Episode Highlights

• The impact of the huge retraction in entertainment industry jobs and opportunities
• How self-care and paying attention to your body’s signals can transform your well-being.
• Navigating career pivots and finding your specific transferable skills
• Lydia’s fascinating story of her many diverse career transitions
• How to make wise, thoughtful moves to maintain financial stability during career pivots
• How a former actor transitioned from shooting regional marketplace videos to creating multiple income streams
• Managing emotions and practicing self-care routines
• Recognizing and breaking free from chronic stress (before it takes a toll on your health)
• What to do when your emotions are in the driver’s seat
• Channeled writing and walking meditation—your ultimate power tools for self-discovery.
• Why health hacks and the quick fixes may be deceiving you
• Reiki energy healing and managing spiritual crisis

Useful Links

• Filmmakers Academy (Type LYDIA20 during checkout to get $20 off when you join)
• Reiki Energy Healing
• The Artist’s Way
• Overcoming “The Paycheck Paradox” (so you can make a living doing what you love)

About Guest

Lydia Hurlbut is a Transformational Business Strategist and Co-Founder of Filmmakers Academy. With over 35 years of experience spanning healthcare, forensics, wellness, and business, Lydia Hurlbut is a catalyst for change in mindset consciousness and holistic leadership. Her journey from pediatric nurse to transformational coach was shaped by a life-altering health crisis, inspiring her to champion self-care integration in professional life. Co-creating Filmmakers Academy, Lydia blends her medical background, business strategy, intuition and Reiki skills to offer unique coaching programs. As a sought-after speaker and writer, she empowers individuals to overcome personal and business blocks, aligning actions with their highest potential. Lydia’s innovative approach helps clients achieve sustainable personal and financial success, making her a transformative force in the entertainment industry.

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Transcript

Zack Arnold: I am here today with Lydia Hurlbut, who is a transformational business strategist, co founder of Filmmakers Academy. You have 35 years of experience and so many things. I probably don't even have room to talk about them so we can have a conversation. But the short list, healthcare, forensics, wellness, running a business, cinematography, filmmaking in general, like I literally feel like if I were to talk about all of your accomplishments, accolades and industries that you've had, job titles that you had, we'd have about four minutes for today's interview. So I say all that to frame the conversation at hand, and to say it is so wonderful to finally, after so many emails, so many conversations back and forth be able to get this conversation on the record. So thanks so much for being here.

Lydia Hurlbut: I am so honored to be here. Zack, I can't thank you enough. And I know that every time you and I sit down, I feel as though we were like related in some way, because we have the same passion.

Zack Arnold: Yes, that passion is that intersection of creativity, storytelling, filmmaking, but that thing that nobody likes to talk about wellness and actually taking care of yourself and respecting yourself and your brownies and your needs, right? So we're going to dive into all of those things and more. And the way that I like to approach podcast interviews is, I don't necessarily have a template. It's like, I'm going to ask this question, then I'm gonna ask that question. I don't even have a structure that's the same for all of them, which makes my job harder, but it makes the conversations more engaging. And I'm always asking the question, what's the structure? Right? And with you, there are so many different story threads, so many different chapters to the story. So I think what I actually want to do today is I want to start with the present, and we're going to work backwards. And here's what I mean by that, where I want to start speaking to you as somebody that's presently running an online education company that's working with people directly in the entertainment industry. I'd like to know how are you and how are all of your students doing right now?

Lydia Hurlbut: I am great, and the reason that I am great, and by saying great, it doesn't mean that I'm not impacted. So let me just put that caveat right out there. And I have a story about last year that I will tell. But I am great because I'm taking really good care of myself, because I am really noticing what's going on in my body and listening to my body very, very closely and doing my best in a very imperfect way to maintain my center. And I think that that really sets me up for navigating a time period right now that is filled so much with chaos and fear and crisis and just a lot of tumultuous change. And to answer, how is everybody that I'm interacting with? They're impacted. They are feeling things. They are scared, they're in fear, they're, you know, having anxiety, they are really, some of them depressed. I think that people have always felt very comfortable opening up to me with vulnerability, and so I'm having these really vulnerable, raw, difficult conversations with people, and part of what I do in the world is is help them tap back into their healing and just the flow of centering, which then allows the internal shift.

Zack Arnold: And that's the if we're going to look at kind of two general threads, the first of which that is absolutely vital to today's conversation is the absolute bottomless well of information and experience that you have with wellness, taking care of yourself, you know, cognitive, mental, emotional like, there you have such a nice and interesting balance and unique combination of skills and experience. Thank you. But we're going to put a pin in that for a little while, not because it's less important, but because I want to frame getting to that point. The other thing that I find so interesting and compelling about you is that you've had so many different career paths and job titles, and it's such an interesting origin story, that when you go backwards, you're like, oh, it completely, totally makes sense why you do the work that you do. But I always like to understand the person behind the job title and the work that they do first, because I think so many people right now, and I'm sure you can speak to this as well in your community, but it's all about reinvention. It's all about pivoting. And for you, you're thinking like, oh, career pivot, changing your entire life. Hold my beer. Let me talk to you about when I was this or when I was that, and the fact that you're such a polymath with so many amazing stories and just knowledge of totally different industries, I think, like, in a sense, in a way, you're kind of a jack of all trades. You're a Lydia of all trades, right? And a lot of people say that in a bad way. Okay, I see it. It is an immensely valuable, positive way, especially in this new world that we're entering. So I want to tap into that as well. So I want to get a little bit of the back story, the origin story. You can choose wherever it is you want to start, but just your your resume, of like what you've accomplished and the things you've done in your life is just fascinating. So I'm going to let you choose where you want to begin.

Lydia Hurlbut: Okay, I think it's important to know from the start. So I grew up in a very traditional, quote, unquote, untraditional family, but a very traditional setting. So think village of 300 people upstate New York, very bonded community, and I had a single dad that raised me the majority of my life, because my mom was sick a lot of it. So my dad was the local minister, and what's so interesting about his influence on my life is that he was a philosopher. He had changed careers three times. He started out as a historian, and then he became a musician, and then he went into philosophy, and he was very much about challenging the status quo. And that was his MO so I think that was always modeled for me. I started out as a nurse. I love people. I'm an empath. I always have been and very caring, very compassionate person. I did pediatrics because I loved kids. And quickly after graduating college and starting nursing, I realized, oh, wow, this was not what I thought it was, and I picked the wrong career, and I just was, I was so ashamed about that, and at that time, pivoting was not really encouraged. So I thought, Okay, I just don't have enough hour in my job title, so I should do medical school. So I did all the pre med and I applied, got rejected over 30 to over 30 medical schools, and my lesson in failure was very intense in my 20s, and it was just like being smacked back. And I made that mean way too much, that I was stupid, that I couldn't I just could never be a physician. And ironically, it was Shane, my husband at that you know, who still is my husband, but it was Shane at that time who said to me, Lydia, they have no idea who you are, and you just need to go there and sell yourself. So I got on a plane, I went to Chicago. I had no appointment. I sat outside the dean's office at Chicago Medical School, and I waited all day long because they're really busy. And I just said to him, Dr Sapienza, you made a horrible mistake by not accepting me, and here's why I'm so passionate, I'd make a great doctor. I convinced him. He said that he would have a meeting with the deans. But long story short, they couldn't take me in that right in that moment in the next class, so I had to wait until the fall, and on the plane back to Los Angeles, I had this internal intuition that I really had done medicine to prove to myself that I was smart, but not because I loved the field of medicine. And so I came home, I thought really long and hard, and wrote him a note and said, Thank you so much for everything you've done for me, but I'm not accepting your position that you've just created

Zack Arnold: That I sat all day waiting for you to give me,

Lydia Hurlbut: Give me. And so I think that we have these moments of AHA and like, what is the intention? What is the real reason that I'm doing this and my 20s were a decade of internal learning, understanding myself, really getting to know myself, and making a lot of pivots. So I went to graduate school, and forensic sounded so exciting to me. I absolutely loved it. And I not only did Sexual Assault Nurse examination, so I went to get a master's in nursing, and I also became a death investigator. I took a course at Washington University in St Louis, and it was a summer certification and death investigation. And then I was going to go to Quantico and join the Bureau, and unfortunately, they had a hiring freeze at that time. But I loved forensics, and what I loved about it was like really noticing little details and specifics and when somebody's behavior didn't match their actions, and all of those things that you need for that. Yeah. So I met John Douglas, who was the profiler on the JonBenet Ramsey case, and we were talking and what is so synchronous about this is that at the time that I was meeting with him and really talking about my interest in profiling serial killers. Shane was working with his daughter Leslie Bibb at the exact same time. And it was so crazy, because when I saw Shane, I was like, oh my god, I met John Douglas, and he said to me, oh my god, I just worked with John Douglas's daughter like It was wild anyway. So what John shared with me was that he really recommended that I did not pursue that career path if I wanted to have a family and if I wanted to remain married. And that was such wise advice. So then I thought, well, wow, I can't do that anymore. So I came back to California. I worked with the California sexual assault investigators Association, and I really at that point, understood that my chapter forensics was closing because I then became pregnant with my daughter, and I didn't want to be pulled out to the emergency room in the middle of the night, especially with Shane traveling, it just didn't fit the lifestyle anymore. So I pivoted to learning something that I could do from home that would balance my family life, and that was coaching. And so I became a coach, gosh, a long time ago, in 2008 and a little bit before then, I'd been helping my friend Christiana with understand marketing. She was a an entrepreneur, fifth generation from Germany, so I was helping her as like just to keep my mind sharp. And you know, while I was pregnant, and then she taught me all the business and marketing, having from a family of entrepreneurs, and so I merged that with coaching, and then it was when Shane was shooting active valor in 2009 I just had this aha moment for what he was doing, and then taking that so that we could share knowledge, instead of just keeping it close to the vest, as cinematographers had done, because it was just so groundbreaking what he was doing on that movie. And then we started the hurl blog together, and that was the first time that we had worked together. So a lot of pivots, twists and turns. And the craziest part is I everybody that looked at me from the outside was like, Lydia, can you just make a decision? Can you just pick a career? Can you just be in a lane? And I had so many interests and so much curiosity that I never fit in a box. And so the final, you know, kind of career add on, or skill set add on was in 2020, when I learned Reiki, and that was my pandemic piece. And that's really when I tapped in more into intuition, into channeling, into healing, and realized that I deeply loved that as well. So I'm just kind of an amalgamation of these different things.

Zack Arnold: And I'm really glad that you pointed out this idea that the outside world was saying, Would you just pick a lane? Would you just do one thing? Because that's the way that we've been conditioned, frankly, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the world is an assembly line. We're going to train you for the assembly line, and I'm sure that, as you're saying with your community, that doesn't work anymore. Oh, you're trained to only be a cinematographer, only a clapper or a loader, right? Or only an editor, whatever it might be. That system is completely broken down, and where you are incredibly well equipped to navigate this new future, where many aren't. You're like, pivot, okay, let's figure it out again. Whereas most people, they're trained for that one path, and they did choose one lane, and they realized that that one lane, doing the one thing, is now the riskiest path of all. And you swoop, and you're like, Yeah, I've done this 14 times. Let me help you out through this.

Lydia Hurlbut: It's, you know, each time you do it, you become better at it. And believe me, this was not a smooth road for me, and I'm very humble on how, how much courage it takes to pivot. And I think what really has worked like, if there's a thing to remember, it's it's just don't bring on change too quickly, all at once for yourself, because I'm very keenly aware as a business coach, and I'm very responsible with people like keep, keep doing what you're doing is you're building something, and then when the timing is right, when you've saved up enough, when you really feel like you're ready and you've gotten enough experience, you know, because you. Have a side hustle for a long time and then kind of do the official pivot for your career. And I think that it's it's so important to be responsible, because everybody deals with change very differently. I love change. I'm very flexible, and I'm open to it, but, but not everybody is that way, and so I'm very careful in what I tell people, because it is scary. It takes, it takes a lot of courage, and I'll tell you, from last year, I felt like I was not doing so well with all of the change, and this was so new to me, it was too much upheaval all at once in too many areas of my life, and I let fear take over. And the more that fear kind of comes into play, the more attachment happens, and the more you try to hold on and figure out every outcome and and it becomes this wheel and cycle that is very unhealthy. And thankfully, I recognized it within myself, and I thought, You know what? I've got to let go of the outcome and just trust the universe and trust my spiritual belief system, whatever that is for everybody, that things ultimately work out, even when we cannot see the answers, even in the worst moment, as long as we're putting in the effort. And so every year I pick a phrase, and I'll show you my phrase for this year is trusting in infinite possibilities. And it's, it's really I realized last year that my trust in myself was dipping a little bit, which again signaled to me that I was out of balance. Whenever that happens, whenever that imposter syndrome comes in a little bit, or that trust is is not at the the right level. Then all of a sudden I think, wow, it's off, like something within is off, and I have to go and figure out what that is. And course correct.

Zack Arnold: Well, I can very much relate to you saying that there's a lot of upheaval in the last year or two, kind of, you know, the too much change at once to coming to some of the fear I felt like when I done the podcast for you guys, for filmmaker Academy. I don't remember exactly when it was, but it was just before everything started to fall apart, right? Like that. There was kind of this lingering idea that things were going to change, strikes looming. But this was probably a couple years ago now, and while all that was happening internally, my personal life, everything was falling apart, as you and I have talked about, ended up, you know, managing the the care of both of my parents and my father since passed away. So, you know, just all of this change happening at once, and when it comes to the advice that you given given earlier, by and large, I agree that if you're going to navigate a career pivot, do whatever you can to do it in small chunks, manage the amounts of change if you can, you know, kind of get a side hustle, kind of make that transition slowly. I agree with all that, but here's the challenge. I feel like, at least from the perspective of my students, and my guess is it's similar for yours, they're not choosing the amount of change that's happening, and you we can't say to them, just keep doing what you're doing and tell things, because they're like, I can't keep doing what I'm doing. Somebody took it away from me, and I would guess that you've had some of those really difficult conversations with your students as well

Lydia Hurlbut: I have, and I think that what? And that's such an important point, Zack, and I'm really glad that you brought that up, because, okay, so first of all, I just have to say, I'm so sorry about your dad, and I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, and death is a major earthquake within our lives, and I've lost my dad too, and was that was huge for me. And so I think back to the career part of all of it, I would absolutely agree that people that more radical shifts are necessary now than they were before, because we cannot keep going. The definition of insanity is to keep going in the same way, expecting different results, and we can't. So I think what I mean by doing little steps, I've seen people get really radical with their with their shifts, and not have the experience to back it up or not have the selling themselves too much, almost, if that makes sense. And so when I'm saying I'm saying, be very wise and thoughtful in the moves so that you're not rocking the. Financial situation for your household. And I think what I'm seeing filmmakers do right now is they're getting really creative with what they need to do in terms of outside work, based on other skills, based on temporary jobs, based on whatever it takes for now until they they really get clear on what it is they want for their next phase, because the getting the clarity cannot be rushed. And I think I've seen people ping pong like, Oh, okay. Well, you know, I'm not getting a job in this area, let's say editorial. So, you know, I'll dive into camera. Okay, great. Now, I worked a little bit in camera. Maybe I'll dive over here and and it's like people also sense that, that you're scattered and you don't really, kind of, it's not well planned. So what I and that comes from fear, the the scattered, the the grasping on to something, the wanting to control, calling everybody endlessly, what do you got? What do you got? Oh my gosh, there's nothing going on. Can you recommend me to somebody? What's happening? I mean, that's it's horrible. And again, I see that happening over and over. So I think the way to navigate the shrinking down is to get really clear on on what you're good at and where your superpowers lie, and I very much work with people on this, and then figure out a way to position that into something, and this is your area of expertise, more so than mine, I think, but, but really position that into something that never has to be sold, but is a value add for people, and they don't even know a lot of times that they need it, but you are helping them realize, here's your pain point, and this is where I can come in and serve. And I think the for me, at least with what I'm creating, I think the fact that it has to benefit others, as well as yourself, so that there is an equanimity in the exchange, because equanimity is one of my core values, and so it's, it's for me, Lydia Ed has to serve others and serve me.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, I love all those things. And yes, we could probably spend all day just talking about positioning yourself as the solution to somebody's problems and swooping in with value, but this idea of equanimity and serving others, this is also, this has been like a you're we're crawling into the inside of my brain right now because I too, like everybody else, I'm not thinking, Oh, great, I've got this very successful business, and things are flourishing, like all of my students, as I'm sure most, if not all of yours, work in the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry has both figuratively and literally been on fire, right? Yeah. So, you know, I don't You don't have to speak to anything you don't want to share. But for me, business and enrollment has just plummeted over the last year, trying to find a way to plummet and survive and be able to provide different services and just kind of keep it working, right? And if we're talking about this idea of pivoting and transferable skills, I could very easily use my knowledge of Facebook ads, marketing funnels, psychology, of copy, and I could sell bullshit supplements, and I could probably make a living, right? Yes, but there's no equanimity there. So the challenge for me is not how do I make money, it's, how do I make money and sleep at night, knowing what this current climate is, and knowing that what I really want to do is provide value to people. And I think by and large, even if people aren't necessarily using those words to think about it, all of the people that I work with, and I would guess they're very similar to your students, they just want to make cool stuff. They just want to work with people and make cool stuff and tell good stories, and all of that's being taken away from them. And like you said, they're ping pong, you back and forth. And one of the the examples that I use with a lot of my students, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, if this is kind of a different way of saying what you were saying, there's a difference between, I give up. There's no more work for cinematographers. There's no more work for editors. I'm going to go work at Home Depot versus, you know what? I'm gonna go work at Home Depot for a while. This is gonna give me a little bit of breathing room so I can get clear on what is the next phase look like. What are my transferable skills? And yeah, might say you work at Home Depot. But the mindset shift, like the mindset between those two things, is two worlds of difference that leads down two very different paths,

Lydia Hurlbut: 100% and mindset is everything. And I think let me answer both trains of thought. So back to every small business has been impacted. There's not a small business, and I know that it's like I'm living large right now. Right? It's kind of like an EKG machine, is the way I see it, where it's up down, up down, up down. So I think yes, and I wish I could say more, but I am working on a really big picture thing with our Filmmakers Academy team that was Brendan Sweeney on my team, who is our CEO of the business, had this, this incredible idea. And once we get further down the road, I'd love to come back, potentially, Assuming all goes well, and talk more about it. But I think it will speak to a lot of the pain points that you were raising about telling great stories and just being able to do what people love to do. And so until that, you know, and again, we're we're working diligently to try to make this idea happen until we get there. I think it's looking at all of your transferable skills and the mindset of, okay, I may be doing this day job right now just to get my bills paid, but I'm a filmmaker, and I am literally looking at the next phase of my career so how to take my artistic energy and skills and really build that into something that I cannot wait to wake up and do every day. And this Home Depot job, if you will, is just literally a stop gap for me, it's a stop gap as I'm building. And I've done this multiple times. I mean, I was coaching, and then I kind of put coaching on hold to build the whole what was going way back Shane's inner circle, and we've had multiple rebrands with that now into Filmmakers Academy, but I think again, it's understanding what your bills are, and kind of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the safety part, what you what your family needs, and understanding how To get that nut covered and and your time management, and how you can do blocks of time to really create and commit to yourself so that every day you feel like you're moving a step closer toward the build of this job that you're really excited about. And it is multiple streams coming in. So I think that that's the really important piece, that no one job is reliable enough, in my opinion.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, I've been saying this for years, and it's taken several years for people to kind of catch on board. And they're like, Oh, you might be onto something, because I've been writing about podcasting, about sharing, for years, that we're transitioning to a very different phase of our economy, where the odds of making a living doing one thing very, very slim that has nothing to do with talent, craft, background or otherwise. That's about opportunities, and that's about technology, right? So the idea that we're going back to where we were pre industrial revolution, where you're the blacksmith, but you're always the local pastor, and you're also the, you know, the assistant doctor, right? Like, and you because you come from a small town, that's kind of the way that it worked in a small town. Like the guy that was that was at the front counter at the hardware store, and actually worked at the hardware store in high school, right? He ran the front counter. He was also the mayor. He was also, I think, one of the assistant fire chiefs, like my English teacher in high school, was also the coroner, and he was also the local EMT. Like everybody, had all these different roles. So it was, I was exposed to that for, you know, most of my childhood, my father included. He was a farmer. He was a college professor. He was a, you know, the local Vice Principal, or the local principal at the school. Like, he raised sheep, he raised cattle, like you did all these different things. So this idea of, kind of being a polymath and having different sources of income and a jack of all trades, like, I just thought that that's how you did it. And then I come out into the quote, unquote, real world. And, oh, you got one degree, you got one job, you got one job title. Like, oh, you couldn't, you can't work in movies if you worked in trailers, that's a different career path. And like, are you crazy? Like, I have all these transferable skills and experience that I think are valuable, and that's what I want to tap into a little bit more before we transition to more kind of the the energy side, and all the things you do with health and wellness, absolutely. How have you been able to in your own experience or the experience of helping your students and your clients? How did you take your transferable skills? Because if I were to look at you on paper, I would say, All right, so forensics, death investigator, not even sure what that is or how. Transferable now a coach, but now you're an entrepreneur running a place called Filmmakers Academy, like just it seems like you've quote, unquote, started over multiple times, but I know that that's never the case. So how do you thread the needle and create that story that just because I've done this thing, here's how it can bring value to you. Because I think that's where a lot of people are getting stuck right now.

Lydia Hurlbut: I wholeheartedly agree. I think it is finding the center point of all of your skills. So for me, you know, if I sticky note them all out, right at at the very center point is my passion for health wellness and my compassion, or I'm very other oriented that fits perfectly into healing. And then, if you look at forensics, is really paying attention to body language intuition, which I'm actually using a lot right now in my healing, Reiki, energy healing is very much about hands on, you know, feeling differences in the body from the nurse. As a nurse, I would very much do a lot of hands on and be really intuitively understanding when somebody was in pain or when somebody was uncomfortable by reading the non verbal expressions. So I think that all of those intermingle very easily. From it's really fascinating with the coaching too, because what I'm finding as a healer is that a lot of people need coaching because they're very stuck. So if somebody comes to me in spiritual crisis, they may come for the Reiki energy healing. But I'm also throwing in some coaching. I may give them a few exercises to take home with them on the way out the door, because they they need a couple of exercises, right? So I kind of view it like the country doctor, if you will, that you would go to him because you broke something, but he would sit there and soothe your soul at the same time, and really kind of inspire you and have you tap into maybe a part of your spirit that you didn't, you know realize was needing something. And so it's kind of that I watched my dad for 30 years be there for people, counsel people, help people in crisis. And I think that really is one of my my superpowers I am. I can be present for people when it's very difficult, and hold space for them as they're emoting all sorts of different emotions, because I'm not thrown by that. And so I think that that's very difficult for a lot of people, because I was with people in the dying process. As a nurse, I was with people who were dead and had to tell family members, with forensics and so all of these subtle skills when you really map it all out, I think what I say is that I inspire and and educate and give hope, and that's that's really kind of my role in this world. And ever since I was little, my mom always used to say to me that it was impossible for my mouth to go down in a frown, because it's always turned up and and I just lead with with heart centered compassion. I really care about where people are at, and I think that there is a spiritual crisis going on in our world because we're disconnected. This has nothing to do with religion, but our communities have fallen apart. We're more isolated than ever. And from the health perspective, our stress level, if you look at this, it's 70% of deaths now are coming from chronic stress, and that is really, that's a statistic I read, and I'm trying to remember the the journal, but I was shocked. I was shocked at that level. And I think that our bodies give us signals, and it's our it's so important to pay attention. You know, you pay attention when you're really listening, so without running 100 miles an hour and that back pain that you're having or the the chronic neck you know, tension really is your body's way of letting you know that, hey, you're in or you might be in chronic stress. Stress, and you need to really look at that level of stress, or you will have physical impacts from that down the line and maybe 10 or 15 years away. But your body's trying to tell you now

Zack Arnold: It's almost like you're crawling inside my brain thinking, I at the moment, experiencing some lower back pain, and right now I got a really sharp pain in my neck. So it's like, how are you doing that? Not even in person, and you're very intuitively using the body signals to recognize that. So again, to pull on this thread a little bit more, this idea of transferable skills, with all the things that you talked about that you're really great at, how do those things also make you great and transfer to being an entrepreneur and running an online education company.

Lydia Hurlbut: Okay, so entrepreneurs have to be great with people to lead. And I think that leadership really requires amazing people skills and connecting with people and trust that trusting and getting really good at noticing little, teeny, tiny signals when people are off and really going in there and saying, What do you need that you're not getting like, that's really a good leader. I think the other thing that is is super important with an entrepreneur, is to recognize where you're really good and where you're not good and delegate that. And that's good leadership, too. So it's who you surround yourself with what you're delegating, so that you don't become overwhelmed and end up closing your business down because you're just so in the business that you're not able to work on it, and so I know I'm horrible with technology. Is not my thing. As I said, I'm a people person, so I would be the last person you would ever want to build a website to code to. I have a son that is genius in that and I really look at him like, how did this kid come from me? You know, so Did that answer it? Zack,

Zack Arnold: Yes, you know. I think that that helps. And there the this reminds me of something else that I want to get a sense of, if your approach with your community and your students is similar, or maybe it's different, but something that I've been sharing with my students, or just the general community for years is I tried it actually. I started it this way. So rather than framing it, I started this way. Whenever I speak, whether it's in person, I'm doing a panel, I'm doing, you know, a workshop, or it's virtual, is relevant. I always ask one of my first questions, how many of you here own a small business? One or two, three hands. I'm like, oh, sorry, hold on a second. Let me ask one more time, how many of you own and run a small business? And then a couple more hands come up, and then I emphasize to them one more time, and like, Oh, I get it. I'm a small business, right? So even when you're a crafts person in this industry, doesn't matter. Editor, production designer, cinematographer, clapper loader. There's really no such thing as a full time job on the creative side. Sure, if you work for the, you know, your studio executive, you're on the corporate side. Sure, that's still more the like what we would call the status quo, right? But you and I, we, we follow a path that defies the status quo. I think that's the if we're going to look for the kernel that connected us the moment that we met. It's that when you said, you know, I always watch my father defy the status quo my colleagues, yeah, that's, that's the thing that we relate to more than anything else. But I always teach my students that you are the CEO of a business of one. So when people are thinking, Oh, this isn't relevant to me. I'm not an entrepreneur, whether we like it or not, in this economy and with where industry is going, we're all entrepreneurs, so I'm curious if that's an approach that you take similarly with your students, knowing that at least in the quote, unquote old world, you were on the path of second AC to first AC to whatever. I don't even know the cinematography path that well, but it was very clearly defined. But I feel like even in that world, especially with the lack of production, you really kind of have to figure out how to be your own entrepreneur.

Lydia Hurlbut: Yes, and so I'll speak for one minute from the Filmmakers Academy standpoint, and kind of say a couple of different things that I think would be very relevant to your audience, just as a business example. So what's really interesting about and I think that every solo business owner slash entrepreneur can relate to this. You start out doing something with your business, right? And for us, it was a blog that then expanded because people asked for more into courses. So the the educational part of it is our foundation of the business, right? Courses, master classes, the technical part of all aspects of. Making, but, but mainly cinematography, right with and everybody that is cinematography adjacent so directing, producing, editorial, color. And I think knowing what your foundational product, or foundational thing is, the reason that people are coming to you is so important, and then, because we were teaching things that and still are, I act like we're no more. We still are teaching things that are not taught in film school, that you need to know on set to level up your career. Okay, then I Shane and I added on top of that. So I thought, Okay, wait a second. People were asked calling us or emailing us and saying, Hey, I have a job, and I really need a lot of your time. And I said to Shane, we should do coaching, right? Like we can absolutely coach. So that's another arm that's an offshoot from this foundation. Then Brendan our CEO, and I was CEO up until last year, and then passed the baton so I could do more health and wellness, just so everybody understands. But I think it's really important, because Brendan said, Oh my gosh. Let's have something other than than just coaching like you're doing. Let's have office hours, because that that gives people something consistent and regular to look forward to from all the instructors, right? So then it was like, Oh, wow, that's so great. And people are loving it. And then we added a networking component, so offline and online, because people need to be in community. They need to understand people in their neighborhoods and neck of the woods and around the world, so that if they're traveling, who do I hire? And once I get to know somebody, then I feel comfortable hiring them. So it there was such a synergy there. So that's just kind of an example of three different things that were created. And then we were like, Oh, wow, we don't have to do this heavy lift from just doing these really labor intensive onset master classes. We could just do an educational live and make it easier, right? So that's another offshoot. So I think it's really kind of expanding your mind and being really open to, hey, what else could we do? Or listening deeply to what people keep asking you for, and then thinking of ways to monetize that. And it might be part of a membership. It might be one off, like, coaching is not part of our membership, because that really is an intense, deep dive that is a lot of time and money for people and so. And what is membership? And then what is like, you know, a bigger membership, you can slice membership into layers and different pieces. And so I think, you know, you can add basic and then you could have, like, the superior membership, and you could do all sorts of things, but this really comes down to your own creativity. And one final thing that we came up with is like, Oh, wow, we can do offline education too, and in person education that we have. We're still trying to get that scheduled, because we have so much going, but so I'm just trying to give you specific ideas based on this business model of like, all of the different ways that you know we could create content. We can create content for sponsors, and they love that, and then it's very specific to their product. So there's just, there's a kind of the world is your oyster once you get into this, because it really comes down to your own creativity.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, and what I what really want to hit this point home, because I think it's so important what you said, even if somebody's listening saying, I'm not building a membership community, I don't want to build an online education platform, right? But what you said is so key, and this is what I feel like everybody is missing. When I talk about branding, when I talk about building relationships, it's all about me, me, me, me. Here are the things that I know. Here's why you should hire me. But what you said is, listen to what people need, right? If you can listen to what somebody really needs and you think outside the box, you're like, oh, that never occurred to me, but I actually have these transferable skills, or I have this life experience. I combine these things knowing that that's where somebody really needs help. Those are their problems. I can solve those problems, but it requires a willingness to kind of step outside yourself and say, Well, I just I need more work as a DP or a first camera. Hire me. Hire me. Hire me. Well, there's so many other things you can bring to others. And if you're like, I don't know, I don't know what, how to use these skills or how to make money, ask people, ask them what they need. That's one of the core parts of my process. I always have this workflow that when i. Launch something, or I have a product or a workshop, whatever it is, what did you think of it? If this isn't what you needed, what can I create for you instead? Right? I mean that process right now, like everybody's in the middle of this massive career pivot, everybody's frozen, everybody's afraid it's not, oh well, this is what you need. It's tell me what you need so I can help build it for you. And I think that you don't have to be an online educator or an entrepreneur, it's just asking the question, Where can I be of value to others that can literally change everything?

Lydia Hurlbut: Yes, and what's really interesting is, I'll tell you how one of my clients did this, because I think it's so important to to have examples with this, rather than just have it out in the air. So I was coaching one of our members, and he was doing regional marketplace video shooting for brands and and doing a great job of that. And then he was like, Hey, wait a second, I'm really good and, and he was a former actor, and he was like, I'm really good at headshots, like everybody's asking me to do headshots, right? So he started this headshot that was separate, and he would just do it every once in a while. And then we figured out a way to make that more regular, build that out, and have it integrated with his brand, so that he could have the add on of stills to the video. Okay, and you get where I'm going with this, but that that did great. And then because of the headshots, people were asking him to do, like little demo reels, you know, that they could submit as an actor, right? And along with the headshot, so it was like, headshot plus a little video, right, that would go out to people so they could get a sense of their personality. So this really quickly exploded for him, and I was so excited, because he was like, wow, Lydia, I've got this. How can we incorporate it? And together, we figured out, like, four different streams for him to really maximize, and then he got a really big brand client. And I was like, Okay, let's figure out how to keep that going, and then figure out how many additional clients you need to get to the you know, where you want your revenue to be. So for him, it was just like a well oiled machine where all these cogs work together and we figured out a way for them to feed into one another, which was glorious, and I was just so proud of it, because I kept getting the emails like, oh my god, oh my god, this is so great. And I and my feedback was, look, you did the work, you're building, the relationships, you were creating this for yourself. It was just seeing it on paper and having a oh, what else could we do here? And this is where the one thing that I will say it's very difficult to have all of this insight for yourself, and that's why it's so important, Zack, what you're giving to the world, because it really is hard. You're so in it. It's so hard to see. You can't see the forest for the trees, and as hard as you try, you know you just need an outside perspective. You really do.

Zack Arnold: Could not agree more. And what I want to now help you reflect on anybody or everybody else that would be listening like I said, I kind of saw this is a two pronged approach, right? Yeah, everything we've talked so I've talked about so far, very logical, very rational, very cognitive processes, steps, transferable skills, entrepreneurship, branding, where I think you're the most valuable, is way underneath that. It's managing the emotional journey of all of this. Yeah, right. That's where this is so hard, because it's easy to say, well, just, you know, make a spreadsheet, figure out the numbers, write down your transferable skills. You got a bunch of sticky notes, put yourself out there. And people are saying, I can't like, I'm frozen in fear and anxiety and uncertainty. And this is where I think you really have the asymmetric advantage with all the intersection of your skills, your experience, the empathic nature that you have. How are you helping people manage the emotional journeys that they're on right now,

Lydia Hurlbut: The emotions are really tricky, and the reason that they're tricky is because emotions feel so big to us, and when you're in the amygdala, with the limbic brain with all those emotions firing, and you're on the roller coaster. I call it the roller coaster. And I think if I can, this is my real passion. So thank you for

Zack Arnold: I wasn't gonna let this go. I know this is your thing. So this is the heart of it.

Lydia Hurlbut: Emotions are huge, and. And when they are present, they're all encompassing. They they literally like logic has left the building when you're on this emotional ride. So I think what's really important to understand with emotions, and this actually came to me in a download, just in aha moment, and this is where I'm really blessed to have these. I think I see things in triangles, right? So if you picture a triangle of trauma, and we've all had trauma in one sort or another, if you really look at your life, and it doesn't have to be the the worst traumatic experience in the world. It could be the trauma of getting fired or not hired and and you always feel that, or most of the time in your heart, right? Because it hurts. Trauma hurts so and I think of things in in the chakra system, so, like heart chakra, then that trauma that is underlying on a cellular level gets triggered by something, by a statement, by somebody saying something insensitive, whatever the case may be, you're raw and vulnerable. So trigger happens you go right out of your logic brain, right into that stress response limbic brain, and then you react and and it's, it's, again, very logical. And this is what you see on set where somebody is just like, ridiculously overreacting. We now understand, or I do. I'm like, Oh, they've really been triggered. So it's, it's important, and this is where the knowing yourself really comes in, right? It's, it's knowing the trauma. And I think everybody sees trauma as terrible, and I view trauma as a way to get to know ourselves better. So because our genius actually lies when we overcome trauma and when we've really worked through it, done the work. So I think where I see people really struggle is it takes courage on this emotional deep dive and to come on the other side of really working through trauma is such a superpower, because that's really what you were meant to do on this earth once you've overcome it. So when you get triggered, it's super important to understand why you're you know, recognize that like, Ooh, I'm getting triggered. The first thing is recognition, then to tap into the feelings. Where am I feeling this trigger in my body? Am I holding my breath? Am I getting a stomach ache? You know, what is causing this trigger? I mean, the the emotion in my body. Where am I feeling it? And then to really identify the emotion. Am I feeling, you know? And again, it's just so many times people don't actually use the emotion, but they just say, life sucks. I feel shitty, I feel horrible. I'm you know. But what are you really feeling? Are you feeling disappointed? Are you feeling, you know, just excoriated like, really dig into what the emotion is for that, and then journal, and you'd be amazed at when you put pen to paper, what comes out for people, and how an experience that maybe you had 20 years ago is all of a sudden resurfacing for you. So it's really again, identifying, oh, this exactly was happening when I got triggered. And then where do I feel it? In my body? And then what is the emotion? And just write. Don't even think about what you're writing, just write. It doesn't have to make any sense, and that's part of the process for working through this. And only then when the when the brain has calmed down, when we're out of fight or flight, and we get back into the logical part of our brain, the executive part of our brain and a couple of other really important tricks that I just want to help people with here, because if the intensity the emotion is real, so before you get into the firing off phase that you may really regret on we because, you know, when we open our mouths, it's words are so powerful, it's hard to take that back, and people remember how you made them feel like Maya Angelou always says, there's something that you can do if you can pause for a second and literally sing, vibrate your lips like a boom. Um, do something to interrupt the pattern in the brain so that you're not in reactive mode, which is the lowest functioning version of yourself. And my goal in life is to get everybody to their highest and best. So this is something that I I'm fascinated with. I'm I'm reading and learning so much about the brain and I and because this goes along with manifesting and so many other things. But I think the more that we can control this emotional roller coaster so that we don't have to ride it, and we can really harness our emotions and the energy, because think of the energy it takes to be on this emotional up and down. And you know, energy is our most precious resource. And you'll notice when you feel depressed or you're in high anxiety, which a lot of over wired brains have, you feel exhausted all the time. You just don't have that that energy, because it's being drained with all of the emotion that you're feeling. So a lot of what I'm also looking into, and I and, you know, I love functional medicine for this, because it's like, what is the body need? What do we need in our mitochondria to produce energy, right? Like, how can we sustain our energy? And part of that is really trying to be in control in the best of our way. And it doesn't mean not feeling emotions, because it's so important to feel emotions, and I do. I mean, I all have times where I burst in tears and I'm, you know, triggered by something, or I'll get mad just over reactive, which is so unlike my personality. And I'm like, Ooh, I'm triggered. What's triggering me? This is very rare, you know, and then I really take note and look at it as an opportunity to get to know myself better and to really be able to do some more internal self work. So really, this is the mindset that you love, right? Viewing these things as opportunities.

Zack Arnold: Yeah. So I want to go even deeper into this idea of the internal self work, because I think everything you shared is so absolutely vital. But I'm concerned that for those that are kind of coming to this fresh or kind of the the traditional sense of this is how you manage things. This is how it's done in this industry. You just suck it up and you keep figuring it out. Right? There's something that you mentioned that was a strategy, but I cannot emphasize enough how big of a game changer this was for me, and I fought it for years and years and years and years and years, oh, wait and years. And that was journaling. I fought so hard against this idea of, like, come on. Like, Well, I'm gonna write in a diary. Like, really? Like, do I need a little lock it in, a key and a purple pen? Like, I do not need to journal. This is stupid, right? But at the same time, like, I, I probably am not as well researched and read as you but I understand there's a lot of science coming out about meditation, you know, about, like, you know, especially the journaling practice. And I had to had a couple of guests on, I think it was a couple of years ago now, where we were talking about the process of managing chronic pain through creativity, and she started asking me, like, turning it into a coaching session, like, tell me more about some of the pain you're experiencing. And like, have you tried a journaling practice? And like, I don't need a journaling practice, right? Like, just, I'm the Mr. Macho Man. Like, that's the way that I was conditioned and raised, right? But I can tell you, having gone down so many avenues, and you want to talk about being triggered. And I don't mean this in a bad way, but as soon as you said the over wired brain, I'm like, Oh, do you see me right now? I am the massively over wired brain, and that leads to so many great creative ideas. And it's my superpower. It's also my eternal kryptonite, because with that imaginative brain comes the anxiety and the ability to conjure up all of the most horrible possible ways that this could work out. And I've tried different avenues. I've done therapy, which is fantastic. I've also done medication. Nothing has curbed my anxiety more than journaling, nothing. It is now like the number one thing that I do when I when I especially now there's so much anxiety about the future, my first thought is, I have to get down and I gotta write this shit out. And the difference that, I mean, it's life changing. So again, therapy is great in the right circumstances with the right practitioners, medicine is great, but I so downplayed the value of journaling your thoughts and ideas and emotions. Like seriously journaling emotions. That's nuts. This has completely changed the game for me,

Lydia Hurlbut: Meditation is something that I deeply love, and I do every single day for calming the mind, for opening up possibility. But the beauty of journaling is that it gets it out and on paper so you don't have. To hold it in your mind anymore. And think of the mental stress created when we hold things in our mind. I have to remember that. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I have to remember to do that. And a lot of what I do with my clients is, you know, before bed, write everything down. Get it out, get it out. Get it out of the brain. But the other beauty of Jersey is you can write down anything, and nobody else has to see it. You can burn it. I can't tell you how many letters I wrote and burned them. My mom had just to share a little bit more about why I was burning she was she had bipolar disorder, and I realized that a lot of the way that I dealt with it was I journaled it out because the kid I felt like, wow, this doesn't make sense. This is so unfair. This is very logical, right? She was my greatest teacher with this, and I had the fuzzy, girly journal with the locket. By the way,

Zack Arnold: That's not what my journal looks like. But yes, continue.

Lydia Hurlbut: But journaling is such a beautiful tool, because again, you can put down whatever you want, and then you can just burn it, if you're worried about somebody safely, somebody reading it. So or you can tear it up. You can shred it. You can there are a million ways to dispose of it, but the bottom line is, is that getting the feelings out of the cells because holding on, and I see this with Reiki, so often, holding on to things, holding on to resentment, holding on to you know, if somebody was mean to you, and they, like, blew their energy at you, right, just in a tirade or whatever, again, that goes into your tissues, unless you actively get rid of it. And I think that that that is where and it also allows the the subconscious mind to understand that, you know, this is something meaningful, and whether it's meaningful to get rid of, or whether it's meaningful to hang on to, it's really important, because it's the way for the subconscious to come to come forward A lot of times, because we discount so much.

Zack Arnold: And the other thing that I want to emphasize too that's so important about this process, processing the emotions is a huge part of this, like you said, getting the subconscious, bringing it to the surface, getting it on paper, burning it, whatever it is, unless you live in Los Angeles, don't burn it. No burning in Southern California. But here's the other thing that's happened, and I know that you love to talk a lot about routines, the creative process, really getting your creativity to flourish with all of the anxiety that needs to be managed in present circumstances, figuring out, myself included, how do I pivot? How do I provide new products and services? Two of the game changing revelations that I had about how to generate more income while simultaneously helping others through this. They both came from sitting down and writing something totally different. It wasn't I'm gonna sit with my journal and going to solve this problem, it was I'm writing about something totally different. Then it's just like the pen is writing something. You're like, holy shit, that's a good idea, right? It's almost like somebody else had it. It's a really interesting experience. So it's not just a matter of it's helping me manage emotions, anxiety, make sense of all the things that I'm feeling. I've literally generated significant income from things that have come from randomly writing stuff on paper. I've never experienced that before.

Lydia Hurlbut: Yes, and that. And there is something called channeled writing, where, if you're really open to it, you can actually so I'm pretty sure everybody is aware of morning pages from The Artist's Way. I don't know,

Zack Arnold: And if they aren't, this is kind of sort of what we're talking about. But yes, I want to make sure people are familiar with this process.

Lydia Hurlbut: Yes, so the morning pages is just waking up and literally just writing, without any agenda, without any reason, just writing, writing for the sake of it. Um, that is so critical, because, again, it's unfiltered. It is, it is. Your body is just coming alive. And so your brain is not in the habit of really controlling so much yet, because you've literally just awakened. So that is really pure unconscious kind of coming through. And then you can see trends and patterns. That's my most genius time of the day to write honestly. The other thing that happens for me is when I go on walks, and I'm a religious Walker, I love my walks. And the reason that I love my walking is not only to get the morning sunshine, which is so important for us and our mitochondria, by the way, our energy builders in our body, but it. It's because I get creative on these walks. It's almost like a walking meditation, and it's a time when my brain makes connections between things, and I'll be like, Oh, wow. And my curiosity goes crazy, and I'll be like, hey, what about this? Oh, and all of a sudden, and on a walk, is when I put together, and I forgot the third part of the triangle, by the way, it's trauma rigor, so trigger impacts thrust, and so if we're trauma triggered, there is no trust. And this is so important to know. But I put the that triangle together on one of my walks, and I was like, Hey, wait a second. So anyway, it's very important to know that when somebody's going off on set because they're trauma triggered and they don't have trust, there is no point in having a logical conversation because they can't hear you. So you have to wait until that brain calms down and trust is re established, and then you can have that conversation to make amends or do whatever you need to do, but just so everybody knows. But anyway, back to to what we're talking about. The Walking Meditation is amazing for the synchronous, creative ahas and and the aha moments are moments of genius, or that were just like I view them as a gift. And when you have that aha, and the other thing that walking does is it puts me into awe. And awe is one of those emotions that is phenomenal, and it's so good for hope and for the future and just keeping you moving forward. So awe is really, really important to get into and to really focus on creating for yourself.

Zack Arnold: Once again, it's just like you're zooming into my planner and into my brain. The second most important ritual that I have on, I don't want to say daily, seven days a week, but probably six days a week is walking. And it's not just walking because, oh, it's good for your heart, or, Oh, my dog has to go to the bathroom, but it's really good accountability when you have a dog that needs to go for a walk. So probably half of my walks happen because the dog needs it, not because I want to go. But I would say by and large, the majority of the creative work that I do, the creative inspirations, the ideas for newsletters, oh, I'm going to build a master class around this concept, or I'm gonna pivot my business model. All of them happen on a walk. And I can even prove it, because what I have is a library of me talking to myself like a crazy person for hours and hours and hours. So my process is on Sundays, not every Sunday, but most Sundays, I go out for a two or three hour hike, I put on my earbuds, and I turn on voice memo, and I just talk to myself. And I've got all these voice recordings, I've got all these transcripts of me just generating random things. And it could literally be, Oh, I found the meaning of life. Oh, yeah, I have to buy milk, right? Like it's, it's just totally random stuff. And it's for years, it almost became overwhelming to manage some of it. But now chat, GPT comes along, and I say, here's the recording, boom. Here are all your action steps, organized by this class, versus your shopping list versus this versus that. But when I step away and just get outside, and that's one of the great things about Southern California, is that I have awe in my backyard. So I can, you know, go up the hill, hike on a hill, and like, oh, wow, I can see all of the valley, right? But to me, these are two absolutely indispensable rituals, what which, by and large, minus the cost of a journal or, I mean, you can, frankly, write it on a post it note. These are free, right? And what I'm trying to do for myself and for everybody else is find what are those small, actionable steps that I can take if I feel stuck, if there's inertia, if I'm dealing with this fear, journaling, so glad you brought that up. Walking, so glad you brought it up. You are a wealth of information, of self care routines and things that help you creatively flourish. What else have you got?

Lydia Hurlbut: So I think the other thing is, I just have to mention that hope is something. Hope is an emotion that I feel like we are are losing, and it's so important to remain in possibility and hope as a creative because it it helps to generate more creativity if you are feeling disheartened, think how hard it is to create from that space. It's very difficult. It's pull it's pushing the boulder up the hill with like with might and force. And so I think that the i. Loneliness plays into this, and go with me for a second, and that we're so isolated, especially when we're not together on set, or whether, if you're working from home. And and my neighbor and I started talking about this, because she's working from home on her computer all day, and she said, Lydia, you know what? I'm just not exercising enough. I'm not getting out enough. I'm not standing enough. We need to go together and walk and and make sure that we're connecting, because what's happened in our society is that loneliness is an epidemic, and we are indoors. We're not in community. We've lost the social structures where we used to meet, and I think that everybody is so disconnected. And I read today that the Gen Z has their phonophobic so they would prefer to have texts, because they're just not comfortable talking on the phone, because they can't see the person's expression, right? And I was like, What? What? Um, so I think,

Zack Arnold: When did we get so old?

Lydia Hurlbut: So I thought, Okay, this is we've got to come together and friendships and you know, calling colleagues and mentoring are the ways that I remain in hope. Listening to podcasts is one of the most creative things for me, because that really gets my brain going in a connected way

of, Oh, wow. I didn't know that

the curiosity generation is gives rise to hope being really curious. So I think that, again, that's a superpower. I think these things of like really putting in your calendar. Today I'm going to call an old friend. I mean, think about the beauty of just a conversation with no agenda, with an old friend that fills my cup and my heart, somebody I haven't talked to in a long time. But what happens is days go by and months go by and years go by because it's not scheduled, because we we are just not in the habit of doing it. So I'm a big fan of habit stacking and car time, and when I'm in the car, that is my most precious time, to connect with friends, to listen to a podcast, to have it stacked, maybe walking and podcasting, or like you were saying when you're walking, what else could you be doing so that you can can really be fueling your creativity in a way, or doing something that filled you up or helps you? So I think it's it's additive all of this, and do one thing at a time, because there's nothing worse than somebody going, Hey, here's the list of 10 things that you need to add to your routine. And this is so unrealistic,

Zack Arnold: Yeah, but that is every single post you're going to see on every blog and on every social media posting, the 10 things you must do today for x, y, z. And I just, I, I have completely removed myself from that world. I just I don't want to be any part of it. The problem is that long term, sustainable lifestyle change doesn't make billions of dollars. What makes billions of dollars are all the quick fixes, right?

Lydia Hurlbut: The quick fixes? And can I tell you that the hacks and the quick fixes, like I saw this thing, and this is the pet peeve of mine, where it was like, hack your neurotransmitters and hack your you know what? Scientifically that the body is genius in the way that it does what it does. And I think that's like being really presumptive to say that that we can hack our bodies, biochemistry and and wellness, needs to be very careful in the way that it is selling itself and promoting itself. Because, you know, when you really look at the science, it's like, how realistic is this? And so just be careful out there with all the hacks and the quick fixes, because a lot of times they can harm you in a way. And this is what I tell all my clients, you know, check with check with your doctor, your health care professional, somebody before you go go crazy with everything that the wellness community says that you need.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, I couldn't agree more, and this is a conversation for another day. But the brief version is that I never believed in any of the life hacks or the quick fixes the problem is. And the reason why I'm rebranding because the word optimize has been completely co opted by the online bro community of doing all the Broy things to optimize everything, and all the life hacks and all the growth hacks, and like I. Never wanted to be associated with that. And that word has been co opted. And I said, this is not who I am. These are not my values. The brand has got to go which, as you know, sounds great in spirit, but once you're in WordPress and you've got to redirect URLs, you've got to change thumbnails and you need new logos, like it just never ends. And I'm just, I'm at the beginning phase of the, the worst of the, the rebranding pain. But again, that's another conversation for another day. But yeah, where I want to leave it for now? Because I want to be very respectful of your time. They've covered so many, so many great things. But if you were going to leave us with one final idea, one final takeaway, what have we not talked about yet that you're going to be disappointed that we don't talk about before we're done

Lydia Hurlbut: Anything. It is tapping into your intuition and and your spiritual growth journey. I think that this is very personal for me, because my mom's mental illness came out with religion and and fundamentalism, and I, you know, religion and spirituality, I think that everybody is so polarized about and you can't Tell me what to believe or what to feel or what to but the bottom line is, is that we are physical, mental, emotional, spiritual beings. And I think that spirituality is very distinct from religion, and it's really just what is it that we believe, you know, as our spiritual essence. And I think the older in crisis times people rely on their spirituality and their their belief system. And my point is, is that again, we're physical, mental, emotional, spiritual beings, and so just cultivate that part of yourself, whatever that looks like for you. If it is religion, fine. If it is a non religious spiritual tradition, fine. If it is a yoga community, if that's kind of how you fill yourself up, whatever that looks like. But I think that we've ignored it for so long because career has become all encompassing, that we've lost the the essence of ourselves through that asking the bigger questions, asking what's really important to us, and you know, what do we want to do in our lives, and what is our soul's journey? What are, what are we meant to do while we're here on Earth, what are, what are we really passionate about to be in service of these are questions that I really am. I contemplate a lot. I love talking about with people, and I love, you know, if you've been with anybody in the dying process, it is the first thing that comes up kind of a life review. And I think that, again, it's, it's so important to ask ourselves these and not wait until the end of our lives to do it. So that's kind of what's really on my mind right now.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, I love all that. And it kind of brings us back to center, which is bringing back to center. That's kind of the idea that we're talking about, right? Yeah, and the conversation that I've had with so many of my students, I even had it, you know, earlier this morning, with my mastermind students, this idea that when all these things are changing around us, and the myopic focus is, well, this was the career goal, like I was going to work on high profile Netflix shows, right? Like, if that's your compass, you're going to get shaken very, very quickly. Because, like you said, I think that in American culture, career is essentially a religion. It's the religion, right? It's all about entrepreneurship and making money at all costs and without getting political. I mean, that's, that's the religion that's driving the political space that we're in right now is the accumulation of more wealth and more power. It's literally become our religion, right? But at the end of the day, if the compass, if that North Star is I'm going to work on this high profile Netflix series, you're in a world of pain and uncertainty. But if that compass is your values or your center and your spiritual beliefs, that I don't know if I can do what I want to do any more specifically, but I know that I want to surround myself with good people, and I want to tell good stories that are going to have this impact. That can still be your North Star. You just got to find maybe a slightly different way to do it right now, right? It's always about finding that center, and that's, that's the part that you're you're so good at articulating.

Lydia Hurlbut: Well, I really appreciate that, and I, I think I just want to leave your audience with one thought, and that is, you know, we're surrounded by negativity every single day, with the news, with the world, with, you know, our bank account shrieking like everywhere you look. It's negative, and again, just a reminder of what we focus on grows. So don't dwell too heavily on all of this negativity. Really fill yourself up with inspiring, you know, amazing people and direction. And if you're stuck, realize that that's okay. It's okay to be stuck. Every once in a while, it's not the end of the world. And you know, whether you are in your community or our Filmmakers Academy community, reach out to another community member. Just reach out to somebody, because the pain in the world is so great right now, and I think it's the personal connection. It's the having that conversation that can be just life altering, just one conversation with somebody who is positive and inspiring and just opens your mind to think creatively, and, you know, curiosity in one direction, like, oh, wow, or have a good book recommended to you that you might, you know, just read or be gifted a book. I've been really gifting people books, and it's so lovely, um, just do one racket, random act of kindness for somebody, because it could literally change the trajectory of their life. And it's so simple to do, it really is,

Zack Arnold: I would say that that's a wonderful place to leave it today. However, we have not gotten to the shameless self promotion portion of today's program, so I want to make sure I leave people with more information about how they can become involved with filmmaker Academy. I know you've got a bonus or a coupon code for anybody that wants to give it a try, so this is your chance to promote away.

Lydia Hurlbut: Okay, thank you, Zack, I always forget to do this. So this is how I'm staying accountable, and I really appreciate that. So there are multiple ways to join Filmmakers Academy, we would love to have you as a member. And if you would like that, we have a monthly option, and the coupon code for your first month is to get 20 dollars off, and you just put in LYDIA20. So it's L, Y, D, I, A, two zero into the little box on the checkout page, and that gives you 20 dollars off for your first month. And if that is not feasible for you, for whatever reason, we have a free option in our community. So please just come and join in our community, we have an amazing global network, and we would love to have you. And I know that your community and our community Zack will somehow get together with something in the future. And I'm really excited to get to know the members of your community better. If you want to follow me. I'm on Instagram. Just Lydia Hurlbut H, u, r, l, b, u t, that last name is rough.

Zack Arnold: We must really love Shane.

Lydia Hurlbut: I love my husband

but you're not going to believe this. My maiden name was worse, which is why I took curl button. Oh

Zack Arnold: my, wow. I was gonna say it sounds like it's so bad you wouldn't even be willing to share it. So I'll, I'll leave it at that. But, oh,

Lydia Hurlbut: I would. It was Kunkler. Yeah, it was awful. It was awful. Nobody knew how to spell it. Nobody could deal with it. And so, anyway, so but yes, you can reach out to me on Instagram or just go to Filmmakers Academy, and I am in the community there. You can ask me questions there, and it's just filmmakersacademy.com and I would be so honored to connect with any of you.

Zack Arnold: So thank you, everybody listening. Oh, sorry, go

Lydia Hurlbut: ahead. No, no, I just wanted to say thank you so much for the opportunity to come on today, Zack and I always love talking to you. We could go on for hours.

Zack Arnold: The feeling is mutual. And for anybody listening, I wholeheartedly 100% endorse all the work that you're doing in your academy, and hope I could send as many people your way as possible. So on that note, thank you again for taking the time, and I have a feeling there's going to be several offline conversations that follow, so

Lydia Hurlbut: I agree, take good care and have a beautiful weekend.

Zack Arnold: Yes, you too. Okay, bye, bye. You.

Episode Credits

This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared by Debby Germino and published by Glen McNiel.

The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).