Again, funny, wise and practical. I did laugh out loud several times in this inspiring conversation. Enjoy – and share – make someone’s day – and maybe change a life!
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Kerrie Phipps 0:00
Hi, Kerrie Phipps here with Julie woods on our series about making a silver lining and unpacking Julie’s keys to adapting to extraordinary change. So welcome back, Julie.
Julie Woods 0:14
Thank you, Kerrie.
Kerrie Phipps 0:16
So today we’re talking about your step number four. Would you like to take take the lead here?
Julie Woods 0:22
Wow, it’s I, I can’t… Can you say you have a favourite? I don’t know whether you can.
Kerrie Phipps 0:29
We just won’t tell the others.
Julie Woods 0:30
No, that’s right. key number four, set your own goals. And I guess, really, for me, it’s such a huge key because as Brian Tracy said, “goals allow you to control the direction of change in your favour.”
Kerrie Phipps 0:51
Yeah.
Julie Woods 0:52
So this is about taking charge. And when I went blind everything seemed so negative. And then in 2001, four years later, my husband left our family. So I became a single blind parent. And it was like, Oh, god, what can I do to to feel more in charge and control and empowered? And setting goals was something that I did. I said, “why not?” to learning Braille?
Kerrie Phipps 1:22
Yeah.
Julie Woods 1:23
And I went out to the blind foundation once a week and, and began to learn to read with my fingers. And having that goal, really helped me focus on something positive at a time when there were other negative things happening around. And I think that’s the power of goals. It’s the power of focus and energy and in putting your energy towards something that you’re going to create, and that helps you move in a brand new direction.
Kerrie Phipps 1:52
Yeah, absolutely. And so by the time we connected you’d already been doing, life as a blind person and a single mum for some time. And you set some really powerful goals with me. And we just mentioned two of them in the in the previous episode. And and the third one. Would you like to share that?
Julie Woods 2:14
Third one was around me having said “why not?” Do you want to go and speak to a group of donors, which then lead on to do you want to come and speak to our club, and more and more speaking opportunities set head come my way. So that was about wanting to become a professional speaker.
Kerrie Phipps 2:34
Yes.
Julie Woods 2:34
So I set my goal of being “Unstoppable on stage”.
Kerrie Phipps 2:39
Yeah. And it’s beautiful. And I’ve seen you you’ve commented on on social media about that sometimes. And you know that that’s one of those goals that we’ve talked about a number of times, and I imagine has opened up so many more doors of opportunity. Like, you know, when I have been talking to somebody on a train or wherever I’m chatting with somebody and you’ve come up in conversation. I say, “Julie does cooking without looking demonstrations on national television.” And you know, you’ve had quite a number of interesting opportunities for professional speaking, haven’t you?
Julie Woods 3:12
Yes, I have. And thats been great. And I think really it comes back to that goal that I set Kerrie and working with you. Because one of the first things I did when I work with you was to write a list of things that I could do on stage.
Kerrie Phipps 3:26
Yeah, thats right.
Kerrie Phipps 3:26
Yes.
Julie Woods 3:26
So it wasn’t just about me getting up and telling my story. What were some of the other things that I could do? I could tell Louis Brailles’ story. Yeah, I could make my truffles that I keep making and making it making my bloody truffles. I can make them I could sing a waiata. I could coach someone. So there are lots of things that you know, I could do on stage and I hadn’t really thought about it until I write that list. And then as a result of writing that list, I can came up with an event called chocolate coated life coaching.
Julie Woods 3:31
Which I hired a local hall just up the road from us here in Duneden and sent some invites out to my friends. And on one sort of cold spring night in Duneden and I had a hall full of people where I start, well, I, I had an event where I came out to Helen Readies – I Am Woman, and got behind the trestle table on the stage and made my truffles which was the first cocking without looking demonstration that I did.
Kerrie Phipps 4:39
Yeah.
Julie Woods 4:40
I told my story and coached some people from the stage and that was really fantastic.
Kerrie Phipps 4:47
Yeah, I was just thinking like if there’s, you know, professional speakers or aspiring speakers listening, there is one great activity right there. It’s like what can I do on stage? Because you brainstormed you get really creative. And there was a Kiwi word that you used there and…
Julie Woods 5:04
Oh, was there?
Kerrie Phipps 5:05
Yeah. Did you think something? Started with w I’ve missed the word that you said I didn’t write it down.
Julie Woods 5:11
Oh, waiata, sorry?
Kerrie Phipps 5:12
Yes, please tell us about that.
Julie Woods 5:13
Yes, yes. Yes. Sorry. Waiata is a song. It is a Māori word for song. Okay beautiful. So I could sing a waiata.
Kerrie Phipps 5:26
Wow. Thats brave.
Julie Woods 5:29
Yeah, it was wasnt it. Actually funny you should say that because in the in the feedback forms I got one of the comments was “not sure about the waiata.” Oh… Okay.
Kerrie Phipps 5:43
So what do you feel is – I have to say, I have only sung onstage I think in the Philippines because they appreciate that you know, you can use speaking and then just burst into a line of song and everybody’s suddenly in there with you. I think if I did that in Australia, people might just suddenly recoil and get what is she doing? Does she think she can sing?
Julie Woods 6:04
She’s Julie Andrews – (singing) “So long, farewell…”
Kerrie Phipps 6:09
If I only! So Julie, when you when you thought about your list when you as you built that list of what you could do on stage, you know, some things probably would come easily and you would just go oh, yeah, I can do that. Other things might have been a real stretch or quite brave. What’s the bravest thing you’ve done on stage – for you?
Julie Woods 6:30
I was involved in a pie off.
Kerrie Phipps 6:36
You might have to explain that one too.
Julie Woods 6:38
Australians know what pies are?
Kerrie Phipps 6:39
Yeah.
Julie Woods 6:41
Yeah. So the there was a celebrate diversity week, which was there to highlight people with disabilities. And one of the events was me to have a Bake Off with Richard Emerson, who was a famous brewer in Duneden and we were to both make a pie on stage. And we would then there was a judge and one of us was to be declared the winner. So Richard made a steak pie and I made a hot pink pecan pie.
Kerrie Phipps 7:15
Wow.
Julie Woods 7:16
So I put cochineal in the pastry and made this caramel pecan pie.
Kerrie Phipps 7:23
And what was the outcome?
Julie Woods 7:25
It was a draw.
Kerrie Phipps 7:31
Oh, that’s fantastic.
Julie Woods 7:32
But that’s, often now Kerrie, people will come to me with ideas, which I really like, so that wasn’t my idea. But somebody had seen me do my cooking without looking demonstration. And thought I think Julie might be up for this. And of course, I said, “why not?”. So it’s great when that happens.
Kerrie Phipps 7:53
Yeah, absolutely. And so you mentioned when things are big and scary… you’ve set some pretty crazy goals.
Julie Woods 8:06
Yes.
Kerrie Phipps 8:08
How do you how do you feel about setting big scary goals? What is that, talk us through your thinking there?
Julie Woods 8:13
I think there the sort of things that you that you dream about when you’re when you’re sitting on your couch or you’re in bed or you move into that zone and go, wouldn’t it be wonderful to… I think crazy goals I find really inspiring.
Kerrie Phipps 8:35
Yeah.
Julie Woods 8:36
They inspire me and inspire other people. And they kind of make people go, Wow, they make me go, Wow. So i’ve to a goal at the moment to write 1 million names in Braille. Which is a pretty crazy goal.
Kerrie Phipps 8:54
1 million. How long does that take? Julie?
Julie Woods 8:57
Well, probably about 150 years. If I did it on my own – so now the challenge is to maybe get other people to help me Kerrie.
Kerrie Phipps 9:09
Okay, cool. So you set this huge goal and then went okay, how do we actually do it? Yeah, because it’s really easy to get stuck in the how with goals. A lot of people go ohhh, how would I do this? How would I do that? When you’re dreaming and setting goals? You don’t think about that? Because if you thought about that, you wouldn’t do it.
Kerrie Phipps 9:30
Yeah. So I’m hearing that you went back two keys one and two, asking for help and finding peer support.
Julie Woods 9:37
Yeah, right. And number three, writing your own rules. Doing it your way you’re the only one that’s like, you.
Kerrie Phipps 9:45
yeah, yeah.
Julie Woods 9:46
Yeah, it all about you and doing something inspiring for you. But really, I mean, I’m, how many years am I into setting goals Kerrie? Let’s say 20 years, coming up 20 years. So I wouldn’t have set, write 1 million names in braille to start with my goal to write 1 million names in braille started with, do you want to learn braille?
Kerrie Phipps 10:10
Yes.
Julie Woods 10:11
And then it was do you want to set your Braille proficiency certificate? Do you want to come and work as a brand awareness consultant? Do you want to go to Paris for Louis Braille’s birthday, blah, blah, blah, you know, it’s kind of a, it morphs into this other thing.
Kerrie Phipps 10:30
That’s right. And one goal accomplished, accomplished them inspires you to see what else is possible.
Julie Woods 10:37
Well, that creates opportunities for other goals to be. So I certainly wouldn’t encourage people to start with crazy goals. I’d encourage them to start with actually really much smaller goals so that they can set them, achieve them, and have success.
Kerrie Phipps 10:56
Yeah, absolutely. And it really doesn’t matter how small does it?
Julie Woods 10:59
No way It could be walking around the block or whatever it is reading one book.
Kerrie Phipps 11:09
Yeah, absolutely. I remember meeting someone on a plane. And I just launched my second book. And I was, I was going through one of the chapters for something. And the guy sitting next to me just commented that he hasn’t read a book at all, except one that he had to read in high school. And I said “Oh that’s interesting.” And so he had a look at mine, he flipped through and then he went, oh, see, I’d read this book, because of the layout, and, you know, it looked achievable. Which was great, because it was it was a, it was a good example for me to know that people wouldn’t find it out of reach. You know, it was like it was good affirmation to me that I created something that would help people. And it was delightful because he didn’t know it was my book at that point.
Julie Woods 11:59
Yeah, that’s right.
Kerrie Phipps 12:00
Yeah, but it was just that sometimes, you know, we might think that, you know, reading one book is, is not a big goal, but for somebody it might be.
Julie Woods 12:09
That’s right. Absolutely. You know, I coached young man with a goal to read one book because he hadn’t finished it. He was never read a book. And it’s amazing what he learned the strategies that he learned along the way to, you know, do it in bite sized pieces page at a time, factor at a time. And it was really quite astonishing what he in the end with just that one goal.
Kerrie Phipps 12:38
Yeah, yeah. And it gives us such a great sense of accomplishment and, you know, opening up more possibilities for ourselves and others because I see that as you’ve been achieving these goals, you know, starting with the smaller ones, like the, you know, back to the beginning, when you said, learning how to, you know, put something on toast. Now, your goals are really stretching you. But they’re delighting you and inspiring you further and inspiring so many more people too.
Julie Woods 13:08
Yeah, that’s right. I’ve just, as part of the COVID-19 I wasn’t able to go for a walk. So I thought, well, what can I do? I know I can walk the 59 steps in our apartment building on my own independently. So social distancing from everybody. So I decided that I would also stream it live on Facebook. And I’ve been doing that since the 18th of March. And what I worked out was that how many steps were on the Empire State Building, which is 1872. So it was going to take me 31.71 days to climb to the top of the Empire State Building. Every day now that I go out there and I climb my 59 steps. I know that I’m moving towards the top of the Empire State Building. And thats the goal that I’ve set myself and it feels really good. It’s it’s an achievement, and I can compare it with that feat. So rather than just going up the steps every day, I set myself this goal.
Kerrie Phipps 14:14
Yeah, that’s a shift, isn’t it from just the practicality of the steps that you’re doing that day. It’s part of a bigger picture, which is great. Yeah. Is there anything else that you’ve been doing lately? That has been… Yeah, a fresh perspective on goals for you?
Julie Woods 14:34
Fresh perspective on goals?
Kerrie Phipps 14:36
Yeah.
Julie Woods 14:37
Well, I guess… COVID-19 is probably that 59 steps. One really is. It’s all about what you can do. And yeah, not being overwhelmed by what you can’t.
Kerrie Phipps 14:52
Mm hmm.
Julie Woods 14:52
Yeah, I think that’s really important, so setting yourself a goal that allows you to do what you can within the parameters that currently exist, I think it’s really important doesn’t matter what it is.
Kerrie Phipps 15:05
Yeah, that’s right. You know, because for some people, they’re not able to go for a walk around the block, which might ordinarily be, you know, a first step towards getting out. But if that’s not possible, yeah, what can we do? And, you know, I was just reading this morning that, you know, some of the local businesses that are expected to struggle have actually been really busy because people are ordering supplies for Do It Yourself projects, craft projects.
Julie Woods 15:33
Yeah.
Kerrie Phipps 15:33
Gardening projects and, you know, it’s actually the first time I’ve bought vegetables to plant for, oh, more than a decade.
Julie Woods 15:42
Yeah. Thats great.
Kerrie Phipps 15:43
But he’s thinking about what can I do? And so, you know, I think that’s a really good takeaway to be thinking about, you know, when if we notice it comes back to the very first episode, we talked about awareness. To be aware of that conversation in our head. You know, I can’t do this. I can’t do that. Okay. So what can I do? And and what you can do even with limitations can be really quite inspiring.
Julie Woods 16:07
That’s right.
Kerrie Phipps 16:08
A lot of doors of opportunity.
Julie Woods 16:10
That’s right. So imagine what you can do with your seeds and, and what goal you could sit yourself in terms of creating a spring garden that, you know, salad garden that you’re gonna be eating from in the spring.
Kerrie Phipps 16:24
Yeah, cuz we’ll probably be home and here to enjoy it.
Julie Woods 16:29
Exactly.
Kerrie Phipps 16:31
Thank you so much, Julie. It’s just so wonderful to talk through these things. So let’s come back again, with number five. Do you just want to give us a heads up on what number five is?
Julie Woods 16:42
Number five is find your own solutions.
Kerrie Phipps 16:47
Perfect. All right. I look forward to talking to you about that very soon.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
