Niyc Pidgeon – Founder of Unstoppable Success | Empowering Women-led Businesses

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About The Guest

Talking Points

• 00:00 — Intro
• 03:34 — From Trauma to Triumph: The Inspiring Origin Story of Niyc Pidgeon
• 08:08 — The Power of Parental Support: How Their Confidence Impacted Niyc’s Work
• 09:35 — Unleashing Your Inner Optimist: Understanding Positive Psychology
• 13:26 — Tools for Overcoming Trauma: Niyc Pidgeon’s Personal Strategies
• 22:43 — Teaching Entrepreneurs to Thrive: Niyc’s Motivation for Creating a Positive Psychology Company
• 26:50 — Writing a Life-Changing Book: Niyc Pidgeon’s Journey to Spreading Positivity
• 35:05 — Starting from Scratch: Niyc Pidgeon’s Advice for Building Something Great
• 37:32 — Post Traumatic Performance: Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Greatness
• 40:48 — Lessons Learned from a Positive Psychology Expert
• 42:50 — Connecting with Niyc Pidgeon: How to Get in Touch and Learn More
• 43:18 — What Keeps Niyc Pidgeon Up at Night: Personal Reflections on Life and Work
• 43:47 — Overcoming Challenges: Niyc Pidgeon’s Story of Perseverance and Resilience
• 44:27 — Most Influential Person in Niyc’s Life
• 45:28 — Niyc Pidgeon’s Must-Read Book and Podcast Recommendations
• 45:55 — Advice for My 20-Year-Old Self: Niyc Pidgeon’s Words of Wisdom
• 46:18 — Defining Success: Niyc Pidgeon’s Unique Perspective on Achieving Your Goals

Show Links

• https://www.instagram.com/niycpidge/
• https://twitter.com/niycpidge/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/niycpidgeon/

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What is the Success Story Podcast?

On this podcast, you’ll find interviews, Q&A, keynote presentations & conversations on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship.

The podcast is hosted by entrepreneur, business executive, author, educator & speaker, Scott D. Clary.

Scott will discuss some of the lessons he’s learned over his own career, as well as have candid interviews with execs, celebrities, notable figures, and politicians. All who have achieved success through both wins and losses, to learn more about their life, their ideas, and insights.

He sits down with leaders and mentors and unpacks their stories to help pass those lessons on to others through both experiences and tactical strategies for business professionals, entrepreneurs, and everyone in between.

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Machine Generated Transcript

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

positive psychology, life, entrepreneurs, business, experience, netsuite, people, bullied, love, impact, work, success, hosting, tools, feel, book, theory, hubspot, positive emotions, big

SPEAKERS

Niyc Pidgeon, Scott D Clary

 

Scott D Clary  00:00

Explain to me what positive psychology is because I know nothing about what this is at all.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  00:05

So it is the performance focused psychology positive psychology. The pure definition is the science of happiness. It’s the science of success. And

 

Scott D Clary  00:17

today my guest is Niyc Pdigeon. She’s a motivational speaker, positive psychologist and business coach who is the founder of unstoppable success. She helps women led businesses growth for award winning and best selling book now is your chance is a 30 day guide to living your happiest life using positive psychology.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  00:36

When I was a Lebanon phobia bills, I got bullied really badly. I’ve got a surname which is pigeon. I used to get bullied all the time. I was also a geek in school. So I was one Tuesday morning. I remember I just didn’t want to go to school, it felt like the bullies could get me. And at that early age, I actually took all have medicine and my mom’s medicine. I like to take my own life.

 

Scott D Clary  01:00

Why are you choosing to write a book about the topic that you’re writing about? How do you bring these topics up in day to day and not go back to a time in your life when you were in a darker spot? So I have Welcome to success story. I’m your host Scott Clary. That success story podcast is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network. Now if you enjoy success story, you’re gonna love some of the other podcasts in the podcast network. One of them are one of my favorite is the hustle Daily Show. It’s hosted by for dynamic hosts, Zachary Crockett Jacob Cohen, Rob litters and Julia Bennett RYLA. Now they speak about a ton of different engaging offbeat business topics tech topics. One of the most recent ones I tuned into was their episode about Amazon pausing HQ to and I can assure you it’s all informative, but it’s a blast to listen to. They cover a ton of different topics they covered the rising cost of dating, AI news, America’s obsession with air fryers. Trust me you do not want to miss out on this show. It’s a perfect way to keep up on the latest news while enjoying lighthearted, comedic takes entertaining spends on things so please subscribe to the hustle daily wherever you get your podcasts. today. My guest is Nick pigeon. She’s a motivational speaker, positive psychologist and business coach who is the founder of unstoppable success, a globally acclaimed online training company. She helps women led businesses grow through six figure seven figure and multi seven figures using our frameworks and methodologies. She has won awards such as the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015, the psychology book of the year in 2017, and the most outstanding positive psychologists in 2018. She has been appointed as a supporting partner at the United Nations women’s UK as an ambassador for the one bracelet campaign to end violence against women. She has also helped more than 10,000 women led businesses create success, and has sold millions of dollars worth of programs and products from the stage online and on the phone. She has been featured in numerous mainstream media outlets and named a legendary entrepreneur and Forbes. Her award winning and best selling book now is your chance is a 30 day guide to living your happiest life using positive psychology published with the world’s largest mind body and spirit publisher Hay House, she is now working on her second title, force of nature.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  03:35

There’s been a couple of like very key defining moments that springs to mind. So first of all, the one that speaks to a girl that was the earliest one. So when I was 11, or 12 years old, I got bullied really badly. I’ve got a surname which is pigeon. So it’s pretty ridiculous. I used to get bullied all the time. I was also a geek in school. So I had a bit of a rough time when I started high school. And I was one Tuesday morning I remember I just didn’t want to go to school. It was the day where we were doing sports. And I was fine if I was in like a classroom environment. But as soon as I got into that more fluid, kind of anyone can go anywhere and do anything felt like the bullies could get me. So I didn’t want to go to school so bad and my parents wouldn’t listen to me. They were like whatever, Nicola, come on, like, just get yourself there. And at that early age, I actually took all of the medicine in my mom’s medicine cabinet and tried to take my own life. So that was I didn’t actually realize how much of a defining moment that was until more recently. And what happened during that time. My parents took me at a hospital, spent two days there and then pulled me out of the school that I was in. And they actually homeschooled me for six months because I couldn’t get into another school because we’re out of the catchment area. And dad decided I needed to remortgage the house, like literally worked all of his life worked so hard to build this life and he was like, I’m gonna take a bet on this young kids, and I believe in her and I’m gonna re mortgage the house so I can afford to send her to a private school. And looking back for my parents to decide to do something like that for a kid that that early age, like really taught me that they really believed in me, and they really saw something that I could like, make a good thing of my life. So I feel such a deep gratitude for that experience and also from a dad’s decision, because looking back that was like a domino effect that started to roll and started to put other things into play in my life. The second experience, which comes to mind was a lot later. So that was more like, kind of 1819 because I used to get bullied in PE I never used to like sports. So I grew up hating, netball hating hockey, plus, it’s freezing in Newcastle. It didn’t get out and do a lot of stuff. Like I had like a really like negative, like association with that. So when I was due to go to university to study Mechanical and automotive engineering, at left high school, I did maths and physics and my dad again, massive influence on me. He was like, Nick, you can be this woman in a man’s world. And you can go and study automotive engineering, you love cars, you’ll do really well at it, go and do this thing. And you’ll earn 30,000 A year and you’ll be rich. So I was like, okay, cool. Dad, like, let’s do that. So I got two scholarships to go to university and ended up taking a gap year actually to go to Australia. So instead of Scotland straight into university, I took this gap year, went to Australia for like six months with my partner at the time, who was a professional cricket player. He was seeing a sports psychologist who said to him, and he came back after the session, he was like, Nick, this is amazing. I had this really amazing session with this guy, I was laying down on the couch. And he said to me, when you’re out on the cricket field, and you’ve got the bat in your hand, what I want you to do is not look at the fielders, but I want you to look for the gaps in between the fielders instead, now that just like literally hit me like a ton of bricks. And I was like, oh my goodness, like, how much time do we spend focusing on obstacles and focusing on what goes wrong? Instead of focusing on opportunities and solutions and what goes right. So I came back from Australia canceled my degrees and engineering went through this process of cold clearing and England, which is like basically like the handful of places that are leftover after everyone chooses what they want to do. And went on to study psychology with sport, and then study positive psychology and masters as well. So it’s like these like big pivotal moments that like swung me onto a new trajectory.

 

Scott D Clary  08:08

That’s an impressive and incredible story. I guess a couple things to pull out of that, first of all, what? What did it what did it teach you when your parents had this incredible amount of confidence in who you were like, how did that impact the work that you do right now?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  08:27

I guess it taught me like the power of belief. And what I do right now in coaching and mentoring, like I get to do that for our students, I get to really instill in them that confidence. When I look at some of the like big investments that I’ve made into myself, yes, working with mentors, has given me strategies and has helped me make millions more dollars. But ultimately, actually, what the process of working with a coach does is it helps you trust yourself more. And it really helps you connect with that feeling of personal power and being unstoppable and having certainty and confidence in yourself. So I guess, soon as you’ve asked that question, I decided to make a career out of it.

 

Scott D Clary  09:14

I love it. No, it’s smart. It’s and it’s the lessons that you carry over and the awareness that you have about the impact that your parents had on you at a at a young age and how you translate that into helping people that are also lost and whatever it is they’re doing, it’s a very important thing to note because we’re going to circle back around and get to coaching and mentorship later on. Now. Explain to me what positive psychology is because I know nothing about what this is at all. So the context is sports psychology, they’re looking for gaps in the play. They’re looking for this the opportunities right where you don’t go to like I’ll take a hockey analogy because I’m Canadian. You don’t go to what you don’t go to where the man is you go to where the puck is going to be you know where the puck is you go to where the puck is going to be look for the open opportunity And you skate there. So similar to when he’s playing. You said field, field hockey, cricket, or cricket? Sorry, I’m getting my sports mixed up when you like cricket, you’re going to the gap. So what is positive psychology? How does that translate into opportunity in your life and in business?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  10:16

So it’s, it’s similar in that it is the performance focused psychology. And I think that’s where I got my grounding within the sport science and the sports Psych. But positive psychology, the pure definition is it’s the science of happiness. It’s the science of success. And we look at the research and the evidence base for why humans so individuals, communities, and also businesses thrive. Now, when I started in positive psychology back in 2008, everybody thought I was a weirdo. Because back then it wasn’t like a normal thing. So like you’ve just shared like, you don’t know a lot about it right now. But it’s in mainstream media. Now. You can find it in like we’ve been featured in Forbes or in Gwyneth Paltrow is goop and things like that. So it’s getting more and more mainstream. When I studied it at university, it was like, a bunch of people in their 50s, who love meditation, and then me, like 1920, I’m gonna take a bet on this thing, it feels right, it feels aligned. So let’s go do it. But essentially, it provides a toolkit for us to be able to create a shift within a moment within ourselves, to give us a new perspective and a new approach to life, which doesn’t just focus on like it says in the title positivity, but actually, it looks at the whole of life’s experience, and what the richness is within every part of it.

 

Scott D Clary  11:56

And explain in a so let’s use a tactical or tangible example of this. If I if I have a business, what am I? What am I trying to retrain my mind to see when I’m trying to build it from scratch?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  12:12

So a really simple version is like, what is the growth? Like, what’s the lesson or the blessing within the challenge? So let’s say you are used to catastrophizing. And I, oh, my goodness, everything has gone wrong with my online launch, and I just suck at being an entrepreneur, I’m never going to make sales again, everything’s so bad. I’m going to quit. Okay, so that would be more like a fixed mindset approach. So the fixed mindset. Yeah, exactly. I always stress and are always like, if it’s not this, then it’s that if it’s not ultimate success, then it’s ultimate failure. Whereas the growth mindset approach really focuses on the process. So we’re looking instead out, okay, well, even if the outcome wasn’t necessarily what we wanted, in the way we wanted it at the time we wanted it. What did we learn in the process? How have we grown? What skills were we able to develop? What relationships are we able to develop, and just even that one shift in thinking can massively change our ability to create results. So it’s interesting, it’s almost like refocusing on the process, rather than just the result is the thing that affords you greatest success.

 

Scott D Clary  13:26

And when you’re actually when somebody comes to you, because I want to highlight that you are an exceptionally positive person, at least, we’re talking right now you seem exceptionally positive, but the topics and not the topics, that things that have happened to you over the course of your life are not light things. So I have I have notes here, and please correct me if I’m wrong here. But you’ve obviously been bullied, you attempted at one point to take your own life, you lost three friends to suicide, and you were a victim of sexual assault and or rape. Is that correct? These are all correct. So when you adopt a positive psychology mindset, these are horrendous things that you you’re still functioning, you’re still excelling, and obviously operating at an exceptional level. So what are the what are the tools? What is that? What are some of the tool kits, the tool sets that you use to overcome some of these things, and I want to highlight the things that have happened to you that occurred in your life. Because if you think about what somebody in the business goes through, the large not everybody but the large majority of people have not had these many horrible things happen to them. So if somebody is struggling because they lost an RFP, or they didn’t raise a round of funding, it almost seems trivial now compared to the stuff that has happened in your life that you’re still very capable of overcoming. So if I can apply that toolset to somebody who’s struggling in their business and stressed because of a silly reason, like you know, maybe they shipped the wrong product. or something like that, obviously, when you look at how you’ve applied it to your life, it’s a very useful and very practical and obviously very much works skill set that you should take on and understand. So what are what are the tools that you’ve included in your life and what you teach over? Well, I

 

15:17

feel like I could literally sit and talk about this all day, it feels like very

 

Niyc Pidgeon  15:23

fulfilling for me to be able to both share the science, but also share it from a perspective of not just being a person that’s used it to go from good to great, but to use that from going from really being very, very stuck and scared and uncertain, and being able to go on and perform better than ever before. And I always say it’s not in spite of challenge, but it’s because of them. And I think something that’s important to recognize is that everybody experiences challenge and adversity in a different way. So the bias that we have in our brains means that some people really do feel things more, and some people experience small things, really, really big things. And watch

 

Scott D Clary  16:11

us feel like it’s choking. Even if it’s someone else, it doesn’t seem like a big thing, it could feel it, maybe that raise was actually something that kept you up and cause you to get stressed out and anxiety and lack of appetite and all the horrible things that come with massive amounts of stress.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  16:28

Yeah, exactly. And I think it’s one of the things that positive psychology teachers is that you can build resilience. And you can build your set of psychological resources, so that you can weather the storm. And you don’t just have to feel like you’re getting beaten up by life all of the time. But you feel like you really do have a higher level of capability. So to get super specific, and super granular, I’ll tell you about that theory, first of all, and then I’ll go into some of the tools. So the theory, or one of them I’m talking about is the theory of positive emotions, and the ability that positive emotions have to broaden and build. So when we experience the top tail end of emotions, like joy, like excitement, enthusiasm, gratitude, love, we open up our thinking. So let’s say someone’s doing a raise, and they’re super stressed out, what happens is your cognition shuts down. So it’s like very, very hard for you to come up with creative solutions, or for you to see the bigger picture. So what would benefit is actually practicing a positive psychology intervention. And they’re super simple, really easy to do reaching for tool, so that you can create a shift, and you can feel that at first. So that opens up your mind ready for the intake of information, you build relationships more quickly, and you reach your goals faster as well. So that is the broadening the building area of positive emotions. It says that when you experience more positivity or positive emotions, you’re then able to almost like put those the effects of the positive emotions into a bank. So let’s say you experience more humor or more laughter, you’re able to put those resources into a bank. So your psychological toolkit, when you need a bank account, you can actually reach into it. And you can make a withdrawal, which is the resiliency that actually gets you through the hard times. So some of the things that I’ve reached for when I’ve been really struggling. So let’s say I’m having a, I’ll give you a few examples. So let’s say I’m having a really, really bad day, because positive psychologists still have bad days, okay. I used to feel like I had to be, like 100% on all of the time. And I recognized through my personal challenges that no one can be 100% Happy all of the time. And it’s actually not about that. So what I might do, let’s say I’m feeling overwhelmed, or I’m feeling like I don’t have motivation to do my work, I might pull a tool out, which is like the gravestone exercise. So it’s a couple of minutes, you can do it as a meditation. You can do it as a written exercise. Both ways are super powerful. And it asks you to consider a time where you’re at the end of your life, and you’re looking back on everything that you have done. You are at your own funeral, you see your own headstone on your grave, and you’re seeing and witnessing what people are saying about you and what you’ll be remembered for. So the intervention asks you to consciously create what it is you want to be remembered for. For your legacy.

 

Scott D Clary  20:01

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Niyc Pidgeon  23:20

And to really connect with that and write it down. And it’s such a powerful exercise we deliver it with in some of our core group coaching sessions. And it’s the real tear jerker. It’s the one where people remember the meaning and the purpose or they connect with it for the first time. And when you connect with that meaning and purpose, it really energizes you. So if you feel like you’re lacking in motivation, that’s a really good tool to go to. If you feel like you are overwhelmed and you don’t have solutions, and you’re feeling like you don’t know the way through, you might pull a tool like the hope map. So the hope map gives you a six step process to follow when you want to reach your goals. And the good thing about positive psychology is, even though it sounds like it’s a soft science, and it’s like meditation or something that is like light or fluffy. It’s all grounded in evidence and research. So positive psychologists have literally tried and tested these tools in various different ways to figure out which order things work in and what you must do in order to create the result. So the hope map has got six steps. They tested it with four, they tested it with five, they looked at what it is that makes people reach their goals and it’s actually the last two steps in the process. So step number one of the whole map is to decide on what the goal is that you want to focus on. Step number two is to apply something called divergent thinking theory, which asks you not to come up with the number one solution to the goal, but instead to come up with five Five or 10, and get creative and play with the pathways that could be possible to help you get to that goal. Step number three is to identify any obstacles that might get in your way. So what happens when we set goals is we get into optimism, we get into excitement. And that can actually prevent us from reaching our goals. Because if we get thrown off track, and we’re not prepared for it, then we can get disheartened or we might give up. So if you can identify the obstacles, and then consider what the pathways might be through those obstacles, that can actually help you reach your goals faster. But you then need to lock it in with the final two steps. So step number five, is to consider what the why is behind the goal in the first place. And step number six is to consider who you need to share with or who you need to ask for support from in order to reach the goal.

 

Scott D Clary  26:00

Beautiful, so that now, you these steps are incredible. And when you apply these to the person who’s just trying to get through life, it makes a lot of sense why it would be helpful to incorporate this into your day to day. But obviously entrepreneurs have an extra level of stress sometimes where I feel like you steps are incredibly useful, because I find that entrepreneurship is a very lonely and sometimes depressing venture to go on. Not to say that work is easy for anybody, but I mean, entrepreneurs find themselves alone and usually isolated and finding a hard time talking to people about the things that they’re going through. And I guess my more of a point, but also a question at the same time. When you talk about positive psychology, why did you in particular, decide to build a brand and the business around teaching this two entrepreneurs? Was it a niche that you felt needed attending to was it? And I also know you work with a lot of coaches as well, like you probably could work with, you know, a venture backed software, somebody in SF, but I mean, you’ve chosen a certain avenue for the work that you do. Why is that? Why is this something that in particular a coach would need or a solopreneur needs?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  27:11

For me the potential of the impact of the ripple effect. So there’s been studies done specifically on positive psychology coaching, where we look at the impact of a coach and a client having that relationship. And what happens after that. So they found that every person that somebody who’s received coaching, comes into contact with, they also increase their well being. So it’s really exciting for me when a student goes back into the home, and they come back and tell me that their husband is now feeling better. And their husband is performing better at work or their kids are coming in having conversations teenagers having conversations, can you imagine it, like super happy about that, or there’s like a five year old who’s practicing gratitude. So the power of that impact really excites me. And it doesn’t just stop that. So the study found that somebody who goes to like positive psychology experiences positive psychology coaching, and then goes out to into their day to day life, they will impact every single person that they come into contact with. So if they’re going to stand in the line at the post office or waiting to go into the dentist, the ripple effect extends far and wide. So I see like an activation around the globe, where the more people I can support to become positive psychology coaches, the more people can receive positive psychology coaching, and the more we can elevate the well being and the performance of the planet because of that. For that feels exciting. I do also work with different industries as well. So I started with Apple.

 

Scott D Clary  29:02

I just want to take a second and thank the sponsor of today’s episode HubSpot. Now, everyone is looking for the best bang for their buck right now. Companies are reevaluating their software expenses, and some are even cutting their old CRM platform bills significantly. This is why HubSpot has become the modern CRM of choice for so many growing businesses. HubSpot CRM is literally a one stop shop with all the tools you need to grow your business. It helps you automate tedious tasks, keep track of contact info and deals and make sure your team has access to the same data so you can better serve your customers and reach your goals and best of all, it’s easy to use and free to get started. That’s right, fill your sales pipeline without blowing your budget. Get started for free@hubspot.com I have no doubt I just know that. I just know I know that. You focus. You focus a lot and a lot of the things that you teach over it’s tailored to people that are trying to make an impact in their own way through coaching through mentorship. And yeah, I think that’s a smart. So I didn’t know that there was such a ripple effect with that particular type of entrepreneur. Yeah. Now one thing that I also find interesting, just before we were talking, you’re talking about a new book. And we can we can go into that, but you don’t shy away from dark topics. So I would have assumed that if something had happened in your life, and you’d found a toolkit to cope with it, probably I’m incorrectly assuming this. Obviously, I don’t I’m very I’m very ignorant with this. But I would assume that you don’t want to reintroduce that topic into your life. So why are why do you still try and speak about some of these topics and use in you in you reintroduce them into your teachings in your in your life philosophy? Because I feel like, does it not? Does it does not make it difficult to maintain that positive approach in all aspects of your life when you keep digging into things that have happened in the past? And obviously not? Because you’re doing it successfully? So how do you why do you do this? Why are you choosing to write a book about the topic that you’re writing about? And walk me through that, but also, how do you bring these topics up in day to day, and not go back to a time in your life when you were in a darker spot?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  31:15

Thank you. So I have a real clarity on my belief that everything serves our growth. So whenever it feels hard at the time, I look back on all of my life’s experiences. And I’m so grateful for them because they have made me stronger. And not only have they made me stronger, they’ve given me an ability to be able to help other people find that strength when they can’t see it for themselves yet. So I feel such a deep gratitude for all of the experiences. And it doesn’t stop them from being the hardest things I’ve ever come across in my life. So for me, the processing has been very important. And I think it’s a like, it feels like an honor, first of all, to be able to do the work that I do. And it’s like making me emotional, to have the platform that I have, and be able to support people in the way that I do. And it’s constantly required for me to operate at my edge. And I know that the edge is where the magic happens. And a lot of my personal research and the work that I’ve done, my thesis serves and for some of the books that I’ve written, and some just the personal writings and readings that I do, are to do with a concept called complex adaptive systems. And what that theory teaches is that growth exists on the edge of chaos. And it teaches that are like experiences, they’re not just the sum of the parts. So this conversation isn’t just you and I one plus one equals tail. It’s like a quantum phenomenon and something else that is created that gives rise from the experience that’s greater than we can ever imagine. So I’m fascinated about why that happens. And I’m fascinated with not just post traumatic growth, but post traumatic performance. So it feels like whilst writing a book now on suicide is almost like the opposite to what a positive psychologists might write about. There’s an intersection that is being brought forward through the research, which hasn’t massive potential and feels really, really important in terms of the impact that it can create. And I feel like my life’s experience, whilst it has been very tough to lose my friends and to have those dark thoughts and moments which, in the research, I recognize not everybody feels suicidal in my life, but a proportion of people do. And I have felt like that. And I also have this unique blend of having a business having a public profile, being a positive psychologist, having lost friends. And the every friend that I’ve lost, it’s given me a greater urge and a greater will to write on this topic. And when I decided to write the next book one more day about suicide from a positive psychology informed approach. Everything just started to start to drop into place. And we’re starting to see like big influencers and thought leaders like Deepak Chopra, who are starting to contribute to this field as well. So it just feels like I can create an impact and also we’ve got a lot of work to do.

 

Scott D Clary  34:48

So what work do we have to do? What are you uncovering as you write this book? What are the topics that you go into and I appreciate you being super vulnerable? Because I also know you could talk a lot about less So stressful topics. But I think that this is something that you’re so intimately intertwined with that I think it it would do a disservice if we didn’t go into some of the things that you bring about in the book. So let’s, let’s go into it if you if you can, and whatever you are wanting to speak about.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  35:19

Yeah, thank you. And I recognize that this is, this is where my energy is. And this is where I find the most fulfillment, which sounds like a bizarre thing. And also, like, I’m not the primary researcher in the field of suicide, I want to make that clear as well. There’s people who have dedicated 25 years of their lives to research and suicide in the body of work of Suicidology. So I just want to really acknowledge the work that has already been done in this field, what excites me about the work that I get to do is really bringing this intersection forwards between positive psychology and suicide ology. And there’s theories that suggest that suicide is a behavior. And when we recognize it as a behavior, we know that behaviors can be changed. So it actually allows a lot of the work was prevention to be done with the positive psychology tools, whether that’s us doing them their work for ourselves. So the book one more day, the title comes from, like, I’ve lost people in my life that I would give anything to just have one more day with them again. So from what’s called a gatekeeper, which is URI, a friend, a parent, someone who’s working in the therapy or social role, a gatekeeper has the opportunity to influence and impact someone who might experience suicidal thoughts or behaviors. So the book is written for the gatekeepers who are actually able to activate the change. It’s also written for the person that is struggling right now, who just wants to get through one more day. And I think the power of the book is that it shows a, an it gives a sense of hope. So one of the big theories in suicide ology is that it’s a lack of hope, or a feeling of helplessness, or that there is no hope available, which is one of the reasons why people decide to quit. So it feels very exciting to be able to share stories. I’ve done surveys, total researcher total geek, I’ve done surveys from people who have experienced suicidal thoughts and behaviors. And I asked about what it was, like really specific, like, what it what it was in that moment that made you not take your own life, like, what was it that made you keep on going. And one of the unique things that came through which actually I loved was the presence of animals. So imagine you’re in a really dark space and your dogs with you and your dog brushes past your arm, that pattern interrupt the sensory experience of having a dog or an animal present. And then being able to experience their like unconditional love is a thing that came up time and time again, in the research that I did. And I know that I’m just getting started. So I just feel like there’s such an opportunity for learning and growth in this field.

 

Scott D Clary  38:23

What have you What have you learned about, I want to bring it back to a point that I made. And I want to understand if my point is valid in any sort of reason, or logic or reality. Is there a concern with entrepreneurs with people that build things from scratch? Have you found anything about that? And that particular community is obviously listening to this right now? What are some suggestions that you’d even give over to somebody who’s starting something for the first time and has no idea, the amount of stress that it’s going to bring on them in their life and their family?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  38:54

Yeah, I think what’s interesting with entrepreneurs is that there’s almost a like one school of thought, where it’s like, just get on with it, suck it up, hustle hard, and you don’t actually realize sometimes until you get into an entrepreneurial journey, how much of a personal growth journey it really is. So I actually always say that entrepreneurship is the vehicle for you to experience more joy, more personal power and unstoppable success both within your business but also within yourself. So I think it’s important to recognize, and there’s all of those like old school quotes that say like you can’t outperform like your own personal growth and things like that. And it really is true, but I think it’s important now more than ever, especially after lock downs and COVID and different changes in the world, for us to be really looking after ourselves as entrepreneurs and for us to understand that wellbeing is a business activity to so there’s a lot of research that shown that wellbeing increase As performance, so for entrepreneurs who perhaps are listening to this or thinking, well actually, it doesn’t really matter about my well being, because all I want to do is just focus on the results, it is going to get you bigger and better results, but it’s also going to help you be healthier, and live longer as well. So I think it’s like positive psychology is both expansive, as well as protective. And when you think about it like that, and you consider where else in your life like maybe you’ve got kids, for example, would you want them to grow up with a stronger sense of self and more tools to navigate everything that the world is throwing at us? Or would you want them to be more vulnerable and less resourced? And I think when you put it outside of yourself and think, what would I do for what would I recommend someone else to do, then it’s easier for you to do for yourself.

 

Scott D Clary  40:50

And that particular point that you made about post traumatic, not just growth, but performance speak to me a little bit more about that to say, somebody, this is when somebody’s at their lowest of their low. So, you know, God willing, nothing bad happens, and they’re still with us at the lowest of the low, but coming out of that event? What is the post traumatic performance? And how do we use that particular point in our life, to, after a certain period of time, not just not just come back to where we’re in a good space, but come back to where we’re in an exceptional space.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  41:27

Yeah, and it’s a good distinction to make within the science. So resilience is our ability to bounce back. So it’s our ability to kind of take the hard knocks and bounce back to the same set point. Post Traumatic Growth is the experience of actually becoming something and experiencing something more through struggle and adversity. And there’s a few different things that can actually support that one of the things that we’ve studied is actually movement and physical activity. So we see if somebody is going through challenging times, and they’re committed to moving their body. There’s examples with breast cancer survivors who took on a boxing intervention, for example. And they were able to experience greater sense of personal well being confidence, and then that competence transferred them to other areas of their life. So the post traumatic growth is really looking at, what is it that we have learned and how is it we have grown through this experience, it might be deepening of social connections, it’s different for everyone. And not everybody experiences it all of the time. So that would be the body of work that exists at the minute, where I’m leaning into is the post traumatic performance. So there’s a lot of stories that kind of give a nod to, for example, Oprah Winfrey, she has experienced a lot of trauma and challenge in her life, and she has a really big and a really full life. So I’m curious why those people were able to go on and experience not just post traumatic growth, but high performance over the long term, where they are consistently sustaining a new level of excellence. Why that is, and I think it’s a, it’s going to be a complex adaptive system, it’s not just going to be one thing. But I’m curious about the exploration of that, and whether it is virtual, or whether it is genetic, or whether it is the environment or some of the influencing characteristics. I’m also pulling in one of my mentors, theories of high performance, and what it actually means to perform consistently better over the long term. So I feel like there’s a, there’s a variety of research that it pulls on, but ultimately, it’s going in the right direction. And it’s given people this understanding that we can be do create and have so much more, no matter what happens in our life.

 

Scott D Clary  44:06

I love that. Okay, and then I’m gonna, I’m gonna go into some rapid fire. But before we pivot there, give me give me one more, give me one more insight from from your work, do you’d want to teach over two people a question that I haven’t asked yet.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  44:21

Okay, so something that feels exciting for me is positive psychology for teams. So this, I think,

 

44:30

I know I have another conversation about too.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  44:35

But the thing is, with positive psychology, it’s like an umbrella that really goes over all of life. So it encompasses your health. It encompasses your finances, it encompasses mindset, your body, your vitality, your relationships. So it really does filter through anything that you want to apply it to. So we’ve had a lot of fun and a lot of Success and applying it to our team. So we have a couple of people with PhDs in our team, we’ve got lots of people with master’s degrees, a lot of people are certified coaches and positive psychology coaches. Everyone’s up for it. Okay, which I love. So we take one of the things, we take many of the theories, but the one that springs to mind is the character strengths, and the Clifton Strengths Finder, which are profiles that you can run for yourself, and everyone can do them, and it’s going to give you a top five. So we take our top five strength, and we look at how we can show up for great days at work, where we can work more and more genius, do more of what we love, and less of what we don’t. So I think when it comes to the way that entrepreneurs are working, whether that’s you yourself as a solopreneur that want to work to your strengths, or like me, I’ve got a team of 31 people. And I’m looking at how can we all work together as a unit, which is like this rocket ship of unstoppable success, using what we teach, and actually living it and embodying it and integrating it through everything that we do in the company.

 

Scott D Clary  46:07

Amazing. Okay. Where should people go? Check out website social, they want to contact you drop all the links, all the everything?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  46:17

Oh, yeah, thank you. So unstoppable. success.com is the website. I also have the unstoppable success podcast. And I love hanging out on Instagram. That’s probably my favorite place like I love a voice note and just feel super connected for me over there.

 

Scott D Clary  46:33

Awesome. Oh, my God, that stuff to send me all the links. You want to put them in the show notes people reach out. Okay, let’s do a couple rapid fire. So you’ve had an incredible career and incredible life. You’ve had some some negative but lots of highs as well. But right now, what keeps you up at night?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  46:52

Probably this conversation around Suicidology. That’s the thing that just feels like there’s so much more I can do. And it’s the thing that excites me. It’s the thing that has got a lot of potential.

 

Scott D Clary  47:07

The biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your in your personal life, what was it? How did you overcome it and what you learned from it?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  47:13

You know, what I know I’ve had these huge traumas in my life. But I feel like the invitation for us to always continually listen to our truths, and get more and more into alignment. That in its simplest form, has been one of the hardest things in my life, because it requires you to get really honest with yourself. And it also requires you to then take action on the truths that you are feeling inside. And I think that that is an exercise in bravery and courage every single day.

 

Scott D Clary  47:48

Good. If you had to pick one person, obviously, there’s been many, but you have to pick one person has had an incredible impact on your life. Who was that person? And what did they teach you?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  47:59

So my ex boyfriend, dad, his name was wealth. He was the first person to show me what positivity was. And he when we went on that Australia trip when we were really young, he slept like some little pieces of paper into the passport holder. And it was things like Henry Ford quote, like whether you think it think you can or think you can’t either way, you’re right. And if it’s B, it’s up to me. And I was like, What is this, and I couldn’t really I didn’t really get it. But he had a massive impact on my life. Because he was a he was actually an orphan. He had no parents and he grew up. And he was a self made man. He ended up being very, very, very successful. But he showed me that you can be successful and be kind at the same time to

 

Scott D Clary  48:46

amazing. If you had to pick a book or a podcast or something that’s impacted your life you’d recommend someone should go check out what would it be?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  48:54

I love the Four Agreements. I reread that every year, I also reread the big leap. And I think that’s such an easy read that takes two hours each of those books and they give us some really core fundamental principles that every time I revisit them, I’ve evolved and grown. So I read it in a different way.

 

Scott D Clary  49:13

I love that. If you could tell your 20 year old self one thing, what would it be?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  49:18

Have some patience.

 

49:22

I was in such a rush to do everything. And it was literally a mess and so long.

 

Niyc Pidgeon  49:27

I wish I’d had more patience. I wish I just trusted myself more and knowing that I was going to get to where I want it to go and it didn’t have to be so hard.

 

Scott D Clary  49:37

And then last question, what does success mean to you?

 

Niyc Pidgeon  49:41

It means being able to wake up every day and be myself. No matter what I’m doing no matter whether I’m on a podcast or I’m out for dinner with brands or I’m going to store that is one of the greatest gifts that I have in my life just to literally be able to be myself.