Every Conversation Matters with Dr. Keith McNally | RR262
I'm thrilled to speak to Dr. Keith McNally, a US Marine, educator, and a three-time podcast creator. He opens up about his battles with PTSD, including two attempted suicides and a heart attack. But here's the thing – instead of letting those dark moments define him, he found a way to turn his life around. Dr. Keith shares how COVID-19, which initially plunged him into despair, led him to reach out to strangers on LinkedIn, fostering meaningful connections that transformed his life.
And get this – Dr. Keith's mission doesn't stop at personal growth. He's gearing up for an epic thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2025, all in the name of suicide prevention and supporting at-risk veterans. This episode is filled with inspiration, resilience, and the power of genuine connections in navigating life's challenges.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How a supportive community can be the difference during difficult times.
- About the power of building meaningful connections through personal development and relationship-building strategies
- The importance of self-care and nature for mental well-being
- Every conversation has value
- About Dr. Keith’s project: Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail for personal transformation and raising awareness for mental health
You can reach Dr. Keith at: mcnally.keith@yahoo.com
Website: www.drkeithmcnally.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKeithMcNally
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkeithmcnally/
A little about me:
I began my career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years, and then found my niche training & supporting business owners, entrepreneurs & sales professionals to network at a world-class level. My passion is working with motivated people, who are coachable and who want to build their businesses through relationship marketing and networking (online & offline). I help my clients create retention strategies, grow through referrals, and create loyal customers by staying connected.
In appreciation for being here, I have a couple of items for you:
A LinkedIn Checklist for setting up your fully optimized Profile:
An opportunity to test drive the Follow Up system I recommend by taking the
3 Card Sampler—you won’t regret it.
Connect with me:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiceporter/
https://www.facebook.com/janiceporter1
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Transcript
Hi, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode
Janice Porter:of relationships rule. My guest this week is Dr. Keith McNally.
Janice Porter:And I'm quite excited to talk to him and I'm being completely
Janice Porter:distracted by his legal structures behind him. So I, I
Janice Porter:have a, I have a nephew who's very much into Lego, an adult in
Janice Porter:there for nephew who's very much into Lego. And so I find this
Janice Porter:really fascinating because it's another whole world that I
Janice Porter:haven't really gotten into yet. So sorry about that. But it is
Janice Porter:what it is. I want to tell you a little bit about Dr. Key. And
Janice Porter:then we're going to get into the conversation. He How did we meet
Janice Porter:we met because somebody asked if I was interested in having in my
Janice Porter:podcast him on my podcast, but I think we had been on a
Janice Porter:networking event together as well, that a bunch of people I
Janice Porter:met there were very cool people. And there are podcast people as
Janice Porter:you are. And Dr. Keith has a three podcasts that he has
Janice Porter:developed over the past few years. And we'll get into that a
Janice Porter:little bit. But he's a US Marine that. And I'm not sure and I
Janice Porter:will ask you this in a minute. If the reason for your attempted
Janice Porter:suicides, one or both of them was PTSD type of situation. But
Janice Porter:you were in a low place at one point or twice in your life and
Janice Porter:things have and you had a heart attack that you survived as
Janice Porter:well. And so you, I don't know, I'm gonna get you to tell me
Janice Porter:this, you turned your life around in so many ways and made
Janice Porter:other people well, as well, because of what the work that
Janice Porter:you do. So I know that in during the horrible pandemic, you
Janice Porter:needed people to talk to, I think we all need people to talk
Janice Porter:to you. And it's just a question of, you know, how who, what, and
Janice Porter:you actually reached out on LinkedIn to people, so I'm gonna
Janice Porter:get you to tell that story. So welcome to the show. First of
Janice Porter:all, I'm going to call you Dr. Keith, or just keep,
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: you're gonna call me Keith, because this is
Janice Porter:gonna be a casual conversation sounds
Janice Porter:good. And something else was gonna say,
Janice Porter:Can't remember. So start there start with telling me about, you
Janice Porter:know, where you were, what happened, and how you you know,
Janice Porter:how you brought yourself to where you are now, to amazing,
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: okay, that sounds like a good point, you
Janice Porter:know, a good place to start. So I blame my life on COVID. And a
Janice Porter:lot of people will say that in a very negative way. But I'm gonna
Janice Porter:flip the coin and say, in a very positive way. And so it, we all
Janice Porter:recognize the situation COVID brought upon, you know,
Janice Porter:basically the world and so all of us were dealing with it in
Janice Porter:very unique but very specific ways. And many of us lost loved
Janice Porter:ones, friends, homes, money, jobs, you know, whatever it is,
Janice Porter:whatever, you can put a name to it, you probably lost it. Um,
Janice Porter:the other side of the coin was that, and this is what I was
Janice Porter:finding when I when I was having this conversation. So and we'll
Janice Porter:get to how I got there was when people were waking up in the
Janice Porter:morning, and they may not have lost a whole lot. But in a
Janice Porter:sense, they had lost their identity, meaning that when they
Janice Porter:looked at themselves in the mirror, they weren't either
Janice Porter:happy or proud of what they were seeing. And so everything that
Janice Porter:they had accumulated career wise, basically, you know, in
Janice Porter:life, whether it be the houses, the cars, the money's no longer
Janice Porter:held the real value that it thought it should have. And
Janice Porter:either side of the coin, people were making intentional pivots
Janice Porter:and changes to do something about their life, whether to
Janice Porter:survive it, and thrive through it, you know, the chaos of COVID
Janice Porter:or to align themselves with a better version of themselves
Janice Porter:that they really wanted to be proud of, and find value in and
Janice Porter:my story regarding the COVID situation was, you know, through
Janice Porter:a set of variables, I had lost my job and it happened to be at
Janice Porter:the tail end of COVID through the quarantine. And
Janice Porter:unfortunately, I was unemployed for 12 months and being now 54
Janice Porter:going on 55 So my younger 50s That took an incredible hit on
Janice Porter:who I was as a person as a dad. You know, me career, I'm losing.
Janice Porter:Basically I'm trying to hold on to white knuckled you know fists
Janice Porter:With everything that I was losing, and it wasn't working,
Janice Porter:and so yeah, I had thought and made the attempt to take my own
Janice Porter:life. And so, and that was the second time in in 12 years. So
Janice Porter:2013 and 2021. Were specifically, it wasn't
Janice Porter:necessarily around post traumatic stress. Now I am a US
Janice Porter:Marine and I have a combat background, I was an I was
Janice Porter:directly in infantry, and specifically in mortars as a
Janice Porter:Marine. But that I'm not going to credit any of that passed to
Janice Porter:why I took, you know, took the attempt to take my own life, you
Janice Porter:know, it made the attempt, it was really life circumstances
Janice Porter:that I was never fully prepared for. And because of that, I felt
Janice Porter:the only way out, the best way out was to literally be out. And
Janice Porter:so that's really kind of the nature of my story.
Janice Porter:Had you been were you primarily an introverted
Janice Porter:loner kind of person.
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: You actually, I actually call myself a misfit.
Janice Porter:And so you know, growing up, you know, grade school, middle
Janice Porter:school, high school, college, never really fit in, I'm
Janice Porter:definitely an introvert. My parents divorced when I was 10.
Janice Porter:And so, all the chaos that was involved with, you know, my home
Janice Porter:life really kind of stuck with me. And so I didn't develop
Janice Porter:friendships, well, or if I did, I didn't develop many of them.
Janice Porter:So a lot of what I lacked was was resources, you know, family
Janice Porter:resources, friends, the ability to connect, the ability to
Janice Porter:socialize, basically, in a very, what would seem a very natural
Janice Porter:way that most kids, college students adults do, I have never
Janice Porter:really developed those skills until basically, a couple of
Janice Porter:years ago. So, right, so.
Janice Porter:So you say that you needed people to talk to, to
Janice Porter:network with, and you needed to find a job I imagined so that
Janice Porter:that's why it started on LinkedIn, and starting to reach
Janice Porter:out to some connections that you had there. And I find that in a
Janice Porter:way safer to talk to a stranger, you know, it's not as hard to
Janice Porter:talk to someone you don't really know, I find, even though I'll
Janice Porter:talk to anybody and everybody, I'm an I'm more the extrovert in
Janice Porter:that respect. And I can usually get pretty deep with them quite
Janice Porter:quickly. But for some people, I think that's much harder. And so
Janice Porter:I think, to to reach out to, you know, people that were a name
Janice Porter:and on a connection list on LinkedIn, you may not have known
Janice Porter:them all very well, in fact, probably didn't. So how did that
Janice Porter:evolve and turn your life around? How did that help with
Janice Porter:that?
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: It was either a spiritual or subconscious
Janice Porter:need. And so I recognized that everything about my life needed
Janice Porter:to change. And so how I interacted with myself, how I
Janice Porter:how I thought about myself, how I interacted with people, and
Janice Porter:when I found about people, so throughout the job search, but
Janice Porter:it was really more about making the connection, talking with
Janice Porter:people. And like you said, I didn't have but maybe 2000, and
Janice Porter:some change people on my LinkedIn connection list. And I
Janice Porter:may have only really known a handful of them. Do you know,
Janice Porter:no, no, you know, right, not just on a professional basis,
Janice Porter:but maybe something on a personal basis as well. But what
Janice Porter:I did was just simply tap on the virtual door and say, Would you
Janice Porter:like to have a conversation? And that was really the foundation
Janice Porter:of it. Now it was at a risk for me? Absolutely. Because of my
Janice Porter:introverted nature, definitely a risk. And, but what I was
Janice Porter:finding was the very thing I talked about earlier, people
Janice Porter:were making changes, and by the nature of humanity, they wanted
Janice Porter:to tell somebody else about it. And I just happened to be that
Janice Porter:one person, if I'm inviting to a call, just like this, you know,
Janice Porter:let's jump on a zoom call. There, you know, as people were
Janice Porter:saying, yes, you know, but it was only the people who were
Janice Porter:making the investment in their own life and making changes in
Janice Porter:their life that wanted to have those conversations. It wasn't
Janice Porter:everybody, you know, I got more, you know, people just ignored me
Janice Porter:or just said no, blatantly said, no, no, no, thank you never. So
Janice Porter:the conversations happen slowly, but as I continued, it was just
Janice Porter:something that I needed to do so I can To the process, would you
Janice Porter:like to have a conversation? Now, they didn't start getting
Janice Porter:recorded. Until I saw the idea that, you know, these people
Janice Porter:were sharing. We cried on Zoom calls, you know, people had gone
Janice Porter:through some stuff. And they wanted to share their story. No,
Janice Porter:I wasn't necessarily being fully open disclosure with my own
Janice Porter:stuff. But at the time, it really didn't, I didn't need to
Janice Porter:be because they were really sharing their stories. And so I
Janice Porter:simply asked the next person, would it be okay to record this?
Janice Porter:And somebody said, Yes. And so, with that, first, yes, I started
Janice Porter:recording conversation that began with some of the folks
Janice Porter:that I did know, personally and professionally, and then grew it
Janice Porter:from there. So initially, what was a podcast or basically a
Janice Porter:YouTube playlist called level up? Within 15 to 20 episodes,
Janice Porter:and I do 40 Episode seasons. I change it to the question guy.
Janice Porter:I'm a college professor by trade, I ask a lot of questions.
Janice Porter:And the question guy stuck. And so the question guy podcast
Janice Porter:became, you know, that series of playlists that started, you
Janice Porter:know, these are 2120 22. Interesting.
Janice Porter:So, what were you teaching? By the way? Do you
Janice Porter:teach now still,
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: I do I still teach, not at the not at a
Janice Porter:college. I, my background is in it. And my doctorate is in
Janice Porter:educational leadership. So by all intents and purposes, I
Janice Porter:should have gone into an administration, but I'm very
Janice Porter:comfortable in the classroom, and so sharing knowledge, yeah,
Janice Porter:yeah, I'm very comfortable. So now I work for an international
Janice Porter:business solutions company, and I'm a tech I'm one of their
Janice Porter:technical trainers.
Janice Porter:Okay. Wow. Okay. And that's so different to this
Janice Porter:journey, that you're towards leadership. Right? And
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: very, very different. Yeah. To some degree.
Janice Porter:Yeah.
Janice Porter:So one of the things that, that I noticed on
Janice Porter:your bio, was that you that topics that you like to talk
Janice Porter:about, and this is the one that jumped below, they all did, but
Janice Porter:this one jumped out at me discuss strategies for actively
Janice Porter:building creating and nurturing meaningful connections, because
Janice Porter:that's what I'm all about to I'm all about relationship building,
Janice Porter:and, and business built on relationships, relationships
Janice Porter:form that, you know, you form a trust with people, people can
Janice Porter:trust, if you refer somebody to them, it's going to be the right
Janice Porter:person, etc, etc, all of those things. So what would you say
Janice Porter:are the, the, the, the best strategies for doing that?
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: Well, everybody's gonna have their
Janice Porter:unique take to that. And so what I, what I did is, I learned
Janice Porter:about people, I made it my purpose to learn about people.
Janice Porter:And so earlier, when you kind of, you know, read off pieces of
Janice Porter:my bio, I do have three different conversations that's
Janice Porter:actually grown to five and will grow to six by the end of this
Janice Porter:year. And because my hashtag is commerce, all conversations that
Janice Porter:matter is my hashtag to one of them that I use in conversations
Janice Porter:for change, because everything begins and ends with the right
Janice Porter:conversation. And that's kind of been my, my, my gut. Since all
Janice Porter:of this began. And I mean that to say, the first set of
Janice Porter:conversations were all about people's personal story. And
Janice Porter:that's what the question guy is all about. Right? Because of
Janice Porter:their transformation. People actually create business models
Janice Porter:from their own personal stuff, became coaches, speakers, or
Janice Porter:book authors, and are now helping people going through the
Janice Porter:stuff that they originally went through, or helping other people
Janice Porter:go through that same stuckness whatever that is. And so, I
Janice Porter:credit Coaches Corner specifically to talk about
Janice Porter:business expertise. On the brink, grander, global, more
Janice Porter:broader scale, I created the Envision speaker series and I
Janice Porter:brought back panels members, panel people, people who have
Janice Porter:already been on my show, I wanted to start talking about
Janice Porter:what it takes to make social change happen, you know,
Janice Porter:whatever that toxic work, you know, workplace toxicity, mental
Janice Porter:health, illness, you know, mental illness, mental health
Janice Porter:issues in men. Why do men have more suicide ideations now than
Janice Porter:ever before? At any age level? How to heal how to be holistic
Janice Porter:in your who you are not just about being this person
Janice Porter:professionally and this person personally, step up and show up
Janice Porter:as who you are. All the time. That's the start of the answer
Janice Porter:to your question. How do we build that know like trust
Janice Porter:relationship? It starts with two things and this is what I
Janice Porter:learned over Coming in on my own suicide ideation, learn how to
Janice Porter:breathe. One thing is to do is learn under breathe. breathing
Janice Porter:calms the body and focuses the mind. And I don't mean just a
Janice Porter:regular breathing, I mean, focus breathing, you know, close your
Janice Porter:eyes sit down, and taking that breath and allow the oxygen to
Janice Porter:do what it's designed to do. And that's give you energy. It's one
Janice Porter:of the things it's designed to do. And then once you learn how
Janice Porter:to do that, figure out who you are actually wrote a book.
Janice Porter:Walking the Path of leaders journey is all about personal
Janice Porter:development through a series of stages. But the essence of the
Janice Porter:book is if you throw away the titles, and I had to because I
Janice Porter:was unemployed for 12 months, so everything I did, as a doctor,
Janice Porter:everything I did, as a college professor, everything I did,
Janice Porter:prior to the chaos, I had to let go, because it was all those
Janice Porter:things I was holding on to that I couldn't hold on to anymore.
Janice Porter:They were slipping away. And so what I decided to do was, let
Janice Porter:them go. And when I decided to let everything go, my whole life
Janice Porter:changed, I found a job. People were beginning to help me do
Janice Porter:what I needed to do to overcome, you know, suicide ideation, the
Janice Porter:chaos of COVID building relationships. So I started
Janice Porter:having more of those more and more those conversations just
Janice Porter:like this one. And I began to appreciate every conversation,
Janice Porter:every person that I would meet, because they were adding, if
Janice Porter:anything, just a little gold, maybe a little bit of value to
Janice Porter:my life. And I have to hope and think that as I was living
Janice Porter:vicariously through them, and becoming comfortable with
Janice Porter:myself, that I was exchanging that same value at some level to
Janice Porter:them. That has to be true, because now I've had over 250
Janice Porter:recorded conversations under five different platforms.
Janice Porter:So this is what I'm picturing. I'm picturing
Janice Porter:that, that you lost your job that you you were and COVID hid.
Janice Porter:And you were alone a lot. As we all were, you know, unless we,
Janice Porter:you know, have people live in our house with us, we have a lot
Janice Porter:of, you know, alone time, and that brought you into negative
Janice Porter:state. And you plummeted. But you also had the wherewithal to
Janice Porter:get yourself out of it. I mean, did you have were you in
Janice Porter:therapy, were you where you want? No, I
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: didn't. I didn't have the wherewithal to
Janice Porter:get myself, okay. I actually, for whatever, for whatever was
Janice Porter:keeping me alive. I was showing up even broken. So I was showing
Janice Porter:up to networking meetings, I was showing up to job interviews, I
Janice Porter:was showing up to whatever I needed to do. Even on LinkedIn,
Janice Porter:even the conversations I was having, I was still broken. I
Janice Porter:actually met somebody His name is Mitch Cray, and I always give
Janice Porter:him a shout out. So don't don't hate me for in this
Janice Porter:conversation. He invested his life into me, you
Janice Porter:know, I said, Why would I hate you for it? No,
Janice Porter:absolutely.
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: He invested his life into me so that I would
Janice Porter:still have one. And at first, he was just a mentor. Now we're
Janice Porter:really good friends. So it was one person making the investment
Janice Porter:free of charge? No. It's because of who he is and what he does
Janice Porter:and how he does it. That said, you know, Keith, we're going to
Janice Porter:take this one step at a time. He's the one who taught me to
Janice Porter:breathe. He's the one who taught me to show up.
Janice Porter:I love it. No, I think that's great. But you did
Janice Porter:I mean, give yourself some credit. Right? For keeping going
Janice Porter:until that happened, right? Because, right. And actually,
Janice Porter:it's making me think of something else too. Like when
Janice Porter:you talk about the breathing and and I don't do that enough, I
Janice Porter:don't stop and just, you know, relax and do that. But I've
Janice Porter:noticed that I have a little granddaughter, she's four and a
Janice Porter:half, she's almost five. And she's very hyperactive, and
Janice Porter:she's never stops moving. But if you if you know she's getting
Janice Porter:too, too much and too much going on, you kind of have to stop her
Janice Porter:and look her in the eye and go, Okay, let's just breathe. And
Janice Porter:take a breath and just relax for a minute. And you can see what
Janice Porter:happens when she does that. She needs to do that. And the other
Janice Porter:thing that she needs to do, which I want to come to with you
Janice Porter:is she needs to be out in nature. It seems to ground her
Janice Porter:and she is at her best when she's digging in the soil and
Janice Porter:she's, you know, dig turning over a rock or getting dirty or
Janice Porter:putting her feet in the water. That's what she loves to do.
Janice Porter:Which is like the first Sing from me, I was the kid who
Janice Porter:didn't want to get dirty when I was a kid. So it's really
Janice Porter:interesting to see what she's teaching, you know, me, for
Janice Porter:example. But I think that you must feel that too, because
Janice Porter:you're going on this amazing journey that is also to raise
Janice Porter:money, I think also for people in need. You can tell me
Janice Porter:exactly. It's about suicide prevention, I think. Right.
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: So I'm on a mission. And so I've
Janice Porter:collaborated with a couple of different people to do a couple
Janice Porter:of different things. One of the things that I'm working with is
Janice Porter:any event in September 2024. So at the time of this recording
Janice Porter:this year, in a couple of months, I'm working with Shane
Janice Porter:Kramer, and Rick made down in North Carolina, in 2023.
Janice Porter:Unfortunately, NC State University was in the spotlight
Janice Porter:in the media spotlight, because they had incurred several deaths
Janice Porter:by suicide at the colleges. So the college level 2018 1920 21
Janice Porter:year olds are struggling for a variety of reasons. And so I
Janice Porter:know a lot of people have, have raised the attention. This has a
Janice Porter:focus, we just happen to have a really good team, and we're
Janice Porter:bringing some services, and we're gonna do an event down
Janice Porter:there. But because I'm a veteran, my specific focus is
Janice Porter:with veterans and at risk veterans. I am you talked about
Janice Porter:going back into nature. So one of the things I want to do is
Janice Porter:raise awareness, provide educational services, mentoring
Janice Porter:and training to veterans in the veteran community, including
Janice Porter:their families, on how to redesign your life. Now, I am
Janice Porter:not a crisis intervention specialist, I'm not there, when
Janice Porter:you got the gun to your head, or whatever that situation looks
Janice Porter:like. That's not my space. But if you're still alive, and you
Janice Porter:still struggle with unknowns and variables that you think are
Janice Porter:problematic to you. I am somebody to talk to. There are
Janice Porter:many bigger organizations, Wounded Warrior, and all kinds
Janice Porter:of other veterans and mental illness, mental health
Janice Porter:organizations, and we all do our good job or due diligence, and
Janice Porter:we all work well in our spaces. But I've been there, I've
Janice Porter:actually made the attempt three times my first time as a college
Janice Porter:student myself 25 years ago. But specifically, as an adult,
Janice Porter:there's no scarier place to be than alone, and thinking that
Janice Porter:your life is worthless. And so because of that, and because
Janice Porter:I've got some friends, some veterans who, you know, did
Janice Porter:their time and service, some of them retired, who also struggle
Janice Porter:with life variables, and I always call them very, because
Janice Porter:we never know when something comes up. I do want to give them
Janice Porter:an opportunity, one to have a conversation to, to become real
Janice Porter:with themselves. And like I said, and even I wrote the book,
Janice Porter:but it's all about personal transformation, learn how to
Janice Porter:breathe, or on the show up, learn how to be vulnerable. The
Janice Porter:event that you're talking about is I want to hike through it's
Janice Porter:called an actual thru hike in the community, the Appalachian
Janice Porter:Trail. So in 2025, on April 1 is our launch date. So me and
Janice Porter:Jodi's is a colleague of mine, friend of mine, we both
Janice Porter:veterans, we're going to do a thru hike of the Appalachian
Janice Porter:Trail. And so that's a 2193 miles depending on who you talk
Janice Porter:to you from Springer Mountain, Georgia, all the way College in
Janice Porter:Maine. And so it's going through 14 states, on the east coast of
Janice Porter:the US contiguous states, it's going to take about four months,
Janice Porter:the way God keeps on putting it, probably five, and so we do need
Janice Porter:to raise a lot of money just to put us through the hike, food
Janice Porter:and some other supplies as well. But specifically, we're going to
Janice Porter:be bringing people in veterans service members, those who have
Janice Porter:overcome their own situations or those who are still struggling
Janice Porter:with their own situations, we're going to bring them on the
Janice Porter:trail. We are welcoming every possible section hiker so if you
Janice Porter:want to join us awesome, more than the more the merrier. Even
Janice Porter:if you only like one mile with us now. It's cool. No overnight
Janice Porter:camping, but at the very least, this is going to be
Janice Porter:transformational for for many, many people. And probably
Janice Porter:specifically for me and for Jodi because this is something we've
Janice Porter:never attempted before. So we're novice thru hikers haven't done
Janice Porter:it before. I mean, we have hiked and we have camped, and so we
Janice Porter:we've got the general idea of how to do this. But you know,
Janice Porter:hiking 20 plus miles a day across 14 states over four
Janice Porter:months, is different. You know, he's calling it a military
Janice Porter:mission and I'm I'm right there with him because it's all about
Janice Porter:logistics and planning and all this other kind of stuff. And so
Janice Porter:that's why we are raising money. But we're also specifically
Janice Porter:raising awareness, and providing education coaching as well. And
Janice Porter:mentoring.
Janice Porter:So hopefully you'll get some PR out of it.
Janice Porter:And as you go through it, you'll log it on video and all of that
Janice Porter:good stuff, right?
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: Yeah, well, so we did it, as long as we get
Janice Porter:the answer sheet and the Wi Fi, the Wi Fi, live stream, what we
Janice Porter:can do anything else gets recorded. He is he's a technical
Janice Porter:guru. So I've asked him to kind of bring some of his his toys
Janice Porter:with them, we might create some, you know, virtual or augmented
Janice Porter:reality segments along the way, which would be really, really
Janice Porter:cool for people who are in that space. But all in all, you know,
Janice Porter:we are really looking to, to really bring a new identity to
Janice Porter:the bedroom community, because like you said, you Mo's your
Janice Porter:niece, my granddaughter. Yeah, when she's out in nature, we're
Janice Porter:created, you know, I do believe we were created. And the book
Janice Porter:says we're created from dirt particles of the earth. And so
Janice Porter:part of part of us is connected to that, and you can't take that
Janice Porter:away. I from my belief structure, I can't take that
Janice Porter:away.
Janice Porter:Wow, interesting. So I think that's a, it's a very
Janice Porter:robust plan, and got the word challenge that you're taking on.
Janice Porter:And I think it'll be quite, it'll be exciting for you. And
Janice Porter:I'm sure that the biggest thing will come from people's
Janice Porter:transformations. And so I'd like to ask you in all of the
Janice Porter:discussions you have with people and, and I know you're a
Janice Porter:teacher, your trainer, your Creator, your speaker in all of
Janice Porter:the people that you that you touch with the work that you do.
Janice Porter:Do you have one or two stories that's really stand out? As, you
Janice Porter:know, just really special? Um, I know I put you on the spot, but
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: no, it's okay. There is. I always say
Janice Porter:every conversation is important. And what I what, what I would
Janice Porter:like to see happen is more men step up to the conversation,
Janice Porter:more men step up to the microphone. Only because I don't
Janice Porter:get that often enough. Now. I have a lot of conversations on
Janice Porter:this is a lot of them with women. So women would step up.
Janice Porter:And because they're, it's easier for them to share my personal
Janice Porter:experience, you know, tragedy and whatnot. And very few men,
Janice Porter:at least, on my podcast, are willing to do that now if you
Janice Porter:have if you have cried. And so that's that I think is a very
Janice Porter:powerful thing is when I see a man cry in front of me, because
Janice Porter:of something that's happened in him in his life, and he's
Janice Porter:willing to become vulnerable. And he's willing to disclose.
Janice Porter:And so if more men can actually not every man has to do that,
Janice Porter:you know, I'm not saying that every man has to break down like
Janice Porter:a baby and cry. But for the expression of emotion in that
Janice Porter:way, that release of energy is so valuable and
Janice Porter:transformational. That I would like to see more men do that.
Janice Porter:And so that did happen in one of my conversations. And it wasn't
Janice Porter:even though the question God podcast, it was Coach's Corner,
Janice Porter:because he had lost everything. It might have been a mixed vote,
Janice Porter:he had lost everything, and had to go back to mom and dad as a
Janice Porter:grown man and say, you know, Dad, I failed. And that broke
Janice Porter:him. And it broke him on in the conversation. And so that was
Janice Porter:such a powerful moment. Both in our conversation, and I think in
Janice Porter:his own life, of course, that he changed himself. The other story
Janice Porter:wouldn't be, like I said, I have, you know, of my three. So
Janice Porter:personal, professional and social impact stories. I do have
Janice Porter:two other specific conversations, one around
Janice Porter:suicide and the impact of suicide in our lives. I have
Janice Porter:about eight or nine on my playlist on YouTube. And I have
Janice Porter:an a fifth conversation for those people who want to kind of
Janice Porter:drop the facade, drop the titles and just have conversations with
Janice Porter:me about what's really important in their lives. And I've had
Janice Porter:about, you know, a handful of those and I call them
Janice Porter:conversations. It's a conversations playlist on
Janice Porter:YouTube. And her name is Carrie Allen. She is very active on
Janice Porter:LinkedIn. She is the founder of the Hume Monterey with a
Janice Porter:colleague, Sara Cotterell. And they do, they taught me how to
Janice Porter:meditate. They taught me how to meditate and how to use words,
Janice Porter:to empower me before I have conversations, because what I
Janice Porter:wanted to do was get better at this, I wanted to get better at
Janice Porter:having conversations with people. And that meant, from her
Janice Porter:perspective, and probably from my perspective, is to be more
Janice Porter:present, not run from a script, not rehearse words or sentences
Janice Porter:or questions, but to be present in the moment. And she taught me
Janice Porter:how to do that. And I think since like, October, September,
Janice Porter:October, November, last year to now so at the time of this
Janice Porter:recording, I've gotten much better at that being present in
Janice Porter:the moment and being to exchange energies with the person or
Janice Porter:people I'm having conversations with. And so that they recognize
Janice Porter:that they're being listened to, and being validated. And that's
Janice Porter:probably the most powerful thing I've been able to learn to date.
Janice Porter:That's really interesting. Because I don't
Janice Porter:work from a script, I can't, and that's with anything I do, like,
Janice Porter:even when I have to go do a speech, which I don't do very
Janice Porter:often because I'm uncomfortable having a script. But you know,
Janice Porter:I'm better off the cuff in a way. I mean, I have to do some
Janice Porter:prep, but I just have to feel it out when I'm speaking to the
Janice Porter:person. But what you're talking about for me, I think comes from
Janice Porter:Curiosity. So that's, I find interesting in what you're
Janice Porter:saying, because I don't always I sometimes ask my my guests the
Janice Porter:curiosity question, because I'm fascinated by that myself, and I
Janice Porter:feel I have a really good sense. And I have a sense of curiosity.
Janice Porter:And a lot of people don't. And I wonder if people think it's
Janice Porter:innate or learned. And that sort of is curious to me when you
Janice Porter:say, you know, learning about being in the moment and, and
Janice Porter:being aware of what someone's saying and feeding off that. I
Janice Porter:call that curiosity. So did you have to learn, you had to learn
Janice Porter:that?
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: I did. I would say it's a balance I I
Janice Porter:intentionally knew I wanted to be better at having a
Janice Porter:conversation, a real conversation to to literally be
Janice Porter:in that space, rather than, you know, the notorious thinking
Janice Porter:about what I have to say, as as part of the interaction and so
Janice Porter:with with, you know, Carrie Allen, Sarah Cotterill, Eileen
Janice Porter:build Mitch cray. These people taught me how to focus one my
Janice Porter:energies to my thoughts through my subconscious. Breathe and be
Janice Porter:in the moment. Now, Am I perfect at it? Not yet, I am getting
Janice Porter:better. And I think with every conversation, I do get better.
Janice Porter:But it was something I had to learn. It wasn't necessarily
Janice Porter:something that was just jumping out at me and say, you know,
Janice Porter:this is just who you are. And it all works. Remember, I'm an
Janice Porter:introvert by nature. So for 50 years, I didn't have too many
Janice Porter:conversations.
Janice Porter:Right? Right. It's fascinating, because I know
Janice Porter:people that say that same thing, and they're not, they're not
Janice Porter:curious at all. And so yes, it can be learned. And it can also
Janice Porter:be innate. So I don't know, I always in my mind, I think we
Janice Porter:all start as curiosity as curious kids, little kids, and,
Janice Porter:you know, but somewhere, something gets drummed out of us
Janice Porter:in lots of school, maybe, no, I taught school. So I hate to say
Janice Porter:that, but I think it's true. You know, in fact, you know, my
Janice Porter:granddaughter starting kindergarten September, and it's
Janice Porter:gonna be really interesting to see what happens with her
Janice Porter:because she can't sit still for very long. And yeah, so we'll
Janice Porter:see. We'll see what happens. We'll, we'll be monitoring it
Janice Porter:and looking at how it affects her. But um, yeah, so curiosity
Janice Porter:and the skills and the strategies like you said, for,
Janice Porter:for how to better yourself in this in the situations you put
Janice Porter:yourself in. So I love that you are really always working on
Janice Porter:yourself. I love that. Yeah, that's
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: what I have to do now. I mean, if I'm going
Janice Porter:to be, you know, a better coach, a better speaker, a better
Janice Porter:podcast host. I need to do that because without that, it's just
Janice Porter:going to be a flat, boring conversation. There's gonna be
Janice Porter:no energy, there's gonna be no exchange of value. All the
Janice Porter:cliches but really I think as based on what you said earlier
Janice Porter:earlier in the conversation, it's all about building that
Janice Porter:relationship that know, like trust. And so because of that,
Janice Porter:you know, personal transformation process, and I'm
Janice Porter:putting myself through a continuing the know, like trust
Janice Porter:paradigm, you know, the triad is becoming more and more part of
Janice Porter:me. And I say that, because it's, it's part of the
Janice Porter:importance of what I do. Because I've talked with so many people
Janice Porter:that I've I know, there's two people out there that need to
Janice Porter:talk themselves, I make that connection. I'm not asking for
Janice Porter:anything in return, I do the same thing, John, that, you
Janice Porter:know, times and time again. And it's always been that, to my
Janice Porter:knowledge, when they come back to me, that's always been the
Janice Porter:right connection. So it's like these people needed to me. And
Janice Porter:apparently, I was the facilitator of that.
Janice Porter:Yeah, that feels so good. I know, I do that too.
Janice Porter:And I and when it works, you just know that it's like,
Janice Porter:there's the magic, right? And you've just been that. I don't
Janice Porter:know, I, I find that so satisfying. You have to meet
Janice Porter:this person, I honestly, trust me on this one, and boom, it's
Janice Porter:just perfect. I love it. So this is fascinating. There was one
Janice Porter:more thing I wanted to ask you about. So I know that you let
Janice Porter:your storyteller and you're now your conversationalist. You
Janice Porter:You're, you're a speaker, which is also bringing you more of an
Janice Porter:extrovert piece when you're a speaker, right? But are you and
Janice Porter:your writer, so which do you like to do the most
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: I would like to do all the make bank on a
Janice Porter:two, I can't do that access to have my nine to five. To be
Janice Porter:quite honest, I in joy, I enjoy all of them. So there's there's
Janice Porter:no doubt about any of it. The most nerve wracking of the bunch
Janice Porter:is being on stage. That's why I want more opportunities to do
Janice Porter:that. I think I have I can add role. And I hate to cliche, I
Janice Porter:could add real value to that space. Only because I want to
Janice Porter:share my story. And that may be egotistical at this point, I
Janice Porter:don't know. But the most converse, the best thing I enjoy
Janice Porter:doing at this point is, is having these conversations
Janice Porter:because I do think I do believe that every conversation is
Janice Porter:important. And every conversation was meant to be
Janice Porter:listened to by at least one other person who's going to take
Janice Porter:something from it. For some reason, I believe that in
Janice Porter:lately. And so even this conversation, and I know this is
Janice Porter:your podcast, if only one person watched it, it's needed to be
Janice Porter:watched by that one. Hopefully more. Yeah, that's okay. But
Janice Porter:there's somebody out there who needs to hear what we and it's
Janice Porter:not just what I it's what we've had to say. And the energies
Janice Porter:that we exchanged. Somebody needs to not only hear it, but
Janice Porter:they need to experience it. So for every conversation I have,
Janice Porter:that's why I want to get better at them. I think I believe I
Janice Porter:trust that there's somebody out there eventually. That needs to
Janice Porter:experience that conversation. What happens the next day or
Janice Porter:five years later. As long as it's evergreen. It can happen.
Janice Porter:So I think that your book, a walk walking the
Janice Porter:path, a leaders journey. That path is personal development,
Janice Porter:right? I mean, yes, you're going on the Appalachian Trail. And
Janice Porter:that's the physical path that you're going on. And, and
Janice Porter:growing from it. But this is about becoming a leader of self.
Janice Porter:Right.
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: It is now the characters, it's both Oh, it's
Janice Porter:disabled. I do apologize, but no, it's all good. So it's a
Janice Porter:mixture of both, you know, contextual elements of
Janice Porter:leadership and what that looks like, but not from an academic
Janice Porter:perspective. So I pull out, we talked about mentoring, we
Janice Porter:talked about team building, we talked about communication
Janice Porter:becoming vulnerable, and all of the self development things that
Janice Porter:you really should have, if you're going to lead people and
Janice Porter:then the specific circumstance falls within a story of fable
Janice Porter:and narrative within the book, where a young man his name is
Janice Porter:John So everything's kind of generic, needs to find himself
Janice Porter:and so he's expected to take over his dad's farm in his
Janice Porter:community, surrounded by mountains, so you know, very,
Janice Porter:very sick, you know, segregated and separated from the rest of
Janice Porter:the world. He's, it's mid basic course. Yeah, he feels like he's
Janice Porter:a misfit. He doesn't fit in. I mean, he can he can do to things
Janice Porter:but developing close friendships with a lot of people. He does
Janice Porter:have his close knit friends. He leads then he decides to lead
Janice Porter:them and they decide to follow him over the mountain, okay. And
Janice Porter:he had to learn how to lead. And that's kind of the basis of the
Janice Porter:story.
Janice Porter:That's really cool. Okay, I'm gonna come full
Janice Porter:circle. And we're going to wrap it up. And I'm going to ask you
Janice Porter:about your Lego. So no, seriously you are you get kits
Janice Porter:you make Lego creatures and characters and things.
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: So everything you see behind me outside of the
Janice Porter:happy birthday cards, and Father's Day cards are Lego
Janice Porter:built. And so their basic sets their license sets. And so the
Janice Porter:big red thing that you see, I think on over here, as Ninjago
Janice Porter:Mac, and so he's stands about this tall. Now, Lego likes to
Janice Porter:advertise themselves as toys. I would not ever play with him
Janice Porter:because he's very, very fragile.
Janice Porter:And probably how many hours of putting it
Janice Porter:together, right.
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: So each of these sets, they're not
Janice Porter:necessarily the advanced the builds, but they do take a
Janice Porter:couple of hours of dedicated time. Now the one I'm most proud
Janice Porter:of is StormBringer. And Stormbringer is a combination of
Janice Porter:Lego Boost, which is one of their it's not their advanced
Janice Porter:brick, computer brick. It's just an application, you can download
Janice Porter:it there's a robotic. He can, she wants to actually share it.
Janice Porter:Stormbringer she is she. So it's a combination of the booths
Janice Porter:product. This was like back in 2018. And the StormBringer
Janice Porter:dragon product. So they combined the two. And she could walk, she
Janice Porter:can roar, she can shoot lightning bolts out of her
Janice Porter:mouth. She's just a lot of fun to play with. But she's an awful
Janice Porter:lot of fun to build as well.
Janice Porter:So I I always think of when I was young, I
Janice Porter:went to bingo at the local fair, right in the summertime. And
Janice Porter:some of my friends grandma used to go or something we'd go to
Janice Porter:bingo and everybody that were real bingo people. They had
Janice Porter:their 12 boards in front of them, and they had all their
Janice Porter:different dabbers daubers whatever you call them, and all
Janice Porter:their trinkets, sir. Good luck charms me. It was like a whole
Janice Porter:underworld economy for bingo people. Does that make sense?
Janice Porter:Yeah, every time he has it, and Lego would have its own people,
Janice Porter:right? So you have people that you build Lego with are people
Janice Porter:that you compare kits with and things like that?
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: Well, I don't. Because of you know, I'm
Janice Porter:an introvert. Well, let's put things into context. You know,
Janice Porter:when I talked about hugging 12 miles a day, that's four hours
Janice Porter:of my day. So I'm up at 230 in the morning. I'm in bed by got
Janice Porter:it. All right. My time is now spent elsewhere. Unfortunately,
Janice Porter:I would love to invest. Right,
Janice Porter:you could see that being a thing, right?
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: I could.
Janice Porter:Personally, I've been trying to build the Lego
Janice Porter:things with my granddaughter, and it's too hard for me to fit.
Janice Porter:It's too intricate. And because she's gone from Duplo to Lego
Janice Porter:now. So now it's like, long as it has wheels. She's happy. So
Janice Porter:there you go. Anyway, this was so much fun. Thank you. I just
Janice Porter:had to ask that. Because I find you know, it's just that we have
Janice Porter:to have fun to write we have to do things that actually that's
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: part of the human nature we have to play in
Janice Porter:adults forget how to do it. But we have to add it back. We
Janice Porter:do we totally do. I know. And I've started playing
Janice Porter:these new games on LinkedIn. Have you looked at those?
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: No, I don't know anything about games on
Janice Porter:LinkedIn.
Janice Porter:It's a whole new thing. It's under the just go to
Janice Porter:linkedin.com/games. And they'll show up. And once you've started
Janice Porter:to play with them, then they'll show up on your newsfeed or
Janice Porter:something and tell you, but I'm a words game person. I love
Janice Porter:words. And so these are that kind of thing like a mini sort
Janice Porter:of crossword ladder and things like that. Anyway, I don't know.
Janice Porter:It's an I'm just exploring it from a LinkedIn trainer
Janice Porter:perspective, to see if it becomes another tool for
Janice Porter:building relationships.
Janice Porter:Yeah, so anyways, it'll open up a conversation. Exactly.
Janice Porter:So thank you for this conversation. Thank you for
Janice Porter:sharing your story and your verse, your expertise and your
Janice Porter:wisdom with us and to my audience. Thank you for being
Janice Porter:here. If you heard something you were you were pleased about or
Janice Porter:interested in please look up Dr. Keith. I will put his
Janice Porter:information in the show notes and and I assume you'll put will
Janice Porter:give me or podcasts as well, right?
Janice Porter:Dr. Keith McNally: Most of my stuff. Yeah, most of my sales
Janice Porter:stuff sits on YouTube. I am on app on iTunes with the ambition
Janice Porter:speaker series.
Janice Porter:Perfect. And thanks for being here and
Janice Porter:remember to stay connected and be remembered
