Personal Growth with Michael and Carolyn

At Loveworks, we believe that one of the ways that you can become one of the best versions of yourself is to focus on personal growth. We love curating things like books, music, organizations, blogs or resources that have encouraged your personal growth. 

Today, we are going to share a couple of recommendations of a recent article or podcast that’s helped us recently.

How to Tap to into Good Anxiety on Life Kit by NPR

Anxiety can feel like the enemy. However it shows up — a tightness in the chest, a knot in the stomach — it’s easy to want to obliterate those feelings.

But according to Wendy Suzuki, that might not be the best approach.

Suzuki wants us to make friends with our anxiety and reap all the gifts it can offer.

Suzuki spoke with NPR’s Life Kit about how we can use emotional regulation when faced with anxiety-inducing situations, positive coping strategies that can help and the upside of anxiety.

Kristin Garcia: Business Startup Specialist

Kristin serves as the NEW Startup Specialist for the AXIS. In this role Kristin supports community members through programs and pre-accelerator curriculum throughout the district. Prior to joining Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Kristin worked at the OU Tom Love Innovation Hub and has over 15 years in higher education and startup experience between Oklahoma, Texas and California. With a Masters in Organizational Development and a certification in professional development is now focused on business development and growth for the Oklahoma City metro. Kristin is a native of San Antonio, TX and a proud Army Brat who has traveled the world. She currently lives in Norman with her husband Chris Aguilar, and their two dogs Bandit and Penny.

The connector

Kristin is a doer. She thrives on bringing people together to accomplish their dreams. Often she meets those who are stuck in the dream and not sure how to execute it, or how to move forward so she brings in the right pieces to get others to their dream.

Leaders eat last

Growing up in a military family, Kristin had the opportunity to live in Germany while in elementary school. She participated in Girl Scouts where she developed the art of selling cookies, putting herself out there and talking with people.

She learned, through consistent opportunities to serve others and her fathers heart for soldiers without families there to support them that leaders eat last, they serve others, they meet their needs before they sit down.

After moving to San Antonio her mother returned to school to finish her degree in special education and her father retired from the military. It was a time of transition but traditions carried on. Kristin continued to volunteer and serve others through her mother’s special education summer classes. She continued to learn the importance of helping others. It’s not always the big gestures that are needed but the kind word to an elderly neighbor or calling the city to find out if there is a park that needs to be cleaned. There’s always someone who would rather be in your position so remember everybody struggles and everyone has a hard time. So check in with someone and see how you can help!

Discovering the passion for innovation and development

Kristin planned to become an engineer but she completed her degree in business management. She learned that on the journey of discovery we have the opportunity to change our minds!

After graduation she discovered she wanted to be a part of a startup and had the opportunity to work with her family to develop Purepost, which is a Veteran owned and operated public benefits corporation and was born out of a desire to help veterans transition to civilian life. It is the first cloud-based software that fully translates previous work experience, military or civilian, into transferable hard, soft, technical skills and easy to understand job kits. Their goal is to advance careers, and help companies quickly and easily bring the best talent into their workforce.

Kristin continued her career in innovation, startups, and in Higher Ed. She is now working at Francis Tuttle Technology Center that serves the population of their district by providing professional and career advancement training opportunities at various levels. She is a part of the launch of AXIS Powered by Francis Tuttle at the new Danforth Campus. AXIS is the place where entrepreneurs’ and founders’ ideas and bold aspirations meet stability to transform into reality. If you have business idea but are unsure of what steps to take next their 7-week, cohort-based program called AXIS Pre-Accelerator could help you determine if your idea could be the next successful startup.

Finding Joy

Kristin consistently seeks to find joy in many things like listening to fun podcasts (like Meditation Minis), experiencing virtual challenges with friends, listening to personal development books (like No Excuses by Brian Tracy), keeping music on all day long and connecting with others as much as possible throughout the day. She loves helping people achieve their goals. To see other people be successful. Knowing she was the part of their journey.

Kristin’s Advice – Try new things to discover what you can do

It’s okay to not know who you are. Try a lot of things. Remind yourself if you don’t try new things or get to know other people you may never discover what you could do. Be open to discovery and be open to awkward moments and periods in your life. that’s okay, that’s a part of growing up and learning and seeing different things. Don’t regret the way you looked like the year before. Don’t regret who your friends were. You meet people for a reason; everyone brings purpose to your life. If you’re struggling to figure out what to do don’t be afraid to connect with those who are doing what you want to do.

You can find Kristin on Twitter and LinkedIn

Check out Launch OKC Metro on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Key Takeaways

• Leaders eat last, they take care of the needs of others first
• On your journey to discovery, you will change your mind
• Try new things to discover what you can do