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This podcast was born from a belief that meaningful growth doesn’t happen overnight. The things that really matter—in life, business, art, relationships—often take time, patience, and unseen investment. And yet, we live in a culture that constantly pulls us toward immediacy: fast food, AI, and overnight success stories.
But the reality is:
Anything truly worth building usually takes time. Success doesn't arrive in an instant.
We take the time to ask our amazing guests, what are the things that are worth putting in the time and investing in, even if we don’t see results for a long time?
9. Cameron - Main Audio
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Bamboo Method, investing in the Unseen, a show about what it's like to play the long game with fast food, two-day shipping and so-called overnight success stories. We live in a world that tells us if you don't see results by tomorrow, maybe it's just not worth it. But anything worth building usually takes time.
So we're here to ask what are the things that are worth? Putting in the work and investing in even if we don't see results for a long time. Today's guest is Cameron Shield, a marketing expert whose path led him from growing up on a Christian camp in Montana to helping launch marketing campaigns for global brands.
At the time of this recording, Cameron was the Senior Director of Strategic Operations at Child Bridge, a nonprofit that finds and equips families for children in the foster care system in Montana. However, Cameron stepped away from the role at the start of 2026. His time at [00:01:00] Child Bridge was pivotal to its growth and success, and his impact will be felt for years to come.
In this episode, Cameron talks about prioritizing personal health and demanding seasons, investing in the team. He leads. And learning how to replace poor habits with productive ones. Well, thanks for being here, Cameron.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me. Super excited to chat and um, yeah, I'd love to hear personally, what are you nurturing in your life right now?
Yeah, it's taken
Speaker 3: a while to see fruit. Yeah. I love this question. I think what really comes to mind is personal health. I really am becoming more of an advocate of understanding what actual. Health looks like in my life. I've been, not to go down like a crazy rabbit trail here, but um, I've been learning a lot about metabolic health and insulin resistance and understanding, you know, how do I be the healthiest version of myself?
I think we have been [00:02:00] in kind of a culture of nobody, nobody thinks about this. A lot of what am I actually putting into my body every day. And the idea of you don't have to do something crazy to be much healthier. You just have to eliminate the things you're putting in your body that are really unhealthy for you.
So what, what have you eliminated? We really try to stay, we, my wife and I, yeah, we really try to stay away from. A lot of synthetic ingredients and toxins and a lot of, you know, pesticides and this kinda stuff. I mean, we're not perfect, but
Speaker 4: yeah,
Speaker 3: that's kind of the, the journey that we've been on. I just get personal, I've had, you know, blood pressure issues.
Okay. Um, which you would maybe never guess. I mean, I was a athlete in high school and I've been pretty active, you know, my whole adult life. But it's be a lot, I think a lot of diet stuff over the years and so. This is really within probably the last year and a half that I've [00:03:00] really, you know, dived into this of, yeah, alright.
What can I do to make sure that my body is operating at the highest potential that it currently has?
Speaker 2: Yeah. So you brought up, I'd love to hear you're married.
Speaker 3: Yeah. How long have you been married for? I've been married for a year. Yep. Last September. How'd, how'd you guys meet? Yeah, we met, um, we actually, we lived in the same apartment complex and, uh, we, one morning I went down and introduced myself.
And found out that we were both headed to the same church that morning. Awesome. And so, um, the long running joke is I obviously made the first move. I went down and introduced myself, but my wife certainly found me at church. Okay. So, yeah, we uh, just hit it off instantly and um, yeah, the rest is kind of history.
We dated long distance for about. A year and a half. That was challenging. Um, yeah, that if you wanna talk about, uh, personal challenges and what can be learned from that. I have a lot of those I'm
Speaker 2: sure.
Speaker 3: So Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm sure your [00:04:00] communication, you had to learn how to communicate
Speaker 3: real
Speaker 2: well. Very well. Yep. Yeah.
Which is a wonderful, um. Resource to have and, and lesson to learn, but maybe not the most ideal way to learn it. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So going back to the personal health, uh, diet, um, eliminate, you know, toxins. Are you, um, is it like organic? You said no pesticides. Yeah. If you could label any of like the specific changes you've made Yep.
Whole
Speaker 3: Foods Organic, where does all that fit? Yeah. We try to eat organic as much as we can. Okay. Um, obviously that's not always possible, but Yeah. To the best of our ability. Yep. And then we really have tried to eliminate, you know, we don't cook on non-stick anymore. Yep. Like trying to get rid of all the pfas and the forever chemicals and Yep.
There's just a lot of bad stuff around that. Yep. Um, and then we really try to, um, just not eat, you know, you look at some of these ingredient labels and it's wild. It's wild. Yeah. I mean, there's 70 ingredients [00:05:00] on a cracker, you know, label and you're just going, yeah. This is, this is not good. Yeah. Not healthy.
So, yeah. Yeah. So I'd say those are some of the main ways that we really have tried to, um. I'll be honest, I feel so much better since starting this about a year and a half ago.
Speaker 2: I was gonna ask what, what has changed that?
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. You feel better Talk about what that feels like. My blood pressure has gone down.
Yeah. Um, I, I have more energy. Um, a lot of this was, you know, we did kind of a kind caffeine freeze for a couple months. Okay. And I could just operate normally. Yeah. I had great energy levels, you know, when I go to the gym or run or whatever it is. I just had sustained energy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whenever I've eliminated caffeine or, or minimized it, you know, energy goes up and is far more consistent.
Yep. It's wild. Mm-hmm. It can be easy to think about, man, I just need caffeine all the time. Yep. It's kind of a crutch. Yeah. What was the catalyst? Mm-hmm. For like, I need to make some changes here because [00:06:00] food is a, is a big deal, right? We're eating a lot and it's fun. Like it's great to eat. It's fun. Good tasting food.
That can be a hard change that I know a lot of people struggle with. I've struggled with making all those necessary changes, but
Speaker 3: what was the motivation? Motivation was I, we read a book called Good Energy and it just kind of blew the top off of this for us in terms of. I think that. We all grow up not understanding what true health actually looks like, and you just kind of fall into the norm of just, you know, eat whatever's in front of you.
Mm-hmm. And, and I, you know, I, I really didn't eat a lot of processed food in the first place, but just not really understanding how valuable, just raw, like very whole food is understanding a lot of the, the chemicals that have now made it into our, into our food in a lot of different ways. And so we read this book and it just transformed my thoughts on what True health actually looks like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that. Yeah. So what's the, [00:07:00] uh, do you have any, like, because you gotta do the adjustments in, in stages, what stage are you at right now? What's some of the most recent adjustments?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the adjustment that we're on right now is we've kind of gone the organic route, or at least really trying to eliminate a lot of that.
Um, currently I would say my, my wife is gluten intolerant, so there's, you know, we obviously don't eat a lot of gluten, but. Really kind of more to the limited whole, whole ingredient method. Yeah. And trying to make sure that everything that we're eating is just the ingredients that we're wanting to eat.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Whole foods. Yep. Whole food derivatives. Yep. Yeah. What was the hardest thing? That adjustment, maybe like the hardest food or meal to give up or aspect of eating cost. Oh yeah, for
Speaker 3: sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah,
Speaker 3: right. Man, it is. It's expensive, you know, and I have to justify it by just thinking, alright, I can pay for less now with the [00:08:00] healthy food that I'm putting in my body, or you know, I'll pay for it later.
Yeah, with healthcare costs and Oh yeah. You know, whatever comes down the line. Just the variety of things, you know? Absolutely. So that's the, that's really kind of the hardest part, I would say, just as everything else is so expensive anyway now, and that's just even more expensive.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Which is, it's the long game, right?
Yeah. A long, it tastes good vision. Mm-hmm. But it, but down the road, what's the, what's it gonna cost Yep. On your body. Yep. And, uh, I know a lot of, like our parents, or even their parents, the older generations are like, well, I would eat and drink that, you know, all my whole life. It's like, well, I think it was different then.
Yeah. You know, and some people can eat and drink and smoke and do whatever they want for the, some people just, I don't know, it works out that they're just, they still live to a hundred. Yep. Um, and for others it doesn't work out the same way. Um, it's so true that it's, it's a, it's a long game.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And, uh, I know that for, for me and Kristen, as we've adjusted our diet and that mine is a little bit more restrictive than hers is, one of the [00:09:00] biggest challenges is the social component.
Mm-hmm. Has that played a factor and for you guys at all, whether it's like going out to eat with friends or if someone invites you over? Yes. You know, and yeah, it can get weird, you know, and it's like, ah, and, and that's where you have to be somewhat loose. But there's been seasons in my life where I was very strict for health reasons.
Yeah. Um, and that, that's the most, it's like, I'll eat whatever, I can eat rice by myself alone at home.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 2: But if I'm going to someone else's house, so how, how do you guys navigate even some of those aspects?
Speaker 3: I try to educate and help all my friends along the same journey. You're an evangelist. Absolutely.
Yeah. Honestly, so that. You know, I want them to be as healthy as they can be. And I am that kind of personality where if I believe in something, I see something that I, you know, really latch onto, I'm going to tell everybody that I know about it. And so that's, that's more my approach. Yeah. Um, and again, I think like 90 10, 80 20, that's kind of our goal.
Yeah. You know, there's times where we don't follow it and obviously we're eating stuff we shouldn't probably eat, but. [00:10:00] I think it's in like, doing it as much as you can possibly do it. Yeah. And the other thing I would say is just getting it out of your own house mm-hmm. Helps so much because if it's not there, I won't eat it.
Yeah. If it's, if I just keep it outta my own house, you know, have it a little bit as I go out and go to dinner with friends or whatever. But yeah, if I get outta my own house, I'm, I'm pretty good then. The, the mindset Yep. That association
Speaker 2: with it is Yeah.
Speaker 3: Is key.
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah. Um, any other aspects to the health that's been a main component for you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, running is a big thing. Really kind of heart health has been trying to, not to get to nitty gritty here, but like spending a certain amount of time in each, um, heart rate zone. I've really taken a lot of. Time and effort to try to increase that. Um. Mm-hmm. And just have, you know, zone two, zone four.
Um, just get my heart rate up and make sure that I'm [00:11:00] working my heart.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. So this year, you said you started diet about a year ago. Yeah. You doing exercise? Mm-hmm. You said you, it was starting to feel a lot better. What do you feel like is the fruit that you're looking for and trying to nurture?
Like what are you hoping that this does for you? Besides, I know we talked about the preventative aspect. Mm-hmm. But what else are you hoping for?
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think it is that energy level. It's, I have a busy life and I have a lot of responsibilities and I want to be able to do them with the amount of effort that they deserve.
Yeah. And so, yeah, I would leave it at energy level.
Speaker 2: Just wanna show up. Well,
Speaker 3: yep.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And what you, what you put in is what comes out. Yeah, exactly. Heck yeah. Awesome. Thinking about your professional world. Yeah. What are you investing in? What are you nurturing that you see delayed fruit for? I think it's people.
Speaker 3: Mm. I think, um. Investing in people and growing people's skills, helping people's skill align with their passion is a huge thing. We recently [00:12:00] did the Clifton strengths testing and had our entire team do that, and then we had an expert come in, do kind of a facilitation of it, and it was incredible, um, for people to our team to learn about themselves, for me to learn about myself.
And then have understanding of what are the top giftings and strengths that I have and how can, how can I use them, and how can I create more impact and be more aligned with the passions that I have, with the strengths that I'm given?
Speaker 2: Yeah. So what does that look like? How do you carry that out now that you've done the test?
Mm-hmm. Have you, have you guys had to Yeah. Replace a lot? Like, or not replace, but move people into new positions. Mm-hmm. What does that look like?
Speaker 3: Yeah. It's kind of, it's more along the lines of doing exercises with our team where you say, you get the best of me when you get the worst of me when, yeah. And putting more common language to how can I be a better [00:13:00] teammate to you?
How can you be a better teammate to me? Because we understand each other better.
Speaker 4: Hmm.
Speaker 3: And. Also looking at what are other areas of responsibility that maybe you should have, because you're really good at that, you're really passionate about that. You have the skillset that is needed to help us drive that forward.
And so that has been really a fun year of learning people, learning strengths and implementing them.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And you took the test too, I'm guessing? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Did you find anything out like that you were surprised about? What was that like for you personally?
Speaker 3: Yeah. It, I had done it before this year. Yeah.
Uh, but in doing it. Again, it really kind of solidified that I love strategy, I love building strategy. Um, I love kind of figuring out how many different components come together to help accomplish an outcome. And that came forth in my testing pretty clearly. And any any surprises with your team? Not really.
I think [00:14:00] the biggest surprises that we had were people. Kinda had this aha moment of I've never been able to explain. Mm. But now I can. Now I have a piece of paper that tells you why I am the way that I am. It gives people kind of the ab ability to just own it. And say, this is, this is why I'm really organized.
This is why I am really good with people and this is why I'm really good at sales. Or you know, administration or whatever it is.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And the qualities that. You know, really elevate them in those positions.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And is the main implementation then a continued conversation or were there any big shifts?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's, um, it's more of a continued conversation. Yeah. Um, but there will be some shifting over time just to help align people with the skill sets that they have. Nothing burns people out more than having to operate in a position where. [00:15:00] They are not passionate about it. They're not passionate about the responsibilities or the responsibilities are draining to them.
And so that's currently what we're analyzing a little bit with the team.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So what, what was it like before that? What, what was the motivation for this and the importance of like, team at Child Bridge? You know, we're talking about investing in team. Yeah. Talk a little bit more about like why investing that, what were you seeing signs of burnout or like Yeah.
What's, what's the whole goal there? Yeah. I
Speaker 3: think a big part of it is you obviously we're, we're trying to accomplish a pretty difficult mission. Yeah. And. We can move that mission so much further forward and have so much more impact if we align people's giftings with their position. And I think part, part of it, to answer your question is we, we have a really new team.
We have a lot of new people at Child Bridge, is because we're growing so much and you know, we. [00:16:00] Don't quote me here, but I think we were at about 20 Yeah. Uh, 18 to 20 people last year, and we're not about, I think 35. Okay. And so with that is the forming of a team. Yeah. And in the forming of a team, you people have, you have to have people learn each other.
Yeah. Learn each other's preferences, working styles, you know, strengths. Yeah. Giftings, all of that. And so I just, your question that really fast tracked us so that people could have open and honest dialogue without having to kind of. Learn it in a more challenging way through projects where you have speed bumps and challenges.
It, it kind of brings it to light before that so you can kind of work through it quicker.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that. I think, uh, yeah. You know, when you have small teams like that, you can still be somewhat scrappy and you're just like, get it doneness and just have soul and we're just gonna like, keep going and everyone's, we're just doing it in it together.
Yeah. All hands on deck. Yeah. Yeah. All hands on deck. But. As you grow and, and get more, you gotta really hand things off and create ownership and [00:17:00] clarity. And I just think, yeah, clarity is just ownership and you know, what are you in and what are you not in all that can make a huge difference on how fast you go.
Speaker 3: Yeah. One other tangible example of how we're using this is we just built our five year strategic plan where, I mean, we're looking out across the entire org how we're gonna accomplish the mission, all of the initiatives that we're going to work on, and. Then we can look at the strengths assessments and say, man, we really need, you know, this person, this person, and this person to work on.
Yeah, initiative A. We really want to use these four people to work on initiative B. It really has helped us align the work with the talent.
Speaker 2: That's so cool. Clarity. It's a big deal. 30
Speaker 3: is kindness.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh yeah. I love that. Mm-hmm. And I'm sure there's just such, you know, excitement, momentum from the team around that and momentum and you know, you are gonna want to take ownership of the things that you feel like you're good at and when you feel like you're seen and heard and known in that.
Yep. So what a cool way for your team [00:18:00] to be like truly seen and, and put into sweet spots. Yeah. I love that. As, as a team, thinking about the team component there. How do you guys navigate the heaviness as a whole?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we, first of all, we're an employee assistance program where you can go do counseling and you can, you know, offload some of the heaviness of the, especially our parent coaches who hear a lot of.
Very difficult stories on the day in and day out. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, we have team prayer in the morning and we spend a lot of time encouraging each other in that and praying for specific things. And one of those is, you know, just make sure that the team is, you know, has hope in this and has encouragement in this.
Um, and then, you know, a lot of it also has to do with we, we have a very close team, and you know, if you're, if you're dealing with different situations, you can come talk about it. And there's, there's a lot of resources and a lot of staff that, um, use that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's good. I just think like, you know, it's [00:19:00] in, in the business world and just in life the, to the to-do list, never ending, but my to-do list.
Has a lot less of like significant if a video doesn't get finished at the end of the week. Yeah. Some people might be upset. Mm-hmm. I'll probably be anxious about it, but it like, it doesn't have quite the same weight as like if a kid is still looking for a home. Yeah. How do you go home on a weekend and how do you guys navigate that?
You know, like, 'cause you could just work mm-hmm. All, all hours of the day to try to, you know, but. That's a tension, right? You can't just burn yourself out. How even, is there any way, like as a company that you just approach something so heavy and delicate, but also you gotta have to hold it somewhat loosely, right?
Like what does that look like?
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, I think you really do have to kind of create mental boundaries for yourself because exactly as you say, you could. You could really think about it forever and it could bother you and it's always gonna bother you. But [00:20:00] um, yeah, I think really it has to do with, we've done a lot of, uh, we've done a lot of professional training with the team on, uh, boundaries.
Yeah. And, um, that is, that plays a huge part into being able to let things go on the weekends and really fo focus on it during the time that you need to focus on it and know that. By you constantly stressing about it over the weekend isn't going to change the outcome. And so it, it can sound kind of harsh, but if you work in that space, I think you have to kinda take that approach because it is so heavy.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Crush you.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Awesome. Well, uh, I love the. Skills and was that very present back when you were working in the marketing agencies? Did they do much like. It was just basically, here's your role.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Like, make sure it gets done. No, there were, I've, I'd never done something this comprehensive with a team ever.
Yeah. And so I [00:21:00] don't know if they weren't as popular at that time. Sure. Or to be honest, when you're in the kinda marketing agency world, it is fast and yeah, you don't spend a lot of time on internal reflection. You're just trying to appease clients all the time. And so I just, yeah. I don't think there was that priority.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So what are your thoughts on that? Like when, when you worked in those agencies, you guys did some amazing work. Mm-hmm. Granted, you're working like 10 to 10 hours. Yeah. Long hours. Long hours and weekends and all that, you know, but you sound, you loved it. Mm-hmm. So like when you've experienced both, how can you have one that, you know what, I guess, what are your thoughts on doing those things when you've also seen it not done and it still was pretty successful?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that it would've been helpful. Yeah. At that time, especially just team dynamic, team effort and understanding each other. But at the same time, I [00:22:00] think you have to have a team that is interested in learning about that. Okay. You have to have a team that wants to work better together, and that you create that culture kind of from the top down.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, to say, all right. We have either some issues or could have some potential issues, and we're gonna take some intentional time to learn more about each other. And this isn't just personality driven. This is like, Hey, what are your strengths and what are the things that you bring to the team that we should be relying on and using for different projects?
That's where I think the the beauty is. Yeah. Is you have a team that gets that vision and then fully engages with it. Because if you get on the other side of that and you have team members who aren't participating in kind of the, you know, you get the best of me when you get the worst of me when type exercises, it's not valuable.
But if a team has bought in, they will. Yeah. They'll dive into it and you'll get some really, you'll get some gold out of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm [00:23:00] guessing the whole team was bought in. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker: Hey everyone Wade here. Before we get to the final question, if you like the show so far and wanna hear more, you can support the Bamboo Method on Patreon.
There. You can listen to the full director's cut of this conversation and help make this show possible.
Speaker 3: In Montana, we have, at any given time roughly 2000 kids in the foster care system who have been removed from their families due to abuse and neglect. And so what Child Bridge does is we find families who will care for these kids and then, uh, we equip them with trauma education so that they know how to help these kids heal.
Speaker 2: What is Montana gonna look like if we don't take care of this?
Speaker 3: It's a cycle that keeps repeating. There's one family that has experienced trauma and then it splits into a couple different kids who all are exper, have experienced trauma, and then are passing along abuse and neglect, and it just keeps [00:24:00] rolling and growing.
And that's why we have to, we have to break the cycle.
Speaker 2: Transitioning to our last question, what are you nurturing that you wish you weren't? What's something in your life you'd like to throw away?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's, that's a great question. Very thought provoking. You know, I think, um, a big one is I'm, so part of what I do is being, you know, I, I've always been in marketing pr, I'm always, you know, aware of what's going on, you know, in the world.
And while I think there's importance to that, um, I think I can really tend to overdo it, of constantly trying to keep up with, you know, what is happening. Just the, the scroll, I mean, you mentioned it before we even started this. Yeah. But that is, that's very relevant and true to me of,
Speaker 2: yeah.
Speaker 3: And how do I just disconnect?
And spend more intentional time with the people in my life. [00:25:00] I mean, that's what, that's what's important at the end of the day, you know? And yeah. One of the things that I'm really trying to be more disciplined in right now is, is reading a lot more and kind of replace, 'cause it's one thing to just stop something, but you kind of have to replace a habit.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And so that's kind of the, the habit, uh, that I'm trying to really improve on right now.
Speaker 2: Change some of the, the social consumption to more beneficial consumption. Consumption of like reading or something like that.
Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: I think that's great. 'cause my next question was gonna be Yeah. How do you, how, how do you go about that?
You know? Yeah. Because I think, I think everyone can relate to that on some level of, of, uh. Consuming too much and social media and just the time suck that that can be the vacuum that that can just suck you into in the anxiety. Right? Like, oh
Speaker 3: man, man. It's just, I just to be better at seeing what is right in front of you in your own life.
Yeah. Than constantly looking at everybody else's lives, whether it's the news [00:26:00] or social media or whatever, whatever. Yeah. That's a healthier spot to be.
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. What do you feel like drives you most to,
Speaker 3: to social media? I think I like to know what is happening if I don't know what's happening.
I, I, I think about it a lot of, you know, wanting to understand things, know more about different situations, and that's, that is what drives is just the inform, the information absorption and, and desiring that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Outta fascination or out of like, uh, I wanna know so that I am prepared or aware or
Speaker 3: understand.
I'd say more fascination. Yeah. Trying to understand the world and understand what's happening in it. But there is so much happening in the world at this point.
Speaker 2: Yes. Yes. I think more than we are made to. To know. No. Yep.
Speaker 3: Um, yep. You know, I think I'm becoming more okay with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right. It's tough. It's a tough [00:27:00] tension though, right?
Yeah. Because it's like, you know, it's a, it is a tension.
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not an all or nothing. And I can absolutely relate and, and especially in the world that we live in. Mm-hmm. Social media is a big part of our big part of it, our work lives and how we engage with the world around us. And so having that be a piece to it, it's like, I can't cut it off completely.
Um, but then, yeah. How do you replace it and have good times to be present? I think, you know, one of the things I've just had so much on my mind in the past, really since having kids mm-hmm. Is to be where my feet are. And, uh, it's been, I mean, my oldest is almost eight, well being a few months, and I still, I'm like, I, I, I wish I could say like, I started working on that when I had him and I got it, figured it out in a couple years.
It's tough.
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. Be present, be where your feet are. Yeah. That makes me really think about the other thing I was gonna say, which is. I have a tendency to really think about the future a lot. Mm-hmm. And like, dream about the future. Hope for the future. Um, just think about where I want to be and an element of that is, [00:28:00] is healthy, but my current practice is to try to be much more present.
Yeah. You know, and focus on what is right in front of me and enjoy what is happening right now. I can dream about the future and still enjoy what is currently in front of me.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Is there anything that helps you do that in like
Speaker 3: in a mo
Speaker 2: if you can feel yourself getting pulled?
Speaker 3: Definitely. You know, I think devotionals in the morning are huge for me and just grounding myself.
Mm-hmm. And the Bible and kind of the plan that, you know, God has for my day. Mm-hmm. Um, and then I think just turning off technology, getting it away. My wife and I intentionally do that once a week at least. Um, and get outside, you know, I think. Just having fresh air. It cannot be understated how important that is.
And just, yeah, you know, going for a couple walks a day and just enjoy [00:29:00] outside, helps cleanse the brain of all of the things that are going on.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You said you, you guys put your phones away? Yeah. Like you do like no media for like a couple days. No social media. Yeah. Is that a
Speaker 3: weekly thing or? Yeah, we do it once on the weekend.
Usually. We hope to be able to do it a little bit more, but you know, I love that. Just put your phone away and Yeah. Yeah. Just be present.
Speaker 2: Yep. Create some structure. Yeah. Around it, you know, it's like you are not gonna do it by accident, right? Yeah. You gotta create some structure to like, yeah. This, this is the window of time that we don't need to have access to that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. It goes back to if you don't fill it with something, it'll, it'll just filter back in. Absolutely. Flow back in. So, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Can you talk a little more about that balance of, you know, so easy to get sucked in and whether we like it or not, social media news. You know, tv, all that mm-hmm. Is a part of our lives massively, for better or for worse.
And even in your role, you know, how do you approach balance? How, like, how do you take advantage of what it's good at, but also [00:30:00] respect? And maybe avoid what it's bad at. Yeah. How do you, how do you think about that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, for me it comes down to, I look at how much time on my, on my phone, and if I'm way over what I myself deem as appropriate, I will delete apps off of my phone.
I just, I will spend a little bit of time on them, you know, a day, and then I will delete 'em off of my phone because there's always that temptation. And so that helps me create balance where it's just a designated time. And then I have, you know, a time after that to focus on other things, whether it's reading or, you know, working out, spending time with my wife, playing with the dogs, you know, really like fun, simple things that really should fill a lot of my day.
Speaker: That's great. Adding onto that, how do you think about that in terms of your work, like taking advantage of the good things, like I love that personally, but how do you then mm-hmm. Bring that into the workplace?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's, it's similar [00:31:00] where I will spend a certain dedicated block of time looking at what's going on and then I will, I do a lot of blocking on my calendar where I am just focused.
Um, one of the other things, not to take a tangent here, but one of the other things I was thinking of that I really am working on is. You know, multitasking in my opinion is kind of the death of productivity in a lot of ways where you're, you know, you're split. I can get split between so many different projects, so many different responsibilities.
And I have now actually started blocking time on my calendar. It sounds so simple, but I haven't done this for years just 'cause I have so much going on. And I only focus on that, you know, when I like, I focus on the blocks, the responsibilities within that block. And that really helps me.
Speaker 2: I mean, it sounds simple, but like it's, I do like, like for me and Wade, it's like we've talked about like we gotta implement.
'cause it, you just have so many things that come up. Oh man. I think sometimes for like a little bit more on the creative Yep. Side of, you know, minds, [00:32:00] it's easy to, to squirrel, you know? Yes. And I just have that huge tendency. Yep. So I think that's huge. And, um,
Speaker: what does that look like in the morning? Like, do you do it in the morning?
Do you do it the week before? Like how do you actually
Speaker 2: do
Speaker: that? Um, when do you set it up? Is that what you're asking? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: I do it the week before. Okay. Yeah. So I'll do it, you know, the back half of the week, like Thursday, Friday for the next week. Or if I know that I have something that's really important, that's gonna take a lot of thought, a lot of creativity, that kind of thing, I'll just go set a block on my calendar two weeks out because I know that I have to get this done and then I'll go kind of shift it, you know, as I need to.
But all of the things that I know take dedicated thought. I don't just write them on a to-do list. And that does not work for me. I will actually go put a two hour block on my calendar, you know, the next week or the following week. That's awesome.
Speaker 2: How, how much of your week is blocked out then? Because, because, uh, that's the challenge, especially I'm sure in your role you have a lot of people needing your time and having the margin of just like whatever [00:33:00] comes in and, yep.
So how much do you block out?
Speaker 3: I would say I probably have about 70% blocked out, but that doesn't mean sometimes I won't block time for, we do kind of this approach where like I'll have creative review. Yeah. And anybody can schedule time within that block. I just have that fully, um, set aside for anybody who wants to schedule time to review something.
So with the block time, I have intentional time for other people too.
Speaker 2: That's good. Yeah. That's important. Yeah. 'cause in your role, but, but, but it's also good to have the, the blockout. Yep. It's a game changer. There's the, the book Deep Work mm-hmm. Where it just talks about gotta get deep in it. Yep. Yeah. You have to give, and, and his, the theory in that is like, it takes a significant amount of time.
In one setting to get to deep work. Yep. Um, and intentionality. And so, um,
Speaker 3: oh, that is, there's no truer statement that is in It is incredibly hard for me to think [00:34:00] through the complex components of an initiative or a project if I don't have enough time to get to that place.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Because otherwise I'm just, I'm thinking about this thing.
I'm thinking about that thing. And problems
Speaker 2: are solved after you've just been in it. Yep. You know, significant problems for some time, ruminate on it, thought about it, and you gotta Yeah. Time. Have to give yourself time. Time, absolutely. Have to give yourself and your brain time. And I'm no expert, but I've heard psychologists recently have pretty much, some have debunked the idea of multitasking.
Mm-hmm. That it's just not actually a thing our brain could do. I would agree with that. I, I don't think, personally, I don't think my mind can actually focus on more than one thing. So if I'm bouncing around, I'm not multitasking, I'm like shifting focus. I, I'm doing multiple things. Yes. I'm just, I'm still focused on one thing at a time, but I just bounce around a bunch.
Yep. And it's. It's pretty ineffective. Yes. Agreed. Um, and unhelpful. Mm-hmm. And so, but however you can ask Wade, he works in my office with me every time I'm working and mm-hmm. It's, I'm, I can still, uh, I'm a bouncer, so [00:35:00] you gotta be intentional with that. I love that. Yep. What, what does that look like with you and your wife?
Are you guys on the same page as far as like some of that, like tension of being present and how much you're on your devices or otherwise?
Speaker 3: Yeah. How does that balance work? Yeah, good question. Um, yes, we, we definitely are. Um, it is a journey. I think, and part of it is that we are, we are both very future focused.
We both have kind of that bent to dream about the future and hope for what can be. And um, so we intentionally try to remind each other regularly. Like, Hey, be, let's be present. Let's enjoy this right here, right now. We're never gonna get this time back. Mm. You know, and if we just end up dreaming our whole future away, we're gonna look back and regret that.
So yeah, we very intentionally do that. And whether that come, that has to do with, you know, spending time intentionally together, getting off of social media, getting, you know, stopped looking at the [00:36:00] news. Yeah, we definitely are in it together.
Speaker 2: Yeah. That's cool. I love that. I'd love to hear you share a little bit about where people, if they're interested in getting engaged with foster care.
Yeah. I know we already talked about it before, what do they find? Child bridge. What would be that next step? Um, whether they wanna do a class or find you online or social, anything like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so go to child bridge montana.org. If you click on Foster at the top of the page, it'll take you to our foster care page.
And there you can sign up for a virtual free info meeting and you'll get a Zoom link that will, um, be delivered to your email inbox. And then you just click that and join our advocates as they talk about. Casual, no pressure. Simple foster care information and, um, what you can do to take the next step if you're interested.
Speaker 2: Thank you. And a, and a couple of shameless plugs, if you don't want to answer these, you don't have to for Child Bridge. Mm-hmm. Um, how much of the foster care [00:37:00] or foster parents in Montana come or, uh, from some way of child bridge? Like how's, how big is Child Bridge in Montana as far as its impact?
Speaker 3: Yeah, very large.
Um, we we're the primary recruiting arm for the state of Montana and so that's why we partner so closely with them 'cause we do most of that work for them. Um, and so most families, not all, but most families that are coming through, you know, there's anywhere from. 400 to 600 families at any time that are licensed foster families in Montana.
Um, sometimes more just depends. And so, um, yeah, the, the process with the state is very, uh, child bridge is very integral with that, so
Speaker 2: Heck yeah. And finally someone who's just like scared of the idea. Mm-hmm. They feel some tugging Yep. To be a foster parent, but they're a little bit scared. Yep. What would you say to that?
And maybe even speak a little bit to the resources you have on the website? Yep. There's a lot that will help give some context. What, what would you say to [00:38:00] someone in that space?
Speaker 3: First of all, if you don't wanna come to an info meeting, you can meet with one of our advocates, just one-on-one. They'll grab coffee with you, they'll, they'll walk you through all of the fears, all the concerns that you have.
Our team is amazing. Um, and they work with people every day who have the same fears. You know, they have, there's nothing you can bring that they have not heard. And so that's a really good way. If you don't want to join a Zoom call with a bunch of people, um, just meet with one of our advocates. You can on the same page on our website, the Foster page, you can go and schedule a meeting with one of our foster care advocates.
And yeah, it's, it's one of those things where just try, just come learn more, you know? Yeah. Nobody, there's no forcing anything here. It's just learn more if you come to an enough meeting or meet with an advocate and decide, yeah, this roof really isn't for me. I don't feel that I'm meant to step into this.
Awesome. Go, you know, buy a foster family a meal. Mm-hmm. Go do respite care.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So [00:39:00] many ways to engage. Yeah. So many ways. And uh, just big deal that I'll say is like that. If those kids don't need a superhero, they just need someone to love 'em. Exactly. You don't have to be a superhero. It's for, for anyone who just wants to love a kid or help fill the gap in that huge need.
Yep. Yeah, precisely. Thanks for being here today, Cameron. It's great chatting with you. Love hearing, um, about your history and what you're doing at Child Bridge. Love what you guys do. Super grateful for it and, um, excited for the road to add. You guys are doing awesome things. Child bridge. But I'm also excited for you and Abby and the road you guys have ahead and, um, I'm hope, I'm guessing there's probably some, uh, a lot of fun going on even with the kids in your guys' world, maybe at some point, right?
Mm-hmm. Growing your family. So yeah, we'll see, I'm, that's, that's, I'm trying to encourage you to go that route. You should have kids 'cause you'd be a great dad. Yeah. Thanks. Um, and uh, always fun chatting with you. You too. Always a good time. Yep. Thank you guys. Yeah, love chatting.[00:40:00]
Speaker: Thanks for listening. And remember, anything worth building usually takes time. If you like the show, give us a follow-up. Wherever you're tuning in, it really helps us out to see more. Check out the links in the description and follow us on Instagram. And here's a sneak peek of the next episode.
Speaker 5: I feel like growth is harder to navigate than starting.
'cause when you start, it's so simple. You, you, in a lot of ways, you're kind of blissfully unaware.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: You know, you just jump and you're like, oh, I'm gonna do this, this, and you're on fire. Right? You got that hustle like, yeah. That was my mantra when I started Hansen Home was hustle. Hustle. That was just like, I could have tattooed it across my forehead.
It's just hustle. Get up, go to work, show up. Yeah. And so, and I, and you still do that, but after like going on six years, you're like, whew. You know? Yeah, that's right. It's not sustainable.