Rolling out of bed and still wearing trainers for your first Zoom meeting? Not anymore! Love it or hate it, the world of hybrid work and back to the office is quickly approaching.
Many of us have been working some form of remote over the past 2 years. As we begin to transition back into the “real world” of physical face-to-face meetings and conferences, we will need to readjust to being around lots of people again. Loud noises, pop-bys at our desk, and those longer commutes can all be unsettling in the beginning.
But instead of letting the transition be overwhelming or draining, how can we successfully manage our energy so the transition feels energy-giving?
Join retired Chairman of Microsoft Europe / Olympic mental coach Jan Mühlfeit and top-rated CEO / Executive Coach Lisa Christen as they share their years of best practices and advice for going back to the office without depleting our energy.
Jan Muhlfeit 00:02
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends good evening. Good evening. We are broadcasting today from stream yard again, it’s tradition on YouTube and LinkedIn. So if you will be so kind and put in comments that you can hear and you can see us well, that would help us a lot. It’s always taking a little bit you know time before you know, stream yard is connecting to the LinkedIn and YouTube Okay, we have a Finský krajánek. Yeah, it’s like, Good evening from Finland, my dad.
Lisa Christen 00:42
We have you in our hearts.
Jan Muhlfeit 00:44
We have YouTube is up and running. I will check on the because we see only in the stream yard, people from YouTube, I think. And let’s let’s check. LinkedIn.
Lisa Christen 00:56
LinkedIn is coming in, right there there. I was gonna say hey
Jan Muhlfeit 01:03
Can I see it? You know? Absolutely.
Lisa Christen 01:05
Yeah, there might already be people who are going I have to go back to the office. I already have questions before you even do your introductions.
Jan Muhlfeit 01:15
Finish up and running. I see it you know
Lisa Christen 01:18
So if you have a question at any time, put it in the chat box.
Jan Muhlfeit 01:22
Guys. We will talk a bit but whenever you have a question, if you have a question now, should there you know questions? Because last time there was a good discussion, very interactive discussion. So maybe let’s introduce ourselves. So Lady first.
Lisa Christen 01:39
Thank you so much. Hi, everyone. I’m Lisa Christen, I am a leadership and performance coach getting everyone to expand what they believe is possible for them to make happen. So all of us think, okay, I can get pretty far in my leadership or I could get to that next stage in my career. I actually prefer to blow that up and say, no, no, no, no, that’s not your potential, your potential is 10 times that 100 times that a million times, you could go somewhere way bigger. So that’s what I like to do. And I’m the CEO of my own boutique leadership development firm called Christian coaching and consulting. And Jan and I met through the Institute of coaching, which is based in Harvard, I’m also a part of the Forbes coaches Council, I’ve won awards for the executive coaching. And recently, my passion has been running. So I mentioned in last week’s session that I’m going to be doing a half marathon this weekend. So you got to wish me luck. I did a run today and it didn’t go so well. So but I had Jan in my head, he was my mental coach in my head going you can do it, you can do it. Don’t worry about the pain in your knee, keep going.
Jan Muhlfeit 02:46
For half marathon 156 When I was 58 years old, you know, so you have a you know
Lisa Christen 02:52
a high bar, well i’m trying
Jan Muhlfeit 02:55
do it below two hours, you know,
Lisa Christen 02:57
This is my goal, my goal is one hour, 59 minutes, 59 seconds. So you all can be thinking of me, cheering me on wishing me luck for this Sunday. And of course, I’m happy to tell you more about what I do throughout today’s session. But I want to, for anybody who doesn’t know, which is crazy to me. But for anyone who doesn’t know a little bit about Jan, why don’t you introduce yourself?
Jan Muhlfeit 03:22
Yeah, first of all, I’m good friend of Lisa. She’s like a mix of Swiss and American which is quite in
Lisa Christen 03:29
some very serious and on time. And I tell the truth, because I’m from New York.
Jan Muhlfeit 03:34
So quite interesting. Carrie, I spent 22 years in Microsoft and I started really from very, very, you know, bottom. admin assistant were like, 56 level of 56. I was like 57, I was a marketing specialist. And I finish as a president for Europe as a chairman for Europe, which I did that function for, you know, eight years. So, I learned a lot. I work with people like you know, Bill Gate s and Steve Ballmer, Jeffery Courtois, who is now Microsoft president. I did a lot of good things. But I also was depressed and years ago, we can you know, talk about that how to avoid you know, depression, or you know, burnout because I think it’s important that you know, today people in sport, they know how to do recovery. We still struggle, you know, in business and I retired almost seven years ago, I have a as a coach, like top managers, I do several courses. I have a three books positively there. I’m looking at children potential, and family as a team, but I also coach for five years. I’m the mental coach for the Czech Olympic top team. But I also coach people like Patrick Sheikh, who is one of the best you know, soccer players now in Europe, so it’s very broad. And I also do classes for the kids, you know, since like, five years ago, so it’s a it is a many things but kind of the common denominator is really unlocking human potential. I’m working in the terms, so they have not only good results, because the results are good, but it’s like short term, they should also like what they do they they should be common purpose behind what a you know, do, right. Because if people like what they do, they are not only successful one or twice the once or twice, they are successful, you know, long term. And today theme is really how to, you know, return back to the normal, which probably will never be the normal as it was before the COVID. But it’s the new normal and human, you know, brains are quite okay for that. Because what we do, we like, learn, and then we have, it’s called homeostasis, we have a little bit plateau, and then we learn again, and that’s what we that’s what we that’s what we do as a human beings, right. So this is really probably at least in my life, and it will be in two months, 60 years old. It is quite, you know, unique time. One team, which we would like also to discuss with Lisa, which is quite interesting trend now that some traditional businesses are calling people to return back to the offices, at least in some countries, okay, not not in all countries. And some, I would say digital businesses like Google, Microsoft, they are saying, hey, 15 20% of people like everyday marks, you know, right. So what is the right mix? Obviously, the the health, you know, first, right, but what is the right mix, and how we should work with our energy, because we were like, split it out of the themes, you know, for many, many months, and it’s not the same if we have this discussion, like digital, it’s not the same, like, you know, be the other people in the, in the same room, right?
Lisa Christen 06:53
It’s really not. And yeah, and I just have to say, I don’t know about any of you, but it saved me so much time and effort while we were here in COVID, and then locked down on getting dressed. Any of you is this happening for you as well, you have your nice shirt, and then you have your leggings and your workout. It was so great. Nobody knew business upfront, right? No. And now
Jan Muhlfeit 07:20
yeah, maybe you can. And you’re gonna be beating the sharks, you know,
Lisa Christen 07:25
I had to practice walking in high heels again, I was so used to wearing socks and slippers around, right. And so it’s a very big difference to go back to. Also not just having to get dressed, but also just the amount of stimulation that it takes to be around people. Right. So Jan and I are gonna talk today about energy management. We’re so used to it being quiet around us again, we don’t know how to have really loud neighbors and people around us and a buzz that’s going on in the room next to us and people popping by our desks. We’re not used to that much overstimulation anymore. I don’t know if you’ve noticed the I’m this has happened to you have people lost a little bit of their social skills, feel like people are maybe a little bit more rude or maybe you know, aren’t so friendly anymore?
Jan Muhlfeit 08:17
And yeah. You Yeah, what I think, be really not shaking the hands in like before. That’s number one. People are not hanging, I’m still hanging people. I mean, I’m like vaccinated, whatever, I really can taking care of all that. But I don’t know if that will ever return back. And I’m afraid because shaking the hands, it’s not only gesture, but it generates oxytocin. It means from the history. I do not I do not have any weapon, you don’t have any weapon we trust to each other. Right? You know, nobody for anyone, which is a very simple and maybe stupid example. But nobody’s really studying in terms of the psychology what does it mean? I just talked to my dear friend Professor Ed Shirk last week, depressions at least in Czech Republic during you know, COVID increased three times, you know, right almost three times, you know, what, increase the ideas to you know, commit suicide basically to right. So, those kinds of things are you know, definitely there. And if you if you think in the in the past on how our predecessors were working with the energy, okay, when they were like hunting, obviously they were hunting there was a some stress and some energy consumption, but then the recovery Okay, haunting having arrest and stress was very much you know, acute stress, which infects thanks and the skills both men mental and physical skills of our predecessor because if the stress is sure, you know, adrenaline and cortisol are like in the peak, and then you recover and you are getting like, out of the comfort zone, and you are getting used to that, okay? The problem today, we don’t have like the somebody like threatening our lives, like some, you know, animals or some other people, majority of the time, right. But what is what is happening? We have and you mentioned it, it’s like FOPO fear of other people opinion, okay? And very often, the stress is high Chronicle, okay? And the Chronicle stress, unfortunately, you generate, like cortisol and adrenaline all the time. And because your brain really works, like a huge chemical factory is changing, you know, those, you know, whole hormones into, you know, your physicality into your physiology. Because if you look, if you are in the environment, where you can use your strengths you like what you do, there is a good team. So it’s about you know, endorphins, it’s about the dophamins, you know, and and oxytocin, and, and other, you know, chemicals, and you feel good, and that not only you feel good, but your immunity is improving, okay? If it’s the other way around, if there’s a chronic stress, and there is a toxic relationship, okay? It’s about adrenaline and for long time, and cortisol, and that’s lowering your it’s not good for your health, and it’s even lowering your, you know, immunity. And I think that’s the, that’s the real problem. Because COVID is obviously a health issue. But then it’s very stressful because you still need, it’s like, again, you they are like the the the media, they are masters like day to day, for example, in Czech Republic, the numbers were not as high as previous day, but they still said, but still are twice as a week ago. Okay, so they try to dramatize it as much as they can. Okay. And it’s not specially for the for the old people, it’s not good. And I think it’s so long, you know, so they are putting you under the stress number one, and we are like socially divided. You know, right now, hopefully, it’s like getting better. But those are the those are the real issues on on our energy, that the question is, can we really use our, you know, energy in this environment? Yeah, exactly. And so, I mean, the first thing the big elephant in the room to be addressed is, we have over the last 18 months completely depleted our energy. It has been constant uncertainty, as Jan explains uncertainty in the brain is the worst place that you can be the stress levels go up, the cortisol levels go up, because your brain doesn’t know if this were a tiger coming at you. If you know the Tigers coming, you run. But every day we wake up and going, is the tiger coming? Is the tiger going to come? Will it come tomorrow? Will it come from me? Will it come from my family? Will it come from the economy? Will I lose my job, there’s so many different possibilities, and no resolution. And every day we woke up uncertain and are burning our energy out. Now, I don’t know about any of you who are listening right now. But I would say 99.9% of people, I’ve talked to friends, family people that I coach, they never actually processed what happened. They never actually said okay, what’s going on? How do I feel? How do I lose that energy that I’ve been building up? How do I become okay with the uncertainty, they just kept moving forward? What else could you do, right? And so we have all of this built up stress. I think that’s why people are a little bit more rude. There. We have this built up tension already we are you know, you get on the train in the morning to commute into work. And I’m looking around like I don’t want to be near people. I have my mask. So there’s no friendly smiles. We’re not connecting with humans. We’re all masked up right? So already the energy has been burned. Now I’m coming in the or an energy is burnt again. I come into the office, lots of loud noises lots of things going on. Lots of people trying to make up lost revenues or things I mean, it’s just a constant burning more and more and more spend more energy exhausting. So now Jan, and I think of what our friends who are watching want to know is so what do you do with that? Okay, yes, I’m burnt out. I’ve been working my butt off for the last year and a half. But what do I do What What other options do I have? We have we have also Fernando, our colleague from IOC is online. You know, Miko Miko that the Jan’s connection made him look like a Minecraft today. Do you see me? Do Lisa, do you have a problem with my connection?
Lisa Christen 15:05
Your connection is fine, but you look a little bit pixelated. So you we see tiny little squares of you really like a beautiful picture.
Jan Muhlfeit 15:14
I see I see absolutely, like sharp you and me here, you know?
Lisa Christen 15:19
Yeah. You’re handsome as ever Don’t worry. That’s that’s the Lenfest
Jan Muhlfeit 15:27
let’s talk about four wonderful, you know, hormones and what what you can do in those times, whether it’s you know, online or you know, face to face, and we can talk how to use our, you know, energies, by the way, in all degrees. The thing is that we, we dramatize the function of the time, you know, right, because in all degrees, they knew, like, you know, the Quran was was like the time for going from the past to the future. And Kairos was like being in the present moment to really live the life. Okay. And then in 1965, you know, Gordon Moore said that every second year, you will double, you know, computing power around the world. And that’s the exponential relationship. So there’s a huge pressure on our concentration, and we overdramatized the function of the time, over the function of our energy, you cannot manage time, at the end of the day, well, you can do, you can manage your energy in inside of the time you have some time, you can manage your energy for example, I do whatever it’s like, need some more creativity. I do it in the morning or after three o’clock. I know I’m not creative for 1 till 3 I do something which is like you know, repeatable right? And stuff like this. So it is about energy. Now let’s talk about those four hormones right? Number one endorphin, in human beings are doing something they like which is bringing them into the flow. Okay? Those are the moments you’re doing something which is not necessarily easy, but you like what do you do and endorphin is realese, endorphin is very good for your body. And endorphin is good for your immunity. And endorphin is 100 times you know, more powerful than morphine which means endorphin is for the time of your performance killing pain or if you are tired, you know, feel to be tired. So endorphin. So do things you really you know, like okay, that’s the other thing is our brain likes structure our blood brain likes you know plans so make sure you have at least three four things structure in your you know, schedule, and then don’t whenever you finish those things, dopamine is release. Dopamine is like reward hormone so you feel good because you are rewarded Hey, I finish it, but dopamine is giving you energy to continue into that work. Okay, so endorphin is about doing what you like dopamine is about having you know schedule very often people if there is some kind of the crisis scenario, we are like Oh, I’m giving up it makes no sense there is a COVID You know, what should I do? Right? We should still have a schedule what people do when I was in the mental hospital what they try to get you back it’s like your you know schedule some schedule there are some scheduled activity like physical activity or some mental activity and stuff like that is for good reason. Because if you’re depressed you know you don’t like anything you don’t want to move you don’t want to think at etc This is why schedule is really good and schedule is kind of the driving dopamine and now let’s talk about those two serotonin which is like being together hormone being together if you have to get with the other people. So at least through the you know screen B with the other people you know, you like to have some discussions and so on may preferably be you know, face to face obviously, now at least in some countries it’s possible. So, this is this team hormone and if you help some other people and it can be small like just the recommendation what to watch on YouTube or how you eat which you know, a book should it oxytocin is released and as the hormone of our you know, trust right. So those are like four hormones which are giving you like more you know, happiness, but you have also more you no energy, it’s not that difficult. It is I know, this is very tough, because again, I think it’s in Romania in Baltics, they have still kind of the lockdown now, again, you know, after this third time in the row, you know, this is not easy, but at least those are like things which you can you know, do regularly or which can help your, you know, brain to like get healthy and stay healthy, I suppose. This way,
Lisa Christen 20:01
Yes. And this is perfect and Jan, what I’ve started doing is just having noticings of these tiny things, what gives me energy, what brings out those hormones that you were mentioning, and what takes away my energy. And as I’ve looked throughout the day, it’s really small things, that when I made these tiny little shifts, it made a huge difference. So for example, for whatever reason, when my kids are coming up, and they’re pulling on me, and they pull me in the down direction, I don’t know why I can’t explain it. But when they pull me down, my body releases cortisol stress, I feel like I’m being drowned or something I don’t know. And it used to be that I just said, Oh, they’re kids, let it go. And now I said, Hey, you know, I really don’t like when you do that, it really brings my stress hormones up, if you want to come and you know, come to me come to my side, or call my name, but don’t pull me down. Tiny, tiny thing, right? Very small. This can be done by anyone in lockdown. start to notice, not rationally, what do I think should be my giving me energy or taking away my energy, but really noticing what’s in your body, and then making these tiny changes when I made 10 of those tiny changes throughout the day. So for example, when I noticed I’m tired, what I do is I turn off this light. And then when I’m back up and feeling refreshed, again, I can put it back on. But just turning off that light and giving my eyes a break from this input. By the end of the day, it’s a completely different person. And so these are all things that we can do at home, whether we’re in lockdown, whether we’re with people in the office, to find the small things that take our energy, and then remove them. So we’re just filled with more energy not to plead it with energy. Oh, when
Jan Muhlfeit 21:51
Lisa mentioned light, it is good. Like when you get up in the morning to go you know, out and you don’t need to look in if there’s no sun fine, there’s a sun No, it’s even, you know, better. But take up, you know, real natural light for 10 minutes. And it’s helping you to like set up your brain and everything, okay? And then if you do some work after like one hour working in front of the PC, go outside again, and go around the department like the Puranam panorama take, you know view it’s helping again, your you know, eyes. I mean, I don’t need to tell you those are like, you know, blue light blocking glasses. You know, I went like from seven o’clock on in the evening. I wear those glasses because you know your brain. It’s like, if I would not work there, my brain would say 10 o’clock. There’s like, you know, noon you know and you have a problem. And sleeping. Sleeping is really you know, super important. Right? So let’s talk about those four energies and you know what, if you can, there are some people like Edward and Vince key groundhog Radek word here, you know, quite often if you can put on the comments, what if you have some tips? What is giving you energy if you’re like, tired, and you want to re Energize? What is giving Poulan in the comments. What is giving you energy back? Because that’s a that’s a good word, Nick, also for us. Yeah,
Lisa Christen 23:26
yeah, share with the team and Jan and I listened to music and pump ourselves up before we have these sessions. Right? That’s music can be a really big mood booster. The other thing you can do is now that you’re back in the office, if you’re not used to being around people having so much visual stimulation, having so much noise, grab your noise cancelling headphones, put on some classical music and watch your energy calm a little bit. Right. These are very practical tips. And some people say Oh, I can’t for this reason or this reason. I’m gonna challenge you and say just try it. See what happens right I now take I don’t know yet if you do this to for meetings, I can if it’s a nice sunny day, I’ll take my headphones I’ll take my phone and I’ll go out for a walk and I’ll say hey, do you mind if I take this as a walking meeting? Because I need to be out in the sun today. Right? And of course it first you think and I have coaching clients so of course I think go I have to show up professional but as I started doing that they were going wow, that’s really cool. Oh, I want to do that more. And I said yeah, everybody do it. If we all start doing if we take for granted Hey, we’re going to manage your energy we’re going to show up in the way that we can best show up. You know,
Jan Muhlfeit 24:42
I was doing when I was a you know, in Microsoft I was doing some of my one on ones. If our you know office was like close to the river or close to some, you know, natural environment. I was doing like physical one on ones. I’ve got my recorder and we did face a one on one. So I walk in, you know, right? And I do I have like, because I have like wireless, like 20 meters around my house. So those IOC calls I’m doing some times from my garden, you know, right. I have like, a table there and my chair, and I, you know, watch and listen, it’s good because that’s, it’s kind of the, you know, you have, you have two things from both from the best on the both things. Right. So let’s, let’s talk now about those four energies, you know, we have obviously physical energy, and that consists of our, you know, food. One thing which I would, you know, recommend us helping a lot everybody everybody knew and I think even kids they know, it, you should not eat before the bed it says they are saying like, two, three hours before you go sleep, you should not eat. But are they what they found out? It’s also helpful not to eat one hour after you get up in the morning. Okay, so you’re getting you know, longer fasting window basic, right. And it was, it’s not an issue for me, because I do the sport in the morning always because, and that there was a rational reason because I never knew and obviously, Microsoft will, my day will end up so that’s why I was like running or, you know, having exercise in the morning. So this is this is really good. And then obviously, you know, a lot of water and you know, the diet that’s up to you, then people should move know, I’m crazy guy, I really do sport like two, three. Now, when I was in Microsoft, it was like, one one and a half hours a day. Now it’s between two to three hours a day, you know, right? It’s probably, it’s probably less, you know, intensive, but I do like more on the endurance stuff, right? So but if you do, what do you know what what the neuroscience knows, if you do at least 30 minutes move, it can be just the walk your you know, brain capacity, and you know, memory and so on, is improving by 30%. Okay? Now sleep, right? Sleeping is very important, because you are not only getting, you know back your physical energy, but you are also getting back your mental energy. Because even if you do something you like, all of those hormones like endorphins, dopamine, etc, are released, and other chemicals are cleaning your brain during the sleep. And if you don’t have enough sleep, you are not getting, you know, in the morning, like mentally ready for another great day. Right? So sleep is very important. Unfortunately, people sleep six hours. Today, an average human being should sleep seven to eight hours, you know, like adults get even more, there is another reason why the sleep is important, especially if you can sleep as much as you can before midnight. Explain why. Because if we learn something new, whether it’s in the school or in our jobs, we think that we learn during that activity. It’s not true, actually, those synapses, synapses or connections between neurons are creating during the deep sleep, basically, right? This is why sleep is so important. And if you go, I used to have one, you know, top athlete and he was not able to sleep before 1am. And he was not like remembering what he learned with the coach day before. And the reason was that because there was not enough deep sleep. So it is good also for the for the learning so that
Lisa Christen 28:45
I want to add in something that’s very important about sleep. So many people do two things that really get in the way of their sleep first, if you’re burning so much energy during the day, you actually it’s hard to unwind then to be able to sleep. So if you do a better job of really managing your energy throughout the day, not having so many things deplete you taking a few seconds where you just breathe or reconnect, you’ll find it’s much easier to fall asleep and to stay asleep. The other thing that we do is this wonderful, amazing word in Chinese. And we do it’s translated into English. It’s called Revenge, bedtime procrastination. We had so much chaos throughout the day we were running here we were answering these emails, we were running up this project. So at the end of the day, I just want a little time and space for myself. I just want the calm I want nobody to bother me. So I’m going to stay up late on Netflix. Yes, you feel like you’re exerting some control. But you’re losing sleep. So have the control to say yes, I want my space. And I know that the bed time best spent would be to go to sleep and put the phone down. I see you’ve added so
Jan Muhlfeit 30:02
le t’s go now through what and we will continue with those energies. Yeah, so Miko is saying the best way to wake up in the morning is having ice cold shower I do the same in cases of being working fast exercise short walk taking small breaks during the day to stay focused on the task. Absolutely. Yeah, this is Wim Hof Method it’s like you know, breathing and the cold water and he’s like putting you in artificial stress you know, right and that’s that’s improving like the peak of you know, I’ve no doubt improving your immunity. It’s really good. I just do it like for two years and is helping Kellogg. I do it but I have to tell you, I never enjoy it. I never got used to it. I never look forward to my cold showers in the winter. Yeah, Miko, Miko is talking about a very important thing. And those are like strategic brakes. And I, you know, I tell you what I learned, if I do, like, I can teach, you know, my course for seven hours. And then I’m in the taxi and is half an hour between my course and the other presentation, which I need to do in the evening. I’m able to do like 10 minutes meditation and I’m absolutely refreshed, then I need to have a longer it’ll be as they like sleep and so on. But those you know, like, strategic breaks are really good. It can be like 510 minutes, only. It it doesn’t matter how long what matters is the quality of the break that you need to be real in the present moment. Right? You you meet you need to be aware, but not to think and that’s it. That’s basically meditation.
Lisa Christen 31:44
Yes, I just facilitated a team workshop yesterday and we had an hour for lunch. And I saw that the energy it was such an A major intensive morning and that looked at everyone and I said, let’s have a 10 minute walking break. Let’s just go outside. We were in the heart of Zurich, and and people walked by themselves. It wasn’t like, oh, let’s chit chat. Let’s have lunch together. It was like everybody just take their time, get moving. Have some space, clear the mind get the fresh air. And then the rest of the afternoon we were re energized and ready to dive back in. Had we not done that. Had we gone from learning something new directly to chatting with our colleagues directly back too much. So these kind of breaks this 10 minutes made the next four hours much more productive, right?
Jan Muhlfeit 32:31
Yeah, okay, Vadim is saying that I had no longer than 20 minutes after vaikka without a full breakfast this information what I have like one hour it’s from you can you know watch it in fact, there’s a there’s a great video from Andrew Huberman who is like the neuroscientists I think it doesn’t matter what he tried to say that it’s good to have like longer you know break of not eating you know right some people like fasting for the day I do like fasting 1215 You know hours but it’s good like you’re getting more energy because you know if you if you eat like all the time all day you know, it’s not necessarily me like my body is really like I have like if I for example if I need to do some presentation which needs to go wherever I need to eat like three hours before the presentation and nothing like very you know have it okay Patrick shake visit is a different he needs to get like spaghetti or some pasta or something like also like three hours before but if he would not have it he would not play very well I would still be able to do presentation right about but it’s like my you know rhythm if I if I do like whatever fruits it can be like one hour before you know what I but what I hate it’s like really eating and then speaking you know right because it’s taking too much energy from you and too much you know blood from from your brain and it’s hard you know things you I mean you can you can obviously I did tons of the presentations I can press and all the time but I would not be what I like to really think during my presentation and to make it every time a little bit you know a little bit different.
Lisa Christen 34:19
You gotta shake it up but this is one of the differences between performing well and performing peak at your absolute best and absolutely so Vladimir, obviously everybody’s body’s different Their metabolism is different. Your health conditions are different, right? We neither one of us are doctors, so let us do your diets. And many people have been having success with intermittent fasting I personally am too nervous to give up my breakfast I love maybe one day I’ll be inspired
Jan Muhlfeit 34:51
like you know the oh my gosh like I have a one goalkeeper is a you know real athletes very good goalkeeper and he’s not having and breakfast, which is quite interesting. And again, many, many athletes are saying like, without breakfast, I cannot function, you know, right. But these guys like, hey, you know, I have like just a coffee and my first you know, meal is really large. So Fernando! Fernando! I’m not in Brazil now you know, so I enjoy taking underground and enjoy the present. But this is interesting, because I’m also going I go like by car and then I’m taking underground to the center of the park, the crowd expression data’s and expression connectedness, this is interesting, Fernando but now you are, if you have a mask you are losing like, because it I mean, if you if you take like face expression, it’s a lot around the eyes, for sure. But then also like what a mouse and if you cannot almost if you have a mask, you cannot figure out if that person is smiling on person is based off. Yes, and this is nice. And you know, what Fernando is remind me that you can really take like, ordinary situation to be mindful, right? You can I can mindfully you know, during this power drink, you know, right? Or, you know, I can mindfully you know, move my mouse or whatever, you know, right? You can mindfully do everything. And more you do, you are very concentrated, and then what it what it does to your performance. If you’re able to be more in the present moment, your brain predicts much better if something is happening around you, your brain is predicting much better, what is what is happening because your brain is comparing what is sitting in your long term memory, what is your experience with what’s going on? And then you know, pregnancy, Lisa Feldman, she remember she was a having a having, you know, presentation for us. Yes, she is good. And that’s possible only if you are in the present moment, if your brain is not, if you are not concentrated, your brain is not reflecting reality. You are, you know, reacting, but it’s not the right reaction, you know, right. So that’s why what he’s suggesting is really good, you know.
Lisa Christen 37:10
And the other thing that I love from this and that I take away from this is, so obviously, a lot of us say, oh, I want to be in the present moment. But it’s very hard, because I’m thinking about my to do list and all the things I need to do and where I need to go. And I hate being stuck here. And I just want to be at work already. Because I gotta make sure I get this thing damn Ebola, you’ve already burned your energy, right? So often what I’ll do so for example, when I’m going to be stuck in traffic, if I’m driving, of course, I’m going, I’m going to be late and am I going to get there on time? And this this, like, you know, and I’ve just learned to tell myself, Lisa, whatever the moment is, you can’t change it. So accept. And just be right. And so instead of saying, Am I going to be late? What am I going to do? I say, okay, is anyone gonna die? If I’m late? I’m not an ambulance driver, right? And then an open heart surgeon said you were gonna die? No. Okay. Then breathe, let it go. And just be. And I think that’s what we have to do more. So when we’re on the underground, often we’re like, Yeah, but this is just a temporary spot, because I need to be going somewhere. We’re thinking about the future. We’re reflecting on the past what happened today? And what do I need to process right? And so the mind is swirling and whirling and it’s killing our energy. Just be just say, hey, for this moment, I’m going to be on the what do you call it? The underground? Yeah, that’s an energy saver.
Jan Muhlfeit 38:36
Yeah. So Edward, helping people with your experience, only if you are asked, like, success, like good negotiation, or notice that your advice is follow small successes that make the day Yeah, it is really, one by one, you know, because for each and every success, or each and every achievement of if we have, it’s, if we help somebody, it’s even like it’s not only dopamine reward, but it’s also oxytocin. Because if they are saying, hey, you know, we really like what I do, and it’s great. It’s absolutely true. It’s, you know, one by one, and you build, like your day. And if you go like one by one, you can nicely fight your negativity bias because your amygdala is five to 10 times faster than your logical part of the brain, and then the neocortex. And if you go like that, hey, this happened, well, this happened. Well, it’s good to you know, like, you’ll see, hey, maybe one or two things are not going very well. But 1010 Things are going very well today, so it was a great day. Yeah, exactly. I
Lisa Christen 39:40
have a gratitude practice that I do at night with my two young daughters six and eight years old. And at the end of every night I asked them so what are you grateful for today? And sometimes it’s I got a chocolate cake today, right? But sometimes it’s I love you and I’m so happy I’m with you mommy. today. I was I was traveling a lot this week. So they said first So glad you’re home with us today. And you could just spend some time with us today. Right. And instead from wrong was burning the energy. We’re refocusing on what was. Lisa, did we lose you for a second?
Jan Muhlfeit 40:19
Yeah, okay. Yeah, we, you are lost.
Lisa Christen 40:23
And well, I think we’re back now. Yeah. So thanks, Edward. And really important point only if you’re asked, stop trying to enforce people to take your advice. Not you. Yeah. And everyone, we all try to do it right. And we all think, Well, it’d be just a much better place if everybody did what I thought but it’s not true. Right. As coaches, we obviously know, the right answer sits within ourselves. And the best, the best help that we can provide is just giving the person a space to think it through and find their own best solutions.
Jan Muhlfeit 40:55
No, I agree it because if you have like second or third session, it can be a bit, you know, different structure. But if it’s like for the first time, it’s for sure. Fernando, is there. Is there another interesting if he’s driving? No more news, deliberative choice of my soundtrack on the way to appointment? Yeah, the same, you know, way, it can give you some, you know, rhythm, right. And I think that’s a, that’s a smart way. Right? Because it was like, my, my brain like 20 years ago was like struggling I need to manage so many things, because I need to succeed. And now my brain goes like, in order to succeed, I need to go like what Fernando is recommending, like one thing at a time, you know, right, one present moment after the other you know, and, and this is it and as the same with like, my athletes, those athletes who really succeeded and it will say the Olympic Games, so Patrick Szigeti European Championships are good because they really go like 111 by one you know, right because they need to whatever happened video last ball, you need to concentrate on the next ball I then this is it.
Lisa Christen 42:10
That’s it. So for those of you who are the people who are going back to the office, don’t get overwhelmed. Don’t think there are 10,000 things you don’t think because I’m going back one day a week, I need to cram everything in. Just focus, no multitasking, multitasking is a myth, nobody can do it. Focus, get it done, and move on. Right, that will help your energy that will reduce your stress that will get more done and you’ll give your best performance and each one
Jan Muhlfeit 42:43
is another another good and I do it also I start with the pollution of water as soon as possible. After wake up yeah, it will start your metabolism it’s good it’s even good to you know drop a couple of drops of Limon you know if you if your stomach is okay with it, but water I do like you know, glass of water before even before the running up. So
Lisa Christen 43:06
I drink water and I take a probiotic in the morning, because you’ve been fasting so it can really absorb into your body. And I do usually wait that hour or two before
Jan Muhlfeit 43:16
anyone else is saying that the bad the most important thing is to laugh and take everything a little easier. And I think what is Look, I am not very much serious. I never I never was so and you know, serious, but I really what I enjoy about you know me and now I will be like not an uncritical, right. I really can make fun of me, and it’s giving me a lot of power, you know, right. You know, I’m not like I like if, if you if you would see like my pictures, which I’m like doing during my seminars is still like when I was six years old, and I didn’t improve. And the the terms of the corrective feedback, which I’m getting from my wife, you know, even today, right, she’s who she was like, saying, hey, again, I explained you 1000 times that you need to do that, then I’m like, Yeah, but you know, this is it.
Lisa Christen 44:18
I think you also told me Yeah, and once that your wife was in the car while you were taking a call, and she was like, Are you a teenage boy, or are you a grown man? We have to have more fun. I mean, everything is so serious business feels so serious. I think one of the great things that came out of COVID is we actually remember that people are human. Weird, right? We’re not machines and transactions and business. We’re actually humans who have kids at home and have lives at home. So take advantage of some of the shifts of these new ways of working as you get back into the office. Don’t default to what you used to do. Come bring a little bit more authenticity. Have a little bit more fun, shake things up a little bit. You’ll be so prised might feel a little scary, take the risk, you’ll be surprised at how much better you’ll feel coming into work when it’s a fun and interesting environment
Jan Muhlfeit 45:10
that I did this in my one word from Fernando in the intimacy on within the session, go outside and walk calmly for 10 minutes absolutely exploring sensation, explore by all of your senses, you know, right. I, you know, when I was in Microsoft, my senses was mainly ears and sometimes my eyes. Today, I figured out, Hey, we have like five, and then the the six is like feeling your body, right? It’s called kinesthetic sense, you know, like, feeling what is happening in your body, because your body is giving you very often signals, right?
Lisa Christen 45:50
This is the thing about managing your energy people at work. We think we’re a brain and our body just walks this brain around. No, you have to listen to the full body because that’s actually where you will notice where’s your energy? Positive, refreshing? Where is it draining? And only then can you start to manage your energy. So don’t think Oh, but I’m a business person. So I need to be rational, logical, I need to be in my brains. None of this esoteric like being your body mindfulness stuff. No, it’s just about noticing so that you can get to your peak performance. If you want to be successful. Every leader figures out at one point or another, oh, I actually have to listen to this thing. Some do it earlier and they get much more advanced much more quickly. And some do it later. And then they suffer the consequences. So you’re welcome that we’re letting you know now. If you listen to your body, you’ll feel better and you’ll be more successful.
Jan Muhlfeit 46:47
And there’s a phenomenally good evening. The Internet fasting and the getting solar specializes in high expression, and less it last one from Miko. I echo now by the way, I recognized during the remote era, if I dress nicely, why staying at home, I get a stronger attachment to work and feel like at the office. This is this is an I love intern fasting this is quite interesting because it can be you know, right? If you if you really like, Hey, you feel like you know, I’m really dressed up. Give you one thing I give you that’s a very different example. But it has to do like dressing like connecting, you know, disconnecting from the past. One of my guys who won, you know, medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Alexander Shu Panitch. In fencing, he basically lost in semifinal and he got like 17 minutes to get ready for the fight for the bronze medal. Okay, so and his mindset when you lost your mindset is pretty much like you are down, you see. So I sent him an email, Hey, it’s everything. Forget about everything is the battle for the third place. And what he did what he did, he changed his dress, he changed like the new he took a new fancy dress. And he take another song, you know, it’s eat like cut from the he cut himself from the past. And that was it. And that’s why I think it’s a very different example. But I think it like dressing is some signal for our body. This is really important. Okay. Yeah, it definitely, if you have like dye and the jacket, and he and I go out into slips, you know, whatever. So it’s like, it’s like semi it’s like semi embodied.
Lisa Christen 48:43
But this is so ever my everyday meetings I showed up like this, but I will tell you during the really important meetings, I would get fully dressed because it does have
Jan Muhlfeit 48:54
its it’s all about the mind set up. So here’s a
Lisa Christen 48:57
funny story. There was a woman who really wanted to channel in how do I get to my best, how do I always show up at my best. And so she spent seven? I think it was $700 to buy a pair of Oprah Winfrey’s old shoes. So Oprah put them up on charity. She bet maybe 700 sounds too cheap, maybe 7000. Right. But she invested in buying Oprah’s shoes, and she put them in her closet. And anytime she was feeling small or down or uncertain, didn’t know what to do. She would literally go okay if I’m if I’m channeling my inner Oprah and she would stand in Oprah shoes and say, I’m standing in my Oprah and she would find her answers and move forward from there. And it’s just a very physical way of changing your mindset.
Jan Muhlfeit 49:45
It is because you know, and that let’s talk about the emotional energy you know, which is the second energy. emotions are contagious basically because we have what we call mirror neurons. So we are mirroring people around ourselves and again, emotions, it’s all you know, experiences are not like set up in your brain emotions are created, okay? That’s why if we I would take me and Lisa, for sure we would, you know, find some animal, I would be afraid of that animal you will not be afraid and the other way around, it’s really based on like our past experience. That’s why we should not fight our emotions. Emotions are create emotion is basically where your thought is touching your body. Because you, you feel immediately your emotion on your body. If you if you have like positive emotion, you feel good. If it’s negative, you don’t feel good, right? So you need to catch what what was the thought which created this, you know, for positive emotions, or fi, which created this negative emotion. And there’s a huge difference, if you would say, I have a fear, I have an emotion called fear, I have a fear, which means I agree with my amygdala that I’m fearful. And then you are done. Basically, it will go more and more stress. If you will say I observe my fear, it means that your logical part of the brain is still watching your amygdala. And the next question is what I’m fearful of, you know, right? Why do I have this fear, and then you can work with that emotion, it makes no sense to really fight it, but it’s good to observe it right. And, you know, I was trained by this organization called SEAL Fit. This is pretty much it. There’s a guy, Mark Devine, who was 20 years in the sea operation, this is the toughest unit in, you know, US Navy, right? And what they they train them basically to do it, they are also fearful, but they do it in spite of the fear, okay, they know how to work with the fears, the same with the top athletes, they’re also fearful, but they do it. So that’s kind of how to work with, you know, emotionally, I wouldn’t be very much interested in Lisa’s opinion. Yeah, well, this is
Lisa Christen 51:58
what I feel is so important. So here’s what happens, right? I actually specialize in helping people with being able to articulate their emotions. So a lot of my top performers, they’ve learned mental strength and resilience. I don’t have emotions. If I have a bad emotion, I just push it away, and I move forward, or I reframe it and positive and go, go, go, go, go. And that’s good. Except when it’s not good, because we’re not in touch with our emotions. Listen, there’s a thing called the Body Keeps the Score. In your mind, you’ve decided I don’t feel that, but you haven’t really released it from your body. Guess what, it’s still there.
Jan Muhlfeit 52:40
Because your mind is like the chemical factory. And those all of those chemicals, good or bad are in your body? Absolutely.
Lisa Christen 52:47
Yes. And so what people have to do if now, if like, Jan was saying, if you’re in a sporting event, you have 17 minutes, cut the emotion, cut it, don’t think about it. Don’t be curious about it. Don’t explore it, cut it, and go perform. But later or if you’re in the office, reflect figure out oh, I was feeling bad today. Bad. How bad? What does that mean? Exactly. I tell everyone, if you’re feeling angry, most of the time, anger is a masking emotion because you felt some other uncomfortable emotion that you don’t want to feel. And we’re so uncomfortable with our emotions, and particularly for men, but cultures have said in business, you don’t feel your emotions, you don’t act emotional. It’s nothing personal and business, you be strong, you be resilient. And so actually, the the problem is during COVID, 90, we have too many pent up emotions, too much pent up uncertainty. And it’s going to come out in ways like anger because we just can’t control it anymore. If we can clear our emotions, if we can show up and say I’m like Yun said perfectly I’m observing that I’m feeling hurt. Why is that? Right? You don’t have to go, Oh, I’m hurt. I’m gonna go cry in a corner. You don’t have to let the emotions trigger up. So yeah, right. But you can only work on solving the root cause of the problem if you are able and willing to recognize what you’re feeling and acknowledge it. Right.
Jan Muhlfeit 54:19
I absolutely agree. And that’s gonna be something on the on the on the mental energy. This is pretty much what we talk here when you know, Fernando was saying I live in the present moment, it’s really about your concentration. And today people can concentrate 11 to 12 minutes. So the best thing how to use your mental energy is to be as much as you can. In the present moment. It’s very hard because your brain needs to process in one week what the brains of our previous predecessors used to process 100 years ago for the whole life so there’s a huge pressure, okay, but and that’s the third Energy, spiritual energy, if you don’t know what you do has a lot of meaning for you, then your concentration is much, much better. And what I realized that if people are more curious, you, you have you are less stressful, and you can concentrate you know better, because you are less stressful because, like, what the amygdala is doing fight, flee or freeze, which means like negative zoom in what do you know, if you are curious? It’s like positive zoom out, you have so many new things. So give you what I did with, you know, a couple of people at the Olympic Games, I said, I know you are all afraid of Olympic Games, because it’s one in four years, whatever. Put it there, like why you are afraid of on the on the paper. So you’re afraid of the Olympic Games? And around, right everything? What do you manage to do so far when you succeeded in your life, okay. And what it does, it’s like looking on your life from the helicopter, and you sound like, hey, there’s the Olympic game, I’m afraid. But it’s like one again, one step on the you know, my way, right. And here is the on the on the spirit on the meaning what they found out in the, in the Huberman lab on Stanford, okay, they figured out I give you one example, if, for example, you know, soccer player would be so much attached, like scoring the goals whenever he or she will score the goals. That’s great. You know, right. Now, everybody figured out that, like the peaks of the dopamine are created. And it’s getting like contagious. But the problem with those peaks is that they are putting your baseline of dopamine down, basically, that’s why those people do they concentrate only on results. Sometimes they are finishing their careers very soon. On the other hand, if they love what they do, if they love soccer, if they love, you know, the, the performance if they if they love what they do, those peaks are not generated, but they are moving the baseline up continually. You know, right. This is the read and that’s it’s the same if you if you read the book mindset from what is her name? Carol Carol Dweck, roadway, fixed mindset versus, you know, growth mindset. If you really concentrate What’s your meaning? What do you do, and you concentrate on the meaning so you’re getting you know, a little bit better every day even though maybe you are losing but you’re still learning from the from the failure you are, you are a better version of yourself every day, every day, you’re getting better and better. And I think that’s the, that’s the key how to work with the energy because if you have a meaning, you can concentrate better, your emotions are better. And if your emotions are better your body is you know, healthier. That’s for sure.
Lisa Christen 57:52
Yes. So I know Jan, that you have a call in two minutes, NHL player. So what I want to make sure we have enough time to do is to just wrap up because we went sort of you know, left, right zigzag all around the point as what I’m taking away from the conversation is if you’re going back to the office, really think about all the ways that you can start to manage your energy, what are the things that drain you and try to remove some of them right put on
Jan Muhlfeit 58:27
David some great recommendation from our experienced colleagues also on here, and from
Lisa Christen 58:34
exactly so there’s there’s get rid of the things that drain you add more of the things that give you energy like purpose like cold showers, intermittent fasting, there’s many things you can do. And if you can balance that energy, if you can start to make sense of here’s what I’m feeling, here’s how I’m going to show up, I’m going to be in the present moment, I’m not going to stress all over the place, then you’re able to take on whatever comes your way at work. So if you have to go in your boss says you have to come in all the time. If your boss says you have to come in sometimes if your boss says you can’t come in, we’re in lockdown in this country, whatever comes your way. You’ll be stable and centered and ready to handle it. And that’s really all we can control and that’s why it’s so important to manage our energy because then no matter what the situation is cool and I’m ready.
Jan Muhlfeit 59:25
No this is absolutely true. Lisa that’s a nice summary. If you look into the history of stoics in you know old Greek they were like saying you should take care of the things you can influence and this is really like you your energy your you know thoughts your body and stuff like that. And thanks again for some great you know, recommendations you gave everybody here. So guys, we are very much looking forward, you know, for next discussion. Maybe you know if you want to have some special team, you can drop it to my LinkedIn or you know, Lisa, LinkedIn. So we can we have a lot of teams on our own but obviously, you know, also enjoy some of your teams. And if you can share with share those, you know, things on LinkedIn on YouTube with your colleagues with whom you think it’s maybe you know, good for them, but that will be great. Absolutely.
Lisa Christen 1:00:22
Yeah. Thanks, everyone for joining and we’ll be back in two weeks every second Thursday.
Jan Muhlfeit 1:00:28
Absolutely. Bye bye. Bye.