Latest / The Inspired Speaker Network / Schrödinger’s Cat, a Sailboat, and My Next Evolution

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Schrödinger’s Cat, a Sailboat, and My Next Evolution · The Inspired Speaker Network

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  Your travels have brought you to the Surfing
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  Your Edge podcast, where we explore what it
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  takes to create the bigger, bolder, badass life
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  you know you were born for.
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  Not a life that simply looks good on
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  paper, and not another spin on the self
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  -help hamster wheel.
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  If you're ready for more joy, more peace,
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  and more contribution, you're in the right place.
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  I'm Kristine Goad, the Surfing Your Edge coach.
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  Let's get surfing.
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  It is imperative that I record this for
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  you today, because I am in that rare
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  situation where the cat is alive, and the
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  cat is dead, and we won't know which
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  one it really is until we open the
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  box.
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  And I just thought it would be fun
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  to record as the cat in the box.
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  So I hope you will come with me
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  for, I think this is going to be
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  a short episode, we'll see, but we're going
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  to do a little romp through some quantum
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  physics, some future psychology, and maybe even a
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  little evolutionary biology as we examine where I'm
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  at right at this very moment.
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  Okay, so here's the thing.
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  Back in 2019, I learned about a group
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  called X-Expedition, and it's an organization that
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  was co-founded by Emily Penn.
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  She is a woman who ended up on
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  a sailboat for a year unexpectedly, and while
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  she was out doing her ocean bathing, one
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  day realized she was in the middle of
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  the ocean and was seeing human plastics products
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  floating by.
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  And the closest humans to her at the
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  moment were above her in the space station.
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  So it was really odd for her to
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  find this plastic in the ocean, and it
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  set her on a new path where she
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  went on to create X-Expedition, which is
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  a group of women who travel by sailboat
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  around the globe studying plastics in the ocean.
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  And they are, they released their trips for
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  2027, and one of them goes from Hawaii
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  to Vancouver through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
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  in the Pacific Ocean.
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  And I applied to be one of the
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  10 citizen scientists that they take on board
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  for that journey.
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  I also applied for the subsequent journey, which
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  is from Vancouver to Seattle, just because that
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  would be lovely, but I think it's pretty
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  obvious to everyone who's been anywhere near me
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  lately that the journey I really want to
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  do is from Hawaii to Vancouver.
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  There are so many reasons I want to
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  do that.
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  Maybe I should get into those.
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  One of them is that when I was
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  29, I did the cross-country bike trip.
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  You've probably heard more about that than you
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  care to hear.
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  I did the cross-country bike trip from
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  Seattle to Washington, D.C., which was a
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  3,000 mile trip.
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  So 29 years later, if I get this
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  position, I will be traveling another 3,000
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  miles, but this time by boat.
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  So I just think the symmetry of that
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  is gorgeous.
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  And I also am the surfing your edge
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  coach because I'm afraid of open water.
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  So this would be another opportunity for me
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  to really, really, really deal with my fear
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  of open water.
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  So, yeah, I want to do this big,
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  scary thing that also requires fundraising.
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  Right.
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  The expedition is expensive.
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  So I will have a fundraising component that
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  needs to happen as well as being able
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  to fund my own travel and my gear
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  and all of that.
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  So this is a life-changing opportunity that
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  I'm sitting on the cusp of.
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  And I don't know yet whether I will
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  be one of the lucky, amazing women who
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  get to do this amazing adventure.
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  But what I want to talk about, the
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  reason I want to do this episode today,
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  while I'm in the middle of not knowing,
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  while I'm the cat in the box, who
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  doesn't know if she's alive or dead, I
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  want to talk to you about how I'm
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  handling that.
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  In the past, I might have equally examined
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  both possibilities and felt like, oh, it's a
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  50-50 and not really know which side
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  I plan to be on.
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  But for this one, I know very clearly
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  that I intend to be the woman who's
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  on that boat.
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  So I have decided that it's less than
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  nine months away.
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  The beginning of this voyage is nine, less
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  than nine months away.
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  And I have at least 10 milestones I
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  need to hit between here and there, one
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  of which is getting chosen to be on
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  the boat, but at least 10 milestones that
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  I need to hit in the next nine
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  months.
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  So that is not a lot of time,
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  especially for the size of some of these
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  milestones.
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  So I've decided that I'm just going to
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  act as if I am the cat alive
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  and I am on that boat and I
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  am starting now to do the fundraising.
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  I'm starting now to arrange my life into
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  the life that the woman who leaves for
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  that trip lives, right?
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  She is a specific person.
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  She has certain things she's achieved and certain
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  ways of being in the world.
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  And I've decided that I am simply going
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  to be being that person today and from
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  now on, regardless of what happens when someone
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  finally opens the box and lets me know
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  whether I am on the trip or not.
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  So why would I do that, right?
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  Why would I put all of my eggs
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  in one basket?
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  Why would I let myself want this so
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  badly?
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  Well, that's where we go from the quantum
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  physics piece over to the future psychology piece,
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  because psychology has started to realize that if
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  you're able to imagine an episode in your
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  future so vividly that you can hear it,
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  you can smell it, you can taste it,
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  you can touch things in it.
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  When you vividly imagine a future experience, your
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  brain actually uses some of the same systems
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  you use when you remember things that have
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  already happened.
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  So the thing that you want to happen
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  feels like it's already happened.
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  It's already familiar.
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  So imagining your future in vivid detail can
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  make it feel more real and more possible.
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  And research suggests that that can influence the
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  decisions we make and the actions we take
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  right now.
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  And that is where I'm leaning into, right?
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  I'm leaning into what does it feel like
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  to be the woman who's in Honolulu?
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  I think it's Honolulu.
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  Anyway, Hawaii, who's in Hawaii and the boat
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  is pushing away from shore, right?
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  And it's going to be out at sea
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  for three solid weeks as it crosses the
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  ocean before it sees land again.
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  And what does it feel like to be
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  leaving land?
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  What does it feel like to be rocking
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  on the ocean?
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  What does it feel like to be experiencing
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  these, unfortunately, all sizes of plastic, but microscopic
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  right up to macro?
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  You know, what does it feel like to
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  be seeing these pieces of plastic float by?
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  I have some experience with that having been
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  in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of
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  Panama and seeing detergent bottles float by and
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  seeing the plastic that has washed up on
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  the shore in this beautiful World Heritage site
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  that is pristine, aside from the fact that
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  humans are spoiling it with plastics.
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  So I have some sense of what that
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  part of it feels like, but what does
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  the air smell like?
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  What does it feel like?
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  What's the temperature?
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  What is the food like, right?
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  It's going to be completely vegetarian and cooked
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  by us, right?
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  We're going to be doing all of the
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  cooking and cleaning in addition to all of
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  the science and the night, you know, day
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  and night watches and all of that.
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  So if I can experience that fully in
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  my imagination, I am much more likely to
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  believe it's possible and start making the decisions
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  and taking the steps that make that actually
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  part of my future so that when somebody
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  opens the box, I get to be the
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  cat that's alive.
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  So that is why I am leaning fully
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  into the option that I get to go
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  on this trip.
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  The other thing I want to talk about
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  in terms of future thinking is that it
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  acts as a 10Xing mechanism, right?
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  If I'm going to be the woman who
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  leaves on this trip on July 15th from
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  Hawaii, then I have to be the person
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  who was capable of raising the funds.
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  I was capable of organizing my business so
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  that I can be out of it for
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  a month and it can continue to run
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  and support me and my husband.
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  I'm the woman who has found an incredible
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  babysitter for my dog while I'm away because
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  Walt is a very special being who cannot
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  be left alone.
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  I will have become a person, a different
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  person than I am right now, and I'm
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  excited about who she is, and I've been
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  thinking and feeling into her so that I
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  can get there quick, right?
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  So the person who shows up for that
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  boat in July, there are certain things that
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  I have to do between now and then
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  in order to be that person, right?
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  There's a filtering system.
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  Will this get me on the boat?
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  I don't know.
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  Will it get me closer to being on
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  the boat?
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  Yes.
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  Okay, then maybe we'll try that.
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  Will this get me on the boat?
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  No, then we don't do that, right?
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  Anything that no longer gets me to being
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  the person I want to be on July
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  15th, 2027, as I board that boat, those
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  decisions fall away.
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  It's a filtering mechanism, which brings us to
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  the third little piece of science we're going
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  to mangle today, and that's punctuated equilibrium, which
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  is the theory back in 1972, in evolutionary
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  biology, it was Niles Eldridge and Stephen Jay
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  Gould proposed that evolution in species is very
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  stable for long periods of time, and then
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  something happens in the environment to create a
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  rapid evolution and a split where a new
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  species just quickly arises.
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  That is in contrast to the old way
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  of thinking, which is that evolution happens in
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  an incremental, slow, continuous forward motion.
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  So punctuated equilibrium was created to talk about
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  evolutionary biology, but it's also been applied to
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  public policy and institutional change and all of
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  that.
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  So I feel completely confident that I can
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  also apply it to my own evolution, right?
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  I can go for long periods of time
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  where I'm relatively stable, and then something happens
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  to reorganize my life.
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  When I was 29, and I went on
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  that cross-country bike trip, I was looking
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  for myself and I wanted it to reorganize
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  my life, and it did.
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  When I came home, I didn't have the
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  answer I was looking for in terms of
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  who am I and how do I fit
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  in in the world, but I did have
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  more information about who I was and how
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  I operated in the world, and I used
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  the next 28 years to become the person
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  that I am now.
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  I think that the surfing your edge coach
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  that I am now comes directly out of
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  having done the big ride across America.
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  I created things that I needed then, right,
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  that didn't exist or that I couldn't find.
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  So I became the person I needed back
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  when I got off that cross-country bike
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  trip, and I'm 100% sure that the
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  person who gets off the boat in Vancouver
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  will use the next 20 to 30 years
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  to evolve into her next way of being
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  in the world, and I'm not quite sure
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  what that will entail, but I've been looking
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  for a long time for a way to
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  get more involved in the big issues that
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  are happening on this planet right now in
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  terms of environment and climate and all of
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  that.
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  And this project, since I first heard about
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  it back in 2019, hasn't left me alone,
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  and I really feel like I'm going to
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  be talking to you about plastics and water
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  for a very long time.
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  And as a result, I'll be talking about,
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  you know, like the fact that we live
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  in systems that we didn't choose, and how
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  do we change them from within?
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  How do we get outside of them and
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  suggest other options?
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  How do we force companies and governments to
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  make different choices for us so that we
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  have healthier options?
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  So that's just a little prelude, preview, preview
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  of what's to come if and when I
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  get off this boat, and there's actually a
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  chance that even if I don't go on
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  this boat that I'm going to be talking
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  to you about plastics and water and so
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  many other things.
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  So you might be wondering, like, what is
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  my plan be, right?
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  Like, what am I going to do if
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  I put all of this energy and excitement
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  into getting chosen for this leg of the
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  journey and then I don't get chosen?
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  What's my backup plan?
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  And the honest answer is that I don't
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  have a backup plan.
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  I don't want a backup plan.
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  I am living 100% into the future
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  where the cat is alive and she's on
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  the boat.
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  If I get to the other side, and
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  it turns out I'm the version of me
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  that doesn't get to go on this particular
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  leg of the journey, then there will be
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  heartbreak and disappointment.
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  And then there will be time for a
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  plan B and for figuring out what comes
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  next, what continues the momentum that I'm already
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  beginning to create toward becoming this different person.
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  And how do I continue to motivate myself
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  and excite myself about an alternative that will
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  get me to the same place or one
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  close by near the one that I'm shooting
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  for, right?
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  The woman who has upleveled all aspects of
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  her life, finances, health, confidence, scientific background, all
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  of it.
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  I want to be her and I've chosen
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  her and I will get there one way
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  or another.
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  So some of the questions I might be
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  thinking about in the next couple of weeks
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  and months is what do I have to
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  stop doing in order to become the person
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  I want to be?
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  What do I have to start doing in
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  order to become the person I want to
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  be?
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  Who do I know who can help me
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  become the person I want to be faster
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  or more fully?
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  Those are just some of the questions.
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  Other questions?
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  I'll keep you in the loop.
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  All right, so that was our little romp
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  through quantum physics, future psychology, and evolutionary biology.
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  I hope you had fun and I hope
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  I didn't mangle the science too terribly much.
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  Stay tuned.
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  And if you would like to help visualize
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  me on that boat, the X Expedition North
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  Pacific One route leaving in July of 2027,
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  I would really appreciate your help.
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  So while you're here with me, I'm going
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  to go ahead and ask, is there something
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  similar to this in your own life that
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  could help you reach your next level quicker
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  or in a way that is exciting, more
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  exciting than the path that you're currently on?
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  I'd love to hear about it.