Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:12 Howdy partner. This is Adam, and this is Dora. This is autism on shift. You're listening to the podcast where we talk to people who have autism about what we do at work. It's a good time. Join us, stick around. Thanks for being here today. We are talking with Nikki Collins, the autism coach, Nikki, tell us what an autism coach does.
Speaker 1 00:00:40 Ooh, lots of different things. Um, it's my business. So I'd work with people who are on the autism spectrum and I work to help people who aren't on the autism spectrum. Understand autism.
Speaker 0 00:00:53 Nice. Yeah, we need more of you.
Speaker 1 00:00:56 I think so, because I'm autistic myself. It is really useful to have that lived experience and that understanding which people who study from a textbook don't necessarily have.
Speaker 0 00:01:09 Absolutely. Yeah. And the textbook usually, uh, at least currently are still, um, male presenting, right? Like male presenting textbook. Okay. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:01:22 Well, I work mostly not strictly, but mostly with females on a spectrum for that, because we present so differently to our male counterparts sort of course, there isn't such a thing as male and female autism, but because you can't genderize that, but females do tend to get missed a lot. And I was the same. I was 34 when I realized, so that's kind of why my focus is on this group of individuals rather than another set.
Speaker 0 00:01:54 Exactly. As we've said before, we're kind of, we're kind of mismatched, you know, as you've said, uh, I'm, I'm more female presenting and Thor's more male presenting on the autism spectrum. Yeah. I I'm, I'm pretty close to textbook, um, with the social obliviousness and the I don't mask. It's not a thing. I learned something I like about you and that's good. Um, and Adam is like a chameleon. He's like, you know, whoever he's talking to is like the person he can, you know, he can be like in that moment. And it's so I'm morph the math master. Is that a good thing? No, like, I don't know if it's good or not, but it is true.
Speaker 1 00:02:35 Oh, brilliant. Yeah. I was a complete chameleon and it's amazing the difference when you start realizing what those masks are and they start to come off or you at least have the conscious choice whether to put them on rather than it just being, this is me and I don't even know that I'm doing it
Speaker 0 00:02:53 Right. Yeah. Yeah. I, it's so hard for me at work. I have to mask
Speaker 2 00:03:00 At work. Right. Like I, I have to get along. I cannot be abrasive. I have to like, and it's so exhausting. I don't, I, I still haven't learned how I'm 43 years old. I have no idea how to mask. And so I come across as weird anyway, but I'm hoping you
Speaker 3 00:03:21 Do, but I'm
Speaker 2 00:03:21 Hoping I come across in a weird way. That's like a normal person weird as opposed to like, you know, Oh, this person is like, you know, totally not normal and weird. So I don't know
Speaker 1 00:03:35 Who knows. I don't know what the definition of normal and weird really is. I think all I know
Speaker 3 00:03:41 Normal is boring and weird is awesome. I think that's how it goes. Sounds about right. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:03:47 Ever heard a parent pack their child off to school and say, do your best to be normal today. Darlin.
Speaker 3 00:03:56 I like that.
Speaker 2 00:03:59 Well, alternatively though, I would tell my child, please be weird today.
Speaker 3 00:04:03 Exactly. Absolutely. Yeah. We definitely celebrate differences in this household.
Speaker 1 00:04:10 Um, well, when I worked in mainstream employment, I was just one step under a branch bank manager and it was a nightmare. I didn't enjoy the corporate world job J O beads acronym for just over broke. And that's one of the reasons why I decided to make my own job and it's much more fulfilling and I get to speak to a whole range of interesting and weird, beautifully weird people.
Speaker 3 00:04:39 But I love it.
Speaker 2 00:04:41 Weird is the yes. Weird is a good thing in our house. I called my boss.
Speaker 3 00:04:48 How was that? How was that perceived? I don't know. I haven't talked to him since then. Oh, he's fine with it. I'm sure.
Speaker 2 00:04:56 I mean, it was set in like a, you know, a nice way he had, he had sent me a gift and it was very non-traditional. It was not like a traditional gift. Like, Oh, here's a nice gift basket or like a, you know, whatever. And he said, he said, I went, I went out on a limb, please let me know, be honest if you like it or not. And when I received it, it was, it was a rug and it was awesome. And I couldn't keep from laughing because it was so non-traditional and so out there, unlike my boss might be as weird as me and I literally said that to him and he's like, ah,
Speaker 3 00:05:30 I don't think
Speaker 2 00:05:31 No, he didn't. And I told him immediately after I realized what I said, and I was like, uh, um, weird is a good thing in mind. He's like, I get it. He's he's like, yeah, I would not want to be called normal. I said, okay. So I feel like, like I didn't actually hurt my, my job.
Speaker 3 00:05:46 I'm curious. I'm curious. How long ago did you transition to what you're doing now from the bank position? Did you say bank, right? Yeah. Okay. Well, I've been
Speaker 1 00:05:58 Doing this for about two years, but I've been in self-employment for around 10 and I've dipped into work as, and when I've needed it to support myself financially over the years, but that's been very small pockets of time because I just don't like it. And now I know why. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:06:19 Right. Yeah. A lot of that. So what is, so what does the day to day look like for you? Okay. So say you were to work with me. What would we do? What would that look like?
Speaker 1 00:06:28 Oh, all sorts of weird stuff. Thora. Excellent. It's I mean, I, I do I've, I've shifted my business at the moment because last year I had two businesses. I had what I'm doing now and I had a crystal business with crystal, so minerals and stones, and that was taking a lot of time and not giving me much back in terms of finances. So time and monetary investment was not matching up. So I closed the business down and this is the first sort of we're in the first six months of me being able to focus solidly. So I'm moving along massively. So I'm doing like podcasts. I'm writing a book at the moment and that's about women on the spectrum. I'm so my day will be writing I'm writing courses as well. So I'm putting courses together and programs, I'm doing a five day challenge at the moment to help move autistic women from overwhelm to control and teaching some of the tools that I have had powerful experiences with.
Speaker 1 00:07:36 And I know this stuff works because it's worked so well for me. And it's just, it's such an honor to be able to just put that out there and focus on that rather than being split and divided in to the site. I need to put my crystals into my shop. I need to package my crystals. I need to do the customer service on that. Oh, maybe I'll get time to think about the autism stuff. Now it's just autism. And that's that laser focus that comes with it. So typical day for me at the moment. So I'm doing my courses to make sure that I've got the course content because this is the first time I've run it. And it's making sure that everyone's being looked after who needs, who needs that time and attention and very little loud at the moment, just because I wasn't sure what I was expecting on building the program off the back of this. And it's, there's a lot of work to do. And fortunately, I've got some help.
Speaker 2 00:08:29 Oh, that's good. I'm enjoying your course by the way in it. So
Speaker 1 00:08:34 I know we've spoken about my book too.
Speaker 2 00:08:39 That's right. That's right. That'll be fun. I can't wait for that to come out. You got the kids
Speaker 1 00:08:43 Posted. Yes. That will be this year.
Speaker 2 00:08:47 So when you're running a course and I'm in the group, so I have like kind of a little bit of insider, you know? Um, so when you're running the course, you a hundred and something 170 something people in the course right now, does that sound right?
Speaker 1 00:09:01 I've got 132. And then the, on the course in the Facebook group, which is closed. So no one can find it unless they're invited or to have the link, but all together there was 220. So what I'm doing is each day, as you know, but for the sake of people who don't know, I put in the morning, I put in a post of a task for the day, which is a bite-size task. Yesterday was focused around self-care today. It's about triggers and working out what sort of triggers us. So we can start to put in steps to avoid the situations or at least sort of sidestep them. And then we have a Q and a post in there each day, which means that if you've got any questions relating to the day, you can ask that. And then in the live, which is a final post of the day in the evening, or not in the evening, if you're not in the UK and the afternoon, you, then I will do a little bit of coaching around that topic, go through the questions and answers and see if there's any more questions that come up as a result of that.
Speaker 1 00:10:04 So that just that live I'm then sending a link up for YouTube. So I'm putting that onto YouTube again, that's closed. So you can only access that if you have that link. So the people who aren't happy to be in a Facebook group, and that's some people, because they've had bad experiences, maybe they've been bullied and had a negative experience online. It happens far too often. Then they've also got access to, so they're not losing out and not getting a full experience because I think that having a community there that is supportive because I have a zero tolerance policy to any sort of, well, any prejudice you out, there's no warning you out. I don't won't tolerate it. And yeah. So it's just about building people up and giving people the tools and
Speaker 3 00:10:56 Yeah. Having something that, uh, having something that, uh, makes you excited is, is what we all need for the job that we do. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:11:06 Exactly. Yeah. A lot of people spend their whole lifetime searching for that and they don't find it. So I'm incredibly, incredibly lucky to be working something that I'm actually passionate about and it's hot, hot lead.
Speaker 3 00:11:20 Well, and I think it's more than luck, uh, when you, when you create your own job, you know what I mean? I think that's, it's more than luck that that takes something from,
Speaker 2 00:11:32 It takes work. It takes intention. It takes attention. Absolutely. Yeah. It takes a, it takes a lot
Speaker 3 00:11:38 Take that away from yourself.
Speaker 1 00:11:41 Thanks.
Speaker 2 00:11:43 Um, okay. So as far as your business, because, um, right now the training is, uh, is temporary. Well, is it temporary?
Speaker 0 00:11:54 I guess I should. I shouldn't make that assumption. Is that something you'll be doing on a rolling basis?
Speaker 1 00:11:59 Well, I will be running this challenge, this particular challenge again and again and again, I've actually got a target, a self set target of helping them reach in 20,000 individuals through this in the next five years. Yeah. So there are big goals out there, but this, I mean, next week I've got a live trading on Monday and depending on where you are in the world, again, that's for me, that's an evening and that then links into a 12 week program. So those people who wish to work on a deep level of meat, then have the option to work with me. For me, it was just under four, four months. Cause I built an integration weeks and rest weeks so that you can catch up if you miss anything. But I mean through that, we'd go through everything sort of all the key points. So executive functioning, communication relationships, Moskin Mt.
Speaker 1 00:12:56 Down burnout and also reflexes because our reflexes, when we're young, if we keep hold of them, they can cause some real big neurological problems. So if there's sort of any breaks in development, even something as simple as not crawling and going straight to walk into getting to the little, the babies who just bumped, shuffle, and then they're up and they're, they're off course, all sorts of mischief and mayhem, the cruel inaction of the arms move in synchronizes both sides of the brain. So if you missed that section out of your development, you can have difficulties and it breaks a development cycle. So what I do, because we've got no way to revisit those stages, I manually revisit those stages and it's all, it's all rewired. So it all links up, not better
Speaker 0 00:13:47 Learn all of this. How'd you learn all this information. Was this stuff that you've done before? Have you had, do you have some background in it schooling or I'm curious,
Speaker 1 00:13:56 This is all in the last two years I have been. I know I've been very, very, very fortunate in who I've met and who the universe has sort of paired me up with my way. And I've been incredibly lucky to have so many synchronicities of bringing the right people at the right time who have been able to assist me in that part of my learning journey, where I am at the time. And I bumped into a neurodevelopment specialist whilst network network. And she I've got, she has a trading program and I trained in it and that was just what started, man. It was actually through that, that led me to realize that I'm autistic myself.
Speaker 0 00:14:36 Wow. I mean, the world really does work that way. And if you're paying attention, that's always provides. Yeah. There you go. I like that.
Speaker 1 00:14:45 It does. It really does. You just have to trust the process as it unfolds?
Speaker 0 00:14:49 Absolutely. Okay. I'd like to take a step
Speaker 2 00:14:52 Back for a second because you had a really good example. Like the, the not crawling and my interest in this is because our daughter did not crawl. She did the, she did this, the butt scoot thing that you were talking about. Uh, and then when she was three, I think, yeah. Um, she's developmentally delayed. She has down syndrome. Um, and of course now since, uh, since my diagnosis, we now know that she's autistic as well. So, um, you know, but as far as like the physical development, she did not crawl. And I'm interested to hear how you manually, um, connect those two sides of the brain. If, if I may, um, have a, a sneak peek,
Speaker 3 00:15:32 Your work,
Speaker 1 00:15:34 It is literally it's floor based exercises. And for me now that I've, I've done the program myself and it's had some really interesting sort of side effects. Like my night vision is improved. So when I'm driving so night vision has improved,
Speaker 3 00:15:50 Not flashbacks or anything they'll do. I mean, we don't want to eat any good, good, good.
Speaker 1 00:15:57 And I used to drop things. So you've heard the term like Butterfingers, where you're constantly dropping things. I don't drop things anymore. And it is for me, it takes me three, four minutes, maybe five to go through the first set of exercises each day. But you've only got to do them for 30 consecutive days. Then you move on to the next
Speaker 3 00:16:19 Step.
Speaker 1 00:16:22 Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, fire together, wire together. And then they literally do map out. Now somebody who is a little bit more restricted with their movement would take longer. So you might set one exercise and do that until they can get there, their move, move their body around it. And it might be that they need to be physically manipulated into place. I mean, there's one where you lay on your back and you put your legs up in the air and then you've got to grab your toes or 10 toes with all your fingers and stay upright. It's a lot harder than it sounds. So you either have someone next to you to pop you.
Speaker 3 00:17:03 Okay.
Speaker 1 00:17:03 So let's just get into those positions. So manual manipulation, but it's, it's so credibly powerful and my mentor and she's trained 20, no 30 people worldwide. And not many of those are practicing now. And this is just part of, sort of what I do rather than all that I do. And it's amazing. I've worked with one child and he said to me, thank you so much for the exercise you gave me, Nikki. They gave me the confidence to approach the library to after a regular time and space to run my new Pokemon club when he was 11, 12 years old. But it was just magical.
Speaker 3 00:17:46 And it's fascinating, honestly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:17:50 All right. So, so we're going to need you to come out here and like live with us for like three months.
Speaker 1 00:17:55 Yes. The pandemic,
Speaker 2 00:18:01 No quarantine for two weeks and then come live with us for three months.
Speaker 1 00:18:06 Well, actually the beauty of it is it can be taught all online and that is something that I'm going to go through in my course, or the 12 week program. So the thing is, if you've got more than one autistic individual in a family unit, the beauty of it is you only have to get it once and everyone can benefit and you can actually make it more of a, a family activity where you do your exercises. That's awesome. I love that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:18:30 Yeah. It's so this is kind of interesting. Most people have like a job that is not associated with autism, um, and therefore, uh, you know, have ways in which autism hinders them and ways in which it helps them. Um, and so I want to kind of reformat those questions with you because your work is all around autism. And I can't imagine it, like, you know, it, it is hurtful or harmful. It just kind of is what it is. Can you kind of talk a little bit about that as it relates to what you do, right?
Speaker 1 00:19:03 Yeah. I mean, well, going back though, before I got into this job, as I say it, and I was working at the bank and I had a lot of customer service roles and roles within finance, because that's just how I landed. I went down to a, um, job agency and that's where they placed me in temporary work. And I always spent maybe a year, two years tops. I don't know if this is sounded familiar. It's year to two years tops in employment. I would be amazed at what I did. I'd run circles around everybody else, but there'd always be a problem. And I would then end up burning myself out because I was giving my all to it without realizing that I was autistic, never get an, a recognition. So I was demoralized and dejected because there were way too many managers and not enough leaders.
Speaker 2 00:19:55 Right. And there's always someone, sometimes multiple someones that just come out of the woodwork and make it very clear to you that you do not belong.
Speaker 1 00:20:04 Absolutely. I mean that Scott, I've been a theme throughout my whole entire life, which is one of the reasons why I have such a strict, don't just don't within the group. So yeah. So this is my space. I've made it safe. And if you try and trample on that, you're out. Exactly. We don't have any friends. I think we've done the same thing. I've done so much of that in my personal life, over the last few years. But fortunately I had to go through that culling process in order to come out the other side and have people around me who are aligned with me and who are going to support me and me them. So, um, it is a bit of a shed in, but work wise. I mean, now I still have the same difficulties in a sense, but I also have the advantage of when I have done a little bit too much, I can stop. Whereas you can't do that in, in a, in a job. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:21:08 We'll you have a lot of sick days.
Speaker 1 00:21:12 Yeah. I think they should, um, incorporate, but days sofa days. So like mental health days to work places and actually their sickness and their rates of employees calling in to say, I'm going to be off today, will go down. So just have a little bit of compassion really. Right. Yeah. We do that for our kids. Um,
Speaker 2 00:21:35 My son will often ask for, and he calls it anxiety day. Um, and it's just, you know, uh, it's just, he just doesn't have it in him to go in that day and I totally get it and I don't blame him and absolutely take an anxiety day. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:21:54 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:21:56 And now we've just pulled him from public school entirely and he's being homeschooled. So it just, mine is as well. Awesome. Cool. Public school is public school to him was like a job to me. Oh. And dude, you, us, all of us.
Speaker 0 00:22:11 Yeah. It was overwhelming
Speaker 1 00:22:13 Slightly and back in the system myself again, why do I want to repeat some of the hardest times of my life? Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:22:20 Exactly. Yeah. We always want better for our kids. Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, with that said, you know, uh, what about, uh, having autism, you know, helps you do awesome things in your work that you're doing
Speaker 1 00:22:38 Allows me to absorb a lot of information in a very short space of time. Yeah, exactly. Hyper-focus I love it. Absolutely love it. I'm like a sponge. And I said, kids are a sponge you could do with teaching kids languages at an early age. And I think that autistic individuals keep that sponge light mentality when it's a subject that really interests them. Fortunately for me, I've had personal, um, personal interests or special interest in personal development for over a decade. And it's just sort of a twist on that to make it really fit my unique needs. And they're not so unique because there's more of me out there. The weirdos are coming to me. I've got my light on now.
Speaker 1 00:23:29 Unlike you. I do use the term wear those in an endearing way and not in an offensive, derogatory sense just to confirm.
Speaker 0 00:23:37 Absolutely. It's good. It's good to be intentional.
Speaker 2 00:23:41 Absolutely. I'm all about the weirdos and the misfits. And even my whole life I have been, I have felt the need to take care of, to love and, and defend all of the misfits. You know, the people that I've just been drawn to people who are different and I felt the need to protect them, defend them and, and make sure that, you know, other people aren't doing to them, what they were doing to me.
Speaker 1 00:24:09 Yeah. Um, as, as I've got older and I've taken more control back of myself, as I've understood myself more, that confidence has grown in me as well. So I cannot stand by and watch people being treated in a way that I've been treated in the past, which is why I'm into the autism advocacy now as well, because it's about giving people a voice and it's about actually enabling people to speak their truth, even if they don't have the strength at the time to voice it themselves. So this is so important. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:24:44 It is. Thank you so much for what you do for the community. It's I mean, and you reach so many people. It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 00:24:51 And my Facebook page has reached 51 and a half thousand in last month because of the challenge that I'm doing and everyone's just been sharing her. And I, she just go through all my Facebook contacts and there's about 600 of them. Please share my post, please share my posts. And I've done it manually as well. So it's been, it's been a labor of love.
Speaker 3 00:25:14 Now. You said you've had help too. Is that, is that right?
Speaker 1 00:25:19 Oh, I've had help over the years. Um, just in the form of people showing up randomly. Okay. Got it. Oh, with the, with the course. Yeah. Well actually that was one of these people that just showed up randomly. I had somebody on my Facebook who just said, I can help you with your Facebook advertising. And what he actually has done is taken care of my Facebook advertising has handheld me through building my course and the platform that I do not know. And I will say that that would have caused me not one but multiple meltdowns, because it was, it's a good, it's a great platform, but you don't know what order to do things in. And you know how order is so important amongst in the autistic mind. And I was just, I was literally pulling what little hair I have out on Saturday. And then he messaged me and said, Oh, let's just jump on a zoom or Monday. And I'll give you a clear list of what to do. And in what order, I'm just like, okay,
Speaker 3 00:26:21 Love you.
Speaker 1 00:26:24 She wasn't married. If I wasn't gay, I'd actually asked you to marry me by
Speaker 3 00:26:31 Yes. We love the people who bring order to our lie.
Speaker 1 00:26:34 Yes. So, I mean, he has been an absolute godsend and I will not go anywhere else for my marketing and advertising needs. So from his point of view, that's stuck him is fantastic customer service, but actually it's very unusual to find that level of customer service where people go above and beyond in that way. And yeah, if anyone wants his details, I will send them to you because he's brilliant. Yeah. Amazing.
Speaker 2 00:27:01 Awesome. Okay. Yeah. I would like those details and I will also put them in the show notes. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:27:06 If, if you think he would like that, Oh, he'll be fine, but you will have the promotion. You will.
Speaker 2 00:27:20 Well, that should be how it works. Right. If you do a good job at what you do, you know, it's the word of mouth. Yeah. You tell people and people will, you know, people will flock. Ideally,
Speaker 1 00:27:32 This is why I've always built my business on referrals. I've done good 18 solid months of networking and building my network up around other professionals. So if I can't help an individual, I'm pretty convinced and sure that I will have someone within my network. I know trust who I can refer to.
Speaker 3 00:27:53 Yeah. And see that level in your customer service too. I mean, that's that level of caring goes so far. I mean, it really it's above and beyond, and that's the kind of, and that's what we all would like to see all the time, all the time, but it's so rare.
Speaker 1 00:28:08 No, I do go above and beyond. And it's actually, I think the first time that I've had it given back to me, which is why I'm so, Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 00:28:17 God, you must be for named Joel. It is amazing to see though. I know we've been through a lot of
Speaker 2 00:28:25 Yes. And you know, what's interesting is our outline. We have written for like job people nine to five type of people. So of course, you know, a lot of these questions don't apply to like you or, well, they apply to me. I have a hourly job, but, um, so, you know, like usually we would end with like a, you know, Hey, what's your dream job, but, uh,
Speaker 1 00:28:47 My dream job, I'm, I'm, I'm making out, I'm creating it as I am, as I go along as, as, as I'm guided to, by what everyone seen forces drive in those, those choices and well, this journey. Um, I think what I will say to people who are in the job and who are in employment is that it's perfectly acceptable to ask for reasonable adjustments. And actually if those reasonable adjustments aren't met based on your specific needs, then that says more about your employer than when it does about you absolutely needs to change.
Speaker 2 00:29:24 Okay. Knowing what I know about you and how intentional you are, which I love that about you, intentional people are very special to me. Um, what are your, um, like, do you have like a mission statement, a value statement like that that says like, yeah, you have goals, right? Like you said, 20,000 people by, you know, um, what was it next year?
Speaker 1 00:29:49 Five years. So 2025. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:29:54 What's the, what's the overall mission? What is the, what is the, the, the way that sounds,
Speaker 1 00:30:00 That's a good question. When you find out, let me know. I've always, I've always, always struggled with mission statements and vision statements together, and it is definitely something that I could really do with putting together. But I just, I guess off the cuff, it would be to just put people back in control and give them their voices. So they can actually live because, I mean, since my autism diagnosed some self-diagnosed and it's given me the self-belief to step into a much more authentic and aligned version of myself now I practice spirituality. I'm very aligned with sort of universal energies and intent, as you say, and as you know, anyway, but that's, if you can think it, you're pretty much there to create an it and your thoughts become your reality. So that's sort of what I want to be getting out there too. I want to be helping people to become more spiritually aligned. And I say that word with sort of the highest, the highest good of the people that I work with.
Speaker 3 00:31:09 Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I mean, the more people that have goals to help people that, you know, ultimately there's this, you know, the goal there, we'll all hold hands and love each other, you know, it's like, but I mean, re re realistically, it takes people like you to be in the world to make a difference for people. And that's what you're doing. And, and we appreciate it.
Speaker 1 00:31:30 Thank you. It's nice to, it's nice to be appreciated.
Speaker 2 00:31:34 I'm sure we're not the only ones.
Speaker 1 00:31:37 No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 00:31:40 I said for us, if, you know, I don't, I mean, I don't have like a written mission statement. That's like framed on my wall. Right. But, um, you know, but the idea is, you know, for me, it's, it's a combination of, um, my understanding of autism, right. And my needs and what I've been through and my intense, special interest called getting a job because I've had to do it so many times. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:32:09 Really good at,
Speaker 2 00:32:11 I know how to get a job, all about it, everything about it. Like I go deep. And my mission when I put those two things together is essentially like find meaningful employment for autistic people. Absolutely. Like, that's what we're about.
Speaker 1 00:32:27 Absolutely. And if you ever want to get together and do something, what I do is as this neat little trick, and I don't know if you've heard of it, you might have, um, called blowing neurological boundaries.
Speaker 0 00:32:40 Nobody sounds intriguing. Right.
Speaker 1 00:32:42 All right. That's simple explanation. This is one of my gifts is being able to take a complicated topic and explain it easily. So you've got a balloon and in the middle of that balloon is anxiety. So you've got anxiety about going into your interview. It's pretty normal thing, but it's a one off anxiety because once it's done with, you're going to relax and the system's going to come back down to a normal level. So in this balloon, we've got anxiety. Now I ask a bunch of weird questions that make absolutely no sense. But what these questions are designed to do is pump this balloon. So full of positive stuff about you, knowing that what happens when a balloon gets too full, it pop, boom. It pops. So when your balloon gets too full of the positivity, it goes, boom, takes the anxiety, the fear, or the feeling sad away. And it doesn't even register as an issue. So it scrambles your neurological pathways. And I had this done to me. I was doing a talk in a school for a career's morning with teenagers, lots of them. It was terrifying. And I said to coach, friend of mine, and she said, Oh, what are you scared for? Oh, I'll give you a, I do this thing called neurologic blow in neurological boundaries. Do you know much about it?
Speaker 0 00:34:00 Uh, no.
Speaker 1 00:34:03 And she did it and she asked me all these weird questions and within 10, 15 minutes, well, it was like one or two. I can't feel that there's anything there. And it wasn't until I was driving out of the school grounds. So I realized that not only had I got nervous, but I didn't even have the butterflies in the run-up to having something new. And again, with autism, that sort of stuff is usually enough to just floor you for a couple of days before. So to not even have that and to register in a way out that, Oh my goodness, I didn't even have that. I messaged her. And I said, what did you do to me? You have to teach me this since she did. So yeah. If you ever want to add that in, we can help you with that.
Speaker 0 00:34:48 Absolutely. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's the, that is the biggest hurdle for people. Is that nervousness about the interview and you know, I'm not nervous. I, I walk into an interview with the confidence of, let's just say, let's just say a certain political person that might be very confident. That's how I walk into an interview. I'm just, I'm just that way. I am. I don't, I mean, not so much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had to coach you through, I mean, you'll keep jobs. That's true. It doesn't happen very often, but I think that's what T palms, I like that idea of a filling up my brains pose until the positivity until it pops though. That's poppy road. Oh, now
Speaker 3 00:35:38 I get it wrong. Okay. I thought my head was just going to explode. Then I wouldn't have to do the interview done solution to all life's worries. I don't think it's a good solution, but it is a permanent solution. We're not advocating that at all. Just to be clear,
Speaker 1 00:35:57 Lots of different things like, um, driving and tests as well is it took me several attempts to pass my driving because every single time I failed the next one I'll be more nervous. And it was just compacted bef and then it was just, I'm looking at you
Speaker 2 00:36:16 Looking at you. Um, well I think that is all the time we have, uh, if there's anything we missed, Nikki, that you want to talk about, um, I'd love to hear it.
Speaker 1 00:36:29 I think that a lot, there's a lot of unemployment in autism and we're massively, over-represented in unemployment and we are always put in a box and told that we're restricted and that there are a lot of things that we can't do. And actually, as I said earlier, your mind is your limit. So if you can dream it, if you can see it, and if you've got a passion, just keep working at that passion. And there could very well be a way that opens up for you to make that passion into a job. Just like I have. So don't listen to all the naysayers out there because they're not necessarily right. In fact, they're probably not. And it's a lot of their own projection on to you that you're, that you're absorbing. So just go out there, walk that what your world and live the best life that you possibly can. Right.
Speaker 2 00:37:22 I love it. I love it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 00:37:24 Yeah. And thank you so much for joining us today. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2 00:37:29 Like, and subscribe, make sure to click the bell. So you get notified every time we talk,
Speaker 3 00:37:35 You know, this isn't YouTube, right?
Speaker 2 00:37:38 Oh, dang it. I mean, thanks for being here. See you next time.
Speaker 3 00:37:43 Hey, listen. If you want to be on our show, we would love to have you come and talk about your job to, uh, please go to Carver resumes.com, fill out the contact information and we'll get in touch with you. And, uh, maybe we can interview. Thanks for being here. Have a good day. Bye
