Tori Weathers

I attribute my success to drive and grit. I wanted to be a professional tennis player, so I learned a lot of drive from that. I think my parents and my grandparents - their work ethic - I learned that from them. I would say faith and hope, and drive, and grit, and determination have all contributed to my success. And now, having this different perspective on life, having been on my deathbed and being so close to death, I don't look at things the same way anymore. I do know that there's something I'm supposed to do with this, and I'm being called to talk about it and share my story. Hope is a huge thing when you're in that situation. More than ever now, with the faith and just knowing that if you want to do something, there's not anything that you can't do in this world. There just really are no limits. I truly do believe that, especially with God leading the way.

My father has always told me that the quietest person in the room is the most intelligent person in the room. It's the person that's listening and observing. So I would say listen more than you talk. Pay attention to people. Be the observer, be the learner. And be respectful. Use your manners. There is a lot to that - that the quietest person in the room is the smartest person, or the wisest person, because they don't feel the need to fill the entire room with whatever they think. A lot of times, we're wondering what they think. I think it's important to be very in the moment and thoughtful about things in meetings and that kind of thing. To be present. There's so many distractions in this world, so to be present in the moment. When you're talking with someone, give them your attention - not only be physically present, but be psychologically present in that moment when you're having a meeting or talking. Because that is really the only life we have - this moment. So we just have to stay in it, hold on to that.

I would say take that chance. If you're afraid, go ahead and take a chance. Take the leap of faith. Do it scared. Go ahead and take the chance, because a lot of times we talk ourselves out of it. Sometimes in the doing it is when you learn that it all comes together. Maybe fake it till you become it. Until you're a master at it, you just keep showing up for yourself and putting in the practice. Because it's like anything else - in the practice of doing it, you will eventually become what you are trying to create. Whatever you're trying to create, it will happen. But it's the actual practice of doing it and being confident enough in yourself to go ahead and just take that - to bet on yourself. That's all we can do, is just put ourselves out there and take a chance on ourselves. I would say practice self-love and self-respect. Because I know as a younger woman, sometimes I can recall being insecure or scared. If you just work on that and keep doing these things, you make yourself proud of yourself that you tried it, you did it, and you strengthen that muscle. Definitely tell people to just go for it, no matter what, because there will be something to be learned from it. And then maybe later on, you'll see why you did that, and the puzzle comes together later. And it's revealed to you later why certain things happened a certain way. Be your own cheerleader, root for yourself, and take those chances. And most of all, I would say most importantly, listen to your gut instinct. I think our gut instinct is God. It's a voice within us saying this is the right way, go that way. Really work on that gut instinct and that intuitiveness and trust yourself. Those things, I think, would really help people. And never give up. There's always hope.

I would say right now there's so much talk about AI, and what does that mean? What does that even look like? How important is it? Everybody is kind of buzzing about it. What is that going to change in every industry? What does it really mean to me? Because I will tell you, I don't have enough - I'm not educated enough on it to really know what that means. I mean, of course I've got ChatGPT and Claude, and I play around with those, but I don't know if I truly know what the implications of all that - of AI - I don't know if I know what that is and how it's going to change our work as we move forward. What's fascinating is, you know, because it's the unknown, I guess it's a little scary. Like self-driving cars and things - it's fascinating and terrifying at the same time. What is it? What does it look like?

I think keeping your promises to yourself and keeping your word to yourself and to other people. Definitely integrity. And then just really protecting your peace and happiness and not allowing things to interfere with that. One thing I think that's really challenging is leaving work at work. The practice of yoga really helped me break that up. So if I go to work and then I go to yoga, then by the time I get home, I'm more present at home. I would say being responsible for the energy that I take to the place - like, am I being positive today? Am I being upbeat? What kind of energy am I taking to work today? What kind of energy am I taking home? And being responsible for that and being able to shift it. I think being able to find things to do that - a catalyst or something to shift your energy so that you can stay at a high energy level. Because I feel like I'm being a better human. My coworkers, we kind of feed off of each other's energy. So if I'm tired, dragging, in a bad mood, other people might feed off of that. I don't want that. I want it to be more uplifting. I think trying to be responsible for that and being proud - like, being proud of myself for how I show up, showing up the way I want to show up in the world. Really being thoughtful about that and self-reflective. There's some days, though, you're just doing the best you can and you're just glad you even made it to work. And that's okay. And then not beating yourself up over it. The boundaries are so important and so challenging for me in my life. I have really had to work on that and learn to say no without guilt. That one's been a tough one. But the authenticity, the boundaries, the peace - so important.