Latest / My Veterinary Life / Confident by choice with Juan Bendaña, 2027 VLC keynote speaker

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Confident by choice with Juan Bendaña, 2027 VLC keynote speaker · My Veterinary Life

0:10
Speaker 1: Welcome to this week's episode of the My Veterinary Life podcast.
0:13
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dr. Annie Chavant, and my pronouns are she, her.
0:17
Speaker 1: And our guest today is Juan Bindania. Juan is a
0:20
Speaker 1: sought-after speaker on confidence, leadership, and peak performance, and the
0:24
Speaker 1: author of Confident by Choice. He'll be the keynote speaker
0:27
Speaker 1: for the 2027 AVMA Veterinary Leadership Conference and hosted by
0:31
Speaker 1: VLC presenting partner, Zoetis. I am so excited to share
0:35
Speaker 1: one story today, but before we do, I want to
0:38
Speaker 1: give a special thank you to our podcast partner, Hills
0:40
Speaker 1: Pet Nutrition. Founded 75 years ago with an unwavering commitment
0:44
Speaker 1: to science-led pet nutrition, Hills Pet Nutrition is on a
0:48
Speaker 1: mission to help enrich and lengthen the special relationships between
0:51
Speaker 1: people and their pets. Hills is dedicated to pioneering research
0:55
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0:58
Speaker 1: specific needs. As a leading veterinarian-recommended pet food brand, Knowledge
1:03
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1:07
Speaker 1: and food scientists working to develop breakthrough innovations in pet health.
1:12
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1:15
Speaker 1: Hill's Science Diet, are sold at vet clinics and pet
1:18
Speaker 1: specialty retailers worldwide. For more information about our products and
1:22
Speaker 1: nutritional philosophy, visit hillspet.com. and veterinary professionals can visit hillsvet.com
1:29
Speaker 1: for more information. And with that, welcome to the show, Juan.
1:33
Speaker 2: Andy, thank you so much for having me. I'm pumped
1:36
Speaker 2: to be here. It's going to be great.
1:38
Speaker 1: It is going to be great. Really looking forward to
1:40
Speaker 1: our conversation. We're going to do something a little bit
1:43
Speaker 1: different on the show today that I'm really looking forward to.
1:45
Speaker 1: But before we do that, I want to provide a
1:48
Speaker 1: little bit of background for our listeners. So I'm going
1:51
Speaker 1: to ask you, who are you and what are you about?
1:55
Speaker 2: My name's Juan Bendania and originally born in Toronto, Canada,
2:00
Speaker 2: but my family's from Nicaragua. So my first language is Spanish.
2:03
Speaker 2: And as a kid, what I was about was wanting
2:07
Speaker 2: to fit in and wanting to be accepted by everyone.
2:11
Speaker 2: So I realized I sort of became a chameleon that
2:13
Speaker 2: didn't fit into one box. I'd fit into every box.
2:16
Speaker 2: And over the years that led me to then be fascinated,
2:20
Speaker 2: borderline obsessed with this idea of how do we build
2:24
Speaker 2: a How do we build confidence in ourselves? How do
2:27
Speaker 2: we inspire confidence in other people? And present day, I
2:31
Speaker 2: guess the official term is speaker, that I go to conferences, organizations,
2:36
Speaker 2: associations around the world, sharing ideas of how to build
2:40
Speaker 2: a level of confidence within ourselves and how to inspire
2:43
Speaker 2: it in others. And now living in Miami, Florida, and
2:46
Speaker 2: have a cockapoo that is about to turn five named Brody.
2:51
Speaker 2: And my fiance and I are planning our wedding. So
2:53
Speaker 2: that is what we are about in this season. So
2:55
Speaker 2: things are good.
2:56
Speaker 1: Things are good. I love that answer. A little bit
2:58
Speaker 1: of background, a little bit of current day. And I
3:01
Speaker 1: think many of our listeners, I know myself included, can
3:04
Speaker 1: relate to that people pleasing or wanting to fit in
3:08
Speaker 1: and then feeling that tension sometimes when you can lose
3:11
Speaker 1: yourself and trying to chameleon, like you said. So I
3:16
Speaker 1: think the topics that you specialize on in your speaking commitments,
3:21
Speaker 1: will resonate well with our veterinary listeners. And so that's
3:25
Speaker 1: what I want to focus our episode on, actually. You
3:30
Speaker 1: are not a veterinary-specific speaker. In fact, you've researched over 250,000
3:34
Speaker 1: leaders and spoken to folks. and companies from Amazon to Zillow.
3:41
Speaker 1: So we want to channel that knowledge and distill it
3:45
Speaker 1: and apply it to veterinarians today. And I want to
3:49
Speaker 1: do that with some recurring themes that I'm hearing on
3:52
Speaker 1: the podcast. We're going to put you in the hot
3:55
Speaker 1: seat and see your take on some of the burning
3:58
Speaker 1: questions in vet med today. So how does that sound?
4:01
Speaker 2: Let's do it. Love it.
4:03
Speaker 1: All right. It's an early career podcast and something that's
4:07
Speaker 1: on a lot of folks' mind is that student to
4:08
Speaker 1: veterinarian transition. Part of the reason that it can be
4:12
Speaker 1: challenging from what we hear from folks is that up
4:15
Speaker 1: to that point in vet school graduation, the path was
4:19
Speaker 1: very clearly defined for us, right? We got to get
4:21
Speaker 1: into undergrad. We need to get good grades. We get
4:24
Speaker 1: the veterinary experience. We get into vet school. Check, check, check, check.
4:29
Speaker 1: And then we finally get there. We get the diploma
4:31
Speaker 1: and the path is really wide open. which can be
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Speaker 1: a little bit intimidating after so many years of checking
4:37
Speaker 1: those boxes. So what advice do you have for defining
4:41
Speaker 1: success for ourselves and then actually achieving those goals for success?
4:47
Speaker 2: I think early on, we believe that clarity is a
4:52
Speaker 2: prerequisite for action. And I think many people have this
4:55
Speaker 2: backward where we think we need to know exactly the
5:00
Speaker 2: path ahead in order to pursue it. We need to know.
5:04
Speaker 2: the goal before taking any steps toward it. And because when, especially,
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Speaker 2: you know, when we're going through and we're in school
5:12
Speaker 2: and we're being told, this is the path and this
5:14
Speaker 2: is what you need to do. And this is when
5:15
Speaker 2: you need to be in class and here's the exam
5:17
Speaker 2: and here's everything you need to do. Then you get
5:20
Speaker 2: thrust into the real world and it's like, wait, I
5:24
Speaker 2: need business skills. wait, I need to learn how to
5:27
Speaker 2: lead other people. And there's so many question marks around
5:31
Speaker 2: all of that. So I think the first thing is
5:33
Speaker 2: understanding that clarity does not need to come first. You
5:37
Speaker 2: can decide that I'm going to take action before I
5:40
Speaker 2: have all of the answers and the entire picture played out.
5:44
Speaker 2: That isn't to say that you don't need clarity. You
5:47
Speaker 2: do need a vision of like, this is where I
5:48
Speaker 2: want to go. But many people wait to have all
5:52
Speaker 2: of the answers and wait to feel ready in order
5:57
Speaker 2: to move forward. So that's the first thing. The second
5:58
Speaker 2: thing that I'd say is that the uncertainty or the
6:04
Speaker 2: self-doubt or the, I don't know what I'm doing here,
6:07
Speaker 2: is actually an opportunity to grow. It is not a
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Speaker 2: sign to stop. What we've found in the research of
6:14
Speaker 2: confidence is that one of the common through lines is
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Speaker 2: that confident people do not see self-doubt as a sign
6:20
Speaker 2: to stop. or as a sign that they're on the
6:23
Speaker 2: wrong track. They see it as a signal to grow.
6:27
Speaker 2: So I think self-doubt or worry or uncertainty can actually
6:30
Speaker 2: be a signal to say, oh, this is an area
6:32
Speaker 2: where I can improve. This is where I could actually
6:35
Speaker 2: get better. So I think it's defining what kind of
6:39
Speaker 2: growth do I want to have? What kind of growth
6:42
Speaker 2: do I want to experience, both professionally and personally? And
6:45
Speaker 2: then what are the actions I need to take in
6:47
Speaker 2: order to make that happen? You do not need all
6:51
Speaker 2: of the answers. You need some of the information to
6:55
Speaker 2: then move forward. And you know, you mentioned Amazon, Jeff
6:57
Speaker 2: Bezos famously said that I make decisions with, I think
7:00
Speaker 2: it was 60 or 70% of the information. He's like,
7:03
Speaker 2: that's been the X factor. Like I make decisions. I
7:06
Speaker 2: don't wait till I have all the information. I say,
7:09
Speaker 2: this is kind of roughly where I want to head.
7:11
Speaker 2: Now let me move in that direction because I think
7:14
Speaker 2: especially early career, people are so hesitant to make the
7:18
Speaker 2: wrong choice. which you never know what the wrong choice
7:22
Speaker 2: is going to be until you make it. And then
7:24
Speaker 2: you look back and be like, that was a mistake.
7:27
Speaker 2: You never actually know what the wrong choice is. So
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Speaker 2: I think what is more valuable is making the choice
7:35
Speaker 2: and then seeing whether it was right or wrong. Experimenting,
7:39
Speaker 2: messing up, trying things, moving fast, breaking it, like just
7:43
Speaker 2: going for it, I think is the energy that more
7:46
Speaker 2: people could definitely benefit on, especially early on in their career.
7:51
Speaker 1: That's so great for us to hear. You said, don't
7:55
Speaker 1: wait to feel ready. Clarity is not a prerequisite. And
7:59
Speaker 1: self-doubt can actually be a signal to us that instead
8:02
Speaker 1: of shying away from those opportunities that make us feel
8:05
Speaker 1: that way, maybe it's that chance to turn the other
8:09
Speaker 1: way and see it as an opportunity for growth. And
8:12
Speaker 1: I know that in particular... I would say veterinarians do
8:19
Speaker 1: have a diversion to making mistakes. And I don't know
8:22
Speaker 1: if that is because we've been in school for so
8:23
Speaker 1: long and our success has been measured on the answers
8:27
Speaker 1: to multiple choice questions or what it is, but there
8:30
Speaker 1: is that fear of making mistakes as a significant barrier
8:32
Speaker 1: to that experimentation mindset. But the other thing that I
8:36
Speaker 1: thought was interesting as you were talking about that is
8:39
Speaker 1: we're actually trained to make decisions with our patients with
8:43
Speaker 1: incomplete information. We don't always have the means or the
8:48
Speaker 1: ability to do a full diagnostic workup, and we still
8:51
Speaker 1: need to figure out what's best for our patient. So
8:53
Speaker 1: we have those skills. And I think it's interesting that
8:57
Speaker 1: you are encouraging us to use the skills that we
8:59
Speaker 1: are developing and have developed in school and apply it
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Speaker 1: to our professional development as well. I love that.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%. It is a lot of times common knowledge
9:09
Speaker 2: is not common practice. And we know what we should do.
9:13
Speaker 2: But what holds us back from doing it? It's the fear.
9:16
Speaker 2: It's the what if I mess up? It's the aversion,
9:18
Speaker 2: like you said, to making mistakes. It's like, but what
9:21
Speaker 2: if this doesn't go well? It's like there comes risk.
9:24
Speaker 2: There's an inherent risk to growth. You cannot grow if
9:27
Speaker 2: you have 100% guaranteed control of the variables. There has
9:32
Speaker 2: to be a level of risk that you put on
9:35
Speaker 2: the line to say, like, I'm going to try this.
9:36
Speaker 2: It might work. It might not. But I'm going to
9:38
Speaker 2: go for it. So, yeah.
9:41
Speaker 1: And I think that ties in quite well to the
9:45
Speaker 1: next area that I would love to get your thoughts on,
9:48
Speaker 1: and that is career transitions. So almost every single person
9:55
Speaker 1: that we've had on the podcast for the past seven
9:57
Speaker 1: years has a story about a career transition that they've
10:01
Speaker 1: been through during their professional life. And I think that
10:05
Speaker 1: sometimes when we're listening to them on a podcast or
10:07
Speaker 1: hearing somebody else talk about their story, it sounds... easier.
10:12
Speaker 1: It sounds like the pieces of the puzzle fell in place,
10:15
Speaker 1: but the reality is when we're the one in the
10:17
Speaker 1: driver's seat, it can be really difficult to make a
10:21
Speaker 1: change and a change of that magnitude, especially. So what
10:26
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on why change is so hard and
10:29
Speaker 1: what can we do to improve that?
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Speaker 2: I think it's less about the change and more about
10:37
Speaker 2: what the change is going to result in. You know,
10:39
Speaker 2: people say people don't like change. It's like, you don't
10:41
Speaker 2: like change you don't like. Like you would like change
10:44
Speaker 2: in your bank account if it was heading in the
10:46
Speaker 2: right direction. You know, you'd like change on the scale
10:49
Speaker 2: if it's heading in the right direction. So I think
10:53
Speaker 2: it's change that creates a level of uncertainty of, am
10:57
Speaker 2: I going to be worse off because of this change?
11:00
Speaker 2: So I think the mindset shift needs to be, I
11:04
Speaker 2: am looking forward to what this will result in. I'm
11:08
Speaker 2: excited to see where this ends up. Because if you
11:14
Speaker 2: approach it with that mindset, if you approach it with
11:16
Speaker 2: the mindset of, I don't know what's going to happen here,
11:19
Speaker 2: but I'm excited to find out, as opposed to, I
11:21
Speaker 2: have no idea what's going to happen here and I'm
11:24
Speaker 2: terrified of the outcome. Those are two different worlds. You know,
11:28
Speaker 2: what's wrong or what's terrifying or what's scary, that's always
11:31
Speaker 2: available for us to focus on. but so is what's
11:35
Speaker 2: right and what's good. And I heard this once, I
11:37
Speaker 2: forget where, I think it may have been like a
11:40
Speaker 2: Pinterest quote or something like that, but it was the
11:42
Speaker 2: amount of good things in your life come down to
11:44
Speaker 2: your ability to notice them. And the challenge is most
11:47
Speaker 2: people only notice the bad things in their lives. They
11:49
Speaker 2: only notice the stress. They only notice the anxiety. They
11:52
Speaker 2: only notice how things are going wrong, how this change
11:55
Speaker 2: is going to result in an outcome we don't want.
11:58
Speaker 2: And I think that's an opportunity for us to be
12:00
Speaker 2: able to say, I'm going to focus on best case scenario.
12:04
Speaker 2: I'm going to focus on what this change can provide
12:08
Speaker 2: in terms of my trajectory and the goals that I have.
12:11
Speaker 2: So I think it's less about the change itself and
12:14
Speaker 2: it's more about the perspective we have of it.
12:17
Speaker 1: Yes, that makes sense. And the reframe and the mental
12:22
Speaker 1: exercise of asking ourselves those questions about okay, we've identified
12:26
Speaker 1: the worst case scenario. That's probably our reflex reaction. But
12:29
Speaker 1: what else is out there and what possibilities can I
12:32
Speaker 1: explore that may actually be better than my baseline? But
12:37
Speaker 1: I do have a follow-up question on that in terms
12:40
Speaker 1: of internalizing the mindset change. Because sometimes it's something that
12:45
Speaker 1: I struggle with and something that I hear other folks
12:47
Speaker 1: struggle with is I can say... the positive thing, or
12:53
Speaker 1: I can think about those things on a surface level,
12:56
Speaker 1: but the internal resistance or those barriers are still there
13:02
Speaker 1: in the undercurrent. Do you have any advice for taking
13:06
Speaker 1: that mindset shift from surface level to really believing and
13:10
Speaker 1: feeling that in our core?
13:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's value in positive thinking and in
13:16
Speaker 2: believing in the best case scenario and all that sort
13:18
Speaker 2: of stuff. But then that voice in your head, that
13:21
Speaker 2: tells you this isn't going to work out or that
13:23
Speaker 2: inner critic can still be there and it can still
13:27
Speaker 2: be pretty loud. So I think instead of trying to
13:30
Speaker 2: eliminate it, it's about building a better relationship with it.
13:33
Speaker 2: One of the foremost happiness researchers in the world, he
13:36
Speaker 2: basically founded the body of work around positive psychology. He
13:40
Speaker 2: was the one that coined that, you know, a few
13:42
Speaker 2: decades ago. He talks about this idea that your anxiety
13:46
Speaker 2: or your fear or your worry, it's about building a
13:50
Speaker 2: relationship with that and then having the conversation with it saying, stress,
13:54
Speaker 2: what is making you stressed? Anxiety, what is making you
13:57
Speaker 2: feel anxious? Worry, what is making you feel worried? So
14:00
Speaker 2: you sort of dissociate yourself from that emotion. So I
14:03
Speaker 2: think the first is building a better relationship with that
14:07
Speaker 2: voice in your head because a lot of people run
14:08
Speaker 2: away from it. And the thing is that it will
14:11
Speaker 2: catch you and it is faster than you are and
14:14
Speaker 2: it will outrun you every day of the week. So
14:16
Speaker 2: instead of trying to eliminate negative thoughts, it's about acknowledging
14:20
Speaker 2: them and understanding these thoughts are here and the mindsets
14:23
Speaker 2: are there. Now it's about building a better relationship with
14:26
Speaker 2: them and then deciding consciously to focus on something else.
14:30
Speaker 2: Not meaning that they're going to be eliminated. It's just
14:33
Speaker 2: I'm going to work toward overpowering them with the good.
14:37
Speaker 2: 80% of the thoughts we have every single day are negative.
14:41
Speaker 2: 95% of them are repeated from yesterday. So our brains
14:44
Speaker 2: have a negativity bias that is wired to focus on
14:47
Speaker 2: what's wrong and it looks for what is wrong with
14:49
Speaker 2: us most of the time. So those 12 to 60,000
14:53
Speaker 2: thoughts we have a day, 80% of them being negative,
14:56
Speaker 2: we got to fight for that 20%. We have to
14:59
Speaker 2: fight for the good, not saying that these things are
15:01
Speaker 2: going to magically disappear, but at least we have a
15:04
Speaker 2: better relationship with it. Every single morning when I wake up,
15:08
Speaker 2: I hate everything. It is just a pity party for one.
15:11
Speaker 2: And then I realize that and bring awareness to that.
15:16
Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh, my mind is so interesting that
15:18
Speaker 2: it goes there because in the morning we have like
15:20
Speaker 2: no filter. So I'm like, but how do I want
15:23
Speaker 2: to feel today? What do I want to think about today?
15:26
Speaker 2: And then really important is what actions are going to
15:29
Speaker 2: align me with that feeling. So I'm going to go
15:32
Speaker 2: work out. I'm going to be in gratitude. I'm going
15:34
Speaker 2: to be present. I'm going to be engaged. I'm going
15:36
Speaker 2: to be focused. What are the emotions that are going
15:38
Speaker 2: to align with that ultimate feeling that I want? Because
15:43
Speaker 2: a lot of people are like, I'm tired. They go
15:45
Speaker 2: sit on a couch, eat a bag of chips and
15:46
Speaker 2: watch a full season of something. That is not the strategy.
15:51
Speaker 2: So if you want to feel different, you got to
15:52
Speaker 2: do something different so that we can act as our
15:56
Speaker 2: own override switch for when we're not feeling the best
16:00
Speaker 2: so that we can feel a little better.
16:03
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you for elaborating on that extra layer and
16:08
Speaker 1: how to be pragmatic about it because just stifling those
16:13
Speaker 1: voices do not make them go away. And so that acknowledgement,
16:17
Speaker 1: and I love your phrasing there and Dr. Solomon's phrasing
16:20
Speaker 1: of the relationship with those negative thoughts and feelings. And
16:24
Speaker 1: I working with them instead of pretending that they do
16:29
Speaker 1: not exist. I think that's a really practical application that
16:32
Speaker 1: we can apply to our conversations, both internal and external,
16:38
Speaker 1: about career transitions and other aspects of both our professional
16:41
Speaker 1: and personal lives. And so my last hot seat question
16:46
Speaker 1: for you today also has to do with that intersection
16:50
Speaker 1: of professional and personal life. We learned from the beginning
16:54
Speaker 1: of this conversation that you have a lot going on
16:57
Speaker 1: both personally and professionally. A lot of us do as well.
17:01
Speaker 1: We frequently hear on the show of folks who have
17:05
Speaker 1: some combination of a full-time job, a partner, a family,
17:08
Speaker 1: a volunteer position, or two or three, a side project,
17:13
Speaker 1: a consulting role, hobbies, all of these things. And we
17:17
Speaker 1: like to stay busy, but that does present a challenge
17:22
Speaker 1: in and of itself. So what are your thoughts on
17:25
Speaker 1: how to handle it all, how to do it all,
17:28
Speaker 1: or maybe not handle it all or do it all?
17:32
Speaker 2: I think many people sort of put the weight of
17:35
Speaker 2: the world on their shoulders forgetting that they can put
17:38
Speaker 2: some things down. And it's metaphorically when people, I don't
17:43
Speaker 2: know if anyone else does this. I know I do.
17:45
Speaker 2: When you go to the grocery store and you do
17:47
Speaker 2: a little grocery haul and there's like five or six
17:49
Speaker 2: bags and you are determined to make one trip. Into
17:53
Speaker 2: the house. Because two trips, you would just be an
17:55
Speaker 2: utter failure. So you need to load up your arms
17:58
Speaker 2: like all of the workouts you have done have led
18:00
Speaker 2: up to this moment. And then you're getting inside and
18:03
Speaker 2: then ultimately, you know, one of the handles breaks and
18:06
Speaker 2: then you drop something. And I feel like that's what
18:08
Speaker 2: most people are doing with their lives. They try and
18:12
Speaker 2: stack their work and then their relationship with their spouse
18:16
Speaker 2: and then their kids. and then the volunteerism, and then
18:20
Speaker 2: their own personal goals, and that Ironman they want to run.
18:24
Speaker 2: They're stacking all of these things, and of course they're
18:27
Speaker 2: going to feel overwhelmed, and it's going to feel daunting. So,
18:30
Speaker 2: with every area of your life, focusing on the compounding
18:33
Speaker 2: effect of growth, not these massive leaps that so many
18:37
Speaker 2: people try and reach for. I don't think it is
18:40
Speaker 2: valuable to do this almost 30-day challenge of I'm gonna
18:44
Speaker 2: go hard for 30 days and I'm gonna become a
18:47
Speaker 2: new version. There's two different types of goals. There are
18:51
Speaker 2: finish line goals and there are transformation goals. Finish line
18:54
Speaker 2: goals are basically a 30-day challenge. After day 30, you
18:59
Speaker 2: are done. It's finished. You made it. You did it.
19:02
Speaker 2: And I had a friend that did this 75 day
19:04
Speaker 2: challenge called 75 hard, where it's basically like two workouts
19:08
Speaker 2: a day, 10 pages of reading, no cheap meals, a
19:12
Speaker 2: liter of water, basically no joy for 75 days. Like
19:16
Speaker 2: it is crazy. And he did it. And he was like,
19:18
Speaker 2: I want to challenge this. I want to push myself
19:20
Speaker 2: on day 76, he ate a tub of ice cream.
19:22
Speaker 1: Why?
19:23
Speaker 2: Because the goal was to cross the finish line, not
19:25
Speaker 2: real transformation, transformation goals, are goals that move you toward
19:30
Speaker 2: the kind of person you want to be, which that
19:33
Speaker 2: comes from incremental improvements. I talk about this idea of
19:36
Speaker 2: getting 1% better a day. In a year, you're 37
19:39
Speaker 2: times better. Just 1%. So I tell people, it's like, okay,
19:43
Speaker 2: what is your 1% better? Maybe it's not completely revamping
19:47
Speaker 2: your workout plan and be doing paleo forever. Maybe it's
19:51
Speaker 2: a 20 minute walk in the morning instead of scrolling
19:54
Speaker 2: for 20 minutes. Maybe it is spending more intentional time
19:58
Speaker 2: with your friends at dinner, as opposed to all being
20:01
Speaker 2: at the table, being on your phones. It's the little
20:04
Speaker 2: shifts that make the biggest difference. And I think if
20:06
Speaker 2: more people took the time to focus on those little shifts,
20:09
Speaker 2: they'd be way better off because of Yeah.
20:13
Speaker 1: I hear that. I think it's appealing to pick a
20:17
Speaker 1: concrete finish line goal. Our brains are sort of wired
20:21
Speaker 1: to like that. It's not as jazzy to make a
20:24
Speaker 1: 1% difference. But what I'm hearing you say is that's
20:29
Speaker 1: where the real change happens or where the sustainable change happens.
20:33
Speaker 1: And so I think I'm going to combine some lessons
20:37
Speaker 1: from our previous answers into my takeaway for this one
20:40
Speaker 1: of thinking about that mindset shift of why am I
20:45
Speaker 1: attracted to the bigger goals and what can I do
20:49
Speaker 1: to keep myself motivated and focus on that 1% to
20:53
Speaker 1: make the change? Absolutely. Well, you've given us so much
20:58
Speaker 1: to think about already, and we will have the opportunity
21:01
Speaker 1: to learn more and actually meet you in person at
21:05
Speaker 1: the 2027 AVMA Veterinary Leadership Conference coming up on January
21:09
Speaker 1: 7th to 9th in Chicago. So what specifically will you
21:14
Speaker 1: be talking about at VLC, and why did you pick those,
21:18
Speaker 1: or why does it matter so much to you to
21:20
Speaker 1: want to talk to us about?
21:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, VLC, the main theme is going to be how
21:26
Speaker 2: do we step, especially being at the beginning of the year,
21:29
Speaker 2: it's going to be how do we step into a
21:31
Speaker 2: deeper level of belief in a better future for ourselves,
21:36
Speaker 2: for the people we get to serve, for our careers,
21:40
Speaker 2: for our families, for our friends? How do we build
21:44
Speaker 2: a belief in a better future? Because I think right
21:46
Speaker 2: now a lot of people are afraid. of what is
21:49
Speaker 2: to come, of what AI is going to do to
21:53
Speaker 2: the world, with all of these CEOs saying that AI
21:56
Speaker 2: is going to kill us all in 10 years. There's
21:59
Speaker 2: this fear and this heaviness in the world right now.
22:01
Speaker 2: And I think the ultimate opportunity is for us to
22:04
Speaker 2: be able to say, I believe there's going to be
22:06
Speaker 2: a better day tomorrow. I'm going to wake up with
22:08
Speaker 2: that belief that there's going to be something better, that
22:11
Speaker 2: I'm going to be a better version of myself tomorrow
22:14
Speaker 2: than I am today. And that taps into sort of
22:16
Speaker 2: the conversation we're having around growth mindset. That taps into,
22:20
Speaker 2: I believe I can be a different version of myself
22:22
Speaker 2: tomorrow than I am today. And then also what we're
22:25
Speaker 2: gonna be diving into is how do you inspire belief
22:28
Speaker 2: in other people? Because it's all trust. Like how do
22:31
Speaker 2: you get someone to, how do you inspire belief in
22:34
Speaker 2: a client that walks in with their fur baby and
22:39
Speaker 2: that you're gonna be the right choice for them? And
22:41
Speaker 2: then how do you inspire belief In your kids and
22:44
Speaker 2: in the people in your lives and to gift them
22:47
Speaker 2: confidence because I think that's one of the biggest opportunities
22:49
Speaker 2: that we all have to not only build belief for ourselves,
22:52
Speaker 2: but also to build it within other people. So a
22:55
Speaker 2: little bit about what we're going to be talking about.
22:58
Speaker 1: It sounds like we've got a lot to look forward
23:00
Speaker 1: to and both some applications on a big picture scale
23:05
Speaker 1: of kind of the state of the world. And then
23:07
Speaker 1: also what can we do in our little corners of
23:09
Speaker 1: the world and our spheres of influence? So I am
23:12
Speaker 1: really looking forward to it. I absolutely cannot wait.
23:15
Speaker 2: I can't wait. I'm so excited. It's going to be
23:17
Speaker 2: awesome getting to meet everyone in person. It's going to
23:19
Speaker 2: be fantastic.
23:20
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Juan, thank you so much for sharing some time
23:24
Speaker 1: with us this week. Hopefully this gives a little bit
23:26
Speaker 1: of a sneak preview of what you're about and gets
23:29
Speaker 1: folks excited to come join us in Chicago for VLC
23:33
Speaker 1: coming up soon.
23:34
Speaker 2: Of course, Annie. Thank you for having me. Thank you
23:36
Speaker 2: for everyone listening. And I will see you all in
23:38
Speaker 2: Chicago very soon.
23:41
Speaker 1: And thank you to each of you for joining us
23:42
Speaker 1: on this episode of My Veterinary Life Podcast. We love
23:45
Speaker 1: sharing this journey with you. And remember, we want to
23:47
Speaker 1: hear from you. So please be sure to leave us
23:49
Speaker 1: a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or whatever platform
23:52
Speaker 1: you listen to. And you can also email me at
23:55
Speaker 1: mvlpodcast at avma.org. Take care, and we'll see you next time.