*Note: This episode has an explicit rating.
Liz and Sarah are on location at Hollywood Forever Cemetery! They answer a listener question about how best to support a partner going through pilot production. Then they sit down with Marcia Clark to discuss the art of collaboration — including how it can go oh so wrong. In Name That Hollywood Job, location manager Veronique Vowell shares the creative and logistical challenges of finding just the right spot to shoot a scene. Finally, this week’s non-living celebrity sightings include Johnny Ramone, Toto the dog, and Mickey Rooney.
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Fun episode! I love learning, especially about stuff I have absolutely no knowledge about. I learned so much from each of you and your guests, Veronique Vowell and Marcia Clark. Sarah and Liz, you both sound like amazing people to work for too! What a lucky crew to have you leading them!
I’m SO excited about Marcia Clark’s roll in The Fix and her other work, including her podcast. I’m gonna check it all out for sure!
You talked and asked about collaboration. I’m 55+ now and have been working since I was 16 (not including babysitting which I started when I was 10) and agree, collaboration is definitely SO important! I’ve mostly had really great collaborations in my work but there were certainly some very trying times when I had a very demanding boss when I was a new mom. I actually stood up for myself and it paid off, I was moved to another job and under a new boss, which was less demanding and it didn’t affect my salary. What is important is that I had already established a good work ethic so there was no question that the situation simply wasn’t a good fit, it had nothing to do with my ability to do good work.
For nearly 5 years now, I have been part of an awesome, collaborate team and it really truly is a huge happiness factor. Our team is from all over the country and we each work from home offices so we have weekly video calls to check in. It’s not always all about business. We truly care about one another and know about each other’s lives. We celebrate together, support one another, and come together as a team to help take the load off when someone needs a break. We also share about things we are into that has nothing to with our business, such as The Happier in Hollywood podcast as well as the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast and other fun ways we are using our time outside of work. Sometimes it’s as simple as sharing about a new water bottle we love!
My oldest son and his girlfriend are coming to visit with me and my husband in Portland, OR from LA this weekend but I kind of wish it was the opposite! I could use a dose of LA’s bright blue sky and swaying palm trees, plus, I want to go visit Toto’s memorial!
Keep up the good work!
Oh, I forgot to add a stress busting hack to my above comment! I sure know about dealing with high stress situations! When I didn’t deal with it myself, I fell VERY very hard both emotionally and physically. I temporarily lost who I was because of it. Nobody wins in that case. Luckily I crawled out of that hole and now, as a nutrition professional, I made finding time to constructively deal with stress a priority for myself and for my clients.
Recently, while my main gig as a consultant was really good, it was a season of a TON of extra work and at the same time I have my own business, plus, I was taking a really difficult class that required work that I had to successfully complete each week. I knew was I was in for ahead of time so I at least mentally prepared.
Here are some things I know for sure help me and I’ve included tips I share with others that I help too. It’s a long list because not everything works or resonates with everyone so I like to give lots of ideas/options:
* Prioritize sleep – avoid staying up late at all costs, try to get to bed by 10 and no later than 11.
* Take a nightly 20 min.Epsom salt baths (3 cups per bath) bonus with candles and/or incense. (this is a MUST DO for me during stressful times)
* Deep breathing – a super simple technique is the 4-corner method that Brene Brown also teaches and discusses in her book, Rising Strong – 4 counts in, hold 4 count, 4 counts out, hold 4 counts, repeat. This can be used during a stressful situation or just to calm you if you are feeling wired. You can also do this before a meditation to get yourself in the “rest and digest” or parasympathetic state of calm.
* A good quality essential oil for stress/can work really well – I really love either “calm” or “parasympathetic” by Vibrant Blue Oils but there are plenty of good brands out there. Be sure to choose a good quality oil as it’s super concentrated and the last thing you need is concentrated toxins from pesticides, herbicides, and the like). You can put a drop or two on the bottoms of your feet if you don’t love the scent. On the body is more powerful than a diffuser but you could do that too. You could also put a few drops in bath. A little goes a long way!
*Meditation – I love that Liz meditates in the evenings with Jack! I personally had to start with the Inner Balance device and app (by Heart Math) first because I could not for the life of me do it but that was before all these calming apps. A great thing for a techie! Deepak and Oprah often offer free 30-day guided meditations and they are fantastic! You can totally start out with just a minute of meditation in the morning and a minute at night. In the morning you can think of your intention for the day. In the evening you can think of what you are grateful for.
* Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)/Tapping – so powerful and FREE – you can watch youtube videos. Nick Ortner and Jessica Ortner are especially great. I use this technique often, from simple to very challenging issues. I often do it in the bathroom before a speaking event to calm my nerves!
* Natural Calm magnesium powdered beverage mix – there are flavored ones as well as plain. You simply mix in water either hot or cold. I like it hot a night before bed or while in the bath.
* Taking a walk in nature if possible
* Anything else besides what I posted already that can help you get into a “rest and digest” (parasympathetic) vs “fight or flight” (sympathetic) mode. Focusing in gratitude an love for others can so this.
* Grounding – standing barefoot on the ground for 5 min (in the sun if possible)
* Focusing on the present movement (a trick – repeat to yourself “breathe”)
*Exercise – to get that negative energy out! Even moving heavy things can help!
Loved the interview with Marsha and agree that work collaborations can be difficult. I thought I’d share another podcast that just touched on this subject, Work-life with Adam Grant in the episode “How to trust people you don’t like”. I won’t give away the whole episode but the one piece that really stuck with me is to identify what it is about a person that you don’t like because the opposite of that is likely one of your key values (i.e. hate when someone is late, you probably value punctuality greatly). This can be very helpful when you do have the ability to choose who you collaborate with. To bring this full circle, Adam even has an episode where he chats with Kim Scott who I absolutely adore after her interview on Happier with Gretchen Rubin!