Anyone can become a person of influence, even if your sphere of influence is small, like family and friends. As Christians, we believe that God mandates us all to be people of influence. But how can begin to impact someone’s life for good?
It starts with recalling the people who have positively impacted you. This can happen in any part of your life: school, sports, work, family, even your favorite authors and famous figures who have made a lasting impression.
Today, Mama Z shares the people in her life who have influenced her the most and helped her shape the person she is today. You’ll hear how their encouragement, inspiration, and support made a lasting impression and enabled her to pay that wisdom forward.
Are you ready to start building your influence for good in this world? Join us today and get inspired!
Natural Living Family Podcast Episode Forty-Three: Becoming a Person of Influence
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Natural Living Family Podcast, Episode 43 – Becoming A Person of Influence
The contents of this presentation are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This presentation does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
[0:00 – 1:49] Prelude
Dr. Z: I’m telling you. I believe it’s a mandate from God to be people of influence. Just know that at times you’ll have that opportunity just to drop a seed and you’ll have no idea of the impact that it will have on the rest of that person’s life. But other times, maybe God will entrust you with that relationship like Sabrina had with Sally and that I have with my mentor, Enoch, who have been with us for many, many years.
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: And those are precious. And I’ll say that those are rare too.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: And you’re rare. Again. We’ve mentioned this a few times that you have Sally and you have Miss Terry, you have Mary Ellen. You have non-blood family members…
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: … that have been with you for decades.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: And if you have one of those people, you should consider yourself blessed.
Mama Z: Oh yeah.
Dr. Z: Sabrina, maybe because of the call that God has on your life.
Mama Z: Well.
Dr. Z: You’ve been given an abundance.
Mama Z: I’m a very loyal person. And one of the things, you know, I realized as part of the process that in doing a lot of the things, even with the pageant, one of the years I was really favored to win Miss Michigan. And so many people came out of the woodwork, you know, to give me gifts and stuff. People I don’t even know who they were and that was really cool. But what it’s about is, the day after the pageant, no matter what happens, who’s sitting at breakfast with you Sunday.
Dr. Z: Mm-hmm.
Mama Z: And that really shows you who is on your team.
[1:50 – 2:15] Intro
Dr. Z: Hi, this is Dr. Z.
Mama Z: And Mama Z. And welcome to episode 43 of The Natural Living Family Podcast.
Dr. Z: Each week, we invite you into our home to talk about how you can master the art and science of natural living. And we share the same tips our family uses every day to enjoy an abundant life. And you’re going to love today’s talk.
Mama Z: So, come on it and get comfortable. After all, you are one of the family. Our natural living family.
[2:16 – 3:17] Sponsor Spotlight: Matcha Green Tea
Dr. Z: But before we dive into all the fun, we’re excited to share special note about today’s sponsor.
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[3:18 – 8:05] Topic Introduction
Dr. Z: Well, hey there, everyone. Welcome to the show. This is episode 43, Becoming a Person of Influence, and why it’s so important.
Mama Z: Absolutely.
Dr. Z: What did you want the original title to be? Remember?
Mama Z: No.
Dr. Z: My mentors, and-
Mama Z: Yeah. My mentors, or mentors over our life, or-
Dr. Z: Yeah.
Mama Z: … something like that.
Dr. Z: That’s what we’re going to talk about.
Mama Z: Or mentors over the years?
Dr. Z: Yeah, so Mama Z wanted to talk about the people that have really influenced her over the years, and I’m always thinking of what are catchy titles to get peoples attentions, and I’m thinking … Well, not that people won’t be interested in who mentored us, and who helped us, and inspired us, but it really dawned on me the underlying theme of what you’re saying when it comes to mentorship is being a person of influence, and why it is important to be a person of influence whether your influence is a congregation, like us, tens of thousands of people online, or your influence is your local family, your intimate personal family.
It doesn’t matter how large or how small, we all have an influence on people, and to be a person of influence, and knowing that we have the ability to impact peoples lives, and we’re going to share some stories today about how our lives were changed forever because of people. It really weighs heavy on the importance of taking this life seriously, because we’ve had people in our lives that took their lives seriously, and for all intents and purposes we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them. Isn’t that cool?
Mama Z: Yeah.
Dr. Z: The neat thing about this episode, we just went through a series. Again, this is airing November 11th. By the way, today, tonight is the last moment, the last 12 hours, actually 12 hours almost, that you could listen, and watch, and experience the Hope for Breast Cancer documentary. We have helped over 50,000 people. Wow, praise God for that. More than 50,000 people have joined the free global premier that started last Wednesday, and it ended last night.
But because so many people have told us weekends, this, that, Sunday Night Football, I don’t know, all these things that they couldn’t watch it during the five day free screening, we’re extending and we have a replay on Monday, which is today up until midnight. So, you have until midnight tonight, 11:59 p.m. Eastern tonight, November 11th, to watch the free screening of the one hour and 45 minute, life-changing, jaw-dropping, tear-jerking documentary.
Mama Z: That’s pretty good, dear.
Dr. Z: You like that?
Mama Z: Yeah.
Dr. Z: I should be on the radio, I think.
Mama Z: Seriously, you have that night radio voice, I think, Reggie says.
Dr. Z: That night, FM night radio, or the AM or FM night radio voice. But anyway, this podcast, episode 43, is sandwiched in, because all of October was about hope. All of October was about hope for breast cancer. All of October was about the lessons that we learned, and the next two episodes, which we actually just recorded, we’re kind of going backwards, we’re transitioning to helping you finish out this year strong with healthy, happy holidays. That’s episode 45, or 44 and 45, and then we’re going to go into Christmas. We’re going to go into making this your best year ever. We’re ending on a high note.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: Hallelujah. So, this is a special one.
Mama Z: Did you just say our last one of the year is our 50th podcast episode, so-
Dr. Z: Yes. Yeah, I think it’s, what, December 30th? Whatever that Monday is, it’s our 50th … it’s kind of cool to end-
Mama Z: It is.
Dr. Z: -the year on their 50th episode. Kind of a milestone for us.
Mama Z: Very cool.
Dr. Z: Kind of hard to believe we’re on 43, 44, 45 right now.
Mama Z: We should do like the radio and have the best hits of 2019 for a podcast week, or two, or something like that.
Dr. Z: That’s a good idea. Hey, Chris, you and Zack, what do you think about that? A little mini project, pull up some best hits. Maybe all the cold opens that we have at the beginning, and have that be a montage? That’d be fun. That’s a whole episode in and of itself, 50 cold opens.
Mama Z: I know.
Dr. Z: That’s like 50 minutes.
Mama Z: Yeah, seriously.
Dr. Z: Oh, all right we’ll see. We’ll see how Chris recovers, because he’s been working around the clock on this documentary. Anyway, so we’re just saying this is a special one, this is a special one, this is just the beginning of something special, because Mama Z had it on her heart. So, Mama Z, this is your show.
[8:06 – 9:16] Diffuser Reveal
Mama Z: It is, but before we go to that, we got to talk about what’s in the diffuser.
Dr. Z: What’s in the diffuser?
Mama Z: I’m committed over the next few weeks, and as you’ve seen with some of the diffuser blends that we’ve gone in the last few before this, is I’m leading you all up to healthy fall, amazing scents for the holidays, all of that stuff. So, this one is Holy Night, and we have three drops of white fir, three drops of orange, two drops of bergamot, one drop of peppermint, and one drop of wintergreen. Of course, if you have a smaller diffuser than we do in this room, then of course you could always make a blend of Holy Night, and then just drop your four to six drops in your diffuser, but this is a bigger one for a bigger space. So, that’s what we have in our diffuser, and it’s very pleasant.
Dr. Z: I like it. I do, it’s a nice one.
Mama Z: Awesome.
Dr. Z: We’ve had a lot of good ones today. Yeah, you just wait til you get to 44 and 45, those podcast episodes, I think it was 45, that was my favorite blend.
Mama Z: Yeah, it was your jam, where 44 was my jam, 45 was yours.
[9:17 – 14:38] Reviews and Book News
Dr. Z: And, like we like to do at the beginning of the episode, we want to call out someone for leaving a review, and we want thank you, Raising Alton, from the United States of America, that’s her tagline on wherever she’s listening to the podcast. And she left us a podcast review titled Dr. Z and Mama Z, very appropriate, thank you, and a five-star review.
Mama Z: Thank you so much.
Dr. Z: Really appreciate that, and here’s what Raising Alton says, “I love you, and I love listening to the podcast. I have learned so much from you. I started implementing the essential oils in my daily living. Thank you so much, and God bless.” Yolene in Florida. So, her name’s Yolene.
Mama Z: That’s awesome.
Dr. Z: That’s cool, and, you know, I’m glad, Yolene, that you’re inspired to use essential oils, we don’t talk about essential oils every episode like today I don’t think we’re going to cover essential oils. But we do cover essential oils in the next two episodes in detail on how to live a healthy happy holiday season, but if you guys want to learn more about essential oils, a couple things. We have two best selling books, number one is the international best seller, The Healing Power of Essential Oils, currently available in Spanish and Slovakian, will be available in, I don’t know, eight other languages by next year. And we have The Essential Oils Diet, which is another best selling book that will be available in Polish of all languages, which is cool since I’m Polish, next year.
And so, those are two book resources that we created to help you. They are available anywhere books are sold. Of course, Amazon has them, on typically, a really good deal, by the way, and we also have an Essential Oils Master Class. You can go to our website, NaturalLivingFamily.com, and you’ll see right on the homepage, just scroll down, you’ll see a banner that says, “Hey, watch free screening of our master class.” We created a 10-part video master class that more than 500,000, it’s kind of hard to believe, I’m kind of numb to, by the way actually, I’ve said it so many times, but half a million people.
Mama Z: Wow.
Dr. Z: It’s a lot of people.
Mama Z: It is.
Dr. Z: A half a million people have watched this, and the reaction we’ve gotten has been nothing but humbling for us. It’s been very empowering for people to learn to debunk myths, to not have fear about using essential oils, to use essential oils in their body care and their cooking to treat disease. And so, that’s a free gift that we want to give you a free screening of that. Oh, another announcement is right now starting like in the next couple days, Mama Z and I are going to be knee deep, waist deep, neck deep in our next book.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: Our next book is scheduled to come out January of 2021.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: That’s seems like a long ways away but-
Mama Z: But it’s not actually.
Dr. Z: Oh, no, no it’s not. So, that’s coming up really quick, so the working title is … Should I say?
Mama Z: Yeah.
Dr. Z: I like it, you don’t like it as much.
Mama Z: The reason why I don’t like it as much is because, you know, I’m a layman’s term kind of a gal.
Dr. Z: But it’s catchy.
Mama Z: It is cute, but I’m a layman’s term kind of a person, so I’d be like, “What the heck is that?”
Dr. Z: You want Healing Power Essential Oils, Part Two.
Mama Z: I want The Healing Power of Essential Oils, Part Two, yep.
Dr. Z: So, this is tentatively going to be called The Essential Oils Apothecary. I got to say, I didn’t come up with that, and I like it a lot. Our publisher came up with that, our editor, and I’m like, “Oh, I like that, it’s catchy.” So, it is basically-
Mama Z: It’s just you don’t know, it’s like a deeper dive into chronic disease, other things, and all of that.
Dr. Z: Yeah, the subtitle’s going to be like Advanced Strategies and Protocols for … What is it? … Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Chronic Disease. I mean, we’re going to cover everything from fatty liver, to arthritis, to cancer in detail. This is going to be that … I don’t know, I’m really excited about this one. I started doing some preliminary research. I actually have, and we’ve talked about this, I haven’t officially told you yet, but we are hiring researchers, like natural PhD professional researcher who’s brilliant, by the way, who loves essential oils, but her specialty’s in cancer, oncology.
So, she just has a passion for essential oils, but having a professional PhD researcher helping me pull the studies and extrapolate the data, someone that we know is friendly to our agenda to educate and not instill fear, is really cool. So, this book … I’m really proud of our first two books, I am. To say that this might be the best, I don’t know. Like this is, this book is going to change lives, because chronic disease … Anyway, I don’t want to get on a tangent. You’re going to get me on a tangent. This is your show, but chronic disease has to stop.
Mama Z: I don’t know, is it?
Dr. Z: Chronic disease has to stop, everything from Alzheimer’s to depression, it’s like … It has to stop, and it’s not. So, there are things you could do, not only with essential oils, but lifestyle, and we’re going to cover it. So, nothing like this book has ever been done before. Nothing.
Mama Z: There you go.
Dr. Z: All right, you better take over, or I’m going to go talk about chronic disease-
Mama Z: All right, yeah, he’s-
Dr. Z: … act one is going to be like, talk about disease and oils.
Mama Z: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[14:39 – 23:38] People Who Influenced Mama Z In School & Sports
Dr. Z: Becoming a person of influence, and why it’s important.
Mama Z: Yes. So, I didn’t put this … I really made my notes in order of how people that came to me from over time. Some of those people could be teachers, some of them could be Sunday school teachers, also people in the media, and authors, those type of things.
But one of the things that I thought back to, because we all have people in our life that have made a difference. It’s interesting to … I happened to be talking to my son’s first grade teacher, and she’s had now three of the kids for first grade, and we started talking, and I happened to mention my past of I was put into the bad reader’s group, and that’s what it was known as back then, and then going from that to actually, you know. And she goes, “Wow, isn’t God awesome? Now you’re an author and what God can do with that.”
I started thinking about, and meditating on, just some of the teachers that had made a difference over the years, people who truly not just believed in me, but actually brought out some of my strengths, and were able to take some of the things that were perceived as a weakness, and strengthen and hone those skills. So, that’s kind of where I started was teachers. I’m sure you’ve had a few teachers over your span of going to school that made a difference to you. I mean, we all have. We can remember some of those teachers that weren’t as good as well. And sometimes you learn just as much from some of those not-as-good teachers as you do from some of the teachers that impact your heart.
And so, one of them, my fifth grade reading teacher, and my sixth grade homeroom teacher, Mr. Lowrey, he had a chart on the wall that had how many pages that you read in all the books. He would just test your memory. He’d just open up to different places in there and ask you a few questions, and if you’ve passed then you got a certain amount of pages recorded, and you had to go through the E range, and then the D range, and then C range, B, A, A+, and off the charts, and if you got off the charts then you got a candy bar and you got to go out to lunch with the other kids that went off the chart. But everybody lived to get off that chart.
I remember, I only got to like the B range, or B+ the first time, and so I worked really, really hard. And this was the first time that I had an opportunity to thrive with reading. They had what was called like Battle of the Books, and it’s where they give you a list of books, and everybody in your team had to read all of them, and then they asked you questions, and you had competitions between the classes. Well, I wasn’t known as a strong reader, and so I was an alternate on the team. I remember staying up in sixth grade, I remember staying up until 2:00, 3:00 in the morning reading books, because it took me so much longer to read books. And being an alternate I actually got to compete in every competition, because somebody was always sick, and I could always go.
Dr Z: Ah!
Mama Z: So, being able to challenge my skills, and then thinking back to some of the other teachers I had, even in high school, Mr. Demko. I had decided that I was done with being in these lower reading levels. So, I actually went to the highest one that you could go. Didn’t do as good, it is the lowest grade I ever got ever, which was a D+ for the first semester, and I was like, “No way.”
Dr Z: Uh-uh.
Mama Z: It was because it was way higher of a level that I was used to, and then by, I literally took my lunch period, and other kids ate in that room, and I worked on that class nonstop. And so the next grading period I got a B+, and then I got an A, and all the rest of the periods I got an A, so I had four A’s, the B+, and then the one that we don’t talk about.
Dr. Z: Ha ha ha
Mama Z: So, I think about how people helped step me up into different levels of areas that I was not strong, and that also made me think about coaches, and even … So, a lot of times a lot of the coaches were also the, I guess they don’t even have health class anymore, which is sad, but not a lot of places do have health, but a lot of the coaches also taught health, PE, other things like that. And I remember Mrs. Unkovich, and she’s no longer with us, but even to all the stuff that we talked about she followed our stuff on Facebook, and still would send me encouraging messages all the time while she was living. She was just amazing, and she was the boy’s track team. I wanted to join the boy’s track team just because she was the best coach I had ever seen. You could hear her out there, and I mean, she meant business in the classroom, but you have never seen anybody mean more business than on the track club. It was amazing.
Some of her athletes went on to become state champions, and stuff like that, but she was great to even be in her presence as a student. In training for speed skating, I had a number of different coaches that impacted my life, and just some of them were because they affected us because they spent time with us, and they taught us lessons, and others it was by watching them. They were a good coach, but it was by watching them, and how they played out what they actually taught us. And I remember my – and I talked about her once, and her kids – she was an Olympic speed skater, but her kids were also very competitive. But I remember Nancy Swider-Peltz saying, “Treat every set like it’s your last.”
I remember saying that to Esther last night running the mountain, because she was getting a little tired after … I think we were up to 120 mountain climbers at this point, and each … What we do is we run a section, and then we do exercises, and then continue to run. It’s about a mile and a half that we’re running in total from the bottom of the mountain to the top, and we do exercises in between. So, every time we stopped we did a series of exercises. And I saw Esther falling a little bit behind, and so she decided she was going to walk during exercises. So, all the sudden she was behind me, and now I don’t see her, so where’d she go? Oh, she walked right through because she missed a whole section of exercises. She thought she was going to be smart. I said, “Esther, you’re only cheating yourself.” I said, “Treat every set like it’s your last.”
And then it reminded me of what a good coach she was, and of some of the other coaches that I’ve had in sports. How I know Coach Kangas he’s not with us anymore, but in the summer times, he would have us do drills on the rail trail in our rollerblades, and he would say certain things like that, “Let’s shave two more seconds off!” And just everything to striving to being your best. So, when I look back to all the different people, not just with sports, professionally, also faith-wise, it made me write a list of some of the people, and why they have influenced my life. Feel free to jump in at any time as well, because there’s some family people, some people that I consider as family now, and then people that just have had overall influence. So, do you want to jump in here, or do you want me to keep going? Okay, well, I’m going to keep going.
Dr. Z: I just shook my head.
Mama Z: He just shakes his head.
Dr. Z: No, this is good, no go. You usually don’t roll like this.
Mama Z: Okay, well-
Dr. Z: You get me preaching, you’re not going to shut me up.
[23:39 – 28:23] The Impact of Positive Influences
Mama Z: Okay. Well, I know I’ve talked about this before, but one of my favorite-
Dr. Z: Chris is laughing over there, he’s like, “I heard-“
Mama Z: My favorite author’s Norman Vincent Peale, and I loved his faith-based life, and all of the messages that he talked about. He talked about the power of prayer, the power of self talk and what you say to yourself when you’re by yourself, and how you need to fill yourself up with positive things so then your default will be positive. Also, to expect the best and get it. I remember so many times driving to speed skating meets, and I was listening to the books on tape, because back then it was a 12 tape, and that’s a cassette tape for those of you that don’t know what that is, and I had a Walkman.
Dr. Z: A Walkman.
Mama Z: Nobody probably remembers a Walkman from a billion years ago, and your headphones broke after like a week, so I went through a billion headphones on there. So, my grandpa actually got me headphones that, short range, but that didn’t have a cord, and so that I could listen to my stuff. And I remember my sisters making fun of me, and they were like, “You are the best. You are awesome.” And they would make fun of me, but I really felt like that the popular music that was playing, it didn’t make me feel positive at all.
Dr. Z: Oh, that was Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, that was grunge.
Mama Z: That was at that time.
Dr. Z: Yeah, it was a dark … In the 90’s, there was a lot of dark music. The popular music back then.
Mama Z: Yeah, and I just-
Dr. Z: Pop music … Rap was bad.
Mama Z: … I mean, I literally went from listening to popular music to picking talk radio, because I felt like talk radio I was at least benefiting and learning social and political things that were going on, and I didn’t have to feel negative when I left that, to also listening to Norman Vincent Peale, and a lot of other self-help cassette tape things you could … I rented everything you could rent from the library. If it had it, I rented it, multiple times. May have had a couple late fees on there, but-
Dr. Z: You? No. You’re never late.
Mama Z: I would like a … now you can … You don’t have to go in to do all that stuff, but you did then. So, but Norman Vincent Peale, and all of those messages were so, so important to me, and I thought back to around that same time to my Sunday school teacher, Mr. P., and you know Mr. P. He wasn’t just our Sunday-
Dr. Z: Mr. Phillips?
Mama Z: Mr. Phillips.
Dr. Z: He goes by Mr. P.
Mama Z: Yes. Yep, and we called people just by the first letter of their last name, so it was Mrs. B., and Mr. P., and Mrs. P. So, that’s just what we did, that’s kind of just how I grew up. One of the things I loved about him was he was a great Sunday school teacher, because he always had … He would research things that kids our age were going on with this, and this was youth group times. He would always do stuff fun, and he was actually the first person who taught me how to play volleyball.
Dr. Z: Oh, really?
Mama Z: Yeah, we did a volleyball tournament, and we drove halfway across the state, and that was the first time we actually played volleyball, and he was just a great coach. So, when we started a softball team he was the coach. I loved how he had a good sense of humor. He would keep it real by calling out some of your stuff, but saying it in a humor way that it would work on you inside to want to correct some of those things. And just some of the practical knowledge that he gave. I remember, and I told some of the kids this the other day was, I said, “Look at the friends that you’re around, in 10 years you may not even know them.”
I remember Esther saying, “No way.” I remember feeling the same thing, but think about it, people from high school or college, 10 years ago who you’re around, and if any of them are even a part of your life today. So, it really makes an impact on the realization that right now is only temporary. So, I just learned so many lessons from them, but also he was a really good leader. He listened really well, and he led by example when he was a coach and he was a leader within the church that I was a part of.
[28:24 – 36:25] The Influence of A Loving Family
Mama Z: I started also thinking about grandparents, and we’ve talked stories about our family, and our grandparents, but my grandpas, Frawley, and McKenzie were both amazing storytellers, and being able to pull out tidbits that were really important that would give you a mental picture about the story that they’re saying. Because you and I we talk a lot in mental pictures and stories, and having had such a good storyteller background from my family, it was really key, but also my family talked a lot about love. They said that they loved each other regularly, and about the family environment, and the importance of enjoying family time together, and spending it not just talking, even though we did a lot of that, but doing things, cooking together.
I think sometimes it’s easier to make mistakes, and learn certain things from grandparents than it is from parents, because they’re so invested in the “right now” that they don’t see the later where the grandparents, they’ve already been there and done that, so they can be a lot more relaxed. I mean, think about the difference about how relaxed you are if you’ve had multiple children with your first child versus the second child. I mean, the commercial says it all. I remember the first time I changed Esther in a bathroom, I think I put down like 50 paper towels, and did all that too. I think, one time in the airport I had like one paper towel for her head, and that was it, if that. I just seriously, it’s such a difference.
Dr. Z: You ease a little bit.
Mama Z: You ease up a little bit, and I remember Kevin Parker who ran our Garber Chevrolet store, at the time I remember him saying, “Well, the difference between the first one and the third one is you wash off the pacifier, and you do all this stuff, and when you get to the third one you stick it in your mouth, pull it out, and put it back in their mouth.” And I thought to myself, “That is disgusting.” And that is sure I’ve seen you do it.
Dr. Z: Remember your mom? I have to interject this.
Mama Z: Yeah, go ahead.
Dr. Z: How many times did I do that to the kids? A lot, right?
Mama Z: A lot.
Dr. Z: And then your mom said, “You know what? I’ll be honest with you, I used to get really upset when I saw you, but I just read this article that said that parents that do that actually give their kids healthy bacteria, and it makes them healthier.” I’m like, “Win for the natural cause!” But yes, I’ve done that a lot, because what else you going to do?
Mama Z: Exactly. Well, speaking of Mom and Dad, they also made the list, and definitely work ethic, and teaching, list-making, work ethic, unconditional love and support. My mom loved how my grandma … She was never a daughter-in-law, she was always a daughter. So, my parents loved that environment. They had experienced people who didn’t have that kind of environment, so you would never have been a son-in-law, you’re a son to them, and they have always treated you like that. I love that unconditional love and support, because we wouldn’t be here doing what we’re doing if they weren’t that way, for sure.
Dr. Z: No, no, I mean, really, they’re a huge part of everything that we’ve done. We would definitely not be here if it weren’t for your mom and dad.
Mama Z: Right, right, absolutely.
Dr. Z: But to have that influence, though, to be able to empower your kids and to strengthen them, and to be wind in their sails, so to speak, it’s so important.
Mama Z: Absolutely.
Dr. Z: Because when you look at it, being people of influence, and why it is important to do so, there’s no better example than your children. I mean, those are people assigned to you by God to influence. What have you said, lately, a lot. I’ve heard you more lately, I know you’ve said it, but what do you feel your job is? You telling the kids, what’s your job?
Mama Z: What I say was, “What does Mommy say?” “You are not our maid.”
Dr. Z: Ha ha ha!
Mama Z: I said, “What else does Mommy say?” “It is your job to make me a successful human.” Yes, it is. It is my job. One thing I realized, and this is, I shared a bathroom with both of my sisters, and I cleaned up after them all the time, and they still keep their bathrooms the same way, and nobody’s cleaning up after them. What it taught me was I can’t do it for my kids, because if I do that then I’m just going to enable them as much as I did my sisters, and then they don’t clean up after themselves. Sure you have to take some of that burden upon yourself, and do those kinds of things, but teaching them to go the step above, and the step ahead, and make sure if you see something that needs to be done you do it. You always go above and beyond.
By teaching them that has created an environment where I’ll say, “Esther, tomorrow morning it’s an early morning, I really count on you. You need to be the team leader here, because I get back from my workout at this time. You need to be on, and that means in order to qualify for breakfast, you have to have the blinds open, your bed made, you need to have oil on, you need to get fully dressed, you need to wash your face, you need to wet your hand down, actually do your hair, and fold all your pajamas and put them away. Okay?” But then we also have half of the stuff preset out for breakfast, but some of the other steps have to be made in order to take breakfast from, to it’s finished point when it’s time to get there, and she knows the process. I caught her making a list, and she put it on the photocopy machine.
Dr. Z: That’s awesome.
Mama Z: So, she wrote a checklist, put it on the photocopy machine, and I got a new printer now, but if it hadn’t been broken, she would’ve copied it, and then she had made herself so she could do multiple days and check the boxes, which is super smart, because then she didn’t want to forget anything.
Dr. Z: At 10.
Mama Z: At 10.
Dr. Z: 10 years old.
Mama Z: Yeah.
Dr. Z: Yeah.
Mama Z: And so, it’s stuff like that, because-
Dr. Z: That’s the legacy you’re leaving.
Mama Z: Absolutely.
Dr. Z: See, that’s the purpose of what we’re trying to share, being a person of influence you leave a legacy to not only your loved ones, your children, but to everyone. Because here’s the thing, everyone that you’re mentioning, you talk to other people in their lives, you talk to their friends, their coworkers, their employees, you talk to their whatever, and they’ll have similar stories of how they’ve influenced people.
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: So, that’s it. So folks, there’s several more people that are on Sabrina’s list, and maybe if I can get a word in edgewise I’ll share a couple people on my list, but before we do, a word from our sponsor.
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[35:53 – 43:27] The Influence of a Good Coach
Mama Z: All right, so we were talking about one of my favorite coaches in martial arts, Miss Terry. I love talking with Miss Terry, we can talk stories for hours and hours. One of the things about Miss Terry was she taught me to always know your expertise, and you can grow outside of any area that you want. And she was always a big person on wanting to grow, and learn a different area. But one of the things she taught me, and I have a couple friends that are master packers, which we have to pack a lot now and so I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned over time. But she helped me … The only thing I wanted for her help during our honeymoon was to pack my suitcases so they were done weeks in advance. So, she said the best way to get everything in the suitcases was to press them all and then fold them in a certain way and I mean she’s an expert … she’s a master black belt, okay?
Dr. Z: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mama Z: And an amazing coach. She sat with me hundreds of hours, and perfected all my routines for martial arts for the pageants. She sat through, and her family, countless pageants. We knew what our expertise was, we tried to make it the best that it possibly could be, and then we drilled it over, and over, and over, and over. I love that, because I literally have felt like I could have worked on the assembly line, because when I get something I try to do it my best over, and over, and over again, and I’ll try to one-up it every single time.
That’s what I try to tell the kids, even when they’re making their bed, to try to just one-up themselves each time. But she was so good at that, and also my friend Lisa, oh, she’s also a master packer, too. She’s amazing, but one thing I love about her, and my dad, is you’ve got to be able to check at least one thing off the list. If you have a whole list it really is demotivating if you can’t check one thing off the list.
Dr. Z: And make sure you have something that’s easy like kiss your wife.
Mama Z: Right, that’s-
Dr. Z: Your dad always had a couple slam-dunks, or your mom would write that in there, right?
Mama Z: Yes. Yes.
Dr. Z: Hug wife, tell wife, “I love you.” “Buy wife flowers.” She’s like, “What?”
Mama Z: I remember getting ready for Mrs. America, and Lisa saying, “I wanted to at least check one thing off the list today.” She helped me manage my whole trip there, and she’s like, “I feel like we have a lot of balls in the air and we can’t check one thing off, and we’ve got to least check one thing off.” And I think it’s important to be able to put yourself in a situation where you can feel like you’re pressing forwards. Sometimes it’s a matter of putting your head down and just plowing forward knowing that maybe right now you’re not checking off a bunch of things, but eventually you’re going to check off this, this, this, and this, and I know Chris can relate with the documentary as well. I mean, it’s like-
Dr. Z: A lot of check boxes to check.
Mama Z: Lots of check marks that aren’t quite checked off yet. So, I absolutely love them, and one of the things I feel that was different between the last couple years and this year competing for Mrs. Georgia was working with our friend Shanna. She’s also a person of influence, and our friend Shanna is a frequency coach. She does a lot of personal coaching on all different levels. But one of the things I love about her is no matter what our backgrounds are, no matter who we are, we’ve all had things that have happened in our past, whether they were because of our own decisions, because of things that happened to us, or just because of the hurts of our parents, or the environments that we were grown up in.
We all have to heal our own hurts and our own wounds, and take ourselves to a vulnerable place so that we can strengthen ourselves, so that were able to be in a position where we can help other people, and I loved that. I loved that about her, and I think those are lessons that we can all learn from no matter who we are and what level of influence we have, we all have to be willing to dive deep, and kind of visit some of the places we don’t want to visit in order to check those off our list as well.
Dr. Z: Well, that brings up a good point that everyone needs support.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: Everyone needs a coach.
Mama Z: Everyone needs a coach.
Dr. Z: Everyone needs a counselor, everyone needs an ear to speak to, and maybe you don’t have to pay for it per se, but the most successful people out there are the most coached, are the most disciplined, right?
Mama Z: Yeah.
Dr. Z: They have the personal trainers, they have the voice coaches, the acting coaches, they have the, whatever, personal development aspect of it. And you don’t have to spend a lot of money on this stuff. You can pick up a couple of books. Actually, Shanna has a book, you can look it up, The Soul Frequency on Amazon, or you could work with someone, or talk to someone, or have a friend that will just challenge you to be the best you. And that’s one thing, ultimately, again, the underlying theme, all these people challenged you, and the people in my life challenged me to be the best person that I could be. So, if you want to be a person of influence you got to bring the best out of everyone, and that’s something that my mentor Enoch shared with me.
Mama Z: He’s on the list.
Dr. Z: He shared, “Every day, pray. Have this be your morning prayer: God, help me be a blessing to everyone.” And I took it to another level, and I started seeing how we have the unique ability to bring the best of the worst out of people, too.
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: So, I started praying, “God, help me bring the best out of everyone.” Because I get it, sometimes I’m having a rough day, and ugliness breeds ugliness, and that happens to a lot of other us, right?
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: That’s when road rage happens, and that’s why people go crazy at times. It’s just worst brings out the worst, and then-
Mama Z: That’s right.
Dr. Z: … the devil has a heyday, but what about flipping it on its head, and being intentional? To be a person of influence, pray every day that God will help you bring the best out of everyone.
Mama Z: One of the other things I have for Enoch as well is having a passion for health and treating your bodies as the temples of the Holy Spirit. And I think that’s really important because I remember my mom saying, “Well, you’ve only got one body to live in, you better treat it good.” It means a lot more as you grow older. You feel body parts that you haven’t felt hurt when … We could do back handsprings all day long in the third grade outside. If we could do a back handspring all day long in the backyard, we would be very sore on a regular basis. We would probably have the strongest abs ever, and I mean, if we could play as hard as we played at that age then it would be different. So, it’s important to treat our bodies as the temples of the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Z: Amen.
[43:28 – 1:03:16] The Influence of Mama Z’s Pageant Coaches
Mama Z: I’m going to switch gears in just a minute. One other one that I’m going to mention Sally, and Sally was and is, has been a part of my coaching for pageants. I’ve known her since 1995, and I competed in her pageant in 1996, my very first pageant. She really put an effort on giving everything all you have. I remember her saying on one of the pageants, “You have to give it everything you have when you do anything, or why bother?” And I just remember her saying that, “Why bother?”
There was one pageant, and I had worked pretty hard but I wasn’t quite where I needed to be, and she’s like, “Listen …,” and this was the one and only time she ever said this to me, she’s like, “if you’re not willing to do everything that you have the potential for, then why bother? But, you know why you didn’t win on this one, I don’t even have to say it because you know me well enough to know.” And I was like, “I never want to hear those words ever again,” and I never did. There were times that she sat with me for hours and hours just as my coach and mentor, and that’s one thing I loved about the Miss America organization was, it’s all run by volunteers, and she was really invested in my life and has been for decades.
Dr. Z: And she went to Mrs. America a couple months ago.
Mama Z: She went to Mrs. America, she’s-
Dr. Z: How old is she? 80? 79?
Mama Z: She’s in her 80’s.
Dr. Z: So, in her 80’s. She traveled all the way to Vegas; she was in a wheelchair getting around those huge casinos going to the pageant, and how fun…
Mama Z: And she was there when I won Mrs. Georgia.
Dr. Z: But what a blessing to see that full circle after 25 plus years.
Mama Z: Yeah. It actually reminds me, I got this book and it was about Bartholomew, the neighbor, and it was like their next-door neighbor. And when this little girl was young, Bartholomew would take her in the stroller around the block, and it talked about as they grew up, and then as she grew up, then he got weaker and weaker, and then ended up being in a wheelchair, and then he actually got walked around the block by her. It’s just a cool full circle story and Sally has been an amazing coach for me. I almost get choked up.
Dr. Z: Amen. She has been. She’s such a sweet person, and, you know, she had a lifelong impact on you.
Mama Z: Oh yeah.
Dr. Z: And so, when we strive to be people of influence, it reminds me of what Paul says, he’s like, “I planted, but Apollos watered.” And people have different roles in our lives. I go through the various people that have influenced me, and some people, I don’t even know their last name. I know a first name, I know a face, and they impacted me at that moment to help me and God used that person. But other people, like Enoch you’ve mentioned, you mentioned Sally, these are the people that will have a lifelong impact that will be with us for a long time. Those people that sow into our lives, and water, and continue to plant, and help us prune.
So, that’s one thing we need to remember is as people of influence, and I think it is designed, and ordained, and mandated by God that we be people of influence, and that’s why Jesus said, he didn’t say, “Go out …”, the Great Commission, he didn’t say, “Just go out and make a bunch of converts.” He didn’t say, “Go out and make a bunch of radical people who will do anything for My name.” No, no, no, he said, “Make disciples. Make people who know Me, and love Me, and create that environment where you’re going to sow into someone’s life.”
So, as we strive, and I’m telling you, I believe it’s a mandate from God to be people of influence, just know that at times you’ll have that opportunity just to drop a seed, and you’ll have no idea the impact that it will have on the rest of that person’s life, but in other times maybe God will entrust you with that relationship like Sabrina had with Sally, and that I have with my mentor, Enoch, who have been with us for many, many years, and those are precious. I’ll say with that, those are rare, too, and you’re rare, again, we’ve mentioned this a few times that you have Sally, you have Ms. Terry, you have Mary Ellen, you have non-blood family members that have been with you for decades, and if you have one of those people you should consider yourself blessed.
Mama Z: Oh yeah.
Dr. Z: Sabrina, maybe because of the call that God has on your life-
Mama Z: Well, and-
Dr. Z: … you’ve been given an abundance.
Mama Z: … I’m a very loyal person, and one of the things I realized as part of the process, that in doing a lot of the things, even with the pageant, one of the years I was really favored to win Ms. Michigan, and so many people came out of the woodwork to give me gifts and stuff, people I didn’t even know who they were, and that was really cool. But what it’s about is the day after the pageant, no matter what happens, who’s sitting at breakfast with you Sunday? And that really shows you who is on your team. I’ve always wanted to be the person that worked together with my team, and we did this together, whether it’s the culture that we create here at Natural Living Family, or wherever, because it’s not about me, and it’s not about you, it’s about the mission that God’s given us, and we all do it together.
Dr. Z: Amen.
Mama Z: And I learned that from just some of the aspects, and I’ll talk about some of the work people as well, but I did want to mention Mary Ellen, because the very first pageant that I competed in, the sweet person that won … The next year you get a chance to get to know the title holder, and their family, especially when you’re in the Miss America organization, but I fell in love with her mom, and she’s grown to be a dear, dear, dear friend. She’s photographed every area in our life. She’s been to almost every pageant that I’ve been in. She photographed Esther’s birth, and is Bella’s godmother, and just has been a part of every single area of life.
But one of the greatest things that she has taught me was creating an environment where each and every person could see other strengths, but see and learn how to grow within what you did, but at the same time expand that and let people excel in the areas that they’re really good at. So, she taught me a lot of sales things that I never learned at school, and I loved it because she had such a good personal relationship with so many of her clients that she had in working at Dirla Studio, and I loved that. She was able to be all business and all heart at work and at home. It was just a great example to me. Not that my parents aren’t a good example, but I think sometimes you have to look outside of your household for other inspirational people, and she’s always been that for me.
One of the other ones that I also thought of was LaLona. She’s been my coach for Mrs. Georgia for the past five years, and I got the best compliment from her. And I didn’t realize it was such an amazing thing, she said, “I’ve watched you from where you started and where you’re at now and it’s a huge difference. But one thing that I’ve never seen before is,” she’s like, “you are willing to work as hard as you possibly can for your goals.” She’s like, “I’ve never been able to say that about anybody else that has worked as hard for things as I have as you have.”
That’s one of the highest compliments, I think, but it’s because of some of the environments that I grew up in. But without her selflessly taking her time to help coach me, and we have a coach relationship, like whenever I’ve competed I have to hear from her right away, and even before I get back to the dressing room I already have to have a text from her, and I need to be able to communicate with her. And just the heart of the coach is so important, and help being that coach to other people.
[53:27 – 1:03:16] Influencers in Business & Faith
Mama Z: Okay, I am going to switch gears just a little bit, I have two other areas to cover, and that’s business, and then faith. When I started working in corporate America, one of the things that I really appreciated, and I know I mentioned Dirla Studio, and Barry. Barry was the very first boss that I ever had that paid us for our lunch hour. He paid us for our lunch hour so that we would stay together and have fellowship with one another and who we worked with. I thought that was really big, because when you’re trying to build camaraderie, and you’re going to spend a lot of time with people that you work with. You do need to get to know them, and know what their heart’s desires are, and the things that they’re all about. I think that’s really important, to learn those type of things about the people that you’re around, and really valuing the people that you work with.
One of my first bosses was Dick Garber, and he runs a big set of dealerships, and he is a part owner in the Saginaw Spirit hockey team that I worked for. One thing I loved about him is he remembers every person’s name. I know I remembered asking him about that because I had noticed that he remembered ever person’s name. So, I purposely when we were in our first office setting, I memorized everybody’s names that was there and knew a little bit about each one of them. But he said, “I would repeat their name at least three times in meeting them, either in my head or out loud.” But I loved that you felt like you were the only person in the room when you talked to them. I think that’s important, whether you’re a boss, a leader, or you’re on the sales force, doesn’t matter, I think it’s important always remembering every person’s name, and making everybody feel really important, and like you’re the only person there.
But when working for the Saginaw Spirit, which was kind of a crazy learning experience, we kind of flew our ship and built it at the same time because we were the very first of this kind of professional hockey experience in the area. And most of us weren’t even hockey people, so we made it more about family-friendly experiences. But one of the things I learned from Craig Goslin, who ran a lot of the things, was personal culture and to always be reading books on growth and development and leadership, and he always had an arsenal of books, and books on tape, and I think by that time it was more CDs, okay?
Dr. Z: Yeah.
Mama Z: And then I got into more MP3s later on. But really to be a lifelong learner and grasp people’s hearts with the vision and mission of your company and always strive for improvement. There always can be improvement no matter what we’re talking about. I think that’s really important, and I saw that in our good friend Craig Lang, who’s also … He was a mentor for me on our praise and worship team, and as a leader in faith, but also I watched him from being a sales person, to going up into the ranks, and running the dealership that he does of that same organization, Dick Garber’s. One of the things I really loved about him is he’s very real all the time, as vulnerable, even as a leader, but he always has humor, too. He’s got great stories, humor, encouragement. I remember one time there was … I had an incredible allergy to some of the, forgive me for saying this, “old lady perfume” that people would wear on the praise and worship team.
Dr. Z: Uh-oh.
Mama Z: So, he came in and he tried to give a couple lessons without saying “old lady perfume,” but he’s like, “People with strong fragrances, it could potentially bother your neighbor.” So, he kind of said it like this, and so that finally people weren’t getting it, and so he tried to make it funny, and people still weren’t getting it. Like I got it, what he was trying to say, and I was thankful, because I was getting these contact headaches from this really strong, musky perfume, which we all know people who do this. So, finally he just had to lay it out there, “Just cut the ‘old lady perfume,’ and leave it at home. Save it for your husband on date night.”
Dr. Z: Yeah, it’s how he says it.
Mama Z: I mean, it was just so funny, I mean I just love the guy, and just timeless friendship. You and I have been friends with him for so long, like over a decade, I’ve known him even longer than that, but-
Dr. Z: You used to house sit for him like 20 years ago.
Mama Z: Yeah, yeah, I dog sat, house sat for them. I didn’t really babysit, I was there when his girls were older when they were out of town and stuff like that. But, what I like is that he teaches leadership, and lets the reigns go, so that he sees how people are grasping it, and if you didn’t catch it… Because one thing I’ve learned in just watching these things is some things are caught, but some things have to be taught, too. I like how his version of leadership allows for the personal growth but you’re encouraging people the whole way and letting them drive the boat on it as well.
Dr. Z: One thing about Craig, too, and going back, being a person of influence, and why it’s important, every time we go back to Michigan, Craig opens up his calendar, and we go out to lunch at the country club. He belongs to the Midland Country Club in Michigan and as part owner of the dealership that he works at, that he owns, he’s a really busy man. I mean, he’s one of the most successful people in the entire area and he always opens up his calendar to spend time.
Mama Z: He always makes time, yeah.
Dr. Z: That’s something that if you want to be person of influence, you need to spend time with people, or otherwise you’re not going to influence them. And the thing about it is don’t use, and this is kind of challenge to the people in the interwebs, don’t use your podcast, don’t use your website, and don’t use your books as an excuse to be a hermit because you’re still going to be useless to people if all you are is a bunch of head knowledge. A lot of the things that we share with you are because we continually spend time with people, and it’s just not I have my head in the sand in research all the time coming up with revelations from God, I mean, about how to be healthy.
No, look at Jesus, look at Paul, look at the Apostles, they spent all their time with people and they influenced people, and you learn so much. That’s one thing, too, that Craig is very humble about, I mean, one of the most successful people that we know, he continues to humble himself before us in the areas that we are gifted in and he’s always lavish in his praise. A lot of the stuff that you’re saying reminds me How to Win Friends and Influence People, this is straight up Dale Carnegie stuff. Remembering people’s names, being lavish in praise, being willing to learn, never being above reproach. All these things, these are the constant themes of people, but-
Mama Z: Well, and my last one, and he’s definitely work and faith both, but my last work one really is Sid Allen, when I worked for the Chamber of Commerce, and the work culture. I remember just gathering all this work, and it was like a Friday, and I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, I’ve got to get all this stuff done for Monday.” I remember the vice president coming up and says, “What are you doing?” And I said, “I got to get all this stuff done for over the weekend so it’s all set.” And she goes, “That’s what Monday’s for.” I was like, “Whoa, what?” She’s like, “You kind of have to – at some point you got to turn the light out, and rest.”
Dr. Z: Yep, do the Sabbath.
Mama Z: They had a work culture where they had fun Fridays. So, every Friday somebody would take an afternoon off, that’s how they did it, and they would play games. At some point Friday morning we would play a game. That work culture was really neat, because – I didn’t even know how to handle it. A few times it’d be a nice on Friday, and he’d say, “You know what? It’s a really nice day, why don’t you go ahead and go.” And I’m like, “Oh, when I get, I have a few more projects I want to get done.” It took me a little while even to be able to leave early, because I just never experienced that before, but he really wanted us to have a social life-
Dr. Z: Balance.
Mama Z: -and balance, and that was important. That’s really one of the areas that I really respected him, but that environment, that’ll stay with me for the rest of my life, for sure.
[1:03:17 – 1:16:29] Influencers In Faith & Friends
Mama Z: I want to move over into faith, this is my last area, faith and friends. I mean, some of these cover many more areas than that, but I know we’ve mentioned one of our fathers in the faith, Dr. Barclay, and one thing I really appreciate him is about his spirit of excellence, and that spirit of excellence we see all throughout the Bible. But the other thing that I really love is that he’s always said, “Follow me as I follow the Lord.” And a lot of the practical tidbits and stuff, because they’re so practical, have influenced you and I in the way that we run our lives, because like the five P’s, “proper planning prevents poor performance,” and some of those workable things that we repeat all the time, they came from somewhere.
Dr. Z: Mm-hmm.
Mama Z: To watch a pastor who is still a father in the faith to us, how he works with excellence and that spirit of excellence is something that you can’t help but step up your game when you’re part of a team. I remember doing speed skating, and I was part of a relay team that did really well, but you never, I remember always hearing, “You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and if you don’t have a weak link then you’re an extra strong team.” I was striving not to be that weakest link, and you would perform better as a team when you were working your hardest. So, that spirit of excellence is something that I appreciate, and will always appreciate.
Some of my mothers in the faith over the years, I have a few. Mrs. B, Mrs. Buck. She always taught me to try natural therapies first. That’s why we don’t run right to the emergency room and even when we had little colds and stuff, she’d have exercises, or teas, or tinctures, or sprays or all different kinds of things. But we always try natural remedies first, because you have all these other options, so why run there when you could get it all solved over here? Now, granted we have those things, so like when the car door met your eyebrow, and when Isaiah fell on his chin, and when I sliced open my foot. I mean, there are reasons to go certain places, but save those for those type of things. I think that’s important, and we always need to remember that our healer is the Lord, and He’s provided a lot of natural remedies for us to use, and so we should use those and try to use those first.
Dr. Z: And the legacy lives on, and that’s another thing, too, folks, being a person of influence your legacy will live on, because Mrs. Buck, Mrs. B’s recipes for Sabrina’s birthing blends are in our best-selling book, The Healing Power of Essential Oils. She gave Sabrina spritzers for each of the four different stages of labor.
Mama Z: She did, and do you know what? She made me spritzers when I went to Miss Michigan. She had ones for at night for me, she had uplifting positive ones in the morning of essential oils. She made these type of things for every occasion.
Dr. Z: And she just did it to bless, and to help, and to influence, and I think she had no idea that we were going to include it in our book that has now reached more than a 100,000 people. How cool is that? There is a benefit, I will say, there’s a benefit. What was it? It was Andy Griffith, and a friend of mine, Dr. Michael Friedman, he has a health talk radio show and he’s interviewed some of the most well known celebrities. Not just health, we’re talking like Andy Griffith, and one thing that Andy shared, because Dr. Friedman was his chiropractor at the time, was that he was afraid that people wouldn’t remember him. And it was just something because times have changed, who’s thinking about Opie, who’s thinking about The Andy Griffith Show?
Mama Z: Well, my dad is because he watches MeTV now.
Dr. Z: But the thing was, was that this man, after influencing people his whole life through radio and TV and things he just started doubting in his old age like some people do, and wondered, “Did this all matter?” kind of thing, and shared like, “I want my life to be … I want people to remember me.” All this was on a Facebook post, and then Dr. Friedman shared with him, “Andy, you’ve influenced the world, and you’re a national icon.”
He just needed a bit of reinforcement that reminds me that we, as people of influence, do our work as if we do it for the Lord, and recognize that if we do something with a pure heart, we believe that it’s going to help one person, it will spread, and it will influence many others.
Mama Z: So true.
Dr. Z: And that’s really a motivating factor. So, we got a minute or two, babe, what else you got? One more?
Mama Z: So, I’ve got just a couple more. Mrs. Brown, one of my mom’s also best friends, but we’ve been so close, because we’ve had a chance to work in business together. One thing I loved that she’s always shown through her actions is caring for others above your needs, and really going the extra mile for the people in your family. Even if nobody else notices, God does. One of the other things about her is that she actually worked for a major corporation in customer service, and she was relentless about getting the same customer service that she gave.
She taught me skills that I have only had to use sometimes with our internet provider, and on the phone to make sure that we are the squeaky wheel. Sometimes you have to be the squeaky wheel. I know we’ve said that before, but she says, “You know what? If you’re going to pay for a service, then you should get it with the utmost, not just response time by the company, but if you’re going to do business with somebody then they need to treat you like you are a customer.” I loved that about her. Not just personally, but professionally.
I have three more on my list. Sandy Shoemaker. One thing I love about her is just an amazing faith-based woman with a large family. She’s a big promoter of what we do, and I remember her saying, “Research truth daily” and that just means about your health, that means spiritually, stay connected to the Lord. She’s a truth seeker, and I love that about her. So, we should always be seeking truth daily, and a passion for having a big family.
I loved that about her from the moment I met her, I’ve always thought of her as one of my mothers in the faith, and her husband of course, Kevin. I love how they were able to teach me that balance between work, family, business, faith. They really took me in, in their family, and just when I was believing for you for years, which I did get the jackpot, for sure. But I loved their example of the time for family, being welcoming, not just seeing it in my own house, but seeing it in somebody else’s house, and a passion for kids, and family. They forever marked my life.
Dr. Z: You know what’s sweet about them is that you dated their son.
Mama Z: Yes, yep.
Dr. Z: I mean, that’s sweet. You dated their son, it got kind of serious, and it didn’t work out, but they didn’t kick you out.
Mama Z: No.
Dr. Z: I mean, a law’s a law, right?
Mama Z: Well, we stayed-
Dr. Z: See, I was raised with this, this was part of my culture, a law is a law, either when it comes to blood is blood. So, these people transcend all that. I mean, you still see them every time we go up to Michigan.
Mama Z: And I’m good friends-
Dr. Z: They treat you like the daughter-in-law-
Mama Z: Family.
Dr. Z: … that you never … but it was fine, everything worked out great.
Mama Z: It is.
Dr. Z: Isn’t that sweet?
Mama Z: And it’s cool, because their daughter and I became good friends, and still are really good friends. So, whenever we get together-
Dr. Z: And all their girls want 100 kids. They have like, what-
Mama Z: They’ve even babies … their-
Dr. Z: They probably even have the biggest family in the world, and that’s wonderful. The influence, the love-
Mama Z: I love it.
Dr. Z: That children are a blessing, because in our culture children are often seen as a curse and a burden, but the Bible’s clear, children are a blessing.
Mama Z: I remember when she said … and I said, “I’ve always wanted to have five or six.” We would joke around, she said, “Yeah, you know when you get to four then people kind of ask you, ‘Do you know where kids come from, and that kind of thing.’” So, she goes, “You kind of have to head them off at the curb.” So, I remember I was pregnant with the third, and back when Babies R Us was in there I was getting out of the pregnant parking, and this old guy comes up to me, and he goes, “Do you know how this happens?” I said, “Oh, yes, and I’m hoping and expecting even more.” And the guy looked at me like I was from Mars. Learning some of those things, and that culture of having a larger family, I learned so much from them, and absolutely loved all that. My last one before I have my final thoughts, are-
Dr. Z: Your pre-final final thoughts? I mean, an introduction.
Mama Z: Yeah.
Dr. Z: This is like the longest acceptance speech for an Oscar ever.
Mama Z: Is Leonora, and they’re-
Dr. Z: Oh, I love Leonora and Sidney.
Mama Z: We mentioned, of course, Craig Lang, and then of course his wife, Laurie, and they’re one of Esther’s godparents, and Leonora and Sidney are their other set. One of the … Leonora walked with me every single day that I was pregnant with Esther and afterwards. We walked countless miles, and miles, and miles at the mall. So we got to talk about all kinds of amazing faith things. One thing she … just the power of prayer.
She said, “One really important thing is, that God showed me, is sometimes you can’t have the conversation that you need to have with your spouse because they’re not in the position to be able to receive it. But always talk to God about it because God is the one that created your spouse and he knows his heart.” So, always reach out to God first, and focus on that relationship, and all of those things come into play. I mean, we have quoted so many scriptures back and forth, hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of them, and encouraged each other in the Lord. So, to make sure that you have people in your life that you can be encouraged in the Lord.
My last one, of course, is Lisa Miner. Having an unconditional friend like these friends that will support you, and that their friendship is timeless, and their encouragement is always there, because we’re not always going to have a perfect day, we’re just not, we’re human. When you’re not, to be able to stand in the gap for our friends, whether that’s in prayer, whether that’s in encouragement, whether it’s leading and guiding, or a combination of all of those, we need to be that for our friends, and especially those that are that for us.
Dr. Z: Wow, that’s a lot. Maybe next time I’ll be able to share one, or two, or three. No, it was great, it was great, this was … You don’t oftentimes come and say, “This is on my heart, this is what I want to talk about,” It’s usually, “What do you want to talk about today?” So, I loved this, because this was something we actually were supposed to talk about a few episodes ago. So, I’m glad this happened and it was awesome. It was touching. It was beautiful, and folks, we want to wrap up today’s show. We have a special Natural Living tip for you, it’s Mama Z’s summary of just this whole thing of being a person of influence and how important it is that we rise up and be that to people in our lives as well.
[1:16:30 – 1:17:58] Natural Living Tip: Being Thankful in This Season
Mama Z: Going into the thankful season with Thanksgiving coming up, I would encourage you to write a list for the things that you’re thankful for, and the people that you’re thankful for, and why. All of those things lead you to the place where you’re at right now, and start to think … We were taught in a lot of these self help things, think with the end in mind, and think, like you’ve said, with the legacy that you want to be able to leave, not just for your kids, or your children’s children like it says in the Bible, but also for the people and the spirit of influence that you have around you. That could be people from church, that could be just people, like you said, that just happened to waltz into your life for a moment, and it could be … It’s what you carry with you.
It’s so funny, yesterday I was even at OfficeMax, or Office Depot, I had ordered something online, I went in there, and I was like, “Hi” and the guy goes like, “Wow, you’ve got amazing energy. Are you like an author”, he goes, “You should be an author or something.” And I go, “I am.” He goes, “No way. You look like a celebrity.” I’m like, “Well, I’m not wearing any makeup, but I am Mrs. Georgia.” LaLona would kill me if she knew that I wasn’t out there wearing hair and makeup. But be thankful for all of the people that are in your life, because they’ve all impacted you to get you to the place where you’re at today.
[1:17:59 – 1:18:46] Sponsor Spotlight: Matcha Green Tea
Dr. Z: But before we dive into all the fun, we’re excited to share special note about today’s sponsor.
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[1:18:47 – end] Episode WrapUp
Dr. Z: Well, thank you so much for listening, we hope you enjoyed the show. As a reminder, you can find all of the Natural Living Family Podcast episodes, show notes, and transcripts on NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com. And while you’re on our website don’t forget to sign up for the weekly podcast newsletter, which includes a personal invite to join our private Facebook group so you can connect one-on-one with us and more than 5,000 other Naturally Living lovers just like you. Don’t forget, please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review. We love hearing what you have to say about our show. Thank you. Looking forward to the next two episodes, Healthy, Happy Holiday Tips Part One and Part Two. Dr. Z here…
Mama Z: And Mama Z.
Dr. Z: … and our hope and prayers that you and your family truly experience the abundant life. God bless.
Mama Z: Bye-bye.
Dr. Z: Bye.
Natural Living Family Podcast Episode Forty-Three Highlights: Becoming a Person of Influence
- Topic introduction (3:18)
- Diffuser reveal (8:06)
- Reviews and book news (9:17)
- People who influenced mama z in school & sports (14:39)
- The impact of positive influences (23:39)
- The influence of family (28:24)
- The influence of a good coach (35:53)
- The influence of pageant coaches (43:28)
- Influencers in business & faith (53:27)
- Influencers in faith & friends (1:03:17)
- Natural living tip and episode wrap (1:16:30)
Favorite Quotes from Episode 43 – Becoming a Person of Influence
“Being a person of influence allows you to leave a legacy not only your loved ones and your children, but to everyone.” – Dr. Z
“We all have to heal our own hurts and our own wounds, and be vulnerable in order to strengthen ourselves so that we are able to help other people.” – Mama Z
“Sometimes you learn just as much from some of those not-as-good teachers as you do from some of the teachers that impact your heart.” – Mama Z
“To be a person of influence, pray every day that God will help you bring out the best in everyone you encounter.” – Dr. Z
“I believe it’s a mandate from God to be people of influence. You’ll have opportunities to drop a seed even if you have no idea of the impact that it will have on the rest of that person’s life.” – Dr. Z
People and Resources Mentioned in Episode 43:
