Latest / Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane / The Why Not Today? Podcast - Season 3 - Episode 22 with Courtney Bickert, Founder and CEO, LaughingMatters

Transcript

The Why Not Today? Podcast - Season 3 - Episode 22 with Courtney Bickert, Founder and CEO, LaughingMatters · Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Why Not Today podcast, where we celebrate courage, determination, and the
• 0:05
  power of saying, why not today?
• 0:08
  I'm your host, Leslie Cain, and in each episode, we dive into inspiring stories of individuals
• 0:13
  who have taken bold steps, face their fears, and embrace the possibility of today.
• 0:18
  From entrepreneurs, artists, dreamers, and doers, we explore the moments when they said,
• 0:23
  enough waiting, why not today?
• 0:26
  Join me as we uncover the heartwarming, the audacious, and the transformative, whether
• 0:31
  it's pursuing a lifelong passion, overcoming obstacles, or simply choosing joy, or guest
• 0:36
  share their journey and inspire us all.
• 0:39
  I started this podcast in honor of my father, Patrick Cain, who often did say, why not today?
• 0:43
  And remember, you're just one decision away from changing your life.
• 0:48
  And welcome, Courtney.
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  Courtney is my guest today, and a new friend of mine.
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  So I'm excited to have her on the podcast today.
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  And I always talk about where we connect and where we met.
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  So I went to a rest and chamber event that Northwest Federal Credit Union sponsored, and
• 1:04
  she was there and just loved your energy.
• 1:07
  And I've been paying attention, and I just, my last podcast episode talked about my why
• 1:14
  not today scavenger hunt.
• 1:16
  And I'm really paying attention to the people that I meet in their energy.
• 1:19
  And so Met Courtney connected, and then it was funny, I was talking to my sister, and
• 1:24
  she was like, oh, I met this person, Courtney, and she's doing this and that.
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  And then another friend of mine, Karen, told me about she met this person, Courtney.
• 1:33
  And so it's just kind of fun just to see all of a sudden the connections.
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  And like, you don't live in our backyard at rest, and you're in DC, which, you know, not
• 1:42
  that far, but it's not here.
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  And I think we are teasing you, like, I think I sent you an email about I heard you're coming
• 1:48
  to network night, and I know you don't have a car, so I'm picking up the metro.
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  I'm not stalking you, it's just my sister.
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  Between the two of us, we know so many people.
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  So it's fun to have you here, have you as a new friend.
• 1:59
  And I think I mentioned you look in your mannerisms and so much are like my friend, Julia, who
• 2:04
  did stop stand up comedy.
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  So I've got to connect you guys because you'd be fast friends.
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  Yes, I would love to.
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  And I just have to say that was my first ever rest in chamber event.
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  And it was a phenomenal event on women's leadership.
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  It was fantastic.
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  And I met all of the people you mentioned, plus others, and I feel so embraced by the
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  rest in community.
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  I love it.
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  In fact, I'm spending most of my week in rest.
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  Yesterday, I will be there today for lunch with Karen.
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  I will be there tomorrow for the networking and I will be at your luncheon on Thursday.
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  So I just love, love what I've found out there.
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  So it's great.
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  Well, yeah, well, if you need a ride from the metro on Thursday, I won't keep your phone
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  there.
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  Wednesday, let me know.
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  So Courtney, let's get to know you.
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  Tell us a little about who Courtney is and a fast, a fun fact about you.
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  Okay, who am I?
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  Let's see.
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  Well, I'm an adventurer by nature and very curious person.
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  I have spent most of my career in international development working around the world in amazing
• 3:15
  places and I've been to over 100 countries.
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  What's your favorite?
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  Do you have a favorite?
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  I do not have a favorite because every place is so different and I think what I love often
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  most is the surprise of falling in love with a place that you don't think you'll fall in
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  love with.
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  Like when I first went to China, I kind of went for a school class, a business school
• 3:41
  class and I kind of forced myself to go because I didn't think I would really like it.
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  I don't know what I had in mind and I completely fell in love with China.
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  I was just there for three weeks and I got back to business school, started taking Mandarin
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  and went back and studied in Beijing for a semester and ended up working quite a bit
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  in China at a later date.
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  So most of my career in international development across multiple sectors, many geographies
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  and it's just been quite a journey and I've made some changes.
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  I left my last sort of big executive nonprofit job at the German Marshall Fund to start my
• 4:20
  consulting company Laughing Matters to unleash the power of thunder.
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  We're going to talk about that in a minute.
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  Yeah, so we won't go into that and I'm also an executive recruiter but I'm just an adventurer
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  and I consider myself a global citizen who really cares about making the world a better
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  place.
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  Love that.
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  And I would say then we'll talk about this later as my dad but yeah, a lot like my dad's
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  philosophies.
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  One fun fact.
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  Oh yeah, fun fact.
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  A fun fact is that I have taught a trainer of trainers of aerobics instructors in Cure
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  in the song.
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  Okay, that is kind of fun.
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  Well, you have that in common with Karen.
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  I don't know if you know that.
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  I do not know that.
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  Okay, so you have to ask her about it.
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  She used to teach water aerobics.
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  I've been doing aerobics for 15 years.
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  I paid for my post-college url trip on aerobics money.
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  Yeah, that's funny.
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  Yeah, she used to and another fun connection we'll pull back together at the end.
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  So yay.
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  And I don't know, can you hear the banging above me?
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  No, not at all.
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  I live in a concrete building and they're doing construction.
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  So this is where I wish I was editing, but I don't know how I'd get rid of that.
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  So I'm glad you can't hear it.
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  Okay, so what is courage mean to you, Courtney?
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  I've been thinking about this and I think for me personally, courage is about taking
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  a leap into the unknown and trying something that you don't know what to expect that you
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  may or may not succeed or you may not enjoy.
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  Okay, so true, but we got to be courageous and I think you with your travels worldwide,
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  it takes courage to go to all those places and trying new places.
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  Did you often travel with a group or by yourself?
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  Both.
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  So I've done a lot of both and I've traveled a lot on my own also for pleasure.
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  Yeah, and I think that is a skill and that takes courage that a lot of people wouldn't
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  do that.
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  Yes.
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  But you know, I've done the same thing and love it.
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  I remember one time I was going to the beach and a friend was supposed to go and backed
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  out the last minute.
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  I'm like, wait a minute, I'm single.
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  I live by myself.
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  And I travel for business by myself.
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  Right.
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  Like, why can't I go on vacation by myself?
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  I'm like, you know, it was kind of pleasurable and nice that, you know, I could eat ice cream
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  for dinner or read a book when I wanted or there was nobody else's agenda.
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  Exactly.
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  Exactly.
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  A lot of fun and you never, you, I feel like when you travel alone, you are more because
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  you're alone, you're more open to meeting people that you otherwise might not meet or
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  having experiences.
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  My nephew who will be 30 this month or next month.
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  He, when COVID happened, he decided that he didn't want to live here in a virtual, he
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  worked virtually, business wise, he could work remote.
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  And so he moved to San Diego and literally bought a surfboard before bed.
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  And so, and he's been traveling all by himself a lot.
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  I think even before then he went to Europe, he just booked a flight and he says he just
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  goes to a bar and has dinner and meets new friends and has just met great friends.
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  I think, yeah, you're forced to learn to meet people.
• 7:58
  Yeah.
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  You know, being one of six kids I remember going on vacation and my parents are like,
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  you guys never make other friends.
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  I'm like, we didn't have to, we had our own little posse.
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  Right.
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  So I said so many of us.
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  So something said to that.
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  So, all right, so you've had lots of jobs, but you've started something on your own and
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  that's really what is my sweet spot for women these days is that we're being bold and being
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  courageous and like, you know what, I want to do something for me.
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  So was there a moment where you decided, and I'm calling it my why not say moment where
• 8:33
  you knew that it was time to make a change or you want to start this business or it was
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  like over time or was there just that one moment where you remember where you were, what
• 8:41
  you were doing that in like, enough is enough.
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  Like let's do this.
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  Yeah, that's, that's an interesting question.
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  I think it had been, you know, over time and really the whole laughing matters thing came
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  to me over time.
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  And it was a why not today kind of moment when I decided I was going to try stand up comedy
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  at all.
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  So I was in London, I had just left Holland and a large international development organization
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  and I was trying to figure out my next steps and I had somebody had told me once, I think
• 9:19
  you should perform.
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  So I was in London, I was like, well, I'm looking for a job, but I might as well, I don't know,
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  let's take some stand up classes.
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  So I just did and I signed up that very day and really fell in love with it and started
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  then already thinking about my gosh, when you go to comedy school, all these things
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  that you're learning about what does a persona mean?
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  How do you control the energy in a room and take the mic and how do you deliver a setup
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  punch and all of that is so relevant to business pitches.
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  And then I started studying about the humor and laughter and all the power of humor and
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  laughter and connecting people innovation, motivation, all these things and realizing
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  how powerful it is for leaders and teams and organizations.
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  So I had this kind of stuff brewing in my, my mind and I got to a point at my job.
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  Where I felt like, you know what, I've done what I can do here and sort of my work here
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  is done and things are running smoothly.
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  So this is a moment where I can leave and let's just start this thing.
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  Now I didn't know then that the pandemic was going to happen.
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  As none of us in that a little, you know, forward thinking that you didn't, you were
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  looking at other options before we all started looking at other options.
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  That's true.
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  That's true.
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  So yeah, I think with that, it had been brewing and I'm actually in a process of really bringing
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  it back.
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  I kind of took some other jobs in between that and done some other things and now I'm
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  really refocused on laughing matters.
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  And it is, it's really, really scary.
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  Especially because I feel like, you know, the concept itself is really sexy and people
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  are like, yes, I love that idea.
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  And then it's like, yeah, but what would I be actually paying you to do?
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  So getting over that step is so it feels risky, but I also feel like there's, there are a
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  few things I'm more passionate about.
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  Yeah, and I think it's scary when we're passionate about something and we don't quite know the
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  journey I've interviewed so many people on this podcast that started here and ended up
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  here.
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  Right.
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  It's just those why not today steps like, okay, what do I have to do today to move the
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  ball and what do I, and then what's the next thing and I've had to do this with the podcast
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  and growing this one, I say business is like, you know, my first episode, I had no idea
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  what I was doing.
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  Right.
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  I was like, I'm just going to do it and then the next week I like added something else
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  and, you know, keep adding things to my tool belt and learning because, you know, when
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  you're running another business or working for somebody else, it's hard to have the time
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  to put into that.
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  Right.
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  Now, I don't know about you, but it's fun and you're enjoying it.
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  It's something new.
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  And so you want to play there more than the other job that's paying you.
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  Exactly.
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  But at some point you do need, we need to make that leap.
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  And I did that 25 years ago where I was working full time and started another side hustle.
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  And it was much more fun and much more exciting and had not replaced my income, but I'm like,
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  you know what, I know I can do this.
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  And worst case, I'll just get another job.
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  Right.
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  Everything fell in place and then six months later, my dad had a major stroke and I was
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  able to do that and I didn't have to ask permission to take time off or do anything that I was
• 13:06
  able to just make that leap.
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  But it is a leap and it is scary.
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  And what I love what you were just saying about like, you know, I didn't know when I,
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  what I was doing when I started doing podcasts, so you just kind of start doing it.
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  And I think one of the things that's, that's always hard is don't let the perfect be the
• 13:26
  enemy of the good or don't let the perfect be the enemy of the doing.
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  Exactly.
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  And one of the things you learn and stand up is like part of the process of getting a
• 13:36
  good joke is telling it poorly and then reworking it and flopping it.
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  And so, and then redoing.
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  And I feel I always find myself in that like, I really want to do this like a three minute
• 13:52
  interview of somebody, but how do I do it?
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  Well, you got to just do it.
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  And so I admire what you were saying and it's, it's always hard just to get out there and
• 14:00
  do it and then the next one will be better and the next one will be better.
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  Yeah, I found I work really well with the deadline.
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  And then backwards.
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  So like I'll plan something and put a date.
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  So the first podcast episode was purposely on March 5th, which was the day my, it was
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  my dad's birthday and the day he passed away.
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  So I'm like, there can't be a better day to start this podcast.
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  Right.
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  And then literally I recorded the first episode like it three or four on the day before.
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  Wow.
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  You know, but it was just like, I didn't want to do it.
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  Like I'm one of these people that I'm a last minute girl, but it's always stirring, you
• 14:34
  know, and thinking and then, you know, writing the paper.
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  I was always the night before in school, but it came fast because I was thinking about
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  it.
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  Right.
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  So yeah, it's taking those pieces and just like, okay, what are the things that you need
• 14:48
  to do?
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  And, and, you know, I'm doing some masterminds and some coaching and I built it out and I'm
• 14:55
  like, okay, now I got to find the people.
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  But sometimes you got to find the people and then like, okay, now I got to figure this
• 15:01
  out, which I did too, you know.
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  Yeah.
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  So it definitely takes courage, but I can tell you from being on the other side, it's
• 15:11
  so worth it.
• 15:12
  Yeah.
• 15:13
  Yeah.
• 15:14
  So let's talk.
• 15:15
  So exactly what is your vision and your idea for your laughing matter?
• 15:19
  So have you done, worked with companies yet with this or is it just?
• 15:22
  I have done some work with companies.
• 15:24
  I did an engagement with the Special Olympics.
• 15:28
  They were having their international retreat where they were bringing in some of their
• 15:33
  athlete leaders and their other teams from around the globe and putting them, getting
• 15:38
  them together with their teams at the head office here.
• 15:41
  And so I facilitated the whole day of that retreat and brought in various different tools
• 15:48
  of humor and laughter.
• 15:49
  One of the goals for them was for the teams to get to know each other, but to know each
• 15:54
  other both personally and also to have an appreciation and understanding of what the
• 15:58
  other teams did.
• 16:00
  And so it was a great way to bring in some of the tools of laughing matters.
• 16:04
  We did some exercises around people's persona and team personas.
• 16:08
  I had them do a joke telling contest, which was really fun.
• 16:12
  And that was such a great experience because it was both international people from various
• 16:20
  different cultures, lots of people from different backgrounds in terms of their expertise, and
• 16:26
  a lot of different disabilities and levels of intellectual ability.
• 16:32
  So it was great and so much fun.
• 16:35
  I've also done a similar activity with We Connect International where they brought people
• 16:40
  from 60 of their country, their country leaders.
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  So that was a group of 60 global entrepreneurs coming together to really work through their
• 16:49
  strategy for the next year.
• 16:52
  I've done a workshop with conflict negotiation negotiators.
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  It was a group of practitioners.
• 17:01
  And that was amazing because some of the stories they have to tell about how they've used humor
• 17:08
  in negotiation.
• 17:09
  And some of them were literally hostages in hostile countries and how humor came to bear
• 17:16
  on those situations.
• 17:17
  So I have done some work with another, I did some individual coaching with a senior leader
• 17:25
  in the shipping industry on her presentations.
• 17:29
  So I have done that.
• 17:30
  And what I've also started doing recently is building up a sample workshop to start giving
• 17:36
  to potential clients and groups of potential clients so they can see what it looks like
• 17:42
  in reality.
• 17:43
  And so talking about deadlines, I've set myself, I had my test audiences.
• 17:48
  So I had deadlines for each of those.
• 17:50
  And now I'm ready to move that into a next phase of starting to share that with potential
• 17:57
  client groups.
• 17:58
  So I know what you're doing is so important now that we need laughter, we need fun, we
• 18:05
  need community.
• 18:06
  And that's one thing I'm passionate about is I think after COVID, we all, you know, COVID,
• 18:12
  I don't know about you, but I was out networking, meeting, doing a million things, always busy.
• 18:18
  And then COVID happened and we had to go in.
• 18:20
  And but then we had to double down.
• 18:23
  Like I had to recreate a completely new business.
• 18:25
  We had so many people.
• 18:27
  And so, and we had, we just went into survival mode.
• 18:30
  We stopped dreaming.
• 18:32
  We stopped, you know, goal setting, we just were in survival.
• 18:37
  Like let me get through today.
• 18:38
  And you know, I don't know about you, but we were stuck on the TV like, okay, what's
• 18:42
  the governor going to say we can do this week?
• 18:45
  And so it was day by day, week by week.
• 18:48
  And then we came out of it.
• 18:49
  I mean, we're still seeing ramblocations and, but somebody else listening to a podcast one
• 18:56
  time, like we never took time to grieve the life that we left behind.
• 19:00
  Oh, that's so interesting.
• 19:03
  And we've never taken time to memorialize it.
• 19:05
  Like there isn't a COVID anniversary or, I mean, a COVID Memorial Day, but we never
• 19:11
  grieve.
• 19:12
  So we just double down.
• 19:14
  And now I think people are coming out and going, okay, this is not, this is not what
• 19:19
  I want to do.
• 19:20
  I want to do this.
• 19:21
  And, and being, I know me personally, I'm purposeful of who I'm around and what I'm doing.
• 19:27
  Is it filling my cup and has it given me energy?
• 19:30
  Like I'm not going to spend time with people just because you never know where it might
• 19:36
  go.
• 19:37
  You know, I'm really being purposeful and working on that community and fun.
• 19:42
  We did with the why not today connects.
• 19:45
  I started the luncheon, which are going to be our guest speaker in August.
• 19:48
  I'm super excited about that.
• 19:50
  And I started that to connect people and build community, not to stand up and give an elevator
• 19:54
  speech, but authentic relationships.
• 19:57
  And we did last week, we did our first kind of fun event.
• 20:01
  We did a why not today summer camp for adults.
• 20:04
  And oh my gosh, it was so much fun.
• 20:06
  Everybody had such a great time.
• 20:08
  It was fun to watch.
• 20:10
  And I've seen this at the lunch.
• 20:12
  People coming together, not knowing each other, but finding those connections, building those
• 20:16
  friendships.
• 20:17
  And there's one woman who was the sponsor and she's like, she's amazing.
• 20:24
  You never know, but she's in her 80s, early 80s.
• 20:27
  And her hairdresser that she had for years, years retired.
• 20:30
  I mean, simple thing.
• 20:31
  One of the women there is a hairdresser.
• 20:32
  She's like, oh my gosh, I needed to come to meet you.
• 20:35
  But we're open to those things and taking time for fun and humor and doing different things
• 20:44
  and getting out of our comfort zones.
• 20:46
  And this is funny talking about coming back to rest at a meeting with Karen.
• 20:50
  So Karen got me out of my comfort zone on Sunday night.
• 20:54
  I'm having lunch with her today.
• 20:56
  And that's what you said.
• 20:57
  So you have to ask her about our concert we went to.
• 20:59
  So she reached out to me on Sunday to go to Wolf Trap.
• 21:03
  So people listening globally, it's an outdoor amphitheater place.
• 21:06
  Well, she's like, do you want to go?
• 21:07
  And I'm always up for it.
• 21:08
  You know what?
• 21:10
  Enjoying life.
• 21:11
  And sure, I'll go.
• 21:12
  Well, it was National Symphony Orchestra.
• 21:13
  So I'm like, okay, that's cool.
• 21:16
  Well, it was with Naz.
• 21:18
  I had no idea who Naz is.
• 21:19
  Do you know who Naz is?
• 21:21
  Okay, no idea what I was walking into.
• 21:24
  So those listening don't know who Naz is.
• 21:26
  Naz is a hip hop artist, pretty famous.
• 21:30
  So he was performing his first album with National Symphony Orchestra.
• 21:34
  Oh my gosh.
• 21:35
  It was really cool.
• 21:37
  Now I was not familiar with him and didn't know any music.
• 21:42
  And we had really good seats.
• 21:43
  It was hard to hear, but it was cool to just watch.
• 21:48
  I was people watching big time.
• 21:51
  People in the audience, who was one girl that's been seeing his concerts, she was seven.
• 21:56
  Wow.
• 21:57
  And knew every word, but watching the orchestra perform the conductor, it was just kind of
• 22:01
  cool.
• 22:02
  So it was one of those things, you know, would I've paid for it?
• 22:05
  Probably not.
• 22:06
  You know, would I've pursued it?
• 22:07
  But I'm so glad I did that I think we need to get out of our comfort zone and try new
• 22:12
  things and make our brain think different thoughts.
• 22:16
  That yeah, I'm going to do a podcast episode on this that I was just listening to a podcast
• 22:21
  and talked about how can we make our life more exciting?
• 22:24
  We do the same things.
• 22:27
  Like you're making your life more exciting now playing in Reston.
• 22:31
  I know.
• 22:32
  You know, and it's things to look forward to.
• 22:34
  And you know, we get in a rut.
• 22:36
  We go for the same walk.
• 22:37
  We go to the same restaurants.
• 22:40
  And we work at the same job.
• 22:42
  But what can we do to shake it up and do exciting things and try new things?
• 22:46
  Yeah.
• 22:47
  No, it's amazing.
• 22:48
  And I think to your point about having fun and just getting together for the sake of
• 22:54
  getting together.
• 22:55
  But I think, you know, what I love about the science behind humor and laughter is that
• 23:03
  laughter.
• 23:05
  There's a comedian from the 1930s, Victor Borga, and he calls laughter that it's the shortest
• 23:11
  distance between two people.
• 23:14
  And, you know, it actually physiologically does actually connect us because of the various
• 23:20
  different hormones it's releasing.
• 23:23
  And so it's a way that we naturally build a relationship.
• 23:30
  And if you notice laughter is contagious, right, because like you're sitting in the lecture
• 23:35
  hall, right, and somebody next to you laughs and you don't have, there's no shared joke.
• 23:39
  You don't know why they're laughing.
• 23:41
  And then all of a sudden you can't, you start laughing.
• 23:43
  And then the moment you look at each other, you're both laughing.
• 23:45
  And now you have this strange connection with this person over nothing other than just having
• 23:49
  sure to laugh.
• 23:51
  And both laughter and humor totally open our brains to think in completely different ways
• 23:57
  and new ways and open connections because they use all the different parts of our brain.
• 24:02
  And so, and just they know that, for instance, something like 88% of people say they're not
• 24:09
  engaged at work.
• 24:12
  And we know that and 53% of American adults, something like that, say that they don't find
• 24:19
  happiness on a regular basis.
• 24:21
  And that is one of my major passions.
• 24:25
  Like I was on a leadership call and they talked about people, especially, you know, we're
• 24:29
  living in the DC area, that people have countdown clocks on their desk down to retirement.
• 24:36
  And that just broke my heart.
• 24:38
  Like I, you know, I've worked for myself for more than I have it.
• 24:43
  And I've created a life that is full of fun and adventure and excitement.
• 24:48
  But so many people, they hate their jobs.
• 24:51
  And I'm just like, it just breaks my heart.
• 24:54
  Yeah, and it's crazy, like just from a business perspective on the flip side of that, we know
• 25:01
  that businesses that where people are happy, their profitability is way higher, like 38%
• 25:10
  higher.
• 25:11
  So just changing that.
• 25:13
  And they, I mean, there's just the statistics go on and on staff retention, everything,
• 25:20
  people's health, less sick days, safer workplaces.
• 25:23
  It's amazing what a little humor and laughter and fun can do for everything, our health,
• 25:32
  our business, our productivity.
• 25:34
  And I think embrace that with everything happening people, the conversations we're having and
• 25:43
  what we're doing with the workplace, the so many people working virtually and we're missing
• 25:46
  that.
• 25:47
  I mean, when I worked, we had fun.
• 25:51
  Like I remember one day we, my boss, it was a Friday afternoon, he got grabbed a whole
• 25:55
  bunch of solo cups and made a putt putt golf place around the office.
• 26:03
  We played putt putt golf in the office.
• 26:05
  Right.
• 26:06
  Basketball, we'd go out to lunch and yeah, we had some cocktails, but we made it fun.
• 26:13
  And we worked hard, but it was fun.
• 26:16
  And this podcast I just listened to about adding excitement, you need to check it out.
• 26:20
  But they talked about the workplace, having people switch departments for a short amount
• 26:25
  of time.
• 26:26
  Right.
• 26:27
  Something new.
• 26:28
  One of my mentors shared with me one time, it's really hard to get excited about something
• 26:31
  you've done before.
• 26:32
  Oh, interesting.
• 26:33
  And they even talked about vacations.
• 26:36
  Like the first 40 some hours of vacation is the best.
• 26:40
  And as every day it goes down.
• 26:42
  Because it's the first time you saw the ocean, the first time you went out to have this drink
• 26:48
  by the ocean, the first time.
• 26:49
  And they said even more exciting is not your first day of vacation, but the day before you
• 26:56
  leave for vacation.
• 26:57
  Oh, interesting.
• 26:59
  The anticipation.
• 27:01
  And they said, you know, so figuring out how you can maybe do more short trips.
• 27:06
  Even talk about your house, your kitchen.
• 27:08
  Right.
• 27:09
  How boring and you're like, you look at somebody else's kitchen.
• 27:12
  And they said, go away for a couple of days and come back and it adds a little sparkle
• 27:15
  to it.
• 27:16
  You know, it's interesting because I find just like the littlest things in my house,
• 27:20
  like I'll do a new little vase with something in it and put it somewhere.
• 27:26
  And just that tiny thing changes the whole way I feel about it.
• 27:30
  Or just moving something around.
• 27:31
  Yeah.
• 27:32
  Yeah.
• 27:33
  So so many things.
• 27:34
  Yeah.
• 27:35
  And I think you are so needed in the workplace and we need to share your message and let
• 27:39
  people know that you're available.
• 27:42
  And.
• 27:43
  Yes, I am.
• 27:45
  And one thing I can say that I guarantee is that if you work with me, you and your team
• 27:53
  will laugh.
• 27:55
  And I also, if we go this route, but everybody will write and tell their own joke.
• 28:01
  And it's a really fun experience.
• 28:02
  Well, I'm excited to have you as our guest for the lunch.
• 28:06
  So before we go, how to encourage somebody else to be courageous to do the thing to laugh
• 28:12
  and have fun to start a job, pursue their passion.
• 28:16
  Yeah, I feel like your whole company name, it's the why not today.
• 28:22
  I feel like it's always, I always have to remind myself that it's never the things
• 28:30
  I do that I regret having done.
• 28:34
  It's only the things that I don't do that I wish I had maybe done later.
• 28:40
  And so I think about it like just, I mean, silly things like this morning, I'm trying
• 28:46
  to talk about trying something new.
• 28:48
  I'm doing kickboxing.
• 28:49
  So I was waking up this morning and I was like, oh, I don't want to get up and go.
• 28:54
  But then once you're there and it was so much fun.
• 28:57
  And you know, it's never the night that I going to do open mics.
• 29:01
  It's a long night and it's a slog.
• 29:03
  And I never regret getting up and going and doing it, but I'll do often think, oh, I wish
• 29:08
  I'd gone last night.
• 29:10
  And so I think that you just when you're thinking about why not today.
• 29:16
  Do it.
• 29:18
  Why not just.
• 29:19
  Why not?
• 29:20
  Well, it's interesting.
• 29:22
  I taught water roots for 13 years.
• 29:24
  Yeah.
• 29:25
  And I started taking the class and I'm on all or nothing girl, like I would go work out
• 29:30
  at the gym and then not be able to move for a week because I did too much.
• 29:34
  So when I started going to a class, I'm like, I'm committed to once a week.
• 29:37
  And then by and within six months, I was signed up to teach.
• 29:42
  And so, but I always just tell the people in the class, I'm like, okay, and it has to
• 29:46
  do with anything.
• 29:47
  When you get up in the morning, you don't feel like doing it like kickboxing didn't feel
• 29:51
  like getting up.
• 29:52
  I always say, okay, when you put your head on the pillow tonight, how would you feel
• 29:56
  if you did it?
• 29:58
  Or if you didn't.
• 29:59
  So if you did it, you came back, you feel great and you feel amazing all day, right?
• 30:03
  Yeah.
• 30:04
  You didn't do it.
• 30:05
  You beat yourself up all flip a day.
• 30:07
  I should have gone.
• 30:08
  Why didn't I go?
• 30:09
  I missed out.
• 30:10
  This would have been fun.
• 30:12
  And so just do it.
• 30:13
  Do you know who Daniel Pink is?
• 30:15
  No.
• 30:16
  Okay.
• 30:17
  So he is an author.
• 30:18
  He's actually from D. He lives in D.C.
• 30:20
  Written several books, one being on regrets.
• 30:24
  And I read the book right before I started the podcast and exactly what you said.
• 30:27
  He's like, we never regret the things we did or regret the things we didn't do.
• 30:34
  And he started an op ed partnership with the Washington Post called why not?
• 30:41
  Yeah.
• 30:42
  Big questions like why not pay teachers $100,000 a year?
• 30:50
  His newest one was why not have all roads you can't make left hand turns only right hand
• 30:54
  turns.
• 30:55
  Because of traffic and believe it or not, UPS I read recently did a study and about
• 31:02
  that and they stopped.
• 31:03
  UPS drivers you'll notice will never go left.
• 31:05
  They always go right.
• 31:06
  Oh, interesting.
• 31:07
  Increase your time.
• 31:08
  So hold the time that we can go on.
• 31:11
  Well, so, but so I was trying to connect back to my dad and you're like, I didn't know
• 31:15
  you dad.
• 31:16
  How can we possibly do that?
• 31:18
  So he was all about having fun, living life sounds like you are definitely was a traveler
• 31:25
  and he definitely cared about the community.
• 31:28
  But I think the fun connection is you connecting with Karen.
• 31:31
  So you can she can tell you all kinds of stories.
• 31:33
  So Karen, who we keep mentioning was friends with my dad and knew my dad long before I knew
• 31:39
  her.
• 31:40
  And it's funny.
• 31:41
  She worked for the rest in chamber years ago and one of the first people she met was
• 31:46
  my dad who was a character and the logo is he had an eye patch on handlebar mustache.
• 31:52
  So she tells a story of she had a receptionist there.
• 31:57
  The receptionist buzzed her whispering.
• 31:59
  There's some man here with an eye patch and her handlebar mustache and smoking a pipe.
• 32:04
  This was years ago.
• 32:05
  And so he comes in as his jeans, his flip the lops.
• 32:09
  Like what can I do to help you?
• 32:12
  And then Alicia, my sister actually worked for Karen.
• 32:16
  So we can go full circle and then go back to that water or the aerobics thing.
• 32:20
  She taught aerobics and one of my friends from high school found out she taught with
• 32:25
  taught with her knew her.
• 32:27
  And then the same person worked for my dad.
• 32:30
  So all the criss-cross connections is just fun and crazy.
• 32:33
  And you just never doubt.
• 32:35
  You never know.
• 32:36
  So, well, thank you for your wisdom, your courage.
• 32:39
  So where's the best place for people to find you, Courtney?
• 32:42
  You can find me on LinkedIn.
• 32:44
  Just go to Courtney Pickard on LinkedIn.
• 32:46
  And that's a very easy way to connect with me directly.
• 32:50
  And you can also find us at laughing-matters.com.
• 32:53
  Okay.
• 32:54
  And I will share all that in the show notes.
• 32:56
  Okay.
• 32:57
  So thank you for being our guests and thank you.
• 32:59
  I'm glad that this was so much fun.
• 33:01
  I really enjoyed it.
• 33:02
  Yeah.
• 33:03
  So thank you everybody for joining us on this inspiring journey.
• 33:05
  Remember, every day is an opportunity to take actions, chase your dreams and make a difference.
• 33:10
  So why not today?
• 33:11
  And of course you can find out all about why not today on the whynottodaypodcast.com.
• 33:15
  You can subscribe, share, keep pushing forward.
• 33:18
  And until next time, stay motivated and keep making things happen.
• 33:21
  And as I always say, why not today?
• 33:24
  Thanks to Courtney.
• 33:25
  Thank you so much.