Peaceful Profits Podcast Ep. 113 - Real Stories, Real Results
Synopsis:
In this insightful episode of the Peaceful Profits Podcast, host Chanelle Nielsen interviews Sue Erhart—a Fortune 500 executive turned spiritual guide and author of the upcoming book Lose Your Critic for Good.
Sue shares her powerful story of healing after a life-altering psychotic episode and how writing became both her therapy and mission. She reveals how Peaceful Profits helped bring her transformational message to life, and why her practical, soul-centered tools are changing lives—especially for midlife women ready to stop playing small and start living with purpose.
This episode is filled with real talk, powerful frameworks, and hope for anyone stuck in self-doubt.
Transcript:
Peaceful Profits Review: Real Stories, Real Results
[00:00:00] Hello, Peaceful Profits nation, Chanelle here with an exciting client spotlight episode for you today. Today we're talking to our client, Sue Earhart. Sue, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, Chanelle. I'm looking forward to this conversation and looking [00:00:15] forward to introducing you to our audience here. So Sue is a writer who runs the popular website, Practical Spirituality in her day job.
She's an executive for a fortune 500 company. In her second career, she helps people connect to their authentic [00:00:30] selves through targeted courses and books that meet her readers where they are. Those who consume her content find themselves tuned in to their own spirit and thriving in life. Her expertise primarily caters to midlifers.
She finds that her sweet Is learners who were [00:00:45] raised in traditional religions, but are now exploring the more practical benefits of new age spirituality. She understands the challenges they face and offers clear and approachable advice for how to leverage your spirit to accomplish your goals. So this is gonna be a [00:01:00] fun conversation.
I'm looking forward to diving into how you do that, into what you teach and all of those things. But to start off with, I think something that really stands out here is. You have a pretty busy, high level [00:01:15] day job for a Fortune 500 company, and I think a lot of people would, in your position, be like, that's enough, I'm good I've reached success, I'm done.
So it really intrigues me that you are here, that you're writing a book, [00:01:30] that you're working with people in this second career. So what brought you to this point? I feel like Chanelle, I couldn't not do this because I was having so much fun. But to back up a bit and to say how I got here [00:01:45] I went through a really difficult situation in my life a medical situation where I, for very unexplained reasons Slipped into a psychosis and I was hospitalized for 22 [00:02:00] days.
I took three months off work to recover and I had dozens of medical professionals who were treating me and every one of them said, we have no idea why this is happening to you. This shouldn't. [00:02:15] Be happening to you, and we don't know how to fix it. So it was a very scary time in my life, and it was also a time when I really felt like I had nowhere to turn.
Every medical professional I went [00:02:30] to seemed to just shrug and say we don't have anything to offer you. And so what I did is I really turned inward and I started writing and I really believe, Chanelle, that I wrote myself through a recovery, [00:02:45] and as I did that, this passion within me for sharing all the tools and wisdom that I've built up over my long career I really just felt this compulsion to say, I want to share [00:03:00] this wisdom.
I want to get this out there. And that's what I've been doing. Oh, thank you for sharing that. That is a powerful story. A lot of what? Wow. That's a lot to go through. And I love what you said that you [00:03:15] wrote yourself through a recovery. I want to hear. More about that. And I'm sure we'll dive into as we talk more about your work because I know writing plays a part in that.
I also wanted to highlight that you said what [00:03:30] you do is so fun. And I think that is, that's really great. See ya. A powerful thing to point out that we talk about, where's the money or where's the passion and this idea of fun doesn't come up a [00:03:45] lot. And yet what a great motivator to just keep you going.
I also heard you didn't specify it, but I heard behind the words you said purpose that there is so much purpose in what you do that you couldn't [00:04:00] not do it. You just felt almost called to it. Would you say that's right? I would say that. And Chanelle, I love that you highlighted fun because I think if I had one message that I wanted to get out to people, I write on all topics around practical [00:04:15] spirituality and in my view, practical spirituality and fun.
Are synonymous and I think that's something that many of us didn't get that message as we were growing up. No, I think you're exactly right about that. Okay. [00:04:30] I'm excited to learn more about how this is fun. So let's start just with getting a broader picture of the work that you do. Tell us a little bit more about that.
I'm here today to really talk about my book that's coming out in January, but let me give you, step [00:04:45] back and give you a little bit of what I do so you can understand the context. Again, my entire platform I call Practical Spirituality Tools for a Better Life. And what I try to do Is offer people truly practical tools [00:05:00] and things that they can do to connect with their inner beings, their authentic selves, their souls, whatever you want to call it, your core essence.
I help people make that connection and I do my best to meet them. Where they are [00:05:15] and what I've encountered not only in my own life, but also in corporate America is a lot of people have a critic and I can talk about how the critic shows up, but a lot of people have a [00:05:30] critic and I see the critic as the single biggest block to connecting to your soul.
To your passion, to your purpose. So my book is called lose your critic for good and it is a step by step [00:05:45] process to reclaim your spirit. Okay. I love this. So talk to us then about how that critic does show up and what that looks like. Yep. I can tell you because I lived for a lot of years with a critic.
So I'll [00:06:00] start with, I think we all understand the idea that the critic are those habits of thought where we self criticize, we put ourselves down or whatever. We limit ourselves. So those that's a very normal way. But other ways that the [00:06:15] critic shows up. I've seen it in myself where you have a propensity to see the one thing that's missing.
So you see lack when you go somewhere versus seeing the things that are there and celebrating them. So that's [00:06:30] a critic mentality. So see the critics show up in what I call power transfers, and these are people who use lots of words like should must. So they're living their life [00:06:45] according to a set of unspoken rules instead of listening to their own authentic selves.
To me, that's another way the critic shows up. And then the last way I would say that I personally experienced the critic was in [00:07:00] downplaying saying, What we have is enough we shouldn't strive for that bigger goal, those kinds of things downplaying and those are all things that I feel like I went through early in my career and worked through to [00:07:15] learn how to silence those ideas.
Yeah, do you feel like. Most people silence that or are just working around it. What do you see in your, as you've done this work with people? [00:07:30] I think most people I work with start out completely unaware. And I'd even challenge you to say, if you listen to your friends talk, how often? Are they downplaying [00:07:45] themselves?
Or how often are they apologizing? How often are they saying don't mind me, or whatever it might be, but little verbal cues that are literally blocks keeping you from your authentic [00:08:00] self. So I see a lot of people start there. But then. Once they step in and start doing just a little bit of thought work and mindset work, they start to become really aware of how these [00:08:15] thoughts are there.
Now, you're right, some of these ideas we bury from ourselves and I think we push them down. I try to teach people how to access those deeper thoughts and bring them forward. And in a very Neutral way, make a decision [00:08:30] whether you're going to carry those thoughts forward. Okay, that's so powerful. And I think what you said is so true that we can see this.
We can see it in our own language. We can see it in our own thoughts. But if we really pay attention, [00:08:45] it is so pervasive out there. And I think it's interesting. We talk a lot here on the podcast about niches and your dream client and who you're working with. For you, you've chosen to work with midlife women, [00:09:00] and I think this intersection of what you do with that part of the, of the population is really genius, because just as you were talking, and I'm thinking, Of who this [00:09:15] brings to mind, definitely women, right?
Women are more prone to this. Any thoughts on why that is or how you see that coming up with women and to speak also to why you chose to specifically [00:09:30] work with midlife women on this? First of all, because I feel like I'm my own ideal client for a lot of this, so I can really relate. But what I have experienced and I've got Lots of friends who are moms [00:09:45] and they're going around in life, cheerleading these kids and telling them you can be anything you want.
You can do anything you want. You can accomplish anything you want. And we're providing these spaces for these kids to [00:10:00] thrive. And, by my account, these kids are doing awesome. And then we have these moms who often are Working a job for the paycheck, not because it satisfies their soul, they're following around [00:10:15] their kids activities, but they don't have any activities of their own in their life.
Some of the women that I work with will tell me that they realize after they get self reflective that they often go through an entire day [00:10:30] without doing a single thing that they want to do. And when you start to think about that boy I think about our soul and our essential spirit, it doesn't stand a chance when we're making sure that our entire life is [00:10:45] about others.
So I really feel like in a lot of ways. We're the last generation to have to deal with this. It's like our kids are coming in. And I know often people talk about these millennials and their sense of entitlement. I love [00:11:00] it. I love their sense of self. I love the way they enter a room and expect things, we're the ones in midlife who need to have a shift so that we can live out our remaining years doing what we want.
[00:11:15] Okay, such a powerful perspective. And I think you're really onto something as you describe it. Scribed this mom, we all know her. We can all see that. . Very clearly, the mom who is going from activity to activity and she's exhausted and she hasn't taken the time [00:11:30] to, she needs to do all the things to get herself ready and she just is not taking the time.
Okay. I like that. As you have done this work and I think one thing that's coming through very clearly is how much [00:11:45] work you've done to know your person, you know who you're talking to so clearly and that's so powerful. And I think that's a really key component when you write a book that really matters that you know who you are speaking to when you write a book.
Let's talk a little bit [00:12:00] about your book. It comes out in January, which is exciting. So why did you decide to write a book on all the things that you've learned and what was the thought process behind that decision? The [00:12:15] tools that I write about are tools that I've used for years, for a long time.
And frankly, they are tools that helped me climb the corporate ladder and achieve a lot of success in my career. And they're tools that I didn't give a lot [00:12:30] of thought to, Chanelle. They were things that I've taught myself to do and really Taught myself how to overcome some of my limited thinking and doing some mindset work and different things like that.
But when I went through my [00:12:45] ordeal where no one could figure out what was wrong with me, and by the way, that was the central message from every medical provider there's something wrong with you, but we don't know what it is, which is a horrible message to receive. But when I went through that and then [00:13:00] stepped back and started writing and really doing reflective work on my own, the same tools that I had used to know myself and to really set myself up to accomplish all of my goals in my career, those same tools helped [00:13:15] me heal.
And when that happened, I realized that what I had great power. It wasn't just that these were little tips and tricks that helped me get success in my daily life and accomplish all my goals. [00:13:30] These were techniques that helped me recover from a really terrible situation. Yeah. Okay. I can't wait to dive into some of those and learn more about it.
But before we go there, [00:13:45] I do want to know a little bit more about the actual process of writing a book, because a lot of people, get excited about the idea and they, Oh, I should write a book or I want to write a book or whatever that is inside. And then [00:14:00] they get tripped up. They get scared.
They look at a blank page for you. So as you wrote the book, tell us a little bit about the process, about how it came together, anything that you would share about the actual book writing. I will tell you, I too [00:14:15] was daunted. I had this idea, I had a book in me but some days I wasn't even sure what that book was.
What I did have though was a good habit of writing and just sitting down and putting words on a page. Chanelle, [00:14:30] I just started writing essays, little short essays that contained my advice, my learnings, my knowledge. And thank you At the time I didn't even know what to do with it. So I started asking friends [00:14:45] if they would just read my essays.
So I put together and started a newsletter and I started sending that out. And once I got more and more comfortable with those essays, what I realized is, the book is just a series of essays. So it [00:15:00] took me probably about six months to gain my courage to say I could read it. I can write a book, but even the writing process of it, I treated it like here's a discreet essay, and I may not even know how this discreet essay is going [00:15:15] to link to the next discreet essay or how it's all going to come together.
Let's just get it out there. And that's what I did. Oh, that's so good because we can do that. That makes it really doable. I love that you said it comes down to a habit of writing [00:15:30] and just. Writing something and also this idea of breaking it down. Okay. A book is daunting, but an essay I can do that.
I can write an essay. I think something else powerful. You did in that process is you had other people read it [00:15:45] because sometimes when we do start writing. And then the next big hurdle is putting it out there into the world, because that's a whole new level of vulnerability. And for you, as you wrote, you were sharing it.
And I think [00:16:00] that's really powerful because then the next step of writing a book is obviously going to be sharing it. It takes away some of that fear because the things you have written have already been tested. They've already been seen. You've already gotten feedback on them. And so I think that's [00:16:15] really powerful.
Okay. Let's dive into some of the tools that your book teaches and what your book helps people to do. So the book is broken out in 28 chapters, [00:16:30] and I suggest each chapter is a day's worth of reading and then exercises. And so I always will give you the context and the understanding for the tool and then coach you through using the tool.
Each one of these [00:16:45] exercises by themselves could be something that you glom on to and it suddenly becomes part of your life. But I also see great value in simply working through each exercise one after the other and they build on each other. But let me just talk [00:17:00] about one. I'll pick one chapter and talk about it.
A lot of people I know work from a to do list. They make a list of things to do for the day and carry that around. And let's all be clear, [00:17:15] a to do list is a list of things you don't want to do. If you wanted to do them, they wouldn't be on that list. You'd be doing them, or you'd be scheduling them. So this is already a list of things that are, I'm going to say, a little bit against the self.
They're things you [00:17:30] don't want to do for some reason. And a lot of people work from that list, judge their day a success or a failure. Based on that list and really get into this habit of seeing themselves [00:17:45] through the eyes of the productivity of doing actions that you do not want to do. So I have personally dropped that habit years ago and instead, and this is what I teach is I teach people to not work [00:18:00] from to do lists, but to instead work from a log book and a log book is very simple.
You write the date. And you log everything you do and how you feel when you're doing it. So I'll say after this, [00:18:15] did a podcast with Chanelle, felt great. Okay, that's simple. It's really easy. But this technique is so powerful because what it does, first of all, is it starts reorienting [00:18:30] your perspective to start looking for the good and the done.
Versus focusing on the undone and the unwanted. So you just, you make that shift and that is a pattern of thinking [00:18:45] that your brain needs if you want to connect with your authentic self. So it, it really is a great thing. The second thing it does is it starts. to give you something. When you reach the end of the day, I'm always emotional.
Even [00:19:00] when there are things that I didn't get to that I thought I was going to get to, I take a second, I look back at that list and I celebrate and I say, look at all the things I did get accomplished. So it's just a wonderful tool at the end of the day, but it goes [00:19:15] beyond that. I think emotions are extremely important in knowing yourself.
So when you get into this habit of noticing what you do and how you feel. Now, you have a powerful tool because [00:19:30] most of us have things that we really enjoy. Most of us have things that are natural strengths for us that we are so good at. We can just whip them out and do those. And as you use your logbook, you start to know yourself better.
You can look back [00:19:45] and say, when were the moments I felt strong and confident and what was I doing when I did that? And when you do that. And then start asking for those sorts of projects or looking for that kind of work or adding those things into your day. It's very [00:20:00] powerful. Yeah. Oh, this whole exercise is so powerful.
I love it. I think that's so cool. Now, I have to ask because I bet listeners are thinking this. I use a to do list because otherwise I [00:20:15] feel like I'll forget. So what would you say to that? If there's sometimes a to do list just helps me to clear the brain clutter and get it all out on a piece of paper.
So how do you handle that? Sure. And of course I've got life tasks too. And I've got things that I don't want to [00:20:30] do. What I do is I do keep a list of things I could forget and I want to remember to do. Let's just say scheduling the dental appointment that I'm not excited about doing, but I have it on my list.
I keep, I do keep a separate [00:20:45] list, but I first I make it a point that I write down the task and then I write an I want statement next to it. Okay? So dentist, I want clean teeth. I want my teeth to stay healthy. So right away, we're [00:21:00] moving it from a, Oh, here's something I have to do that I don't want to do, that we're tying it to an authentic want.
And again, these are powerful soul practices, Chanelle. To say the words I want. So I do that. But then what I do is I put [00:21:15] that list away. It's not visible to me as I work my day. I work my day doing the things that I want to be working on. And every once in a while, when my energy is high or I'm feeling good, I pull out that list and I peruse it and I say, is there anything [00:21:30] on here that I could knock out right now?
And I just follow my energy and I knock it out and it works for me. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Okay, that's super powerful. And, my own work, I've done a lot of work on [00:21:45] the power of gratitude, the power of celebrating. And I love how this is built in with this logbook that you've created that you are automatically looking for that.
And with my own coaching clients, I, [00:22:00] something I teach them to do is at the end of the day to reflect on the day. It can be so hard for people to remember what they did six, eight hours ago. So I love that you are doing it in the moment. And this [00:22:15] idea is something I haven't heard before, to record how you feel while you're doing that.
I think that is so powerful to teach you. You said something that I think is really really a cool idea that emotions help you know yourself. I believe that's [00:22:30] true. And I think that as you. Continue it throughout the day to check in with that. Here's what I did. Here's how I felt. You are going to see that pattern and what a powerful shift.
You [00:22:45] talked earlier about this idea of an inner critic, how we have these habits of thought. This is creating a totally new habit of thought, right? What would you say to that? What is the new habit that we are creating in our thoughts? The new [00:23:00] habit is listening to yourself, paying attention to what you want, saying the words I want and getting very comfortable.
I think that Who we are, at our core, is a bundle of wants, all of us, we want to be [00:23:15] loved, we want to be seen, we want to be heard, and then we have all sorts of other wants that we've accumulated over our life. That's our core essence, trying to express into the world, and many of us suppress that, or just aren't listening, because [00:23:30] instead, we're listening to the critic.
I, in my work, we really pull on two things. One is the dismantling of the critic and those thought patterns that go critical and listen to others. And then the other side of the work is [00:23:45] building up these different habits of listening to yourself. Oh, so good. Okay. Thank you. That's amazing. So Your book, which you've just given us this little insight into, [00:24:00] it's set to launch in January, and I want to talk a little bit in the time we have left about the business aspect of what having this book will do for your business now, in the future, what you anticipate as far as adding a [00:24:15] book to your business.
So I see the book, first of all, stand alone as an income producing opportunity. So right there, I see something for my business. Second of all, I see it bringing me people who are ready to connect [00:24:30] with their authentic selves. And then once they come into my universe, I have a suite of online courses that drill deeper on all of these topics and teach the tools and techniques.
And it's my hope that with the book, I can. establish myself as an [00:24:45] authority on this, and people see that the tools actually work, and that they come to me for more and for more in depth. Yeah. Okay. I can definitely see that. And even in what we've done today, you shared in, in so [00:25:00] much detail that we could go and we could take that.
And so I can see how this would definitely do the same, right? People get to read, they get to experience it, and I love the element, which is throughout your business, of practicality. [00:25:15] That it's not You know, sometimes when we get into the elements of woowoo, it's really hard to get a grasp on. Okay, but what do I do?
What does it mean? How do I use this? And I love that you are taking this concept that can be a little [00:25:30] hard for us to grasp, and really bringing it down to, okay, here's an exercise. Here's the practical, here's how you implement. And I think that's your personal sweet spot, and that's your genius to be able to bring that to life.
Help people use [00:25:45] what you're teaching them and then to have an opportunity to go deeper, like you said. Yeah, yes I personally have little patience for words that I don't know what they mean. So if somebody said to me, go within and find the answer, I would throw up my hands and say, what does that [00:26:00] mean?
I need something very specific and very concrete that I can do. And that's one of the things I love is once you learn these tools. You're able to self service through a difficulty, [00:26:15] through a challenge, because I do believe that each of us are endowed with what we need to succeed in life, it's there, it's on the inside, you just need to learn to access it, and once you do, I've just seen with so many people I've worked with, their lives take [00:26:30] off.
That's amazing. So where can people go to learn from you how to access that wisdom that they already have? Chanelle, today we talked about just one simple exercise that I teach in my book. [00:26:45] And the book is full of 28 different exercises to help you lose your critic for good and start reclaiming life as your own.
So if you want to find more. Head over to my website sueerhart.com and there [00:27:00] you'll find the information to get the book as well as a whole bunch of other resources that I provide to help people connect with their authentic selves and live their best life.
