Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Crossroads Career Podcast, a show where we help you hear God calling, get the right job, and maximize your potential through inspiring stories of individuals and professionals who've experienced a crossroads in their career.
Speaker: Well, welcome back to the Crossroads Career Podcast. My name is Tim and this is Hannah, and we are very excited today to introduce you to a friend of the ministry and a friend's in the kingdom of God. His name is Sig Muller and Sig has quite a background of varied jobs and varied titles and varied everything.
Speaker: Sig, welcome to the program. Thanks. Great to be here with you both today. Absolutely. Well, we're really excited to dive into your story. And so we're not going to give any spoilers um to our listeners. We're going just jump right in. But we really want to hear before we dive in to the backstory, just like what does your life and work look like right now? Give us a snapshot.
Speaker: Well, right now I'm fully invested in my new mission of be the world's best. And that's really, I believe within each of us is the power, capacity and talents to be the world's best version of ourselves every day.
Speaker: And so since my change in perspective and event life, which I know we'll get into, I've rededicated myself to that and and found a purpose in that. So I do keynote speaking, transformational speaking, ah coaching and in workshops to really help empower people to adopt that attitude. Because unfortunately, in today's world, yeah we aren't always right. There's a lot of negativity around us.
Speaker: And we all do have the power to be the world's best version of ourselves every day. And and how do we shift to do that? Right. Absolutely. That is critical. So Sig, you know, when you talk about best, it does come to mind, you know, ah this idea of just a vision in my head of like a car dealership. Right. And you've got these different cars and, yeah you know, the kind of the good cars. Right. they're like, oh, they're kind of good. We don't know what's going on.
Speaker: And then we've got these better cars. Right. OK. You pay a little bit more money. You get those. But then how do you get to the best? And and can you maybe unpack that for somebody as a job seeker who's looking for something and they're like, well, I've tried my best and it hasn't worked. So what does best mean for you?
Speaker: Well, I think it's personal to all of us. Being the world's best is really a benchmark for you. It's not comparing yourself to other people or other people's possessions.
Speaker: It's showing up fully present. It's trying your hardest. It's living a life of gratitude and and appreciation, not a life of the grass is always greener somewhere else.
Speaker: And if we do that, we can be the best version of ourselves every day. you know I'm not every day, none of us are every day, right? I wake up some days and I'm crappy Sig. you know i don't like crappy Sig and I'm pretty sure the people around me don't, but how do I elevate my performance to be the world's best? And if we do, it improves your immune system.
Speaker: right? it's It's going to improve your little ecosystem and slice of the world. you'll You'll perform better. Those around you will be happier. You'll be happier. So I think it's really critical that we that we do this.
Speaker: Absolutely. And think that is so relevant to everyone um because we all we all want that and desire that strongly. And then sometimes there are times where we are not at our best and we find ourselves unfulfilled or unemployed. And so can you tell us about a time that either you found yourself like unfulfilled or unemployed and how you navigated that?
Speaker: Yeah, plenty of times. And I've been a customer of Crossroads, a participant for, you know, probably 20 years. I have had, as as Tim alluded to, a varied career, lot of different industries, lot of different roles in those companies.
Speaker: Um, And you know I look back and you know they're they're all good. There were good, awesome things there, but in the moment, you know it's easy to see the things that you don't like, that don't work well, that frustrate you.
Speaker: And I think it's the ability to see the good in things and have gratitude for that in the moment. I now practice a thing called a pulse check.
Speaker: And everyone can do that every day. right So if you're looking for a job, it's so critically important that you have a positive attitude with the people you're networking with, people you're interviewing with. And the idea of a pulse check is pretty simple.
Speaker: Close your eyes. And if people listening want to do this right now, they can do it. You close your eyes, put your hand on your heart, and just take a couple of deep breaths and we're relax. And you're going to ask yourself two questions. It's always a what question and a how question. And I'll just start with a simple one.
Speaker: You know, what am I grateful for today? And it can be a lot of things, right? Could be the person who just helped you in a networking meeting is going to introduce you to that company you always wanted to work at.
Speaker: It could be your marriage. It could be your faith. There's a lot of things to be grateful for. but But call out a specific thing in your mind and then ask yourself, how am I going to show my gratitude and appreciation?
Speaker: And do it. Don't just keep it to yourself. Show your gratitude to others. You know, for me, um August 23rd, 2024 was a pretty big day.
Speaker: I know most of your listeners, you know, if I say, what were you doing on August 23rd, 2024? I said that some other day and they actually brought out their calendar on their phone and started looking to see what they were doing, which is fantastic. I mean, right. We're all curious people.
Speaker: And for me, that was really the ultimate pulse check for me. you know i yeah I had a sudden cardiac arrest and died full on flatline for eight minutes.
Speaker: um Odds of living, 8%. eight percent Odds of mentally and physically being okay, less than 1%.
Speaker: ah I was blessed that there were a lot of things in my life that I look back now And it really was my guardian angel looking out for me.
Speaker: You know, they were series of God incidences that contributed to why I'm able to be here and talk with you today. We don't realize what they are in the moment. You know they're just part of life. They go on.
Speaker: But from a faith perspective, you look back and I had plenty of time to reflect. You know, that was 29 weeks ago today that I died. and I'm alive today for a few reasons. I was a Division I All-American swimmer.
Speaker: The doctors think that my hypoxic training and ability for my body to deal with lacks of oxygen contributed part of why im mentally, physically okay. ah In 30 years ago, in 1995, I met great friends at General Mills.
Speaker: You know, these were the people where I was at the baptism of their children. I was the first person to visit their son in the hospital. We then had our male version of of baby showers for everyone, right? We were there for the graduation of our our kids.
Speaker: Salt of the earth guys, best friends in the world. Those friendships I made in 1995 were the people that were there and gave me CPR the day that I died. And in in fact, I'll toss in one other story because there's far too many. we could We could go on for a really long time.
Speaker: But in 1998, I left General Mills to go to work for a company called Survivalink. this company pioneered automated external defibrillators.
Speaker: So I helped lead marketing and business development for them. And we were the pioneered putting defibrillators, the device that would save my life into the first airlines, the first police cars, the first golf courses.
Speaker: ah You know, at the time, Hey, it was just a good job, but you know i did my best. I worked hard. and I built good relationships with around with the people. And in fact, About 22 days before my cardiac arrest, someone put together a reunion of that company.
Speaker: I hadn't seen those people in over 20 years. So we're getting together. We're high-fiving. We're chest bumping, celebrating. We have helped save hundreds of thousands of lives because of what we were willing to do and take that risk.
Speaker: Um, when we got together on the day that I died with the General Mills friends, we're catching up. Half of them are retired, half live out of town and just, Hey, heard your kid graduated.
Speaker: How's his job? You know, catching up on life. How's it being an empty nester? Just normal stuff. And they asked me what was new with me and the in-town people I see all the time.
Speaker: out-of-town people you just see, you know, every so often, but they're still the best friends in the world. And, you know, what's up with you, Sig? I actually said to a couple of them, you guys remember when I left General Mills, I went to that company, Survival Link, that pioneered the fibrillators.
Speaker: They're oh, yeah, I remember that. Cool. Well, we had this 25-year reunion, and you guys should know CPR. And if you don't, learn it. And if somebody ever goes down around you, do it.
Speaker: I said that to the people that would actually save my life later that same day. So these series of events in life are not random, right?
Speaker: Whether you you die and someone saves your life or whether it's your career and and and looking for a job, you know, reflect on those those moments and connections and what they mean and how to carry them forward for good in the future.
Speaker: um I had the final piece of the story here. I wound up in the hospital. Obviously, right? um I was there in the ICU for seven days.
Speaker: The first two days I was alert and awake and talking just like I am now. But I had anterograde amnesia. What does that mean? I didn't know what the term was. It means I couldn't form new memories.
Speaker: So I remembered golfing the day before. i remembered everywhere I'd worked, everyone's name. But Hannah, if you were my phlebotomist and came in the room, I'll give you an example.
Speaker: I had blood drawn every hour for the first two days. You would come in the room and I'd say, hi, what's your name? Hannah. Hannah, you are the world's best.
Speaker: I didn't know I was saying this. You would draw my blood and you were very good at it, Hannah. You didn't have to poke me five times. Makes a difference. yeah And I would say, Hannah, you're the world's best.
Speaker: This was Groundhog Day. You would come back an hour later and I'd say, hi, what's your name? Hannah, you're the world's best. I said this to my doctors, my nurses, my friends, my family, thousands of times over two days.
Speaker: I continued to say it after that and still really wasn't aware. And I learned this from my sister, Maria, and other friends and family and caregivers that I was doing this. And you have a lot of time to reflect, you know, as people do in a job search, you have a lot of time to think about what's next, right?
Speaker: What's next? What's next? Maybe in a job search, it's how am I going to pay the bills? For me, my pulse check is how did I get here? And the how I got here was those series of God incidences, you know, my guardian angel taking care of me.
Speaker: Then I had plenty of time to think and reflect why am I still here? Why am I still here? And I thought a lot about that in ensuing weeks. And in particular, I reflected on why did I tell people you are the world's best?
Speaker: You know, what made me say that? And I think it probably was a combination of my upbringing and and positive attitude and leadership and coaching But I think I said it it, it was the first time in my life I couldn't take care of myself.
Speaker: I'd been this Division one All-American swimmer, leader of teams, you know taking care of others. I couldn't do a thing for myself. Zero. Couldn't go to the bathroom, couldn't get out of bed.
Speaker: and It was my way of saying thank you to people and showing my gratitude. You're fantastic. I appreciate that. I just said it as you are the world's best. Fancy way of saying it. But it was genuine for me.
Speaker: The second reason I think i said it to everyone who came in the room was I knew i was really messed up. You know, something in the back of my mind was wrong. I didn't know what it was.
Speaker: You know I wasn't remembering what the doctors were saying or family was telling me, but I knew something was wrong. And I, in that moment, became my own hype man, my own motivator of others.
Speaker: And I knew i needed Hannah, you the phlebotomist, to be the world's best you could. I needed the doctor, the nurse, my family, my friends to be the world's best version of themselves for me to be okay.
Speaker: So I was here here in my stupor motivating people. I had a friend who came in to pray with me. And, you know, I learned later, you know he's praying with me. And I actually said the prayer with him.
Speaker: said to our father and the Hail Mary. And i said to him, you're the world's best for praying with me. I said it to everyone. It's scary moment for my family because they didn't know if this was happening you know, going to be the 99% of people that aren't mentally and physically okay. Was this going to be a permanent way of life?
Speaker: Turned out, bless God, I'm very fortunate to be here. i was part of the 1%. So I'll take a pause and a deep breath there. No, I mean, it's just incredible to see clear marks, you know, of God's glory through your story and how he then has just propelled you into your next season of purpose and to encourage people through this. So thank you for sharing with us. And we're excited to hear more of like what has come from this time. And wanna dive in to really how you said you just started to motivate people around you. And as you realized your need, you realized like, wow, every single person makes a difference around you and then being at their best, whoever they are, whatever their role is.
Speaker: And so whenever people are in a season where they have a lot of time to reflect, for themselves or with a friend around them, like, what do you encourage them to do? Are there any like frameworks or any like ways to help them reflect if they haven't in a while, like really sat down and reflected over life? Do you have any tips um if they don't have this life changing experience, like just on a place to start of like questions to ask or a framework to go through? How would you encourage people to reflect?
Speaker: You bet. A lot of it's attitude, right? um We talked about the attitude of gratitude and taking a pulse check, right? So it's pausing. It's taking those deep breaths. It's closing your eyes. You can do it once a day.
Speaker: can do it five times a day, but it helps ground you and think about what's important, what's important in life. And you can also ask yourself, what am I going to do to improve my prospects of finding a job today?
Speaker: That's the what, but then be specific about how am I going to, what are the tactics? You know I'm going to make five networking meetings for the next week. You know, that's an example.
Speaker: um I think you need to have a purpose and urgency as well. Um, You know, you don't need to wait for suffering and pain, right? Biblically, there's plenty of suffering and pain in life, and we all go through it.
Speaker: But if we can learn from others' experiences, you know, from a career standpoint, what works in a job search, you know. And I know, you know, Crossroads is fabulous at at providing people with tools to help with that.
Speaker: um Learn from that. Don't wait for suffering and pain and your unemployment to run out or, you know, whatever it might might be. For me, that urgency is interesting. I was two months before my cardiac arrest, I was fly fishing with my son in Montana.
Speaker: Some of the best fly fishing on the planet. I'm a rookie. So I was blessed that he's a Sherpa. He knows what he's doing. He brought his pastor with him. So I'm fly fishing with my son, who's also Sig. We keep it simple.
Speaker: And his pastor. And his pastor says to us, Hey, Sig's, have you ever heard of the book or podcast 4,000 Weeks? Nope. Neither of us ever heard of it. What's it about?
Speaker: And he says, well, 4,000 weeks is how long you have to live when you're born. About 80 years. Sounds a little different when you say 4,000 weeks. It so has a little bit of doom and gloom to it, the book.
Speaker: You know, you're this tiny speck in the universe kind of thing. Didn't think much of it. I'm fly fishing. You know, it goes in one ear, out the other ear. I was more interested in being the world's best fly fisherman that day, which i'm I'm clearly not, but I was the best I could be that day, thanks to my great Sherpas who were helping me.
Speaker: And after my cardiac arrest, part of my reflection, you know, and this gets to your question about what are some things that are important you need to do. I had a choice.
Speaker: I didn't know if I was going to live another day, another week, or a year. I'm very, very blessed. My father's 95. Just had his birthday a month ago and doing well.
Speaker: I just turned 59. And I could have curled up into a ball and been in fear the rest of my life that this horrible thing was going to happen again, and I would be dead.
Speaker: Now, we all take you know consolation in that heaven can be there. right and And I think that just helps in general. But I have a lot to live for. And and so how did I get past the anxiety? right You can have a lot of anxiety in a job search.
Speaker: And you have to get past that anxiety and have a purpose. So for me, I said, all right, this could happen in a week, a year, or maybe I'll live to be 95.
Speaker: So I took that concept of 4,000 weeks. And I said, I'm going to live my life and help others be the world's best version of themselves by putting a stakeout and saying, I'm going to live a thousand more weeks.
Speaker: A thousand weeks is 20 years. You make a lot of difference in this world in 20 years. And it gave me an anchor to help with my anxiety. And it also creates urgency.
Speaker: Also creates urgency. A thousand weeks, 20 years 20 Christmases, twenty easters 20 summers. Each one of those 20 years is 5% of what you have left if it's 20 years.
Speaker: And you think about that, it's a little more impactful to say, wow, that last Easter or this Easter coming up, that's 5% of 20 years. One of 20. one out of twenty A little bit different than it's just another Easter, right? It's another one.
Speaker: ah Creates a different urgency and purpose. And so I think that's important in your job search. You can set shorter milestones, but wake up every day with a purpose and and urgency. Yeah.
Speaker: That's so good. Yeah, I think for a lot of people say right now, you know, there's there's obviously upheaval in the economy and job markets and a lot of people are getting shifted around right or laid off or you know in that place um and you know unfortunately many times the first thing that comes to them is this paralysis of fear right that says oh gracious i gotta to go get the next job i gotta to go do something else and you're you're giving some practical wait let's do a pulse check let's
Speaker: you know, think about the purpose, let's reflect. It's kind of very much opposite of what the world talks about. So yeah for job seekers who are in that situation, ah what would you tell them right now? man you just got laid off last week and should should they start you know this So they have an urgency to get the next job or should they take that time to reflect? It's kind of an interesting balance. I think the urgency can be very purposeful. And, you know, it's, ah gosh, am I going to be able to pay my bills this month, right? That's very real.
Speaker: It creates a lot of anxiety. So I think somebody, if you're in that state, have some urgency right away, right? Get after it, but don't let the anxiety paralyze cripple you, do something and and reflect on what you're thankful for. It can be tough. It can be tough when you're in that situation.
Speaker: If you have the luxury of time, you know whether it's it's you know financially you're in a good place, your spouse works, and you have the luxury of time, I really encourage people to take that and do network work.
Speaker: and do some fun things, find enjoyment where maybe you haven't. I started three years ago teaching swim lessons two days a week, every Sunday morning for about six hours, every Monday night for about six hours.
Speaker: And I get paid to do it, but I would do it. Hopefully they're not listening, if ah even if they didn't pay me, because I get so much joy out of it and satisfaction.
Speaker: And for me, it's a way of giving back I hadn't, you know, done that coaching and forever, forever. So that was something I just took time out. And you know what? If I do that Sunday morning and Monday night, I can still go to church Sunday night or excuse me, Saturday night. well I could go Sunday night too. I go Saturday night.
Speaker: ah But I have the whole rest of the week to work, to do things with friends, you know, whatever it is. So everyone's individual, you know, don't let the anxiety cripple you if it's an urgent need you have to get after.
Speaker: Think of the positive things you can do that'll have an impact. And if you have the luxury of of time. Yeah, including back, like you said, I think that's a big key, right, is you can do that right away.
Speaker: There's no better time than today to help someone. well you're absolutely right. I mean, we can all start tomorrow volunteering at the food shelf for four hours a week.
Speaker: ah You know, whatever it is, you want to go volunteer at the church, you know, lead a group. That's, you know, two, three, four hours a week, whatever you choose it to be.
Speaker: And that will actually help you in a positive way in your job search and in your life in general. Yeah. And I think even... even serving as a friend can, even if there's not a defined like volunteer opportunity, serving as a friend is huge. And then when you find yourself in your time of need, like if you're listening and I've been there too, it can be refreshing to remember that like, you know what, your friends want to help you and might even feel honored to help you. And so you can admit that you need help, even if it's really scary.
Speaker: Um, Because if you're a friend, you probably want to help your friends. um And so I think even remembering that, but I think what you said about us being unique and tapping into that, even in the midst of anxiety and fear, can actually like free you to be more present.
Speaker: And so just as we wrap up, is there any advice that like you've received along the way or um you know been given that you'd like to that just made a big difference for you that you'd like to share? Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, maybe a few things. So individual Corey, excuse me, Chris, who leads our faith formation at my church, leads the adult faith formation.
Speaker: I had a coffee with him to share what had happened to me and and share what I'm doing now. And you know to to your point, Hannah, as a friend, he introduced me to someone that he felt could help me on my faith journey.
Speaker: And it's someone who's went through school and was almost priest. His name's Don. but dropped out, you know, 30 years ago, discerned that was a different purpose for him. And now he's back getting a doctoral degree ah in in faith. I couldn't tell you the exact degree, but Chris suggested talk to him and and maybe he could be a friend and mentor me.
Speaker: And we get together every other Saturday. tomorrow's the Saturday It's an hour, hour and a half. I didn't know what the heck to expect. I was a little bit apprehensive.
Speaker: It's been one of the books best things I've done in my life. Really, really brilliant. I never would have done that if I didn't didn't have this happen. So I think reconnecting with your faith.
Speaker: you know ah We all have different faith journeys as well, right? And i've I've had, you know, it's been lumpy. I've had my ups and downs. Yeah. But that advice that I got and doing that really for me was transformational and just flowed into my new mission.
Speaker: So, so, so impactful. So deepen your faith, I guess, would be one of the things I would say. Well, Sig, the time has gone and we could, again, spend ah much more time with you.
Speaker: But thank you so much for sharing your story. We're thankful you're alive. And that you get to continue those weeks that you talked about of serving the Lord and helping other people um find their, you know, the crossroads in their career and how God's created them for good works. So appreciate the time with you.
Speaker: You bet. And if I can help anyone, I'm i'm on LinkedIn. Look me up. my My business, Be The World's Best, is on LinkedIn at BeTheWorldsBest. ah You can go to my website, BeTheWorldsBest.com. if you want to email me, it's Sig at BeTheWorldsBest.com. And if I can help you in any way in your career journey, by all means, reach out.
Speaker: If I can help your organization, um you know give me it give me a shout and you know figure out coaching or workshops or speaking, whatever it is. But I'm here to serve now. so I look forward to it. and And good luck to everyone listening in their their journey on the career on the career front.
Speaker: Each of you has the opportunity, power and talent within you to be the world's best version of yourself. Show show up and do it. For sure. Well, Sig, we are honored to have you. Thank you for the time. And listeners, we encourage you to actually reach out and take him up on it and go and dig in to be the world's best because you will find encouragement there. And God has absolutely laid that work out um a for Sig and all of us to step into. So thank you for joining us, Sig. This was a really meaningful conversation.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, and thank you, Hannah and Tim. I know you're just really beginning this and I've been part of Crossroads for 20 plus years. So the work that you're doing to help people in this capacity really is fantastic. And and you're the world's best for doing it.
Speaker: Looking for guidance in your career? Our Crossroads guides are ready to help. Set up a complimentary call now by visiting our website, crossroadscareer.org. Thanks for listening.
