Sept. 10, 2024

From healthcare Leader to Podcaster Richard Craft's Inspiring Journey

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In
this episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, host Curveball sits down with Richard Craft, a podcast host and former healthcare leader. Richard opens up about the challenging period he faced after being laid off just before the pandemic, and how he struggled with self-worth and identity. He shares his journey from depression to finding a new purpose through podcasting, which has allowed him to help others discover their true self-worth beyond professional roles.Richard talks about his experiences working in a level one trauma center, his definition of self-acceptance, and how he redefined success after his career setback. He also discusses his battle with sobriety and the importance of facing discomfort to achieve personal growth. The conversation delves into the themes of fatherhood, mental health, and navigating life's chaos.Listeners can expect valuable insights on overcoming adversity, the importance of accountability, and the power of community. Richard also shares his plans for future projects, including a private accountability group and possibly writing a book.

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> Curtis Jackson>Welcome, to the Living the Dream podcast with curveball. if you believe you can achieve Chee Chee, welcome to the Living a dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today I am joined by podcast host and former healthcare leader, Richard Kraft. Richard got laid off just before the pandemic, and it really depressed him because he was, he was attaching his self worth to a role, but we're going to be talking to him about how he got out of that and now how he's helping others show their real self worth where it's not attached to a role or anything like that. So, Richard, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> Richard Kraft>Well, thank you for having me.

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> Curtis Jackson>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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> Richard Kraft>Yeah. So, my name's Richard Kraft.

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> Richard Kraft>before becoming a podcast host, I've held a number of jobs, but, prior to being laid off during the pandemic, I was in healthcare for twelve years. And some of that was in a level one trauma center working, nights. And then some of that was as a leader managing ambulatory clinics with multiple service lines. And so, yeah, I got laid off and kind of dealt with it poorly. And once I got a grip on things and, you know, I decided, hey, maybe I'll, you know, with a recommendation from my, daughter and my father, I, started a podcast and that gave me some kind of direction. And you, you know, so I think it gave me something to do, focus on somewhere to put my attention. And since then, you know, kind of one of those things is, you know, the purpose of the podcast is let other people know, hey, you're not alone, you're not crazy. These things kind of happen, and sometimes you just got to go for it and do your own thing. And, yeah, you know, sometimes the things you think are important are not really as important as you thought.

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> Curtis Jackson>So when you were working in a level one trauma center, were you like a nurse or.

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> Richard Kraft>No, I was actually one of the only non clinical people amongst all the clinical people, and I was a senior clerk. And, I think the easiest way to describe it is a lot of people would say, that I'm pretty much like radar on mash.

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> Richard Kraft>I'm just the guy who knows a little bit about everything and kind of gets things done and make sure every, I take care of the people, the doctors and the nurses, so they can take care of the patients. So I'm kind of like the little go to guy of really anything, something's broke, you need something fixed, you need to know when something's going to be fixed. yeah, I'm the guy.

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> Curtis Jackson>So talk about your definition, since you went through our list, talk about, define your definition of self acceptance.

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> Richard Kraft>Oof, kind of, I want to say probably, you know, looking at the good, the bad, the ugly. but I think a lot of it is, you know, I think as caregiverse is people who work in healthcare or professions like that, I would say teachers, some service military, you know, when these people retire or get injured on the job and they have to leave, oftentimes they have hard times transitioning, because your identity is tied up in what you do. Because I think when you're of service a lot, I don't think it's, necessarily what you do. I think it's who you are. And, and I think kind of, you know, if you serve as a leader, you serve your country, you probably serve in many areas of life. You're just a natural giver. And when, you know, that kind of stuff happens and that's kind of tied to you, you know, it feels like something's very personal, even though it could be a business decision, like during COVID And so kind of understanding that and understanding that, my worth, my value wasn't tied to that, and that I'm still the same person, I still have kind of the same mission in mind in helping others and serving, helping others get where they want to get. But I think I'm just doing it in a different way. You know, being a podcast host as a way to, tell other stories, tell, give those lessons to those who need to hear them, and hopefully they help somebody. But, you know, through, podcasting, I can reach a lot more people than, you know, the two ambulatory clinics I used to manage and the people I came in contact with daily, you know, so I kind of had to rearrange my perspective on, how I looked at things and also accept that, you know, there was a lot of good that came out of that job, and some of the skills it gave me, such as interviews, interviewing people for roles, were very useful. And so once I kind of forgave that and had a little self acceptance of myself and knew, I was the same person, I just kind of needed somewhere to point that attention and that same caring spirit. And the podcast was it.

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> Curtis Jackson>Well, now that you've went through all that you went through, and you got a different perspective on life, what is your definition now of success?

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> Richard Kraft>Well, I think so.

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> Richard Kraft>In this process, probably one of the most fulfilling things that, has happened as a result of this is I've really been able to be. Spend more time with my daughter as she's growing up. And anyone who's listening to my episodes know that one time I had this idea, that maybe I would work my way through the ranks of healthcare. And I.

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> Richard Kraft>When my daughter was 18 and was going to go to college or something, I'd be able to be wherever she needed me to be and spend time with her, and I would have that flexibility then. And when I got laid off and everything happened, it was just more kind of a, hey, nobody says you're going to make it till she's 18. So, you know, the time is now. you're having the opportunity to be the father you want now.

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> Richard Kraft>And so, like, that freedom of, when she's sick, I can go pick her up, I can take her to the doctor, I can wait on her hand and foot. You know, I spent the day, taking her and her friend to meet some of her friends and just hang out and stuff and do playdates. And so having that freedom, being okay, do I make the money?

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> Richard Kraft>I once did absolutely nothing, but is my quality of life way better?

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> Richard Kraft>Absolutely. And to me, that's kind of the success, having that freedom. the fact that I'm not really answering to anyone other than my wife, maybe at times, but, you know, outside of that, I don't have to be anywhere at any certain time unless it's an obligation that I have to my daughter, my wife, my father, or somebody that I've chose to invest my time in and give my time to. And so to me, being, able to do that, that's success. Having my life designed around that kind of principle. And, the fact that I get to give my time to the most important people in my life versus giving my time to, maybe some corporation that would probably replace me before my obituary dropped.

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> Richard Kraft>Yeah.

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> Curtis Jackson>Well, going through everything that you went through, did you ever have any issues with sobriety or, What are your thoughts on sobriety?

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> Richard Kraft>Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did. I, you know, I drank and dealt with things poorly and, you know, I once I and, oh, man, made horrible times, you know, wasn't getting along with my wife because there was this pressing issue of, you know, you need to go back to work. And, you know, I just kind of didn't have any direction, and that certainly didn't help. And it didn't help with being angry or anything. And so, yeah, it took me a little bit and I stumbled a few times, but, you know, finally got ahold of it. And, you know, I've got over a year of not drinking alcohol. And, you know, and it depends on what.

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> Richard Kraft>What your vice is. You know, it doesn't necessarily have to be alcohol, but, you know, that was what was bad for me.

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> Richard Kraft>And, I got a grip on that and kind of started exercising, getting some natural dopamine, and, you know, things turned around because, you know, there, there's really just no way other than sitting through the discomfort. you know, it's still gonna be there when the alcohol wears off. And the sooner you face it, the sooner you can get pointed in the right direction.

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> Richard Kraft>And, you know, there's some people, like my wife, she can have a drink or two and she just falls asleep. You know, if it's not your thing, then, hey, it's. I'm not talking to you. But, you know, if you got a problem with it, and if you do, then I would just say the sooner you can get a handle on it, the better off you'll be.

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> Richard Kraft>You, know, kind of think about the future and, is it going to lead to being the best version of you? So, I don't know how many too many daily drinkers that live out the best versions of themselves that don't end poorly. So a little food for thought.

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> Curtis Jackson>What. Tell us about your podcast. Tell us, you know, what listeners can expect when they listen to it and what we can hear it.

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> Richard Kraft>Yeah, so, it's pretty much anywhere you can find a podcast. YouTube, Spotify, Apple.

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> Richard Kraft>and it is just about fatherhood, mental health, navigating the chaos of everyday life. There's some solo episodes, and you can hear kind of my journey of where I started, as I just maybe was a little over a month sober at that time. You can hear the struggles, some, of the real talk that I go through of struggling, with myself, whether or not I want to continue to podcast. And then I started having some guests and, that was kind of a whole shift in the podcast.

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> Richard Kraft>And, you know, then through joining podmatch and getting kind of a plethora of guests and some guest spots, it's just kind of, you know, become the thing. I enjoy it so much.

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> Richard Kraft>It's, But yeah, you know, my podcast is about kind of putting the stories out there, you know, keeping a. Telling other stories, recounting recording history a little bit. You know, we're fortunate enough to live in a time that, you know, I've seen pictures of my great grandparents, but I've never heard their voices, you know, now we have this kind of medium that things can be saved for generations to come. people can know exactly what we were going through, exactly what was going on in the world, exactly what we were thinking, our views, what concerned us, what we were, we were happy about. And so part of it's that. So, yeah, it kind of encompasses many things, but you know, in general, we're all much more similar and alike than we are different. Yet we fight over differences and I think we'd just be better off coming together over commonality. and we can make the world a little bit better that way.

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> Richard Kraft>learning from one another and just being nice to one another and kind of approaching each other with curiosity and listening to other stories and their culture, their upbringing. What's different?

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> Richard Kraft>Why they believe something's different. as opposed to always just, you know, seeming like we have to fight to the death over what's different.

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> Curtis Jackson>Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.

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> Richard Kraft>Yeah, so, kind of I'm just going to continue pushing out interviews with valuable content, content that I think is valuable to the listeners. And, you know, that kind of covers what's important to me. Like I said, recording some history, some giving some lessons out there, kind of hearing other, other people's struggles and how they overcame them and giving you that opportunity to take that leap. And, you know, something that's kind of helped me with, whether it's sobriety and whatnot, is things like consistency and accountability. So I'm in the process of standing up a private accountability group that's by email, invite only, and you be able to reach out to me through the link tree. but yeah, so that's kind of something I want to help others with is a private accountability and just helping other people, you know, improve their lives and stay accountable to themselves and whatever it is they're trying to move forward with. I didn't really have a lot, I did it for a living. So, you know, but I'm also part of a podcast connection network and that's my accountability system. But you know, I did it for a living in healthcare, holding others accountable, helping them with their goals, that kind of factor into their annual reviews and whatnot. So, you know, it's kind of my contribution of and wanting to help others. You know, some people do life coaching and I'm going to do accountability.

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> Richard Kraft>So that's probably the biggest thing I've got on the horizon, and that's kind of got to go with the podcast. And, perhaps I want to write a book. You know, it's kind of been on, on the back burner for a while. And I think I needed a few more pieces of the story. And I think kind of the layoff and getting myself to hear, you know, a little over a year of podcasting and sobriety and, you know, standing up the, accountability group, I think that's kind of the beginning of the end of the story. So that's also something I'd like to start on. But, yeah, few things in the work there. I feel like I got the podcasting piece down a little bit, like on schedule with consistency in posting and how I like my system to flow. So now it's time for kind of a little phase two and phase three of, the business plan of an entrepreneurial kind of journey and spirit.

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> Curtis Jackson>Well, so everybody can keep up with everything that you're up to.

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> Curtis Jackson>Throw out your contact info.

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> Richard Kraft>Yeah. So you can, find, me if you know how to do the link tree. It's a link tree.

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> Richard Kraft>slash Richard P. Craft. Or you can reach me at RPaul.

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> Richard Kraft>Let me. Hold on, let me see. Rpaul dot craftmail.com. had to think about that for a minute. Yeah, but that's also in the link tree. And of course, if you go to, if you find me anywhere on bus, sprouts, apple, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, I'm on all of them, find me anywhere in there, there'll be a link tree and you'll pop up and you'll be able to contact me directly.

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> Richard Kraft>Or, you know, you can reach out through me, to me through DM's or however you'd like.

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> Richard Kraft>I check them. I don't have a social media team or anything like that yet. So, yeah, it'll be me.

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> Curtis Jackson>We'll close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on or any final thoughts you have for the listeners?

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> Richard Kraft>Yeah, I got a couple. So, couple things I've written down lately is, you know, doing m the right thing never goes out of style. So focus on doing the right thing when in doubt. and you know what it is. And I always kind of just say, go out and be the person you want to meet, you know, that's how the world gets better. I mean, if, you know, be the person you want to meet. If you want to be a butthole and you want to meet more buttholes and good luck, go for it. But, you know, it's kind of like the golden rule. Just if you're cool and you approach other people and you're cool, then have a conversation and just be cool with each other and, you know, slowly, perhaps the world will get better.

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> Curtis Jackson>All right, ladies and gentlemen, remember that. Be who you want to be. Also, remember to follow rate review share this episode to as many people as possible.

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> Curtis Jackson>Jump on your favorite podcast app. Leave us a review. Follow us. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, Curtis Jackson, 1978 is the place to send them. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Richard, thank you for all you do. And thank you for joining me.

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> Richard Kraft>Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

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> Curtis Jackson>For more information on the living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurvefall.com.

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> Curtis Jackson>until next time, stay focused on living the dream.

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> Richard Kraft>Dream.