#14 - How a mother's influence shapes the next generation with Jamie Taylor

Joey Odom (00:00):

Hey everyone. I'm really excited to announce that Aro has partnered with the I Am Mom Summit to bring you this year's I Am Mom Summit. This is the summer bootcamp, it's systems to keep your sanity. I Am Mom is an amazing organization; they've been putting on this event for years. It's incredible. It's put on by Jamie Taylor, Aro Podcast host, friend of the show, she and her husband Mike, and a bunch of other people. So you can attend two ways. One, if you wanna do it virtually, just go to iammomsummit.com. You can get a free virtual ticket or if you're in the Salt Lake area or if you just wanna visit Salt Lake, cuz it's awesome. You can do that June 1st. Come see us in person. It's gonna be a great event. Shawn Johnson and Andrew East, Richard and Linda Eyre, a full lineup of speakers. I'll be doing a talk as well. We would love to see you there. Go to iammomsummit.com. We can't wait to see you in Salt Lake.

Jamie Taylor (00:53):

So we have, uh, a family cheer at night now every night. I know we got it from the Eyre's. I gotta hear the family. Everything I've learned is from the Eyre's, <laugh>,

Joey Odom (01:02):

<laugh>. I gotta, well, I gotta hear the cheer.

Jamie Taylor (01:06):

So the cheer is so, years back when my kids were little, I was having a hard time gathering us all at night before we went to bed. I wanted a moment as a family at night. My kids are older, so not every night everyone's together, but we get together, we say a family prayer and then our cheer is, and even my two year old is really into this cheer. We put our hands in the middle and the cheer is work hard, play hard. Do your best, be kind. Team Taylor,

Joey Odom (01:32):

Welcome back to The Aro Podcast. It's your good friend Joey Odom, co-founder of Aro and listener prepare to be delighted by Jamie Taylor, the founder of the I Am Mom Summit. So here's what the I Am Mom Summit is all about. It exists because Jamie Taylor and the I am mom team believes in the power moms have and that moms have the greatest influence on the next generation of mothers, fathers, and leaders. It was such a fun discussion. Yes, I do cry. Yes, Jamie does cry. So get ready for that. But it was such a great conversation. I know you're gonna love it. Sit back and enjoy Jamie Taylor with I Am Mom. So your oldest is 13, you said that it's a girl or boy?

Jamie Taylor (02:20):

A boy. So my oldest is 13. Okay. And then I have a girl next and she's turning 12 in a month. So they're pretty close

Joey Odom (02:27):

Birth. What are their, and then I've got

Jamie Taylor (02:29):

Three more. So,

Joey Odom (02:30):

Okay. What's the, uh, what's the birthdate for your second?

Jamie Taylor (02:35):

Is it, uh, March St. Patrick's Day? Yeah. Oh, she's a St. Patrick's Day baby. So,

Joey Odom (02:40):

Uh, mine is, it's coming up March 11th. My, my daughter is Oh really? Turning 13 on March 11th. Yeah. So we're right and we're right, right, right by each other.

Jamie Taylor (02:47):

We're close <laugh>.

Joey Odom (02:48):

That's right. That's awesome. <laugh>

Jamie Taylor (02:50):

I, this year I've done the summit right around her birthday and she begged me, mom, please do not do the summit in March. I'm like, okay, I will not, I will not do it in March this year. I promise. So <laugh>,

Joey Odom (03:00):

That's so awesome. I won't do it. Um, I wanna hear the story. You said you put it, you posted it out on Instagram of you and your husband meeting in the, um, and you were on separate dates. Is that, did I read that correctly?

Jamie Taylor (03:14):

Yeah, so let's see. The story is we met country dancing. Now my husband is not a dancer. I am, but he just stood on the wall in his cowboy hat. I thought he was a cowboy <laugh>.

(03:25)

And during the slow dances he would come in and it's so funny cuz he asked all my friends to dance and, cause I went with the big group of girls, all my college roommates. And then he finally asked me in the very last slow song, but it just happened to be my favorite song, Tim McGraw, like this best song. He asked me to dance. And as we were dancing, I was like, I told him, shh, I just wanna hear this song. He's like, who is this girl <laugh>? She just wants to listen. But then we realized we had the same class at the university that we were both at, at just different times. And there was a test and I thought, I really need some help. And he's like, let's get together tomorrow and study. And I'm like, that would be great. I really wanted to study. And then we showed up the next day and he didn't even have the textbook. I was like, okay,

Joey Odom (04:04):

Okay

Jamie Taylor (04:04):

Guy, you didn't even have one. I was like, but it was Valentine's Day and it was so sweet that he showed up and he had chocolates for his mom. He was gonna go deliver 'em to his mom. And I thought, oh my gosh, that's so cute. He brought me chocolates and then we spent the whole day, you know, trying to study. But we just ended up talking and flirting. And then we both had to go on our own date. We had both had Valentine dates at night, so we had to go our separate ways and then we thought of each other the whole time. And then from then on out. That's,

Joey Odom (04:30):

That seems like a, that's a bit of a str strategic move for him also bringing in his mom's chocolates. Oh, I just, um, I'm, I just love my mom so much. I'm gonna give that, that seemed like that was a strategic plant on his part. Is that right? Is that probably,

Jamie Taylor (04:43):

Yeah.

Joey Odom (04:43):

Yeah. That's, that's a good move. No, that's, that's him. He's,

Jamie Taylor (04:46):

He's very smooth. He's a smooth guy.

Joey Odom (04:48):

<laugh>. So where'd you guys go to college? Awesome.

Jamie Taylor (04:50):

Um, he went to Utah Valley University. Okay. I went there for one semester and then I transferred over to B BYU and that's where I graduated. Got it. Nice.

Joey Odom (04:58):

So, oh, that's awesome. Yeah, it's good. All I wanna, I want to hear, I wanna hear the story of I Am Mom. So, so the first, the first summit was in 2018, but you're, you're in the, the thing that struck me about all of this was you were in the thick of it of raising kids. You said, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go ahead and start a, a conference and a movement here. What on earth were you thinking? Like, how did that all come about <laugh>?

Jamie Taylor (05:20):

I know, I'm like, can I go back? Just kidding. Nope. Can't go back now <laugh>. I know, I'm just, we were a little bit crazy, but I think that's just who my husband and I are. We're just always drawn to personal development and growth and sometimes you have to fail to learn. And so we, I, and I think I was just excited to do something, um, for other people I've learned in my life when you're kind of like, the story is, I had really sick kits. I had three, was it four? Yeah, four sick kits. And, um, when I'm feeling kind of down and then this funk and low, I've learned that if I can kind of think outside myself and think how I can help others, it brings me out of that. So I've, I've always known that. And so that was kind of part of the reason too, that I, I kind of thought, well, let me think outside myself. I should do something for other people. But, um, my husband and I, I know I, it was kind of scary, but he was really confident. He's really good at the virtual events. And so I wasn't nervous about that. Like, let's start something. I honestly thought it would be for my friends, maybe my neighborhood, maybe 10 people would show up <laugh>. So maybe that's why it wasn't so scary. I'm like, okay, it'll be for the neighborhood. It'll just be like that. And then we ended up having our first year 10,000 people that registered for

Joey Odom (06:34):

It. 2000 people in the first year. Yeah.

Jamie Taylor (06:36):

Yeah.

Joey Odom (06:37):

Oh my gosh.

Jamie Taylor (06:38):

Mostly women. Yeah. That registered. So that was like, ah,

Joey Odom (06:42):

And then when you did it, uh, yeah, it, it's, you know, I know it, it exists. Now I'm curious at the, the very beginning, you know, it exists because you believe in the power of moms and, and that moms have a, the greatest influence on the next generation was mothers, fathers and leaders. So what, what was it, what was that beginning? What was that spark that, and you're very specific towards moms. This is for moms. So why did you choose moms and then what was that kind of that driving ethos behind it right at the beginning?

Jamie Taylor (07:08):

I love that question. So the 2018, this was pre covid, like no one was doing big virtual events and there was hardly anyone doing it for moms. So that I was looking for stuff, I was looking for resources for myself on how to educate myself. I loved going to live events like conferences and parenting things. But when you've got small kids, you don't have the time. Sometimes the money or you don't have a babysitter to watch your kids. And so I, I thought that was my main drive is let's create something for moms that they can do at home while they're driving carpool. You know, they can watch this summit online. Yeah. And I f my husband, I both agreed that we feel like that moms do have the greatest influence on the next generation. Which is crazy because you don't get a college degree in that <laugh>. Yeah, yeah. You don't go to school on how to be an intentional parent. And here we are raising up the next generation. So I just felt this huge push to help moms. Um, maybe it was a little selfish for me at first to like help myself to be a better parent Yeah. And a better mom. And my friends, like my friends are like, yeah, do it. I'm like, okay <laugh>. And then we're end up helping all these other people. So that's kind of, does that answer your question? I,

Joey Odom (08:16):

It does. And I, I find it, um, it's interesting. Do you know Micah Folsom by chance? She's, she's good. Kelly Henry note, I, I know we have Kelly Henry conversation. Yeah.

Jamie Taylor (08:25):

Did you just have convers?

Joey Odom (08:26):

Yes. Yeah,

Jamie Taylor (08:27):

I just listened to her. Yeah. Was awesome. Some parts of it.

Joey Odom (08:30):

Oh good. Yeah, she's a, she is awesome. And she, you know, in her story she talks about this, you know, all her ambition was to be a mom. And then when she got into it, she said, well, maybe, you know, I've done it and I'm 19. I'm done it. So what do I, I need to expand that out. So was in part of the journey for you as being a mom, was it this recognition that I have so much to offer and, or I know to your point, you wanted to learn some, but I have so much to offer and I am a mom and I can expand out of it. Was that, that had to have been a, a challenging step to do that? What was that thought process like in, in doing that?

Jamie Taylor (09:07):

Yeah, I think I'd say fear really scary to kind of step outside and think how am I gonna balance being a mom of young kids and doing this? And I think I was fear, uh, fearful of failing. It took us a year, a full year for us to kind of build the platform. Cause my husband built it from scratch cuz they're really expensive platforms to do it. So it took us a whole year and then like late nights I put my kids to bed and then I would stay up with my husband and our date nights were like, consisted of summit. We're like, did we do anything else but build this <laugh>? Um, so it was really scary I think. And, but we just had to take that leap. We just had to do it. Yeah. I did find myself finding some purpose and excitement as a mom.

(09:48)

Like I wasn't, just being a mom is my greatest joy though. I love it. Sure. But I always encourage moms to find something that they're passionate about. Like find that one thing that you love. I might, I might be going off topic here, but for me it was like at all, I love personal development and I love gathering like-minded people. That's like, one of my favorite things to do is being in a group of like people who lift, who like share their light. And so it was, it became fun for me. It was like a hobby instead of like putting the kids to bed and we'd do Netflix. You know, we were doing the summit. Yeah. We were like working hard. That was what my lunch was where we'd meet up for lunch and we'd do that took us a full year so we were able to launch it.

(10:28)

So it was a big learning curve. But, um, yeah, it just, I found something I was passionate about and it helped bring me out of like always the day-to-day activity as a mom feeling a little bit depleted. And it just gave me more purpose. Like, I'd get excited to get through my day with my kids, which I loved and try to enjoy being there with my kids. Get the dishes done quick. And then I knew that I got to jump on the summit at night, which is really exciting. And connect with awesome people, like, people like yourself.

Joey Odom (10:53):

So, ah, that's nice of you. Yeah. Do you have any, do you have any good war stories of you and your husband? Any good? Any, I mean, it's not all, it wasn't all great, right? I mean, there had to have been some war stories in doing, which is funny because you're doing this great thing for the world. And then I'm sure that, that you had to have some knockdown drag outs in there,

Jamie Taylor (11:09):

Right? Oh yeah. We had, was it maybe we're pretty good. He's pretty even Kell it's me that like falls on the floor, you know, in tears at 1:00 AM like, I can't do this anymore, I don't wanna do this. And he's like, we got this. We've had a couple of nights at 2:00 AM where we're just, you know, creating something. We should go to bed more. Uh, that's not good practice to, you know, continue <laugh>, but he'll be like, we just need to go to bed. We're at, you know, at each other's throats. Like, I'm quitting. And he's like, I'm quitting. I'm like, I need you. You know? So yeah, we've had a couple of <laugh> of those or we're like, we should take our, we should go on a trip instead of always spending our time on the summit, but I don't know.

Joey Odom (11:45):

Right.

Jamie Taylor (11:46):

Well we'll get there eventually. Right? We'll have the summit in Hawaii one year.

Joey Odom (11:49):

Well sure. Let's do that one. Such a good idea. Absolutely. Um, or it's virtual, you can do, or it's partially virtual, so you could just have a Hawaii backdrop if nothing else. Maybe that's on That's true. On your, on your zoom screen. Uh, um, that'll be next one. So two 10,000 people every right. <laugh> 10,000 people in the first year. You just had your last one, which I attended at the, at the GAB headquarters, which is awesome. Um, so how many people attended that? The last one that you had?

Jamie Taylor (12:15):

Okay. And so this is interesting. So this will be part of my story of it's good to fail sometimes, but, so in the past I've had, I think our highest has been like 20,000 people register for it, which is good. And then usually the percentage rate for virtual events is like 30%. Like people will register for webinars and virtual events and about 30% will attend. But for our sum, it's been 80%, like 80% of the moms they wanna come. So that's kind of been our track record. And then this year I only had close to 9,000 register. So at first I was like, you know, worrying about this, stewing about it, you know, thinking I am, I failed, right. This year is a lot less, but we still had a really good attendance rate. I think we had about 50% attend, which is good. But I learned, which is good.

(13:07)

It's good to learn that we went really specific this year. Like super specific. Yeah. We went just technology, which brought a smaller audience. Like I even had girlfriends say, oh, this year I don't have kids that are teenagers yet, so I'm not gonna attend. And I'm like, no, this is for everyone. You know, they, it kind of put us in a box. But the people that we did have come, they walked away with so much knowledge and they were so grateful. The content was easily like digested. They had takeaways where in the past it's been so broad, which has been awesome. It was a little bit overwhelming for moms. Like they'd walk away and say, that was great, but like, now what's my next step? But this summit, people walked away and they're like, they had steps to take. So, um, pros and cons, but I learned a lot.

(13:49)

So I think we'll go back next year to be broad. We might go back and forth. We might switch back and forth to have a big audience one year and then a little bit smaller audience the next year. Um, but overall we've had like around 60,000 people register total with all our events. Wow. I'm looking at my numbers here. So around 40,000 attendees over the, um, time that we've been doing this and 70% attendance rate, which is huge. My husband is in the tech industry and like I said, 30% they're excited and they celebrate. We get, we have 70 <laugh>.

Joey Odom (14:19):

So

Jamie Taylor (14:21):

To me that tells me moms, they want this. Like, they're gonna sign up because they need the content. They need the motivation. Yeah. They need the inspiration. That's where they're showing up. So what did you think about the summit?

Joey Odom (14:31):

Uh, I was, I was about to jump in. I thought it was unbelievably good on two levels. It was very inspirational, motivational. But there was good meet there too. I mean there was, there was, there was such good stuff to latch onto. I remember one of my favorites was at the irs. Is that the couple? Um,

Jamie Taylor (14:45):

Yeah, Richard and Linda who

Joey Odom (14:46):

You Yeah, Richard and Linda. My gosh. They had their, it was like their 62nd speeches they do with their grandkids and they did with their family. I mean they were wonderful on very practically how here's what we do. Which I think a lot of people are looking for. I mean, it, it's, you know, you we need to be motivated. But then also we people, James clear and, and atomic habit says that we don't lack mm-hmm. <affirmative>, most people think they lack motivation, but they really just like clarity and so mm-hmm. <affirmative> when you can get clarity. And I walked away very much with clarity. It was, I thought it was fantastic.

Jamie Taylor (15:17):

Did you try that, those games with my kids when the irs, I watched their video when it came in, my husband's like, we gotta try this. And we did it and our kids loved it. We're like, maybe they love it too much. They're not eating their dinner. They're like getting up and giving speeches about, oh, what were they giving speeches about animals? And they loved it. They got up and, which was really fun cuz it, it was good at dinner. It brought us together.

Joey Odom (15:38):

So I loved it. I thought it was great. What, what, what are, what are some things that you find, like the common threads you hear from moms and you, and you said the second ago, moms are they really want this? What what do you find is a common thread of like, here's what, here's what moms are struggling with and, and um, and, and why they're seeking something like this so much?

Jamie Taylor (15:59):

Yes. So I, like I said before and I heard your last, is it Micah? Is that her name on her podcast? She said the exact Micah thing. There's a, there's a lot of joy that comes in motherhood and parenting, but along with that comes burnout, I would say overwhelm. Um, unsure on how, you know, you're learning as you go. Which is a big learning curve, especially as a first time parent. So there's a, and um, I was reading the other day, there was an article and they said that being a mom to young children is one of the most high stress jobs out there. Like your cortisol levels are so high because kids are constantly pulling from you. The crying that, and now you've got teenagers. I mean I've got teenagers and I'm dealing with drama at school and it's just, you know, it's a, a very high stress job or role that we have.

(16:46)

So I feel like if we can bring the moms together and we can, you know, educate each other, there's power, there's lots of power in having tools in your back pocket. Yeah. Because you can pull from those tools and you can use those in different experiences that you have in motherhood and parenting. I mean, still there is a lot out there and there's a lot to digest. But that's why I like the summit. Cause I'm trying to bring the best of the best together so moms within one day can walk away and at least got one thing. Like, yeah, I've got one thing I can try with my family and we're struggling this. But I think probably just burnout is probably the biggest one is moms struggle and loneliness. Yeah. I would say loneliness is a big one too. In your, in your motherhood, you can find yourself being lonely. You got three year olds. How, talk to how, you know

Joey Odom (17:29):

<laugh>. Right, exactly. How do you, with as as a mother with young children, how do you combat loneliness? What do you, again, you're speaking to the dumb dad here. Like what, what are some, what are some ways like practical things to hey, here's how you combat, here's how you combat loneliness. When you're in that stage,

Jamie Taylor (17:44):

Find your people. I always say go find your people. Find your moms that are in the kind of same stage as you. Or I'd love to have a mentor mom. Actually I love fi making a friend with someone who's about five years older than me because they're ahead of me. And I can be like, my kid is doing this, is this normal? And they're like, yes, that is so normal. My kids did that too. <laugh> or you're not a bad parent. <laugh> finding like people that kind of support you. And my biggest thing is, which I've learned through the summit, is I try to support, like surround myself with people. And I know 10 o'clock says this too. Like, surround yourself with people that will lift you. I mean, they'll raise you a to, to another level. In the past when I do the summit, I've had some people in my life that were critical of, of what I was doing. Like, why are you spending all your time doing this? You're no fun. Like, come hang out <laugh>, you know, you're working on this summit <laugh>

Joey Odom (18:33):

Trying to help all these people. People

Jamie Taylor (18:35):

Yeah. Who do you think you are? And I learned to kind of cut those people outta my life. Like, yeah, you're not helping me. You know, this is, you're kind of critical. I want people to surround myself. People who just are encourage me. So I think just finding your people, which can be hard. Yeah. If you're in somewhere new. But there's ways to do that through like your, or neighborhood communities, church groups, you know, you can find your people. Yeah.

Joey Odom (18:56):

So for sure I, I've noticed this epidemic that's, it's not, it's not specific to technology in any way and it's, it just seems like it's getting worse. And I don't wanna think it's, it's not gender specific either. And it's not age specific and it's kind of an epidemic of comparison that we're, we're, we're, we're constantly comparing ourselves to others. Is that, do you find that to be, be something that moms are dealing with? And, and, and how, how does that show up? And then how in the heck do you, do you, do you fight against that?

Jamie Taylor (19:26):

Oh yes. 100%. And I do think a lot of it does come from technology. I would say a lot of it comes from the phones before. I mean, when I was a young mom, I didn't really have social media yet. Wasn't quite out. That's how old I am. But it wasn't really a thing yet. And so there was kind of less comparison. You just saw your neighbors, right. What your neighbors were doing. And you were picking on yourself thinking I'm, this is one of my weaknesses as a mom. And comparing yourself to someone who that was their strength and feeling bad about it. And now there's social media, you can see it on your phone. It's like in your face, right? Yeah. So it makes it even worse. But the day that I learned, and I can't remember when it was, this is so free, but the day that I learned to like let that go and to realize like I wrote down on a paper, these are my strengths as a mom, these are the things that I do well.

(20:17)

And I focused in on that. And it became more intentional on focusing on my strengths and like running with those. And then I let go of what I wasn't good at and I stopped comparing myself to other moms and it was so freeing. Wow. I just like, it was like some, a li like a, a weight. It was left off my shoulders. And I was like, my one friend is really good at throwing events like parties, which is funny cause I throw events, but like, she's good at <laugh>, like decorating her house. Right. And she's a really good cook and I'm not so great at design and cooking, but I could see her and be like, you're amazing at that and I'm gonna cheer you on and I'm gonna applaud you and then can you help me <laugh>? Like if I have something, I always call her and say, Hey, can you help me design this part of my house?

(20:57)

And she's like, yeah. So it was great. I learned to like, yeah, that's kind of how I stopped comparing myself. And when you do that, it is so freeing. And when you start cheering on other people for their strengths, it kind of fills your vessel, kind of fills you up a little bit. And then I find so much joy and purpose in my life when I do stuff that I love. Like I love relationships, I love people, I love gathering people. And so that's where I thrive and I, that's what I focus my time on rather than the things I'm not great at.

Joey Odom (21:25):

So I would, as I would assume when you do that, you start to create a culture around you and the people around you when you're, when you are, are totally content and celebrate who you are. And then you have the confidence to celebrate who other people are around you then that just, that that has to create a culture of those people. What you do is you're inspiring them to feel good about themselves. And then maybe if you had somebody, I've noticed this, if they have a tendency to maybe cut others in, like little passive aggressive comments, that probably starts to dissipate because you feel more confident in yourself. No, I'm Jamie's good with who she is. I can be good with who I am and we don't have to kind of have this, this comparison between us. It just creates a culture within friendships I assume.

Jamie Taylor (22:05):

Oh no. Yeah, that is exactly. And when I see on my social right now, I follow a lot of thought leaders cuz I'm always vetting speakers and stuff like that. And I have to remind myself if I do open up my social media, my Instagram, that all these people are doing great things. It's overwhelming when I see all these people and all that they're doing and I'm thinking, I'm being left a behind, I need to catch up to these other people. But I have to remind myself, stay in my lane. Yeah. I'm, I know exactly what my purpose is and what I'm doing. Don't compare myself. And so I just have to kind of mentally remind myself. And so when I talk to my friends, I usually suggest they only follow like four or five really influential people or thoughtly just because it can come become really overwhelming if you're following so many that you're like, oh my gosh, <laugh>, I should be doing so many things in my life. I don't have the time.

Joey Odom (22:49):

Well

Jamie Taylor (22:50):

It makes sense just reminding myself.

Joey Odom (22:51):

Yeah. Because if you're, if you're following, let's say you're following 50 people, each of whom have individual strengths and you have your own individual strengths, well you're looking at them in totality and you're saying those are 50 strengths. I don't have forgetting the fact that those are 50 individual people. Right. And so how in the heck can you keep up? There's no way you can keep up with that. No, totally daunting. Um, who do you, who do you emulate as a mom? Who, who's, who are some moms that you look up to and what are, what are some things about them that you really admire and that you try to try to put into play in your life?

Jamie Taylor (23:25):

I know I was thinking about that. Um, and I was thinking about all the people that I've kind of worked with, right? I've got to work with some pretty awesome influential people in the speaking realm and all that kind of stuff. And I mean, like you, you mentioned the iers, like Linda ier to me when I'm with her, I'm like, can I be you <laugh>? And if no, if listeners are listening and they don't know who she is, they should look her up. I mean, they had nine kids. She's just incredible, very intentional with her family. I mean, that's someone that I, I know really well. It's not just someone, I fall on Instagram, so I try to be like her. But ultimately I was thinking about my grandma, number one. She actually just passed away and I went when I was at her funeral.

(24:03)

And you hear all of, you know, you go to someone's funeral, you hear about their achievements in life. And one of her greatest achievements was her being a grandmother to her kids. And she was a relationship person. There's things that all of us grandkids got up there. There's not very many of us. There's about, I think seven of us. But each of us got up there at her funeral and we talked about a memory we had with her. And I was like so pleased that we're all different memories. And I thought I had the closest relationship with my grandma, but I'm like, maybe we all did <laugh>. Everyone was super close to her. So that's who I try to be is I'm really trying to be intentional with, with my kids connection and building relationships with him. Cause I think that's kinda what matters most. So there's lots of other people I could mention, but I think my grandma, that's okay. I can kinda say it. And then I am Christian. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So ultimately I am a follower of the, um, of Jesus Christ. And I try in everything that I do to be like him, be kind, loving and serving. So that I think is kind of my ultimate goal. So

Joey Odom (25:04):

That the, the legacy, it's funny, the legacy that we get from our, from our grandparents and you said it's all, he had all different stories. It's, it's, it's one of those things, it's, you know, my, my grandfather passed away a couple years ago. It is, you have this moment to reflect and you hear like, wow, this is, you start to identify yourself with your heritage and your history mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then when you begin to identify yourself like that, you start to act more like that. Just cuz you know, this is who I am, this is where I came from. Um,

Jamie Taylor (25:30):

Definitely, definitely.

Joey Odom (25:31):

That is, that is Ma. Yeah. The irs, everybody listening does need to look up the irs. I just, I I walked away with like a, I dunno, you'd call it like a, I guess I'd call like a grandparent crush. Would that, is that what maybe I'd call it <laugh>. It just seemed like, and, and Richard, he just said he has this like permanent smile on his face. He seems like the most joyful person I've ever seen in my life. Just amazing, amazing people.

Jamie Taylor (25:52):

He's become like my dad, like when we get off the phone now, he's like, love you, love you Jamie. Love you kid. I'm like, thanks dad. You know, I'm like, I've adopted you as my, my parents and grandparents. You need to have 'em on here. They would probably love to come on

Joey Odom (26:04):

Here. So. Oh, I would love that. And, and you co-founded the family. The family.is awards with the irs, right? Yes. I wanna hear about that. Yes.

Jamie Taylor (26:12):

So that's a cool story too. So we had been doing this summit for three years and what's been cool is usually my keynote speakers that we reach out and ask are people that I've just admired. I've read their books and usually every keynote afterwards wants to do something with us. Afterwards they're like, let's partner and do something else. So the third year we had the IRS and Richard, I remember the phone call. He like, called Mike and I up my husband cause we do this together. And he's like, let's meet for lunch. We have some important things to talk about. I'm like, okay. So we drove up to Salt Lake cause they live in Salt Lake City. Did you know they No, I did not know them. I just read their

Joey Odom (26:47):

Books. Didn't know. Ok, got it. Got it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay.

Jamie Taylor (26:49):

I read their books. I went through lots of hoops to get them to speak. That's how the summit is. My job mostly concerned consists of me like just detective work, trying to figure out how to get ahold of people. That's my job. That's what I do. So I got ahold of them, we had lunch with them. And no joke, Richard was like, there is so many influential people in this space talking about the family, talking about positive families. How can we gather them? How can we celebrate them? How can we recognize them? And on a napkin, I wish I still had the napkin. My husband pulls out the napkin and just starts drawing things. And Richard's like, could we do an awards? And my husband's like, yes, we could totally do this. And in the tech industry, they give out awards for like, you know, boring stuff, right?

(27:33)

<laugh>, like greatest platform and something like that. <laugh>. So he's like, let's do something really cool with these, you know, me, media, all these people in the media on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and blogs and podcasts. And so we created the Family Is awards and right there and then, and then ever since we've just been, you know, bringing it to the next level. We're gonna go live this year is our goal. And which is exciting. So we're gonna try to do that. We have some big, it's in the works right now. I can't tell you everything that's in store, but

Joey Odom (28:02):

Ooh, I

Jamie Taylor (28:02):

Like it. We're really excited. Just adding more to my plate. Right. More to my <laugh> of course. To do <laugh>. Richard's like, you got it. I'm like, I got it Richard. So <laugh>,

Joey Odom (28:11):

What, what are, if if any come to mind, I didn't prep you for this, but are there any, any of those stories, I'm sure you, as you're looking at these awards for families and you're celebrating families, are there any a story or two that comes to mind of a, a really inspirational story of families that you've celebrated?

Jamie Taylor (28:25):

We had, one of our nominees was a family whose daughter had Down syndrome and her name is Lindy Lou. And she was actually battling cancer. And I think it was, I don't know which round it was, it was, she'd battled it before and, and won, you know, beat, beat it. But this was her second time getting it. So she was one of our nominees. And as I reached out to her family, her parents, um, her mom is Tara. They, they were excited and they started posting on their social about this award that they were getting and people should go vote for them. They're very honored to have it. And then through the process, we have about two weeks of voting. Lindy Lou got worse. Hmm. Um, she got really sick and then they got the news from the doctors that she probably wasn't gonna survive this time.

(29:08)

So she was very, you know, she was in the hospital. So I backed off and thought, oh my goodness, I don't wanna bother this family during this time. They're in the hospital with her getting this news. One of our other nominees called, um, Kelsey and Caleb, um, Fulham House. That's their handle. They were one of our other nominees. They saw this happening. They didn't know Lindi Lou before our awards, but when our awards happened, they found her. And she's one of the nominees. And they notice what was happening and they asked their audience, they got on their audience in their stories and they said, Hey, I know we asked you to vote for us, but will you please go vote for Lindi Lou, go vote for this family instead. And I watched, I was sitting in front of the computer, I just happened to be there and I can see when the votes come in.

(29:49)

And I just watched the thousands of votes pour in from their audience over to Lindi Lou. And they won. So Lindi Lou won the award cause we have a public vote and a, a judge's vote. And Lin Lindy won. We decided to give the award to both of them because the, the Kelsey and Kid, we were just so touched by their, um, their efforts. So we got on Zoom with them and Lindy Lu actually came home from the hospital with her family and they were sitting there in their living room and we announced the award to them. And it was like a very special, almost sacred experience because she passed away just shortly right after that. Mm. But it was beautiful because her parents were there and Lindy Lou, she had this necklace that she would, um, wind up. It's kind of her thing if anyone follows her.

(30:34)

And while we were sitting talking to her, she was just winding it up, winding it up, and just talking about, um, how excited she was. So she was so positive and happy and our family was so happy. And in the interview we knew that she was going to pass away. So it was one of those tear filled interviews that we just said. We were just so grateful for their inspiration and the people they touched. And we let them know that the, um, Kelsey and Caleb had, you know, done that for their audience and they were so touched and they reached out to them and it was a, it was a cool, a very sweet moment. And she did pass away shortly afterwards. Mm. So,

Joey Odom (31:07):

Wow. Um, you goodness, it just, it just give you a, a quick low moment to, um, to be grateful for someone like that who's, um, who's inspired us and that you, that you're able to, that you were able to, to lift up and celebrate. And what a neat thing for her is she, is she, you know, left the earth, um, known that she was loved and celebrated.

Jamie Taylor (31:32):

Definitely. And her parents too. All they've been through. So Yeah. Yeah. That's one of, we

Aro Team Member (31:38):

We hope you're enjoying the show. Let's take a quick moment to hear from one of our members about how Aro is impacting their life.

Aro Member (31:45):

There was a very clear difference in my experience at home with my family the night before we had Aro in the house versus the night we got Aro in the house. It's pretty interesting how much of an impact it can have when the phone is just outta sight, outta mind. So the phone goes in before dinner and it's dinner, playtime, bath, wrestling bed, you know, this normal routine. But now there's no phone there. And how much more present you are with the family when that's the case is pretty astronomical. And you might think like, oh, we'll just put your phone on the counter and, you know, go do your thing. But if the phone is reachable, you want to grab it, we're pulled to our phones. The phones are great. We use our phones all day for lots of things. But the amount of impact that being able to put the phone in a place that you can kind of consider to be like home base for your phone while you're at home with your family or while you're working, it makes a big difference.

Joey Odom (32:39):

You're, you are in the top 1% of intentional families. What, what are some, and you may may not memorialize them, but 0.01, excuse me, 0.01, <laugh>, <laugh>. I mean, you have to be in the top like intentional families in the world. What are some of the principles that you abide by? Do you guys have some of these, Hey, here are our pillars. Here's, here's who you know, here's who the tailors are and here's what we represent. What are some of those pillars, whether it's just as a cohesive family or even as maybe separately even in your parenting, um, guidelines and pillars that you live by.

Jamie Taylor (33:14):

That's a great question. So we have, uh, a family cheer at night. Come on now. Every night. I know we got it from the IRS family. I gotta hear family. Everything have learned is from the irs, <laugh>,

Joey Odom (33:25):

<laugh>. I gotta, well I gotta hear the cheer.

Jamie Taylor (33:28):

So the cheer is, so years back when my kids were little, I was having a hard time gathering us all at night before we went to bed. I wanted a moment as a family at night, my kids are older, so not every night everyone's together, but we get together, we say a family prayer, and then our cheer is, and even my two-year-old is really into this cheer. We put our hands in the middle and the cheer is work hard, play hard, do your best, be kind team Taylor. So that is our cheer. And we'd put our hands in and we say Team Taylor, we yell Team Taylor and everyone cheers. And we do this little, it's evolved into a little dance. We do kinda little Congo line afterwards, <laugh>. And my kids love it. My two year old yells team Taylor as loud as he can. And our, I think, and it's kind of cheesy, my husband's like, are you gonna tell everyone our chair? I'm like, yeah, I'll tell everyone our chair. Absolutely. So we've been doing it for years. And now when my kids get out of the car, I yell Team Taylor and they know, work hard at school. Hmm. We love to play hard. We love to play. And then we had to add, be kind because our kids, you know, you know how kids are, we're like, be kind to each other. <laugh>

Joey Odom (34:35):

Was

Jamie Taylor (34:36):

Your best. Be kind

Joey Odom (34:38):

Was do your best third and then be kind was fourth.

Jamie Taylor (34:41):

Yeah. So work hard, play hard, do your best. Be kind. And then Team Taylor. Team

Joey Odom (34:47):

Taylor. Yeah. That's so good. So

Jamie Taylor (34:49):

Those, those are our principles pretty much.

Joey Odom (34:52):

It's so funny how as a parent, there's so many things you could focus on. There's so many things you could, you could do, but you can't accomplish any of 'em. So when you whittle it down to 'em, looking at this list, work hard, play hard, do your best, be kind. What else is there? I mean, if you could, if you could do those things right, that's they just take over and the fact that it's so ingrained in them and then Yeah. It's almost like, yeah, like the Pavlovian um, response in the here team Taylor, they know what that means. They know, they know who they are.

Jamie Taylor (35:19):

It's hard. I mean, we're trying to teach, I mean we're a family. We're not perfect. Right. And kids will bicker and, you know, com compete against each other a little bit. And we're trying really hard to say, we're Team Taylor. We have each other's back. If there's anything that happens, we are here for each other. You know, we're gonna be there for each other. We're gonna listen to each other. We're gonna not fun of each other. Yeah. Because I feel like the world can be a tricky place. And so as long as I, my hope and goal is when my kids come home, they know that they have Team Taylor that has their back. So they, we've got each other. So

Joey Odom (35:49):

I, I talk to my kid again. My, my son is almost 15, my daughter's almost 13. And we tell them a bunch. We say, you get, you don't understand. This is the closest relationship you will ever have to marriage with you as siblings. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so what you, I know you'll say, no, no, no, with my, my spouse, someday I'll be, no, no, no. This is, this is it right here. So if you think you're mad at your, your sibling now just wait till you're married and you'll see how mad you <laugh> how mad you your capacity for anger at your spouse. But this is how you start modeling it. But then you also have to know like this is your ride or die. Like you at all times. My daughter's Gianna, my son's Harrison, Harrison Gianna's in trouble. I don't care who it is.

(36:29)

You have full license to take out whoever it is cuz this is your ride or die Gianna. You have Harrison's back no matter what, no matter what situation you, even if he's totally in the wrong, he's right cuz he is yours cuz that's, it's your ride or die and what what amazing opportunity we have to, to shape those future, you know, future spouses, future leaders, just in those relationships alone. So I love, I love that. And having that full security and confidence. We also, I'd encouraged all users, all the listeners to, to do this. We tell both kids, Hey, the other one has full veto rights over anybody you date later in life. Nope. I love it. You know what I mean? <laugh> just can't do it. That's great. No, they suck. You can't, you can't date them. Yeah. <laugh>

Jamie Taylor (37:11):

Yes. Get that in their minds now. Because you know, as you know, and and I, what I love too is sometimes my husband and I, if we, you know, are arguing in the kitchen or something, like I've even had our little five year old be like, team Taylor mom. So it's a good memory. Yeah. So it's good for us too cuz we're like, Ooh, take a step back. Like, and you know, and there's gonna be conflict and like, but it's good for my, my husband and Mike and I to stop, look at each other and apologize and be like, you're right. Team Taylor, I'm sorry. Let's talk about this later. Or let's talk about it when we're not so passionate, you know, about our Yeah, exactly. Our side of, of the story. So it's been good. So good for our kids.

Joey Odom (37:44):

When as you shifted to technology this year, um, at the, the I am mom summit, I'm, I'm curious we, we found it or that moms are the ones who are really leading the charge in technology on, in the, in the home. Um, for a couple reasons in I'd, I'd be what we've learned. But I'm curious how, how do you think moms view technology right now for themselves, for their spouses, for their kids, and kind of biggest concerns? I'd love to open up that can of worms for just a second.

Jamie Taylor (38:11):

Yes. I, yeah, definitely can of worms. <laugh>, <laugh> and

Joey Odom (38:14):

I,

Jamie Taylor (38:16):

That's why I am so grateful for people like you and aro and everything you guys stand for and everything you're building because, um, it's such a, it's such a need right now. So that's why I did just technology because first of all, I have a 13 year old, he's my oldest and we're entering the, I want a phone, I want a device. And then I have a 12 year old after him. I've got five. So she's right. Just right there with him. So that's why mainly I did this for myself Right. To prepare myself. But I just think it's a huge, it's a huge topic right now. And we're the first generation to be really going, going through this. I mean, not the first one. I'd say we're the first generation that's trying to be more intentional about it. I think of my own younger siblings who I'm the oldest of six kids.

(38:58)

So my youngest siblings, I mean my parents just like gave them a phone and they were, we had rules and stuff like that. But I'll find my siblings, they're adults. They do a lot of scrolling, right? Yeah. We're in family functions and they'll just be scrolling on their phone like mindlessly <laugh>. So I think that the next generation, we're trying to be a little bit more intentional on teaching like, you know, technology manners to our kids, right? Yeah. Um, how to keep 'em safe online. And I know as a mom myself, I even struggle myself with trying to put my phone down. I struggle with that. I use it for, I use it for the summit. And so I'll find myself just going down that deep hole of suddenly like, oh my goodness, 30 minutes has passed <laugh>. And I was just looking at really good content, good content, good people.

(39:42)

Yeah. But like, I just wasted 30 minutes where I should have been with my kids. So I think that's a huge struggle us moms right now are dealing with is, you know, the balance there on how to do that. Yeah. I love that. Let's, yeah. And that's what I love about ro what you guys stand for and what you're doing with that. I think sometimes moms, we, if we're stressed, a kid's crying or we're like feeling lonely, we'll pull at our phones and just start scrolling, which is not a good habit. <laugh> not a good coping skill. So we've gotta come up with different ones. So,

Joey Odom (40:09):

Well it's interesting. We, we've found in, in, in the way, and I don't wanna be overly categorical, but we found that, that moms and dads use technology a little bit differently where, you know, moms this phone, moms run the home. I'm gonna be be overly overly generic here, but moms run the home and the phone is a representation of all the stuff they have to do. And so it's, this phone is, it's the center point. So if the nurse calls at school, it's through the phone mm-hmm. To set up a play date. It goes through the phone and you and playing in the summit, everything they, they have to do goes through the phone. So where a dad may in the evening put his phone down to connect with others, women moms tend to put their phones down to have a little bit of me time and connect with themselves or pick up the phone to connect with the outside world because they've been, you know, if they've been just totally snowed under by all the stuff they do. So the, so the needs are different. And so we, it's a much different approach. We think that that, um, moms are carrying the bruns and so when the dad comes, comes home and says, Hey, let's all put our phones down, be together. And mom's like, whatever dude, I've, I've been, I, I need a little bit, I need this or I don't wanna connect with you guys, I'm good <laugh> or

Jamie Taylor (41:17):

I got 10 carpools, I have to coordinate. I gotta make sure everyone's where they need to go. That's my day. I spend doing carpools, you know?

Joey Odom (41:23):

Right. Yeah. Professional carpool coordinator. Exactly. Yeah. <laugh>. Um, so do you have a fan? What are you gonna do for your, for your older two with phones? What's, what's the, what's tech plan for, for your 13 year old and 12 year old?

Jamie Taylor (41:35):

Yes. So we are learning on them. Bless their hearts, you know, thank goodness they're letting us learn. We tell 'em every day. We, we are so grateful for you. We're gonna make lots of mistakes. Thanks for being here with us. So. Right. Our tech plan is probably different for every kid. As you know, joy, I'm guessing your two kids are very different. Yeah. Um, my kids are very different. So my oldest son, he, we got him a gab phone. Yeah. So he, we actually won a gab phone at a basketball game at the local university. Nice. My, my dad, so their grandpa, it's the cool dad dance and he was on the jumbotron and he was dancing and my daughter was by him and they won <laugh> Amazing. And which is funny cuz they actually, my dad just won again barely and won another one. I'm like, dad, you just keep winning Gap

Joey Odom (42:19):

Poses <laugh>. And and that was it. Another dance competition that led to the second win.

Jamie Taylor (42:23):

Yeah. The same place, the same university, the same college basketball game he won again. I'm like, the cameraman must not know. That's actually my dad's fourth time winning. Um, cuz he has season tickets, but I'm like, the cameraman don't know that you keep winning. So he's a good dancer. He's a good dancer.

Joey Odom (42:37):

That's amazing.

Jamie Taylor (42:39):

Um, so we won a Gab phone and we gave that so my, it became our Family Gab phone at first where it was just, this is for emergencies only, it's at home. And now that my son turned 13, now he takes it to school, but he's so funny. He has really no interest in it. He's not interested in it. He forgets it half the time. He doesn't even take it with him. I can't get even get ahold of him. So we're not too worried about that there. But then my 12 year old for Christmas, she asked for a phone. We got her the Gab phone as well. But this one is the plus it has a little bit more on it and so she can do a little bit more on it, but she's the one we have to set some boundaries for. Cuz she likes the phone more than my son.

(43:18)

And so she, we have a dock for it. We have a spot where she charges it. When she gets home, it just lives there. So if she needs it, she comes over to it and gets it and then she can take it places with her. But it, it doesn't, it's, we have no technology in our bedrooms. Yeah. And then at nine p 9:00 PM everyone's phones are put away. Now my husband and I need to work on putting our phones away, but sadly that's where we're probably doing a lot of work on the summit is at night. So we need to be better at that is docking our phones as well. So I understand that's kind of our tech plan at the moment.

Joey Odom (43:47):

I love that. And, and I, I do love what Gabs doing. They're just, they've, they've taken, it's almost like when we look at the phone, it's almost like, well you can have one or you can't. Well, there's actually a little bit of nuance in there. And so to be able to teach your kids how to have a good relationship with her phones, and I love the way Gab does that by just beginning slow and then slowly doling it out over time. So I'm, I'm, we're we're Big Gab fans over here.

Jamie Taylor (44:10):

Definitely. And I do a lot of reading. I mean, on the, uh, the One Gab phone, my daughter has group texts, so I do a lot and she knows I can look at her phone every night. I look at it and I read through it. Yeah. And I look at the group texts and it's, it's actually very eye-opening. There's nothing too alarming on there, but just the way that kids communicate with each other. Yeah. I, I get a little disappointed with, you know, the way that they talk to each other sometimes. And, um, and I point out to her like, that could come across not very kind. Yeah, yeah. You know, can you see where this person is? And so we're, we're trying to do a lot of teaching. We'll see,

Joey Odom (44:40):

I remember this was a, this was just a, like a corporate training 10 or 15 years ago that I was in. And the guy, he said, he said, you know, you should never communicate anything with emotion via, um, he meant via email when he said via text, like actually typing. And I just laugh at how far we've come since then, because there's so much you can read into in terms of tone and emotion and everything when it goes through text. And it's, and I'm guilty of it, by the way, or I've, I've <laugh> offended friends before by trying to make a funny joke that they, you know, took, took seriously. They were, because they just couldn't read the tone. So it's, it's, yeah, you're right on the way that we communicate. And it's not that we need to go back to this other era before, but it is a thing, to your point, the fact that you're being so intentional with them and letting them know the other side of how it can be, that's, that's, um, that's something I think all parents should do, and we need to be better about it ourselves. But it's, it's a pretty powerful tool you're giving them.

Jamie Taylor (45:29):

Yeah. Yeah. It's tricky. I know. That's why it's tricky. The summit, I wanted to do something after I did this mom sum on technology, I left feeling like, okay, I'm not so scared anymore. Yeah. Like I went into the summit thinking I am so scared to enter the stage with my kids. And I even learned about stuff with my toddler, you know, the amount, like how my show should he be watching <laugh>, you know, all those things. And, but I left feeling more empowered. I was like, we got this. Technology's not going away. We just have to f and they need it for work. They're going to, and they need it for school. We just have to figure out how to manage it and live with it and be more intentional with our usage. Yeah. So

Joey Odom (46:04):

When is the next, um, when is the next family is awards and when is the next I am mom summit.

Jamie Taylor (46:10):

So the family is will be the, this fall. Okay. We're working on a date, it's looking like end of September. And then the mom summit, we're also working on that as well. It's gonna be May, it's probably around Mother's Day weekend, but we're working with a pretty big keynote. We're trying to land. So is it me?

Joey Odom (46:25):

Is it me?

Jamie Taylor (46:26):

Yeah. You wanna be our keynote. You come speak and

Joey Odom (46:29):

<laugh> so big. I'm sorry. So do you have a big, so when, can, can you, can you tease out who it is?

Jamie Taylor (46:35):

I can't tease out yet. Okay. So I learned, I made the mistake of teasing out, was it, what year was it? And then they couldn't do it. And I was like, oh, I'm so bummed that they couldn't do it. It was a huge letdown. So <laugh>. But on our social, we will, next week we're starting back up actually, so next week. Oh. Um, yeah, we're here in February. We'll be starting back up. So

Joey Odom (46:54):

That's very exciting. I love that. All right, well, one quick fun question. What is, what is a, uh, what's a favorite Taylor family movie? What's a family movie you all love to watch together?

Jamie Taylor (47:06):

Oh, this is a tricky question because we probably watch a movie once and we don't watch it again. We're one of those people we like to like <laugh>.

Joey Odom (47:13):

I like that On some way.

Jamie Taylor (47:15):

We did just recently, which is so funny. This is my favorite movie growing up and my dad's favorite, but it was Father of the Bride. Good one. Classic. Right. And I couldn't wait to show my kids Right. Like, so excited. This is the cutest movie. And I'm there like rolling and laughing and my oldest son is like, how is this funny? <laugh> like some of the Steve Martin and you know, who else is it? Martin Short? I mean, those two together, they're like classic old movie stars. They, they're like, they are not funny. I'm like, this is hilarious. But <laugh>. Um, and my husband's crying, you know, when they give the daughter away and my kids are like, why are you crying? So we watched that and then they begged to watch Father The Bride too recently. So I'm like, they must have liked it that much. There you go. So

Joey Odom (47:56):

I mean, the one scene where she coming, I'm gonna get choked up even talking about this, where she's sitting there telling him, telling her dad that she, I am, here we go. That she, yeah, I met a man in Paris and we're getting married and he's flashing, he's flashing back when she was a little girl saying that. I mean, I'm telling you that just even talking about it, that gets me, that gets me worked up thinking about my daughter. But just because you see, you, we, we have our kids in these little moments and that's what we see when we look at them, even when they're full grown. What a movie. Goodness. You got me worked up there. I didn't even plan on that.

Jamie Taylor (48:27):

And, and don't you think too, like people always in the grocery store and they see me with my little kids in my cart, they always say, it goes so fast. Yeah. Enjoy it. And you're thinking, the days are so long, how can it go so fast? Right? Yeah. Like, the days are long with these kids, I'm exhausted every night. But really it does, you can attest to that too. It goes so fast. I mean, how many more summers left do we have with our oldest? Like, I don't even wanna think about it makes me sad. It goes really fast. So hopefully moms can just try to enjoy the ride.

Joey Odom (48:56):

So I said, days are long and the years are short. Right. That's, that's how it, that's how it goes. I know my son is, yeah, he's getting his driver's permit in a couple of months. And you think when they hit 16, I mean that's, that's, that's a, that's a huge, that's a huge drop off in time when we'll hang out together. Oh goodness. My what do you,

Jamie Taylor (49:14):

What's ahead?

Joey Odom (49:15):

No, no, you go ahead.

Jamie Taylor (49:17):

No, I was gonna say with your 16 year old when they get busy, how do you, what's your advice for me? Like how do you spend, I I think one of my goals as a mom is trying to spend intentional time with every kid every day, which is, you know, should be an easy goal. But some days you're like, did I talk to that child? I drove 'em from here to there and they went to school. And was I intentional with my time? But when they get older, how do you fit that in?

Joey Odom (49:38):

I don't know yet. I, I really don't. I think, I think it's, I think one thing that I have a tendency to do as a parent is I try to make things too big. I try to do too. I try to make things really big. So I've, I've, I think mentioned this story before on the show, but my daughter and I, we were at a daddy daughter dances a couple years ago and, and I wrote a, um, there was a booth and it said, what do you want to do with your daughter? And then what do you daughter want you, what do you wanna do with your dad? And so I wrote down, go to Paris and Gianna wrote down Go Ice skating this weekend. And I thought, I thought these are, I'm trying to make too much of this when I don't need to, when they just want to hang out.

(50:18)

And the greatest gift that we can give, I mean, I think this is even still true. I go and plop on my son. He was doing homework last night and went plopped on his bed while he was just next to him and just sat with him and annoyed him and tickled him. And he told me to leave him alone. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we just laughed and stuff. And I think, I think that's, I think probably not discounting those moments is something I'm trying to learn. And then coupling that with, Hey, let's go, let's go get donuts together. Hey, let's go do something bigger. But I'm trying to make it more approachable for myself. Cause I know my tendency is want to do, to want to do something far too big. And um, and then the other thing is just <laugh> is is forcing myself upon them in like, just like, no, you're hanging out with me.

(50:56)

That's what's gonna happen right now. Yeah. <laugh>. Because they want that. I think that, I think that, I think they do. I think ultimately they do want that. And so I'm just, like you said, I'm just, I'm just navigating as I go. So my, uh, co-founder of r o Heath Wilson and um, clay Dye who works at RO as well, they have, uh, kids who are a little bit older. And so following their lead is, is fun and seeing what they're doing and hearing what they're doing. And they're just great dads. And so I think that's back to finding your people. That's another big piece of it is just asking those questions and observing what they're doing. And, um, one on Sundays, I forget who does this on Sundays, someone I know, they say it's nobody and nobody out. It's, it's us as a family. Nobody and nobody out. That's, that's a principle that will, I'll probably start forcing upon everybody in my <laugh> in my home, just hold 'em captive, hold 'em captives. They have to hang out with me. <laugh>,

Jamie Taylor (51:44):

They'll love it. I know we do, we do family night, pizza night every Friday and it's movie night, we do pizza and then a movie. And I thought as my kids got older, they'd wanna leave. Right? Like, my son is 13, but now he's bringing friends, which I'm like, okay, I love it. You know, but like, it's becoming a, like, oh, we do pizza night on Friday night. I'm like, oh my goodness, how much pizza do I need to buy now? We're like spending all our money on all this pizza for all these kids. But I'm like, I got a movie going downstairs for the older kids and then my little wos are upstairs. But I, I kind of love it cause I'm like, that's awesome. That's

Joey Odom (52:13):

Good. That's right. You can be home based with me. Absolutely. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. The ARO podcast that is all about conversations with people who strive to live intentionally. And you've used that word. And this is a question we ask everybody, and it's intentionally, no pun intended, intentionally vague and broad. But what does intentionality mean to you?

Jamie Taylor (52:35):

No, this is good. I got something for you here. Oh, come on. So I was thinking about this cuz I listened to your other podcast and I heard you talk about that.

Joey Odom (52:42):

Oh, you

Jamie Taylor (52:42):

Cheated. Let me be prepared. <laugh>. <laugh>.

(52:47)

Ugh. Okay. So intentional living for me is to live the life that I want instead of life just happening to me. I wanna have a say in how it rolls out. And life happens sometimes and you can't control certain things that happen. But if I can try to plan out my time with and with, as a mom, you have to be flexible cuz things come up <laugh>. If I can try to plan out my time or, you know, plan my goals and pick things that excite me, that I get really excited about, then I can choose to do that. And then I can be more intentional with my time. So that's kind of, instead of life just happening to me, I wanna like have a say in what happens because that's so easy as a parent, life can just happen to you. Like you can just be caught up in all the schedules, running kids around and, and before you blink, your kids will be grown.

(53:38)

So that's kinda my thing. I actually have a quote from Brene Brown that is, I have a closet in my house. It's like my spot where I go and I shut the door if my kids know, if I'm in there, it's like I need a moment or I just go in there just to like think for a second. And I have these quotes on my, I've taped in my walk-in closet. I love that. And I just go somewhere and I'll sit crisscross applesauce and I'll sit in there and one of the quotes I love is, it's from Brene Brown. It says, it's not okay. It's not about what can I accomplish, but what do I want to accomplish? So I think of that a lot. Like not what can I do, but what do I want to do and how can I make that happen? And how can I put that into play? Brene Brown. There you go.

Joey Odom (54:23):

That, that's, I mean, Brene Brown is, is absolutely amazing. And that's so good because if we, what if we, what if we did that every day? What if we actually did take a step back? Cause the days do happen to you. And if you can take a step back and just say, here's what I want to accomplish, you gotta be over 50% of the way then 50% of the way there just by having that intention at the beginning. I love that. I love that closet idea. What a great idea.

Jamie Taylor (54:46):

I know it just happened when my kids were little, I'd hide in there. They now know where I go, so I can't hide. But <laugh>, I used to put chocolate in there too. I'm like, there's just a chocolate bar in there, <laugh> if I need it. When your kids are little and they're always crying like, I'm going the closet and they couldn't find me, but now they they know, they know. I go into my closet. That's where I get all my inspiration. <laugh>,

Joey Odom (55:03):

What, what more could you need? Yeah, inspirational quotes in chocolate. Like, that's, that's, um, I feel like that that's the, that's gonna be the title of, of your book. Inspirational Quotes in Chocolate.

Jamie Taylor (55:11):

Perfect. In the, yeah. Yeah. There we go. That's closet I think. Yeah, there we go. And I think too, what I've learned to be more intentional with my life is to wherever I am, to be all in at that moment. So if I'm doing mom summit, I'm all in. Yeah. And I'm not trying to worry about family life. I do have someone who helps me twice a week. I have a part-time nanny who comes and helps me so I'm all in. So I can be all in When I'm mom, I try not to do any summit. I'm all in mom. When I'm volunteering in my community or within my church, I'm all in there. And sometimes it's hard you feel guilt <laugh> like I should be doing, but I try to let that go. I gotta be all in. Be intentional. So that's kind of my motto too.

Joey Odom (55:53):

I love that. Jamie, where can people find out more about I Am Mom, about You, about the Family is awards. I'm sure people wanna follow that. So where, how can people connect with you online?

Jamie Taylor (56:05):

Um, the best place is probably Instagram and it's, um, I underscore am underscore Mom underscore Summit. That's our Instagram handle. And that's kinda where we do everything. And then we also have, I am mom summit.com, which will kind of, you know, we have our last summit up there, but we'll be getting our new one up once we get kind of our keynote finalized. And

Joey Odom (56:28):

I love it. Everybody go when it's time, everybody go follow them on Instagram. Everybody go register for I Am Mom in May when that comes out. I'm really excited, I'm excited to hear about this keynote and I'm here for your backup, just saying <laugh>, but we'll, um, but thank you. I mean, I don't mean it come speak, come speak. Yeah, that's right. I, I'll say it again. 1, 1 1, 1, 1 thing I love, I wanna repeat again. Um, in, in what your ethos is, is and just believing the power moms have and the moms have the greatest influence on the next generation of mothers, fathers, and leaders. Thank you for that. Thank you for doing what you're doing in your individual family. Thank you. What you're doing for so many other families through I Am Mom, you really are an inspiration. And what you're doing is, um, it really is something that, that's gonna cause generational impact. So thank you.

Jamie Taylor (57:13):

That's the goal. That's a hope. And thank you you so much.

Joey Odom (57:16):

Absolutely. I think the most appropriate way to end this podcast is with a team Taylor Cheer. So if you know it, cheer it with me. Work hard, play hard. Do your best. Be kind. Team Taylor, thank you so much for joining my conversation with Jamie Taylor. We can't wait to see you next time. The Aro Podcast is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod co. Special thanks to Emily Miles for video and digital support and to our executive producer, Aro's own, Katelyn Farley.

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