Trill Talk: Dr. Shante Cofield
Physical therapist turned entrepreneur, Dr. Shante Cofield, a.k.a The Movement Maestro joins us to discuss mental health and social media expectations.
Q: Here at Trill we like to keep it True and Real, so give us the scoop Dr. Shante. Who are you?
A: I am a physical therapist by trade. I haven’t treated in probably two years in that capacity. I basically realized that my heart wasn’t in treatment. I do love assessment but I thought “this is not my best life”. I pivoted about five years ago into the digital space and was still treating at that time but really started to focus my efforts on educating other movement professionals and such. I had a contract with a company called Rocktape. I was traveling the country, traveling the world teaching for them and just doing more with my own brand on social media and it’s just basically become a matter of a time where you kind of stop doing this and you kind of start doing more of this stuff. Now I spend my days educating and coaching movement professionals primarily as it relates to the business side and bringing them into the digital space.
Movement professionals are:
Physical therapists, Chiropractors, personal trainers, massage therapists, yogi/pilates instructors. Anyone who moves in any capacity. Irrespective of the modality, if they are all about movement, then I am all about helping them.
Q: Where does the name The Movement Maestro come from? What advice do you have for our users looking to be the ‘maestro’ of their own specialty?
A: I came up with the name of Movement Maestro as a backup choice and for those of you out there that are worried about changing things, you can always change things. So I was originally Movement Mechanic and when I first started on Facebook and I went to look at the name and realize it was actually trademark by some massage therapist out in Denver, so I was like “I should probably change this.” I wanted an alliteration because it’s just easier for people to remember so Maestro was popping around in the back of my head and I was like “I don’t know if I love it if people can’t spell it.” It’s kind of different and I just kind of went with it and I couldn’t think of anything else I liked so if I want to change it again I’ll change it and it stuck. So one of the things that I will say as it relates to branding yourself or names and such, is that: realize that you bring the magic to the name and you bring the magic to the logo not the other way around. We look at any of these big names Apple or Nike in and of itself doesn’t mean anything. It’s the brand that’s behind it that we started attached all those things to that name so you know the Maestro has become this thing. I love that the nickname has stuck but it didn’t come first. You just keep showing up, show up authentically, you show up consistently and then people start associating you with the name not the other way around.
Q: What advice do you have for our users who want to become my maestros of their own?
A: I think the biggest thing would be to show up authentically and show up consistently. One of the drills I do with the people that I coach it’s called this 5 steps drill and you start by setting up a goal. You write down your goal and then you ask yourself 5 times why you want this goal. So let’s say I want to have fifty thousand followers on Instagram then the next time will be “why do you want that goal” and then you write that answer out and then why do you want that, so it takes you to this deeper level of figuring out why you want to be doing the things that you want to be doing. It turns this very objective concept into a hard definitive personal why. That’s what’s going to keep you going because a lot of the time you may not have the support, other people may not have your vision and so unless you’re really tied to that and you have that solid “this is why I wanted to do in this” you may falter and you may not keep going so to become the Maestro of your own life, you show up consistently, you show up authentically and make sure that you have that solid why figured out first.
Q: You’ve previously mentioned that “Instagram and social media get a bad rap, but I don’t think there’s enough accountability placed on the user.” In our generation, we’ve found social media becoming more and more curated and reflective of unrealistic expectations. How do you maintain authenticity in the space?
A: I think that it starts with each user. Imagine if everyone just took care of themselves and they were authentic and weren’t focusing on someone else. We’d all be in a better place. What I tell people in regards to social media is curate your experience. Do not follow someone who you would not hang out with in real life. Do not follow someone who makes you feel bad and maybe they’re a really nice person but you compare yourself and you just keep comparing yourself to them mute them, unfollow them. You get to curate your experience and then you have to have the courage once again to show up as yourself because I truly believe a good friend of mine said this to me is that “we attract what we are not what we want” and if you want authentic people around you, you have to be authentic. If you want authentic people around you but you are bringing a very curated experience, a fake experience, don’t be surprised if that’s what you attract because people see that and that’s what you’re going to get back. It does take a lot of courage. I’m not going to like “oh this is the easiest thing ever” but if you then again circle back to your “why” and your own values I think it made it a lot easier. I think personally the social media space can be so good because there’s so many people so when I’m coaching people in business, I tell them to niche down, because look at something like Instagram, there are a billion users on it. You can find your people and you will find your people but the easiest way to find them is simply attract them. Remember, we attract what we are, not what we want.
Quite frankly, society in general values certain things. I am fortunate that the things that I’m inherently pretty good at, society values. Like I was really good in school, really good at sports and those were the things I was interested in so it’s like if this is a thing that society inherently champions and you’re good at it, it’s easier to be yourself. Whereas if you’re good at something or your interest is in something that maybe society doesn’t champion as much in, then you’re like “I’m nervous to put this out there because it makes me feel vulnerable.” I love that you guys created this because it isn’t easy to be authentic. I want to thank you for doing what you’re doing and you guys out there I see you. I commend you, I support you and just keep showing up practicing bravely.
Q: Why does mental health matter to you; what does your own self care routine look like, especially now during quarantine?
A: If I take my doctor hat and speak on that. Mental health matters and it’s important because of the nervous system. I’m going to include mental health in the nervous system. The nervous system is queen. Everything we do is dictated, governed, determined by our nervous system as such if we have thoughts that are negative, if we have viruses, if we are uncertain about things because society has been telling us forever that’s wrong that’s bad. Your nervous system is not going to readily grant you strength, movement, it won’t readily grant you strength because it’s been bombarded with the opposite so as it relates to protecting that and fostering Mental Health it is a top priority. It is imperative. It is the number one thing. The nervous system is the same as Beyonce. Your brain is a driver so in terms of mental health for me and things that I do, I moved across the country for me because it became a matter of writing a list. I wrote a list of them. I have this “what do I want to do, what would make me happy” that can be very difficult for people so what I did was I wrote a list of things that I didn’t want especially relating to my career and my day to day because I was in a very bad place as a related to my job in New York City. I was a very unhappy person so I wrote down a list of things that I didn’t want and I simply worked on crossing off those things that help me curate this life that I have now that allows me to exercise when I want, it allows me to have sunshine, it allows me to sleep with a good schedule, it allows me to be able to afford healthy foods, all of which are all really important to me. As it relates to mental health, it allows me to live in an area that I feel safe that I feel supported, and so curating that life and creating it can be very important. I did that just by taking a long time working and getting rid of the things that I didn’t like. Circling back to social media and mental health, curate that experience. If there are people on there that make you feel bad, don’t follow them. It is so important to cultivate healthy environments for me. Like I said, daily habits are making sure I’m eating well, and getting out in the sun is huge for me. I am so affected by the weather I had to move. I lived in New York City and I was like” I can’t do this man.” I would wake up, it was dark and go home and it was dark. And so I moved to Southern California. I needed the sun. I need to be in an environment that is good for me and that’s going to look different for everyone. I recommend starting with that list of things that you don’t like, things that aren’t helpful and working on crossing those things off and then go from there.
Q: How do you motivate yourself when you are feeling down?
A: I don’t think motivation exists, at least not enough form of that kind of nebulous like “oh it’s out there somewhere it’s going to hit you”. I don’t think that exists. Discipline is what’s going to get you to do the things. Discipline over motivation every single day. You have to have the discipline to do these things so I think that goes back to that 5 steps drill from before. We need to really figure out your “why.” When we have these very superficial goals, maybe that’s not even our goal, maybe we think we’re supposed to have that goal but you’re borrowing somebody else’s goal. Every December, I do a goal setting call to help people get out with that. Because of what I’ve seen, some people don’t want to see their goals because they’re not there, they don’t care about them, they think like “I should read everyday” I’m like “why? why are you doing this” because “my friend does it” well that’s a terrible reason. I think it’s going to be a matter of saying or going to write down a goal and then figure out why. Why is it the thing that I want? Once you figured out why, and have a solid why, then you have to go in about breaking that goal down into actionable steps. So one of these goals are like “I want to lose 10 pounds,” “I want to gain 10 pounds of muscle” whatever that’s like a great goal but there’s no action steps. There’s no way you’re going to achieve that so instead you have to break it down. What would that look like each year, what will that look like each quarter each month, what would that looks like each week, what does that look like today? So that may break down into something as simple as that means I need to put my sneakers by the door every morning because that means that I will get outside because it’s easier for me than to get dressed in the morning or maybe it means like I have to lay out I have to go to bed 5 minutes earlier because then I can wake up earlier and be able to actually go to the gym. The issue I see with most people is they’re depending on motivation which is never going to come because it’s fake and then their goals are not actionable so have that goal, figure out your “why” and break it down into actionable steps. Say “what can I do to make them realistic” and then “what can I do right now”.
We need to celebrate our small victories. Something is better than nothing. People tend to take this All or Nothing mentality is like if they didn’t succeed massively, it was just a failure. If you just did one thing that’s way more than you’re doing yesterday so we really need to also commend ourselves even if we feel like that action is small. You know I think about people who talk about saving money if you save a penny that’s great it’s a penny instead of being like “it doesn’t matter, it’s just a penny”. Because as soon as you start building a habit that ties in the discipline then suddenly you get that momentum and suddenly a small action and a small change leads to massive change.
Q: What Trill Tips do you have for anyone reading this on how to deal with stigmatization and judgement?
A: I would say reach out to me. Reach out to someone. There is so much power in knowing that you can talk to someone. There is so much comfort in that. I think that as a species we’re not designed to be alone, we’re designed for community in whatever respect, whether it is one person or a bunch of people. So for any of you that are struggling, first, know it’s not your fault. You’re not lesser than or anything like that. You have phenomenal resources right here if you want to reach out to me. Growing up gay and growing up with gender identity issues made me look for “where is there someone that looks like me?” and that can be very very tough. I know for me growing up, if I can just have somebody like maybe even look like me and I can relate a little bit and I’ll bet that would help so if you feel like I may be enough. Please reach out otherwise, please use the services that are here and reach out to someone.
Q: How did you manage to get out of your unhappy place? What advice would you give to our users who might feel hopeless about the future?
A: That’s a great question then I’ve asked myself that many many times. Again, I think I was really fortunate in this: the things that I was inherently interested in and kind of the things that I valued were championed by society. Financial success and financial well-being has always equated it in some way shape or form in my mind to safety and I was like if I can do well financially, there’s a lot of things I feel like I do. I’d have a lot of opportunities that I’d have more time I’d be able to live in different places and start to create my happiness. I was kind of like nose-to-the-grindstone there and everything I did was to get this outward success of going to good schools, getting a good job, making good money. It wasn’t that I thought I would find happiness in that money. I thought and it really has come true for me that if I could get into this place I would get to that situation if you will, that it would allow me the time and the resources to be able to curate that happiness and that life. So again, I knew I was really fortunate in that the thing that I was inherently naturally good at, sports, the academic side of things, that society champions so that helps me move forward with things. I really rested a lot of my actions on that I did everything I could in the moment to find happiness. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I was just like just the future right now sucks, I again was very fortunate the things that I was good at society championed. I dated women in high school. I was very popular in high school. I played a lot of sports so I didn’t have this terrible experience so I don’t want to come off sounding like it was so easy and you should be able to do the same thing. My situation is my situation so that’s all that I can speak from but definitely in the back of my mind there was always that it gets better I’m going to make it better I’m going to succeed and then be able to have the time and the resources to be able to create the life that I want and that’s that’s largely what’s happened
Q: What else would you like to say to our users?
A: Ask. Especially for the female-identifying presenting listeners because that’s how society is going to view you. Ask. I think that in general we think if we work really hard we’ll get noticed and then everything will be fine and oftentimes that’s not the case you must work hard absolutely but also ask. Ask for help, ask for those opportunities. Asking changed my life got me a job that really just kind of took things off from there, so ask.
Q: Where can we find out more about Dr. Shante? How can we support you and your work?
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