Mahara Wayman [00:00:05]:
Welcome to the art of badassery where I explore what it takes to live life on your own terms. Break free from the status quo and unleash your inner badass. Whether you're a rebel at heart or simply seeking inspiration to step outside your comfort zone, this podcast is for you. I'm your host Mahara Wayman and each week I dive into the stories, insights, and strategies of those who've mastered the art of badassery and are living life to the fullest. They smile when no one is looking. Welcome to the art of badassery. My name is Mahara, and I'm really jazzed because joining us today on the show is Oleg Lougheed who brings a unique story of resilience and purpose. Born in Russia and adopted at the age of 12, Oleg now calls Philadelphia home.
Mahara Wayman [00:00:57]:
He is on a mission to remind people of the profound impact they have in each other's lives. He loves spending quality time with friends, capturing memories in his moments worth remembering books, and working with businesses to overcome challenges and roadblocks. His inspiring perspective is all about making meaningful connections and finding purpose in everyday moments. No wonder he's on the art of bad ass straight. Oleg, welcome to the show.
Oleg Lougheed [00:01:23]:
Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for the introduction.
Mahara Wayman [00:01:26]:
Oh, no. My pleasure. My pleasure. Okay. So w t f. Mhmm. Did you speak English when you moved here at twelve?
Oleg Lougheed [00:01:33]:
I did not. I didn't speak I I spoke a handful of words, but none of them were ever relevant in any conversation. And then my parents were the other side of that. They spoke fluent English, but very few Russian words. My mom, I think, spoke I don't wanna quote her on this, but probably five to 10 words in words like tomato or dog and, you know. So How many how many conversations can you help with those words? Not To begin with.
Mahara Wayman [00:02:04]:
Not so many. So what was the biggest thing you learned about yourself where you had to learn Mhmm. A such a dramatic change in your life? I mean, let's be real. Yeah. Other side of the world, a whole completely different structure of societal structure of of beliefs and and language. So what would you remember having to tackle at such a young age?
Oleg Lougheed [00:02:28]:
You know, it was a journey. I think that being adopted at the age of 12 had many different challenges. One of those challenges is I already had a pretty well formed view of what the world was like. I had an understanding of who my parents were as in the parents that gave me birth and nurtured me. And I had an understanding of what my family and what my situation was like when I was living in Russia, which was very challenging to say the least. I was pretty much the way that I like to describe it, faced with adversity from the time that I was born and then had to face it for the following nine to twelve years of living there. And so coming to The States, you're absolutely spot on. The challenges of not knowing the language, not knowing the culture, not having any friends, anything that you felt was familiar to you was no longer familiar.
Oleg Lougheed [00:03:25]:
So the only thing that I could do at that point was to play the game of learning how to be comfortable in being uncomfortable. And that's really starting from point a, and that's understanding how do you speak the language. That's a process. And I I don't know how many of your listeners have any sort of connection to this, but I've oftentimes heard this phrase that, oh, English is one of the easier languages to learn. Well, b s on that. Like, try learning English when you haven't spoken. And the reason why I think it's so challenging in some regard is because in other languages, in Russian, for example, there are certain patterns that you can learn and and pick up on, and certain words have different levels of conjugation. So if you can figure out a portion of the sentence that, let's say, the verb or the subject is, masculine or neuter or feminine, then you can figure out kinda the remainder of it.
Oleg Lougheed [00:04:26]:
Right? Versus in English, it's all single tone, single gender. Like, a table is a table. Right? A door is a door. A wall is a wall. And then there's certain things also have different meanings. Book spelled the same way, but book or getting booked as a speaker. Right? Very different meanings. So I realized relatively quickly a couple of things that, a, much of this transition to be able to put myself in the best possible circumstances in this new culture was entirely dependent on me.
Oleg Lougheed [00:05:05]:
And that's my ability to persevere through whatever is in front of me and to be able to utilize and access the resources that I had around me. My parents played a tremendous role. I mean, it's hard to describe the type of parents that I have because I don't think there's a word that exists, but they are truly the most kind giving, supportive, generous people that I have come to on the face of this earth. And I am largely who I am because of people like them in my life. So when I think about that journey as a 12 year old kid coming to The States and not knowing any of the things about this part of the world, I realized that I'm also very fortunate. I'm very fortunate to have had the people at different points, different different pivotal moments in my life who came in and said, hey, let me help you. Hey, let me take let me take you under my wing and see what we can do from here. And that's really been the journey, I think, to this point, is meeting different people, being open to different people, to their ideas, and being curious about what it is that I can learn from them, what I could teach them about my own journey and experience.
Oleg Lougheed [00:06:24]:
And I will tell you this, go into even your topic of the show, what makes somebody a badass or what is their badass quality or badassery. I like that word, by the way. It's, for me, it's two things. I think it's first, having a curiosity and open mindedness for life. I've learned that both of those things can take you places that you couldn't even imagine existed, at least they have for me. And I think the second part component to that is having the courage, having the courage to step into the unknown, to continue to remind yourself that you have everything within you, that you have all the answers. You've always had them. It's just a matter of finding enough people who can be a reflection to you and reflect those things back to you and hopefully reflect it at a time when you were open to receive that reflection or information from them and then being able to live it out.
Oleg Lougheed [00:07:21]:
I think that's the biggest thing. Courage is a quality that I believe doesn't get spoken enough about, in my opinion, but really having it, it changes everything. And imagine having the courage to start a business, to start a family, to go into a relationship when the previous relationships may not have worked out in a way that you envision them to. Right? But they served you. They've still worked out some ways, some way, some form or shape or another. And so I I'm realizing that courage is a really huge component to being able to build a life that I have and meet the people that I have, and it's it's what makes me a badass.
Mahara Wayman [00:08:05]:
I would agree wholeheartedly. There's so many things. Thank you for sharing, by the way. Of course. Things that you said resonated with with the conversations that I have on a regular basis, not only with my clients, but with my guests. But the one that I, that I want to touch on first is you mentioned it right off top of the hop was ability to be comfortable with uncomfortableness. And that that I think is really profound as our instinct is I don't it's just to shut down. This is or this is I don't understand it.
Mahara Wayman [00:08:39]:
I feel all of these difficult feelings. Therefore, I'm just gonna close-up. But it sounds like at 12 years old and maybe even earlier, you recognize that it is possible to sit with that feeling. Because I truly believe that only until we become comfortable with that can we learn from it. Are we able to access our courage? Are we able to open ourselves to being curious and asking why? How come I feel this way? Okay. What triggered that? Oh, boy. Okay. Here we go again.
Mahara Wayman [00:09:11]:
It's okay. Just sit. Just sit. Think. All of those things. So thank you for highlighting that. Learning to to sit in our discomfort is a is very much a powerful act of badassery. And speaking of courage, I talk about that a lot as well because I think most of us don't realize how courageous we've been because we only focus on the on the things that didn't go the way we wanted.
Mahara Wayman [00:09:33]:
But to you, it is courageous to navigate a difficult relation. It is courageous sometimes to say goodbye to that relationship, and it's hella courageous to start another. I often say you know, I'll say to my clients, and I think this, that courage is a form of personal currency, and it pays dividends when you need it the most. So just collect those acts of courage and and and refer back to them when you need it. You know, we often talk about celebrating the small things because often there's there's courageous acts within that. What are some of the things once you were here for years, let's say, that you recognize, oh, that was a turning point for me?
Oleg Lougheed [00:10:12]:
It's a really good question. I think well, one of the first ones was meeting my sixth grade teacher. So when when I came to The States, I was I came I think it was towards the November no. No. Sorry. It was either October 5 or November 5, '1 of the two months. And because of the way the school system is set up here in the calendar is I was put in middle sixth sixth grade halfway through the year, and part of it was intentional. Part of it was to also give me an opportunity to immerse myself into the culture as fast as possible, learn the language and everything else that you need to learn as a student to be able to progress within the educational system.
Oleg Lougheed [00:10:57]:
So when I think about one of those pivotal moments, the first one was meeting my sixth grade teacher. Recall, he was one of the first people outside of my family members who actually spent time with me before and after class teaching me how to speak English. Funny story. One of the first books that I remember reading is a book called Molly Pitcher. Couldn't tell you a single thing that I read from that book, but I just remember reading that book. The other day, kid you not, I was driving with a friend of mine. We were driving from Philly to Jersey, and we passed a store called Molly Pitcher. So it's just funny when you go through life and you get these signs and hints that take you back in your past and help you realize that, oh, okay.
Oleg Lougheed [00:11:49]:
Those were some of the pivotal points within your journey. So for me, it was that ninth the sixth grade teacher. Later on, it was my ninth grade teacher. Her name is Judith Dewoskin. She was also an English teacher of mine. And the difference that she had made in my life is that she helped me realize a very important thing during one of the classes. So I was one of the kids, as you could imagine, because I didn't speak English well. English class was not necessarily a hot topic for me.
Oleg Lougheed [00:12:20]:
Right? Like, I would either try to skip it as much as possible or whenever I had to go into it, I would hide myself or go in the corner of the room, put the book up on the table, slide down the chair so you couldn't really see me at all. That was my tactic to get out of the class. And then for the remainder of time, I would look at the clock, and I would wait for it to hit 09:15 or 09:30 until it was time for us to go into a different room. And there's something that she did for me. It was either halfway through or towards the end of that year. And that as she got up in the middle of class and she made an announcement to the entire class, she said there is no such thing as a stupid question. Now for some people, that might have been just words. For me, it was the exact thing that I needed to hear to in to give myself the permission to step onto a path of my own education and what it is that I wanted to learn and pursue within my own life.
Oleg Lougheed [00:13:22]:
So I think of moments like that that once again to some people may not mean anything or may mean, oh, it was just another day in the classroom. But for me, it was the exact words that I needed to hear at the exact time. And I was also open enough to that information to come into me that changed the trajectory of my life completely. I kid you not. When I think about that moment in ninth grade and I was reflecting upon it years and years afterwards, she's one of the biggest reasons why I was able to choose this more unconventional path in life. I'm sure you can relate. Being an entrepreneur, it's not the easiest of journeys. I don't think there's any journey that's easy, so to speak.
Oleg Lougheed [00:14:11]:
I think every journey has its own challenges. But this one particularly sends a set of challenges that other people may not be accustomed to nor have the ability to necessarily deal with in a way that we're able to deal with on a daily basis. So understanding that there's some sense of freedom, understanding that there is no such thing as a stupid question, therefore, be curious as you want. Be curious as you wish. Ask the questions that you've been wanting to know answers to. And I'll tell you this other story. When I ended up going to college after high school, that moment was a huge moment within every one of my classrooms. Every one of the classrooms that I was a part of at the time, I felt that that ninth grade moment gave me enough courage and confidence to ask some of those questions.
Oleg Lougheed [00:15:06]:
Because prior to her stating that, I can tell you specifically how it is that I was in each one of those classrooms. I didn't choose to ask questions. I didn't choose to raise my hand because I felt that the questions that I was about to ask, none of the classmates wanted to know answers to. And that's the big difference is when I realized that there's no such thing as a stupid question and that every single person is on their own individual pursuit of education in life, that even though other people may not want to know answers to those questions, that's not really important. What's important is you have that question. You're seeking that answer. Why not try to get it answered?
Mahara Wayman [00:15:51]:
So many things. And thank you. I'm I'm getting a a real visual because I'm you're making me go back to school. But what I heard in that was a couple things. Number one, it sounds like, right if I'm wrong, that at an early age, you recognize the importance of being present.
Oleg Lougheed [00:16:08]:
Yes.
Mahara Wayman [00:16:08]:
Because while you may have felt up until grade nine that you wanted to withdraw, there was still some part of you that was very aware of words coming out of people's mouths. Right? So you there was an it sounds like an element of I'm really present even if I didn't want to be. Mhmm. The other thing that I heard from your just recent description was this understanding that you matter. Mhmm. That's a hard one for many of my clients is what they they they say, oh, yeah. Of course I matter. Of course I matter.
Mahara Wayman [00:16:38]:
But they still play small. And it sounds like at a pretty young age, you recognize that you didn't have to be like everyone else. It was open for you to ask the questions because your your questions matter. It may not be the same question as as the guy beside you, but the minute you put your hand up and she gave you that permission, it's almost like you're just making a declaration. Okay, guys. I actually realize how much I do matter. You know?
Oleg Lougheed [00:17:06]:
Yes.
Mahara Wayman [00:17:07]:
So so so good.
Oleg Lougheed [00:17:09]:
I think the the other thing that I'll add on to what you just said is having worked with the right variety of people in different fields, different spaces, I've come to realize that many people find it challenging to asks to ask themselves the deeper questions. Not even necessarily what do I want, although I think that's important question. I think the questions of the things that are currently here, how are they serving me? What's not serving me? Right? Like, what's not working? And going back to the courage component, having the courage to actually change course and take a different route, make a pivot, make a change. I think that the other thing that I've learned throughout my own life is one of the harder areas that I have found to be more challenging to make changes in is relationships. There's just something about us being humans that makes it so complicated for some of us, myself included to some degree. Right? Because we're having to interact with a living thing, and we don't know how they're going to respond if I tell them words such as, hey. I don't think it's beneficial for us to be friends anymore, or I think that we are going down different paths or experiencing some form of breakup. Right? Whether it's a romantic, whether it's a friendship, whether it's a work related environment.
Oleg Lougheed [00:18:48]:
And I found that within that also lies a great opportunity. I mean, think about that. You have an opportunity or I've had an many opportunities to become aware of the situation, to change course, to find the courage to be able to do it. And whatever happens from there, that's what happens. But asking myself that question to begin with, how is this relationship serving me? How am I serving this relationship? Because I don't think it's always about the one. I think it's always a two way street. And I've been and continue to be in relationships and will probably continue to be in relationships for the remainder of my time where that question can and and should be, from my perspective, be asked of every one of them. How am I serving? What value am I adding to this one? And what value is this adding to me? I've been a part of different ones where I had to step away either because I felt that I wasn't adding the value to it or the same thing that was happening vice versa.
Oleg Lougheed [00:19:49]:
And so when I think about your point of having the courage and being bold about that, that's one of the areas that comes to mind that I think many people feel challenged by, myself included, and that's having to have these interactions, having to have these conversations with living beings. It's a very different thing to do compared to having an interaction with your dog or, you know, something stationary at table or through email, having to do it face to face and say, hey. You know what? I was wrong for doing this, or I was out of character for doing that and having to ask for forgiveness or having to say the hard things. Hey. We're no longer a good fit. It's not a match.
Mahara Wayman [00:20:44]:
Yeah. Relationships come with judgments except with your dogs. Your dogs don't love you no matter what. And that's how it's so hard. But I think it's interesting though, and they I'd love to hear take on this, is part of our challenge is we have we just don't know the words. You know, our language, albeit difficult to be honest, I've never heard that English was easy to learn. I've actually so hard it is to learn. But our language is immense, but so many of us only use, you know, this amount of words to rather than this amount of words.
Mahara Wayman [00:21:19]:
So I know that I've experienced the more on this journey that I'm on, I'm well read, and I ask a lot of questions and I've learned a lot of great words. And in fact, when I coach, sometimes my clients will will say something. I'm like, that's a great word. Like, oh my god. Just nailed it. But I know that a lot of us don't have that vocabulary. And I'm not, you know, just we just don't. Do you think and this may be a bit of a stretch.
Mahara Wayman [00:21:44]:
Mhmm. Do you think that your immersion in the American culture, which forced you to learn a new language, maybe opened up the willingness to really understand to know the right words and to be open and curious about all types of words, not just the handful that the average person uses. Does that make sense? Which Yeah. Which today, you may be a little bit more prone to connecting well because you have the language and
Oleg Lougheed [00:22:14]:
the
Mahara Wayman [00:22:14]:
experience together.
Oleg Lougheed [00:22:17]:
Absolutely. I think the other thing that has played a huge role within my journey that I think of as a huge advantage within my own life is I was able to start my journey of learning a new language and a new culture at the age of 12 with already a pretty solid foundation and understanding of a completely different world outside of US, right, in a completely different language, completely different system, completely different relationship dynamics. And when I think about those two, what comes to mind is the fact that because I was able to start at 12, it wasn't an easy journey. I'm obviously painting it in a one to two sentence summary things that took five to six to ten years to figure out. But what I think about the especially the language component is, I think within language, there are many different, avenues that I had to explore. So first, it was the written the verbal communication. Right? But then there's also the body language. Then there's also the language of things that are not spoken.
Oleg Lougheed [00:23:33]:
So going back to even the earlier point that both of us had made in regard to this concept of being comfortable in the uncomfortable, I think a huge component within that or what makes that possible is having trust. Some people have say faith. Right? Belief in something that is not tangible. So for me, I choose to believe in energy. I think everything is a form of energy, and all that we are doing is we are exchanging that based on where we're at, based on who we're with. So that in a way is also a form of language. Now that language is less tangible than me being able to use the words that I'm using. Right? Because I can speak certain things into existence, and however it happens there or wherever, it transforms into possibilities.
Oleg Lougheed [00:24:31]:
So I can speak certain things in this conversation. And then in the next hour to two hours, I'm gonna go outside, and there's probably a high likelihood that I'm going to come across somebody who's either going to use similar terminology or who's going to say, oh, you know what? I know this person. You gotta meet them. So there's just all these opportunities that get created from our words, and that's the other big component that I begin to realize in later stages of my life is that words do have power. Part of it because I'm choosing to give them power, but the second part is I think they're vibrations. Right? So when you say words such as I hate this or some of the more stronger negative connotation ones, I think they vibrate, and I think they bring in different life events that connect to those words. And the only reason why I believe that is because I've seen that in my own life. When I used words like that, when I wasn't as conscious about my own speech, I started to see different circumstances play out in my own life and became very confusing trying to understand where where is this coming from? Why am I attracting these type of groups, these type of people, these type of circumstances? And then when I started to become more aware of it, there's a great book.
Oleg Lougheed [00:26:00]:
I'm actually looking at it right now. It's called Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. Fascinating book. And essentially, the main point of the book that I took away from it was becoming aware of the inner language that you use with yourself that then transforms into outer language that you use with other people. Right?
Mahara Wayman [00:26:25]:
Powerful.
Oleg Lougheed [00:26:25]:
And that's where I think it all starts. And and so years and years ago, I thought it was this was a bunch of BS. There's no way this is true. I was very skeptical of it. And then I started to test it out on my own on myself, and I realized that, you know what? There's a lot of truth in that. How you speak to yourself is most likely how you're going to speak to other people. And the big difference there is depending on how you speak to yourself, that impacts how you speak with other people, and that impacts whether or not other people would want to speak with you back.
Mahara Wayman [00:27:00]:
The other thing yes. I agree a %, and I'm this topic excites me. As you can see, I'm sitting bored in my chair. But I I further to your point
Oleg Lougheed [00:27:09]:
Mhmm.
Mahara Wayman [00:27:10]:
My understanding and what I'm experiencing for myself is the brain is amazing, but but it doesn't have a sense of humor. So what you say it works to prove? Yes. Right? And so you can either think of it that way or whatever energy you're bringing attracts the same energy magn almost magnetically. And it's simply be I believe it's simply because you've you've hooked on to that level of energy, whatever it is. And certain thoughts, patterns, you know, they have a they have a lower res. Like, they just vibrate lower. And you think you're, you know, an idiot and a loser and all of those things, you will create it's gonna play out that way. And it's easy you know, it's not necessarily easy to understand because as humans, we we sort of live in in this world.
Mahara Wayman [00:27:59]:
This is what I see. Right? My walls are purple. I don't see the other plane of existence that's going on right beside me. I believe it now, but the I don't see it in my eyes. I'm just not I don't have that power. I've got lots of other powers, but, you know, I don't I don't see the other plane. But I absolutely believe it. Can you share with us one of those examples of
Oleg Lougheed [00:28:19]:
Mhmm.
Mahara Wayman [00:28:20]:
The power of your words and and the law of attraction? Because that's really what you're sharing with us is the law of attraction.
Oleg Lougheed [00:28:28]:
Before I do that, I hope I actually can remember this because the way you said it, it was perfect. I've never I truly have never heard it, or maybe I wasn't open to hearing it this way, but you said it beautifully. Your brain doesn't have a sense of, humor. Therefore, what you say it works to prove. It's so true. And I think for me, speaking from my own personal experience, how that manifested itself is there were definitely times where I had more negative self talk about who I was, what I was in the world. A lot of it had to do with confidence. A lot of it had to do with having experienced the challenges that I have in my first half of life, so to speak, less than half at this point.
Oleg Lougheed [00:29:16]:
And really just being stuck with this question of why me? Why was I the one that was meant to experience all this loss, adversity, hardship in life? And I think the pivotal point for me came was realizing why not you, Right?
Mahara Wayman [00:29:36]:
We're gonna say that.
Oleg Lougheed [00:29:38]:
Why weren't you the one that was meant to go through all the things that you have in order to be able to have the impact that you do? And that was one of the first points where I started to realize that, okay. Maybe the words that I'm using to describe my past and it's funny because I bet even if I were to go back now and listen to some of the interviews or conversations I've had from, let's say, ten years ago. Right? The language that I used back then is a drastically different type of language that I used today. And not to say that I was talking down myself, but there are definitely elements where I was living through the trauma live, so to speak, because I didn't have the experience nor perspective of other ways to discuss the things that I've been through. So when people would ask me, what was it like to live in Russia? What were the challenges? I would take people and someone to in into some of the deepest and darkest moments of my life. But what I didn't often realize was you can do that, but I also believe that you have a responsibility to pave a path out of that for the listener, for whoever it is that you're engaging with. Right? Because to some degree, if I'm engaging with you around our past, around our hardships, and I'm painting you this picture of what it was like to live in a single story apartment and not have food on a table from time to time or have to go out and beg for food or ask for some of these things that may appear as humility in the eyes of the others. That might trigger certain things within you.
Oleg Lougheed [00:31:23]:
That might make you think of certain experience who experiences within your own life where you had to do similar acts. And so I think there's a huge responsibility that I'm realizing in becoming aware of my language more and more that I carry as a storyteller, which all of us are. We're story creatures. We tell stories. We connect around stories. In fact, I would even make the bold statement that at the end of the day, all there is is a story. It's an internal story, internal narrative that one tells themselves that ends up creating the out external experience. Right? And think about how wild of a concept that actually is.
Oleg Lougheed [00:32:05]:
K? When I think about my own life and all the different things I've been able to, quote, unquote, create or be a part of or collaborate, They're all just ideas. That's all it started with. It'd be great to have a podcast. It'd be great to be on other people's podcast. It'd be great to do this, to do that. And then through action, collaboration, and whatever else that happens along the way, boom, you're on that stage. Boom, you're in front of that microphone. Boom, you're speaking to that person.
Oleg Lougheed [00:32:38]:
All started as ideas, turned into words, became beliefs, and a variety of other things along the way that I don't really know because I don't know how it all works to begin with, and I don't claim it. But I'm realizing that that was one of the pivotal moments for me in understanding that language does play a role in this. And I think that to some degree, I used to joke about things like, oh, this will never happen or that's terrible or even a thing things when you don't really mean it. Right? But someone cuts you off in traffic and you say, f f u f die. Like, I hope they die or something like that, but you just don't know. And and I've realized in another good friend of mine helped me realize this recently. I was having a conversation with him and he's going through different set of challenges in his own life. And he brought up something very interesting for me that just in some ways caught me off guard in a really good way.
Oleg Lougheed [00:33:37]:
He said, there are certain things I don't even choose to speak into existence anymore. And I'm, I'm like, you know what? There's a lot of power to that. There's a great responsibility that you have because of that. And so in some ways, I think language is a great tool for me to hold myself accountable to how I show up in the world. I can be accountable to the word. I may not be conscious of every word because there are circumstances in life where emotions take over the logic. And for that, I think the best tool that I've learned is I'm sorry, forgiveness, right, for how I showed up. But I think overall, it's a huge thing.
Oleg Lougheed [00:34:33]:
It it's I'm not even entirely sure how to describe the power of of language and manifestation and how it all works. How do we attract the people that we do? How do we attract the people that we do at the time that we do? Think about the people in your own life. Right? I think about Atusa. So I reached out to her. It's been a number of weeks ago by now, and I could come across one of her books on Amazon. And I know I shared this with you before, but one of the things I started to do recently is to reach back out to people who are in similar shoes that I am, speakers, authors, coaches, and try to help them gain visibility. So I found her book on Amazon. I reached out to her.
Oleg Lougheed [00:35:21]:
She reached back out within a number of hours. She was like, I'd love to connect. We'd love to learn more. We're speaking every week now, and I'm helping her with different things. How is that possible? Right? I sent a hundred emails. Handful responded. Why those handful? Why not another handful? Why not everyone? Why not nobody? And so I think that is the component of life to me that's fascinating, serious, extremely interesting because what I'm learning from these interactions is that, I guess, to some degree, nothing is truly ever random. There's some purpose behind it.
Oleg Lougheed [00:36:05]:
Like, I may not know the purpose for why you and I are speaking right now or why we we even connected, but maybe that's not even the point. Maybe the point is not to know. Maybe the point is just just to be here and experience it and allow it to nurture me in whatever way that it does.
Mahara Wayman [00:36:27]:
I think I wanna jump in here because I've my brain is just flying. I personally believe for lots of different reasons, not only the way I was raised, but some experiences that I've had, that when we life is like placing orders. And when we declare to the universe how or the god or your faith or yourself, whatever, however you do that. But when we make an intention, the universe does its best to make it happen. Yep. That's why I think we meet the people that we meet. And to your point, I may not know why in the moment. But it's one of the reasons why I absolutely love doing this podcast is I am blessed to meet amazing people every single week, sometimes 10 times a week, depending on how much how many times I record a podcast.
Mahara Wayman [00:37:15]:
But what I do know is this. The people that respond to my call outs are the people that because, by the way, guys, Atusa was the former guest. She's got her episode. Her so it's dropping soon, but she introduced us.
Oleg Lougheed [00:37:28]:
She's awesome.
Mahara Wayman [00:37:29]:
She is awesome. But whoever I come in contact with, I know it for a reason. And I have learned to be courageous enough to ask myself, okay. What do I what am I bringing to this conversation? What how can I be curious? And where does this fit into my my dreams? Because like you and like many of us, I'm an entrepreneur, and I've got I've got some goals. I have some dreams. And it was very challenging for me to trust in my dream. And I've done a lot of work around that so that it's not just a daydream that keeps hidden in my diary. I put it out there because I want all the help I can get.
Mahara Wayman [00:38:06]:
I want people to help me build my podcast. I want people to help me with my business because my business will help me feel have financial freedom. I want the universe to figure out how I can move back home to Jamaica. In fact, I remember being very young. This is kinda crazy, but remember being very young and struggling with a problem. Not a at this point, it wasn't an emotional problem. It was something to do with my work, my job at the time. And I remember thinking, I know I can't figure this out myself, so I'm just gonna put it in a bubble and let it float away and ask the universe to figure it out.
Mahara Wayman [00:38:42]:
And when I'm ready for the answer, the bubble will float back to me. And that became a very conscious way that I that I navigated problems. And I still kinda do it today. And, of course, at the time, I didn't think anything of it. Now I'm like, oh my god. You were so cool back then. Teenager and recognizing that you didn't have to figure it all out on your own. And sometimes the answers came from unexpected places if I was willing to be present enough to notice it.
Mahara Wayman [00:39:09]:
Because I do think Yeah. It was gives a sign. Right? Whether you notice them or not, it depends on whether you're ready for that for that notification, so to speak. Okay. So let's talk a little bit more as we wrap this up on what you're currently doing. You touched on it, but I wanna make sure every listener knows exactly what you bring to the table and what what you're currently doing.
Oleg Lougheed [00:39:29]:
Two things. So I think the the first thing I'll start off with is I work with a number of different speakers, authors, and coaches, and what I do with them, different forms of marketing, and the other component is helping them gain more awareness through media placements. So appearances on NBC, Fox, CBS, ABC, TED, things like that. And then the second part that I takes up pretty much all my time at this point is a company or a project or a vision that I started a little over a year ago called moments worth remembering. And, really, what I think of this is I'm 31 years old. And at 31, I've been to a number of different funerals, people close to me, people that I might not have known that well. And I realized something very quickly by sitting in those settings that many people go through life unacknowledged, unappreciated, not seen. And I started to realize and really commit from that point on, and that's what can I do to people in my life who are still alive to help them experience those things whether they're looking for it or not? Some people say they aren't.
Oleg Lougheed [00:40:49]:
Some people say they are. For me, I'm just taking a chance and saying that, hey. I think to some degree, many of us find that element to be important, that who we are, what we're doing matters, that it's making a difference to one person or another, Whether impact or or, helping another person is a primary driver of yours or not, I think it it can and it can't be for some people. It just depends on who you are. But I do think to some degree, time is finite on this planet, and I think it's true for all of us. And because of that, that's the impact I wanna have is to be able to create these opportunities and and really what moments worth remembering is in a nutshell is that these are these physical books that people receive or they can gift to others for birthdays, retirements, anniversaries, graduations that include written messages as well as pictures from people in a person's life expressing what makes that person a gift, what they appreciate about them. So in some ways, I think even going back to how we even started this conversation of where I was to where I am now is through this work, what I'm able to do is I'm able to create opportunities for myself as well as other people to receive things that I was not able to receive when I was a kid. Love, appreciation, opportunity for people to tangibly hold on to something that illustrates through that through the lens of others that you make a difference, that who you are does matter, and it does make someone else's day better.
Oleg Lougheed [00:42:39]:
Because I think especially when it comes to entrepreneurship, you and I understand this, and I'm sure many other people who listen to this. There are some days that are challenging. Right? There's some days that are extremely challenging. And so for me, the question becomes, during those challenging moments, what can you go back to to reignite that passion, to reignite that fuel, to find your badassery? Just making up words here, but I I I love it. I love the whole badass dictionary that you got going on with all the terminology. It's lovely. But that's really what it is. I feel like it that's the that's the beautiful part of life is finding these tools along the way, finding little nuggets that can help you move forward from day to day.
Mahara Wayman [00:43:24]:
What a great thank you for the work that you do. I had a vision of I had a vision of communities. You know, ages ago when we were we all lived into small communities. Everybody knew each other and celebrated each other. Besides that, that's a feeling I have from small communities. I mean, I'm Alberta, there's I live in a fairly small town. Actually, we're called a city, but it's a bit of a joke. I don't see us as a city.
Mahara Wayman [00:43:51]:
However, you know, there's humans, we want to feel connected. And what I'm hearing you say is that you are offering a way for people in the incredibly busy world that we live in today to feel connected. And part of that is a remembrance and a grounding with their person. Whether they're a, b, c, d, or e, they matter.
Oleg Lougheed [00:44:16]:
Yeah.
Mahara Wayman [00:44:17]:
Moments to remember sounds like a beautiful way to do that. So first off, thank you for the work that you do. And how can people reach you? If you wanna just I'm gonna have stuff in the in the show notes. But
Oleg Lougheed [00:44:28]:
Yeah. Probably LinkedIn or Facebook. Those are the best two that I could think of personally. So just search my name in either of those. And then for the companies, you could just Google momentsworthremembering.com, and then that's also on every social media platform that I can think of.
Mahara Wayman [00:44:47]:
Fantastic. Before we close, I wanna just touch on the fact you mentioned it earlier that we are all storytellers. That resonated with me because I often say to my clients, okay. What's your story?
Oleg Lougheed [00:44:59]:
Mhmm.
Mahara Wayman [00:44:59]:
And if you're happy with it, great. We don't need to talk. If you're not happy with it, then let's talk because we are all storytellers. And part of the challenge is that many of us are caught in, the mode of not even so much woe is me, but the energy of this is all it is. And I've got proof that this is what my life is because a, b, c, d, and e has happened to me. And what I find so exciting about the work that I do now as a coach, and you're a coach as well, is finding that balance between empathy, I hear you, and exhilaration to change. Mhmm. Because we don't wanna stay in that story necessarily.
Mahara Wayman [00:45:40]:
Right? We wanna we wanna move out and have the excitement to move out. So to your point earlier about it's important that we have a responsibility if we're gonna share something that we also share the way out because it's too easy to get caught in just the something.
Oleg Lougheed [00:45:57]:
Yes.
Mahara Wayman [00:45:58]:
That makes sense?
Oleg Lougheed [00:45:59]:
Like Yes.
Mahara Wayman [00:46:00]:
I I hear you. What a tough life. Yo. Shit. But guess what? Deep breath. This is how I know I'm here, and this is how I can be here. Because as we are all storytellers, we want the happy end. Many of us don't have that.
Mahara Wayman [00:46:16]:
And part of my job as a coach is to help people create their own happy endings. And and maybe if it's through a podcast of badassery where they they meet different people and different ideas, then maybe that can help them on their way to creating a new story. I also loved the deep, deep dive that you did and shared with us on the power of language. One of the very quotes that I came up with because when I first got into this business, I just decided to write. I was coming up with quotes and writing blog before I was coaching. And very simple. Language is powerful. Use your words wisely.
Mahara Wayman [00:46:47]:
Right? And it's it's so true. I talk about it all the time, and I'm really tickled that you talked about it as well. Thank you so much for joining me today on the art of badassery, folks. Check the show notes because I want you to to to get learn more about this guy. He's pretty amazing. And the fact that you're only 31 kinda blows me up. My name is Mahara. This has been the art of badassery.
Mahara Wayman [00:47:08]:
I'll see you next week. Take care, everyone. Thanks for tuning in to another badass episode. Your support means the world to me. So if you enjoyed what you heard today, don't forget to like, share, and rate the episode on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback keeps the badassery flowing. And, hey, if you're ready to unleash your inner badass and conquer whatever life throws your way, why not book a complimentary badass breakthrough session? Just click the link in the show notes to schedule your session, and let's kick some serious butt together. Until next time, stay fearless, stay fabulous, and, of course, stay badass.
Mahara Wayman [00:47:47]:
This is Mahara signing off.
