Listen
Show Notes
Our special guest today is Katie Krimitsos, the creator of Women’s Meditation Network, a successful podcaster, a writer, and a dedicated mother. She has a deep connection with nature, love for animals, and is a devoted wife. Join us as we delve into Katie’s journey to help women use the tool of meditation to know themselves and consciously create lives they love. Katie has infectious energy and is such a great example of a positive way in which to utilize content both as a business and as a consumer.
In this episode you will hear:
- The creation of the Women’s Meditiation Network.
- Challenges to transitioning businesses and starting up a podcast.
- Saying “yes” and “no” to the right things.
- Creating a business model to give you time freedom.
- Living your dreams and listening to your intuition.
- Utilizing meditation to learn and connect with yourself to better hear your inner voice.
- Minimizing notifications and tech and maximizing your time in nature.
Connect with Katie Krimitsos:
Website: https://womensmeditationnetwork.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiekrimitsos/
Podcasts: http://womensmeditationnetwork.com/podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLe0M8e_1eZ2CdI89IafFtA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiekrimitsos/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/katiekrimitsos
Connect with R Blank and Stephanie Warner:
For more Healthier Tech Podcast episodes, and to download our Healthier Tech Quick Start Guide, visit https://www.healthiertech.co and follow https://instagram.com/healthiertech
Additional Links:
- Shield Your Body website: https://ShieldYourBody.com
- Shield Your Body Youtube Channel: https://youtube.com/shieldyourbody
- Host R Blank on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rblank9/
- Shield Your Body on Instagram:https://instagram.com/shieldyourbody
Transcript
Katie Krimitsos 0:00
I’m gonna dangle in front of you, I’m gonna tease you with better sleep more calm, feeling a sense of relaxation, yes, because you’re gonna get all those things. But ultimately, for any of us who have done meditation, in whatever you regular, imperfect practice that we’ve done, ultimately, what ends up happening is my true desire it is, you are creating a space to pause and to get to know yourself a lot better. And when you really get to know yourself, you then start creating a life that you love, because you actually start listening to that voice rather than all the noise out in the world.
Announcer 0:34
Welcome to the healthier tech podcast, the show about building a healthier relationship with modern technology. Now, here are your hosts, R blank and Stephanie Warner.
R Blank 0:46
So on today’s show, we’re welcoming Katie krumitz. us this, it’s got to be the highest energy interview we have done. This is a complete joy. I know the listeners, I know it’s just going to be infectious, how much energy there is in the talk, and our listeners are going to love it. And I really like a that this is such a great example of a positive way in which to utilise content both as a business and as a consumer and be Katie’s insight into how to approach doing more by doing less, which was a focus of later in the conversation.
Stephanie Warner 1:21
Yeah, it was really great. I really appreciate her coming on and sharing her experience and her knowledge and I loved I did not expect and I also love that this we talked about business and and creating these businesses. We talked about meditation, and it’s it was just a really well rounded fun conversation. She’s just a delight. So yeah, let’s do it.
R Blank 1:45
Let’s do it. Today, we have a special guest, Katie krumitz, us the creator of women’s meditation network, she’s a true inspiration and a woman of many talents. Not only is she a successful podcaster, with 10, guided meditation podcasts in her network, but she’s also a writer at heart and a dedicated mother. She has a deep connection with nature of love for animals, and is a devoted wife. So join us as we delve into Katie’s journey to help women use the tool of meditation to know themselves and consciously create lives they love. welcome Katie to the healthier tech podcast.
Katie Krimitsos 2:24
Hey, how’s it going? I’m so excited to be here. Yeah.
R Blank 2:28
The listeners don’t know. But before this, we were chatting and I was commenting on just how happy you seem just as soon as you got into the room, and then you stood up and showed us that your shirt says happy and big letters. Yeah, and for those of you listening on on a podcast, you can actually check that out on our YouTube channel. So how did you have them happy? So oh, wait, we don’t we can’t afford the rights clearance.
Katie Krimitsos 3:02
Are you probably can’t afford my voice. Like I’m really bad, either.
R Blank 3:07
So how did you get into the field of meditation and mindfulness?
Katie Krimitsos 3:13
I started meditating, or I should say, discovered meditation when I was about I think I was 19 years old. And I was taking a yoga class at Arizona State. And you know, the, the very last five or 10 minutes of yoga was this guided meditation. And I just very distinctly remember being wowed by the experience, not because it was this big giant, like, Oh my God, I feel. But because it was the first time that I can recall that my mind had actually slowed down a little bit. And my whole body just felt very, just really calm in a way it really never had before. So that was my first interest in it. And then, you know, basically, all of these years later, like I’m 44 Now I have just been a consumer of meditation I’ve been a seeker of, of the practice of meditation, always imperfectly, I am I’m definitely not nor have I ever been one of those people who wakes up at 5am and sits on a meditation pillow with incense burning, and perfect erect, you know, sitting position and meditating for an hour with a blank mind. Like that is never been me. But I I have absolutely seen how impactful over time meditation has been for me. So I became a podcaster in 2014. And I had a podcast back then it was a business show called biz women rock where I interviewed other amazing successful business women. And it was a really successful show it you know, gave birth to a very successful coaching business for me. And I have this really intimate community of incredible women who I have the pleasure of supporting and their business journeys and I loved it and it was amazing. It was a really tough During it first because I was sort of figuring things out. And then, you know, pretty soon I was sort of humming along, and I sort of had, you know, the formula, if you will, on really how I was growing and what I was planning to do, and I loved it. And in early 2018, I had come up with this, I had just hit like six figures a final the year before I was like on it. And, and so I was like, Okay, I’m going to triple business this year, I know exactly what programmes I’m running out rolling out, I know exactly who’s going to be in them, like, like I am on it. And fast forward. Now, it’s April of that same year, and I find out we’re pregnant with my second daughter, wow, in a heartbeat, in a heartbeat. I don’t want that business. I don’t know why, just immediately, my intuition was like, done, we’re done. Don’t want it anymore, which was very terrifying. Because that business model was one that required me to be the brand, it required me to show up. And so all of a sudden, I was like, I don’t want it. I have clients already, I literally, I remember I had just put the deposit down. But I never got back, I just put the deposit down for the venue of the live event I was going to have in like two or three months. And I like the following week was going to be the week that I started marketing for it. And I was just like, done. No. And it was very scary. So for the next few weeks, basically, almost two months, I just promised myself that I wouldn’t make a big decision, and just allowed myself to sort of be in the silence, if you will, like I kind of maintained the clientele I had, I made I didn’t launch anything new i i kept kind of showing up at bare minimum. And then I just allowed myself to just sort of like get really introspective and say like, what, if this is not what I want, what do I want. And I would go on walks with my husband every single day and one day I’d be like, I am Superwoman, I can make this work, a baby’s not gonna stop me, it’s gonna make me it would have been two kids, right? So and then the next day be like, I’m giving it all up, I’m gonna be I’m gonna be a stay at home mom, that’s it. I’m done with this. And, um, and so few weeks into this, you know, daily vomiting process of emotions. My, my lovely husband, who was who is an angel and was just had been listening to me over and over again, says to me, you know, I’ve sort of done my little verbal thing of the day. And there’s this kind of silence. He’s like, What about the meditation idea? And I said, Well, what about it? Is that
R Blank 7:38
his way of telling you to chill out? Right?
Katie Krimitsos 7:42
You do not tell that to a pregnant lady. What he was referring to was back in January of that year, this time when I was like, Yes, I’m tripling business. I was, I was doing this big giant, like yearly plan and sort of putting the final touches on that. And in that plan, I had actually thought about a meditation podcast for women. And I did nothing with it, because it didn’t really fit in the model of my business. But my husband and I both sort of took note, back in January, like that’s a that’s a good idea. But I did nothing with it. So now fast forward, here we are in May of that same year of 2018. And he’s saying, what about that meditation idea? And I’m like, Well, what about it? And he’s like, What about it? That was, yeah, that was the seed that planted for the women’s meditation network. And it allowed this very clear and sacred space that was very non judgmental, very, like, clear of any expectation. It just allowed that seed to kind of grow a little bit and say, like, what could this thing be? And we were well versed enough in podcasting to have looked at the landscape already. And disbelievingly said, I can’t believe this space isn’t taken up already. There was one other podcast out there that you know, if you’d put in the terms women in meditation, one podcast existed, so I was like, I can’t believe
Stephanie Warner 9:06
this surprising.
Katie Krimitsos 9:08
Very disappointing, but very surprising. And I was like, Oh, I’m, I’m, I’m, this is me. I’m going to be the the giant, right, this tree like I’m gonna I have something to contribute here. for that. That grouping of people. And I’m gonna do it big. So yeah, yeah. Oh, sorry. I
Stephanie Warner 9:25
was gonna I was gonna say it sounds like you’re kind of you got to pioneer this, which is really that’s really exciting. Because we don’t You don’t see that very often. There’s always, you know, there’s there’s so much great content out. So that’s, that’s awesome that you got to pioneer it. Can you tell us a little bit about what some of the challenges were to, you know, to starting this effort to starting the network and the podcast and
Katie Krimitsos 9:49
yeah, you know, I, I did not have the challenges that a normal StartUp podcast would have be like the tech, you know how to create a programme schedule. How Gotta show up to the mic because I had already had a podcasting history. So there was a lot that I did not need to overcome, which was amazing. But the the parts that were challenging was a couple fold. Number one is mostly the mindset and the mentality of who am I to create guided meditations, so much impostor syndrome, I don’t have a degree or any certificate from any school of meditation, like, I just have been a part of a practitioner of meditation for so long. But I, I can write, and I have things to say that I want women to be able to hear. So let me just practice that. So it was, you know, the immediate challenges were really the Who am I to do this and just moving forward despite that, and really transcending a lot of that stuff. And, and then it became, you know, the challenges were the very realistic challenges of having being in the season of having two kids, two businesses, because there was about a year and a half that I managed all of those things all at once. So, you know, while I was, I had decided, you know, when I knew that this was going to be the idea and that I was going to move forward with it, I decided not to launch any of those other big programmes that I had decided on, right. And instead just to maintain like, okay, coaching, that’s the one thing that I could do. Let me do that, you know, continue being pregnant had my baby, was it, you know, it was in the space of having a, an infant and a toddler, two and a half year old, three year old, and then kind of that first year of the, oh, my god, like just surviving that season, right, and still maintaining the old podcast, the old business and the new podcast, and that whatever that new business was becoming? So those were the immediate challenges of making that transition.
Stephanie Warner 11:48
Right. Right. That’s, that’s fascinating. And, you know, you’re doing so many things all at once. And it seems like this kind of natural evolution, but can you talk about kind of how this, how you went from your past business to what you’re doing? Now? What was the what did that evolution look like?
Katie Krimitsos 12:06
Yeah, so a couple of strategic things. Number one is that I was very conscious that I wanted to leverage the current community that I had the current listenership in order to seed the new podcasts and the new business. And it was, it was a little tricky, because it wasn’t an it wasn’t like a non sequitur, like it, or it was a non sequitur, it didn’t feel it’s like, okay, are you interested in business? Or do you like meditation, like they seemed completely off, right. But I knew that there was a percentage of listeners of my, my old brand that meditated, that that really enjoyed it, or at least loved me enough to try and wanted to support. So in the beginning, I did things like, you know, when I first launched meditation for women is the name of the original podcast that I have. And so that was back in summer of 2018, that I launched that. And so what I did is I had a contest, and I basically said, Hey, for anyone who goes and you know, does does the thing like rates and reviews, you know, shares it, all that sort of stuff subscribes, I will give you a free half an hour of my consulting time. And we’ll see how that goes. Strategically that did two things. Number one, it it, you know, seeded my original, my first show, and then it also sort of gave me a nice little pipeline of potential, you know, one on one clients that I still wanted to have. So that was really powerful, and immediately got people over there listening. And then, and then it was more about what I was saying no to in that transition, versus what I was, and how I was structuring the yeses. So I’ll give you examples of that. I had mentioned earlier that I decided I said no to all the new things to launch, which was a very scary thing, because I knew revenue was going to come down. And that was very scary. But I knew the things I said yes to like the coaching, I needed to repackage in a way that could be financially supportive while I was doing this transition. So I, you know, coaching is a little bit of a slog, and a marketing slog in the sense of like, Okay, I’m getting people into sort of like these types of packages for X amount of weeks or months long, and I’m constantly sort of re doing that all the time. So what I came up with was, you know, before I had my baby was, I’m going to do a year long coaching programme, I’ve earned enough, you know, I’ve earned enough stripes in the years past to feel like I have a good amount of people who would say yes to this, and it was a high price item. And so, and I knew like if I do this for a year, I don’t have to mark it. I don’t have to, like bring new people in and in that first year of baby, which I’m not going to have too many brains or energy really for that. That’s how I can maximise that. So that’s what I ended up doing. Which allowed literally everything else that I had said yes to it or slow down so it could all get focused in on this. Now I only ended up with like three members in that but those three people were there consistent Ain’t consistent time I could rely on the time I could rely on the revenue coming in. And I didn’t have to push out anything new. So the responsibilities for the old business became very minor, which was a blessing, which is really what I wanted. And then even, you know, for the women’s meditation network, again, it was about what I said yes. And what I said no to the women’s meditation network as a whole really did not make money for its first three years, and we’re only four and a half years old. So probably about two and a half. I mean, we were making money, but we weren’t really profitable until about three years in. And so and not even were we not profitable. We were like, we were like spending money on it. Right. Like, I like refinanced my house in order to take out cash to like, put into that business. Right. So yeah, because I believed in it that much. And it was growing, and I knew it, I knew it had the wings. So um, so I remember being on calls, you know, with a business buddy at the time, and I’m like, Oh, my God, like feeling the stress of the finances, right? And I’m like, Okay, I could, maybe you could like launch like a meditation, how to meditate programme or 30 days meditation, these, like more high ticket items that I was used to doing. And she was beautiful, and reflected back to me and said, Katie, you are welcome to do that. You know how to do that. You do that very well. But I want to remind you of the goals that you had, at the beginning of this business, you wanted a business that didn’t demand that didn’t demand your time like that you wanted a business that gave you true time freedom, which was one of the reasons I created this business and this business model. Yeah. And if you do that, which you can, you’re, you’re not choosing that. And so I very consciously was like, Okay, no, I’m not going to do that, I’m going to continue to be in the red for a little while, to believe and to play into, and to make sure I’m telling the universe out there that no, this is what I want. I’m dedicated to it. And, but when that needle threaded it, you know, it definitely flipped,
R Blank 17:01
responsible for business in the red is definitely stressful. And from what I’m hearing from you, is a lot of faith in in your dream, and I was reading about you and your story. And I gather that in college, there was a guy who said something to you that having dreams would set you would only set you up for failure. And that led you to be discouraged for a while. And when I read that I was reminded there’s a there’s a line that I used to be when I was growing up, I was a big Simpsons fan. And there’s a line once where I think it’s Homer talking to BART. And he says trying is the first step towards failure. And so I’m wondering, right, because you went from being discouraged in your college years to now having tremendous optimism and faith in what what why do you think a comment like given obviously, that you have this potential for so much energy and belief in yourself? Why do you think that a single comment like that could have such a major impact on you, and what eventually served as your wake up call?
Katie Krimitsos 18:08
Number one, that was my brother. I love and he’s a human being. And I respect him a lot. So that there was a lot of stock I took in who my brother was, and the things he said, I have since learned, you know who he is, and I love a he’s a beautiful man. And I’ve, I’ve recognised some of those differences. So that’s, that’s a lot. But that comment, shut me up for 10 years plus. And it wasn’t until I met my husband, my now husband, Chris, who was a fellow dreamer. And I didn’t before I met him, I was sort of on that the path of like, go get a job and you know, work in corporate and maybe the answer to my happiness is just the better job. Maybe it’s a different industry. Like it was the finding, like there’s something out here in the regular world that I’m searching for. And then I met him. And you know, he was somebody who had just like, my husband has been following his dreams since he was a baby. And it has, it has brought him on amazing highs and it’s kicked him down very low. And he doesn’t know anything else. Like that’s what he does. And so he’s developed in this incredible dexterity and resilience. And the light you see in him is so obvious, like so when I met him, I was just like, wow, like that’s, I didn’t know that that was possible, right? Like my parents definitely always taught us like, follow, follow what you love and the money will always worked out, right, follow your heart. Everything always works out as long as you follow what you really want to do and who you really are. And so there was that but then, but then here’s this man who is actually living it in real life like it and so it was this eye opener for me to be like Okay, and so it, it ended up just being a lot of practice. Have me following and believe me, I definitely had an enormous amount of practice prior to him of like, following my intuition and like, I that’s the not popular decision. But that feels like the right one. Like, I remember making some big adult, you know, decisions in my life at a very young age. And it always worked out, right. So I had that muscle built. But when I met him, I just like took it up in a giant notch. And all of a sudden, I was like, oh, like, Oh, I get to script this whole thing. Like, there’s nothing I have to do. I can create it. And so it’s been a gazillion baby steps along the way. But a lot of that muscle has been built up. So by the time this experience happened, I was in I heard that intuition of like, Hey, Katie, completely dropped the business that supports your entire family and go start something new. You have no right to do it. I’m like, Okay, I got it. I know. I know your voice. I know what you’re I know what I don’t know exactly what’s on the other side. But I trust you.
R Blank 20:58
Yeah. If you build it, they will Oh.
Stephanie Warner 21:04
Yes, exactly. I love I love that you have an example of like, what dreaming like, you had another dreamer who was doing it. So you have that example, to kind of give you the permission and the freedom to explore more. And I’d love to know, I’d like to kind of know a little bit more about what the woman’s what the woman meditation network is, and how that you’ve taken that and impacted other women.
Katie Krimitsos 21:30
Yeah. So the women’s meditation network is basically a producer of meditations and content. That’s really who we are. We are a media company. I kind of look at us as like a publishing house, we just happen to be really heavy in the podcasting space at this moment. There’s definitely potential for a lot of the other arenas. And so we currently actually have 11 podcasts, we just launched our level
R Blank 21:54
one, yeah, change since the intro was right.
Katie Krimitsos 22:00
Here, yeah, so. So I, I see the network as providing little pieces of love, and light out into the world that can feel really dark and full of hate sometimes. And so it’s, it’s up to me to create these products, these, you know, these final products are these mp3 files, these meditations that get delivered on whatever meditation or whatever, you know, app you’re listening to. And, you know, my goal in the content, and the product that’s being delivered is to allow the women listening to, you know, I’m going to, I’m going to dangle in front of you, I’m gonna teach you with better sleep, more calm, feeling a sense of relaxation, yes, because you’re gonna get all those things. But ultimately, for any of us who have done meditation, and whatever, you regular, imperfect practice that we’ve done, ultimately, what ends up happening is my true desire it is you are creating a space to pause and to get to know yourself a lot better. And when you really get to know yourself, you then start creating a life that you love, because you actually start listening to that voice, rather than all the noise out in the world. So so, you know, the women’s meditation network, as a company is the mass producer of high quality and high quantity meditations and content and sounds, that allows more and more women to have access to that.
R Blank 23:27
That’s, that’s, that’s great. And it’s just funny the timing on this, because you’re saying, you know, when you slow down, when you calm down, it creates the space for for bigger and broader ideas. And, and that spirit, and Stephanie can tell you, I was just actually telling the team that today not not in terms of meditation, but in terms of agile planning for the for the company, we need to be planning, you guys need to be planning to do less because that’s what creates the space for these bigger ideas. And this is a really, for those who I’m looking at. So if you see me looking away, it’s because I’m on multiple screens and I have your website open, it’s women’s meditation network.com all the podcasts are there, it’s a really impressive array. And it’s such a you know, it’s cuz on this on this show, we talk about uses of tech that may be unhealthy. And then also certain uses of tech that are I think, fantastic uses of tech and when you take a phone, which you know if it has Facebook or Instagram loaded on it is a is a stress and anxiety inducing device. And instead you load up one of your podcasts, you’ve now turned that device into into something that that actually counteracts a lot of the other impacts of the phone itself. And because it’s a podcast, it can be downloaded and listened to an aeroplane mode so people don’t have to be interrupted or get notifications or SMS updates or anything like that. So I really like that but As we talked about just before the show, right, we also like talking about, I mean, some of the people who are most active in seeking out meditation, they are trying to overcome some of the stresses and anxieties that that that, that that that have resulted from their interaction in the daily world, which includes technology. So I guess what I’m trying to ask you is, you know, because you have you’ve built a community, and what are you hearing from your community about how they feel about technology, even if they’re not explicitly saying, you know, my phone is doing X to me, you know, what, what are what are the sensations and the emotions that that people in your community are feeling that, that that are coming from their experiences with technology?
Katie Krimitsos 25:49
Yeah, great question. And I will tell you what I hear by answering what I what kind of meditations I’ve written for them. So the kinds of meditations I’ve written for them, because I’ve been either asked directly for it or because it’s been the rumbling out there is a social media detox meditation. You know, a news detox, like a lot of detox. Yes, yeah. You’re getting specific requests for Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And a lot of praise afterwards of like, Oh, my God, I needed that. Thank you. Like, you know, a news detox type of meditation. So
R Blank 26:24
So Do what so you, when you get those requests in, do you pick one of your almost baker’s dozen of shows that it fits in? Or do you think, Oh, maybe I should do a whole new show for this? Ah,
Katie Krimitsos 26:36
good question. So my brain is always thinking about it, because I want to keep growing. But no, typically, what I’ll do is I will, I will start writing it, I usually actually start with meditation for women, that’s the original show, because that that show is sort of has like a little bit of everything. So I feel like I can sort of test it there. And then you know, if it’s one that might be more specific to sleep, oh, hey, I can’t sleep because my mind’s you know, on social media, or whatever it is, then I’ve definitely put ones over there simultaneously. So but but a very close sister to the actual tech that I write to a lot is those feelings that arise when you’re on tech, too much overwhelm, comparison. Not good enough. You know, just a gazillion things going on in your brain. You know, so much energy in your body, you can’t sleep even though your body’s exhausted. I mean, I have I literally have a meditation called know, when you’re, when you’re exhausted, but can’t sleep. That’s the title of the meditation. And it’s like
R Blank 27:44
me every night, everybody every night, increasingly, yeah,
Katie Krimitsos 27:48
so I really I want to, and I literally, anytime anyone gives me a request, I will write it, I’ll be like, Yep, I’ll write it for you like, because I want to make sure that they they’re, they’re getting that, that I’m responding to them. And I really hear them and feel them. And also, because whatever they’re telling me is so universal. And my job then is to just put it in words that can universalize it for everyone.
R Blank 28:13
That’s the so that was really inspiring. I kind of wished we’d started with this topic, the. But we had to obviously set the groundwork for it. The the social media and the news, the social media we hear about all the time, but as I’ve said before, so anyone who’s listened to this podcast for a while knows, I haven’t been on social media in about eight years. But the news I last year started to realise had become an issue for me with my phone. And so first I stopped listening to news in the morning, but more recently, and basically at all. So now I only read news. And then the bigger thing step that I took, and I took it more recently was I uninstalled smart news off of my phone. I don’t know if you know that app. It’s like news on crack. And so it’s like everything bad about Facebook brought to news. And like the instance of the infinite scrolling. I know. But you get addicted to it. Anyway, I uninstalled it. And then I went out. And I found a bunch of apps that only publish good news. And because they’re, you know, Bill, they’ll release only like five stories a day or something like, and so it’s not an infinite scroll. If I have a hankering to get some news, I’ll load it up. I know, it’ll be short. I know it’ll be positive. And so I recently I was telling Stephanie, this and Rajul, who we had on a show recently that I’ve done this, and I could feel the difference right away. So these detoxes really do work if they put in the enforcement mechanism. So like if someone comes to you and says, now that I’ve just turned your story about you into one about me, let’s know.
Katie Krimitsos 29:52
It all makes sense. It’s a universal. So if someone comes
R Blank 29:54
to you and says, I want to news detox meditation, like how do you how do you change turn that off? Last into an episode.
Katie Krimitsos 30:03
Well, I will sort of personalise it for me Well, I don’t I don’t do news like I just haven’t I I’ve always hated news my entire life. So like, we don’t even have cable in our house like we every we have a TV but it only streams like Disney right or like whatever child’s stuff that we need for movies. So I have to I live in Florida, I have to rely on my dad who lives in Arizona who’s addicted to the Weather Channel and will tell me if a hurricane is coming. That’s my, that’s my level of connection with news. So I will do my best to sort of personalise it. And because I do know that feeling of being overwhelmed by information, and knowing that that information has energy. And I think that we all can remember how we felt, you know, right when the pandemic started. And that was like, the only time that I can recall being really like, Oh, my God, I’m letting this stuff come in, because I feel like I kind of need to, but then knowing like, there was this moment where like, ah, like, we need to cut this off, I need to bubble myself like that. And that was right for me. Right. So. So I, what I tried to do is always personalise it so that I can, I can show not tell, that’s like cadence of writing, right? I want to show you how this feeling feels. And then I want to show you how it can guide you through an experience that will allow you to sort of like, capture it, and then let it go. And I’m going to use sometimes I use very physical, you know, talks, and guidance in order to do that relaxing your body imagining, you know that all of it, you know, the breathing is in is gathering it all up, the breathing out is letting it go. So sometimes I use that very physical imagery. And sometimes it’s a visualisation of just getting into a more calmer space or spot. And sometimes it, it is just my relaxing voice sort of telling you what I think about it, and how you are good, and beautiful. And okay, despite all of this other stuff that you’re feeling. So I’m a very visual person. So usually what ends up coming up with some sort of visual of what that representation is, what that feeling feels like, and then what it feels like to let go of that and not have that feeling. And that’s the experience I’m giving you. Great, great, so.
Stephanie Warner 32:13
So I love how you kind of embody the issue and whether it’s something that you you know, news was something that you’ve already kind of cut out to, you know, a large degree in your own life? Can you share some other kind of personal behaviours and practices as it comes to your tech use? And, and how you kind of manage?
Katie Krimitsos 32:33
Yes, I’m so glad you asked me this question. Because no one asked this question. And I’m, I am very proud of how I manage tech, actually, literally, almost every notification on my phone is off. I do not pay. Yeah, the only notifications I get are from my calendar. And then like my team talks on WhatsApp, so I get those notifications, Asana, my team talks on Asana, so I get those notifications. None of them are overwhelming, like none of them. You know, this is sort of like, I needed to know that, you know, I needed to know when this meeting was 10 minutes in advance, right? So but social media notifications are off, email notifications are off anything that would bring up any sense of I need to go do that thing is off. So yeah, and then, you know, even around again, around my house, like we don’t have a lot of tech in the house, we definitely have a TV we definitely watch, you know, movies, or whatever, streaming shows with the kids regularly. But even we even manage that, like there’s, you know, like, I’m very, I’m not the whole kids only get half an hour of screen time every day. Like that’s not me. But there’s a natural sense that my husband and I have about like, you know, is this and some days, we don’t watch anything, some days, we watch a lot, because that’s how it goes that day. And so there’s that we play a lot outside, I am outside a lot. And I put this in the tech conversation, because I feel like it’s the antithesis of tech. And so it is very important to sort of reconnect with nature so that you can handle tech in a very holistic way in a very like intentional way. So I am in nature a lot my feet are in the grass or in the dirt where I’m going on walks a lot with my husband out in nature, I’m in the sun a lot as you can tell, that to me is is just as important as to what I say no to with tech.
R Blank 34:24
That’s right. Yeah. Because a that’s, that’s important. There’s there’s a growing body of science showing the positive impact of just exposing yourself just to looking at nature, much less being in it, but it’s also an example of finding replacements. Like when I was giving the example of smart news, I didn’t say I just deleted it and hoped for the best I said I deleted it and I looked for something else I could do in its place to sort and so replacement is a big part of making any of these tactics successful. And I really liked the way that you approach it. I mean, this is obviously something that you think a lot about. Yeah, sounds like yeah, Like you said, you were waiting for someone to ask you that question. So I’m glad that we could do that and the answer came out. Another thing I read is that a favourite motivational quote of yours is stay in your lane. Now, I’ve definitely heard that quote before, often, someone telling me I shouldn’t be interfering. But so I know what it means to me. Yeah. But I never would have thought of it as a motivational quote. So can you kind of kind of contextualise that for me?
Katie Krimitsos 35:31
Yeah, I don’t know, when the hell I said that. But let’s, let’s make that work for now. Work for now. Because I mean, I would imagine it’s very true. So I’m somebody who I guess the way that I typically would look at that is that I’m the opposite of my husband, my husband needs 12 things going on at once, in order to like, keep moving and like he loves that juggle he, I get overwhelmed by it. If I have more than two things on my plate at once, I’m very, very overwhelmed. I kind of freak out and I freeze. So for me, that phrase is more about staying focused, and, and being going deeper into who I am and what I’m doing. And and again, I mean, this conversation keeps coming back in circles in that like, it’s about saying nose to it’s about identifying the nose, identifying the boundaries, so that I can say deeper yeses to the, to the big yeses. You know, I’m very clear that being a mom and having quality time with my children, is one of the biggest values of mine. And so staying in my lane there means what decisions Am I making? How does that value show up on my calendar? And how am I actually making quality time for my kids? How am I actually doing my best to shut off a boundary of of work at a certain time so that I can have that time when I created this entire business? So that I could have time freedom. So how am I making sure that I actually have that time freedom so so that might be a kind of a non traditional definition of that particular quote, but
R Blank 37:02
no, I totally see it. Yeah, totally see it and hear oh, yeah,
Stephanie Warner 37:06
I’m sorry, one second, what I have to interject what I hear is not stay in your lane, I hear stay in the lane. And instead of going all over the place, so I have
Katie Krimitsos 37:17
nothing to do with anyone else like yeah, no, it has to do with me, like how am I staying in the lane, this lane that I’m choosing to be on that I’ve chosen, and I’ve completely, you know, put all these pieces together to make my lane look like this. So how am I making sure to go into that deeper and deeper,
R Blank 37:33
do more, by doing less, be happier by doing less. And I really liked that kind of as an end note here, because I do feel like myself included speaking from personal experience, but a lot of us start our businesses with the hope of the goal of taking control over our time, and then the business ends up controlling your time. And you’ve you’ve kind of you feel hopeless like they’re like x and y and z has to change before I can reclaim my time. And by the time you achieve x, then A, B and C are on that list. And the list keeps growing and you are further and further away from your goal. And so I really, really appreciate you kind of sharing that that emphasis. So I’m glad I asked that question. Even though, like if I guess it felt a little like an ambush. I guess. I’m not intended that way. So
Katie Krimitsos 38:27
if I have things from my past is there anything from your past we should stay away from? I was like, Ooh, let’s bring them a
R Blank 38:36
team of researchers. Katie, I have a team of researchers we go deep. I love. Katie, were obviously we mentioned women’s meditation network.com. And we would we’ll link to that from the show notes. And we recommend all of our listeners go there. Is there anywhere else that you would like our listeners to connect with you and your content?
Katie Krimitsos 38:58
Yeah. So whatever podcast player you might be listening on right now, or we’re watching on right now. Just go and search for women’s meditation network or meditation for women, either one of those phrases will pull up every single one of our shows. And you can listen there. Personally, I’m on Instagram really, that’s kind of the only social media place that I like to pop on every once in a while. So you can find me there at Katy permisos. We also have women’s meditation network on Instagram as well and across all social platforms. But as for me, in my eyes, I tend to just be on Instagram.
R Blank 39:32
Excellent. Thank you. And we’ll include links to all of those in the show notes. So Katie, thank you so much for taking time out of your day today to come join us on the healthier tech podcast this I mean, again, our listeners unless you’re watching on YouTube, you won’t see it but I am smiling ear to ear. This has been such a joyful interview. And Katie, you’ve been a wonderful guest.
Katie Krimitsos 39:52
You guys. Thank you so much. It’s been such a pleasure. Such a great conversation. Thank you.
Announcer 39:58
Thank you so much for listening. into this episode of the healthier tech podcast. Remember to check the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in the show. Please like and subscribe to the healthier tech podcast on Apple, Spotify or your podcast platform of choice. Get your free quickstart guide to building a healthy relationship with technology and our latest information at healthier tech.co
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
