In this episode of Surfing Your Edge, Kristine Goad sits down with award-winning author, coach, and entrepreneur Jennifer J. Britton to explore reinvention in a rapidly changing world. Together, they discuss navigating the messy middle of change and knowing when it's time to shed what no longer fits who you're becoming. Jennifer invites us to focus on the pull rather than the push - reconnecting with what brings us joy and trusting where it may lead, even when the path ahead isn't clear.

The Shift Beneath the Words:

• Reinvention during times of change
• Navigating the messy middle
• Staying grounded through uncertainty
• Small, consistent action creates momentum

Instead of forcing change, Jennifer encourages reconnecting with your vision, noticing what brings you joy and makes you feel alive, and trusting what is pulling you forward - even when you can’t see exactly where it will lead.

About the Guest:

Jennifer Britton, is an award-winning and best selling author, coach, educator, and founder of Potentials Realized, celebrating more than 20 years of supporting leaders, coaches, teams, and entrepreneurs. A pioneer in group and team coaching, Jennifer is the author of eight books, including Effective Group Coaching and the forthcoming Flow Flex Scale™: 9 Catalysts for Thriving as a Solopreneur. Her work explores the future of work, human connection, capacity, and sustainable business growth. Drawing on leadership experience with the United Nations and decades of entrepreneurial experience, Jennifer brings a practical, human-centred lens to navigating change, building capacity, and creating meaningful impact. She’s also a podcast host – you can find her at the Coaching Many Podcast, The Remote Pathways podcast and her latest Flow Flex Scale podcast for solopreneurs

Connect with Jennifer Britton:

Website: https://www.potentialsrealized.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferjbritton/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachingbizbuilder/

TikTok: https:///www.tiktok.com/@groupcoach

Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPsADyOi3qZ4&si=AwvuCnP8OnJOnfCW

Substack: https://flowflexscale.substack.com/

Jennifer’s Gift for you:

30 Days of Momentum Moves: Surfing Your Edge

What edge are you surfing right now in your work, business or life? This 30 Days of Momentum Moves Calendar provides a practical invitation to experiment, take action and notice what creates momentum. Drawing on the principles of Flow Flex Scale™, the calendar includes daily ideas to help you focus on what matters, strengthen connections, build visibility, move important projects forward and explore what might be possible. You don't need to do everything—or follow the activities in order. Choose what is most relevant for you right now, follow your curiosity, and see where 30 days of consistent action takes you.

Claim Your Gift: https://flowflexscale.substack.com/p/30-days-of-flow-flex-scale-momentum

Your travels have brought you to the Surfing

Your Edge podcast, where we explore what it

takes to create the bigger, bolder, badass life

you know you were born for.

Not a life that simply looks good on

paper, and not another spin on the self

-help hamster wheel.

If you're ready for more joy, more peace,

and more contribution, you're in the right place.

I'm Kristine Goad, the Surfing Your Edge coach.

Let's get surfing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Surfing

Your Edge.

I am here today with my very first

guest for the show.

Her name is Jennifer Britton, and I think

you're going to love her.

Jennifer is an award-winning author, coach, educator,

and founder of Potentials Realized, where she's spent

more than 20 years working with leaders, coaches,

teams, and entrepreneurs worldwide.

She's a pioneer in group and team coaching,

and has written eight books.

She's about to release a brand-new book

called FlowFlex Scale, Nine Catalysts for Thriving as

a Solopreneur.

And drawing on her early leadership work with

the United Nations and decades as an entrepreneur,

Jennifer brings a fascinating perspective on the future

of work, human connection, sustainable growth, and creating

meaningful impact.

I hope you love our conversation.

Let's get surfing.

Okay, I am so excited to have Jennifer

with me today.

Jennifer Britton, you are one of my little

heroes, and you don't even know it.

Well, thank you.

Thank you for being here today.

This is actually going to be our first

in-depth, one-on-one conversation.

We've been in many Zoom rooms together, and

we've followed each other through those rooms and

groups we've contributed to.

But this is my first time having you

all to myself.

I'm excited, Kristine.

I know from your work and our conversations

just how important the work is that you're

doing right now, and helping the world, helping

all of us surf our edges.

Certainly, we're in a moment where our ability

to do that, to sort of stretch out

and get out of our comfort zone is

key.

And I'm really looking forward to sitting down

and, yeah, having a conversation, because I think

there's a lot of adventures we can Zoom

into today.

There absolutely are.

So I just read your super impressive bio

to everyone.

And as we just discussed, you and I,

off-camera, you started your business on April

Fool's Day in 2004.

So you have a deep business experience to

pull from, and I want to talk to

you about that today.

But I also want to talk to you

about your personal mission on the planet, and

why you're here, and what might be shifting

for you.

I love it.

Love it.

I hope everyone's ready to buckle in for

some stories, because I come from a long

lineage of storytellers, actually.

Oral historians, as my grandmother was known for.

And she lived till the ripe old age

of 99.

So in my mid-years, I'm hoping there'll

be many more books and oral stories to

come out from my mouth.

Awesome.

Do you want to tell us about the

current book that you're writing?

I'm sorry.

The book that's written and about to be

birthed.

So, well, I have two.

So as a writer, so, you know, a

little bit, you heard my bio, right?

I'm a woman.

I guess in today's world, we call them

my multi-hyphenate, right?

That is the current term.

I think of myself as a multidisciplinary.

And so I always have multiple projects on

the go.

And so coming out this, in the next

month or so, depending on when you're listening.

So let's call it sort of late summer,

early fall, 2026.

FlowFlex Skill, the Solopreneurial Operating System for Business

Growth and Momentum is coming out.

This is a book that has been six

years in the making, actually.

It's gone through many iterations.

I first started penning it in July of

2020 as part of an annual, well, you

know this, but I'll share this with your

guests.

I write every July for 72 hours with

a group of about 50 other writers.

We do 72 hours of nonstop writing for

adult literacy.

And so my 2020 manuscript that came out

that year was what is now FlowFlex Skill.

But in those days, it was called Drovepreneur

for digital, remote, online, virtual entrepreneurs.

And literally the title stopped me.

So there were other books that came out.

And I just didn't know what to call

this body of work.

And about 18 months ago in the business

coaching work that I do, it became really

apparent because we'd started these conversations in 2017.

But it was like, there's really nine areas.

So like, why not bundle them as FlowFlex

Skill?

So here it is a year after that

major sort of shift, which I hope we'll

sort of talk about that.

Because I think as seasoned professionals, as new

professionals, we're always iterating, right?

The world is always asking for something new.

So with that, let me turn it back

to you.

As you can see, I'm a seasoned podcaster,

so I love talking.

So back to you, Kristine.

So you mentioned that the world is always

shifting.

And it's interesting to me that you started

this particular book in 2020 when the world

was undergoing a major shift.

And I was one of those people that

was really hoping we would harness what we

learned in that time to create a slightly

different world together as humans.

And I don't think we did.

I think we just pushed play again, and

we went right back as fast as possible

to where we had been before.

And here we are in 2026, and I

feel like we are revisiting several of those

themes again.

And the world is changing rapidly.

We are finding powers, I think, becoming ever

more concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.

And that power is not necessarily working to

benefit all life on this planet.

And people are starting to feel, I think,

less and less secure in their lives and

in the decisions they're making.

And I'm feeling like many of us are

kind of holding on, right?

We're going to wait this out.

We waited out COVID.

Now let's wait it out.

And it's really interesting.

So I'll put a couple of pieces on

the table, right?

Because your guests may or may not know

this about me.

So two things.

One, I'm currently working on a new book.

So the next book is actually about coaching

for the future of work.

So for the last few months, I spent

a lot of time looking at the research

and looking at these emerging trends.

The second data set I think that is

important is my former work, right, what I

did before starting this business in 2004.

And that was really working, as you know,

in the field of international development and helping

countries articulate and realize their potential, right?

That's why I call my business Potentials Realized,

because that's been the body of my work

since the early 1990s.

And, you know, I have a master's in

environmental studies.

So you and I have sometimes connected around

this.

And I think, you know, my research work

as a master's student was all about grassroots

development.

So as much as I think people are

stuck right now, I think we also see

glimmers of hope at the grassroots.

And I don't think even in moments like

this, you know, and we certainly saw this

in 2020, you know, the grassroots movements will

always catch a fire, right?

Fire is my future self in coaching.

And I think there's reason for that, because

I think I do see a lot of

embers, whether it's here in Canada, whether it's

around the world with my connections.

I see there, yes, there are definite moments

of stuckness, but I also see some really

interesting community-based movements.

And I feel lucky, you know, it's summer,

I've had the chance to work out of

sort of my little village in the world.

It's a community of 300 people.

And it's where my great great, my great

grandmother was born in the 1880s.

And, you know, having that stability in place

and space for me is really critical, like,

and my body knows it, right?

Like, my pulse rate has dropped 10 beats

a minute for the last six weeks.

As soon as I get on the land,

like, my body knows and whatever is happening

in the world.

And this has been consistent my entire life,

right?

Even when I was working globally, I would

come back to Canada.

I usually have a month off or six

weeks and I would literally land, go to

my parents' house and then say, okay, we're

going north.

And I would spend all my time up

north and then go back to the airport

and fly off to my duty station.

And people would be like, you must have

had a really good time away.

And it's like, yeah, and it's like, literally

the place in the world that I can

get grounded.

So I share that because I think with

whatever is happening in the world, and my

former work was rebuilding countries post-natural disaster,

post-volcanic activity, post-hurricane.

You know, these are really significant seismic transformations.

And it's, you know, we need to say

that.

We can't step over the shifts.

And when people are ready, I think then

that's where my work comes in.

How do we envision again?

How do we dream?

How do we think about what's possible?

And then what do we do?

Even in micro steps.

And that brings us back to FlowFlexSkill because

FlowFlexSkill is about daily steps, consistent action, creating

momentum.

It's not these huge leaps, right?

We might think it's a leap.

But if we look at it backwards, it's

these little pieces done consistently that really start

moving the needle in good times and in

disruption.

Okay.

I'm throwing my questions away.

We can go on.

We can go to questions.

We can go to whatever.

What am I sparking in you?

No, well, just a whole bunch.

One is I have three threads, I think.

My original thread was I'd like us to

discuss whether or not times of change are

a good time for us to change.

You know, I think I know you know

what my answer is there.

You just then talked about ways to keep

yourself grounded and taking small steps.

And then is there a third?

I think there's a third, but I'm going

to hold on to that.

So I'm just going to say straight out

that I think that when everything is changing,

that's a great time to change everything.

Right.

And a lot of us, it might feel

like we can hold on and wait and

things will go back to normal.

And then we can take some steps that

might feel uncertain.

I would probably caution that that's not the

right step to take to hold on.

What do you think?

Such a great question.

You know, I think there's a couple layers

to this.

There's the personal, there's the professional, there's the

societal.

Right.

And I think depending on where you are

in the world, there's a cultural layer to

this as well.

So, you know, I can only speak from

my own experience.

But I think in moments of change.

Right.

It is if we are holding too tightly

onto the past, are we open to what

door or doorways are opening for the future?

And that's not easy.

Right.

I personally, I know myself, I have always

been on the front end of change, whether

it's technological change, whether it's, you know, and

I think really it's technological change that has

shaped my career.

I remember vividly the day that the Internet

came in and, you know, I was managing

over a hundred staff and volunteers from four

countries in, you know, really in South America.

And they were working in the north end

of the Amazon.

Our connection every day was by long range

radio.

Our radio would go on and you think

about those old mash radios.

Right.

If you think about the old mash TV

show, they used to have the radio guy.

Right.

And so our radio would go on at

dawn at like five thirty in the morning

and it would run until dusk about seven

o'clock at night.

And that was a lifeline of connecting to

these project teams.

So I share it because right.

Like, what are the lifelines and what are

we listening for?

And and, you know, if we're not if

we're too stuck in in the past, what

happens?

And so disruption happened with the Internet prior

to the Internet.

You know, everything was done by long range

radio.

My headquarters was here in Canada.

I'm like thousands of miles away.

And, you know.

The facts literally disappeared overnight.

We used to send out emails from the

capital city.

It would sit on a server at the

University of the West Indies in Trinidad, and

then it would be released to the rest

of the world.

This is like six months of my life,

but it saved us thousands of dollars.

All of a sudden we had money that

we could do things for a project.

Right.

So I say this because when things change,

right, like new capacities become available, there's new

things that are available.

And I also know as a leader, how

many people find change really hard, whether it

is technologically induced change, whether it's societal change.

And so, again, how do we create environments

where people feel like they are ready to

move?

I think that's another piece of this puzzle.

And that's the role of leadership, hopefully the

role of leadership.

And it also ties in really well to

what we were talking about in terms of

grounding and how to take the small steps

like if change is scary for you and

it's it's scary for everyone.

But I think some of us are a

little more tied into the the possibilities that

come with change.

But if but regardless of where you are

with your fear level around change, you said

coming back to the land is one of

the ways that you ground and regenerate and

feel comfortable and confident and remember who you

are.

Do you have any other suggestions for things

you've seen work or things you've tried?

So, again, I think journaling is an amazing

one.

For years, I journaled every night.

I have a box, literally a huge, big

box, a red plastic tub of my my

memoirs.

They will be my memoirs, right?

Like of almost 15 years of journaling nightly,

sometimes by candlelight, because it was a blackout.

There was no power in the entire country

and I would have my candles going.

So, you know, I think journaling is a

way to slow us down because in times

of change and times of fear, what happens?

Our brains start to race.

How do we slow it down to start

making sense of the world?

Right?

Part of change is also about creating a

new language for ourselves, creating a new mental

framework for how we see the world.

How we perceive the world, how we see

ourselves in the world.

And so as a writer, right, this is

where I think stories are really important.

I think connections and conversations are really important.

You know, as much as I talk about

being on the land, like I am very

still at my age, I'm very deeply connected

to to nature.

Right.

It's for me, it's about community and nature.

And that's when I'm happiest, whether I'm, you

know, out walking or out like this morning,

you know, getting back to the gym and

people like, we haven't seen you in a

few days.

They're like, you're looking good.

And it's like, yeah, I feel really good

because I'm able to follow my own rhythms.

So, like, I think in addition to getting

grounded, journaling, you know, like, what are your

rhythms?

And part of FlowFlexSkill is really about helping

people start discerning what is their natural rhythm.

In my family, you know, I am the

early bird.

My son is a night owl.

He's 21 now, but like, it's really interesting

in our household, two night owls and an

early bird, like, we operate in different times

of the day as a family.

And then there are moments when we come

together as well, which, how do we also

allow for difference and distinction?

And I think that's part of today's struggle,

right?

Is, you know, maybe not an appreciation of

just how unique everyone really is and our

unique rhythms and needs, right?

So I sort of am sharing my story,

but this could be very different.

I know my pathway has been very different

from others.

And so what I'm sharing might not necessarily

turn people's crank.

So I'd invite your listeners to think, you

know, what is the thing that gets you

grounded, regardless of where you are, what you're

doing?

It might be doing dishes, right?

It might be playing the piano.

It might be going out for a walk.

So many things we can do.

Yeah.

And I think one of the shifts that

technology and the way work is moving is

that we are now more able than ever

to probably follow more of our own rhythms,

to create our own rhythms and create a

life that feels good to us and doesn't

necessarily fit into a mold that someone else

handed us.

Yeah.

And I think back to sort of where

you were pointing us a few minutes ago,

Kristine, of like, you know, what has changed?

What hasn't changed?

Like, like you said, you know, in 2019,

I launched my first podcast.

It was called the Remote Pathways Podcast.

I had put a stake in the ground

in 2019 saying, we are going to be

shifting everything we do.

It was, you know, late 2018, I put

out a book called Plan, Do, Track.

It was for virtual and remote professionals.

The year before, my traditional publisher had said,

not interested in your next book, Jen.

It was called Effective Virtual Conversations.

Like, the world isn't virtual.

We're not interested.

And I was like, well, I think the

world is.

And so I started my own media house,

right?

Like, and it was like, it was a

quiet success until the pandemic.

And, you know, I really, as an advocate

for remote work, flex work, I do still

feel and we are seeing pockets in the

world where, you know, flexibility is, is happening,

whether it's because of economics, whether it's because

of even places like Toronto, people have refused

to go back to the office because they

can't commute, right?

Like, you're gonna get me to come in

for, you know, commute three hours a day

to come into an office space where there

is no space because you sold part of

the landscape.

It's, it's a really interesting sort of moment.

And I think we have the, the voice

of the community.

And we also have the voice of leadership.

And sometimes there is alignment.

Sometimes there's not, but that's part of the

role of the leader.

How does the leader listen?

And how does the leader bring people together

to affect change?

Yeah.

So the theme, I think we're for, for

the conversation we're having today is a little

bit about reinvention and reimagining.

And I'd like to talk to you about

where you are in your business.

And this year, in particular, what do you

feel is shifting for you?

What isn't shifting?

Like, I think, as a small business owner

of many, many years now, like, AI has

been such an interesting disruptor, if we go

back to that terminology.

And I think it's creating opportunities.

It's also creating massive changes.

Like, you know, I, I work, I write

in the area of coaching, right?

It's been a big part of my life,

seeing the industry get born, you know, see

it grow, see it automate.

And there's a moment where it's looking to

how do we find the feet, you know,

like, what are what is what does coaching

look like in the new world?

And it's interesting, because again, we can, I

think one of the one of the most

interesting things right now is, and to invention,

reinvention, re-envisioning, I think we also want

to watch out for like the echo chambers

we find ourselves in.

And one of the appreciations I have, and

this is probably why I like to move

around so much and physically, like working out

of different spaces is because every time I

shift, I become very aware of the lens

of the perspectives of the voices in that

space.

And so it helps me question and challenge,

like, I, you know, I'm a critical educator

by training.

So it's part of my, it's part of

the work that I do in the world.

But it helps me look at, like, is

this an assumption?

Or is this like the truth?

And is this a perspective?

Or is this my perspective?

And so to come back to, like, what

is changing in the business world?

Like, so much is changing right now.

And in one space that I work out

of, it's very AI enabled, right?

In other spaces, I work in supporting teams,

you know, like, teams have embraced AI, they

get frustrated with what's happening with AI.

Other teams are like, we're not doing that

at all.

And so as a coach, it's a really

interesting moment to sort of say, what is

going to happen?

So even yesterday, I had an invite from

an entity, and they wanted me to come

and speak.

And I said, Well, is it important to

talk about what is happening in the industry?

Because we now have court cases, right, that

there has actually been legislation passed of what

happens in AI enabled landscapes.

And it is really interesting for the profession

where, you know, whether it's therapy, or whether

it's coaching, how many people have just jumped

on the bandwagon of like, oh, yeah, we're

going to do this.

And there now have been court cases, which

have set precedence to show that you have

a responsibility to ensure confidentiality.

If you're saying we're providing confidential spaces, you

have a responsibility.

So it's, it's shakeups like this that are

like, wow.

And so for me, you know, at 23

years into business, it's also a question of

where do I put my focus?

Three years ago this summer, it's almost three

years ago to the day that I moved

into this location.

And so my son had just gone off

to university, and let I let go of

the big house because I didn't want to

keep shoveling snow.

In the middle of winter, I was, you

know, like, my heart is always been up

north.

So I moved midway between there and the

cottage, and still wanted to be close enough

so that I could jump on a plane

anytime I wanted.

And of course, as soon as we moved,

the phone calls came back and said, we

need you back in the Caribbean.

And it was like, okay, I'll get on

that plane, not knowing sort of that first

plane ride, just how much that was going

to shift things.

But it also means like, how do you

keep all the plates spinning?

So back to your original question of reinvention,

you know, like, as the world changes, where

do I want to put my attention?

Do I want to keep doing what I've

been doing for 23 years?

And I think I'm really, you know, at

this stage, clear, like, I would love to

find a home.

Part of my 2026 goal this year is

to find a home for some of the

training that we've been doing.

You know, last year, I was approached for

a strategic acquisition of the business.

I'm not ready to let the whole business

go, but I'm ready to let parts of

the business go.

And in that time, it was not the

right fit.

But I do hope, and maybe your listeners

out there, I do hope that sometime in

the next 6 to 12 months, that actually,

I'm able to find a home for some

of my bodies of work so that they

can live on in other people's hands.

Because I don't know if we remain the

same person all our life, right?

I work in personal development and leadership development.

We can't stay the same.

And if we try to stay the same,

then, you know, are we holding ourselves back?

There's that sort of point of view too.

So I think from a business level, you

know, AI is creating opportunity on all ways,

whether it's about the human experience, experience in

AI-enabled spaces, or it's about the AI

experience in AI-enabled.

And I'm certainly in the camp of the

human, the human experience with potential, you know,

AI-human collaboration, because that's another interesting area.

But that's not group coaching, which I've been

so well known for over 20 years.

I'm wondering how, you know, when things are

shifting?

I mean, you're very clued in, obviously.

I'm very what?

Clued in?

Clued in.

Maybe some days, but we still have blind

spots, I would say.

But I think, you know, if I can

anticipate your question, is the question really like,

how do you know when things are shifting?

Yeah.

I love this question, because I think it's

gonna sound, it probably will sound maybe a

little bit more confident and clear than I've

been thinking, like, the last three years.

So back to the story of, like, reinventing

myself, it actually started three years ago, in

totally uprooting community.

You know, I'd lived in that community for

17 years, raising a family, left everything, left

all my habits, you know, moved here, and

totally different environment, like, different mix of people,

and had also transitioned my parents, who I

was a caretaker for.

They both were declining significantly in the pandemic,

and so much that we had to move

them into our house.

You know, my dad was going through his

final phase of life with stage four cancer,

and there was a lot going on.

So to many of the things that we've

talked about today, in terms of, you know,

finding your grounding, I had to practice what

I preached, right?

How did I find time to journal, to

reflect, to go outside, to remember that there's

a bigger, there's a bigger world, you know,

and I, you know, caretaking has been an

important part of my world, but it's very

easy to get sucked into as well.

And so, with this transition, and it's not

comfortable, right?

Like, I think anytime we do see people

who grow, there's the messy middle, right?

There's this, it's not even days, possibly not

even just weeks or months, it can be

years of like, churning, right?

It's not comfortable.

And I still think there are parts of

my continued evolution that aren't clear to me,

they're getting clearer every day, but there's a

lot of soul searching, and a lot of,

you know, reflection on who am I, what's

important to me, for me, as knowing my

strengths, like, legacy is always important.

I do that through writing, but even my

writing is changing, right?

It's even my readers are like, but this

book isn't just for coaches.

And it's like, no, it's not just for

coaches.

And you know what, for the last eight

years, I've not just written for coaches.

So it's taken eight years for even the

marketplace to recognize that shift, which I think,

you know, our identity, we see ourselves, and

then the world sees us as well.

And so how do we shift?

We may shift before the rest of the

world notices we've shifted to.

But it's not comfortable.

It's like, it's like the snake skin, right?

And I use that analogy, because there are

a lot of snakes where I am in

the summer.

And at least once a season, I'll see

the snake skin on the rocks, right?

Because the snakes live in the rocks.

And when I see that, it's just a

reminder, like, yeah, like, what needs to be

shed, but I don't think it's comfortable, right?

Like, I don't think a shake a snake

shedding its skin is probably a comfortable experience.

Yeah, I hear you on that.

And for my own transitions, recently, like starting

this podcast.

It started because a friend of mine who's

a voice coach and, you know, a speaking

coach came to me and said, I'm starting

a network.

I would really love you to podcast on

it.

Do you want to start a podcast?

We're starting in three weeks.

And I was like, Oh, sure.

It's something that's been, you know, percolating.

I've been doing live shows on Facebook for

years.

And I loved that.

But it was, you know, and it had

been occurring to me that I needed to

do it in a more planned and professional

way.

So it was the right thing.

Not sure it was the right, it didn't

feel like necessarily the right time, but it

was definitely the right offer.

And so I kind of have this vision

of it being like a magic carpet.

And instead of sitting on top of the

magic carpet and flying, I'm like, holding on

to the back end of pulling me through

the air.

What a great, what a great metaphor, you

know, and bring it back to vision, right?

Like, I think it's interesting that you talk

about the magic carpet ride, because a year

ago, 2020, I usually do business visioning work

in the spring.

And so it must have been 2024.

I had this vision, actually, of a magic

carpet ride, too.

But I wasn't, I wasn't hanging on the

back, but I was like, navigating on the

front.

And it's just interesting how, you know, our

roles also may shift.

And sometimes, you know, change is happening or

our identity is shifting so much, it does

feel like we're hanging on.

And I guess, in my work, it's always,

you know, what do you need to trust?

Right?

How do you trust that wherever this journey

is taking you, that it's going to be,

it's going to be a good ride?

Maybe not an easy ride, but it's gonna

be a good ride.

Right, right.

Yes, you will definitely learn something and find

yourself in a different place on the other

side.

Yeah.

And, and to, you know, one of the

other themes that's sort of emerging in our

conversation today is like, how are we with

learning?

Right?

Like, I think, in today's world, we have

to keep learning as well as we have

to keep challenging our assumptions.

Right?

To grow means we have to learn and

learning is not easy.

Learning is not neat.

Right?

To really learn something new, we have to

go back to beginner.

And I remember actually, 20 plus years ago,

become trained to be a coach.

And the first thing they would say is

like, just learn to be a beginner, you

know, beginner's mind.

But that's easier said than done.

Because you know what, to go back to

like kindergarten is, it's pretty darn messy.

And I've seen that, again, as a professional,

in even in my writing, you know, like

I am a new fiction writer, I won't

say new anymore, because I've now got four,

I'm working on like book four this Labor

Day in an intensive spurt.

But every time I write, they're getting better.

Right?

They're getting better.

And it's been a good reminder that, you

know, we can only learn something if we

do it.

And that too, is at the heart of

FlowFlex skill.

It's about the daily action, you got to

keep showing up, you got to keep pushing

yourself.

I saw it three years ago here, like

re-establishing my routines, I was like, what

do I want to need to do to

be healthy, happy, you know, I'd achieved everything

in my business, and I'd achieved the house

of my dreams.

You know, like where I live, it's gorgeous.

It's beautiful.

I saw this house, I wanted it for

like a year and a half, I rarely

want anything, right?

But this was like, I want to live

there.

And it just so happened a year and

a half later that I got I got

the property even at a lower price, which

was even better.

And, you know, like, I hadn't thought about,

well, what does it mean to live there?

Like, what do I need to be happy?

Because winters are isolating, right?

It's cold, it's isolating, it's on the lake,

which is beautiful.

But I'm a tropical girl, right?

Like, I love the 15 years I spent

in the tropics.

But we have to sometimes let things go.

And who's to say everything is going to

be forever.

I think some people want the forever.

I know for me, as my mother would

probably say, Jennifer, you're a Sagittarius, you love

adventure.

And I do.

I think the older I get, the more

I realize, if I don't have it, I'll

create it somehow.

Which leads me directly into my next question,

which is what is pulling you forward?

What adventure do you see teasing you over

the horizon?

Which theme do we put in the mix?

I think I think there's a lot, right?

So we're getting into that season change.

Part of the transition that started three, four

years ago was my vision that like, I

wanted to be working out of my three

B's all the time.

Where I live in the shoulder season, Baysville,

beautiful Muskoka, which I work out of all

summer.

So April to September, I think this year,

and then getting back to the Caribbean, right?

Getting back to Barbados.

And so we're coming into that season.

Just yesterday, I was looking at flights and

thinking, if like, what kind of work, right?

What would take me what would take me

there for short or long term?

And as you know, I, there's a big

part of my heart that is still wanting

to contribute to the global sphere.

You know, my skills, I miss using my

skills many days.

I came back to Canada for two reasons.

One, I lost vision in my one of

my eyes permanently.

I still have scar tissue.

So I can't navigate the world like I

could have 30 years ago.

And with technology now, I don't think I

need to, right?

Like, I think I think I could could

do things that just weren't possible 30 years

ago because of technology.

But I also think, you know, as much

as coming back was not in my plan,

and maybe this should have been an interesting

story to have gone down.

But, you know, April Fool's Day 2004 was

a very intentional day because I'd had this

eye incident as I like to call it

in 2002.

I had just been selected for after a

year of interviews, I'd been selected for pretty

much a lifetime diplomatic post as a young

professional.

There were 10,000 applicants, and 30 of

us made it to an interview.

And 15 of us were selected.

And the day that the email came in

was the day after my eye had happened.

But as you know, as my loved ones

say, if I had gotten that work, I

probably would not physically be here, just knowing

the way the world has turned out.

And, you know, the the beauty of having

the choice, I could have sat behind a

desk.

That wasn't me, I really felt the call

to be an entrepreneur to set to set

up potentials realized.

And starting, you know, starting afresh on April

Fool's Day, the question was, you know, are

we are we cheating the universe?

Or is the universe going to laugh at

us?

And I didn't know, I didn't even know,

like, at that point, that 13 months later,

my son, who is now 21, would be

born, I never thought that I'd be a

mom, but it's been like such a joy,

such a wonderful part of my life.

And you know me, I'm always talking about

him, because he's, he's my best.

He's my best buddy, right?

We were quarantine buddies.

And it's just like, wow, you know, like,

you don't know, I think sometimes you don't

know.

And maybe, you know, I've, on some parts,

saved the sort of this part of the

story for the end of our conversation.

But I would have had no idea in

2002, when my eye happened, just how differently

my whole life would go.

And I think even now, there are days

when I was like, I wish I could

be like, 30 again, I wish I could

go and do what I love to do,

and where I have made a really big

difference, I believe, in the world.

And I still make a difference in different

ways, you know, and I have a feeling

my gut is saying, you know, my heart

is saying there's going to be another adventure,

as long as I allow for it to,

right, like, I think there's an allowing.

And we can't always, we can't always see

what lies ahead.

But we have to trust, have to trust.

So.

That was beautiful.

Thank you.

And I learned, I have so many more

questions that we don't have time for today.

So I will definitely have five minutes left,

Christie, we can take a lot.

I have a couple of questions for you.

One I'm asked when I'm one I would

like to ask is for our listeners.

If someone is feeling that call to something

different, and also feeling unsure about how it's

going to go, what advice would you give?

Like, how do you find your way forward

from that place?

So I'm not gonna give advice, because I'm

a coach.

But like, I would invite people to go

back to their vision, right?

Like, what is the pull?

Like, there's so much more power in the

pull versus the push.

Right?

And I sort of say that if I

use my eye as an example, right?

Like, I could have been pushed into sitting

at a desk in New York City.

And that was not, you know, they were

like, oh, you could sit in HR.

And I was like, I really want to

I wanted the pull of like, I'm a

creative.

I've always known that about myself, you know,

people have recognized that in me, and I

wanted to create a business.

And I figured, you know, what's the worst

thing?

Like, literally, we said, what's the worst thing

that could happen?

Right?

Part of my heart, and I think, you

know, certainly our family having, like straddling Canada

and the Caribbean, there's been a 20 plus

year tension.

And when we got a call a few

years ago, saying, mom's in ICU, you got

to fly back.

It was like, there was no question.

It was like, okay, we're gonna get on

the plane.

But that was such an emotional plane ride

to go 20 years have passed.

But as soon as our feet hit the

tarmac, it was like, and why?

Because like, I think there's a part of

vision, right?

Like, there's a part of vision as a

part of who we are, regardless of how

much time has passed.

And I'm sure our listeners all over have

friends, family members that you might not have

seen in years, even in a decade or

two where you can pick up and while

life is different, I think there's always a

core of who we are that remains the

same, regardless of the good and not so

great experiences in life, because it would be

easy to listen to this and think, oh,

everything is peachy keen, right?

Not always, but how do we, how do

we reframe?

And I think that is part of the

change process as well.

It's very hard when we go through it.

There are many things that we probably don't

ever imagine will be part of the experience.

But how do we translate that?

How do we readjust the way we look

at it?

Because every experience helps us grow as easy

or as painful as that is.

And so I think what the advice is,

is not advice.

It's go back to your vision.

What do you want to create?

And go back to who you are.

Like, what's going to make you happy?

What's going to make you have moments of

joy, experience awe, which in hard times are

hard to do.

I think my learning in the pandemic, when

this business was 10xing, and I was also

responsible for my parents, and it was a

legal responsibility, but it was also, you know,

a joy to be there and have a

business that even today allows me to go

in and see my mom who's so well

cared for, but I can spend time.

And I know, like, I've been a fixture

there for like three years.

When I go in, everyone knows me.

And my mother, whose cognitive decline is such,

she's always like, everyone is so happy when

you come, Jennifer.

That's true.

Because again, it's a different perspective, right?

I come into their world, which is an

amazing world, but it's very heavy, very, very

heavy.

So again, maybe we only got one more

question in.

So that's okay.

We've got actually, I'm gonna ask you one

more.

And that is, um, what edge are you

surfing right now?

Gosh, what edge am I not surfing?

I think the biggest edge that I'm surfing

is, I'm going to put it simply as

this, it's continuing to hold the multiplicities of

life.

I think that is really the edge and

know that it's okay.

Because I think we are in a world

that likes to simplify.

We're in a very complex world, but this

is the world that I have always navigated.

And so when I've been told, oh, you

can't do multiple things, it's like, no, I

can.

And actually it makes me very happy.

So I think that is the edge to

be an advocate for multiplicity, to be an

advocate for also like trusting.

Because I think in, in not knowing, it's

easy.

It's easy to get fearful.

It's easy to be unsure that when we

can trust, whether it's self-trust, trust in

others around us, trust in a greater power,

that's when I think we can be of

service, which is really key to who I

am as a human.

Thank you again for having me.

I do need to head on out, but

I will see you soon and hope that

the listeners have enjoyed today's conversation.

Alrighty.

And I will see the rest of you

in another week.

And until then, I am wishing you wonder.

Take care, everyone.

Before we go today, I wanted to come

back to a few things that Jennifer said

that are still stuck spinning in my head

that I think you might want to remember

as well.

One is her description of the messy middle

of reinvention.

We might feel like we're changing, and yet

the rest of the world is responding to

an older version of who we are.

So we're always playing this game of tug

of war and waiting for the rest of

the world to catch up with who we

feel we are in any moment.

I also loved her question, what needs to

be shed?

And this is a big one because a

lot of times, sometimes, maybe not a lot

of times, sometimes the thing we're being asked

to release isn't something that's failed.

It may be something that we've built beautifully.

It may still be working.

It might be something we're known for.

It might be even something that we still

love, but that no longer contains all of

who we're becoming.

Sit with that one for a minute.

And then finally, there was Jennifer's reminder about

the power of the pull versus the push.

And for this one, it means coming back

to what makes us feel alive, what brings

us joy or awe, and trusting those clues,

even when we can't see exactly where that

road would take us.

So if you'd like to stay in Jennifer's

world, I highly recommend you do.

Look for her forthcoming book, Flow Flex Scale

Nine Catalysts for Thriving as a Solopreneur.

You can also find Jennifer J.

Britton on LinkedIn and listen to her on

the Flow Flex Scale podcast, Coaching Many, and

the Remote Pathways podcast.

I'll put all of those links along with

Jennifer's other resources in the show notes.

And I will leave you with this question

for the week.

What is pulling you forward so strongly that

you might be willing to shed an old

version of yourself in order to follow it?

And until next time, I am wishing you

wonder.