Evoke Greatness Podcast

Rock Bottom to Record Breaker | A Journey of Resilience with Tia Banks (Part 2)

Episode 148

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🎧 Episode 148: From Rock Bottom to Record Breaker with Tia Banks Part 2

In this powerful conclusion of our conversation with Tia Banks, we explore how breaking away from expected paths can create ripple effects of transformation for future generations. From being the "different sheep" in her family to founding Summit Saturday, Tia reveals how personal evolution becomes a catalyst for youth empowerment.

We dive deep into:

  • Challenging familial and cultural expectations
  • Creating psychological safety in educational spaces
  • Recognizing and addressing burnout in ourselves and others
  • The power of rest in achievement
  • Understanding behavior as communication
  • The intersection of physical and mental strength
  • Building sustainable training routines

🔑 Key takeaways:

  1. Self-awareness is the first step to reclaiming your strength
  2. Psychological safety is crucial for student transformation
  3. Sometimes the most disruptive students are future leaders
  4. Rest and boundaries are non-negotiable for success
  5. Look beyond initial behaviors to understand deeper needs
  6. Personal achievements should serve as inspiration for others

💡 Quotes to remember: "Climbing a mountain isn't for you, it's for others. It's for who you can inspire." - Tia Banks

"Your mind has to expand beyond your physical capability if you are in unchartered waters." - Tia Banks

🏔️ Featured Initiative: Summit Saturday - A groundbreaking nonprofit youth development program that uses hiking and nature to enhance mental health and build resilience in at-risk students.

📚 Resources:
https://www.tiabanks.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thetiabanks/?hl=en

A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!

Check out my website: www.evokegreatness.com

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Evoke Greatness. We are officially entering year three of this podcast and I am filled with so much gratitude for each and every one of you who've joined me on this incredible journey of growth and self-discovery. I'm Sunny, your host and fellow traveler on this path of personal evolution. This podcast is a sanctuary for the curious, the ambitious and the introspective. It's for those of you who, like me, are captivated by the champion mindset and driven by an insatiable hunger for growth and knowledge. Whether you're just beginning your journey or you're well along your path, you're going to find stories here that resonate with your experiences and aspirations. Over the last two years, we've shared countless stories of triumph and challenge, of resilience and transformation. We've laughed, we've reflected and we've grown together. And as we've evolved, so too has this podcast. Remember, no matter what chapter you're on in your own story, you belong here. This community we've built together is a place of support, inspiration and shared growth. Where intention goes, energy flows, and the energy you bring to this space elevates us all. So, whether you're listening while commuting, working out or enjoying your morning coffee, perhaps from one of those motivational mugs I'm so fond of, know that you're a part of something special. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your curiosity, your openness and your commitment to personal growth. As we embark on year three, I invite you to lean in, to listen deeply and to let these stories resonate with your soul. I believe that a rising tide raises all ships and I invite you along in this journey to evoke greatness.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to part two of the episode Rock Bottom to Record Breaker with my amazing guest, tia Banks. In this episode, we're going to dive into challenging familial and cultural expectations, creating psychological safety and educational spaces, recognizing and addressing burnout in ourselves and in others, and understanding behavior as a form of communication. And if you haven't yet, make sure you check out part one, where Tia talks about the evolution of identity beyond athletics, navigating depression and finding purpose after career-ending injuries, and the power of asking for help and building supportive communities. I hope you've enjoyed this so far, so let's go ahead and hop on into it. What do your friends and family think? Do they think this is just wild? Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

I was talking to my dad last week. He was like I don't know why you climb mountains. What do your friends and family think? I think it's just now it's become, they've adapted to it, and you just want to show that you can be more than what your generation says, that you have to be. Generation says that you have to be, and I think that's what I'm after now. I'm not after just being an athlete, I'm after the belief. When my nieces and nephews grow up, they can say dang, I don't have to just be an athlete, I can be a CEO, I can be an entrepreneur, I can go speak and empower kids too. Like my nanny that's what they call me, nanny I can do more than what is expected of me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you're showing people what's possible by doing this. Yeah, we have some people who are listening, who are educators, and they see students who are struggling with a lot of the same things that you've talked about, from someone who's been that struggling student and now helps transform school communities. What do you believe these students need most from their teachers?

Speaker 2:

They need to feel safe, psychologically safe. They need to feel like they can express their emotions in a healthy way. They need a lot of teachers ask me, like, how are you able to relate to these kids? It's because I don't go in and just speak at them. I will, literally after I'm speaking on stage, I'll go to the lunchroom and I'll sit right next to them and I'll ask them how are you, how are you feeling, like, treating them like they're human? And there's so many educators that are amazing at this. I'm definitely not taking away from those educators, but they're burned out too and I would say, before they can step into a classroom and think they can change the life, they got to make sure that they're good. They got to take care of them at home, take care of their hearts, their minds, their bodies, their spirits, so that they can go in and operate in the purpose that they've been called to operate in as an educator and transform lives.

Speaker 1:

Yeah and it's no. It's no like newsflash that when we take care of our physical health, it improves our mental health. And we, in whatever capacity we're in be it a boardroom, be it being a leader of a team, mid-level management, an educator we are modeling to others how they should do it right. We're mirroring things, and so when we're taking care of ourselves, that's what we're showing them, that's the mirror effect we're giving them. A hundred percent. There's a powerful intersection in your work between the physical challenge and that mental health. Right Again, like those two are interconnected. For those listening who feel disconnected from their own strength, whether it's physical or mental, how do you help them find their way back to themselves? And that's a great question.

Speaker 2:

I think sometimes we have to first have the self-awareness to know when we're not back to ourself, having the self-awareness to say I don't normally operate this way. I say this because I know there's a lot of people that are probably burned out. They're burned out as a parent, they're burned out through their job, they're burned out as teachers or educators, or they're just burned out in life because they've been thrown so much. You have to acknowledge your burnout. Or they're just burned out in life because they've been thrown so much. You have to acknowledge your burnout. Some people are walking around burned out and they don't even realize it.

Speaker 2:

So pay attention to certain signs. Are you exhausted? Are you exhausted all the time? Are you sleeping enough? Are you sleeping too much? Like go online Google has so many like stress management and burnout surveys. Take a survey and identify if you are burned out. A lot of times you can discover that if there are things that you used to love doing and you don't do them anymore and you don't know why. So I would say first start there. Have the self-awareness to say how am I feeling? And now that I know how I'm feeling, what's my plan to feel? Well, because as a human being. It's your right Matter of fact. It's not a reward for self-care, it's not a reward for this. It's your responsibility to yourself, to your family, to feel well. So how do I get there Back that?

Speaker 1:

up about a minute, minute and a half. Listen to that over again, because there's power in what you just said, in us claiming responsibility. It's different than feeling compelled that it's the right thing to do. It brings it to a whole nother level when we have a sense of responsibility around it. In working with thousands of students, you've likely seen many versions of your own story play out right. What's the most transformative realization that you've witnessed in a young person who had that self-belief that, like I'm just another?

Speaker 2:

I'm just average. I'm just that person who falls under the radar. Positive behavioral intervention support resilient skills. We focus on resilient skills but it helps them regulate their emotions. And I have these two, these two I don't want to say their name these two misunderstood young men, and the way that they need attention is through talking. When I'm talking, the way that they need attention is to make fun of their classmates. And I've found that I'm like, while I'm trying to teach you on self-regulation, I'm having to regulate my own emotions.

Speaker 2:

There was Kelson, my guy. I'm going to say his name, Kelson Saw something special in Kelson, but he liked the attention. Sometimes he would just yell in the classroom and make fun of everybody, but I realized it was because he was broken on the inside. I found out that he lost his father and so his hurt is a cry, for I need love and attention to feel this void that I'm feeling from the loss of my father. And I gave him different responsibilities Instead of I made him a leader, because I realized he is a leader even though he tries to get attention in different ways.

Speaker 2:

So he was my appointed assistant every single day and I saw a change when I gave him that role. He owned it. And when I tell you I'm talking, dude is a completely different person. When he walks into my class he's like hey, miss Tia, he has good energy, he's cheering for his classmates with the activities and exercises that we do. He's a completely different person in eight weeks. So that's special because that's one of the most recent of many. But it's special to see that sometimes it's it's not the first emotion that they're showing the anger or the disruptive behavior. If you can go past that and look at the heart like it's hurt, it's broken, and what they need is something different so that they can bring out the person that they're supposed to really be.

Speaker 1:

And that's a beautiful example, because from the educator lens alone there are kids in everybody's class who have that kind of energy right.

Speaker 2:

But I love what you said.

Speaker 1:

I knew they were trying to get attention through what they were doing, because you can't be disconnected and understand that and pick up on that energy. You have to be connected with a desire to see the good in our kids. If you wouldn't have done that, though, it would have been just kids who are causing disruptions in class, and that would have been a missed opportunity for him to step in to his greater self, and how is that going to go on to impact his life? And so I implore people, pay attention, be connected. When people are desiring attention in a certain way, like tap them, see what it is that they need, understand their circumstances and what's fundamentally important to them. That right there can change the course of somebody's life.

Speaker 2:

I could not agree more with that, and I think it's the people. If we're looking at adults, we really need to pay special attention to the people that when you ask how are you, they always say fine and good, fine, I'm fine, I'm good. That's just a default response. Sometimes I'll be like, okay, now, how are you really feeling? I am working through some things, okay, cool. Those are the people that need extra attention.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and now more than ever and again, I don't know whether it's because we're talking about it more, whether it has been all that we've gone through over the course of the last handful of years, but we've had a shift, a societal shift, in talking more about mental health and shining the light on that and trying to figure out where can we get some solutions to help people navigate some really hard roads. And so I love that you said that, because we should be checking in on people and we should be paying attention, intricately, paying attention to what they say when they respond, because a fine isn't fine. Totally agree with that. Sunny, you talk about moving from valley moments to peak experiences. What about that climb in between? You talked a little bit about this earlier, but it's those long stretches, and this can be anywhere. This can be in school, this can be in your career, this can be in personal relationships, but those long stretches where progress feels slow or invisible, how do you help people get present in those moments and find purpose in them?

Speaker 2:

Wow, I think it's just embracing what perseverance is all about Perseverance and being able to push and continue to taking steps. Because climbing any mountain, an invisible mountain, the mountain of grief or the mountain of depression or anxiety, like you started in a dark place and sometimes you don't see, you don't really see the light until you're at the light. So the in-between phase requires this perseverance muscle. It requires the self-talk, it requires more emotional support and sometimes it may require just resting, Like one of the most important parts of climbing these mountains is saying all right, we've been hiking for eight hours, this is a good time to stop and get some rest. Eat, pour into our physical, eat well. So if you have a Sunday I like to call Sunday self-care, Sunday pour back into yourself. Get your nails done like, get a massage or just lay in bed and Netflix all day, if that's what's going to pour back into you. So be willing to rest, because we live in a go go, go, go, go. Be willing to rest so that you can go further.

Speaker 1:

Being a lover of hiking myself. Here in Arizona we have some amazing mountains and I know what it takes for me to do my four mile hike. That's like it's the most beautiful place to like have mental clarity and have like a creative flow. But that's one thing right. What do you do when you're talking about the biggest mountains and volcanoes to climb? What do you do to prepare ahead of time? What does that routine look like? And, even more so, like what are your ahead of time? What does that routine look like? And, even more so, what are your non-negotiable routines and habits each day that you're unwilling to miss?

Speaker 2:

So when I'm in training season, I set very I have boundaries for sure I will wake up very early at like maybe four o'clock in the morning and I'll hike for about four hours. So I'm very disciplined with that. And I also set boundaries with when I do have time to rest, like who can access me my mom and my nieces and nephews if they need me because they make me feel good, my non-negotiables for sure. Setting clear boundaries, being disciplined with the way that I train, how many times I train, training five days a week, making sure that, as I'm telling you and everybody watching, to have that rest period, I have a rest period. So Sunday, do not disturb let's use the power of do not disturb. And then the prep period also looks like doing a lot of research.

Speaker 2:

I want to research what's the best way for me to successfully get to the summit of this mountain, and safely. So I'm doing a lot of research on the countries. There is a mountain that I was supposed to climb this month. It's called Mount Gili. It's the highest volcano out in Australia, but it's in a very dangerous location and I had to re-strategize because I don't think we're ready quite yet to climb this mountain. So it's on the list for next year.

Speaker 2:

But doing the research necessary to make sure it's safe for me to climb, who I'm climbing with, what kind of routes can I take? What are the logistics? A lot of research, planning in place. And then mentally. So a couple of ways that I mentally prepare is I watch a lot of amazing podcasts, evoke greatness. I watch a lot of amazing podcasts that pour into my self-belief, because it's not just the physicality of these mountains In life, it's not just the physicality. I truly mean it. Your mind has to expand beyond your physical capability if you are in uncharted waters. So pouring into I believe in myself, self-efficacy, I can do this, because those are the main things that you have to apply when you're actually on that mountain.

Speaker 1:

Get and keep your body right, but your mind too, because we, our dreams, our beliefs, will never exceed what we feel like we are capable of. You are doing something exciting that I'd love for you to talk about, and that is the Summit Saturday Initiative. Who is that for? Who is that meant to impact? Thank you for asking that.

Speaker 2:

So a few years ago we did a Summit Sunday Initiative where it brought people in nature, so families, friends. So we created a nonprofit called Summit Saturday which is geared towards at-risk students. It's a youth development program. It gets these kids in nature where they hike to enhance their mental health. We have mental performance coaching sessions. We focus on those resilient skills so that they can apply it not just in classrooms but apply it in their lives, in their family lives, in their relationships, impacting students nationwide to help them climb higher. And we do an annual hike, a Mind Over Mountains hike, where we take them in a real mountain. Now, it's not going to be like Kilimanjaro or anything like that, you know it'll be a smaller mountain for sure, but it's just to boost their self-efficacy, their belief and get them to climbing to the top of that mountain where they can reach confidence.

Speaker 1:

That is so awesome and, like you said, what you do, it's with the intent to actually serve others. You're doing this and it's awesome, but you're doing it with a purpose and a mission and I absolutely love that. Last question that I love to ask is if it were your last day on earth and you could only impart one piece of advice to the world what would that be?

Speaker 2:

climbing a mountain isn't for you, it's for others, it's for who you can inspire, it's for who you can encourage, so that others, when they see you do it, they can climb. And I mean this in not just a literal sense, but in all mountains that we face.

Speaker 1:

Boom it reminds me of that quote. May we plant trees under whose shade we shall never sit.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, that's real, that one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Hmm. Well, that is one heck of a way to end an interview. Let's make sure I'll put everything in show notes, but where can people find you and follow you? Get get to be a part of some of this.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we have a community, but you can easily go to the website, which is wwwtiabankscom. We're in schools all across the country helping students and educators be resilient to overcome anxiety, depression. We've got burnout prevention programs and we've got customized programs to help your students, your staff, your school. You can also find me on social media YouTube, tia Banks. You can find me on Instagram, tia Banks. It's the Tia Banks, and so we're everywhere on social media and our website. And definitely go to TikTok, because we're really intentional every Sunday posting about self-care Sunday to help you manage and better, have improved self-care so that you can combat the week with a mind over mountains mentality.

Speaker 1:

Well, tia man, you have shown up. You have just given so much throughout this interview and of just your experience and how, what you're doing in life as a mission, you're just pouring out to others, and this is a perfect example of that. So thank you for fully showing up.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me, sunny. This was an incredible podcast interview and I'm so thankful.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for listening and for being here on this journey with me. I hope you'll stick around If you liked this episode. It would mean the world for me if you would rate and review the podcast or share it with someone you know may need to hear this message. I love to hear from you all and want you to know that you can leave me a voicemail directly. If you go to my website, evokegreatnesscom, and go to the contact me tab, you'll just hit the big old orange button and record your message. I love the feedback and comments that I've been getting, so please keep them coming. I'll leave you with the wise words of author Robin Sharma Greatness comes by doing a few small and smart things each and every day. It comes from taking little steps consistently. It comes from making a few small chips against everything in your professional and personal life that is ordinary, so that a day eventually arrives when all that's left is the extraordinary.

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