IAM470- Podcaster Helps Others Recognize The Uniqueness of Their Story

His start in life was inauspicious. At 9 years old, he relinquished his parents' rights and entered the Russian orphanage. At 12 years old, he decided to be adopted into a new family, in a new country, halfway across the world, to start a new life. At 24 years old, he began his journey of helping others live the life they have always dreamed of, despite their hardships and misfortunes by allowing them to recognize the uniqueness and worth within their own story.

• CEO Hack: Book – The Art of Possibility
• CEO Nugget: Belief in yourself more
• CEO Defined: Acting on your dream and willingness to improve other people

Website: http://www.overcomingodds.today/

Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/overcomingodds/id1292465138
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overcomingodds/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Overcoming-Odds-111928076030141/

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE.

Transcription:

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Oleg Lougheed of Overcoming Odds Today. Oleg awesome to have you on the show.

Oleg Lougheed 0:39

Thank you so much. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be on here and share my story and my experience with the listeners.

Gresham Harkless 0:44

No problem the honour is definitely all mine. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Oleg so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing his start in life was auspicious and at nine years old, he relinquished his parent's rights and entered the Russian orphanage.

At 12 years old, he decided to be adopted into a new family in a new country halfway across the world to start a new life. At 24 years old, he began his journey of helping others to live the way they had always dreamed of, despite their hardships and misfortunes by allowing them to recognise the uniqueness and worth within their own story. Oleg, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

Oleg Lougheed 1:13

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 1:14

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I know I touched on a little bit, but I want to hear a little bit more about your your CEO story. And what led you to get started with your business and your progress?

Oleg Lougheed 1:21

Yeah, I'm happy to share that, my story begins from a rather unique perspective. And that was born either in a town called Chapayevsk in Russia. As you mentioned, I had faced a lot of adversity from a very young age, as far as being put in positions where I didn't really have parental figures to rely on. Part of that journey led me to make a series of decisions where I put myself in a position as a nine-year-old child to put myself, in the Russian orphanage with the hopes of a better future.

As part of that journey, what I began to understand and realize was the power of choice, and that no matter how difficult a circumstance may be in front of us, we can always choose to look at it from a different view, we can always choose to develop a different perspective of how that particular thing is presented to us to begin with because at the end of the day, no matter what the situation may be, no matter how difficult that particular challenge may seem, we're the ones that got to determine how we viewed it to begin with. So I think as part of that it's also appropriate to think that we get a chance to rewrite that particular story.

So for me, fast forward, through that journey, I had lived in an orphanage from 9 to 12. And 12, was ultimately able to be adopted by a family from Ann Arbor Michigan. As part of that journey when you get adopted at such a, I guess you could say older age, there are many challenges that you have to go through not only learning the language and culture but really understanding well, how do I make friends with in front of groups that already have pre-established, quote-unquote requirements for meeting those groups.

There are a lot of things that I faced as part of it but ultimately, what I began to understand is that every single one of the challenges that I encountered, was able to overcome, I was able to find a workaround or work through a particular thing and it led me on this journey of self-discovery, where I was able to see other people along similar journeys and paths, and really understand that I'm not the only one that has gone through this and I'm not the only one that is going through the challenges that are present in front of you. So it only made sense in my mind to start building a community for other people, where they do belong, where they can see themselves through the reflections of others. Where can they understand that their experiences matter and that the path that they choose to take in this particular lifetime is unique to them?

But there's only so much, there's also so much that connects us and helps us be one and helps us be individuals. That's what I wanted to do create this platform with Overcoming Odds, where other people can embrace different parts of their journey, take ownership of it, and know that at any given point within their time, they have a choice in rewriting a narrative that was available to them yesterday, or months or years before that and they can step into this new version of themselves. They can build upon what they know, regardless of what age they may be, regardless of the experiences that they've had in their lives.

Gresham Harkless 4:14

That's awesome and I appreciate you for telling your story and letting us hear everything because I think so many times when you're going through difficult times, and I think we even spoke about this offline, when we first connected is that a lot of times you feel like you're alone, you feel like you don't have any type of positive reinforcement or ability to change or rewrite the story, as you said.

So a lot of times, you get into a negative space or a negative state and you continue to kind of go deeper and deeper into that space. So that's why I love for one, you telling your story talking about all the things that you've been able to overcome, but also creating that platform and the community where not only can you give the opportunity for people to talk about their stories, but also you get that kind of energy, that positive reinforcement that we all can rewrite our story if we make the choice in order to do that.

Oleg Lougheed 4:59

I think it's part of what you've mentioned, and I haven't had this realization until this particular conversation, and that is part of the journey, why an obstacle seems so difficult at a time is because of that feeling of being alone. As we go through that particular adversity in times where we haven't encountered it before, in that particular shape and form, we get sucked into that particular form of energy.

Because we do begin to think that, well, this is only happening to me, no one else has faced this and it becomes harder for us to isolate ourselves from that particular situation, and start to look at other people along similar journeys and look at them and think, well, they've gone through it, how do they do it? How can I start a dialogue with them, where I can engage on a level of being completely vulnerable and saying, here are the problems that I'm facing?

I know that you might have faced similar things, how did you get through this? That's what it boils down to is really just being open enough to understand who we are and what we're going through and know that at the end of the day, I mean, we as people, we get to choose as far as how we interact with other stories and what we do with that particular information. But I truly believe that no one is out there to get us.

So everything that we are sharing, and even though some people may misuse that particular information, that's not the intention of it, just focusing on us, knowing that I can do only what I can and outside of that realm, as far as how people engage, share what they say about the story that's entirely based on their own perspective, and what their story is and what they're going through.

Oftentimes, what I've learned is that in situations where I remember, in particular, when I was first starting this off, and we were re-sharing some of the people's stories, and some of the stories were very positive, very upbeat moments of people going through their adoption journey, and having a successful transition from their birth family into the adoptive family and the new environment.

As part of it, there were people that I remember commenting specifically on some of the Facebook posts and saying, I can't believe this person is sharing this, how can you share this positive experience? What he gave me was an opportunity to engage with that particular person, and really dig into their pain. What are they going through that's making them reflect on this particular matter? What is that great pain? I'm a firm believer that I think out of our greatest pain can come our greatest gift but it boils down to tapping into what that greatest pain is. That requires asking some tough questions and questions that we may not want to share in a public forum.

Then the question becomes, as well, where's that space? Who can it be? And even if that person is aware that you are going through something does he or she have the courage to ask you that question, but what are you going through? So creating spaces like the ones you've developed, I think extremely critical for all of us as individuals, because it gives us a chance to process our existence, it gives us a chance to be us. Anything beyond that we don't know the type of impact that it's going to have. All we have is the self-belief that it's going to help one other person along this journey, step into a version of themselves that they've envisioned for many, many years, and can finally put it into action as far as creating that particular beam.

Gresham Harkless 8:23

Yeah, absolutely and I think a lot of times, we have to have the space in order to do that, as you said, and I appreciate you for creating that space. And I think a lot of times, I usually always say, things don't happen to me, they happen for me.

I think a lot of times when you focus on controlling what you can control, you understand that one of those things is your mindset, your perspective, if you're able to work on that, no matter what happens, good, bad, you have that mentality that things are happening for you, then it changes a lot of those negative things that can happen and sometimes completely send people into a free a downward spiral, so to speak.

I know you touched on it a little bit, I touched on it. When I read your bio, I wanted to hear a little bit more about the space you created can tell us a little bit about your podcast and your website and everything that you're doing there, and what you feel kind of is your secret sauce that makes you unique.

Oleg Lougheed 9:05

Yeah, absolutely. We started off with overcoming yawns it was simply an online space for people to share their stories. And as part of sharing that story was not to share in any story, but really a story that makes you unique as an individual. So having to sit back and reflect upon questions such as – What makes me unique? Who am I? Do I love myself? Who are the people within my network?

As part of creating that narrative, what I've learned is that it has given a space for people to take ownership of their stories and the things that they have gone through. What I've learned since is that, as you mentioned before, this particular space can also be formed can also be used as a form of narrative therapy and that's really to help us understand that yes, we have all had great odds to overcome but as part of that, here's another individual on a similar journey who has worked through it. Therefore I can, therefore it is possible for me.

We started this online space to create a platform for others to share their story, what we've learned was that there were many forms that people were willing to engage with. That's why a forum live podcast was a critical thing that came to our mind, as far as expanding that conversation and giving an additional element for people to tap into their own existence and their own stories beyond that, the third thing that we've introduced is in-person events.

So these are in-person experiences that people can come into and really, the goal of the whole experience is to provide a space where people can be themselves and help them develop the courage that their story matters, that their experience is unique, and that there are other people within the community who have gone through similar challenges in life. So the three things really helped guide what we're trying to do and who we are at the essence of it all but beyond that, what I've learned is that, even though I might have started with one particular demographic, and that is foster youth and adoptees that the two elements relate to so much more.

Now, they really speak to us as human beings because I firmly believe that at the end of the day, we as human beings are looking for similar things in life. There are different forms and different shapes of it. But when we talk about the aspects of belonging, I think we are, we are all looking for places to belong. Now, those places might vary from one person to another, your sense of belonging may be in a particular room that you're in, surrounded by all the affirmations, all the progress that you've made, my sense of belonging may be nature, where there's no access to technology, but the fact that we're all looking for that sense of belonging, and whatever it means to us, that's what connects us.

So instead of looking, at the minor details of what those places of belonging are, and trying to connect from those, I think we need to look at it from the principle point of view and say, well, if we're all here to connect, if we're all here to serve, if we're all here to belong, that let's look at it that way. Then allow our own individual experiences to find what those things aren't for us. That's where I think I've ultimately been able to gain a greater appreciation for just humans, in general, is when I can come in with an open mind and say okay, you feel safe in that space, I feel safe in this space. Because we have established that, and we both understand when we feel safe, we've also simultaneously created a third space, and then is the space between us where we can also feel safe.

Gresham Harkless 12:31

Absolutely, that makes so much sense. I think definitely we talked about that offline when we said, we're more alike than dissimilar when we really look at and drill down to the essence of who we are, and when you were talking about that I kind of visualize kind of like a Venn diagram, where you have that this is me, this is what makes me unique, this is what makes you unique but at the same time, we have that synergy, where we're kind of very, very similar and much of the same way.

I appreciate you for creating that space and manifesting it in those three different forms as well, too. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Oleg Lougheed 13:06

To answer that question, I think it would have to reflect back on the book that I'm reading right now. It is called The Art of Possibility. The book has helped transform me in many different ways and when I speak of transformation, what I mean is helping me establish a new perspective or a different perspective of how I view things.

Gresham Harkless 13:22

I definitely appreciate that book because a lot of times we don't know the possibilities until we start to change our perspective in order for that to happen. Now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget and this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. If you could happen to be a time machine what would you tell your younger business self?

Oleg Lougheed 13:39

The advice that I would give to my younger business self is to believe in myself more.

Gresham Harkless 13:43

Absolutely. Yeah, that makes so much sense. And then now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question. I know you already touched on this a little bit but here's the definition of what it means to be a CEO and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs on the show so what does being a CEO mean to you?

Oleg Lougheed 13:55

That's actually a phenomenal question and the reason why is because being a CEO, ultimately means being an individual who is there acting upon his or her dream and is willing to include other people as part of that journey. I don't think being a CEO necessarily has to do anything with the title or with the authority that comes with it. I think being a CEO is all about the human being, and who that person is.

Gresham Harkless 14:29

I appreciate that perspective, appreciate that definition and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is passionate Mike, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of you, subscribe to your podcast and see all the awesome things you guys are working on.

Oleg Lougheed 14:43

I appreciate it. Well, thank you so much. First of all, for having me on the show and creating the space for me to be me and being able to reflect upon my own lived experience and the different things that we've done. As far as people getting involved and in contact with what we do. The best way to do it is through our website and that is overcomingodds.today, that's where you'll be able to find the different levels of engagement that you can take as an individual. That is, whether it's sharing his story listening to your podcasts, or becoming a part of some of the events that we host around the country in the different cities that you will be able to see through our calendar. Those are probably the best ways that I can think of as far as getting in touch, in addition to that any other form of social media will also work.

Ultimately, what I want to leave people with, as far as a final message is that never say you can't do something in life. There's always a way as long as there's a will and with knowing that there truly is no obstacle that is too great to overcome. I think as long as we are able to shift our perspective and give ourselves the opportunity to understand whatever the challenge may be in front of us, that's when our world begins to change and that's where this obstacle ultimately becomes our strength. So having a choice in it all is extremely critical and just know that at the end of the day, you have a choice in how you view whatever the situation is in front of you.

Gresham Harkless 16:02

Love it and I definitely appreciate you knowing that message. I appreciate everything that you're doing because it's all right in alignment and thank you for reminding us of that of the choice that we have. We will make sure to have your link and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you and see all the awesome things you're doing in the space that you created. Thank you so much again. I truly appreciate you and I hope you have a phenomenal rest today.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]