Episode 19: MOAR Joy with Shanté Cofield, the Movement Maestro
Have you ever had the magical experience of meeting someone and just knowing they were going to be important in your life? On October 23, 2015, I had just such an experience. My physical therapist and I attended a RockTape course in a hotel a few blocks from my fire station, and my instructor was none other than Shanté Cofield.
We kept in touch, and the rest is history. The Movement Maestro has been an integral part of my business growth and development, and no one on the planet is better at relentlessly pursuing MOAR (just a better way to spell more) happiness.
Physical therapist turned entrepreneur, Dr. Shanté Cofield, aka The Movement Maestro, is the host of Maestro on the Mic, and the founder of The Movement Maestro LLC, a social-media-based company that provides both online and in-person education for health and movement professionals around the world. Shanté’s professional pursuits center around providing business coaching, with a focus on brand strategy and community development in the ever-growing digital marketplace.
Shanté is a proud SoCal resident, drives a hypergreen Jeep Wrangler, and wishes to leave you with this message:
Be relentless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.
So what? Now what?
No one says it better. But I'll repeat her mantra for the kids in back: "Be relentless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire."
Shanté's website
Grab Breathing with the Maestro
Follow the Movement Maestro on IG
Check out AZ's appearance on Maestro on the Mic!
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Annette Zapp: 0:02
Thank you for joining me on the Fire Rescue Wellness podcast. I'm your host AZ, I find the research and resources, and then provide the fire service with the so what? Now what? to ensure the health and well being of every member of our profession. Together, let's thrive. Hey, Hey everyone, welcome back to the Fire Rescue wellness podcast. And today I'm very excited to be here with my friend Shanté! Shanté, say hello to my podcast people.
Shanté Cofield: 0:30
Hello podcast people!
Annette Zapp: 0:33
Shanté This is the Happy New Year episode dropping right after the new year it's gonna be 2023. And I want to talk to you today, but do you know why? Because you are the mother freaking queen of living your best life? Would you agree?
Shanté Cofield: 0:52
No, I really I will gratefully, greatly, easily whatever the word is, accept that title. Like, I like it. And that has become I would say an inadvertent goal. And then a lifestyle that I have just leaned into, gladly leaned into. So I will accept that moniker, happily.
Annette Zapp: 1:14
All right. As of today, you are the mother freaking queen. And we were just talking before I hit record. I met Shanté. seven long years ago at a RockTape course. I know it was like two blocks from my fire station. And I grabbed my physical therapist, and I'm like, Hey, let's go take this RockTape course. And she's like, Okay, it's good for me. I don't know why you're gonna take it. But I learned a ton. And I met a great person. So super grateful for it.
Shanté Cofield: 1:41
AZ, I was super grateful that we met super grateful that the universe saw fit to cross our paths. Like, you would say that when we hopped on that it was seven years ago. And like we just talked about, like that's wild to me and how fast the time went. But that's one of the coolest parts of that job that I had was meeting people and people like you along the way. And just like with everything else in life, like there's so much value in starting, but there's even more value in continuing. And that's like what you have done and what this speaks to like, yeah, we met, but then you kept in touch. And then you kept doing things and you kept growing and doing more stuff. And now seven years later, I get to be on your podcast, like, that's pretty
Annette Zapp: 2:22
Yeah, it's pretty dope. Well, Shanté I start all dope, of my podcast episodes with three rapid fire questions. And if you're ready, I'm going to hit you with the first one. Okay, who is Shanté Cofield or the movement Maestro?
Shanté Cofield: 2:36
So you put that second part in there. I was like, I'm the maestro. I am a physical therapist by trade entrepreneur by choice. I am the I don't want to say owner, the best friend to Rupert the maestro, excuse me, Rupert the Meowstro and I am the owner of the movement Maestro LLC, which is a an online company that helps other online business owners build personal brands and create profitable online businesses largely through the use of social media.
Annette Zapp: 3:11
So incredible. I'm going to start before my second question, I'm going to give throw you back one of your quotes, which is "be relentless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire". So Shanté, what sets your soul on fire?
Shanté Cofield: 3:28
Happiness, joy. That is really what it comes down to. I think that if we want to get like a bigger picture here, and maybe deeper for a second, I think that if we were to ever try for me, and trying to figure like, why are we here? What is the purpose? What is the meaning of life? I think it's to experience joy. And that is incredibly subjective. What brings you joy, and all of your firefighters stuff that brings me joy. And that's phenomenal. And every person chasing after that, and so what sets my my soul on fire is experiencing that joy. And now, you know, it's become helping others to do that. And some of that is just, by me, existing and me doing what I do. It's not necessarily like I have to coach them and like, work on mindset with them. I think there's so much value in just living your life and inadvertently giving people permission that they don't need to go and pursue their passion and chase their joy, and be relentless in the pursuit of what sets their heart on fire and their soul on fire.
Annette Zapp: 4:35
And you are so expert at that, you know a little bit of credit to me, but most of the credit to you, but you are such an expert at just showing people the way and as long as that person then takes the steps. It's amazing what can happen when you listen to the maestro.
Shanté Cofield: 4:54
Dude all the credit to you. I think that I want people to think it's very important that we all on not just our failures, people are very quick, most people, right very quick to own their failures. And on other people's failures, especially women, like I was my fault, and sorry, people just be apologizing for living. And I'm like me. So that's fine if you want to do that, but also own your successes and own your victories, like, that was 100%. You I didn't take the action for you. You did. It's the both and like, I think this is an example or an example of when you can have to 100 percents where it's like, I did this and so did you. It wasn't like, you know, takes them away from this, like you did all the things. And that's and then you kept doing the things like we said earlier, super important to take the action take the initiative, but doesn't matter if you don't keep going.
Annette Zapp: 5:43
Can you see why I love this woman just so good. All right, third question. Third, rapid fire question, how are you changing the world Shanté
Shanté Cofield: 5:50
By showing up. by showing up and simply But that's not like, I don't feel that this is my duty, I existing. And I will put, I don't want to say a caveat. I don't feel like this is my I don't know, if it was my don't know what what other word I would use. I'll put a caveat calling, I don't feel like I need or deserve an audience there. And it's something I've been thinking about quite a bit. With the advent of social media, I love it. I am the first to champion social media. It's like my most favorite thing that because of it. But I think that the bet the way that I can best connects us. It is a phenomenal language. But social media has made people believe that just because they have an opinion, serve is simply by showing up and showing people that it's they deserve an audience. That's not the case. That's not why I okay to be happy and showing people that if you don't join people that it doesn't have to be a struggle. Hard work, in my do things. I don't think I deserve an audience. And people opinion, is a requirement. That is the price of admission. But shouldn't be watching me, the way in which I feel that I can it being a struggle that is very, very different. And I think that we as a society, for whatever reason have championed the struggle Polly's with that somebody could sell something, best contribute, given my gifts, given my privilege, given my that's probably why be champion. But this like grind and grind in a negative way. Not I'm working hard and working my ass. I know your audience gets that I know, your audience gets the cons of circumstances, you simply by showing up and living my life. putting in 1,000,000%, which is largely I think, why you talk to them, and you're like, maybe let's like, take 10% and rest now. So they get that inherently, right. But things And if people choose to watch and if people choose to take don't have to be a struggle. And we're allowed to be happy. And we can have joy and there can be multiple types of joy for other notice. And if people choose to be inspired by it amazing. people. And so I think the, the best way that I can serve and show and help is by just showing up and living my life.
Annette Zapp: 8:02
I would agree 100%. And this brings us to a great transition, which is firefighters and public safety in general firefighters, police officers, we're inherently pretty negative. humans in general have that negativity bias. But firefighters and police officers just because of our job, for sure our lack of sleep, our exposure to trauma, we can really get in that negativity hole. And so how would you talk to my population and just give them some advice to get out of that mindset?
Shanté Cofield: 8:41
I love this discussion. First of all, because I haven't had something like this and maybe ever have on a podcast, but definitely not not recently. But I would say AZ that, you know, I left the business of convincing. Many, many years ago, when I stopped being a treating physical therapist, that was my first exposure to trying to convince people to change. And that was not fun. That was very bad. It was very stressful for me, I don't think people actually got helped. And I was like, I don't know if this is a way. And so I would say that it has to be a decision. You have to be sick of your own BS and be like, I want something different. And then folks when that window of opportunity presents itself, jump through it. And you have research like I'm so grateful, you know, I brought AZ about you on to the podcast for this very reason. I want those resources to exist so that when people are ready when they're like yeah, I don't want to be like this anymore. I don't want to feel like this anymore. They know what they can do and they can go in and speak to you. I don't think that there's anything I could say that will change people's minds or make them more ready. That kind of circles back to what you had asked about changing the world. That's why I think the value of just showing up and and leading from the front leading by example, right? I think that the, if you want somebody to do something, the best thing you can do is do it yourself. It's not try to convince them or try to teach them all the benefits. Yeah, that's cool to have those resources there. But the most inspiring thing that you're going to do is do it yourself, and show people life on the other side of that and show people the outcome of doing that thing. And I do believe that the most when it comes to online business, right, there's always this kind of aspirational quality that helps out. And I think in general, aspirational qualities like they make it makes us like want to do stuff or like I aspire to be like that. And I think the most most aspirational quality is happiness. So you showing up easy and pursuing your happiness and doing all these things outside of the traditional model is so beneficial. And it gives people just insight into like, Hey, this is what life on the other side looks like. And when you folks listening to this are ready to change. And you're like, I can't be like this anymore. Cool. You've got resources. So that's what I would say there's no convincing, there's anything like that. The mindset, the mind, set shift starts when you are ready for it to change.
Annette Zapp: 11:19
I recently gave a talk about habits and about wellness throughout your career. And I actually. with full credit to the maestro, put a slide in there about diversifying your joy portfolio. And so it's big. Can you talk to the listeners, I want to hear it from your mouth, what does diversifying your joy portfolio actually mean?
Shanté Cofield: 11:43
For sure. So this is actually a quote that I got from former client Holly. I am blanking on Holly's last name right now. Come back to me because I'm old, but I spoke is from a client from Holly. And, to me what that means is giving ourselves reserves and not putting all of our eggs, the proverbial eggs in one basket, because we know we're going to need to where there will be times when it will be helpful to pull from other areas. And if we only have one thing in life, that brings us joy. The same way if we're as if we're investing in the stock market, if you only have one stack that you've invested in, that could be problematic. Because if that doesn't do so well, suddenly we're like you see Rupert's
Annette Zapp: 12:36
I totally see Rupert's tail! tail,
Shanté Cofield: 12:39
on the desk, Rupert, I'm trying to educate the people. So we know if you put all your eggs in one basket, you got one stock, if that stock is not doing well, then suddenly it is the end and you are just depressed, you're not in a good way. Whereas if you have other things and you're like, you know what, this isn't going so well because that's life. Life is ups and downs. This is normal. So if we have diversified, and we have multiple things that bring us joy, and I will add on to that multiple things that bring us a sense of worth and self worth. That's kind of where I'm getting at with like, you know, diversifying your joy portfolio. It's also diversifying your self worth portfolio, when we have times where this thing isn't going so well. Cool. We can go draw on this from this other thing. And it doesn't have to be like massive thing. So I'll give examples from like my own personal life. One is the weather. That is a big thing that brings me joy. I moved to California because I am grossly affected by the weather. I don't do well on the cold, cold as the joys I choose No, I don't want to
Annette Zapp: 13:40
winter is a choice. Shanté says no to that choice.
Shanté Cofield: 13:43
I don't want that. It's terrible. So I'm here, I got palm trees that can really help me out. But what happens if it rains? What happens if it's a great day? You know, that does happen every now and again. All right, cool, guys, what else I have, I have a home gym that I built out during COVID. And I can go down there and I get a lot of value out of the low self worth a lot of joy out of being in that gym. What if I don't feel like going down there because like, it's also kind of cold in there, I can get a haircut, something as simple as that really brings me a lot of joy and just can totally switch my mood. I also have clients that I love working with, I have social media that I can hop on and you know, get that connection from so I have all these different things that I can draw from so that if this thing isn't going so well. Cool, then I can go and borrow that joy, that happiness, that validation that self worth some something else.
Annette Zapp: 14:33
And we as firefighters tend because we're all or nothing personalities, we tend to sort of get very tied up in our career and tie our self worth to that. And so another thing that Shanté says which I think is brilliant, is do more shit that makes you happy.
Shanté Cofield: 14:53
That I love, a good obsession. I love that your audience is obsessed As with what they do, I am grateful. Because I'm not doing that stuff. I am grateful for each and every person listening to this, that they have that obsession that they have so much happiness and joy and self worth and everything tied into it, I want that. I want you to do things that literally is light you up. But on the flipside is the importance of also just doing things that make you happy. I think that there's I was actually I was having a conversation this morning with client there is. So there's value in taking some time and asking yourself why I remember as a kid, maybe because I was like an only child for like a long time, I was an only child for eight years. And then that got snatched away. I love my brother very much. There's four of us now. But I think in those early years, I was just like, just me. So I was asking myself a lot of questions. And I was like, Why, why, why? Why do I feel this way? And not to not as a way like, oh, I have to justify why I feel this way. But like, what is it? What causes this? And so I think that there's value in figuring out why we are so tied to something why we are so obsessed with it. And that's not again not to justify it. It's not because I'm like, but tell me why so we can see if it's good or bad. It's just to understand why am I so into this thing is this the only place that's giving me external validation Am I codependent now with this thing on this thing, just to get a little feeling there. And then from there, just the inherent value of sprinkling, and that can be super simple. I said earlier, like, sprinkling in these other things that do bring you joy.
Annette Zapp: 16:30
I do think that my population also struggles a little bit, just a tiny bit with authenticity. Because we sort, we sort of have to fit into this, we have a square hole, so we need to be a square peg to fit in there. And so we struggle a little bit with authenticity. But what do you think? Shanté? Yeah, would you coach them up and say, maybe more, a better way to spell MOAR them.
Shanté Cofield: 17:02
For sure, more than MOAR more just a better way, in my opinion, bigger, badder, better way to spell more, it also just makes sense. Like we still roar like that. And then when you spell more different than like, that's stupid. So that's something I borrowed from Hunter fitness. And I want to say co authored it. And I've taken because he doesn't use it anymore. So now it's mine. But this is I think, another place where there's both and, and my specialty is in helping people build personal brands, and it's building a personal brand outside of the traditional model, I left physical therapy, I couldn't stay and work for somebody and be the maestro, it wouldn't exist, it couldn't coexist. I understand that an entrepreneurial approach to things is not for everyone. And so there's the both and of the situation in which maybe in order to, you know, pay the bills and, and and be part of this thing, we have to assimilate in some ways in order to stay part of it because that thing we really value and then I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think that this is like what you said earlier, it really ties in of now what about outside of this place? What about outside of this container? How can we show up in a way that is truly us and the things that we like, because I get it like we we exist in society around existing and like does a vacuum of just us, like there are things that in order to get these outcomes that we want, we have to kind of play by these rules, that's fine. So maybe in certain ways, in certain places, you have to play by the rules. And then you have the ability to really lean into what makes you you the other things, these are the things that really let you up in other areas. And maybe that does start to bleed into this other container where you kind of were, you know, following certain rules. But this is where I know, I want to circle back to what I said before about like, life doesn't have to be a struggle, and I watch people just like bang their head against things. And I'm just like, I don't know if that systems gonna change. So maybe like, take what you want out of that, and the good parts that are there and the things that you love about it, and then go do the other stuff over here, because they can both exist.
Annette Zapp: 19:15
So good. And both/and. I would like you to just well, you explain that to my audience because we are an either or population. So tell us about both/and. What does that mean?
Shanté Cofield: 19:27
Sure, for sure. I think that's the both and the both end of the both end is that multiple things can coexist at once multiple things can be right at once. It doesn't have to be just this way or that way. And given that multiple truths can exist. There are times when it is either or and it makes sense that when you come from the background that your audience has, I find similarities between your audience and how I approach things because I'm very scientific with things. And I love hard facts because you're like is this or that I played sports growing up, I am an athlete through and through I love someone when someone loses What is this tying, like, I don't have time for that somebody's gonna win, somebody's gonna lose it is a zero sum game. That's the whole point of, of sport. So the both and here is that multiple things can exist. And given that, you know, your audience does have a very real need to have certain situations be either or cool that reality exists. And the reality exists that many other places in life, it is a spectrum it is, you know, there are gray areas, there are nuances where things can be both, and where it's not all or nothing, it's all or something. And all of those things can coexist. And the beautiful thing is that we as humans have the mental capacity to choose, then identify with certain which situation gets what, and I think that probably your people might be actually the best at deciding that and making decisions and being like, is what what is the right decision for this situation, they're probably some of the most skilled people at doing that.
Annette Zapp: 21:06
I think you're absolutely right. And as you were talking, it just occurred to me that even if you are not an entrepreneur, and even if you are not an online business owner, or business owner at all, you still have a personal brand, that you still have a personal brand. And we
Shanté Cofield: 21:26
Amen,
Annette Zapp: 21:27
Always be branding,
Shanté Cofield: 21:29
always be around you are in whether you want to or not, you are always branding, so he just threw in there. So something I say is always be branding. And that's like a very, it's a very colloquial use of the word branding that i i put out there. Because when I'm talking about that, what I'm actually saying is always be leaning into your brand identity. So one of the squares relates to logos and colors and fonts for any like business owners out there. That's your brand identity. So I'm all about like, put that stuff everywhere, put it maybe not on your car, what does that look like look a little bit, but like, put it everywhere else, get a tattoo of it if you want, if you want, if you ever if you were able to see the video that we have going on right now, like I have my logo behind me, I have my logo on my sweatshirt, I am always leaning into that brand identity because I love it. And I'm proud of it. Taking a step back and the bigger picture of him what he just said and I loved it is that whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not, you always you have a personal brand, your brand or branding will take a step back brand, your brand is your reputation. Branding is how you make people feel, period. So whether or not you want to have a brand doesn't matter, you have one because it's how you're showing up in the world. It's how you're interacting with people. And circling back again to what he said, I think that the best thing we can do is simply show up as ourselves, I get that for many people, that's the one of the hardest things to do. But that is the best thing that you can do for your happiness, for your longevity, for justice, for sustainability of this quote unquote brand, aka, to make your life easy and happy is to show up with authenticity to show up as yourself. Do be the brand that you are
Annette Zapp: 23:04
and do more shit you love. And when possible, outsource the rest. outsource the rest.
Shanté Cofield: 23:13
You don't like it, outsource it. Absolutely. That's a very that's a very valuable lesson. And I think that for me, I am I'm we talk from a business perspective. I'm always like, you know, prevention doesn't sell. It's not sexy. And just as humans, like, our brains don't work that way you spoke about earlier negativity bias. It's not It's negativity bias kicks in, not necessarily as a prevention preventative, it really kicks in after the fact. And we're like that was really bad. Not doing that. Right. It's not to kind of necessarily stop us that way, way ahead of time. And so when we're looking at kind of outsourcing and, and things like that and making change, typically we have to get to kind of that breaking point. And that's okay, like I I hear you know, from my background from the movement space, people talk about the resiliency and the robustness of humans, and then the next sentence or like a little bit, don't do too much. And I'm like, go ahead, do too much. Because then then you will change then you will say you know what, I need something different. And then you have awesome people like AZ with resources to help you change and you will be okay. Like, my background with movement and I was into CrossFit for many years. I am not built for CrossFit. AZ knows you see me in person, I'm built like Jiminy Cricket. I'm not as tall as AZ but we're both like slender people when I like meant to be doing CrossFit. Like lift is heavy stuff. It's a long distance with the weight to travel. But one of the things that the physical therapy world would say about CrossFit was that people could get injured and I contend I'd rather than get injured, then get diabetes, but that knee pain is okay. That knee injury is okay. We can work through that and maybe you will always forever worst case scenario have a little hitch in your get along. Maybe But the quality of life that you've had, because of the people that you've met the the lessons that you've learned, because you've done this thing, the joy that you found, because you did something that made you happy, that far outweighs that we are incredibly robust and resilient as a species. And so I love that your audience is already like on that side of I do the most. Okay, cool. And then when you have decided you've made a decision, dude, I did too much. Okay. Now you go to AZ. And now you go and leave, utilize those resources. And now you may be outsourced because you're like, I don't feel like doing that thing anymore. Cool. Now we outsource it.
Annette Zapp: 25:39
And one of the things that Shanté I think is her messaging is so clear, she says this all the time, when you're looking to change yourself, your habits, your life, whatever, let it be easy. Let it be easy.
Shanté Cofield: 25:56
We spoke about this earlier, and people championing the struggle. And I think they conflate it with hard work and your people understand the value and the necessity of hard work. But it doesn't need to be a struggle. And so there is again, value in I did a whole you know, I was really into breathing. That sounds funny. But I was really into the breath, and breathing for for time in my career. And the magic to me of breathing. And the magic to me of a breath is the pause that it gives you, it gives you a moment to respond instead of react, which I think your people inherently understand. There's a difference there. And making that better decision for the situation and just taking a moment that pause to say, am I going to respond to this? Or is it just going to be reactive and not necessarily lead to the best outcome? So I've totally lost my train of thought there. What was the question? You just asked about easy?
Annette Zapp: 27:02
No idea. But hey, Shanté has a course on breathing. We're gonna put that in the show notes.
Shanté Cofield: 27:08
Like I had like a point there that I was gonna come back to. Ah, but making it a struggle. Yes, there it is. There it is. There it is. So that's real life. Also people like owning your shit. Like I sorry, I don't think person you're owning your stuff. Where is it? I figured I was talking about yes. And so I just said it, and then I come back to it. So the struggle there, we understand the inherent value of working hard. But if we take a pause, we take a moment and just think, am I working hard? Or am I choosing the harder path that's different? That is different. Some people will just inherently choose the harder path because they think they're supposed to struggle, you can work incredibly hard to something that you love. And it's not a struggle, show the value there, especially if we've just done it for years and years and years. And it's kind of ingrained in us like struggle. It is a mindset shift. And this is again, where it perhaps it's beneficial to get to a point where you're like, I'm sick of my own BS, I want something different. And when you get there, then you have to actively consciously make different decisions. And so the breath becomes incredible. They're an incredible tool of I'm gonna take a moment just to decide, right? Am I working hard? Or am I just choosing a harder path? Because I think there's more value in that. I think there's so much value in working as hard as possible. But it doesn't need to be the harder path. You can let it be easy. It's totally fine.
Annette Zapp: 28:28
Amen. Amen. And I believe it was Viktor Frankl who said between stimulus and response, there's a space. And in that space you, you get to choose, right?
Shanté Cofield: 28:39
You get to choose, right there. It's where the magic happens. And yes, you know, we get more proficient at that the more times we're exposed to certain situations, but still, at the end of the day, just recognizing that there is a choice there.
Annette Zapp: 28:57
I think Shanté There's a big, a big parallel between your online entrepreneurship and firefighters who might want to choose change their life and here's why I'm going with it. Your advice has always been find someone who's doing what you want to do. And then listen to what they're saying and then do what they tell you to do.
Shanté Cofield: 29:22
It's that simple. But I think the big thing with that is a is that and kind of what we've been talking about all episode and live you know, really good segue from this last part and Viktor Frankl and such that it's all a choice. Happiness is a choice. I think it's a skill as well, which is why we were talking about before about diversifying your joy portfolio like these are conscious decisions that you make Mrs. scale something that you actually have to work on and so some people have to work harder I think is no different than I love speaking to this audience because it's a physical audience so they understand where sometimes you have to work harder, then John, John is as good to death thing as he is good to death thing, but you're good at something else. And so he has to work a little harder on this thing that you're inherently good at. And so happiness is one of those things where for some people, they do have to work harder to be happy. But again, this comes to the discussion from earlier, when you make that choice, if I want to change something, you make that decision. Cool. Now you get to put in the work and happiness is 100%. Work, I think it gets easier. It's because it is a skill, um, you know, the more that we do something, the easier it becomes. So for me, I was not as happy when I was living in New York City. And it was harder for me. I think, in general, I have a happy disposition. But I it was harder for me. And I was not as happy when I was in New York City towards the end, it's dark there is cold, like, it's, it's you're always working, I was working in a setting that I didn't love. And so I had to make choices, right, I got sick of it, I moved and moved across the country and made active choices and active decisions and said yes to certain things, and no to other things in order to make that change in my life. And now it is so much easier to actively see and choose happiness, I can find happiness in a palm tree, I get it where other people be like, but you got to having this in a haircut. Yes, because it's a skill that I have refined over time. And so if you're listening to this, and you're like, it's not easy for me, cool. Life's not fair. Those are the cards that you've been dealt. And I think your people get it, like I love talking to a physical audience, and they just get it off to like tiptoe around it and be like, you're special to like, they get it. Some things aren't fair, sometimes people have to work harder than other people. But the beautiful thing is that this is a skill, which means that you can get better at it. And you know, you can improve
Annette Zapp: 31:45
Shante, I want my audience to understand what a big change what a big change you made. First off, in general, a firefighter in the middle of their career is probably not going to say, I don't want to do this anymore, and pick up their life and move across the country, that's probably not going to happen. But I want them to understand the enormity of what you didn't when I met Shanté She was a physical therapist living in New York City, pretty new grad, I would say maybe five years out? So tell the audience how you got there, to palm trees.
Shanté Cofield: 32:22
For sure. So I started as a physical therapist, I was pretty disenchanted by the model. But, you know, feeling like I think that like the situation you just described where I was like, but I have a zillion dollars in debt. And I went to school and like I can't change this right now. So I'm gonna make the most of it, I'm gonna figure out how to kind of make this work for me. And that was that decision came after being in it for quite some time, like I was just pushing through that, like, one year out, I was like, this is terrible, do yours. I was like, I'm still in it. And like trying to make decision trying to make things change. And and then I didn't really make a change until five years later. So I started doing CrossFit. And because of CrossFit, I found social media, because I was trying to get better at CrossFit and learn more things. And that opened my eyes to just other things that were out there. But I was still having my regular job, my regular PT job. From there, I started a side hustle, which was still physical therapy. But it gave me a little bit more, I don't even wanna say flexibility, it just gave me a little bit more autonomy in how I was reading, which kind of was a way of diversifying my joy portfolio at the time. And within the best way that I could I love that you said like, a firefighter mid career isn't going to change. Cool. I'm not gonna ask you to because that may make you actually more unhappy. But I was like, okay, what can I do within this situation in order to try and find some happiness and in order to try and diversify my portfolio, so I was doing the side hustle. And because of social media, found that company was introduced the company RockTape, for the first time ever, I actually asked for something and wound up getting a job with them. And then from there, I started traveling the country teaching for RockTape. And I was just like, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Wherever I'm gonna go. I will go. And that allowed me to leave my physical therapy job. But I was at a point where I was just like, I'll work at Costco not there's anything wrong with going to Costco, but I was just like, I will. I was there. And I had the ability because of decisions I had made. Like, I don't have to have kids, I didn't have someone that I was like, Oh, I have to like, you know, worry about other people. I could just be like, this is for me. So like, you know, I wanted to acknowledge that, like I said earlier about my privilege and that. And then from there, getting a job with RockTape. I was like, Okay, I see how much money I'm making. I see that I could make this change. And it took me I think two years and was able to move across the country to California and I will say I don't want the story to ever sound like it was some massive leap. It was a series of very small steps. And from the outside people oftentimes it's one of the toughest parts about like recounting a story on a podcast or or anytime because you're just like Cognizant with it. time and you're like, but it took like four years. But I'm going to try and do it in like 25 seconds. And it can sound like, but it was like did this thing and I took a big leap, and I was fine. I took a series of very small steps over a pretty significant amount of time. And if we zoom out, it was a big day big change. But if we zoom in, we see it was a small step, and a conscious decision, a small step, a conscious decision or a conscious decision. small step, because I'm all about safety folks. I'm not jumping, I don't really jump. So Well, every time I jump, I end up getting hurt my knees, I don't get I don't have the best knees. So I am more about taking calculated steps. And those calculated steps allowed me to move to California. And from there 2020 It was actually very good for my business. I that was that was not long ago, right? That was when I made the hard shift into online business. And I was like, I'm not treating any more. I'm not doing any kind of I didn't have to train treating in 2018. But I was I'm not doing any kind of content that is related to movement or anything like that. But it was small, calculated steps over time. So I love that you brought that up with your audience of like, they're not going to quit their job right now. Please don't, I don't want you to be homeless, I don't want you to be bored. I don't want you to leave something that clearly really you enjoy. But we can put little things into place. And we know the value of these small actions. And suddenly it's two years later, three years later, four years later, five years later, and it is a massive change. And you're in a way better place mentally, physically, emotionally. location wise, perhaps as well.
Annette Zapp: 36:35
I heard three really important things that I want to summarize there. First of all, always ask for what you want. Side Story, Lex Lancaster, is your right and left hand woman why? Because she asked, she asked. So ask for what you want. You always have choices, even when it feels like you don't have choices, you always have choices. And then you don't have to be burning the bridges and burning the ships. Take us down the small, comfortable steps.
Shanté Cofield: 37:04
I love that second one that you put in there is a you always have choices. People will convince themselves that they don't because it's the choice that they don't want. You may not always have an easy choice. But we always have choice. And I think that ties into something that I consider like a value of mine, which is radical responsibility, which to me, and I feel like that's kind of inherent for your people like it's something you do inherently we take it all on, which can be a bad thing occurs, but also, to me can be so freeing, because then it does mean you have control over a situation. Like I have a choice, it may not be an easy one, it may not be a fun one. But I can actually dictate the outcome of it. This outcome may not happen tomorrow, it might not be for 10 years. But what else is going to happen? Like what else are you doing? What else are you doing?
Annette Zapp: 37:57
Gotta be living your 10 years anyway?
Shanté Cofield: 37:58
Is it exactly. So I really liked that that second summary there of you always have choice, always.
Annette Zapp: 38:07
And especially in the fire service, most of us function in a pension system, where it can feel like when you start the job, you have to get to the finish line. And you do in order to collect your pension. But that still doesn't mean you don't have choices. If you decide 10 years in that it truly the fire service isn't what you're wanting. I wouldn't quit today. But start putting the things in place. So you can live your best life because that's what we're talking about living the best life.
Shanté Cofield: 38:39
Dude, we have one life like I think that's to me the most. We talked about in the past, I think motivation as it relates to life, something falls out of the sky, and you want to do something now is largely a myth. But if it was to be a truth, to me, the most motivating thing is that we're going to die. Like you have fixed time here. It doesn't mean that there should be this like horrendous urgency. But also, you're going to die. The fact that we age, right, it's not like we see the same age and then we die by Konami save 36. So I'm 37, right? I was like a Thursday 37 for 80 years, and then I die you age, which means that you have a finite or a fixed amount of time to do certain things and enjoy them in the same kind of way. Like you probably are not going to be able to like physically travel. Like when you're 90 the same way that you could physically travel when you were 30 or 40. And so leaning into this and leaning into the moment, to me is so value valuable and also just motivational for looking to find that kind of motivation. So putting those things in place, taking those small steps. And yeah, maybe it is a massive career shift. Maybe it is like I love that. He also said like don't quit today. Don't Don't quit the day because that will probably be very bad. But maybe it ends up being this massive career shift that kind of happens gradually over time. I don't know what that is, again, this is the beauty of everyone's joy is unique to them and is subjective to them. But we get one life and it's all you need. If you do it right.
Annette Zapp: 40:20
Life is short, buy a bright green jeep.
Shanté Cofield: 40:25
I love that jeep. That was a, that was a, that was a revelation. Not necessarily buying the Jeep, the Jeep was a byproduct of a revelation that like you don't have to wait to be happy. So I read that book, The Four Hour Workweek, I think a lot of us have read Tim Ferriss Four Hour Workweek, I don't really like him. And like even parts of the book, I was like you, you're like kind of the worst. But the basic premise of I take what serves you leave the rest, the basic premises and that were set forth in that book. And what I took away from it was that you don't have to wait to be happy. And given the trajectory that I was on with physical therapy, it was like do is become be a staff PT, maybe become a director, maybe advance a little bit more than that, maybe open your own clinic. But that also sounded kind of terrible. And then when you're like 50, you can like, do stuff. And I was like what? That seems like really bad. I don't know if I want that. And this isn't to say that, like you can't have work and this this other life, right? So it sounds like that as I'm saying it because for me, I didn't really enjoy physiotherapy. But in terms of whatever brings you so much joy. As I said earlier, I love that your people find such passion and such happiness in their career. Amazing. That's phenomenal. To me. All it meant was you do not have to wait to be happy, whatever that happiness looks like. I'm not trying to like travel the world and like work from the beach in Bali. Like that does not actually sound at all fun to me. I just wanted to be able to work from home. I have an amazing cat I want to hang out with I wanted to live near the beach. I did is I always want to have a jeep. Growing up I want to keep my mom was like first of all, we know how much money but like my mom was like they flipped over and I was like, but I want to teach and she was like they flipped over the little ones I guess I feel like a two door but like they flipped over. And all I wanted was to live by the beach and have a jeep and have a surfboard sticking out of the back AC I don't go on the water. I didn't do not go in the water. But I still was like I want to have the sort of more out of the bag. I want this that feels like I know that would make me happy because like the small amount of times that we could go on the shore during when I was growing up. I would just love it. And I was like I want this life. And I realized like when I got the jeep and I moved here that I didn't have to wait a zillion years to be happy. Like yeah, there is some like delayed gratification there of like the time it takes to like earn the money or whatever. Because we live in a society where needed resources. But I didn't have to wait till I was 50 I didn't have to struggle first and go through all this terrible stuff. Yes, we have to work hard. It's the price of admission. Easy peasy. But I didn't have to wait for that happiness by any means.
Annette Zapp: 43:05
And whether you knew it or not. You taught me that lesson when we met at the RockTape course. So I am so so grateful for you, my friend.
Shanté Cofield: 43:13
I did not know that. But that is that is awesome. I'd love to happen and to say one more thing I talk I talk a lot but this is what it is. But I think it's really important to make sure that the happiness is that you're going after is your own right borrowed goals ain't away and I wanted a Jeep with a surfboard that I would never use. I have that I have a surfboard in my, it's in my living room top it is decoration. So it's actually it's a custom painted and it has a Jeep on it has my Jeep on it. And like it's the scene from the beach. This guy by that lives near us, Van tunes, he does them. And I got to drive it home. So it like stuck out of the back of my jeep. And so I had that moment for, you know, 10 minutes close. It was like a 10 minute drive. And I was like there was a moment I lived by the beach and I have the surfboard sticking out of my jeep. But I think where I see people start to go astray is they borrow happiness. And they never perhaps had that pause to say is this what I want? It was reactionary. It was society told me to have this to have a picket fence and the kids and the life like this and the big house. And then suddenly you're in it. You're like but no, I want this. And I don't think it's ever too late to again start to turn the Titanic. It's very slow, right? It's not gonna be like, I'm just jet jumped overboard. But I think it's so important. And when I had that quote that you brought up from earlier, it's be relentless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire. What is it that you actually want? What does that look like? Maybe that is working a zillion hours? I don't know. But if the goal is yours, you won't burn out. If the goal is someone else's, you will and it will be a miserable existence. So making sure that it is not a bar or goal that it is not borrowed happiness that you've given yourself? The time the moments, the pauses to be like, is this what I actually want? And then it's okay. If you think it is. And then you start and you're like, actually, no, no, it wasn't, it's okay.
Annette Zapp: 45:15
So my firefighters really think about this, you're going through the promotional process, because you think that you should get promoted to Lieutenant Captain battalion chief, Is it really your goal? Or is it just something that everyone else thinks that you should do? That's great advice. Shanté. It's huge.
Shanté Cofield: 45:34
I mean, I get I want to really acknowledge the I have a friend who is, she's in the Air Force. And she's like, I don't know, I don't really understand rank, like I conceptually understand, but I don't know, like the names of the things. And she's very happy because I've gone to a zillion promotions. And now she's like working in DC, and I get being so far into something that it does doesn't actually make sense to back out to change. And I would say, find the happiness in there because you stuck with it for a reason for that long. And find the happiness within that. I could say there possibly are circumstances where you're just like, No, but I think that things that do have a bit of a finite date, because we're talking about before, like pension and things like that, like I'm thinking about soccer for me. And by the time I was in college, like I knew, all the whole time growing up, that was my sport. And it was like, you're gonna go to college, and you're gonna play in college. And part of it was like, I wanted to as well, like, there's all these factors, like you wanna make people proud. But also, I really enjoyed playing, I was good at it. Like, it wasn't just like, I borrowed gold. I tore my ACL and everything changed. And I was like, I don't know, if this is actually there was a big pause, right? I don't know if this is, I don't know. But still went to college. And when I was like, I don't want to go to UNC anymore. I'm not trying to do that. I'm trying to be professionally like, I want to keep playing because I've done this. I've done so much. And it is a part of me. And I am incredibly proud of all that I've done. Absolutely. So for me in college, Were there times where I was like, this is kind of fun, for sure. But was I going to jump ship and stopped early? No. So I do, there's the both and with that situation of, yeah, you've gone through it this long, and maybe not the thing that's bringing you the most joy. But this is where we diversified your portfolio. And also, you've been in this thing for so long, I'm sure you find value in this, like you're incredibly proud of it. And there's a reason that you stuck with it. And maybe part of that reason was external, but there's probably some part of those internal too. So can we lean on that, get through these things, get through that time period, and then go and start the other things. And the beautiful part about that is that ideally, like he said earlier, perhaps we're diversifying the joy portfolio as we go like, I'm looking at my camera right now. So the person that comes to mind, like maybe like taking pictures, cool. Don't do that. Maybe like talking recording stuff, start podcast. So you stay with this, this thing that maybe doesn't fully let you up. But you can now diversify your portfolio and pull from these other things. And that pulls you through. And then when that time that, you know, chapters closed, cool, then we're on to the next I just can't with that advice. It's so good. I have been looking forward to this conversation for so long. And I'm it's just been my honor to have you on today. And I do want to be respectful of your time. So if you had just one little outro to leave everyone with what would you tell the listeners? I'm gonna take a pause and think about it. I think I would say kind of a two part here. Number one, considering your demographic. Thank you for all that you do for us. Like, it is incredible. What you choose to do, and you running into these situations, and I am incredibly, incredibly grateful. And on the heels of that, I would say that your happiness matters, too.
Annette Zapp: 49:08
I think we can pretty much drop the mic now. That's pretty good. So for my listeners, if if they would like to get in touch with you afterwards, I'm gonna assume you'd like them to reach out on Instagram. Would I be correct?
Shanté Cofield: 49:22
You are 100% correct because that's easy. It's fast. Let it be easy,
Annette Zapp: 49:26
easy. Shanté actually puts out outstanding content on Instagram not just about movement, not just about business, just all of it. It's also good. So I'm going to encourage all of you to go follow her on Instagram. I will put it in the show notes. And with that, I think we can say that the Maestro and AZ are officially
Shanté Cofield: 49:48
out
