Episode 66: Finding the American Ninja Warrior in You | Jennifer Burdis | Athlete, Teacher & Author
Jennifer Burdis is a two-season American Ninja Warrior, former Penn State volleyball player, teacher, trainer, speaker, and author of The Edju-Ninja Mindset. At just 5’1”, she’s built a career proving that obstacles can be the very things that define your path. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Jennifer overcame dyslexia, pursued a collegiate athletic career, and later competed on Season 6 and Season 7 of American Ninja Warrior. She shares how her athlete mindset shapes her work today, from teaching health and wellness to students and educators, to training clients ranging from NFL coaches to a 96-year-old grandma named Wanda. Her story is a powerful reminder that when you see challenges as opportunities, you can achieve more than you imagined.
“Seeing the obstacles as opportunities is everything. It creates your heart and your mindset.”
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Minersville
Penn State
American Ninja Warrior
Coach Rose
Bucks County
Philadelphia
Allentown
Nebraska
California
Lizzo
Alps
Mont Blanc
Paragliding
REI hiking excursions
Italy
Switzerland
France
Tim Grover
Relentless
The Color of the Wind
Thrive Collective
Anxiety
Santa Barbara
LosAngeles
FIDM
Excel
Alder
Vaginal Discharge
Ovulation
Gynecologist
Texas
Colorado
Disney
Ragnar -
Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Meet Jennifer Burdis
03:10 Growing Up in Rural Pennsylvania
07:25 Overcoming Dyslexia and Finding Confidence
11:27 The Dichotomy of Mindset and Heart
15:40 Playing Volleyball at Penn State
19:15 Competing on American Ninja Warrior Seasons 6 & 7
23:30 Transition from Athlete to Educator and Trainer
28:50 Teaching Health and Wellness for Students and Teachers
33:40 Working with NFL Coaches, Pro Athletes, and Wanda at 96
38:15 Authoring The Edju-Ninja Mindset
42:50 Lessons from Travel and Adventure
47:20 Advice for Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
I was on season six and season seven, and it was a phenomenal opportunity, not just for me, of course, it was for the students in my class. For them to be able to say, wow, my teacher, she's an American Ninja warrior, this is what she taught me and this is what we're learning. And so that engagement in the classroom during those years, it was phenomenal.
That's Jennifer Burdis and this is The Powerful Ladies podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast where I invite my favorite humans, the awesome, the up to something, and the extraordinary to come and share their story. I hope that you'll be left, entertained, inspired, and moved to take action towards living your most powerful life.
How do you have dyslexia and become both a teacher and an author? How can you be five foot one and become not only a Penn State volleyball player, but also an American Ninja Warrior? On this episode, you're going to find out we are honored to have the amazing Jennifer Burdis. On today's podcast, we talk about how her obstacles created her destiny, her journey from Coal Country, Pennsylvania, to being a teacher, trainer, speaker, author, and two seasoned American Ninja warrior here in California.
We also talk about how you too can find your path. By using the things that first appear to have been roadblocks and seeing them instead as turn signals, all that and so much more coming up. But first, if you're interested in discovering what possibilities and businesses are available for you to create and to live your most fulfilling life, please visit the powerful ladies.com/coaching and sign up for a free coaching consultation with me.
There is no reason to wait another day to not be living your best life when you instead could be running at full speed towards your wildest dreams today.
Thank you so much for being a yes to the Powerful Ladies Podcast. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for the opportunity to be on here today. Of course you came with rave review, so I cannot wait to share your story with our audience today. Let's begin by introducing yourself and telling us who you are and what you're up to.
Sure. My name is Jennifer Burdis and I've been an elementary school teacher the last 20 years. So I've taught everything from second grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade. And my focus and passion has been to install or instill the values of health and wellness for not only the students, but also the teachers.
So personal wellness for the teachers so they can be at their best to serve the students and also the administrators to be able to install that amongst the families as well. So that's what I'm doing today. This year I took a leave of absence out of the classroom, and this year I've been extending my network of people I've been working with from elementary.
School students to professional athletes. So right now I'm coaching or training an NFL coach a pro football player, everything to a 96-year-old woman. So my range of clients, both in home and in person throughout this year has been extensive. And I'm also an author it's nice to being able to get my book out there, the Edge and Ninja Mindset, 11 Habits for Building a Stronger Mind and Body.
And so I love doing these podcasts. I started my own podcasts so everything, I've got it all this year from author to trainer to a virtual trainer to speaker and podcaster. So that's it. As fast as I can say it for you today. It's a lot, right? Like you've got a lot going on. Yes. Yeah, I'll definitely have to work on that succinct introduction, to make it sound smooth and fast.
It sounds powerful already. Thank you. Where did your passion for, this ninja mindset come from?
Yeah, I really think it came from the coal region where I grew up. So I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. My mom and dad grew up in this town called Miners Bill, and it was where the anthracite coal region is, and a lot of coal mining was there when they were kids growing up.
And then, so they moved about a half hour away. And I still have that mindset of a coal miner, I think. Where you work hard from sun up to sun down trying to reach your goals. And I really think that's where the mindset piece. First started was growing up in that town and seeing how hard people worked every single day, and then moving on to playing at Penn State University for the volleyball team.
It just continued. The work ethic there that Coach Rose put in place for his volleyball players, his student athletes, not just on the court, but in the classroom, took it to a whole nother level to establish a foundation for my life that I'm forever grateful for him and my teammates and coaches there.
Yeah. I'm a fellow NCAA college athlete. I played field hockey and I can't imagine going through life without sports and the foundation that it laid, it's strange to me even today that I am not training like hours a day. Sure. But it's like you realize how many hours really are in a day, how much you can do and how you can make it all happen at once if you want to.
Like my, I remember my best grades were when I had overlapping sports and things were crazy. 'cause all you can do is focus and just do what you have to do right now. Sure. There's no opportunity to look like past or present
most of the time. I agree, and that's what I've been telling. I just led a webinar for Penn State this past week for the students and the faculty, and that's exactly what I talked about, was this idea of the pandemic and what a great opportunity for all of us to just singularly focus on the things that we want to be able to help others.
And I think of it as an opportunity to be able to get fitter to help others to excel and really grow from an opportunity like this. I
totally agree. Totally agree. In addition to powerful ladies, I'm a business coach and consultant, and we've done a lot of conversations since the pandemic about, first I launched with the four Ps of, to pause, prioritize, prune, and then pivot.
And there really are. So many opportunities for people. And I believe that if you find what your love language is to share with people and then you learn how to monetize that's where the good stuff is. 'cause then you're just sharing from the heart all the time. Like you can't stop it. It's not work. Yeah,
exactly. And it's opportunities like this where we get to share what we're passionate about, right? Yeah. That's what we all aspire to be able to do.
Yeah. And I am excited 'cause I see so many positives for humanity coming out of this in regards to seeing that the the things that move you into the riskier pool with COVID-19, many of them are things that are lifestyle based choices that are preventable.
And I hope this is a wake up call for everyone that hasn't been paying attention or putting their health in the back burner that like, we can't do that anymore. We just can't. Yeah.
In all areas of our life, right? We have to be able, it's a great time to be able to develop these tools, and then when we start going back to maybe a more traditional lifestyle that we're able to incorporate some of the things we've learned during this time, everything from technology to health, to the connections we're building.
I, I think it's a great opportunity. So thank you. And thank you for having me on the podcast to be able to be introduced to your community that you're building. I think it's phenomenal work, so thank you.
Yeah, of course. When you were, coming up as an athlete and playing volleyball, when did you realize that ninja was your word?
Oh
that's a wonderful question. Looking back first, I think it's the fact that I grew up playing a lot of different sports. Today we see a lot of student athletes specializing at such a young age. But I really think to be a ninja, you have to be really diverse in your sports training, your mental training.
So I think that's really the foundation is again, going back to Pennsylvania where I was running through the woods and climbing trees and playing touch football in the neighborhood and on the baseball team playing volleyball, basketball, and track and high school. And then once I got done committing that, that focus time to volleyball throughout my college years, then I got to do it all over again.
I got to say, okay, I spent a lot of time playing volleyball. Now I get to play again in some different areas. And that's when a friend from Pennsylvania, had suggested the TV show and another teammate up at Pence. Date. And so I didn't have any ninja training. But it's one of those things where you just, you jump in and you go for it.
And then you see, wow I do have some ninja training, if I look back and on the skills I developed as a kid, and then start putting myself in situations to learn new skills like rock climbing, parkour, some more things that I had never been introduced to before. It's possible.
Anything is possible. And so that's where the word ninja came from, this volleyball background to what it is today. And I think it's so interesting that you've brought education into it. Like I hear in a lot of your share how you are always learning and figuring it out and even pivoting yourself.
Where did that come from an origin perspective? Were you always curious, were you always wanting to share what you had learned? I think
growing up again, my schooling situation wa was not like most students. I grew up with undiagnosed dyslexia and I consider it very severe to a point where today if I'm to type in a password, I get it right about half of the time.
Anytime I send out a tweet or do anything that involves numbers or words, I have to look over it probably five times more than the average person, right? So I think growing up in school, reading at about a second grade, reading level up through grade school, getting overlooked, filling out worksheets into high school into college, not being able to read.
Those books and not having audio books at that time or technology. I think being able to overcome those obstacles has really helped me in the classroom. Scaffold learning for those types of students. And also outside the classroom when I see people starting to work out for the first time, I also am able to use those scaffolding tools to be able to educate them, help them help their confidence, because when you can't do skills when they're way above and beyond you, your self-confidence, it just goes down. So it's nice to be able to have those people to support you, guide you, guide throughout the process who have been down a road and can connect to be able to help to lift you up throughout the way.
So really working out for me is more about the other people and being able to lift them up. And so situations like this is what makes me happy when I see my three o'clock Zoom workout. And I get to connect with them and see their smiles and say, Hey, this is how much better I got over four weeks. I can't wait for the next month.
That's what drives me. That's what motivates me. Yeah. I we're, I think we're cut from the same cloth and that perspective of just loving seeing other people. Like progress and get to that place of confidence. 'cause I think so often there's a miscon construed idea of how you gain confidence and how people just have it or they don't.
And I don't think that people realize that you can't have, you can't get confidence and so you've. Gone through that hero's journey, gone through the hurdle. Sure. Like it has to be scary and hard before the confidence shows up. And we get so timid sometimes, especially as adults, to try new things or to stretch in different places.
And to me that's that's the most fun I
agree. I absolutely agree. And so when, a lot of times when I go out and speak to people I show the dichotomy of where I was and where I am. So at five foot one, you wouldn't think of me as a volleyball player. Yeah. So I go through that story of the dichotomy of being five one and fighting for a starting position on the volleyball team throughout my time at Penn State. Then you see me as, again, five foot, one female trying to crush a ninja warrior course. Yeah. At, I was like 40 something years old trying to crush that.
So you see these dichotomies of someone who is dyslexic or has dyslexia and writes a book or is an introvert and gets up and speaks. Sometimes they don't see the trials and tribulations or the mishaps that go along the way. Sometimes they just see that end results. I love that you brought that up about going through that hero's journey to be able to continually fail and take that as an opportunity to build and grow and do it all over again.
Yeah. So what, what did make you say yes to being 40 and American as a warrior like you? I'm sure your life was already so busy and it's so much going on. Like, where did you find the time and how did that happen? Oh, that's a great question too. I started training of course before school because school starts, you have to be there at least by seven 30 and your school day doesn't end at three no matter what people say.
And students need you during their lunch periods. So it is something that I started incorporating into my school day, which authentically led to having the students join me on my journey. So it was really fun to be able to come into the classroom and say. Hey guys, I woke up at four 30 today and I already got a, good hour and a half workout in before school and let's start doing brain breaks in the classroom where we have a stability ball we sit on instead of the regular chairs in our classroom.
And every this transition between math and science, we do, 10 bicep curls with the stability ball or we go down. And so I was teaching them lifelong skills of being able to take those brain breaks to be able to release endorphins and help with their focus. And I noticed in the classroom it really helped with.
And classroom management skills, lifelong skills as an individual that they can take on and use forever. And then I started lunch club clubs at my school for the teachers and the students. So then I was working out at lunch too, because I'd have a student lunch club where we would do some yoga, stretching, some body weight movements.
And then also for the teachers, we wouldn't get too sweaty 'cause we didn't have a shower nearby, but just enough where we would do a solid half hour of core exercises. And then I also led a 30 day challenge the last five years for teachers nationally. And so for that challenge, I make workout videos, 30 days of the challenge and post them on social media.
And it's grown each and every year to be able to get principals and superintendents and people, families and students to be able to join this movement and maybe start seeing exercise as a lifestyle. So it's been a great opportunity to be able to do those types of things.
No, I think it's so fantastic.
'cause there, there is often this barrier between I can either do my to-do list or I can work out. And when people see that you can actually blend them together and to be part of a team. I'm obsessed with 38 challenges, like I always get hooked. I'm like, yes. Like, how can I do them all at once?
But I love that you're extending it out to that educational group because as you mentioned, the endorphins and all the positive internal mechanisms that happen mentally from working out, having a fitness routine. Just like nurses, like our teachers need it more than anyone else. Like I wish education or the teaching system was valued more in the US as it is in other places because nothing else works without it.
And we need those people. Yeah. Like they are. They're not front lines like they're in the hospital right now, but they are front lines in what's happening to the future.
Most definitely. And even with this pandemic you see a lot of online learning and what that looks like. And all those teachers really are stressed out.
You see some memes going around of how the school districts think that online learning is being implemented. And then you see the funny memes of how teachers are really dealing with learning the new technology and getting it out to their students and making it purposeful content, not just busy work.
The teachers who care and want it to be authentic. And so there's a learning curve there. So now more than ever, they definitely need those skills to be able to say, okay, this is my hour. I'm going to go work out, then I'm gonna come back to this new type of learning. So I agree.
It's another great opportunity for them to implement these skills.
Did someone reach out to you for American Ninja Warrior, or did you reach out to them? No,
anyone can apply. So I applied and I was fortunate to be able to be on for two seasons. So I was on season six and season seven. And it was a phenomenal opportunity, not just for me, of course, it was for the students in my class, for them to be able to say, wow, my teacher, she's an American Ninja warrior, sitting at the dinner table and this is what she taught me and this is what we're learning.
And so that engagement in the classroom during those years, it was phenomenal. Because they were hanging on my every word. They knew what motivated me, they, I knew what motivated them. So it just took our learning in the classroom to a whole nother level.
I can't imagine as well the support you had from the community, right?
To, for you to be what's bringing a family together in the evenings or like suddenly you are their evening and daytime like motivation. That must've been a very cool experience for you.
It would, like we said before, it's our opportunity to be able to share these tools with others.
And then seeing them grow and get stronger. It was the same with the students in the classroom. I had students who were in that lunch club, two boys in particular, who were able to start doing one arm pull-ups. Whoa. And the videos of those are priceless. So it's a neat opportunity to see anyone who puts habits into place and where they start and where they go.
Yeah, it was very rewarding. And now you're in California. I am, I'm in California and so just this last the last two months, I had a professional football out, a player out here training with me, and to see his games during that time was a, again, so rewarding, from training four hours a day to the agility the position work, the speed, the power, the explosiveness to get that all in a day, four hours minimum was phenomenal.
Yeah, absolutely. Fun work for me too.
I bet. I mean it, I, yeah. You, when you start seeing what, how you can impact people and to keep leveling up who you can impact, you are like, oh, okay, I got football players. What's next?
Yeah. And again, like going over to my new friend Wanda's house and being able to see someone at 96 years old crush workouts.
And, just be so happy to see me and happy to learn new exercises into her routine. It's that realm of people that's make it worthwhile, that range of people, right? Yes. That you, yes.
So I would love to know, how did you go from coal, Pennsylvania to California?
Oh, that's a great question.
Again. My college roommate at the time, she was moving out to play Pro Beach volleyball, and I registered in my freshman year. That means that when I got to Penn State, I changed positions. So at five Foot One in high school I was a setter. But in a division one school, there's no way someone who's five foot one can be a setter effectively and be able to block the hitters.
So I transitioned. And was a recruited walk-on to be able to play a back row specialist. And so I stayed an extra year and she was out here playing pro beach volleyball and said, Hey, I need a roommate for the summer. Would you be able to come out? And of course, a Pennsylvania kid just got done college.
Someone in California asking you to come out, that's the best thing ever. So I, flew out and said that this is for me, I love the lifestyle. I love being able to train all year round. Everyone's so fun and healthy. And yes, the groceries are a little bit more expensive, that milk is a little bit more but I'm gonna stay.
And so I've been out here for 20 years now. Amazing. And loving it. Yes. And I still get back and forth. I have those connections. I go back to Penn State at least once a year to see the volleyball team. My volleyball coach is still coaching, so he's there over 40 years. Wow. He's the winningest college volleyball coach ever, and it's wonderful to be able to get back and see him and connect, go back for a football game.
My mom and dad still live back there, my brothers, so I get back to Pennsylvania quite a bit and maintain those connections back there too.
Yeah. Love it. We spent a lot of time growing up. We moved a lot, but we were in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, outside of Philly for a while. Sure. Yeah. And then also outside of Allentown.
Yes. That's exactly where my two brothers are. Yeah. I have one brother outside of Philly and the other one outside of Allentown. So I fly into that Allentown airport quite a bit and the Philly airport the other times.
Yeah. Love it. Love it. Yeah. Did you always know that you wanted to be a teacher?
Was that the plan coming out of college? It really has been. As a high schooler, I was always in a role of educating or helping people, right? So anything from a lifeguard to a babysitter to a volleyball coach. And so I knew I wanted to have at least that type of coaching or teaching role throughout my life.
And so that seemed like it, it was the most purposeful degree to be able to get for me.
And, there's been so many changes. You mentioned earlier that just the pivoting of going from in classroom to virtual teaching, but there's been so many changes in the past 20 years from how education is and what's important.
Like I grew up learning whole curriculum where it's all embedded. Oh yeah. And then they've switched to, there's so many methods that keep evolving and changing. What are you excited about in regards to where education's going and the new things that are being adopted? Ooh,
I love, I, I do love the online learning piece.
Is it a tool to be able to. Almost as a, like a college student, right? Where your day can be a little bit more flexible. It might look a little bit more like a homeschooling type of environment. I train at a gym where they have homeschool students and it's so neat to be able to see how they work in that homeschooling with the sports and athletics, because their goal is to be able to get a college scholarship and be able to be a lifelong athlete.
And still, of course, schooling is so important. So to be able to see that blended learning take place I think is phenomenal. So I think it's great that the students right now are, have that opportunity to do some online learning as well.
Yeah. And I think it, I'm sure that it must lead to, everyone has such different learning styles that I love it when schools give flexibility.
Like, how do we just get people to learn versus learn whatever is. Someone decided were the requirements.
And I agree. So for me, my big push is kinesthetic learning. So as a student who really had difficulties reading throughout my childhood and writing it, the kinesthetic opportunities were the ones where I thrived.
And even in my book I talk about, or when I talk to people, I always go back to Mr. Kulick. He's my seventh grade. Actually fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade science teacher. Basketball coach and volleyball coach, he did it all during that time. Wow. And so he brought those kinesthetic volleyball lessons into the classroom to apply to science concepts to make that connection.
And then he took these science concepts out to the volleyball court, so was able to bring the science there, and then of course, learning the sports specific things and the mindset tools. And he would always talk about, at that time, I might be dating myself a little bit, but Larry Bird. Yeah. And the tics and the Raiders.
And so he was constantly. Being able to use that kinesthetic learning. He would show us science videos. He wouldn't have us read the textbook. He would tell stories, make those connections. We would do hands-on experiments and have those group conversations. And for me, as a kinesthetic learner, that's where the most powerful learning took place.
And that's what I hang onto as an adult and as a teacher myself. When I teach others, I make sure I know not everyone is a kinesthetic learner, but I know a lot of people are. And so I make sure I implement the visual, the auditory, and the kinesthetic type of learning for all those learners. And I think, that's the new opportunity with technology to be able to incorporate those things even to a greater scale.
If people
don't know what is kinesthetic learning.
Oh, that's great. It's just being able to do things hands on. So a lot of times in our spelling lessons, I would have maybe kush balls and the students would both sit on a stability ball and they would toss the kush ball back and forth as they spelled words out loud.
So it's the physical writing of words to be able to remember it because your hand made that movement. So it's really that movement based learning to be able to have that MINDBODY connection. So it stays with you and you remember it even better.
Yeah. One of my favorite habits is when I'm feeling stuck or sluggish or unmotivated going and just taking a walk and not listening to anything, not doing anything.
But I always bring a little notebook and pen because that's when all the stuff comes back. And I'll just take my dog and just go, and within 20 minutes there's like too much to write down. I have to usually run home and be like, okay, we're ready to go now. And it's, I just, it's fascinating to me how important that is and how often there is no movement with learning in a traditional setting.
So I'm so glad that you're bringing that in and it's becoming a method. I also am totally obsessed with the outdoor schools they have in most of the Nordic countries. A good friend of mine is starting one in Southern California, and it's gonna be called the Whale Academy. But I love, like how, a friend of mine that moved to Sweden, her son knows more tree species than she's ever known.
'cause like they just walk and point and learn them all. And she's I can't, like now he's teaching me and he's in preschool.
Yeah. And all those problem solving skills that they can tie into that, it's just not even, not only just the factual knowledge or those lifelong skills of getting out to tap into, like you were saying, that creativity.
And that's exactly when people get their best ideas, when they answer either the flow state and I have notebooks just like you. Probably I have one in my car, in my gym bag, the one that travels with me, one upstairs, one downstairs, just to be able to capture those moments when I'm moving and wanna be able to get it down.
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And I love that your friend is starting an outdoor school, that would've been so fun as a student for me to be able to go to a school like that. So I'm glad there's an opportunity for students to be able to experience something like that.
Yeah. And like even myself I like, I wish, I probably just need to make it, but I want adult field trips again.
Like I hear about adult like outdoor school. I'm like, I wanna go, do I do we have a outdoor school for grownups on Saturdays or something? Like how this sounds way too fun, like Uhuh. I love it. Yeah. So I would love to go back to what you mentioned earlier about how do you be someone who manages dyslexia and then become an author like that is some people who are experiencing dyslexia right now are like, that's not even on my list of options.
So how did that whole process start? How did you what did you do differently that made it happen?
Yeah, it's really those, again, those mentors in my life that helped to push me to another level because at the time I was being asked to go to Nebraska to speak to six different schools, get up on stage, lead an hour, keynote speaking interactive events before the kickoff of the school year.
And I was the type of person who in my speech class at Penn State, took the summer option because I knew there would only be five students in that speech class, right? Here's me who never would raise my hand at a staff meeting who was scared because of my past of dyslexia not being able to read what the other students were supposed to be able to talk about in these group sessions.
I always had to learn how to sit back and be quiet because I didn't know what the other students. Thread or we're learning. And so I relied on just their conversations about it for me to learn. So not having these speaking skills was at Nebraska a superintendent saying, you can do this. We wanna learn from you.
Think about sharing your stories and then tuck in the learning that you have to teach us. He said, really look at it as sharing stories. And so I took that first step to fly to Nebraska and do that first speech. And just seeing how. Grateful that people were in the audience.
I had one person cry and that person came up to me and said, I too struggled with dyslexia my whole life. And people would call, he made the connection saying people would call me stupid and that I would never get to this point in my life. And so he said it was just a great connection piece for you to share those.
One, to have the courage to share those things, and two, to be able to see where you're going and how you continue to put yourself in these situations. And so it was from there that I had all this information and said, what do I do with it now? Because my first draft to that superintendent was just hardcore facts.
And he said, and he pushed me and said, anyone can give those facts. He is we are hiring you. We want your stories. We want you to come teach us. And I tried to pitch the same thing to my my publisher and saying, here's all these facts I learned. I practiced, I have. Now, how about we just write a book like this?
And they're like, we like you, but anyone could tell us those facts. They're like, we want your personal stories. And so again, it was my publishers again who leveled me up and said, no, go. Go sit down, write these, do heart share stories where you struggled. And so that's another. Hurdle I was able to overcome.
And that was not easy with dyslexia. I, I don't know if but just being able to sequence things and organize it. I had so much repetition in the different chapters and I am so grateful. I think everyone should write a book. I think it's phenomenal for you to dig into yourself and to really see what matters to you and how you present it to people.
And then I'm so glad. I know I didn't get a ghost writer, or I'm so glad that my editors didn't change things. They just looked at the punctuation for the most part and cleaned up certain things. But that's where the power and the learning really took place for me. And I, I do get that question, would you write a book again?
And I, I know the undertaking it took for me it's gonna have to be a very special book for me to go through that because obviously these other avenues, are easier for me and we always take the path of least resistance to go down the other ones and build it. So I'm not, yeah, I'm not closing off the path to writing another book.
But right now I'm just going down some other paths right now. No. Completely. Like you've been able to check that off your bucket list. So Yes. I'm sure there's so many other things that you have that you're excited about that are just not letting the book get too high on the priority list.
Yeah.
I always keep a notepad there to be able to write things down and get to that. Yes.
Did the speaking engagements and the book and did all of that, like outside of the classroom possibilities for you, did those come directly from being an American Ninja warrior or were they starting already?
I think they were really starting already. At least the speaking opportunities I was getting was more for me being that college athlete, yeah. So in Nebraska, they have a strong following. That was the hardest place for us to play volleyball, by the way. When we would fly to Nebraska every year, they were our biggest competitors, A sea of red in the Colosseum that was sold out and cheering.
They even had two mascots and so they're such fanatical college athlete fans and so are Pennsylvanians. That's where I find I really connect with or people who call me and want me to speak. Last summer I spoke at the first inaugural. Gold Women's Leadership Conference at Penn State University through the College of Education.
And so it's really that connection and then leading this last webinar and continuing to build that relationship with those colleges. I think it's the college athlete and you could speak to that. I really think that's what, for me anyway, that's what people connect to the most.
When you look back at 8-year-old, you would she have ever imagined what you're doing today, like being an author, being on a TV show, being training football players, being a teacher, being a speaker, like you look at what you've created.
And would anyone including yourself have predicted that?
No way. No way. Because I look at myself as a volleyball player at eight years old. We didn't even have a gymnasium at our school. Our school did not have a gymnasium growing up in, into middle school. So up until eighth grade. That's wild.
I played out on a blacktop in the playground is where I learned how to play volleyball, and I learned how to play volleyball by hitting a volleyball on the roof of my house on a slanted roof. So when it came down, I wouldn't know where it was coming down and I'd have to find it and pass it. And so I just cannot at that time, even imagine looking ahead to these types of things at all.
No. And in addition to your sense of, resiliency and your curiosity, what are the other. Things that either came into your life or that you have inside of you that enabled you to go from the no gymnasium little girl playing volleyball to today. Like obviously so many people have supported you on this path, and we'll get to that in a second.
But what do you think it is about you and the choices you made, or the habits you made that allowed these things to be possible?
I think again, it, for me, it goes back to mindset and heart. Those are the two things that drive me, sustain me. They, it's looking at the obstacles as opportunities.
So for me, those struggles as a student up until today, as a teacher trying to read and go through those types of struggles, it's those struggles that created opportunities for me and the heart to keep going and saying, Hey I know these are the obstacles but there's an opportunity here.
And if I put in enough hard work and effort and put my heart into it then I'm gonna make it happen eventually. We'll, I'll learn how to pivot and find a new way to do it. And that's what I've been doing my whole life, I think.
And it sounds like there's a mix of not taking no for an answer and being competitive in there, right?
Like Sure,
yeah. Yeah. Of course, like my mom said when I was a kid growing up, I wouldn't go to bed until I won at the game of Candyland. The Candy's a game of luck. It's the sugar plum princess or something. And so of course there, there's that competitive drive in there, but not the point where I wouldn't support others and help others and appreciate and always give credit to the people who help me.
And so it's that fun blend, where it's, yeah. It's fun to compete sometimes.
Yeah,
I think so. Yeah. I like winning it, but I like when we all get to win.
Yeah.
So I think that's also in ingrained from being mostly on team sports. No, we do it together like this, like it's fun to do this.
It's fun to win as a group. No. A hundred. Yeah. I, there's like such a, I think competitiveness also gets a bad rap because it, it sounds like it's win at any cost and it might be win at any cost to us as individuals because we want it so bad, but not for everyone around us. Yeah. So when you think of the phrase powerful lady or powerful ladies what does that mean to you and what does it bring up for you?
I think it's, honestly, I always look at the opposite. When I hear someone as powerful or a leader, I always look at the vulnerability side and that's what I go to right away. Because I think if people are willing to share those vulnerabilities and what they had to go through to be able to start taking on those leadership roles and developing those skills and continually refining and getting better you're never you strive for greatness and being your best, but you never quite get there.
And so that's what you wanna share. You don't ever want to think others to think that you're the authoritative person or know everything. It's the exact opposite. You're next to that person. You're doing the exercises with them, you're training with them. Or you're coaching them. But that's the idea I think of as leader is someone who's right next to you, cheering you on and showing you how to do it and doing it with you.
And who are some of the powerful ladies in your life that have helped you along your path? Ooh, I really I go back to my grandma. My grandma really, set that foundation for me. And she was just a tough and funny and charismatic woman who just did not necessarily care about the opinions of others as to how she was trying to do things and doing things in her life.
Yeah. And I just love that that spunk that she had and that deal. And I try to embrace that in, in everything that I do. So it's really, my grandma who is just that firecracker of a woman who I look to as a role model.
Yes, I firecrackers and, women with moxie are some of my favorite because there is that we can do it.
We're gonna do it right now, we're gonna figure it out. I have a hard time sometimes relating to, to people who take a much more fatalistic approach and they're just like, waiting for things to happen. I, it's like a translation barrier. I'm like, what do you mean? You can have whatever you want.
Let's go. So I've had to like pace that through. Especially as being a coach and like getting, like meeting people where they are. And part of what motivated, starting, powerful ladies was just not wanting to like, get rid of the word. I can't, it breaks my heart when women say I can't, and that's where it ends.
Whereas I think your, I like think I can't right now. But I could. And that turn of phrase opens up the whole world, as you said, of as possibilities of what's now available.
Oh yeah. And I'm sure that you can relate as a college athlete, that community of sisters and the sisterhood, the bonding you have of look at how many role models are on your team, your teammates, those are all your role models.
Seeing what they did to get to that point where they continue to go in their life of how they set goals and like you said, look at opportunities and really pounce on them and go for it. Yeah. And embrace other people. It was my college roommate who called me up a month ago and said, I'm having a hard time working out.
Can you start up a group? And so there it was to be able to reconnect with teammates and be able to start a workup group. And it's just that those lifelong friendships you develop and those mentors around you I think those team efforts or team opportunities really create those bonds and that mentorship of people around you.
For sure and you trust people at such a deeper level when they've seen you push yourself as far as you can or pull out from where there was nothing left in the tank when you've had to, and when you've seen that in them, like when you see. Like you've said, as team members, people's vulnerabilities and you see their power right next to it.
And it's such a fascinating dynamic where you can't help but you like fall in love with all of them immediately because it's just such a fascinating place where pe like who people are, like the Clark Kent and the Superman version that they have of themselves, right? Because sure, you can go and, win the game and then an hour later be freaking out about your chemistry test or a relationship or something else.
And you see how the moments of glory and beyond human. Capabilities they're temporary and they can come back.
They're, that's beautiful though. I think that just reminds us all to continue sharing all those vulnerable moments with people. 'cause that's what we connect to, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Completely. So we ask everyone on the show where they put themselves in the powerful lady scale, zero being average, everyday human, and 10 being like the most powerful lady possible. Yeah. Where would you put yourself today, and where would you probably rank yourself on average? Okay. I would say I think I'm a above average in what I do, so I would give myself between maybe a seven, I think, on, on where I'm at as far as tapping into the various, like we were saying, speaking author. Personal athlete, personal trainer. So I think for my range, I give myself a seven today in being able to learn things and continue to put myself in those vulnerable situations.
I love it. And then
was the second one where I
see myself you can be where you see yourself, but we ask where would you put yourself on average? Like on a regular day? Oh, on average?
Yeah. On a regular day. I think it's the same thing. Maybe even a little bit high, maybe an eight every day.
I really, I love it. I, as far just looking at it from like a hardworking standpoint is in putting in the hard work and the hours that are purposeful and thoughtful, that, that's where I give it to myself is okay, I'm hardworking, I'll put in the time and effort. And so there's still a lot of room for growth in get refining and getting faster and more efficient at these things.
But that, so that's why I'm giving myself an eight there. For the hard work, the effort, an eight.
I would love to know, I have a couple of specific questions. The first is what does your day really look like? What does hard work look like for you, and how much of your time are you putting into fitness and training for yourself?
You
got it. And that, that totally changes, right? The and I'm okay with that's one. I think it's for me to be impor okay? With knowing that my body changes very quickly with the type of training that I do and the amount of hours I put in, and I'm happy at any phase of that, right? And so I think that's the very first important message I wanna share with people is having that self-confidence in knowing that as long as you're doing, an hour a day to stay healthy and maintain heart health. And I think that's phenomenal. So right now that I'm focusing on my business, and so I am really working on my website, building out the best, most creative workouts I can for that three o'clock zoom time and my one-on-one virtual clients.
That's where all my time and energy is going right now. And then my workout is one hour a day with that group. That's what I'm doing right now and that's what I'm giving myself. Whereas maybe a month and a half ago, I personally was working out four hours a day with that pro football player where I was running the hill sprints.
I was running stairs, we were doing sled pushes. And so those four hours a day of my training looked very different because it was performance based and power based. And so it really is a range of the time of year, and I think it's just learning how to be okay with that. Is what it means to be a well-rounded person and an athlete trying to help other people rise up.
Yeah. Perfect. Are there other habits that you have that really allow you to be at your best self? Going to bed at a certain time, waking up a certain time, eating or not drinking something? I
most definitely believe that all those things play into being at your best each and every day i, I think reflection is a huge piece of that. So when you wake up and then when you go to bed is reflecting back and say, Hey, how did I do today on all those things, going to bed on time, drinking enough water taking these movement breaks if you're so singularly focused on, on business or the next book or whatever it is.
I think it's just really, it's the reflection piece of looking back and say, Hey, how did I do today? What can I do better tomorrow?
Yeah. Great. And then being someone who has always wanted to be able to do pull-ups and has never been able to do it well yet, what are your tips for being able to do.
Credible pullups.
Oh, I love that question too. I have a group, a strength group starting in June, and that's what it is. It's a pullup group. It's because a lot of times in these Zoom workouts, a lot of people are okay with doing the light dumbo work or doing the high intensity interval training and the other type of lifting.
But it's the pull-ups that people get really intimidated about. Yes. And don't know where to start, because again, they only see that final end result of people cranking out tons of pull-ups. So my advice is to, one, join an accountability group to be able to do like anything else in your life, just a little bit each day to progress and grow.
But it's surrounding yourself with those other people who are doing it. So it is, so you're accountable for that growth each and every day.
Love it. And then as you've been pivoting from educator into entrepreneur. How, what's changing? What other habits are you adding? What are you doing to become the best business person that you can?
Wow, I am learning so much, and so again, like it's going through these failures. If you look at my Instagram, I know a lot of marketing people look at it and when we have these conversations, they say it differently, but it's a hot mess in that I have so many good pieces of content, but it's just thrown in there.
And from a marketing standpoint, they're like, but this one is overriding this one and this. They're like, it's great content, but you have to space it out, make it aesthetically look good. And so I'm. Honestly, learning those types of tools of the marketing, the designing, the editing of videos, putting it together with the best music, being able to make my Zoom workouts better by getting better technology equipment and meeting with people who are doing these things.
And it's my growth as an entrepreneur to be able to improve the technology and my social media skills and the marketing skills so that those are the things that I'm developing during this time.
Yeah, no, I, it's such a amazing time. I think for anyone that's ready to take on, like creating their own professional path, because there is so much opportunity, virtually, digitally, there's like never before is it easier to learn something and never before do we need people to be sharing what they know with the rest of us.
So it's like it's prime for all of those things. When you look at what's next for you and like what you're getting motivated by, who are people that you see out there that you either feel that you're like chasing to pull some of their best practices in, or like getting ready to be like, I can do that and I can maybe do it better.
Yeah. I don't have that mindset of, oh, I could do that. I could do it better. Maybe I should though. I like that. I like that a lot. And so I really look at this idea of. Coaching. So being able to take this idea of educator in the classroom and being able to coach these athletes for performance.
So I really wanna start building my crew of people that want to perform at a really high level athletically and start grooming those types of players. And so I look at certain coaches. Individually who I like, who are doing that type of work on the field. Or in the recruiting office and think, okay, how can I take that and train those types of players for them to be at their best?
So that's the type of work I'm doing right now.
No, love it. Love it. Yeah. Yeah. 'cause they're as you said earlier, like when you see someone on a mountain, you don't see the mountain they're standing on. You just see where they're at today. And there is even that 10,000 hour rule, right?
To become an expert in something. Most of the time it's 40,000 hours that you've actually put in before anyone notices. It's right. Whether it's in music, like someone like Lizzo who's been doing it for a bajillion years, and then now she's famous, but you're like, she's like, where have you guys been this whole time?
And there was a quote I saw the other day about, play, create, and do it for yourself. And 'cause someone is listening and eventually everyone will listen. And I think that's also where so many people get stuck is not knowing, like getting disconnected from your why and what it really looks like to do it in the dark essentially for 80% of the time.
Sure. I love that quote, by the way. Maybe you could send that to me because I think that's beautiful for everyone to think about every day because I think that thought comes into people's heads sometimes daily, right? Of man, I've been doing the same thing over and over again because we need to get better, look at like pro basketball players who practice layups and those basic skills, and they're already at the top of their game, so of course we're gonna have to wake up and do the same things over and over again if we expect to get better.
So I think it's just the way that you set it and having that maybe on your computer or somewhere where it's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy or mantra that you say to yourself like the way you use self-talk of Hey, it's okay. Like you're doing your best. Your best is good enough and you'll continue to do the best.
So it, it is okay.
It's and people often ask me the definition of powerful ladies, and I'm like, it doesn't mean that you've succeeded yet. It just means that you keep going. You keep getting up. The opposite is like falling down and being like, that's good. Like I'll just stay. And it's they're like, no, there's, from personally, I think there's just too many fun things and too many amazing people to see and do and talk to and interact with at the.
That curiosity is so important for keeping momentum for yourself.
Most definitely. And I'm sure that you are so mo motivated by all the guests that you get to interact with and question and learn from and share your insights with them to help them grow that. I just think it's such a synergistic opportunity to be able to lead the podcast and learn from them and share what you've learned.
I think it's phenomenal.
Completely. Completely. Yeah. And what I didn't expect through the evolution of Powerful Ladies, 'cause now we have an online community, the Thrive Collective, and we're bringing a lot more of the business coaching elements in to make sure people have whatever tool they're looking for to keep leveling up.
And I never expected. To feel the good pressure I feel to keep delivering for the women in the powerful ladies universe, like that's my number one driving motivator is knowing that there's someone out there who needs something and doesn't have it right now, and we can give it to them. Or if it's, and if it's not something that we're creating with powerful ladies, like who do we bring in to teach it?
Who do we have on the podcast to share that element? And yeah again, it all comes back to that just be getting heartbroken about seeing how many people think it's not possible for them. And I'm like, Nope, we're taking all that, all those excuses away. Nope. 'Cause I just, I'm a believer that we need everyone being at their level 10 and shining their light out there because.
We need it. We need everybody like playing at their best. And of course it doesn't need to be all the time, like it's exhausting, but there's a different level of contentment when you know that you are one, doing what you're supposed to do. And two, seeing the impact that you're making. 'cause people make an impact every day and don't.
Don't acknowledge it. And don't let themselves it doesn't land for you all the time. That's the mission we're on. We're just making it happen. And yeah. And then also selfishly being like, who do I wanna talk to?
Yeah. It's, you're just, you're building that team, and it's that same concept of what I did in the classroom of just building that classroom community.
You're building your online community through the podcasting, the coaching. And so that's what you're doing. You're grabbing your team and saying, okay, team, this is what we can do. This is what's possible here are your teammates and we're all gonna cheer you on. Let's do it.
Yes. Yes. Yeah.
A hundred percent. So I would love to know what is next for you? What is, I'm sure your 2020 plans have pivoted dramatically from what you thought they were. Sure. But what's next? What are you excited about?
I'm really excited about continuing to work with athletes in different areas at that real elite level.
So just being able to continue to push myself as a trainer and myself as an athlete, to learn new tools, to build out sustainable long programs, to be able to work with them. That one-on-one connection or that one in three connection where it's small group where you get to see that growth. That's the direction I wanna be able to go.
Is that personal training for performance, for sports performance.
Love it. Yeah. And then what do you have outside of your business space what do you see as fun for you in the next year? What are you doing that is just totally for you? Ooh I love to go, like you
said, like these adult retreats or I love going on hiking excursions with a small group of people who I don't know.
So for those that don't know, like REI. Has all these phenomenal trips. And so last summer I went to the Alps for two weeks and I hiked Wow. A hundred miles around the Mont Blanc. So I got there and I paragliding right off the mountain, right off the red eye. I went up to ski slope and had a paragliding session set up to see the Alps from up above and then went through Italy, Switzerland, and France to hike it for two weeks.
And so I love being able to do something like that every couple years, every other year or every year to learn from those people in the group and to see a new part of the world. Yeah.
Love it. Yeah. I'm also a complete travel junkie, so anything that involves like jumping on an airplane and seeing something new, I'm a yes.
Yeah. And then, we've talked a lot about, who you are as a athlete and trainer and educator. What are things about you that you don't get to share often that you would want people to know?
Ooh. Right now my parents are out here visiting because they're snowbirds, and so they're going to stay out here.
So it's been really awesome being able to share a lot of the things that we are talking about, because again, growing up in the coal region they ate very differently. They moved very differently. So it's been really an awesome opportunity to be able to share those things and to build that relationship, because moving out here from Pennsylvania, I would only get to see them twice a year for maybe a week.
And so it's awesome to be able to spend this time now and be able to build that relationship and share them, share with them what California's it's so different from Pennsylvania that I love that they're able to see and spend time out here with me.
That's incredible. Yeah. As we're wrapping up are there any things that you wanted to share with this audience?
Like a quote you love or some books you recommend that can be tools for them as well? Sure. I
love my coach Rose, my volleyball coach. At the end of every team practice or going into a game, he would always have the words written in his planner. Play hard, have fun. And for me, that's the way I look at every day and for the rest of my life, I'm gonna think about that of playing hard and having fun. So for me, I'm going to leave you with Russ Rose's quote with that. And then books, of course my, my book the Edge Nja mindset is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. But the influencers that I was able to look upon in developing that mindset I love Tim Grover and he's Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Charles Barkley's trainer, and he has a book called Relentless.
And I think it's great to be able to just again, look at those obstacles about opportunities is something that he goes into deeper with mindset as well. So that, I would say that's probably my favorite book as well.
I love it. I love it. It has been such a pleasure to talk to you and to get to know you a little bit today.
I really hope that lands for everybody in how powerful it is to just keep going and see what's next. So thank you so much for today. Thank you.
Do you also have a new badass Boss Lady Girl Crush? I am so inspired following this episode, taking on pull-ups, traveling again as soon as possible and just remembering that life is made for us. So let's make it exactly what we want with as much as we can control that. I didn't realize how much I was missing the athlete side of me and how much the athlete mindset is such a foundation for everything I've created in my life.
I would love to know what you got out of this episode. Please send me a note. hello@thepowerfulladies.com to connect, support, and follow Jennifer. You can of course find her on Instagram at Jennifer Burdis, and she has two websites, jen Burdis.com and elite sports trainer.com. There's also tons of YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and emails that she's all given out as well.
All of that is available in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com slash podcast. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of The Powerful Ladies Podcast. There are so many ways you can get involved and get supported with fellow powerful ladies. First, subscribe to this podcast anywhere you listen to podcast.
Give us a five star rating and leave a review. On Apple Podcasts, follow us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, join the Powerful Ladies Thrive Collective. This is the place where powerful ladies connect, level up, and learn how to thrive in business and life. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page, and of course, visit our website, the powerful ladies.com.
I'd like to thank our producer, composer, and audio engineer Jordan Duffy. Without her, this wouldn't be possible. You can follow her on Instagram at Jordan K. Duffy. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
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