Kari Schwear Podcast Transcript
Kari Schwear joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Welcome to Coruzant Technologies, home of the Digital Executive Podcast.
[00:00:12] Brian Thomas: Welcome to the Digital Executive. Today’s guest is Keri Schwerer. Keri Schwerer is an Executive Lifestyle Gray Area Coach specializing in many gray areas we have in our lives. Her zone of genius is in habit creation, communication, intentional living, and leadership development. As a former gray area drinker, Carrie founded Gray Tonic and Question the Drink in 2018 after her own experience of living in the gray led her to the service of others.
She offers bespoke coaching for business leaders seeking wellness, peak performance, and thriving relationships without alcohol. Carrie has also co-authored two anthology books, Amazon No. 1 Bestseller, The Successful Mind, along with her second book, Limitless, a Wall Street Journal No. 1 Bestseller.
Well, good afternoon, Kari. Welcome to the show.
[00:00:57] Kari Schwear: Oh, thanks for having me, Brian, really excited to be here today.
[00:01:00] Brian Thomas: Awesome. Thank you. And we were just talking before we hit the record button and every day is different and I know you’ve got a lot going on today, but I am so thankful and grateful that you get to spend this time first meeting of the day in the morning with me.
So thank you again, Kari.
[00:01:15] Kari Schwear: Thank you. No problem. I’m glad to be here.
[00:01:18] Brian Thomas: Awesome. So, Kerry, jumping in here, let’s talk about your career. You’ve got a great career in business and sales and operations. Now you’re the founder of Gray Tonic. Could you share with our audience the secret to your career growth and what inspires you?
[00:01:32] Kari Schwear: Oh, I think my secret is just being consistent and also be willing to adapt. Oh, my goodness. So much has changed over the past several years and you have to, it’s like a dance, anything we do in life is like a dance. You have to be able to adapt to the changes that we see, whether it was COVID, right, that was a huge one for all of us, but I think it’s just the willingness to be consistent in regards to your drive and really connecting to your purpose and your passion in life is really what I’m about and that’s really what inspires me it’s my clients knowing that I’m making a difference in their lives and I’m able to not only impact them, but those that they love and lead is just the reason why I get out of bed every day. I absolutely love what I do.
[00:02:18] Brian Thomas: That’s awesome. And like I said, Kari, previously I could tell that your energy here today, and I just really appreciate that. So that’s awesome.
[00:02:27] Kari Schwear: Aww, thank you.
[00:02:28] Brian Thomas: You bet. Kari, you help people love their life and themselves while disrupting their self-sabotaging behaviors so they can finally enjoy that life to the fullest.
Could you give us a bit of a teaser on how you help people find themselves?
[00:02:42] Kari Schwear: Yeah, we start with the decide model of change, which is my own methodology, and I really focus on them not only having the desire to make the change, which is the D, but exploring their why. And that is the biggest needle mover.
If they know what is driving their why. Then they’ll be able to come back to it each time. It’s like a grounding force. They’re guiding North or anchor that keeps them steady. And sometimes we have to go five to seven layers deep with that question. Like why is that important to you to find the deep real reason why?
Because we can have a surface why and we can have a real why. And then having their Commitment to themselves is huge, which is the C and decide it’s an acronym and having that commitment to self also means there be willing to invest in themselves. And sometimes that doesn’t always feel good. You know, it’s not just money.
It could, it’s also time. It could be resources. It could be a number of things. And then really having this identity shift. Be willing to move into a new version of themselves, whether it’s going from drinking, like my story to becoming a non-drinker, being more productive and more present in their life.
And then adding daily habits in that are edifying to build them up. And then finally, the last day of the side is bringing all that together with everyday effort equals. Expansion. And just like I was saying with my own career, it’s the daily consistency that keeps me successful and keeps my clients successful, which is that constant push and the dedication and the discipline.
When we have discipline in our life, it literally equals freedom. It brings us freedom in so many areas of our lives. So that’s how I help them. In a short quick soundbite. That is the fastest way to describe how I do that. And I, of course, I have all kinds of other things that, that I take them through, but it’s really about them getting to their why and having the choice and the decision.
Cause I really talk about the gray areas that we have in our life. And it’s a choice to be in a gray area.
[00:04:36] Brian Thomas: Thank you. And I imagine like you said, we are just doing a soundbite today, but I’m sure you’ve got a lot of great methodologies and processes, a lot of tricks up your sleeve basically to get people to find their why and I appreciate that.
And I’m hopeful that this will resonate with our audience today. So Kari, you shared your raw and vulnerable story in the Wall Street Journal number one selling book, Limitless. You’re one of the authors in there and I think that’s awesome. Can you share with our audience the moment that you made your decision to change your life?
[00:05:06] Kari Schwear: Yeah, it was a culmination of a few things, but you know, I alluded already that I was a drinker. I was a gray area drinker, which is the space between someone who is socially drinking and someone who is severely abusing alcohol, this wide spectrum of drinkers and about 50% of the population that consumes alcohol may be in this gray area.
So, it’s a huge number. And I found myself in this space and not only was I drinking more than I intended to on occasion. I also did not love myself. I was really struggling to find the compassion and my self-worth. I had tied everything around me to the success of me. And that’s just so false to do that instead of looking within.
And one night I had a little too much to drink and had some very hard Choice words with my son, my younger son at the time, who was in his early twenties. And he reminded me the next day of what I said to him the night before. And it was not only heartbreaking, it was gut wrenching and just, it destroyed me.
And I knew at that moment I needed to get a handle, not just on my drinking, but how. I was feeling about myself and just being in this low point. And so that was really the main catalyst of the change. I mean, I was already thinking about it for a couple of years, I was so unhappy, but I chose to stay in that gray area until that happened. And that was my catalyst.
[00:06:24] Brian Thomas: Thank you for sharing that story. And again, these are the things that make us break out. There’s some sort of event. Sometimes it’s traumatic and it makes us make a change or realize that we’ve got to shift into a different direction. So, I appreciate the vulnerability today and sharing your story.
[00:06:41] Kari Schwear: Yeah, everyone has their own enough, whatever that looks like for each person. And that was my own. It doesn’t always have to be a traditional rock bottom. It just has to be what you call your own enough.
[00:06:53] Brian Thomas: Absolutely. Thank you, Kari. And Kari our last question of the day. I’m a technologist, right?
And we are a technology podcast and platform, but we interview everybody. We want to know where they’re at on the spectrum of technology. We want to ask if you’re leveraging any of that new emerging tech in your business, and if not, that’s okay. Have you found a cool tool or app that might be useful, you might share with us today.
[00:07:16] Kari Schwear: Yes. Me and tech are like oil and water. I am one of those people that it’s not one of my strong suits. And so, I tend to ask others for help. I have a team that helps me with some of those things, but I will tell you the latest app that I’m in love with is called VIDYO.
It’s V I D Y O. ai. And it’s just a great way to take whether it’s an interview I’ve done or a video that I’ve completed or a podcast interview. Whatever it is, I’m able to break that up into clips or reels or whatever to put on social. And I just find it to be extremely easy to use and it’s a lovely tool.
So that would be my choice as of today, it might change us tomorrow, but today it’s VIDYO.
[00:08:00] Brian Thomas: Thank you. That’s awesome. And there’s many tools out there that have just came out of the woodwork. And I’d say in the last year especially around some of the tools that leverage generative AI, which is such a hot topic today.
Thank you so much for that. And it was a pleasure having you on today and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
[00:08:17] Kari Schwear: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Brian. It’s been a joy.
[00:08:20] Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Kari Schwear Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s podcast page.
