig:Oh, I really felt that when you said that, you know, because it really is a choice, right? And we, you know, we all have so many hours in a day, and it's really, you know, what is giving you energy, what is taking your energy and and it's about taking that self responsibility as well. So step by step, that's, that's really, those are really great tips, actually, for our listeners too.
Scott Lanaway:Yeah, it's really interesting you, but you do have to kind of own that for yourself in a different way, like what's in and what's out, and how do I protect my time, and how do I actually look after myself by structuring my time properly so that it can feel better. So like for me, I could have say two or three top priority things, and then maybe five or six things that I need to touch in any given day. But when I have my, you know, email alerts, notification. Applications going off all day, and then I've got my Slack message notifications going off all day, and then messaging. And, you know, in case there's a problem, wanting to be able to look and see, is there something that I need to respond to? You end up training your brain to just jump around to 50 million things like all day.
Nicole Gottselig:You know, I've seen it so many times myself, where companies have these incredible mission statements and values on their website, and you read them thinking, wow, they really care about people and culture. But then when you're actually working there or engaging with them as a customer, it can feel like a totally different story. It's like, what they promise and what they're actually delivering just aren't lining up. So it's that disconnect between what companies say and what they do is something I think we've all experienced at some point. And it's not necessarily about bad intentions. Sometimes people are just stretched too thin, or they're just not given the resources that they need to make that vision a reality. It's one thing to have a beautiful vision on paper, but the real challenge is making sure those values are felt and lived every day within the company. That's where the magic happens and where real culture is built. So up next, we're going to dive deeper into that. How do you actually build a way of working that's truly tied into your culture and values, and how do you bridge that gap between the vision and the reality? Let's unpack that a little more and
Mark Glucki:really just focus on the top three major things you can do in a day, start with the priority of what serves others, and then work your way down. And maybe that's not going to work every day, but the the days where you really need to advance as a team, that will probably work really well if everybody collectively thinks in that way. I
Scott Lanaway:think this is where the the concept of authentic human connection, as much as you can surface that comes to play, because we've noticed with our with our clients as well. You know, there are a lot of really smart, well intentioned people working really hard for their companies to try to advance and achieve goals. And some of those goals are well supported internally, and some of them aren't. It's like the pressure on people to deliver results in their roles is absolutely massive. And, you know, I mean, let's be honest, like, often, you know, it's under invested, like they're not given the resources to really deliver on those goals as part of a longer term strategy. And and then you've got, especially in really big companies, different teams of people who are focused on solving parts of the problem or challenge who also feel under siege and don't have enough time in the day and aren't going to make more time to collaborate more with other teams, because they're just like, I gotta push on my my high priority stuff, so that I can show that I did my part. So you end up getting in kind of a bit of a like a reactive, unhealthy, energy and and that can happen in agencies too. I mean, we've been hearing so many stories from people who've been through big holding company, agency world around what, what the culture is like. You've got the the corporate messaging, of the vision and kind of, you know, what we're all about, and then you've got the actual lived experience underneath that, which isn't always in alignment with that. So our kind of question to ourselves is, you know, when we started this, we wanted to do it differently. We've grown a lot. We still want to do it differently. So how do we how do we do that so like, how do we show up as good humans to support each other as team members through difficult situations when things aren't obvious or clear? And then, you know, how do we also do it in a way where we're looking after ourselves and not just sort of being a fire brigade for each other. So that's a really interesting kind of thing to try to hook into as a group. Because I think you act, you have to be really interested in that way of thinking for it to work, if you are just more, you know, have a more transactional approach to work, and it's just getting this done, this done, this done. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's harder to make it work for this with this intent that we're that we're going towards. But some companies have obviously done a really good job of creating, like, real culture, and so we've been doing some, like, educating ourselves, and, you know, reading some books that talk about some of the things that perhaps contribute to that happening. But yeah, it's a it's it's a journey. It's not straightforward. It's not easy. Figuring out how to approach it, how to delegate, how to connect it all together, isn't easy. Easy but, but I think if you don't let go of the desire to always reach for a more genuine energy in in how you're connecting with people, in the work that you do, then, then I think you're still in a good place, because there's always something that's going to be driving optimism in the mix, even on more challenging days.
Nicole Gottselig:So much to unpack in there. Scott, my brain was doing all these mental like, okay, ask this, ask this, ask this. One thing that really stood out to me, though, is the companies who have the very extravagant, you know, mission statements, values. And you go onto the website and it just, you read it, and you're like, really, they do all this and this and this and and then when you're actually in the trenches, and you're and you're maybe working in this environment, either as an employee or maybe if you're a customer, you experience something very different. So I know you two really work to actually make it a reality. So it's all it's all the same. So what you read on the website is what you should feel if you work for, work with, work for type one, or for your part of your team, or as a client coming in. So what are some things that you I don't want to say, I don't want to ask for. Like, how do you do it every day? And what's that? But what would you say no to like, because that might just sort of dysregulate what, what you are building. So what are some of your like, absolutely no. Maybe a client comes in and says, I want this by this. But would you be like, You know what? We can't do that because it's really going to it's not going to align with our culture and what we do. So how do you say no and what do you say no to?
Mark Glucki:We've gotten better at this over the years because we did an exercise a few years ago with a consultant friend who has worked in the agency world for a long time, and she gave us some really great advice to go through all of the different services that we provide and really analyze it from the perspective of what we are great at doing, what we love doing, and then and then what we just absolutely don't want to do, like, what, what at our core do we not want to do, and we put them in categories of yes, no, and maybe the yeses are things that we love to do, that we're great at doing, that we want to continue to do. Those will always be yes answers. Then there's the ones obviously that we just don't want to do, like it's we've been doing them, or we maybe not the greatest at them. Can't be great at everything, so don't worry about it. You can say that you're not great at it, or that you don't want to do because maybe it doesn't fit into your wheelhouse or your your future vision of your company. So start to say no to those. And then the maybes are only in certain scenarios, and the the stars must align for you to say yes to it. And really stick to that. And put that like change change your messaging, put that on your website, change it in your collateral, change it in your pitch decks. Be okay with saying no. So if somebody comes along and asks for a service that you never want to do ever again, just say no. And if that means that you're not going to get that client long term or there, you're not going to get the other business from it. That's okay, because it's going to make you feel better for the work that you end up doing, for the time that you put into into your client work. It's part of your life, the things that you do throughout your day. It's going to be better for your team, because that energy is not going to be extracted from you and then by virtue through the team, and everything will flow a lot better. So as we started leaning into our yeses and occasionally to our maybes, and then empowering ourselves to say no to the things that we didn't want to do or we weren't good at doing anymore, we got stronger and we developed the team more in in all sorts of different ways, and everybody felt more empowered, and they understood what we were trying to do a lot more. And of course, we have ongoing work for this, especially in our industry. As things evolve and change, weekly, monthly, quarterly, you have to reanalyze your yes, no, maybe list and and keep adjusting it.
Scott Lanaway:Yeah, Mark, just mark described it really well, and I think one of the mechanisms that we've used to help to help qualify and fine tune our approach to being able to say yes more is really orienting in a more unwavering way towards strategy, first partnership that's been critical so any client who we onboard now, it starts with the. A deeper dive strategy project, because we we want to take a more dimensional view that considers more things, that goes deeper, that connects into their why, that can uncover opportunities or potential as part of an integrated strategy to energize their brands and then also serve performance campaigns underneath that. So the strategic partnership way of working is really non negotiable. So a client could come and say, Hey, we want to give you a million dollars to do a bunch of this service or that service. And it might sound kind of crazy to say it, but it's true, like we would, it would be a no if, if the client is really just looking for a straight services arm to do those things, it's just that's not really interesting to us. It's not how we want to grow the business, it's not how we want to work with our clients. And since we've made that pivot, we have it's almost like a, I don't know if it's like a business or a personal, karmic thing or something, but we have just been the universe has been connecting us with clients who love this approach and see the value in it and want to do this with us. And I think our excitement about bringing energy into brands and in new ways that, you know, bring in new, new creative, new messaging strategy, and then also partner with them through to the activation within campaigns and looking at impact together and optimizing and brainstorming with them as part of a wider collaborative team that involves everyone. There's an energy in that, and it makes us more more excited. So I think that that's been really important, and we are, we are, you know, continuing. To kind of fine tune that strategy doesn't look the same depending on the client and the industry, but it is always there. We're always wanting to connect with them on asking those questions and going deeper. And it's so cool, because when you do, you end up talking to people from different parts of organizations who might have been overlooked in a different process, who have something really important to say that, and they should be heard and that should be factored into the decisions that get made.
Nicole Gottselig:You know, again, my eyes were starting to water, and I was feeling so much excitement when you were talking Scott, because this is really, you know, the law of attraction, in in, in the real world. So it's almost embarrassing. What happens when we are actually working in our purpose, in our values, and we're aligned to what we are? It's actually, it's, it's amazing what happens, right? It all comes to you. It's hold that whole like attracts like. And this isn't this. It isn't woo, woo. This isn't anything like that, but it's another perfect example of why staying true to yourself, true to your values, true to your purpose, will bring you the right people for you every time, absolutely every time. So to anyone that's listening and thinking that, Oh, I've got to make money. I've got to say yes to this client, but I don't really want to do it. You know, other clients will come. Other people will come. And we're not saying, you know, quit your job and don't take anything if you you know, need to, you know, bring in income and things like that. But when you are true to yourself, when you are really yourself, it all flows to you quite naturally, actually, too. So it's really beautiful to hear that. So thank you.
Scott Lanaway:I agree with your premise, Nicole, that when you really center in on what matters to you, and are willing to stand up for that genuinely and and be able to look someone in the eyes and say something and believe what you're saying and be okay with whatever the outcome is. Then life just gets better and you start to your point connecting with other people who have who have found their their way to that, and not to take it out of the personal realm too much. But I really think some of the energy around that is important in the brand conversation as well, because it's kind of like, to what degree are you living your brand values, like, what is your actual culture? How do you actually support one another? How do you support one another in hard moments? You know, if you've got posters on the wall that are listing, you know, nice words that talk about brand values, but you know, underneath it's, it's like, you know, Game of Thrones between departments. It's sort of, it's, it's, it's a veneer. So. Yeah. So like, when we think about brand, it's really it's about everything top to bottom, how it all connects. What's the human experience in all of it, for your employees, for your customers, what's the energy that that we're creating, and what's the opportunity in realigning on that, in the go to market? So yeah, we love we love that. But these are not simple problems to solve, especially in really large companies. But there are people out there who really want to push to work this way, and so that part is, is, is really exciting.
Nicole Gottselig:Mark, I'm curious how you like support in those in those hard moments for both clients and employees, is it? Is it sort of just really using your high empathy, which you naturally have, or are there things you, that you, that you go through and to actually really be able to connect with your clients and your your employees authentically?
Mark Glucki:Yeah, it's it is a degree about being empathetic and really understanding, trying to understand where that other person is coming from. It's not always easy, you know, because we're, we're individual people, and we don't know the full story of what's happening in in those people's lives. But, you know, trying to ask questions, trying to actually truly care and wonder what's going on, and trying to help them out, to understand what, what's the ultimate goal that they're trying to achieve? Might be a personal thing, where they're, you know, they need to get some time off, because there's just, they've, they've, they've had it, it's, it's enough, but they just need a break and understand why. It might be work related. Might be personal related. Maybe it's a client issue where they they're scared that they're personally at work not going to achieve a goal and an objective, and they're going to have, like, not meet their metrics and KPIs, so they're not going to get their annual bonus, and they're not going to be able to go on vacation with their family, and all of these things going on. Maybe a leadership issue, where they, you know, they're stressed out because they've got to hit those same goals and targets, but now for shareholders and to make sure that those results are good. So all of these things connect together. It's A big domino effect that goes on. You and I think that's part of the quality of of our team, as we are very supportive. We are trying to understand where everybody's coming from and help them achieve their goals. We do consider ourselves more of that outsourced, right hand department of our clients, as opposed to being a client agency relationship that might be a little bit more give take. We really try to think like are, what are these people going through that we can help with? What do they actually need to achieve, as opposed to, what do we want to sell, which is not in our vocabulary? And I think when you start taking that approach, it comes back to the human side of things like those, again, those one to one connections of if this was my friend or if this was my brother or sister, if this was somebody that I I care about in my personal life. Well, what I do to support them, and when you take that approach, you can just have a more, more human relationship than, than what might be traditionally conceived, be traditionally seen as like a work relationship that's void of emotion. Yeah, it is interesting.
Scott Lanaway:Mark is, mark is, he's extremely patient and kind, even when he's, you know, times when I'm sure he's like, in the burnout zone, and he will, you know, he'll maintain that kind of positive, supportive, which is a great, a great quality to have.
Mark Glucki:Some will say it's but you alluded
Scott Lanaway:to the flip side of it, which is, you know, in running a business, sometimes it's like we have to be able to move quickly, react, make decisions, and you. It, and sometimes it's, you know, not possible to do those things and make everybody feel amazing about everything that's happening all the time, because it's, you know, it's still business, and we're all rolling with the punches and doing our best, just like our clients are. Sometimes when you know our team is under stress because we're reacting to things that our clients are asking for is because those internal teams are reacting to unforeseen challenges and and so, you know, we always want to be empathy driven and respectful and kind and create that energy and how we support and react to each other. But it can be, it can be super draining. So, you know, maybe that kind of comes back to, how do you wall off parts of your life so that you can actually recharge?
Mark Glucki:Yeah, that's it's a really important aspect of how we're trying to grow the business. We don't want people to be trained. And sometimes it happens, and it's unfortunate. It's part of being in a client service industry as well, because there's a lot of things that can happen at unforeseen times. As much as you plan, we are trying to to switch things up and make things a little bit more predictable, and making sure that we have boundaries around what we work on when we work on them, and then we're all in a better place, like our our team, the teams we work with, everybody will be in a better place. And then you can know that, like at the end of the day, just, you know, close your computer and move on, and everything will be there when you're back. All the same great things and all the same problems are going to be there tomorrow. We like to say that we don't really operate under 911 emergencies, 99.9% of the time. Like occasionally, it might come up. We're in an agency. Emergencies come up, and then you deal with them in the moment, and we tell our clients, we'll be there for it. But if that becomes the norm, then there's something wrong. There's something wrong in the efficiency of how our business is set up, or the the structure of maybe the company that you're working with, or the tools and services you're using, or your timelines, or your your project management, planning, all of the other things go into it. There's something that's not quite right, because we should be able to plan for a lot of things and have contingency plans for a lot of the things that come up in our day to day, we're
Nicole Gottselig:about to go into something really important, which is self care, and something I have struggled with a lot throughout my life, and I like to think of self care as really being your own best friend. You know, if your best friend or your someone you cared about a lot was going through something, would you treat them and talk to them the way you are treating yourself? And Scott and Mark touch on how easy it is, especially for those of us who are sensitive or empathic, to really overextend ourselves in both personal and professional life, it's such a relatable struggle being there for everyone else and forgetting to show up for yourself. But here's the thing, self care isn't some luxury or bubble baths or toxic positivity, it's essential, and when we take the time to recharge, we not only feel better, but we're able to show up more fully in all areas of our life. What I love is how this conversation leads into a deeper discussion about something called the Energy leadership index. It's about recognizing the emotional levels we operate at, especially in those stressful fight or flight moments, and learning that we actually have the power to choose how we react. It's about shifting from being reactive to consciously moving through different emotional states, which when you can catch yourself and do it can be incredibly empowering. So stick around as we explore how this can transform the way we respond to life's challenges. You know, it's that, that whole thing, you know you both, I know you as Empath, empathic, sensitive, respectful people. It's also important, you know, in these client service roles, to anyone listening to this, it's, it's easy. I'm I myself is very sensitive and empathic as well, to overly please others and then to forget to be your own best friend. Because one of the things I noticed you say mark, or one of the things you said Mark was, what, what would you say to a friend? Or how would you treat like, it's it's about that, but it's also about, how do you take that time for you? How can you be your own best friend. Like, do you have any of your own self care that you like to do? Do you have, do you carve out, like, time for yoga or meditation or exercise, or, you know, just to give yourself some, some best friend quality time too?
Mark Glucki:Yeah. I mean, self care is so important. And, um. Probably all guilty of not doing enough of it. Other things take again, take priority. But, you know, I've learned this in many ways over over the years from different people, and how to carve out time and prioritize that first and foremost. And then at some point it fails, and then you have to find another way of of of of getting at it again. So back when I worked in film, my boss told me, like, it doesn't matter if you had a 20 hour day for 14 hours straight, like you, you carve out time and you do it. So her nephew, who also worked in film, every Sunday night, doesn't matter. He would, he would be playing the late night hockey game at 11 or 12 at night, and doesn't matter, like, if you had two hours of sleep, you go do it. And that really resonated with me, because it's like, yeah, you got to do that. It's not just about, like, physical exercise. It's about an emotional release. It's about doing something mentally that stimulates you outside of your day to day, and giving you the opportunity to maybe realize that all that hard work was also for something, or it allowed me to do something else in my life, or where we're lucky enough to have the ability to go play hockey late at night on a Sunday and that sort of thing. And then more recently, I've kind of been, you know, I try and and at least get in some sort of workout, or walk the dog multiple times, or go a little bit longer, that sort of thing. And it's, you know, it's hard to do and fit into a busy schedule sometimes, but you have to try and find a way of doing it. But on a more of a philosophical level, we've recently been going through the energy leadership index. Have you heard of that? Eli, so this is an interesting thing where the model has been really telling about, again, understanding your emotional state when things are going well, and understanding your emotional state when things are not going well. And when you look at the analysis of this after going through a big, big surveying questionnaire about all of the different ways you react to things, you come up with this portrait of yourself according to seven different energy leadership levels. And some of them are catabolic at kind of the very fight or flight stress level. And then some of them are anabolic at the very more thoughtful, again, getting into that, like philosophical level. And all of them have pros and cons. What I realized in this is that when things are going well, I'm pretty even across all seven levels, and it's a really nice feeling, because you can kind of shift and move through it like waves in an ocean. But when things go horribly, I immediately jump up and I'm in fight or flight mode. I'm in level one or two. I'm like, like, battle, battle to the death on this. And I was like, Well, I was astounded how in how obvious the results were, and what I learned is that, again, you have the option of changing your level. You can choose to change your level. So if I'm in a stressful situation and I'm in fight or flight mode and I'm very level one, and I'm all about win and lose, I don't like that feeling. It's stressful. It's stressful, physically, emotionally, mentally, I'm drained. I can't do I burn out, especially if I'm in it for a long period of time, which has happened, of course. But if you recognize that, and you recognize that you actually have a place to go, you have other levels to go, and if you understand those levels, you can choose to move yourself mentally into those other levels, react to different things, the way that you want to the way that you envision. Then. Now you don't have an infinite number of emotional states to go to. You have six other states to go to. So choose one and choose the one that you want for your life. And when I've learned that, it's been recent as I've been learning this and putting it into practice, it's been so eye opening for me, it's been really helpful to say, I don't want to feel stressed out, so I'm going to choose to be supportive and put somebody first, or I'm going to choose to be supportive and go even higher and make sure that we all win no matter what. There's a winner all around in every situation. And you start to to realize that you have the option of changing your state of mind and your physical, physical presence, your your emotional presence immediately, like, rip the bandit off. This is it. You are a different person right now.
Nicole Gottselig:I felt that, you know, it's often not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us, you know, and you know, like you say, this fight or flight, a lot of this too, if our. Nervous systems are dysregulated, then a whole whack of things happens, you know? And sometimes we're just, it's just, and they're so, like, automatic. We don't, but it's when we take sort of that pause, and then, like you said, you can go into these different states. It's and then you actually have, you have choice. And then you can start, can to really be able to to be in charge of your energy, versus being just sort of a victim to like the circumstance, which, yeah, easier said than done, of course. Yeah, very empowering. We could do a whole podcast on that. Probably Scott I want to know how you take care of yourself.
Scott Lanaway:Oh, next question. Oh, God, I know it's okay. I've I'm sort of, my brain is hardwired to try to preemptively anticipate problems so that I can have mapped out potential solutions. And it's just, it's like, it's, it's a early hard wiring that I've had a tough time kind of learning how to unwind, or, you know, follow a different neural flow and how I kind of respond, because it is like a cycle that creates an energy around it that, you know, can be not help helpful. It can keep you more on that level. One Note that Mark was talking about, but, and yeah. And also just this idea of, like, trying to be nicer to yourself, just, you know, everybody has an inner critic, which is, like, you could be doing this better. You could have done that. Why didn't you do that? Like, it's endless. But also, like thinking about how you would want to show up for somebody who you love, who's a friend or a family member, like trying to figure out how to do that to yourself can be really hard. I suspect that a lot of people struggle with that. But I was telling Mark, I think it was last week, but I came across this sort of little parable that I thought was kind of interesting, but it was a it's a Buddhist monk who decides to go out in a row boat and in this kind of little, little pond or little lake and do some meditation. And so it goes out there, and it's like a beautiful day, and just kind of flowing on the water, and gets into a meditation pose and closes his eyes and starts breathing and really, really getting into into the zone, and then all of a sudden there's like a tap of like another boat, kind of hitting their boat and kind of noticing it, but like doing the whole Buddhist thing, of like, I notice it, but I'm not going to respond to it or follow that thought or but it kind of keeps happening, and this feeling of Like annoyance starts to emerge. It's like, well, you're interrupting my flow because you're being thoughtless, and so now you're bringing this distract, distraction and negative energy into my reality. And like, Who would do that? And just starting to get actually kind of angry. And then they open their eyes and look, and it's, it's an empty boat with no one in it that had just kind of drifted over. And so the whole you know lesson to it is that, like you know, that you know anger or frustration is something we hold within ourselves. It's like a construct based on how we react to the inputs of a situation that we're in. So I've been thinking about that quite a bit, because if you're sort of hardwired to you're going to get into the level one. It's like you're frustrated. Okay, how do we get through this? Why is it this way, you know, all the things that you that you go through, but then also, to Mark's point, kind of realizing that maybe we have more control over what level we're on, and that, to me, is a really hopeful thing to think about. But, yeah, I mean, like that, that's a journey, but you have to be intentional around kind of taking ownership of how you react to things in a more conscious way, and doing something different,
Nicole Gottselig:yeah, and that's wisdom. And that is really, that is wisdom, and that is really, you know, you could almost say enlightenment, right when you become the watcher, and you are able to actually say, Hey, I don't know if that's actually true, or is this, even though I've reacted this way all the time, is that like? And then it's, then you start to gain control over that. But it's not easy, right? It's not easy. And that's, you know, as humans, that's, it's, it's one of those big things we have to to to work with. It's really like the man versus himself, you know, the the narrative structure, really, it's that, yeah, yeah. I really felt that when you said about the boat. Because I we've all been that, you know, we just many things, just, you know, we're ready for fight, flight or freeze, or or what's not, yeah. It's the stepping out. You know. What
Mark Glucki:about you? Nicole, like, how do you like practice self care, and what do you do to kind of mentally unwind and get your energy levels back?
Nicole Gottselig:For me, you know, it first started nine years ago. Is at the center for mindfulness studies based out of the University of Toronto, I did a group meditation program. It was like it was MBSR, so mindfulness based stress reduction. And I really did not. I had no sort of I did yoga a lot, I exercised a lot, but I had no connection between my body and mind. I always thought they were two separate things. So if my mind was thinking this, I thought there was something wrong, and then my body was feeling this. I still thought there was something wrong. So I never connected the two right. So I noticed that when I started to learn how to meditate, I have all these weird pains in my body. Shoulders back, all this, and I would just be like, Oh, why is it? Why is this happening when I'm meditating in this and it really freaked me out at first, but I realized that I also was storing all kinds of fight, flight or freeze within my body as well. So I started to bring the two together, and started to release a lot of tension in my body, because I realized I was like this at work all the time. I was always worried. I was always anxious and things like that. And it was learning how to not jump on every thought. So when anxiety would come up, my mind would go, Oh, anxiety is here. Okay. What is actually happening right now? I'm breathing. I'm sitting here talking to you, Mark, and you, Scott, okay, nothing's actually happening, even though I'm thinking about the deadline I have to do tomorrow, right now, actually, nothing's happening. Then I started to get more power back, right? So it was it took me so long. It took me so long to trust. It took me so long to believe. It took me years of meditation. So what I found helped me more was releasing a lot through my body, through I did like, HIIT programs, boot camps, really physical, like, a lot of physical exercises to like, get out all that steam. And when I could get out all that steam and all that energy, I could sit down at night and actually sit in meditation. But it took me years, like it took me i was the most anxious, worried, overworking, workaholic you can ever imagine, and now I'm sitting here bare feet and doing a podcast with you all.
Mark Glucki:I can't imagine being that. So, like all the work you did is, is worked out well, you come across always as this calm, collected, very centered person. So it's obviously been a decade of hard work at this
Nicole Gottselig:mark. It was not easy for me. It I was the Why was the one where people were like, she, is she ever gonna get it? Is she ever gonna get her together, right?
Mark Glucki:So there's hope for us. It
Nicole Gottselig:just took practice, and then I just kind of it like, but it took me years. Some people, some people, get it a lot faster, right? I'm stubborn though, you know, yeah. And I used to, like, I used to, I used to numb a lot. I used to smoke cigarettes and drink beer and, you know, and you know, it's just, but it took, it took a long time. It took a long time. You know, remember being a kid and just coloring a picture, just for the sake of coloring, nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to achieve. There's really so much freedom, space and ease, when we have the freedom to just create, just simply for the love of creating, that means no ROI, no metrics, no OKRs to track. It feels pretty great, doesn't it? And there's a quote that's going around a lot on Instagram right now by Rick Rubin, to paraphrase, it's about when you create something that truly resonates from yourself, you're doing the best thing you can for your audience. And I know this is close to mark and Scott's hearts too. That is bringing creativity back into their work and lives, just for creating content that means something to them as they've built Titan one, balancing creativity with the demands of running a business has been a challenge, but they found a way to reconnect with that creative spark through the purpose fund. And the next part, we'll hear how they're using this project to not only tap into their creativity, but also tell meaningful stories and give back in a way that aligns with their values. Stay tuned as we explore how they're making that vision a reality, and maybe it'll spark something in you to do it too. Mark and Scott tell me how you are actually bringing create. Activity back within yourselves, both with Titan one and who you are as people.
Mark Glucki:Yeah, I mean, it's it's been a bit of a challenge over the past few years, as we've been working on building up the business and adding team members, adding clients, our roles have personally changed from being more creative on a day to day basis to being more of the ones running the business. And we've been very surprised at how much time it actually does take to run the back end of the business and and as you do that, you do get pulled away from your initial passion, and you don't get exposed to as much. But we realized that that was a big missing element for us personally. So we, we wanted to make a make a shift and make it happen. Scott, you want to add on? Yeah,
Scott Lanaway:I think, I think wanting to make an investment in creating a space to put our energy into something that would excite us and maybe draw attention to people or groups that we think are worthy of more exposure and more attention is became a way for us to to give back, in a sense, but also in a more of a self serving way, to just really prioritize carving out some time and space to do something really creative, or out of the Box, something that's outside of our normal direct account work. So the purpose Fund, which is a block of money that we've put aside to tell really interesting human stories, and also a bunch of pro bono time that the people involved are putting in and, and also some of our partners who are really excited by the same thing of like having a project like this, it's just been, it's just been fantastic. And, and so, yeah, we're in the middle of our first production right now, which is a documentary, a mini documentary and commercial for the Canadian Women's Paralympic goalball team, which is going to be competing in Paris this summer. They're an amazing group of people. The sport is really interesting. We got to fly out to Halifax and meet them and kind of interview them and film them as they're training and getting ready, and really just immersing ourselves. And they are so inspiring, and it's been so exciting working on it. And it's definitely, you know, off the regular, you know, trails that we tend to travel in terms of the client work that we do, but so enriching and so rewarding. So that's been great. So that's been kind of putting a little bit more wind in our sails as well. And the sport is, if people listening haven't heard about it before, it's for vision impaired people, and it's played on a court with really wide nets, and people with different levels of vision impairment can play it, but it's an equal playing field, because everyone wears an eye mask that basically removes all light and input, and they basically just really aggressively hurl a very heavy ball from one end to the other, trying to score, and the way you defend is listening to for the sound of a little bell and lunging your body towards where you think the sound is, and basically sacrificing your body to try to stop that ball from getting past you.
Mark Glucki:It truly is like sacrificing your body because we got to play it and jump on the court, and these athletes were whipping the ball at us, and I'm sure it was at 10% of the speed that they they do in regular games, but it hurts so bad, and throwing your body onto the court this hard surface, my ribs were bruised for literally three to four weeks after where we had scrapes and bangs and cuts all over Derek on our team, he had cuts on his hands. Steve had bruised hip for a long time. These are, these are intense things, and we were barely even playing. But it was so fun. It was so so interesting to be involved and on the purpose fund side. Well, kudos to Derek on our team, our managing director, who really stepped up and recognized that while we all have a right brain and left brain mentality, we were kind of missing the creative elements, and we were really all craving that. And he put forth the idea of the purpose fund so. And it it was really inspiring for us, because we realized, like the team has grown to a place where we're all involved, we're all passionate about certain things, and we can all bring great ideas to the table. And it was nice to be able to to recognize that and be so grateful to have a team member that would present such a cool idea that we we could go forth with. So I mean, hats off to Derek for that, and we've all been really working hard on making sure that the purpose Fund is a fun, fun outlet for us to explore our creative minds, to add new skills to our roster, to support organizations that might not otherwise get that support and provide additional exposure to things that we we care about and can get behind, and I think that ultimately will help everybody on the team, including ourselves, expand and grow and feel fulfilled and kind of give back in a different way to the community.
Scott Lanaway:Yeah, doing some finding ways to give back has become just a really important tool in having more of a sense of the equilibrium for us as an agency, and also personally, finding things to contribute to, kind of, you know, give towards something that isn't leading to a business benefit. But that is fueled by that feeling of of connection and understanding and shedding a light on, on, on important work that people are doing that deserves recognition. Just feels really good. So that's been, you know, an amazing thing to have, and we're really interested in doing more of that. And actually, we really believe that that approach to content creation, there should be more of that in business as well. You know, getting beyond the kind of veneer, kind of two camera talking headshots with like, you know, the humble braggy. This is why our brand is so amazing, why you should buy from us, but into, you know, what is interesting about the people behind this brand and the people that they do business with? Like, there's so much to work with there, so this gives us a chance to explore creatively in that direction as well.
Nicole Gottselig:And, you know, people buy from people. I mean, I think we could have a master class just on, just on the purpose fund, and why it matters. You know, what a gift you know you're both giving, and I know how humble you both are, and it's not about bragging about how great you're doing or anything like that. I know it's not, because Scott, when we met, you know, one of the things that always stuck out to me was you want to do a podcast that's actually helpful and connects people, and even if it just helps one person, that's why you're doing it, and it's you're not driven by all the numbers and money. Of course, all that this stuff does matter in some ways. We still live in society. We still have to feed and clothe ourselves, and you know, and live. You know, we're not talking about dropping out. But there are, there are ways to give back. And, you know, if we have it's, it's about giving back to others in the way that we can with what we have. I
Scott Lanaway:think, I think making, if we can make one person listening to this feel a little bit more empowered, to move in a direction of choosing to do things that fuel them becoming more of their authentic selves, then, to me, that's a success, because it's really hard to move in that direction, especially in a world that is kind of looking at all of these external indicators of, you know, success, but you know, yeah, taking some personal risks, even if it's like a smaller risk, as you know, instead of doing this thing I was going to do for two hours today, I'm going to go and do this thing where I'm going to meet with that person who's doing really interesting work, to have a conversation with them and just learn has meaning and value. It maybe not. It might not have as direct immediate result, but there's an exploration there that's that obviously kind of connects into something that matters so absolutely. And also, I mean, I don't know, Mark, you were talking about the whole kind of price is right game before, and all the different choices you can make and that sort of thing. But, like, I don't, I suspect this is true for you, but I didn't, you know this is how it was for me. It's like I did not have anybody saying, you know, I love where you're, you know, you play, how you're playing the game, and where you're putting the inputs. It was more kind of like, oh, you're doing that. Like, I'm not sure I fully understand that, or why you think that that's a good place to
Mark Glucki:that's exactly it's got. And like, nobody is saying that for the, you know, the majority of the time, nobody's looking over your shoulder and saying, oh, why'd you put that chip there?
Unknown:Why are you going there?
Mark Glucki:They're playing their own Plinko game. We're all playing our own Plinko game. So to think that we're we're judging ourselves because somebody thought that we played the Plinko game incorrectly, or to be worried that maybe we. And put the chip in the right place. It's like, hey, it's It's okay. Just play the chip where it is, and, as they say, and then and be okay with where you are at in your life. And that's maybe part of the whole idea of of finding purpose in your life, is, doesn't really matter what happened in the past so much as what you do with your present and and just kind of go forward from there and be okay with it, because you can't change the past. You can't play can't change where the the Plinko chips were played before, but you've got seemingly never ending plan code chips, you know, at least for now, so play another one.
Nicole Gottselig:Thank you for tuning in to connect with purpose. I hope today's episode brought you inspiration and insight into what it means to live a purpose driven life. You enjoyed this conversation. Please Subscribe and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us grow and reach more listeners who are on their own journey to finding and living their purpose. And remember, living with purpose isn't some far off destination, it's a journey that we're all on together. So if you aren't living your purpose fully right now, don't worry if you're still alive, your mission on earth is not complete, so keep going, and until next time, I'm Nicole Gottselig, and this is connect with purpose.
Sian Sue:Thanks for joining us on connect with purpose, produced by Titan ONE. Connect With Purpose is hosted by Nicole Gottselig, Executive Producer, Mark Glucki, producer, Sian Sue, hey, that's me! Special thanks to Mark Edwards, editing, Monica Low and Dave Chau, design and Charlie the office dog. Do you have an inspiring story? Or maybe you know someone who's followed their passion to find a new purpose? Reach out on our site. We'd love to hear from you.
