The Wild Sage Society Podcast w/ Marcie Walker

42-Finding Purpose with Diaz Dixon

• Marcie Walker • Season 1 • Episode 42

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What would happen if we all took a moment to listen? Truly listen, not only to others but also to ourselves. That's the intriguing conversation Diaz Dixon and I get into in this enlightening podcast. We explore the quiet power of active listening and how it uncovers the path to conscious leadership. We delve into the importance of understanding our biases, embracing failure, and recognizing the joy and fulfillment in our everyday lives.

The self. It's our greatest ally and sometimes our biggest hurdle. Self-confidence, self-esteem, and values - these interconnected aspects lay the foundation for our self-concept. But they're often distorted by fear and doubt. Diaz and I break down how we can confront these fears, understand our role in the world, and take the journey to becoming our complete selves. We also discuss how to balance emotional investment with self-care - a crucial lesson in a world that's always buzzing.

But finding our purpose and leading consciously is just the tip of the iceberg. We also dive into emotional intelligence, and its pivotal role in social interactions. We emphasize the importance of understanding and managing our emotions for effective social interaction and the power of being present and mindful of our feelings. Finally, we reflect on the power of positive relationships and the importance of showing appreciation for those in our lives. Join us in this compelling exploration of resilience, purpose, and leadership that promises to leave you enlightened and inspired.

Connect with Diaz:

https://hammerandnailsgrooming.com/coming-soon/southreno-nv/

Hi! I'm Marcie Walker. I became a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Shamanic Practitioner on a mission to help people, who were holding on by a thread, drowning in guilt and shame, and punishing themselves with the kind of self-talk they'd never say to friends.


I believe that our inner life affects our outer life, and it is my passion to help people transform their inner selves, so they can achieve their full potential and create a life of purpose, fulfillment, and positive influence. I am committed to creating a safe and supportive space for my clients to explore their inner world, heal past traumas, and create a life that aligns with their true self.


Ready to embark on a transformative journey? Book your free 30-minute discovery call now and let's explore how I can support you in achieving your goals and creating a life of purpose and fulfillment. Don't wait, take the first step towards unlocking your true potential today!


💛 with love,
Marcie

Let's connect: Instagram

**If you have any questions you'd like answered on the topics we speak on, have comments or suggestions for guest please, email thewildsagesocietypodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for tuning in!

Jpaddy:

This is the Wild Sage Society Podcast, where we explore the ideas and practices that help us live healthy, connected and purpose-filled lives. Each week, our host, marcy Walker, connects with healers, spiritual leaders, doctors and small business owners on topics such as human resilience, conscious leadership and modern shamanism. Here is your host, marcy Walker.

Marcie Walker:

Welcome back to the Wild Sage Society Podcast. I'd like to welcome Diaz Dixon. Welcome.

Diaz Dixon:

Thank you, marcy, I'm so glad to be here.

Marcie Walker:

I am ecstatic to be here and have a fine time on your busy schedule. Out with your cape, out helping people, being a superhero to so many.

Diaz Dixon:

Well, I don't know if I'm necessarily a superhero, but I know that the people who are battling the issues and challenges they have when you see people come on the other side of those that's definitely heroic. For me, it's inspirational.

Marcie Walker:

We were talking a little bit beforehand about how I see you as being Reno famous. I don't think you can go anywhere in Reno and not know Diaz Dixon.

Diaz Dixon:

Well, to be fair, it is the biggest little city. Reno may look big on the map, but if you've been around as long as I have, you're kind of like mold. People do recognize you.

Marcie Walker:

Oh, I don't know if I would have described you as mold.

Diaz Dixon:

Well, I've been around for a while, so I've just been really glad to be able to meet a number of people. Maybe there's a better description than mold, but after a while.

Marcie Walker:

So you were invited to join me on the podcast today to talk about human resilience and purpose and conscious leadership, so I don't know where you want to start.

Diaz Dixon:

Well, first thing that comes to mind.

Diaz Dixon:

First thing that comes to mind is one. Again, thank you for having me. I'm honored that you would be able to name those particular topics and then think of me and give me an opportunity to be able to talk about those things, because I am really huge on people finding their purpose and understanding their process. Once they find that and they figure those things out, it makes life so much easier. You know, if that's what we're being driven by, we have a much greater chance at having impact, particularly in a world that has so many struggles. And I've been blessed in so many ways that when I work with women and children with substance use issues at Step 2, or whether I was working at any house, homeless youth those have all put a lot of perspective on how good I actually have some things and seeing people's struggles, that it's, I think, has to celebrate their triumph as they were working their way through.

Diaz Dixon:

I'm a big believer in that. We're all a product of our own experiences in our environment. So if we pay close enough attention to our own experiences in our environment, that's why we get to the point where we get older and we start having wisdom. But those things are what lead heavily into us understanding our past and how to find them, how to pursue them. I also think that it's huge in seeing other people's pathways helps you understand more about yourself, and too often these days we are always looking to try to figure out who we are in our own selves without looking at ourselves.

Marcie Walker:

I love all of those points and there is a fine parallel in knowing your purpose, I believe, with knowing your values and your self-esteem 100% and think about how long it takes before you know your value, self-esteem, all the cousins self-esteem, self-concept, just pure self.

Diaz Dixon:

They're all related and it's a battle somehow as we work our way through, and it's not until we really can grasp those and appreciate them that we have the last one with the self-confidence. Self-confidence really bolsters all of them and continues to feed its cousins and allows us to really navigate in a world without worrying about what everyone else is thinking, without worrying about all the fears that are sitting around us of what we might become or what people might think of us. Because I also say, fear is false evidence appearing real, and it's that false evidence that stops us from doing what we need to do, that stops us from becoming our complete selves. It also stops us from really understanding what the world is asking of us. What is this universe asking of us as individuals? And it's a much bigger picture. And the most selfish individuals and that's the bad cousin, selfish is they're not contributing and when we're in a selfish mode that we can easily fall into, we're not showing compassion, we're not showing empathy, and that puts us in rest.

Marcie Walker:

Or just even stuck in like deep, deep mud. I know I've been there for sure it can be in the deep, deep mud, deep, deep mud. So from someone on the outside of your life, it always looks like you have everything put all together. I'm curious which one of those cousins was the biggest challenge for you to overcome when you rewind the tapes and look at a life of diastasis.

Diaz Dixon:

Oh boy, oh boy. That is like a. That's a great question, you know, I think part of it is self-conscious, being self-confident, but probably being too self-confident because I had experienced so much success. And I'll give an example At one point in time, say 20 years ago, I was writing a book. I started to write a book, I was feeling really good about myself and the things that I'm accomplishing in my career and my relationships around me, and I wrote a book. I started writing this book and it was called Duck or Pig, and what the concept was saying is are you like when it comes to adversity? Are you like a duck and you let it just roll off your back like water, or are you a pig? You're wallowing? It's that mud you were living to just a few minutes ago.

Diaz Dixon:

And I was like for sure, I'm a duck. And then I got a divorce and it was really through the divorce that I started looking around and going, okay, wait a minute, I didn't mean to waste it and it took a while. At the very beginning of that I didn't want to grasp it and learn, I wanted to just pursue it as fast as I could, which also meant that I wanted to go around it how do I get out of this and go around it? And it wasn't until later that I realized you've got to go through these steps so that you can be stronger in pulling your legs up and taking each step and moving through and wading through it. So that's one that I can say. That was such a painful but a great experience for me as being a product of the experience environment that shifted my environment and gave me more experience to look at things differently.

Marcie Walker:

Beautiful answer Okay.

Diaz Dixon:

Very beautiful answer.

Marcie Walker:

So you've helped so many people in our community by being working like what you said step two and the Eddie House and the Nevada Humane Society and all of the things. So what would you say? How you help people the most?

Diaz Dixon:

No, I think how I help people probably the most Well, one in all of those organizations I always make sure I had smarter people around. So the great success that those organizations had was never because of me, it was really because of me. So I understood that it's mission first and I just helped provide the vision and the guidance and directing with it. But it was critical that there was more than just my perspective, my solutions of what I thought would be most impactful. So what that takes is that takes the ability to be able to listen, and a lot of people don't understand that listening and silent have all the same letters and sometimes you have to push that ego to the side and be able to just really listen.

Diaz Dixon:

And I think that I really help people the most when I listen. Because instead of me gearing up what I think the answer should be or what the solution is going to be, because oftentimes someone says, oh, I got a problem with this flat tire and before you can even finish, I'm going well, all you need to do is get there, all you got to do is drag down the big O and you just get there, get it passed up in air and they're not even talking about that. The problem is the whole thing is slow, but I didn't stop and listen. So I think when I'm thinking about how I help people most is when I realize that people have a problem. I don't jump quickly through what I think the solution might be. I truly listen to the problem and try to understand it from their perspective, like, how are they doing and how does this problem because Dias is going to come up with his own solution and then when I understand what they're saying, then I can collaboratively walk with them through it.

Diaz Dixon:

What is the potential solution? And the biggest feature is, if they come up with it or we come up with it together, then they get to own it and so when they have the impact at the very end and the solution at the very end, it's something that they own. And we want people to have answers so that when they come back to this situation again because they're going to come back to something very similar we want them to be strong enough to know that they can solve it. You know it's about sustainability. It's not about being dependent, and oftentimes we build systems that are to be dependent rather than be sustainable.

Marcie Walker:

I think that's a great segue to conscious leadership. How would you define conscious leadership?

Diaz Dixon:

Oh boy, I think conscious leadership is well. First and foremost, you have to be able to kick your own time and understand your own implicit biases. We all have, and those are causing us to think or react in a certain way, without even understanding how we do it, unconsciously. So when we look at those unconscious biases and those preconceived notions that we have about people or certain things or concepts, we realize they drive us in a certain way. And in order to be an effective leader, no one ever asks a great leader to only lead a small group of people. Those people who are leading just a small group of people, or they're only looking to capture a small group of people, or maybe just enough for them to win a boat, those are two leaders, those are cult leaders.

Diaz Dixon:

And so I think that you got to kick your own tires. First and foremost, acknowledge where your strengths are and where your areas of concern, and consciously working on those areas of concern regularly and asking for feedback as you work your way through. And then the people and the team that you're working with. You're looking at them as individuals. How do you build leaders? And there's a couple of things to that I think you have to show up, pay attention, to be honest and don't be afraid of the outcome, because being afraid of the outcome means we're trying to control the whole thing and we don't want anything ever to go bad or we don't want anyone ever to fail. Some people have to be able to fail. You've got to give people room to fail and know that this is a.

Diaz Dixon:

You're going to fail. Hey, I'm going to fail too, but when we fail, we're going to fail forward.

Marcie Walker:

Beautiful. You perfectly describe conscious leadership for someone that's starting their leadership journey and they are really struggling. And we're sitting here talking about herbis and finding our purpose and finding our why. What advice would you have for that growing leader that needs to really tune into their why?

Diaz Dixon:

Well, I think that if you are looking to tune into your one, you've got to ask yourself, first and foremost, what are the things that give me technical fulfillment, what are the things that bring me joy and not just make me happy, but what's something that brings me joy? What are the things that do the exact opposite of that? So there are certain things that I just can't stand and they don't make me feel good. That will help us give you the guideline to your continuum, because they always say, if you're doing what you love, it's not really work. But the first place is being able to identify what is fulfilling me and it really is, creating a positive feedback loop that sustains your dedication, because then it's just firing you up and you're coming back to it and firing you up again and firing you up again. Now you're going to sputter from time to time and then, on top of that, I think the next step is like how do you build? Start connection, because your passion and purpose can help you connect with other like-minded individuals or organizations that help foster collaboration and partnerships that have a greater impact on what you love and what you love. And but you've got to be balanced, because you've got to be very careful not to just get in with a bunch of people that you fall into this group thing. But you can learn so much from those people, there's so much to bounce off of them that comes back and will reflect in your very soul.

Diaz Dixon:

And I always say that when you're part of a group and you're all moving in a certain direction but you've got diversity of thought, that's a movement, that's great. If you're with a part of a group and you're all thinking the exact same and moving in the same direction at the cult and a lot of times people in a cult they don't even realize it. And then I think the last piece of advice I would give them or another piece, I won't call it the last piece is take close attention to burn. We've got the end of the stuff so constantly we burn out really fast. You see people burn out so fast. They went in so fast. They had all these great expectations. But if you're paying close attention to it, it helps you balance your emotional investment with your own self-care and support that you need Learning how to ask about things.

Marcie Walker:

How do you? I love it, keep going. So how do you support your self-care and avoid burn out?

Diaz Dixon:

Oh, wow. So I've got a couple of different ways. You know I love my doctor, so no matter what, when I come home they're always, they always love to see me. So that's one thing that I know that is consistent feels really good. Animals are really good for your mental health. The next thing there, I think, the well-being. That's one thing.

Diaz Dixon:

I make sure that I'm engaged in activities. So whether you know, for a long time I was playing basketball, but if I make sure that I get out and I do things that take my mind off of the daily grind, so if I get out and golf, and even if I'm not having a really good golf grind, I'm not thinking about all those other things that I have to do, because it's just what's sitting in front of me, like why am I struggling to hit this little white ball straight when it's really cold? But you know, working my way through that gives me a recess. So what are the things that give me a recess? Kind of time I'll poop, I'm going to do things. Behind me there's my eagle and my face there and a moose up there. Those are things that can again step my brain down and then I also would give me peace, as if I can inspire others.

Diaz Dixon:

My thought is if I can inspire people with something that's positive, it's going to create a ripple effect that's positive to me, hopefully, in my community. Things that are around me, those things are good and, you know, food's good too. So if I'm struggling and food there are a lot of times oftentimes I'm thinking from going to a certain place that may be a favorite restaurant or finding a hole in the wall restaurant, some mom pa, please, it's good.

Marcie Walker:

So what I heard that seemed to be a consistent name through some of those is presence. Is you taking your mind off? Is being embodied and present in the current moment?

Diaz Dixon:

Oh, being present in the current moment is so important because we live in a world of despair. You know we're constantly buzzing over our phones or the television, quick access to the remote and telling them what's going on in the world, like there's all kinds of stuff, all types of distractions that are thrown in, and I think technology has been a blessing and a place in so many ways, but it's stopped and it's really hurt the way we communicate. So I think it's important when you're talking about, you know, you bring up being present. I like that you're saying this, because being present really helps to clarify what we're doing in that particular moment. It helps us make better decisions, it helps us stay more focused and at the same time, it helps us understand what really, really matters to us. And if we're understanding what matters to us, that's when we're again we're understanding what's understanding. It's the meaning, we understand our motivation and drive and then we have a greater clarity in making decisions, because that you know our why tends to be our guiding principle in our decision.

Marcie Walker:

Absolutely, you've got to check it with your values and then it's out of alignment and, as someone that was working out of alignment with their values for a really long time, I just didn't have that in my awareness until I had a health crisis.

Diaz Dixon:

Oh yeah, Like that would have to be really tough. That's like a kind of a wake-up call, right.

Marcie Walker:

It's kind of scary.

Diaz Dixon:

I would imagine.

Marcie Walker:

It was not awesome, I'm not going to lie but it was that I had ignored all the simple signals for so long that it was finally like my body is like OK, you need to wake up right now.

Diaz Dixon:

Yeah. So, figuring out and really hearing it.

Marcie Walker:

You know honestly is when I cut the high-stress career that I had. My symptoms all went away within three weeks and I think that's the power of stress and says something about human resilience.

Diaz Dixon:

Yeah, strictly the big one, and you know, remove that and then allow your body to naturally do what it wants to do. But that's just huge.

Marcie Walker:

Yes, it is. So, as someone who had some time to prep and meet with you in anticipation of this podcast, your phone was buzzing quite a bit. How do you manage stress and distractions with a constantly buzzing phone?

Diaz Dixon:

Yes and yes. So you know I read. What I've learned is I have to go into my calendar and I have to schedule some meetings and what I do, because if I don't I'll fill it and I'll fill it with all those emails or all the texts, calls, that have come in through, and so the best way particularly when I started doing individual consulting, I didn't have that direct wire and organization that was attached to the mission when I was working. So then I began to take on this various project, which also made me more likely to take squirrels, and it started driving me crazy. I started kind of losing it for a little bit, going.

Diaz Dixon:

I can't figure this out. This is even more successful. And then someone gave me a tip that you really schedule some time and you let it be your time and don't fill it. No matter what, don't fill it. So if you've got to get another meeting in, you have to find another place to put it and then you fill that time with what you want to do, and if you choose to do some success at work, that's great because you'll feel better about it, but it will decrease the stress.

Marcie Walker:

That was huge for me and really kind of expressed for me being able to have that time You've managed and been the director of so many different businesses, how did you know when it was time to take the big leap into entrepreneurship and running your own small business?

Diaz Dixon:

Well, you know, I was really a question because I was dabbled in consulting for a while, even when I was at step two for a little bit. I did it when I worked at the university as an athletic director, but I guess most recently I was when I left Eddie house. I was really to run the National Foundation for Common Spirit Health, and so when I went into Common Spirit Health as a assistant vice president, it was a wonderful opportunity, surrounded by great people with an incredible class. But I also know that I was working remotely. I was the only one in rena, everything was done, so basically zoom, because it was in the heart of COVID, and so one thing that I really learned about myself is that I need to be around people, and we really need to be around people who are constant, sometimes maybe just need a little extra support.

Diaz Dixon:

So it was a huge leap to believe that's a pure position, and I have been just saying I'm going to do this full time, because when I left there were a couple of nonprofits that reached out asking if I was interested in coming to work outside of this leadership. But I made up my mind before I left. I said I'm going to give this a shot and let's hope that I can keep food on the table, and it's been a little over a year and a half. No, I'd say a couple of months over the years. It's been about 14 months and I haven't looked back and it's been absolutely amazing and there's a lot of challenges with it. But what has helped me do was re-perfit a lot of the wines that I've had in the past and put them in a position that, my experience, gives benefit to those in the organization.

Marcie Walker:

You set this question up, so what is your why?

Diaz Dixon:

Well, you know, my wife has shifted every decade and I used to be a firm believer in your why, is your why and it's what you're born with, and you just look behind it and find it. You're ready to go. But what I've learned is looking back. My wife has shifted and it's been different probably with every decade, and there was a time where I had little kids and they were my wife. When my daughter was born, the first time I realized that life wasn't about me, and it also was the first time I realized that I was a servant and so it was a great role in taking that on. And then things just because the kids get older and that changes. So I would say, now the kids are gone and most of the things that I'm doing, my why is figuring out how to create conversations between people that lead with love. That's where I'm feeling right now.

Marcie Walker:

And how do you do that?

Diaz Dixon:

Well, a lot of other things that I was talking about right now. So, and it's it's, it's prepared, being prepared to be uncomfortable and telling people that they should be uncomfortable. And it's okay to be uncomfortable I feel okay to even make it but people need to be. You don't go to the gym and just look at all the machines and then walk out and go. That was great. We wish there was that. You got to go in and you got to be uncomfortable. You got to care muscle, you got to be sore and then you got to go down. You got to do it with personality and then you got to keep going. And that's the same thing with people in conversations. That's the same thing with problem solving. We got to look at what the struggles were having for us and we're not going to just have a quick fix, Not a matter of just looking something up on, Googling it and then having the solution and then walking away. It's how do we go? How do we get uncomfortable?

Jpaddy:

with it.

Diaz Dixon:

So we can work our way through it, and so and it happens like it happens to me all the time where I'm uncomfortable in particular moments and I'm trying to really make the right decision as I work my way through. But it's a process, Nothing quick.

Marcie Walker:

And your hell yes. When you feel that in your body, what does that feel like? When you know you're making the right decision.

Diaz Dixon:

Of a nine, of a nine. So and I'm a scared, I'm scared I'm not personally scared of it, but when you make that decision about nine and you're scared, you're kind of and being fearful of being up to earth.

Marcie Walker:

My felt sense hell yes is I feel like in the center of my body from my spinal cord. It feels like my spine lights up and everything in my body just feels like it's really big expansion and it's yeah, that's, I think, the best way I can actually know.

Diaz Dixon:

Being in a kind of way, yeah, I guess.

Marcie Walker:

so it's just what I've always known and I know that my hell no. Or when I don't make the, or, you know, like when I shouldn't over commit myself, it's when it didn't know. It feels like a constriction and a shrinking. So I had to, really going back to where I was talking about working outside of my values. I had to really be paid attention and be present and start to feel those feelings in my body.

Diaz Dixon:

And that's great awareness.

Marcie Walker:

Thank you. Emotional intelligence and I know that you do a lot of training at corporate trainings and education around diversity and equity and inclusion and belonging, so tie all that together for me.

Diaz Dixon:

So you know I like to really talk about I do, or talking about DVR. I always make sure that the belonging piece is done, because most of the time, people are doing whatever they can to fit in. Fitting in is not belonging. Fitting in is actually the opposite. You know you're in that, being your true, authentic self. So what we need to realize is that we're all a part of diversity, inclusion and belonging. We all come from different backgrounds and it's important for us when we're looking at this and trying to understand one another.

Diaz Dixon:

Emotional intelligence really is the ability to understand, manage and use our own emotions to help us navigate through social interactions. Sometimes those emotions that we're all frightened up or angry about are coming from outside stimuli that we're receiving. Someone told us this, so we saw this on the news and that does not. That's the opposite of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence helps us navigate those social interactions, building relationships, making sound decisions, and really it encompasses knowing who you are.

Diaz Dixon:

Who am I? Let's kick around, tyler. Emotional intelligence also is how to self-regulate, managing and controlling those emotions and those urges that pop up, also being motivated, and the biggest thing that we're missing these days is empathy the capacity to understand that the feelings and perspectives of other people, and that involves, back to the listening piece, observing nonverbal cues and being very sensitive to the emotional needs of people that are around you. But there are so many different things that emotional intelligence ties in to really understanding other people, other cultures, other backgrounds, other genders, other sexual orientations that are different than ourselves, and not being threatened by it Because when you're threatened oh no, go ahead.

Diaz Dixon:

When you're threatened that's fear, that's that false evidence appearing real and that will stop you from having improved relationships or effective leadership or enhanced decision making, and that's only going to increase more theft. And when you have more theft, you will never be good with conflict resolution. You will never be good with the conflict resolution inside your own.

Marcie Walker:

You're talking a lot about regulating nervous systems or nervous system regulation throughout, a collective right. And having that emotional intelligence to know and be self-aware enough to self-regulate and then regulate in social regulation One hundred percent.

Diaz Dixon:

I mean, you have to nail on it and it's all linked. But when do we stop thinking about it? When do we stop thinking about it? When do we stop thinking about it when we would ever talk to the attention to it? We more than likely haven't been, because it was maybe a little uncomfortable or it was too risky or risky. So we've got to be better. We have to pay close attention to how emotional intelligence plays a significant role in personal and professional success.

Marcie Walker:

Do you think that there's a parallel between lack of emotional intelligence and baby boomers?

Diaz Dixon:

That's a lovely question.

Marcie Walker:

Well, with five generations in the workforce right, baby boomers, from my experience, have learned from the generation before them and they weren't touchy-feely.

Diaz Dixon:

No, they weren't. So I'm trying to do this without making any generalizations. I do believe, because we're a product of our experiences in our environment, that they were in an environment that didn't give them any experiences to be able to express themselves with it. So many of them, maybe, unless they were really evolved, many of them could fall into that category.

Marcie Walker:

I'll just put it that way yes, that was very politically correct of you and I appreciate that.

Diaz Dixon:

I want to open up my door and have 17 baby boomers after. What are you saying?

Marcie Walker:

Typically, all of my guests have come in and have shared their story and it's been one of pain to purpose.

Diaz Dixon:

Pain to purpose. Well, I did a TED talk years ago. I talked a little bit about my point of view in the project as a kid. Due to an unfortunate incident, my best friend, and I were in kindergarten together.

Diaz Dixon:

We were up burning in an abandoned car and the car had just ran home and his dad came home and killed him. I still didn't stay and see the open test. It took a number of years. I said we need to move, we need to do something different. It took them three years to move. So when they moved we ended up moving to what was called the white family.

Diaz Dixon:

I go from living in a school that was only white kids to elementary school. The lesson that came out of that was the recognition of the different worlds I was living in, the ability to learn how to navigate between those ones and be able to do so effectively. What it taught me was the difference between fitting in and belonging. It doesn't matter how hard I tried to fit in on certain things. I didn't know it was going to be long. It taught me a much bigger picture that we can all belong if we lead with it. We use values as a bridge. It doesn't have to be the appearance of your skin, it doesn't have to be your gender. It is finding core values that bridge it and allow us to open doors and then open the doors of acceptance. That is where my purpose is.

Marcie Walker:

Thank you for your vulnerability and sharing that story.

Diaz Dixon:

Thank you for allowing me to share it.

Marcie Walker:

Yeah, that's a big story.

Diaz Dixon:

Yeah, it's a big story, yeah.

Marcie Walker:

With you are the CEO of performance driven consulting. We've touched on many of the areas and the magic that you create and how you share your menacing. How else is performance driven? How else do they show up for the community?

Diaz Dixon:

Well, there's a lot of stuff that I do. I remember football in O'Connor. So, in terms of, really, it's about meeting an organization where they're in or the leader of them. I do this in the office. I do this in the office.

Diaz Dixon:

But how performance driven consulting really benefits organizations in our community is by looking at the problem or the TSI, recognizing the different types of solutions and then asking the question of where the impact is going to be. And oftentimes I will ask them what is the impact they want to have first, before looking at the problem, because we oftentimes look at the problem and they're not just talking. It's huge, but teaching people to look at where are you trying to go, what are you trying to get, what are you trying to accomplish, all within your mission and your vision, if they're even real, then we work our way back. And even if these solutions aren't something that you can put in place right now, what would they be if I was your fairy godmother? What would be your ugly godmother? They had a wand. What would that end up looking like? And then people can start seeing it that way. So performance driven consulting helps people look at things by the way that they've been looking at the problem and we're really pushing hard on developing that emotional intelligence with the organization.

Marcie Walker:

So I could definitely see why you've been hired for a director and the role that you've taken as a visionary because that's the impact is the vision that you're talking about.

Diaz Dixon:

Thank you, that's a compliment, what?

Marcie Walker:

is a compliment.

Diaz Dixon:

Yeah, thank you. You know it's fun and it is a lot of fun and it's fun to see things actually work and it bolsters my own self-confidence because there are times you go into it and you go. You know, impart the syndrome is a real thing and you know, even when I took the job at Eddie, my question to myself was can I do this again? Can I really take an organization and be a part of this transformation, or was it a fluke? And so, in diving in, it was a lot of fun, it was a lot of work, it was super successful, great, I love what they are now, but doing the consulting allows me to do the same thing without necessarily having some of the headaches that come along with being responsible for the whole organization and a bunch of people when they start.

Marcie Walker:

When did you know what your purpose was?

Diaz Dixon:

I know it's moving and I know that in the moment I'm going to stay in the bubble of it and then when I start slipping and I'll start that bubble again. But I do know my greater purpose is to make this place a better place than I came into it Beautiful.

Marcie Walker:

So you use your visionary skills with your guard rails of values and course correcting as you're driving down the freeway of life, try not to shred those tires.

Diaz Dixon:

Exactly Trying not to go into cruise control and trying not to go bumping into the guard rail, but I still bump into them.

Marcie Walker:

Well, that's human nature, right, and I think it just is a matter of not getting stuck by bumping into the guard rails or allowing yourself, grace to make mistakes.

Diaz Dixon:

Yes, how are you going to fail First attempt in learning?

Marcie Walker:

So you've met my son and he and I were having a conversation the other day because he's 25 and he's searching for purpose in his life, and he was talking about how he felt, or he was curious about whether, if you have decide what your purpose is in life, do you have to monetize that. If you were having a conversation with my son right now, what would your advice be?

Diaz Dixon:

Say no. I don't think, as an organization or a person, you should have a taste of it, because if you taste in dollars, you're doing things for the wrong reason. That is going to shift Now. If you make up your mind that you don't want to, you're not looking for purpose, you're not looking for passion, that you just want to go get rich and whatever that might be, and that's a mindset of kind of people and supports for them. But I think if you're someone who really gets to the point where you're looking for your purpose, you still got to make sure that you're taking care of yourself.

Diaz Dixon:

It doesn't mean that you are going to neglect everything and go do everything for free and not have a check come in because you don't want to be living out in the street. You don't take care of yourself. You can't take care of others. When the plane's going down, the mask comes on. You got to put the mask when they drop down on you before you put it on everyone else around you. So you still have to take care of yourself. You got to find that balance. But your end goal is not to say, well, I absolutely love fly fishing, otherwise it's one million. You'll be out of things, trying to match those things.

Marcie Walker:

Yes, if this episode was a red sweater and you were going to pull a red string from that sweater to tie everything all together, what would you say?

Diaz Dixon:

If I was going to pull, if I was going to pull.

Marcie Walker:

This conversation. We've had so many pieces, and so I'm asking you to tie it all together. We've talked about emotional intelligence. We've talked about human resilience.

Diaz Dixon:

We've talked about oh Drop some what I was doing, dionistics and wisdom on us.

Diaz Dixon:

What I was first to do with my university Nevada blue sweater is the first thing that I would pull on. It would be picking your own tires to see where you sit in different categories. What is it? How are you with your relationship with yourself? How are you in your relationship with others? What are the things that stress you out and what are the things that fill you with your, and out of that, an understanding of your own adaptability, in your own communication skills, conflict resolution skills. All of those things will inevitably come out, but the biggest piece that comes out is yourself, a win.

Marcie Walker:

Beautiful. I know you have a big project that's going to be happening next month and this episode will air right before that big project. Would you like to talk about it?

Diaz Dixon:

Yes, I would love to talk about Hammering Nails. So I am opening up a barbershop along with a really good friend of mine. It is called Hammering Nails and it is in the South End of Reno, and there's another one that will be opening up three to four months behind us in Northwest. But Hammering Nails is a luxury grooming shop for men, although women can go as well. There's no colors, but it's for a shave, a haircut, a manicure, a pedicure, facials. It's really an environment that allows people to receive a little bit of mental health and a shave almost in a spa kind of way. It's membership based. People can just walk in as well, but membership if you have a membership, it's actually cheaper. It's $80 a month for two treatments and it's going to be a lot of fun. And the big part is why can people come in and take part in something that gives them that little peace? And then they come out. You look good, you feel good.

Marcie Walker:

How did you make the leap from helping people find their purpose to luxury grooming?

Diaz Dixon:

Well, a good friend of mine who is also a top of that and one of those guys who is still there. I always feel at peace when I'm with him. We've always had a fun and it's something. He's been in this type of business for a long, long time and he just said come join me. And I said I will, because I knew it was going to be an opportunity to learn, and my life motto is every individual has an opportunity to learn, change and grow, and if you're not learning, changing and growing on a daily basis, you're not doing it. So I got a lot of learning to do.

Marcie Walker:

I love that for you, thank you, I'm enjoying it. How can my audience find you?

Diaz Dixon:

You can find me at. You know I've got my formative consulting business at cdcrinonet. It's my website. You can also find me looking up on the Nail Reno. You can find me there. I'm always ready to engage in conversation, but for this last 45, 50 minutes.

Marcie Walker:

Well, I love that, you love talking and I just I appreciate you taking your time. There's Ace, acting a fool in the background.

Diaz Dixon:

He's allowed to protect in the house.

Marcie Walker:

He's protecting me against Amazon right now?

Diaz Dixon:

Oh that's good Doing his job.

Marcie Walker:

Yeah, so that means he is doing.

Diaz Dixon:

You're going to have to come on like that. People kept him. Oh, I love that, you and your.

Marcie Walker:

Mmm, my emotional support animals For myself and my clients. Actually I was, I was designing something in Canva and it was kind of like a service menu and then, in the format or the template of in Canva, said our team, and I was really toying with the idea of whether or not I should put part of the content and put pictures of the dogs and introducing them, and I think I'm leaning towards that.

Diaz Dixon:

I think that's really cool.

Marcie Walker:

It's silly, but I mean. Everybody that comes to a session loves the emotional support animals, so I feel like it fits Well. Thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule. I we've had this schedule for months and I just, I just really appreciate you and I'm so inspired by how you show up in life and in our community. So thank you for doing all the things that you do.

Diaz Dixon:

Well, thank you for having me and thank you for all that you do Hearing and community, and what you're doing and that's wonderful. Give it to us Look at healing and many non-clipping. Thank you.

Marcie Walker:

Until next time. Thank you everyone for tuning in.