Mick Unplugged - Avoiding Life's Potholes with Karen Salmansohn

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Karen Salmansohn is a best-selling author and self-help innovator with over 2 million books sold worldwide. Known for her unique blend of science-backed strategies, humor, and eye-catching design, Karen has redefined personal development for the modern era. She began her career in advertising—rising to senior VP, creative director—before making a bold pivot to write books that inspire, entertain, and genuinely help people. Her numerous works include “How to Be Happy, Dammit,” and “How to Succeed in Business Without a Penis,” empowering readers around the globe to pursue happiness, resilience, and authenticity. Takeaways: Embrace Self-Love and Boundaries: Karen believes the key to a fulfilling life and career is learning to love yourself, be your own best friend, and set boundaries that affirm your self-worth. Mortality Awareness Fuels Fulfillment: By thinking about what truly matters at the end of life (“to die lists”), you can reverse engineer a meaningful present. Mortality awareness isn’t morbid—it’s motivating. Take Bold, Ballsy Action: Whether in business or life, “being ballsy”—taking risks and going beyond the minimal effort—opens up greater opportunities, especially for women seeking to break the mold. Sound Bytes: “Stop staring at what could go wrong and start focusing on what could go right.” “Mortality awareness gives you urgency. Life is short, it’s fleeting, and that inspires action.” “Be your own best friend—what you believe you deserve, you create around you.” Connect & Discover Karen: Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/notsalmon/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/NotsalmonTV Webiste: https://www.notsalmon.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Notsalmon/ Book: Your To-Die-For Life 🔥 Ready to Unleash Your Inner Game-Changer? 🔥   Mick Hunt’s brand-new book, How to Be a Good Leader When You’ve Never Had One: The Blueprint for Modern Leadership, is here to light a fire under your ambition and arm you with the real-talk strategies that only Mick delivers.  👉 Grab your copy now and level up your life → Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million    FOLLOW MICK ON: Spotify: MickUnplugged Instagram: @mickunplugged  Facebook: @mickunplugged YouTube:  @MickUnpluggedPodcast  LinkedIn: @mickhunt  Website:  MickHuntOfficial.com Apple: MickUnplugged Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs

with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.ca. Have you built a life to die for? This episode, we're talking to author, Karen Samlinson, who's sold over two million books worldwide. She is the guru of gurus.

We're going to also talk about or ask the question, do you need a penis to succeed in business? If you're an author or a soon-to-be author or a wannabe author, At the end of this episode, Karen's going to give you an amazing tip. Ladies and gentlemen, I present my good friend is Karen Samuelson. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today, I have someone who's been on my bucket list for a long time. So I am truly honored.

She took a career leap from Madison Avenue to the mindfulness arena. with over two million books sold and science-backed tools that stick, she's redefined self-help for the modern soul. Join me and saying hello to the witty, the wise, the wonder-focused. My friend, Miss Karen, Samerson. Hi, it's so great to be here. I've been so excited to talk to you. I love it watching and listening to you, everything you're doing.

Karen, I'm truly honored. You've been someone that I followed for while you have some of the most amazing books that I've read. You're like that mentor that you probably don't know that you are for millions of people. So I genuinely wanted to say thank you for what you've done for the self-help arena, for women having voices. Just truly thank you for the soul that you. You are, Karen. Thank you. It means extra coming from you. Thank you so much. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. So, Karen, I like to start this show by asking my guests about what their because it, right?

Like, Simon Sennick did start with why. And I like you need to start with why, but I think you're fueled by your because, that deeper purpose, that deeper drive. So if I were to say, Karen, what is your because? What is that? because I've been in potholes and I want to make sure other people don't wind up in potholes. I want to make sure that they walk around the potholes, avoid the streets with potholes, heal from potholes, recognize a pothole to be a pothole because sometimes potholes don't look like potholes. So that's my because. I love that so much.

And I want to talk about those potholes, right? So it's one thing to see the pothole. It's another thing to be in the pothole. But Karen, you've come out of them. And now you know what they look like and how to avoid them. But when did this start for you? Like, let's talk through some of those journeys of the potholes that you had to get out of. Oh.

Well, I'll go way back. But I'm on coffee so I can go through it quickly. Let's go way back. But when I was a kid, I was always. interested in psychology and humor. My mom used to pick up my dad from the train station, and there was a little magazine shop across the street, and I'd go in, and I get one Psychology Today magazine and one NAB magazine, which is a funny magazine. And I kind of think if you took my, if you looked at my books, if you took Psychology Today, a Mad magazine, put them in a

blender, press prepay, you get my books. So, and the reason why I was interested in both, for those. First of all, I always love humor. That's just kind of how my brain works. But I had a family member that I knew who was very unhappy. And I was wanting to figure out how to make them happy. And that actually was the reason why I started to really want to understand psychology, what makes people happy and what makes people not happy. And so I learned it as a kid for that reason. And then I just stayed intrigued by human behavior because I did have challenges my own life. So I always kept going back to psychology. And I used to read so many self-help books and was embarrassed to read them. I used to rip off the covers and read them. And then I wanted to recommend them to

friends. And I realized that that could come off the wrong way if I said, here, you need to read this. So I felt like there should be like self-help for people that wouldn't be caught dead during self-help or self-help that you could give to a friend as a gift and they're not going to punch you because it looks kind of cool and fun to read, you know. And that was how I wound up writing my first best selling self-help book, although I don't even like the word self-help, how to be happy, damn it, which had the word damn it in the title, which my agent tried to chalk me out of. but I just kept moving forward. I could see it. I could see the whole book from beginning to end. It has stylized graphics. I believe that I love design too.

And like a spoonful of eye candy helps the self-help medicine go down. The book is like, looks fun and interesting. Instead of hiding the book, you want to put it on your coffee table. You're proud to be seen reading it. So that's sort of how I formulated my first of a series of books like this. The How to Be Happy Deadment book, which became a huge bestseller. And is one of my favorite books. I got to hear you talk about the story of that book a little bit.

So I'd love for you to go into that story because I remember you saying you were talking about how to be happy, damn it. But then the dammit just became the focus of everything. Well, I wanted to admit there's a lot of dammit out there. I mean, this book was back in the 1990s that I came up with the idea. And in fact, it's a weird, you know, claim to fame. But I think I'm the first author to put a naughty word in a book title, especially personal development author. You've done it a few times.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But back then, that was part of the reason why my age and thought I was like crazy, like, damn it in a self-help book. But people feel, damn it. Like, that's how you feel. There's a lot of damn it. So how to be happy, damn it felt very how I felt a lot of times

about, you know, nowadays we call it positive, toxic positivity, right? So I don't do that. I do like real talk about it. And that book came about, it was sort of a collection of things because I read from all different areas. I read from psychology, which I've mentioned, but I also love to read Eastern philosophy, Western philosophy, you know, biology, even how the brain works, neuroscience, quantum physics. But what I'm capable of doing is reading the boring, dense stuff, and then rewriting it in simple terms with humor, within the past stylized graphics, although my newest book doesn't have graphics in it. It just has the humor merged with the psychology and philosophy.

I love it. I love it. You know, Karen, you have one of my favorite mantras. And you actually, by saying this, help me overcome something. Oh. And you say a lot of times that you need to be your own best friend. Yes. I would love for you to break that mantra down and why that philosophy means so much, not just to you, but why other folks should take that on.

Well, I believe for many reasons that the world is like a mirror, that the more you love yourself, the more you'll create circumstances that mirror back a loving environment around you because you will do that. A lot of people think of it as more like quantum physics, you know, like law of attraction. but I also see it as psychology, that what you believe you deserve, you create a life like that. And there's a term in psychology called masochistic equilibrium, which is really interesting. And it's based on if you grew up in a home with about 30% love and 70% pain, then that becomes your masochistic equilibrium. of what you think you deserve love wise if you're not careful. It's not the definite thing, but it's the programming that's gone in. And then you will recreate circumstances that match the 30% love, 70% pain. And if you wind up with 90% love, 10% pain, if you're not aware,

a self-aware person, and if you're not treating yourself like your own best friend, then you will do things to self-sabotage to bring the love down, down, down, down, down, to your masochistic equilibrium that you were programmed with of 30% pain, 30% lock, 70% pain. So you have to get out of autopilot, get out of the default, and learn how to love yourself, learn how to be your own best friend. So you can recreate. We repeat what we don't repair.

And so you have to go in and do the repair and get out. lot of it's about getting out of autopilot. A lot of us are in autopilot and, you know, taking control of the wheel of your life, you know. No, I totally agree. And for me, why I also needed that of being my own best friend, is there a lot of times you count on people that don't show up, right? And they don't not show up on purpose. But someone could be going through a bad time or bad situation when you're also going through something and you need that person, but that person can't help you because they're also going through it. And so it made me understand that I have to love myself first. I have to be my support system first. And then that can then

allow me to be that for other people. You know, my mentor Les Brown has this saying of don't be a go-to person for people you can't go to, right? And I take that saying with your saying, and it's like, Mick, love yourself first. And then more importantly, make sure the people that are receiving your energy could also give you energy back. And so I'd love your take on that too with just the energies of people and the give and take that that record. Yeah. Well, boundaries are actually a symbol of self-worth, self-love, self-care. So it's valuing yourself enough more than people pleasing your way to miserate, quite frankly.

But it all starts with self-worth and self-love and owning that for yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Totally amazing. Totally amazing. Let's talk about a couple of other books of yours. Okay. I know the, I'm trying, I don't want to mess up the type. But you asked a question for businesses a long time ago. Well, you're bringing up that one with another naughty word. Okay.

And essentially the question was, do you need to have a penis to lead or run or own a business? And I know that wasn't the exact title, but it's also one of my favorite books. Oh, thank you. So I love to talk through this book because it is for family members, for my wife, for a lot of my friends. It was a book that helped them say, wait a second, I can be in charge. I do have. So you gave a voice to the voiceless. And I knew that you knew that when you were writing that book.

But I'd love to talk about that. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that book was loved by a lot of big important business women from Madonna, Donna Karen. Geraldine Laiborne, like a lot of big business women. But I'll tell you the story of that book. I started my career in advertising, and I rose up pretty quickly. I got a Cleo, my first year in the business, which is sort of like the enemies of advertising or whatever.

And then I became like a senior VP, creative director, my late 20s. And then I quit my parents' horror to become a novelist. My first book that I wrote was actually a novel that I sold to St. Martin's Press. And then to Miramax to be a movie star Marissa Tomei. So I was starting to be asked to give seminars to women's organizations to help women to pursue and snag their passions. Because that's why I left advertising. I wanted to write books. So I was giving one of my seminars to women, which had a normal title.

I don't even remember what the title was because normal can sometimes be not memorable. Right. So, and I said, my agent called me, this is back in the 90s, and my agent called me, and I said, I can't talk, I have to give, and I said it as a joke, I have to give my how to succeed in business without a penis seminar, because there's a play, and maybe it was a book first, but how to succeed in business is without really trying, is the name of, at least I know it's a musical play, I think. And so she laughed and she said, you must write a business book with women for women with that name. Okay, flights on Air Canada. Oh, wow. Majorca, that's new. Oh, nice.

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And every step forward feels like progress Not another wrong turn Visit camh.ca to help us forge a better path for mental health care. I thought she was joking, but she stayed on it with me. And then I did, it became big bestseller. And I went across the world that sold in different countries. I was shocked because the title was feisty.

But it sold in countries you would not think would have a sense of humor about it, so much so that I went around the world giving seminars from that book. And I joke, but it's true, that I learned how to say penis in about 11 different languages. they all translated the book. And then people have a sense of humor. I started, can I be a little feisty here? I don't know. Of course.

Okay. I used to jokingly refer to them as my seminars, jokingly. And because I'm, you know, I just find humor in things, you know. And one of my underlying premises of the book is a woman doesn't need a penis to succeed just balls. And then I even wrote a follow-up book called Ballsy, because when I look at everything that's happened to me in my life, it's happened because I was balsy.

And I wrote that book, and that book also did very well. And it's so funny, I was looking at the cover for that book before it went to print, and they asked me to get advanced praise for it. And I was just going to go back to the usual people, usual suspects. And then I thought, the book is called Balsy. I'm going to be Balsy and see who I could get to write some blurgs for it that I don't even know. So I reached out to Seth Godin, who I don't know if you know who he is. Yeah. Huge book writer, amazing, brilliant man. And he wrote me back and he met me for coffee

at a Starbucks, gave me a blur, became a friend. And then I reached out to Keith Farazi. Anyway, the book, the title of the book made me want to be more palsy, which then helped my career further. Because really, a lot of the things that have gotten in life was not because I was like a 100% person, given a 100% of it, it was because I was 150% person, I would go above and beyond. Yeah. And that really is something that women have to do. And in fact, that book could work for men, too.

But it was about a rallying cry for women that, you know, to go out there and ask for what you want. Yeah. So let's go deeper there for a second. For the viewer or listener right now, it's like, yeah, I hear Carrie. And I do need to be risky, to be ballsy, to step out, to take that leap of faith. What are some things that they can do in that business, or even if it's in their life? What are some things that they could do now to prepare themselves to take those risks or to be ballsy, as you said?

Well, what I feel like you have to do is stop staring at what could go wrong. and stare at what you want, right? So I sort of liken it to if I was walking across a bridge, like, we'll make it like Raiders of Lost Ark. I haven't said this analogy in a while, so now I have to refresh my memory of it. And there's all these like alligators beneath me, but there's like a pot of gold at the end of this bridge.

If I stare at the alligators that could like, you know, gobble me up if I fell, then I'm most likely going to fall. But if I keep my eye on the prize of the pot of gold, I'm going to get across that bridge. So that is what I did. When I wrote my first book, my novel, I would go to bookstores and I, my last name is Salmanson. And I would envision my book on the bookshelf. And Salmanson was going to be next to Salinger, Jameson. D. Salinger. And that got me really excited that I had a good neighbor for my novel. I was going to be next to Salinger, Salman soon. And I would do things like that. And I would also stay focused

like on books like when I wrote my bounce back book, which was hard for me to write because sometimes I write books after I fell into a pothole. And that book was about resiliency, about how to stay resilience, how to bounce back. And it helped me to kind of sometimes writing. for me is cathartic and it's therapy. And writing the book then changes me. I've tried to analyze this from a victim story to a victor story because now I'm writing the book of how I got through it. And it means that I have to show up as somebody who got through it. And I can't go back, sneak back to that curled up in a ball place, you know. And it was hard to write because I had to revisit some of what I had gone through. But I kept focusing on people need to read this

book. This book is going to help people. And then I would envision on my book tour, people coming up to me and hugging me and thanking me for writing this book. And it got me to keep writing the book and not letting any of like my fears or or even creative lock get in the way because I got myself re-excited and re-re-excited, this book is going to help people. And on my book tour, it was so interesting. People did come up and hug me just like I had visualized. And it felt really good. I was like, I'm so glad I pushed through any creative blocks, any doubts, any of like,

oh, my God, I can't write this, you know, moments because that book did help people. And so envision and keeping your eye on any of those, you know, golden treasures at the end. that will help people, that, you know, whatever it is that gets you to keep going, whatever your because is, I guess. Yeah. And actually, one of the pillars of, I have something called the Mick factor that Les Brown gave me. So it's the initials of my name, M-I-C-K. And the K is keep going, which is something that you and I both have in common,

because I know you talk a lot about emotional resilience, right? And why that is so important. Can you talk to the listeners and viewers about emotional resilience and why that should be a go-to strategy, a go-to trait that you have? Because life is nothing but curveball, right? Karen, like, if we knew it was going to come right down the plate, fastball every time, we could get up and swing, right? But the life that is curfable. Definitely, definitely. Well, okay, two things.

I think metaphors help people. back when I was younger, I don't do this anymore. I used to run around Central Park, and it's a very long run. I used to see how many times I could get around it back when I was younger in my, you know, kick-ass shape. And I used to tell myself, I just need to get to that next tree. I just need to get to that next sign that I see ahead. I have to get to that next bench. And I would make small markers for myself.

Because if I told myself, I have to run around this park three times, I'd be like, oh, my God, that's too much. I can't do that. But just set little markers for yourself. And when I was doing that, I thought, oh, I kind of do that with business, too. Just have to write one chapter. I just have to do it. So if you break it up in small little bitable, chewable steps like that, then you're more likely to do it. The other thing is a tool that I use still today, which is what I call a stop-and-swap tool.

And I mentioned this in my new book, my new book called Ear to Die for Life. This is one of my favorite tools. And it's so simple. It really is. If you want to stop a thought or stop a habit, you can't just stop it. You have to do a stop and swap. And I'll give you an example because examples work. We have dogs.

One of them is a little bit naughty. Pablo, he's a naughty dog. And he's always like chewing on a sneaker, chewing on a slipper. And if I only remove the slipper and put it back down, he would go back to the slipper because he's anxious. He's doing it out of anxiety. And his brain meat, it's actually his brain. His brain needs something to chew on.

So I have to do a stop and a swap. I have to give him something healthy to chew on instead, like a bone. Yeah. We're like that. When we're anxious, our brains need something to chew on. And it will keep going back to the negative thought unless you put in something healthier to think about because the brain needs something to chew on. So if you're thinking, nobody likes me, you have to swap in the right people like me.

Or if you're thinking, this will never happen for me. You have to swap in the thought. Everything has its process. I must trust the process, or whatever it is. You have to do a stop anis walk, not just try to stop the thought. That's an amazing analogy. I like that. That was very clear.

And, you know, you're helping me with the segue, because next I was going to your new book. So let's talk about the new book and some of the principles that you release in there, because one of the things that I love about all of your books, that is full of principles and standards and guide to it. So let's talk about the new one. Okay. My new one is called You're to Die for Life. Yep. And yes, it has the word die in the title.

And it does touch upon death. I think that mortality awareness is not morbid. It's motivating if you use it right. Because mortality awareness gives you urgency. You realize life is short. It's fleeting. And that urgency creates action. It inspires you to move forward.

I wrote this book. I joke. I have two reasons why I wrote this book. The first one's funny. I'll tell you the funny one first. I did not write this book because I had a near-death experience. I wrote this book because I had a near-life experience. And I made up that term, but there had to be a word for this because too many of us are having near-life experiences.

And what I mean by near life experience is you're on autopilot or you're on your phone, you're scrolling so much, you're not fully in your life, you're near your life. You're like adjacent or you're out to dinner with a friend and they're talking. And instead of really fully focusing on them, you're worrying about something in the future or you're ruminating about something in the past and you're not fully present. So again, a near-life experience. You're not fully in life. And the third kind of near-life experiences

where you keep putting things off to someday or later. And again, you're not fully in your life. You're near your life. You're going later, later. You're not in this moment if you keep putting things off to someday. And I woke up to the truth that I was having air-life experiences when my dad died. So he was my wake-up call, his death.

Death is an excellent alarm clock. And I realized that I was putting a lot of things off to someday. I realized that I was working so hard, which was not exactly fully noticeable because I loved what I was doing, but noticeable enough that I kept saying, someday I will start a family, someday. And then when he passed, I realized it was very hard to realize that my dad would never get to see me as a mom because I didn't have a family. yet. My dad would never get to meet my child. And his death was more of a wake-up call to my own

biological plot to, okay, I need to have more balance in my life. And I read through a lot, because I go into research mode a lot, a lot of the top regrets of the dying. And what I was dealing with, a lot of people deal with, one of the top regrets of the dying is, I wish I hadn't work so hard. I wish that I had lived a life more true to myself. I wish I'd spent more time with the people that I love. There's a bunch of them. So I looked at each the top regrets of the dying and I reversed engineered them to make sure that I wouldn't have them. And I also created a whole system which I write about in the book that woke me up. And I had my, I had a child thanks to the system. In fact, my dad died on August 27, four years later, after like embracing mortality

awareness and waking up my life, shaking up my life. Four years later, on August 27th, I gave birth to my now son. And so my dad's death day is my son's birthday. And I credit mortality awareness for putting the fire under my tush and reminding me, I don't want to die with those regrets. It's time to snap into action. And one of the tools I used was I wrote my own eulogy. Simons celebrates freedom of expression with a daily ritual of getting dressed. Fashion's power lies in its endless possibilities. Each garment is an invitation to get creative, Be unique and show the world exactly who you are as you are. Be true. Be authentic.

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Watch the Hulu original series Murdoch Death and the Family. Streaming October 15th on Disney Plus. Wow. Wow. That is deep, Karen. That is deep. And I put it in the book, but I know a lot of people are like, write my own eulogy. What?

Like they feel like it's... So I make it fun. Fill in the blanks template, like Mablips, where you just fill. in the blanks to write your own eulogy. And I'm going to give you a little spoiler alert here. You can still read the book and do the template. A lot of the blanks have to do with core values. It's about who you are.

Because I believe, from my background in behavioral change, that identity is destiny. Yes. If you think you are determines what you do. Like Frank Snatcher saying, doby, doby do, do? great tune, but that's backwards thinking personal development. It should be do, be do, be do. It's who you think you are. Your identity is the puppet master for your habits.

And we're operating like that now, whether we know it or not. If you walk around thinking, I am sloppy, you're going to do the habits, a sloppy person. If you think I am organizer, I am healthy, I'm athletic, it's why people that go to the gym can sometimes still keep going to the gym because they think I am athletic or I am disciplined or thinking those thoughts. And it's why sometimes it's hard to start a new habit like that. It's also why the rich, that expression, the rich get richer. They already think of themselves as rich. So then, you know, so you have to change your, your identity first

and foremost. So one of the strategies in the book is to help people to create identity-based habits to become the person they write about in their eulogy, to go from current you to aspirational eulogy here. And I help people do this on a daily basis because I think that we shouldn't just write to-do lists. We should write what I call to die lists. And that's not a bucket list. Yeah. I'll tell you what a to die list is. I believe that To-do lists have a fatal flaw. They're about productivity. Everything these days, we worship productivity.

It's too much already with the productivity. I could do everything on my to-do list and at the end of my life feel like I wasted my life. Because a to-do list is just about like productivity habits. And it doesn't include things that make a life meaningful. You won't see things like on your to-do list. like speak up with more authenticity about how I feel or be present from my loved ones and put down my freaking phone or you're not going to see things that really make for a meaningful life. So what I have people do, right, still write your to-do list. That's fine.

But the truth is, nobody is going to read your Google calendar at your funeral. Right. Nobody is going to read your LinkedIn profile at your funeral. You know what you're going to say at your funeral when they eulogize you? They're going to tell stories about you. I remember I was sick and he showed up with soup. I remember when I was going through a troubling time, they were patient and they sat with me. And all of these stories have to do with core values.

They were kind. They were patient. They were communicative. They were present. All core values. All of the stories that people will share about you. and remember about you and love you for will be, will be about something that had to do with the fact that you embraced strong core values.

So I help you to live a life where you're embracing strong core values. I am loving. And so I always show up present for the people that I love. And I have people write every day the following question. I had a lot of tools in the book, but this is my quick summary of it. Yeah. Who do I need to become to get everything I want in my life? And the answer are core values.

Because you think about like, where am I going wrong a little? And you can also reverse it like this. Who do I need to become to stop fighting with my partner so much? Who do I need to become to have my son share openly and honestly about what's troubling him so we feel closer? Who do I need to become to write that novel? Who do I need to? It could be business things.

you. And then the answer is always core values. I need to be more disciplined. I need to be more patient. I need to be more compassionate. And then you have to think about that. And then you attach a habit. And so I do. And that's what goes on your morning to die less. That's amazing, Karen. So for all the viewers, all the listeners, that's something that we can start doing now. Right. And I'm going to challenge everyone. to do that now. And then what I want you to do, and Karen, I want you to tell people where to find and follow you, I want you to message Karen and I together and give us a couple of things

that are on your list. Is that fair, Karen? I love that. Absolutely. I want to see what everybody's doing. So Karen, where can people do that? Where can people find and follow you? Oh, thanks.

Well, my name is Karen Salmanson, and everybody mangles my last book. Not salmon. Not salmon. I'm always going, not salmon, not salmon, not salmon. So that's how you can find me. My Instagram, not salmon, Facebook, not sammit, substack.com slash not samut, my website, not salmon. Although my book is called You're to Die for Life.

And I gave this book its own website where you can get lots of freebies on there. And that's called Your to Die for Life.com. So if you want to find out more about this specific book with more tools in it to help you to live more meaningful life. Just go to your to die for life.com. We're going to do that. I'm going to make sure that all of those are in the show notes and descriptions. Karen, I got to get you out of here on my top five, quick five, rapid fire.

You ready? Okay. All right. What's your morning mantra? What's something that you can't start the day without doing? I am smarter than this problem. I'm stronger than this problem. I'm more resilient than this problem.

Whatever it is. Yeah, I tell myself that. Love it. Love it. What's a book besides one of yours that's changed your life? The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Ooh, I'm going to go get that one. Gonna go get that. Your favorite guilty pleasure comfort food.

Oh, gosh. I'm picky. There are so many. I think chocolate mint ice cream. Okay. Okay. Okay. Gotcha.

I do. I love that. If your life was a theme song, what would that song be? I was about to say Gloria Gaynor, I will survive. But that's probably just because I put that up with an Instagram post recently. But, oh, Alexa Marisette, you lived, you learned that one, that live and learn. Yeah, I love that one. Okay.

And for the aspiring writer, what's one tip that you give them? to sell books. Or to sell books? Yeah. To think about your becones. The tape for you. But also about who your audience is. And here's a weird one.

It sort of answers you, but it's a little bit slightly different. That when I write, sometimes I envision one person reading it. Because I realize whenever I finish a manuscript and send it to my agent, after I press send, I would then go back and read it again and I'd see it differently because I was envisioning her reading it. Or if I would send it to my friend Bonnie and press send, I would picture

her reading it. I would notice things more. And so if you go back and you think about different people reading it, you notice things in it and you want to fix it a little. I noticed that sometimes when I was writing my books, that I would just think, okay, what will Bonnie think of this? Like, how does this land with somebody? So, I mean, that was something that I would do on purpose because I was doing it by accident. And I also write books in different places. So because of my brain thinks differently, like I don't just work at home. I work in cafes or I change the room I'm in or I go outside.

I take a chapter. I put it in my phone. I sit on a bench and I read it from my phone. I always notice different things in it. So that's what I'm trying to do. Always notice different things in it by picturing it from how different people would read it and rereading the manuscript before I send it out to, you know, to send it to a publisher. So the book shows up at its best.

Amazing. Karen, I know how busy you are. You're one of my favorite people in the world. Just so honored you took some time with us today out of your busy schedule. It means the world to me. So I just want to, again, from my heart tell you thank you. for who you are. Oh, thank you. This means extra once again coming from you. I love, adore, and respect you. Amazing. Amazing. And for all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your

superpower. Go unleash it. You've been plugged into Mick Unplugged. Don't just listen. Take action. Rate and subscribe. Follow me on social and get the full experience at mickhunt official.com. Keep building. Keep leading. And most importantly, keep dominating.