In this electrifying episode, I sit down with Jenny Wood, NYT bestselling author of Wild Courage, to unpack how a subway crush led to her marriage and a life-changing philosophy. Discover how angels guided her through corporate success at Google, why even top execs battle fear daily, and practical tools like the “Shameless Monday Email” to reclaim your power. Whether you’re stuck in self-doubt, craving career clarity, or ready to co-create with the divine, Jenny’s story proves courage isn’t innate—it’s a muscle. Join my Angel Reiki School (June 2025) or 21-Day Money Miracles Challenge (link below!) to align with your boldest life!

TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW

00:00 Introduction & Angel Guidance
01:17 Jenny’s Subway Love Story
02:53 Defining “Wild Courage”
05:48 Overcoming Fear of Judgment
08:33 Career Strategy: Shameless Monday Emails
12:21 Spiritual Co-Creation & Action
15:46 Google’s Largest Career Program Launch
20:57 Balancing Control & Surrender
25:00 “Rock-Chalk-Talk-Walk” Goal Framework
31:13 Tech’s Impact on Fear & Productivity
36:19 Celebrating Wins vs. Vanity Metrics
40:04 Redefining Success for the Next Generation
47:24 Closing: Angel Reiki School & Resources

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TRANSCRIPT:

Julie Jancis [00:00:00]:
Hello, beautiful souls. Welcome to Angels and Awakening. I’m Julie Jancis and I want to start by reminding you that your angels are with you right now. Whether you’ve been asking for their guidance, healing, or hope, they’ve brought you here for a reason. This is a sacred space where you tune in to their messages, reconnect with your own intuition, and awaken the next chapter of your soul’s purpose.

Julie Jancis [00:00:27]:
And if you’re feeling called to go.

Julie Jancis [00:00:29]:
Deeper right now, whether that’s through our upcoming in person Angel Reiki School In June, the 21 day money miracles Challenge in May, or a personal reading with me, just know your angels are already preparing the way. I’ll show you more about these beautiful opportunities later and in the show notes. But for now, open your heart, ask your angels to be with you, and let’s begin.

Julie Jancis [00:00:55]:
Hello, beautiful souls. Welcome back to the Angels and Awakening podcast. You are gonna love, love, love today’s interview we have on author of the new book Wild Courage. Go after what yout Want and Get It. Ooh, don’t you just love that title? Uh, Jenny Wood, thank you so, so much for being here.

Jenny Wood [00:01:17]:
Thanks for having me, Julie.

Julie Jancis [00:01:18]:
Obviously, you have to have wild courage and go after what you want and get it in order to kind of be able to write this book.

Julie Jancis [00:01:25]:
I experience.

Julie Jancis [00:01:27]:
Tell everybody your story, how you got the courage to go after what you want.

Jenny Wood [00:01:32]:
It does start with a little vignette in 2011 where I’m riding the subway home from work in New York city. And about 20ft away from me stands this really good looking guy. Gorgeous blue eyes, thick brown, wavy hair, the whole works. And even though I want to talk to him, something holds me back. What if he’s a convicted felon? What. What if he’s married? What if a hundred, maybe more realistically, what if a hundred people stare at me on this packed subway? Well, I later came to realize that underneath those questions were fears that hold so many people back. Because they were the same fears that held me back so much in life. Fear of failure, fear of uncertainty, and fear of judgment of others.

Jenny Wood [00:02:14]:
So I sit there and I do nothing as the train passes stop after stop after stop. And as life basically passes me by. But yet I’m still so taken by him that I make a deal with the universe. I say, if he gets off at my stop, then maybe I’ll try to strike up a conversation with him. And if not, then c’est la vie. So, Julie, the universe was not on my side that day. He gets off at the next stop which is not my stop. And just as the doors are about to close, this wave of wild courage washes over me and practically pushes me out of my subway seat and off the train.

Jenny Wood [00:02:53]:
And I catch up with him. I tap him on the shoulder as he’s exiting the subway station. I say, excuse me. Sorry to bother you. You’re wearing gloves, so I can’t tell if you’re wearing a wedding ring, but in the event that you’re not married, you were on my subway, and I thought you were cute. Any chance I could give you my business card? Then I wait for what feels like forever, thinking this was a terrible idea. But then eventually, he takes the card, we go on a date. A week later, three years later, we get married.

Jenny Wood [00:03:18]:
We’ve now been married happily with two great kids for 11 years. So, I mean, that was the moment of wild courage that started it all for me. And then I just started applying it in other areas. Other areas? You know, life, work, friendships, moving to a new city, things like that. So it served me well, and I’m so excited for it to help others as well.

Julie Jancis [00:03:37]:
I do wonder if, because everything is energy, do you think that that could have been your angels pushing you to.

Jenny Wood [00:03:46]:
I mean, it’s possible. And so here’s where I think that there was something that happened that day that was. It felt like it was something beyond me, something outside of my control. Like, it really did feel like this wave of energy that washed over me. And so that said, I still had to take action, right? I mean, it felt like this thing that pushed me, like the angel, you know, angels or energy or force or higher power. And. And that said, I still was the one who had to choose to stand up and walk off that run, in that case, off that train. And so I think it’s the.

Jenny Wood [00:04:27]:
It’s the intersection of, like, these signals we get, these feelings we feel in our stomach, right? Whatever that source is, and then also the choices we make because we are a product of our choices. Had I sat on the subway that day and not gotten off, then I would have had one future. But I chose right. I had agency in what I decided to do. And then I started leveraging wild courage as a habit at work. I started setting goals and writing them down and. And getting on big projects. I started asking for, you know, more responsibility and started getting promoted.

Jenny Wood [00:04:57]:
I ended up creating one of the largest career programs in Google’s history as a side project, because I just took action. And. And that’s, I think, as important as the energy we feel like you have to feel that and then you have to do something about it.

Julie Jancis [00:05:11]:
Yeah, 100%. And that’s what in the spiritual world we call co creation. Right. Because that intersection is like us in our freedom, being able to co create what we want with the universe.

Jenny Wood [00:05:25]:
Right. Can I add a quick aside there? I’m sure we’ve heard this one a million times before, but someone, you know, prays to God and prays to God and says, God, please can I win the lottery? Lottery, please can I win the lottery? And every day, you know, walks in and prays, please, can I win the lottery? And then finally God answers, would you buy a lottery ticket already?

Julie Jancis [00:05:47]:
Yes, you can win the lottery.

Jenny Wood [00:05:49]:
Yeah. Go out and take action.

Julie Jancis [00:05:51]:
Exactly.

Jenny Wood [00:05:52]:
Please co create with me. I’m begging you.

Julie Jancis [00:05:55]:
Yes.

Julie Jancis [00:05:56]:
Oh my gosh, it’s so true. Well, when you were talking, you were.

Julie Jancis [00:06:00]:
Talking about why people don’t take action and you mentioned uncertainty, you mentioned what other people think that other people are going to think about that. And one of the things that I keep seeing, seeing come up for folks, especially over the last three to five years, is feeling that the market is diluted, right? Like, oh my gosh, there are so many people already in my space. There’s so many people doing what I, I’m seeing the vision of what I should go do. That’s not a reason not to go do it.

Jenny Wood [00:06:34]:
It’s not a reason not to go do it because you only have to be like half a percent better than the average person to get noticed. And we fundamentally believe that. Here’s a good example. So I certainly saw this at Google with people who wanted to stand out and they just took action. Here’s something I talk about a great way that you can impress your boss, no matter your industry, no matter the company size, is every Monday send what I call a Shameless Monday email. So I’ve got these nine traits that I talk about in wild courage. Weird, selfish, shameless, obsessed, nosy, manipulative, reckless, brutal and bossy. And I say these traits create the bars of an invisible cage that keep you small, that keep you quiet, that keep you following versus leading.

Jenny Wood [00:07:17]:
And so this wild courage is all about reclaiming these traits and using them to your to, to, to for good. Right? Not taking them too far. We can talk about that too. So, so I give that as context for this one tool I love called the Shameless Monday email where you just, you send your boss four bullets each Monday. Two things you’re proud of from last week, two things are working on this week. It’s as simple as that. And you know, whether you’re standing out to change industries or to get a new job or to land your first date, right? Or whatever it is, no matter the context. Like, you don’t have to be a Pulitzer Prize winner or a Nobel Prize winner to stand out.

Jenny Wood [00:07:55]:
Like, at Google, only 10% of people wrote that shameless Monday email with those four bullets. Very simple. Should take you no more than 15 minutes to write of things they did last week. Two things they did this they want to do this week. So I share that just because, you know, when we look at all the saturation or all the competition out there or all the ways we feel insecure, we feel imposter syndrome. Like, why should I apply for that job? Or why should I, you know, go walk up to that person and try to strike up a new friendship, that it just takes a tiny bit extra to make that first move. Just like that Shameless Monday email that 90% of people who reported to me at Google did not send. But the 10% who did really stood out.

Jenny Wood [00:08:33]:
So it doesn’t take that much more to stand out. And then if you’re thinking about, well, actually, here’s a great example. So you know, the book is, it’s been out for four weeks now. It’s doing really well. We hit the New York Times bestseller list, which is just amazing. So exciting.

Julie Jancis [00:08:49]:
Exciting.

Jenny Wood [00:08:49]:
I’m able to kind of be a little bit more selective about which podcasts I do. And my bar tends to be 500 Apple podcast reviews or higher.

Julie Jancis [00:08:57]:
Right.

Jenny Wood [00:08:57]:
That’s like a pretty significant podcast. Yours is obviously a lot larger. I’m super honored to be here. But that’s kind of the bar so that I can be brutal. Another one of the nine traits about my time. But then yesterday my PR firm sent me this email from a 17 year old Julie and, and it was so well written, it was so thoughtful. She’s got this podcast with her sister and I that’s my metric 500 podcast. Apple podcast reviews.

Jenny Wood [00:09:22]:
I go to Apple Podcasts, I search the name of the of her show. Guess how many Reviews she had.

Julie Jancis [00:09:27]:
17.

Jenny Wood [00:09:28]:

0. Oh, not a single review. Guess what I said to the podcast.

Julie Jancis [00:09:33]:
Yes.

Jenny Wood [00:09:34]:
In the. It was the fastest yes I’d ever said in my life. So here you have a 17 year old who’s like, probably thinking. And imagine as a 17 year old, like probably rife with thinking, how do I stand out? Right? How do I differentiate myself from everybody else? And like here she is, just such a. Such courage, such wild courage to Reach out and to ask about being on her show. And it was the fastest. Yes, I said yesterday. So, you know, as you think about a saturated market or competition or everybody’s got the same skills, there’s so many more candidates than there are jobs available, or whatever it is that is holding you back, whatever fear is holding you back, whether it’s failure or uncertainty or judgment of others, when you push past that fear and just try to be a little bit better, just like this person, the 17 year old, I said yes immediately, just simply because she had the courage to ask the question.

Jenny Wood [00:10:24]:
Did it take much?

Julie Jancis [00:10:25]:
It doesn’t. And what you’re talking about too is something that I’ve had inside conversations, but we’ve never talked about it before on the podcast. But I think it’s a really important piece to bring to this conversation is those who are creative people like to work with other creative people. Because when you have two people, creatives come together who both are flexing their muscle of wild courage. Because I was just telling somebody in a reading right before this, it was coming through for them. Like, I got to talk to Wayne Dyer’s people once and they said every PBS special, every talk he got up and did, he was sweating bullets and he felt so much anxiety before he would get up and do his talk. But you get these couple of creative people together and now they’re bringing their contacts behind them, they’re bringing their ideas, and this beautiful, divine creative energy starts flowing between them and the best things come of that.

Jenny Wood [00:11:31]:
Yeah. And what I’m picking up on there is like, you’ve got someone incredibly successful, you know, lauded and, and, and, and famous, right? And here, what I took away from that was he was sweating bullets every time he got up on stage. And again, like I was talking to a friend yesterday about how, yes, I had this big goal to make the book launch successful and it does feel like it was successful. And I said to her, I’m now terrified about how I’m gonna, you know, maintain income for my family because I invested a lot in the book launch, energy, time, financially. And now I’m like, okay, now I have to go, especially as the breadwinner for the family. Now I have to go, like, build a thriving speaking career and build a one on one coaching practice and a group coaching practice and, and whatever it is that, that comes my way as part of my business strategy. And I was like, I wish I could just sit back and even more deeply enjoy the success and celebrate myself. And she’s like, I don’t Know, Jenny, I think that fear keeps you hungry.

Jenny Wood [00:12:34]:
And so it kind of reminds me of, like, he was sweating bullets. And I bet that sweating bullets in some ways helped fuel his performance. So it’s partially finding the right balance of when do we let that fear fuel us and let that energy and enthusiasm fuel the effort? And when do we listen to what our bodies need right now and what becomes too much? Like, when is sweating bullets a good thing? And when is sweating bullets a signal that we need to take a step back and reevaluate? Which is also what I cover in the brutal trait, which is the power of no. And it’s the courage to protect your time and energy because people pleasing pleases no one and keeps you small. Brutality is more effective. It’s far kinder. It’s frankly cleaner. Cut through the bull and spare everyone’s time, energy, and attention.

Jenny Wood [00:13:17]:
So, you know, how can I be more brutal with how I’m spending my time right now and spend it on the things that matter most, even though I live in a lot of fear myself? About, like, is this the right use of time or the right activity for this hour that I have between finishing this podcast and picking up my kids from school? Right. So I think there’s a lot to unpack there, too.

Julie Jancis [00:13:34]:
Oh, of course. And that comes up a lot in the spiritual community. So you don’t know what you don’t know. And I’ve had people come on the podcast and I’ve asked them questions, and, you know, some people have said, oh, well, then you’re really not surrendered. You really haven’t accepted. You really haven’t let things go. And I tried that on for a time, and I would be like, okay, well, then what does it feel like to completely surrender and accept? And I took my feet completely off of the gas, and then you go nowhere. And spirit was like, yeah, there’s a balance.

Julie Jancis [00:14:14]:
You know, it’s not a hundred percent this way. And what I recognized in myself is that you can completely surrender. You can completely accept where you are. You can completely be in presence and have this drive, have this ambition, go forward. And I think this is something that I’ve told people before, but I think it’s so fun, and I think you can just feel it that some people listen to their intuition once or twice a year. Some people listen to their intuition 300 times a day. And over the course of a lifetime, it’s the difference between, would you rather have $160, you know, listening twice a year, or would you rather have 3 million. Because that’s what it comes out to if you’re listening a hundred times a day.

Julie Jancis [00:15:06]:
And we do have to take action. Like we do have to be here now not just in kind of like the meditative state. We have to be here to help one another.

Jenny Wood [00:15:21]:
And are you more intuition 100 times a day or 300 times a day? Yes, I need your help getting there.

Julie Jancis [00:15:28]:
Oh, I’d love to. Yes.

Jenny Wood [00:15:30]:
Because I, and you know, this is part of like, because, because Wild Courage is very action based. It’s very, you know, like, like I said it was co creation on the subway. And it’s very much like these are the steps that you can take that you have agency over. And honestly what I, what I need help with is the. How do I more deeply surrender more? How do I let go more? How do I have less control in a world that there’s just so much going on? How do I seek to have less control is maybe the way to phrase it. In a world where so much feels out of our control and so much change, from economy to, you know, changes in corporations to political changes, Right. Like everything just feels like it’s out of our control. Where do I recognize I should still have control? And that’s good.

Jenny Wood [00:16:15]:
And where do I recognize. I’m just waxing poetic here, Julie. Where do I recognize? Like, yeah, no, you should still take control over this, but also like just let that other stuff go. It’s, it’s hard for me to know where to lean in and where to lean out.

Julie Jancis [00:16:30]:
Yeah.

Jenny Wood [00:16:31]:
It’s like you have the agency, you put the wheels in motion, you show up to the meetings, you make the connections with the right people in Hollywood, right. And yeah, you show up with your energy and with your talent and with your, your preparation. Right. And like that’s what I would call obsessed. The courage to set your own standard.

Julie Jancis [00:16:48]:
Right.

Jenny Wood [00:16:48]:
And to push prepar form, persist. And then you also recognize that like if it doesn’t work out, that you put what you could into the equation and that, that and then you surrender. Right. Regardless of outcome, you have to tell.

Julie Jancis [00:17:04]:
People what you did over at Google, because this is just so cool too.

Jenny Wood [00:17:07]:
Yeah, well, I had a day job, so I ran an operations team that sat between sales and engineering and helps drive billions in revenue annually for the company. But then once enough people would come to me for mentorship and kind of guidance in their careers, I tapped into my wild courage again. And one day, walking out of a meeting where I was delivering some bugs to an engineering team, I thought maybe I should scale my ideas a little bit. So I wrote down maybe 12 or 15 tips on a black and white document and I thought, I’m going to just throw together a training and I don’t know, maybe 35 people will come where I help people on things like leadership and influence and success within the walls of Google. Right? Like what, what it takes to get promoted, to get a raise, to get on the big projects, to get your next job at Google. And so I thought maybe 35 people would come. Two thousand people came to that first training. And I was like, well, wait a second, I think I’m onto something.

Jenny Wood [00:18:05]:
And even though I’d never worked a day in operate people operations or, or HR in my life, and we had the most amazing HR programs at Google, but this kind of supplemented it in a, or maybe even complemented it in a different way because it was like for the business, by the business. I was like the no BS kind of vibe on, like, here’s what it really takes. Like, here’s how politics, internal politics that is really work at Google. Right? Here’s, here’s how you get a project green lit. Here’s who you should cc. Here’s who you should be cc. Like that level of being planful. And so then it just took off and it became one of the largest career programs in Google’s history, with tens of thousands of people benefiting across nearly 100 countries.

Jenny Wood [00:18:49]:
And then I realized, like, while I liked my role in engineering, sorry in operations, that sat between sales and engineering, what I really, truly, deeply loved and what was clearly my calling, and I definitely had some angels pushing me toward, was helping people to be better than they think they can be. And that’s what landed me here, is because I just discovered my passion for that. And I think it was where passion meets practicality. Right. Like there were people saying that they needed this. And so it made me realize that there was an opportunity here.

Julie Jancis [00:19:20]:
When you work with people or worked with people in there, did you find that too many people are almost just waiting for the goal, the thing to drop into their lap to come to them? Absolutely.

Jenny Wood [00:19:35]:
Whether it’s a promotion or, or a project or a relationship, like, I reckon I think I had two aha moments. One was absolutely people were waiting for something to be handed to them on a silver platter, which even at Google, that has the most amazing programs of support and learning and development and career development that even at Google, like, no, you still had to take your career by the horns and you have to be the CEO of your own career. So that was like one aha moment. The other aha moment was, you know, by the time I started working on this book, I coached tens of thousands of people on, as I mentioned, leadership, success and influence. And the same theme kept coming up when people felt stuck. And it brings me back to fear. It was fear. It was those same three fears.

Jenny Wood [00:20:18]:
Fear of failure, fear of uncertainty, and fear of judgment of others. And we’re talking smart, talented, well resourced, educated, well networked, people like the cream of the crop at one of the most respected companies in the world. And even these people felt stuck. And just the other day I was doing a leadership training session for about 150 leaders at another Fortune 500 company and the same things were coming up for them. And I was so shocked. It’s like no matter whether you’re 22 right out of college or you’re 60 and you’re in the C suite, everybody, as people were sharing in this room, everybody is held back by these fears. And that tends to be the root friend.

Julie Jancis [00:21:00]:
If you’ve been asking for a sign, this is it. Your angels are ready to guide you into your next chapter of service, Healing and Spiritual Spiritual Expansion. First, I want to personally invite you to our next in person angel reiki School. It’s June 6th through 8th, 2025 in Oakbrook, Illinois. This sacred three day training will certify you in mediumship, energy healing and becoming an angel messenger yourself while giving you the roadmap I used to build a six figure spiritual business or keep your day job and learn skills to serve and earn thousands each month on the side. If your soul has felt this calling to serve, this is your Mom Places limited And the Angel Reiki School always sells out. To sign up, go to theangelmedium.com get certified. The link is in the show notes and if you can’t travel Our online version of the Angel Reiki School begins on the 1st of each month so you can start from wherever you are right now.

Julie Jancis [00:21:59]:
Next, we begin a brand new course on May 11th that your angels created just for you. It’s the 21 day money miracles challenge. This transformational experience is available only inside the angel membership and will completely reset how you relate to receiving divine prosperity and the soul of money. Over 21 days, your angels will show you how you’ve been playing small and how to align with soul sourced wealth and sacred overflow. These are tools and teachings that you’ll use for the rest of your life. The 21 Day Money Miracles Challenge is only available in the angel membership now for $111 a month. Join for a single month or become an annual member. Start today and receive a beautiful bonus activation to supercharge your receiving energy.

Julie Jancis [00:22:47]:
Go to theangelmedium.com angel membership to begin and if you’re seeking deep clarity, healing and confirmation, you can also book a personal reading with me where I connect you with your angels and loved ones in heaven to bring through loving guidance and support. Book your session now@theangelmedium.com readings again. It’s in the show notes. Friends, I’m expecting that we’re going to need over 50 volunteers to receive a free angel reading from my students during the In Person Angel Reiki School. Some will be live in the Chicagoland area, some will be online. This is June 6th through 8th. To be considered, all you have to do is leave a five star positive review of this podcast. Submit a screenshot using the contact form@theangelmedium.com content Leave your five star review today and you might be hearing from me really soon.

Julie Jancis [00:23:38]:
Friends, your angels are already preparing the path ahead. All that’s left is for you to say yes, yes, yes. Say yes to life. Now back to the show.

Julie Jancis [00:23:48]:
Well, and the other thing that I find from working with a lot of people in corporate America as well, doing readings for them, is that the fear, you’re right, it doesn’t go away, you know, just because we’re in college and now we’re in our 40s or in our 60s. In fact, what I found is the more successful that people become, the worse it gets. It does, it does. Because you didn’t have anything to lose in college. So when you’re going after something, you, you don’t have anything to lose. And then you get to a point you’re like, well, shoot, I’ve got a lot to lose. You know, like, I want to build more, but I want to keep what you’ve got.

Jenny Wood [00:24:26]:
Or proving yourself right, like feeling like you, you need to earn the position you’ve given or the responsibilities you’ve, you’ve been given. So I have a great example. You know, I talk about bossy, which is the courage to listen and lead, to steer others through success. And I made a huge mistake. When I was first managing managers at Google, I was given this massive project to shut down a business unit in one part of the world and build it back up in the other. No small task. And I’d been at Google for 10 years. But the people on this team that I was joining who reported to me the leaders who reported to me had been there much longer in this particular division.

Jenny Wood [00:25:02]:
So I’m trying to prove myself, like, prove that they were smart to give me the job. The senior leaders who I reported to prove that I knew what I was talking about, prove that they could trust me. And so we were having this off site day long together, me and the leaders who reported to me to develop the strategy. And I just stuffed every piece of information I could into this 30 slide, PowerPoint deck or North Star mission statement. The three pillars of the transition. Which of these people who reported to me should lead each of the pillars. And I plug in my laptop, I excitedly start presenting. And I saw immediately the energy in the room dissipate, and I was like, what’s going on here? And we have this thing at Google called psychological safety, which means it’s a good thing, but it also means that you should feel free to share your mind freely to anybody who reports to you, who you report to, etc.

Jenny Wood [00:25:49]:
So they felt, let’s just say, very psychologically safe that day. And they were like, jenny, why would you come in here and act like you have all the answers? You’ve been on this team, what, three months? We have a combined 35 years of experience on this team. And so I think, you know, that’s another example of surrender. Like, I did not surrender in that moment to trusting that they would like me for who I was, they would like me for my potential, not necessarily my experience on that team. And that I. It’s like I was forcing them because I was senior and because I had so much more insecurity and so much more imposter syndrome. When I was named that senior leader, there was all this, if I’d been 22, like you said, I probably wouldn’t have cared or wouldn’t have put so much effort into it. But I was like, must prove I deserve to be here.

Jenny Wood [00:26:36]:
And the more senior we get, the more experienced we get, the more I think we feel like, I must prove that I deserve to be here. And I felt that tremendous pressure in that moment, and it did not serve me well. And then I had to learn, like I say in bossy, like, it’s the courage to listen first and then lead. And that makes a good leader. I should have walked in that room with a bunch of Sharpies and some blank easels and said, like, what do we think this strategy should be? How do we think we should execute it? What should our communications plan be? How many pillars do we need? Who would like to lead each Pillar just gone in and asked a bunch of what I call nosy questions. Nosies. The courage to get insatiably curious and to, you know, let your curiosity drown out your fear and pull you toward what’s most exciting to you, to use it as a compass. I wasn’t nearly curious enough that day.

Jenny Wood [00:27:23]:
And so I became bossy in the old. In the old sense, not the new, reclaimed sense, where I was telling them what to do and not inviting in their opinions. All deeply based in insecurity as a senior leader that I don’t think would have happened had I been right out of college.

Julie Jancis [00:27:36]:
If we could redefine purpose for the next generation coming in, they would have such an easier time, because we just expect it to be like a straight shot on a graph going up, up, up, up, up, up, up. And things come up, you know, people pass away and big events. You have to plan a wedding. You know, you have to take care of an aging parent. You have a big surgery or whatnot. You go through these different parts and twists and turns in life where I’ve gotten to different moments and thought, okay, well, is God done with me? Like, did I do all I came here to do? When you get stuck, how do you coach people to see that there’s life beyond this point, that they’re going to continue growing again?

Jenny Wood [00:28:28]:
I think it’s just starting with one small step because, you know, let’s say somebody. I was coaching somebody, an executive recently who got a negative performance review, review from the. From the CEO. And we. We looked at it together, and we. And this. This. This guy was just really distraught, really distraught, and felt like, is this the right company for me? Is this a signal that I should be leaving? How do I interpret this specific line? Like, really wanted to break down each individual piece of critical feedback, and we’ve all been there, right? I’ve been there.

Jenny Wood [00:29:01]:
I’ve gotten harsh quarterly feedback, reviews. It’s hard. It’s hard to push past. And those are the moments that I say, I really question my purpose. I question why I was put on this earth. I question, you know, do I still have what I thought I used to have? Am I. Am I losing my touch? Right? Or things like that? And so I said to this client, I said, we’ve got to start small. And, like, what’s one thing you can do to push past the fear right now? And what he came up with was, well, even though my inclination is to push back on this feedback and to say, like, well, no, I see it differently, this isn’t the way that I think I approach this person, and he’s like, well, maybe what I need to do is just radically accept, right? Surrender again to this feedback.

Jenny Wood [00:29:45]:
And maybe I need to double down on it and go back to my boss and send an email that says, these are the three things I’m taking away from this constructive part of the feedback because it was all written out. These are the three things, in my words, that I actually do want to work on. And I was like, that is so much wild courage right there. Because to take that one small step of sending that email, he’s like, and I want to do it within 24 hours before I chicken out. And to take that small step of ownership or of recognizing and saying, okay, I know that I can’t solve all these things that you want me to solve in the next 12 months. What I can do, at minimum, is acknowledge that I’m hearing you, acknowledge that I’m listening, and send a signal that I’m taking action. And I think what people mostly want to see is you taking action. So I use this small example again, it’s another work example.

Jenny Wood [00:30:32]:
It’s a leadership example. But. But I love that he just broke it down into one small thing he could do today. And that’s the theme of how I would coach anybody who’s feeling stuck or feeling like, is my work here done? What if I’ve been laid off or I’ve lost a relationship or I’ve lost a friendship or I’ve lost a loved one? What is one small step I can do right now to move forward? Maybe it’s picking up the phone and scheduling dinner with a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. Maybe you have a goal of health in it. It’s replacing your big plates with small plates in the kitchen, right? Like, just could be anything. One tiny little step you can take that makes you just slightly ahead of where you are right now. And then each one of us has our own little sweet spot of fear.

Jenny Wood [00:31:13]:
My sweet spot of those three is uncertainty. Like, that’s why I chased that stranger off the subway. I actually had a bigger fear of uncertainty that living with that what if thought in my head, right? What could have been? And by the way, there’s a lot of research that suggests we regret the moves we don’t make much more than the moves we do make that don’t turn out great. So we regret inaction more than action. And so had I chased him off the subway, and he said, sorry, I’m married. It’s kind of A win win. Because it doesn’t even feel like a failure to me. I’m like, I have my answer.

Jenny Wood [00:31:48]:
He gets to go home to his wife and kids and be like, still got it, honey. I got hit on the subway way right. And so. And so recognizing which of those three fears plagues you the most, for me, it’s uncertainty. That can also help you find courage to take more action or ask for something that feels a little bit riskier, a little bit outside of your comfort zone. And so for me, that day, like, I would have been happier stomaching the failure than stomaching the uncertainty. And so when you know that, you can live with that as your compass. Which of those three fears? It’s a great thought exercise for anyone right now is like, which of those three fears hold you back the most?

Julie Jancis [00:32:23]:
Yes.

Jenny Wood [00:32:24]:
And for a lot of people, I think it might be judgment of others.

Julie Jancis [00:32:27]:
I did this TED Talk last year, and that’s what I opened with. I think it’s like, 92%.

Julie Jancis [00:32:34]:
I don’t know.

Julie Jancis [00:32:34]:
It’s really high. It’s a really high number. Percent of people pass away with regrets. The biggest regret is, I think it’s 82% regret not doing something because of what they worried other people would think.

Jenny Wood [00:32:47]:
Oh, my gosh, I love that stat. And I might need to go find that TED Talk. Yes, you do. Source it properly and steal it.

Julie Jancis [00:32:53]:
Yes, yes.

Jenny Wood [00:32:54]:
Steal that stat. Because that is exactly. I mean, think about it. How often do you not ask a partner for what you need or a customer for what you want or that cute person on the subway for their business card? Right. Chances are when you don’t take action, it’s because of one of those fears. Because you don’t want to be called, like, I don’t want to ask for that thing work. I don’t want to be called selfish. I don’t want to be perceived as obsessed because I’m, like, so excited about this project I’m working on.

Jenny Wood [00:33:22]:
Or I don’t want people to know. Like, I had such a hard time telling people I want to hit the New York Times bestseller list because it was like, oh, that sounds a little shameless. That sounds a little like, you know, obsessed. It sounds a little over the top.

Julie Jancis [00:33:35]:
Right.

Jenny Wood [00:33:35]:
It’s like. And so I think there were times where it did keep me small because I felt like, well, it’s not polite to say that. Or it’s not ladylike or it’s not. I mean, maybe that’s not a great example for polite or ladylike. Those are kind of other things that as women we stop ourselves from doing with those fears of judgment. But in my case it was like, no, I don’t know that I want to put it out there. And then once I started saying it out loud, once I started using my own frankly, goal setting framework, which is rock, chalk, talk and walk, I literally wrote down my rock. I’m holding up a piece of paper to now that I have taped my monitor that Says Rock.

Jenny Wood [00:34:09]:
Sell 15,000 U.S. hardcover copies of Wild Courage by March 25, 2025. So that was my rock. So that was my goal. Chalk was writing it down. So I had to identify the goal, make it numbers based. Chalk was writing it down. Talk was.

Jenny Wood [00:34:22]:
Then once I got over my fear of judgment, of others, fear of people thinking, oh, that’s too big of a goal, that’s too, too aggressive for a first time author, like, you don’t deserve that, or that’s not in your wheelhouse, or that’s not possible or realistic. Once I got over that fear of people judging me for saying it out loud, I started telling everyone and in as much of a manifesting way as a no, very practical, someone could help me. If I share it out loud, someone might be like, oh, I know a company who might want to buy 500 books. Right? So that was talk. I say it out loud and then walk gets back to what I said about this coaching client. Like, what’s one small step I can take right now to, to bring this work to the world? And in my case, it was reaching out to a lot of companies and saying, would you like to buy 100 books? And some of them said yes. So rock, chalk, talk and walk, goal setting in a nutshell. And, and then, and I didn’t sell five.

Jenny Wood [00:35:14]:
I didn’t sell 15,000 US hardcover, but I did sell 11,000. And I feel exceptionally proud about that.

Julie Jancis [00:35:20]:
Well, and going back to the number, what Spirit would say when I was doing that talk is flip it around. If 92% of people pass away with regrets, probably from one of those things, failure, uncertainty, or what other people will think, there’s only 8% of people who are really living, who are really taking Wild courage and going after what they really want, that’s such a small percentage. And then like we were saying before, then all those people get together and they help one another.

Jenny Wood [00:35:54]:
Yes. And it also is a perfect example of all you have to do is be slightly better than the average person. You’re only trying to beat out 8%. Right. That is a really small number to beat out it’s like, it’s like the 17 year old who was taking action, she’s in the 8%, right?

Julie Jancis [00:36:11]:
Oh my God, where is she going to be when she’s 22?

Jenny Wood [00:36:14]:
Can you imagine? Or she’s crushing it because it’s the same kind of, you know, by the way, interestingly I was gonna say it’s the same kind of energy and ambition and, you know, taking life by the horns mentality that will carry her, that will serve her well and carry her to success in life. But I think it’s actually very important to share that this, this stuff that I teach with wild courage, none of it is innate. It can all be learned. It can all be learned. Introverts, extroverts born in New York or Tampa or Tokyo or Sao Paulo, they’re all these little mini steps, right? And that’s really what wild courage is. It’s the, it’s the process of feeling the fear and pushing past that fear. And it’s the set of tools that help you go after what you want and get it. And just like, you know, rock talk, rock chalk, talk, walk, or the, the shameless Monday email or another tool I can talk about that help helps you overcome fear, which is truths and tales.

Jenny Wood [00:37:10]:
These are all things that can be learned with just a little bit of practice and intentionality each day. It’s critically important that people don’t walk away thinking, oh, you’re either born with it or you’re not. Because I just fundamentally believe that with the right choices and the right support and the right energy around you and the right angels, anything can happen. So two examples here. One is when I was dating my mom, I’d come back and speaking of trying to be super planful and figure out the whole life path, I’d say, mom, I don’t know if I want to marry this guy. And she’d say, do you, all you need to know tonight is do you want to go on a second date with him? So that’s one thing that comes to mind. And the other, because you’re talking about the map, is I also have this concept called move then map. And this is out of the reckless trait.

Jenny Wood [00:37:55]:
So reckless is to take intelligent risks to err on the side of action. Because again, better to learn from your mistakes than waste time predicting the, the consequences of every decision. So think fast and fearless and if you’re on the fence, do it. So I was hiking in Montana with two girlfriends and being the very planned out person that I tend to be, we were at this fork in the road and in the paths and there was a park ranger right there. And I started tapping into my nosy trait, getting insatiably curious, but too curious. And I said it. Peppered her with a million questions, trying to optimize the perfect outcome and trying to have the whole plan right rather than just enjoying this beautiful day in the woods. So I started peppering her with questions like which path is muddier and which one has a lake view, which one has a mountain view, which is the out and back path and which is the loop, which one is, you know, where is their construction, which one has more people? And from 50ft ahead, my friend calls Jenny.

Jenny Wood [00:38:47]:
It’s all gorgeous. Just start walking. And so, you know, just start walking is like what you’re talking about with praying, right? Where it’s like, like just ask one simple question every day and you don’t have to know your whole life plan. In fact, that’s the whole goal of praying is to try to take some time to be introspective and let, let some of these questions or answers come to you in this quiet space. And so I call that move than that because it’s like, no, I should have just been take going right, left, right, left. Or like my mom said, just go on the second date, just take the next step. Or like you’re saying with this whole Hollywood thing, it doesn’t have to be all planned out. You can just, just live into the answer with some guidance.

Julie Jancis [00:39:24]:
And that’s where the enjoyment comes because like we’re not supposed to be just heads down, go, go, go, non stop. Oh my gosh. When you finally get to this point, which I can tell you’re totally at, and you help people get to of just confidence, like for the rest of my life, I’m going to be a creator. Creating something, doing something, helping someone, you can kind of relax into the different seasons of life. You can relax into. Oh my God. And is this not the most beautiful experience and journey to go on along the way?

Jenny Wood [00:40:04]:
Yes. But I still struggle. Like hearing you say that, I’m like, it’s interesting that you’re saying that. I’m coming across confident. I feel like I’ve never been less confident in my 45 years in life. Life then literally right now, today. Yes and yes, having achieved a lot on paper. But again it’s, it’s anytime you start something new, I, I find like a new boss, a new relationship, a new friendship, a new city, a new project, a new company, a new team that I think those, I think like imposter syndrome just starts to rear its ugly head again.

Jenny Wood [00:40:35]:
And that’s when I get the most deeply insecure. Like, here’s a perfect example. And, and, and comparison is the thief of joy. And I still find myself comparing myself so much to this fellow author who’s wonderful and she’s a friend of mine. Our books came out within a few weeks of each other. And, you know, I hit the New York Times. She didn’t. She, I think, was like, that’s everyone’s holy grail in publishing, right? In traditional publishing to hit the New York Times.

Jenny Wood [00:40:59]:
And here I hit it, Julie. All the number of times that I check Amazon and my ranking versus her ranking is unbelievable. So what. What a lack of confidence that is that I’m doing that. What a lack of confidence that I’m noting her Goodreads review number versus my Goodreads review number. And it’s like, I’ve achieved this pinnacle. It feels like the pinnacle of publishing or like the Oscar or the Grammy of publishing. And yet I’m still finding ways to be deeply, deeply insecure.

Jenny Wood [00:41:28]:
And it’s. I’m frustrated with myself.

Julie Jancis [00:41:30]:
I wish I’m going to challenge you on that.

Jenny Wood [00:41:32]:
Please do. Because I need to be challenged. Challenged.

Julie Jancis [00:41:34]:
Okay. I have a. I have a couple of different thoughts. One is, is it insecurity or is it a reprogramming of the brain of how technology is wiring us?

Jenny Wood [00:41:49]:
Yes.

Julie Jancis [00:41:50]:
And it leads me into another question I was going to ask you about. But technology changes my energy. When I am on my phone all day, every day, my brain gets into certain patterns, especially having adhd. So when I was very first out of college, there was kind of like a People magazine, ish type of, like online magazine. I would go on and check that. I’d go on and check the news outlet that I wanted to check. I would check my email, and then I’d get back to work. Well, I’ve kind of had that brain pattern throughout my life.

Julie Jancis [00:42:27]:
Like when I’m going about my day, I’m getting stuff done, I have a break, I kind of go in that order. People magazine, news, email, get back to work. What is it about the technology that is almost kind of wiring with the patterns of our brain?

Jenny Wood [00:42:46]:
Yeah. Well, I think there’s just so much more of it. Right. Like, I think there’s just. Because, you know, I just gave two examples. I would check her Amazon rankings and I check her Goodreads read reviews in mine. Right. And then.

Jenny Wood [00:42:58]:
But then there’s also. Then I check LinkedIn, like, how many comments and likes do I have on the post that my team put up today? How many do I have? Any new speaking requests in my inbox? Oh, no, I’m failing because it’s been 45 seconds and a new one hasn’t come in. Right. And so I think it’s just like the, like there used to be literally People magazine and maybe a couple others like People magazine and Cosmo and, you know, Vanity Fair and like, that was it. Right. And now it’s just endless amounts of technology that we could consume. Endless amounts of vanity metrics. Like, all I’m doing is looking for vanity metrics.

Jenny Wood [00:43:31]:
It doesn’t help that I charge my phone next to my bed and it’s the first thing I do in the morning, which already puts me in a bad mood. Right? It’s like, if I could just take my old boss’s advice. Michelle, most brilliant thing she’s ever said is charge your phone in a different room and it ideally should be on a different floor of your house. And I think that’s some of the best advice anyone’s ever given me. I didn’t listen to it. I wish I had. I guess I could start because the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

Jenny Wood [00:43:57]:
Tonight I could start by charging my phone on a different floor of the house, but I don’t. And so I am succumbing to this really negative experience every time I wake up, which is comparing myself to somebody else. She’s successful, I’m successful. We should just both enjoy it and continue to support each other because she’s awesome. And yet here I am finding ways to be caught in the fear of failure, in the fear of uncertainty, and in the fear of judgment.

Julie Jancis [00:44:24]:
But if the algorithms are running that definition of success for society right now, we are becoming wired with the algorithms. And I’m so happy that you brought this up because it’s not just you. I think it’s 99.9% of people who are taking wild courage, who are building things. And you know, one of the things that I’ve really, really been wanting to have people on technology wise, who can kind of dive deep into this is if you watch the show 1883, 1882, something like that, it’s like the prequel to Yellowstone. Yeah, it’s, it’s violent, but it’s a very, very deeply spiritual show. And you see that back in the day they were just worried about survival. I mean, they were real. Like they had 10 kids, six kids, and they knew that some of them weren’t going to survive.

Julie Jancis [00:45:28]:
So our great, great, great grandparents generations were just concerned with surviving. Then you have our generation, our parents generation, where we got to work, punch the clock, we got to, you know, have kids, have a little bit of fun, a little bit more balance. But with AI, it’s possible that we’re coming into a time where people have immense amount of time, immense amount of freedom and creative power behind them to live and enjoy and create. And the spiritual center behind all of those times is very, very different. And where are we going with our spirituality as we move into this next phase? I’ve been exactly in that spot and checking all those algorithms too. And what I found is that I was being less productive. And it’s not absolutely.

Jenny Wood [00:46:31]:
It’s a massive productivity blocker.

Julie Jancis [00:46:33]:
Yeah, it’s.

Julie Jancis [00:46:34]:
And it wasn’t just about the productivity. I started thinking, now I’m serving less people. When I am in this mindspin, I’m not helping as many people. And so Spirit came in and said, change the question to how do I want to feel today? And how do I want to serve people today, help people today? And with those two things, I find that there’s an energy greater than the technology that can override it and get back to it.

Jenny Wood [00:47:09]:
Yeah, you’re right. And it’s not just the 12 minutes lost of checking the social media or, you know, the. Any. Any vice that it might be that doesn’t serve us well. It’s not just the 12 minutes. It’s that plus the 12 minutes I then spend at a tailspin in this fear cycle of I’m not good enough. I’m not. I’m not as good as another person.

Jenny Wood [00:47:30]:
I’m not creative enough. My. This. This thing I’m about to write has been written 14,000 other times. Right. Like, I’m not unique enough. I’m not original enough. I’m.

Jenny Wood [00:47:39]:
And so it’s that. It’s the 12 minutes of the time. Suck on the technology. And then it’s the additional 12 minutes of all the. The second arrows that we have coming after that that we, like, put daggers and ourselves, you know, in this shame spiral.

Julie Jancis [00:47:52]:
Yeah. And I’ll just meet you where you are. I was thinking it earlier today. I got a shower in today, which was great. And I was thinking in the shower, someone I love, like her podcast, but now she’s got, like, the best quality on YouTube, and mine’s just not up to par, and I need to get it better. Up to par. We can just berate ourselves and suck the life out of ourselves with these thoughts.

Jenny Wood [00:48:16]:
Yeah. And I think a really important and very practical strategy is how are you celebrating your wins? Right. Because it’s, you’re describing the same thing I’m describing. It’s like, hit the New York Times. Why does she have more reviews than I do on Goodreads? You know?

Julie Jancis [00:48:28]:
Yeah.

Jenny Wood [00:48:29]:
And, and it’s like you like, amazing, huge successful podcast. Why isn’t my YouTube following big enough? You know? Or like, well, first, one really easy, simple tool is to just add the word yet to any gremlin statement. Like any statement that starts with I can’t or I don’t. Taking a moment to celebrate the finish lines, to celebrate the, the successes is so, so, so, so, so healthy. So that you’re not just like right back on the next treadmill or, or rat race or it’s like, okay, big podcast. Well, what about YouTube? And because we can just. There’s so much out there that’s always growing with technology that we will never win if we’re racing against technology. And so I think that celebrating what you do have and the abundance that we have and having an abundance versus a scarcity mindset is one of the most hopeful ways to live that actually drives happiness and not just competition and jealousy and regret.

Julie Jancis [00:49:23]:
Oh, absolutely. And there’s so much manifestation, power behind using the word yet. Oh my goodness. I hope every listener takes away from this that there isn’t going to be a point in your life where, where you don’t have some sort of fear of failure, uncertainty or what other people think. It’s. How do you live with that and continue to have wild courage despite that and keep going. Jenny, your book is amazing. Wild courage.

Julie Jancis [00:49:53]:
Go after what you want and get it. Tell everybody where they can find you and the book and we’ll put it.

Julie Jancis [00:49:59]:
All in the show notes below.

Jenny Wood [00:50:01]:
Yeah, well, the book’s available everywhere. Books are sold in the hardcover e book book audiobook. You can find me at itsjennywood.com I T S J-E-N-N-Y-W-O-O-D.com if you want to work together for your organization or for one on one coaching.

Julie Jancis [00:50:16]:
Amazing. Thank you for being here, Jenny.

Jenny Wood [00:50:19]:
Thank you for having me, Julie. What a joy.

Julie Jancis [00:50:21]:
Thank you for being here, beautiful soul.

Julie Jancis [00:50:23]:
I know in my heart that you’re not listening to this by accident. Your angels are guiding you. And if you’ve been feeling the pull to go deeper, to trust and develop your gifts, to step more into your purpose, the time is now. Join me for our next in person Angel Reiki School June 6th through 8th, 2025 in Oakbrook, Illinois and receive your certification and mediumship, energy Healing and Angel messages all at once. This isn’t just a training, it can help you create a six figure spiritual business or earn extra income doing sacred work you love. Go to theangelmedium.com getcertified to reserve your spot before it fills. And if you can’t travel, remember our online option starts on the first of each month. And don’t forget starting May 11th we’re launching our newest course inside the angel membership, the 21 Day Money Miracles Challenge.

Julie Jancis [00:51:25]:
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Julie Jancis [00:52:31]:
Before you go, your angels want you to hear this.

Julie Jancis [00:52:34]:
You’re not behind.

Julie Jancis [00:52:36]:
You are exactly where you’re meant to be and everything is unfolding for you in divine time.

Julie Jancis [00:52:45]:
Start now. Start with love.

Julie Jancis [00:52:49]:
Friends, I am sending you so much love. Until next time, know your angels are always with you, guiding you and cheering you on.