I was at a meeting of my chapter of the National Speakers Association, watching a presentation by a new member who is board certified hypnotist. My mind wandered for a minute, remembering how my friends and I used to pretend to hypnotize each other when we were kids. It never worked! But somehow, we knew, even then, that the mind is powerful and full of untapped resources.

I’m listening to the speaker’s statistics, I’m impressed by the examples she shares, but then she comes to a slide that really hits me. It’s a photo of a shirt-less man, taken from the back, showing off his muscles. Her point was–do you muscle your way from one project to another, or do you tap into your subconscious and make decisions from a deeper, more intuitive place? I knew instantly that I was and am the muscle type. In fact I have a name for it–I call it my bulldozer. I get an idea and I charge ahead, no matter what the obstacles are, or how exhausted I become. In other words, I ignore myself.

As a speaker who works extensively to help groups stop burnout, I didn’t miss the irony of this revelation. Since I believe that small steps can lead to big changes, today, my therapy dog and I are having lunch with friends on a dock with incredible water views, and then we’re going to the rehab facility where we volunteer every Wednesday. We’re now into our fourth year there and love seeing the comfort and joy that our dogs bring to the residents.

My bulldozer is waiting for me, it likes the crash and burn excitement of charging ahead, but today, I’m not getting on it. I’m having an anti-burnout, slower day, and am thankful for this unexpected gift from a hypnotist.