In this conversation, Rick MacIvor and Gabby Nistico explore the complexities of change, discussing how people often resist it and the mental hurdles that come with transitions. We share personal experiences of navigating significant life changes, such as shifting careers and overcoming feelings of being stuck. The discussion emphasizes the importance of finding momentum, embracing individuality, and innovating personal systems to enhance productivity and happiness. Ultimately, we encourage listeners to empower themselves through change and to break free from societal norms. Takeaways People generally dislike change, especially when it feels uncontrollable. Change can be overwhelming and lead to mental paralysis. Thoughts and fears about change often aren't based on facts. Personal transitions can create a sense of being stuck or frozen. Finding small ways to start can help overcome inertia. Putting oneself first is crucial during transitions. Innovating personal systems can lead to greater efficiency and happiness. It's important to challenge societal norms and expectations. Empowerment comes from embracing individuality and personal choices. ADHD can be harnessed as a strength in navigating change. Chapters 00:00 Embracing Change: The Struggle and the Journey 04:37 Navigating Personal Transitions: From Voice Acting to Therapy 08:53 Finding Momentum: Overcoming the Freeze 15:15 Innovating Life: Breaking Free from Norms 20:13 Empowerment Through Change: Making It Work for You Transcript: Gabby Nistico (01:00.566) boy. People, I mean people hate change no matter what. Like nobody likes change. Very few people like change. They might think they like change, but I mean ultimately I think the change that they enjoy is change that they have very strong control over and they're like ooh, cause they're excited about it. But change with variables. Yes. Debilitating. Good. Rick MacIvor (01:02.2) Things are changing. Rick MacIvor (01:21.677) Right. Or the idea of change. I like the idea of change. That sounds fun. But when it comes down to it, it's rough. It can be very rough. And I know just on the micro level, my little things about don't like, don't move my stuff. That's change. Right. Or if we have something planned and then plans change that micro thing that really Gabby Nistico (01:30.306) God. Gabby Nistico (01:38.523) Mm. Mm-hmm. Rick MacIvor (01:49.753) you know, is the cheese grater of my brain. I hate it. So I get it. Now I'm looking at a big change. Gabby Nistico (02:00.024) Well, we've talked and it's funny you said, cause we have, we've talked so much about the macro, but this, this really is, or the micro, this is, this is the macro. This is the big boy and. Rick MacIvor (02:04.805) Hmm. Gabby Nistico (02:13.646) Poof. It's even hard to quantify, you know? Like, I mean, because it brings up so many things. I know for me, it's utter hijacking of the normal thought processes. And everything becomes this slurry of what-ifs and what-abouts and trying to predict. outcomes in a way that is so obnoxiously time consuming that no change actually takes place. Rick MacIvor (02:50.423) That is, that is a real thing. Yeah. Gabby Nistico (02:52.532) Mm-hmm. Just it's a lot of thinking about the change but not in a productive way. Yeah Yeah, for sure Mm-hmm Rick MacIvor (02:59.362) God, it's more like ruminating on that kind of thing. Where, what if this and gosh, and how about and what if I get there and my God. And then seize the engine seizes. Pistons freeze up. Gabby Nistico (03:15.288) Yeah, it's a lot of time spent dealing with theoretical cause and effect that might not even manifest. Which is... yeesh. Rick MacIvor (03:23.492) Oh yeah, for 100%. It could probably everything, everything that I'm spinning on in my brain, there is a extremely low probability. However, sometimes thoughts aren't facts. Most of the times thoughts aren't facts. Gabby Nistico (03:29.429) Mm-hmm. Gabby Nistico (03:35.566) And yet we do it anyway. Gabby Nistico (03:44.936) Most of the, yeah, I mean, they're really not. They're just ideas. They're just possibilities. But we get obsessed with them. And it halts any kind of natural, logical movement towards the change. And for a lot of people, it actually backpedals them out of the change, right? because those variables become so intense that they're like, you know what, nevermind. I don't think I want to go down that road. I don't think I want to do that now because, right, it's terrifying. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Rick MacIvor (04:20.067) Yeah, you talk yourself out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So I was telling you right before we started, I've locked, I've been in freeze the last couple of days and today was the first day I got out of it. And I got, I was in freeze because now that I've been accepted into this program and I'm really shifting gears, life gears, right? Career gears, from being a voice actor. Well, I'm still going to do that, but Gabby Nistico (04:29.742) Okay. Rick MacIvor (04:49.067) running a video editing business and a voiceover business to being a student with the goal of being a therapist. That's, that's a big change. And so I've spent the last week ish telling my handful of clients, I am getting out of the business. Gabby Nistico (04:50.574) Mm-hmm. Gabby Nistico (05:01.624) Holy crap is that. Yeah. Gabby Nistico (05:09.294) Mmm. Rick MacIvor (05:17.707) And so I have one client. I have you. You're my last client. I will always edit for you. No matter what. But and the reasoning was I probably could have like tried to because it's night classes, right? I even put my schedule together already. It's Monday, Wednesday, Thursday classes and they go and for three to ten. Right. Gabby Nistico (05:20.75) Woo! Aww thanks. Gabby Nistico (05:31.662) Mm-hmm. Gabby Nistico (05:40.716) and it doesn't start for how many months? Rick MacIvor (05:46.549) I've not been ruminating at all. Gabby Nistico (05:46.572) All right. I mean, good job. mean, good progress, like that's okay. Continue. Rick MacIvor (05:50.563) Good point. Yeah, you don't start till January and now you've been sitting here putting all the bits in your calendar when you have to. Yep. Yep. I did. did that. Rabbit hole. So I've kind of shifted gears out of that. And so I let my clients go. so the last two days, I finished all the work for them. And now I'm kind of Gabby Nistico (06:00.792) home. Rick MacIvor (06:19.944) sat around staring out the window going, wait, what now? What am I, what are we? And today I said, okay, there are things that I wanna do for me. Like we do this podcast, I have episodes to edit and I wanna put video together to put out. I said, I'm gonna work on that. Because I got into that freeze mode of total lockup. Gabby Nistico (06:27.054) Mmm. Gabby Nistico (06:38.03) Okay. Gabby Nistico (06:41.324) Mm-hmm. Gabby Nistico (06:46.669) Yeah. Rick MacIvor (06:48.886) Even though I had some things to do, just it was weird and like the change kind of froze me. Gabby Nistico (06:54.222) Now, do you think that if, mean, again, hypothetically speaking, if there was someone who was able to say to you, okay, the next thing you need to do is this, would, do you think that that would have unstuck you from the freeze or? No. Wow. Rick MacIvor (07:13.024) No. I, cause I had a list. have a list. I have a list on a piece of paper and I have a digital list and I have a list on my whiteboard back there. have lists all over my damn house. So it's not that I didn't logically know that I need to do stuff. It's that I have to get started, but everything has is different and all the things I'm used to my routine again, it's the change. It just, I just went. Gabby Nistico (07:17.329) Mm. Mm. Gabby Nistico (07:24.386) The list has a list, Yeah, okay. Gabby Nistico (07:40.846) Hmm. Rick MacIvor (07:43.552) and just kind of deer in headlight kind of situation. So then I sat down this morning and I'm like, I'm just going to edit one video for me because I hadn't put that as, you know, it's one of those also those things like you don't put yourself at the top of the list for things to do for yourself because I have, I used to have all these other clients and they are much more important than I am. So I'm going to edit all their stuff first. And now that's different. And so you, Gabby Nistico (07:46.851) Wow. Gabby Nistico (07:53.443) Yeah. Gabby Nistico (08:11.618) And that's a huge part of it because that's exactly what you've done. You've put yourself at the top of the list and you've made these changes for you, but that means that you don't have anybody else to be accountable to right now. And whoa, yipes. Rick MacIvor (08:29.96) Right. And so I sat down this morning and I've started editing some videos from the podcast and wanting to put stuff out and I'm like, yeah, I like this. This is fun. And I had up to the two minutes before we started recording. I, I have been editing. I'm like, okay, this, I remember, yeah, I like this. I know why I did this now. Right. So it's just, it's a, like I was saying, it's a mindset shift because Gabby Nistico (08:47.896) Wow. Gabby Nistico (08:52.11) Hmm. Gabby Nistico (08:57.528) Yeah, for sure. Rick MacIvor (08:58.943) I'm putting myself and my stuff that I think is important for me in the front of the line. Because there's no more line. Yeah. Gabby Nistico (09:05.4) That's a lot. Gabby Nistico (09:09.582) That's such a, it's such an oddly, it should be a liberating feeling, but I find that it's not for many of us. It doesn't have that effect. It's not liberating the way we think it'll be. It actually creates so much more distress, just a distress of a different kind. Yeah. Rick MacIvor (09:16.021) Mm-hmm. Rick MacIvor (09:22.666) What do mean? Rick MacIvor (09:40.289) Yeah. Gabby Nistico (09:40.438) Wow. So in that process of unsticking yourself, okay, you said you just decided to sit down wit
