Knowing Your Value: You Owe It to Yourself and Those You Serve with Dr. Colleen Georges
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:41:25]
Yeah, yeah, you’re right. You know, I think it’s like I, I like to, you know, right, continue to read and stay up on your topic. And you know, I’m always reading self improvement books in the thick of this, there’s always something in there that’s valuable to you. And there’s always something in there that’s going to be valuable to my clients. And I’m using that stuff all the time. And because life is no fun if you’ve reached all your goals already, like how is that any fun?
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:41:49]
That’s one of the things I’ve learned a little bit about, you know, some psychological profiles, and I’ve learned that I am a, what they call an archetypal hunter type. Because I see people like I like to watch sports, and I will see someone celebrating when they win, like the full the ultimate championship, you know, the Super Bowl, the World Series, whatever it is, and they’re celebrating with a way that I can’t complete, I completely don’t understand why I emotionally disconnect from that. I don’t get it. Because I would be like, wow, we got it. That was awesome. Okay, let’s win again. Next year.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:42:20]
I was gonna say what’s next?
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:42:24]
You are so in that moment, a lot of them and I just can’t fully understand that because I’d be like, Yes, we did it. All right. What do we got to do for next year?
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:42:33]
Exactly. That’s exciting.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:42:35]
Or something? Yeah. And that’s, that’s me. I’m always I’ve always got Okay, here’s my goal. And before I get to that goal, I’m always like, okay, I still want to get to that goal. But then I need to do this thing too. The next one is in mind before I ever hit
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:42:49]
Agreed.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:42:50]
I’m working on it seems like
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:42:52]
I would say, you know, with the book, that was a big famous book, by the way. Um,
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:42:57]
We’ll talk about that. Hold it up. And again, look up rescript. Because you’re not gonna know what’s the title
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:43:04]
No you won’t. It is so much a dissertation yeah.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:43:08]
Mine was a dashboard I have I have one book that I’m working on right now. Which is like, No, I’m not gonna remember the subtitle, so forget about it. But it’s a long subtitle. It’s like something about like, you know, your thinking is backwards. You care too much. And something else about why you know, what’s holding you back from getting your dissertation done? So I haven’t quite finished it yet. But that’s coming out probably later this year.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:43:29]
I’m glad I’m not alone. In too many words.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:43:32]
Yeah, it’s the long subtitle. But the rescript thing is cool. Because that’s, that tells everybody what you’re talking about, almost from the beginning, just with the little context.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:43:40]
People call it rescript. You know, like, everybody I know, they don’t know each other. And everybody just refers to the book as rescript. So I do now too. So it’s a it’s an acronym. It stands for eight practices. And it’s like, basically a self talk type of framework, and, and how to, basically, how do we change the conversation we have with ourselves in order for us to reach our goals in every area of our life. And that’s really what it’s about so and
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:44:09]
you tell someone who’s either working on their dissertation right now? We’re just finishing up and moving on to the kind of the next chapter in their life. What kind of conversations do you think they’re having? And how do they rescript those?
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:44:22]
God, there’s so many, you know, especially looking back on it, my husband is my husband’s on chapter five. You know, so I see,
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:44:31]
like, I don’t know what at his school how they do it. But that’s the point where I told tell folks now, you essentially are alert. You have learned opinion. Now. You are. You’re basically a doctor. They just have to put the seal on it. So this is your chance to get up on the soapbox and pontificate about what people should be doing based on what you learned and everything. We have a lot of fun with writing. Chapter five is cathartic in a way.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:44:54]
Absolutely. It’s the homestretch.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:44:56]
chapter two and three and four.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:44:59]
Oh my god. Yeah, when you’re that far, you know, and what I guess I would say is because I feel like time is always such a big thing, right? When I think about him, when I think about other people I know, when I think about myself, it feels like you’re juggling so many different things. And, and, and I think that we also can say, Oh, well, if I just extended this a little longer, I just have to pay for some extra credits for another semester. You know, I mean, like, we, we give ourselves these outs, you know, one, one piece of advice, and I would give is, try not to give yourself out. It’s, um, it’s, yeah.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:45:35]
How do you how do you do that?
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:45:37]
Well, you you have to decide that, that this deadline is serious. Like it’s the same as the deadline for a work project that you have. It’s the same as if you were supposed to pick someone up at the airport, you wouldn’t say sorry, I can’t be there today. Can I pick you up next week or next year? You know, I mean, I don’t think that we
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:45:58]
That’s a very good way of looking at it. I tell folks to make appointments, you know, for yourself with yourself.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:46:06]
Correct. And that’s exactly where I was going with everything, right? With everything that’s valuable to you, whether it’s exercise, whether it’s meditating, whether it’s writing your book, whether it’s writing your dissertation, no matter what it is, get your butt up earlier, you know, do what you got to do get up before other people are awake.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:46:28]
Figure out what works for you. Um, that’s what a lot of people end up doing. But, again, another, well, actually, the thing that’s from the podcast, that’s talking about imposter syndrome, talking about the importance of choice, you tell someone, you have to do it this way. When I started trying to lose weight, I love bread, right? And so like, Okay, what do I have to do, but I’m not like giving up a bread. And then I looked at my calories and what it’s costing me and stuff like that. Okay, I’m not gonna do so much that I’m gonna cut back on or I’m eliminating or whatever. When you choose to do it, it works much better for you than if
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:47:05]
you’re right, you’re right. And I know
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:47:08]
that about the time you have to, it’s a sacrifice, it’s an investment to choose what you’re going to give up, what you’re going to sacrifice, what you’re going to invest in yourself so that you get this this payoff,
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:47:20]
because the unfortunate reality and you know this, and I would imagine in doing this coaching work with with, with people writing their dissertations, the more that we give ourselves, excuses and outs, unfortunately, the easier it is to do it next time, next semester, it becomes next semester, then it becomes the following semester, then now it’s three years later.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:47:42]
The university let me
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:47:43]
Correct, correct.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:47:44]
long discussion. So so like you said, rescript, it’s about the discussion you have in your mind what what do you think you? Okay, so not what should they be doing? Because we’re not going to tell them but should you do it? what we what conversation would you try to have instead of how many extensions can I get? Or? I’ll push it off to next semester? What discussion would you be having?
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:48:07]
Yeah, um, you know, I reminding yourself of your why, you know, you’ve said it earlier, right? You know, you have to know, what am I gonna? What is this gonna open up for me? And how long am I am I willing to wait years for those doors to open? Am I willing to wait years for those opportunities? Am I willing to wait, you know, years for the things that made me decide to do this in the first place? Like, how long am I willing to wait? Or do I deserve? Do I deserve after how hard I’ve busted my butt to do this? Right? Do everything I’ve juggled and sacrifice? Do I deserve to have those payoffs and rewards as soon as possible? I think we have to learn to, you know, to tell ourselves that there was a reason I did this. And I thought this was valuable enough to sink a bunch of money and time into it and make my life difficult. Right, I chose to make my life difficult there had to be a good reason for that. is is is it a good reason to keep making my life difficult? Or do I deserve to not have to do that anymore? And to actually reap the benefits of all of this hard work that I did?
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:49:21]
So So there’s a couple of things I would I would say with that I would love everybody to have a healthy enough psyche to say yes, I deserve this. So many people don’t think they deserve extra whatever how they don’t feel like they deserve it in some way. And that’s something that you know, maybe you want to find someone to help you with some self talk, maybe you want to find a counselor, somebody to talk through some of these things. Because you do you know, when you work hard for this sort of thing you do deserve the the opportunities that follow from that. But we can look at this in a couple of other ways, too. Number one for those people who don’t think that they deserve it. Do the people that you intend to help deserve it? Because you are, you are withholding your support and your abilities to improve their lives. You are, you’re keeping them down by not putting yourself in a position to help them. And for some people, that’s the, that’s the trigger. That’s the thing that we get some to say, I get it now, I’ve got to be out there doing it. You know, folks will say in sales psychology, when people feel like, Oh, I don’t want to put myself out there and sell, you know, my expertise. You know, if you can help people with what you do you have a moral imperative to sell to
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:50:35]
Absolutely. And that’s such great advice.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:50:37]
Right? You think that someone that you helped, would come back and say, Okay, give me my money back for that? No, they’re great for you. This has happened to me, and this has happened to me, I see things differently. Now I experience things differently. Now, my kid and I relate differently. Now. Whatever it is, those are the improvements and the impact you can make on people’s lives. So you owe it to those people to get out there and do it.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:51:01]
That is great. That’s great advice.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:51:05]
And then for some other people, they have a different psychological trigger, when you start, have your doctoral degree and you start working, you know, doing the things that you were meant to do, that you intend to do. following those opportunities that come to you that you didn’t even anticipate. But typically speaking, when we survey our students, their earning potential goes up a good 30, 40 $50,000. In a year like like that. Start your own business. And you’re an expert, and you do any of that. It can be a lot more than that. That money, you will never ever get back that first year. If that first year is next year, then or get that money or you don’t?
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:51:45]
Yeah, that’s good.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:51:47]
You never ever get it back. So if you want to flush 40 or $50,000. The tuition money, a lot of people think school is so expensive. It’s not the tuition money, it’s the opportunity cost is the technical term for it, but it’s what you’re making. You see the checks you’re writing, you don’t see the cash, the checks, you’re not cashing. And that’s what’s so hard for people to see, sometimes
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:52:09]
I see why you’re very successful as a dissertation coach.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:52:16]
But it’s important for people to understand these things into motivate, I will tell people all the time, humbly, you know, I, I do think we can help you, I know that we can help you we’ve got a process, we’ve proven it, blah, blah, blah, whatever. But go out there and get connected with someone who can I mean, I will charge as I put it out there anybody wants to listen to it can. And I do the best I can to, to tell people like it is as best as I can. Because I also believe that there’s plenty out there for everyone. If you’re out there, doing whatever you can to help people there’s a bit of rising tide lifts all boats, and maybe you’re I’m not going to help you with your dissertation. But later on, you’re gonna come back and say, Hey, I finished my dissertation. And I want to write my book now, or whatever it is. So there is some selfishness to it. Because I truly do believe you put stuff out there in the world that comes back to you. But at the same time, that’s a nice attitude to have that if I’m putting stuff out there in the world, I’ll help people enough that they’ll want more help.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:53:08]
Yeah, yeah. And I think that, you know, one of the things I always think about when, if I’m about to raise prices, or, you know, I’m, you know, whatever I’m thinking about from a marketing perspective, and I always bring it back and I say, you know, remember, remember, Colleen, think about how many people you get to, I mean, like, I think of it as like, get to celebrate with them, I get I how many people have again, gotten into doctoral programs or master’s programs, or made a massive career transition, you know, after our work together, or, you know, God healthy, or get out of a difficult relationship, you know, whatever, whatever it is we were working towards, to get to, to get to see that if it makes you cry, happy tears, like, it feels like it’s happening to you, it feels like it’s happening to your kid or, or again, it’s someone you love, because you love these people you’re working with. And it’s just that feeling there’s just nothing like it.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:54:04]
Only one of those stories, like don’t give any names or anything like that. But just you mentioned crying happy tears. Let’s see if we can get you to cry happy tears today. What’s one of those stories that sticks out to you of someone, who came to you with a certain situation, and you were able to help them? And then you got to celebrate with them later? Because I think that’s something that people will really connect with. Some people don’t. Don’t. Smartest doctoral students aren’t as abstract thinkers as we’re supposed to be. Stories still help to connect viscerally more than just, you know, principles a lot of times.
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:54:37]
Okay, there’s there’s a good, good zillion things. Like I’m just gonna give like couple snippets of other things. It’s like I remember, you know, a teacher on the subject who had been teaching her whole life, loved it when she started, but then the bureaucracy just was too much. It was just robbing her creativity and that’s what she loved. And, you know, she was very entrepreneurial, but also had this other layer for just marketing and sales, and makes a complete transition to educational sales and starts her own business and gets to leave educate teaching, and she’s not she said, I’m so happy, I’ll never look back, you know, someone who, you know, again, got some who is, uh, you know, working as a paralegal her whole career and again just was like this doesn’t do it for me and really wanted to help people and we make a transition to get her to work in higher education. Now she’s starting her master’s in social work, you know, getting it for free, you know, through the tuition remission. But another, you know, another big story is, you know, I had a client who a performer who had always dreamed of doing a one woman show, and she spent, you know, just many, many years thinking about it, thinking about it, and but just didn’t start the writing process talking about writing. We got her into the why, why do I want to do this? What is this what we did all the steps, all the self talk, and she said, on my 50th birthday, I want to be launching my one woman show, and I got to sit there in the audience. And she mentioned me in the playbill, and I have it. And so that’s a story.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:56:14]
Um, that’s what you guys listening in, need to do. I mean, that’s, everybody has, I hear it all the time, I would not have thought honestly, when I was going into this, I would not have thought that working with doctoral students is going to be it’s going to be about helping people, I thought it was going to be about teaching them how to get the approval for their paper. But I’ve come to view this path that I’ve taken in life as being, you know, me helping a lot of people by helping a few people, by me helping folks get their doctoral degrees, they’re out helping all these people doing a tremendous number of things. And those people may not know who I am at all. But still, I was part of the conduit that that helped that thing to happen. And, and it’s it’s been very interesting me over the years to see that that’s been a common thread amongst all these people, you know, you think geeks and walks and, you know, all of these things that you that you think are stereotypical about people who would be at that level, you know, white coats and pocket protectors, that kind of stuff. Those have not been the themes that I’ve seen. And admittedly, I’m not dealing with like the hardcore academic people, the ones in academia are not the folks that I work with. But I’ve spent time in that field as well in that area. But the folks that I’ve worked with, it’s always been about, you know, certainly making their lives better and making their family’s lives better, but also helping other people. And I just think that if you guys are listening to the stories that Dr. Georges has shared with you today, you know, you want that. Maybe you’re not gonna help people the way she does. But, but but that’s what the reason why you guys are doing this. Yeah. Absolutely. So awesome. So people are, you know, have these conversations going in their head, they want to rescript them? How do they get in touch with you about about that? And what sort of things do you do to work with people to help them rescript beyond the book itself?
Dr. Colleen Georges [00:58:17]
Yeah. So I, you know, I do life coaching and career coaching. It’s from a positive psychology perspective, very much in there, let’s work from your strength. I’m not a let’s fix what’s broken in you. I don’t see people as broken people. I see people as people filled with potential. That’s where I work from. And my website is www dot Colleen George with an s dot com. You can find me there I’ve got some free quizzes on there. about self talk about another one specifically for women about valuing your voice. And, and I’ve got some free resources on my website as well. So if you want a kind of sample First, check things out, link to my TED Talk is on there. And and I work with people and honestly, like, every realm of life, you know, I know a lot of people sort of niche into very specific things. I think coming from psychology, in a world where I would have been working with people on everything. My mindset has always been very much like I like to help people go out to different things. But I will say that a lot of my work really does focus on Career. Career is really at the crux of my work. Most people come to me for career related things. And the predominant thing people come to me for is I’m unhappy in my career. I’ve been unhappy for many years. I don’t know what I want to do, but it’s not this. Can you help me and I love to help people do that.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:59:46]
That’s awesome. So easy enough to remember www Colleen Georges dot com. Definitely. Wherever you’re encountering this podcast episode, you can go back to our blog at dissertation done dot comm forward slash blog, find out George’s episode there. And we will link to all of these things, the TED talk, and the website, all the things. So remember one of those, and you can connect with her in that way. We Oh, before we go, Dr. Georges, I want to remind folks that today’s episode has been brought to you by dissertation done. So if you need some help, some guidance, some support, some know how to get through this dissertation process. That’s what we do. We help folks graduate, usually in about a year or less. But it’s all about, again, some of the things you talked about finding your why being intentional about pursuing that. And then of course, knowing how to no one walked out of the womb or came out of the womb, knowing how to write a dissertation it’s a funny fickle, contrived process, but you can navigate it if you’ve got someone to show you the way. So you can reach out to us at dissertation done dot com forward slash done. To find out more about that. If you do want to stake your claim in this expert space, then write your own book. And if you want some help going through that dissertation done dot com forward slash book is how we do that. And to reach Dr. Georges, again. Coleen Georges dot com is the way to do that. Or you can go to our blog and find your episode there. Again, Dr. Georges, thank you so much. This is a wonderful talk today.
