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May 19, 2020 • 15 mins

How can you do your job better, advance in your career and unlock your potential? Listen along as Dr. Julie Gurner, Executive Performance Coach, shares how to identify and understand behaviors that allow people to level up in their careers and everyday lives.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is On the Job. This season, we're speaking with
folks who are finding their professional stride in a tumultuous
job market and learning how to double down on their
skills and their experience to overcome challenges. We'll bring you
inspiring stories of people making themselves essential, an important skill
set in any economy today. For On the Job, something

(00:26):
a little different. Usually in each episode we feature someone
doing a job that they love or a job they
might be especially good at doing. But for this episode,
we are going to be looking not at the people
successfully working their jobs, but the behavior and mindset of
success itself. I love seeing people reach their own potential.

(00:48):
I think forward progress makes everybody happy. This is Julie.
I'm Julie Garner, doctor of psychology and executive performance coach.
An executive performance coach probably not an occupation you've heard of,
but basically her job is to help other people do
their job right. I would say I tend to work
with individuals who have to function at their best in

(01:10):
high stress environments. Specifically, she personally advises high level executives
and big companies around the world. My average client right
now has a net worth of twenty million plus, so
they're doing all right. Still, what drives Julie's work is
not how successful her clients are, It is the psychology
of success. She helps people function their best in high

(01:30):
stress environments, and that really could be anyone, whether you're
a line cook, paramedic, or you work in administration in
a high paced office. The advice that Julie gives to
her clients apply across the board. Right, we all have
ways in which we could think better about how we
direct our life. Julie has a background in clinical psychology,

(01:50):
and she says that her job has long been helping
people go from ill to well. Now, she says that
her job is to help people go from average to access. Right,
So this is kind of a niche thing that you do.
Was this your plan all along? That was never my plan? Well,

(02:13):
Julie worked with multi multi million dollar companies. She comes
from humble beginnings. I grew up on a farm and
in western Pennsylvania. So I grew up in the same
way most farm kids would grow up, you know, bailing
hay when the season came um. Even when I was
in a bit of an accident, I still had to
drive the tractor with a broken leg. I mean there
were kind of no excuses for not getting out there
and doing the work that it took. We had horses

(02:35):
and cows and chickens and all that kind of stuff.
But you know, growing up, I knew that I probably
didn't want to do that kind of tough labor, you know,
my entire life. And I looked around and my only
reference really was that there were doctors in my community,
and they seemed to be the people who were doing
pretty well financially, and they didn't have to bail. Hey,

(02:56):
they didn't have to bail. Hey. Julie went to college
thinking that she was going to be a physician. She
took some psychology classes and decided that's what she was
going to do instead. She loved learning how the brain worked.
So I worked in hospitals, prisons. I worked very traditional
settings for a psychologist to operate in. She eventually branched
out into academics, where she was approached by a startup

(03:16):
company to advise them on a product they were developing
that would reduce stress. Then those startup folks refer Julie
to high profile individuals they knew who wanted to learn
how to reduce their own stress, and from there I
started to realize that there was definitely a need there.
She got more clients, started advising entire companies on how
to apply psychology in order to reach success. Her notoriety

(03:40):
began to grow. She began speaking at retreats and big conferences,
thus becoming an executive performance coach. A lot of her
client's problems might be worrying about things like major trade
deals or the stock of their company, things that might
not be the main sources of stress for the average person,
but it almost always will come down to how are

(04:00):
they thinking about this issue? What is the error and
how they're thinking about it that is leading to the
emotions that they're having and then the actions they're not
taking or taking. Julie says that the way we all
function is very similar, whether you're a wealthy person or
you're someone who's on the up and coming. Essentially, we're
all confronted with neutral events things that happen, but how

(04:22):
we think about that is going to change everything for us.
For example, like if you're sitting in traffic, uh, there's
a thousand people sitting in traffic, and you'll look around
and some people are red faced and beeping their horn
and dodging in and out. As you look around, you
see others who are totally relaxed, maybe on the phone
calling a friend. It's not the event that causes you

(04:43):
to behave a certain way, it's how you think about
those events. And so you know that translates no matter
who you are and no matter what situation you're in.
She uses this applied thinking while talking about small business
owners who might be struggling or employees looking for a raise.
They may be really stuf click. You know, they're not
earning as much as they want, and so we might

(05:04):
kind of look at the way in which they're thinking
and say, you shouldn't be thinking what does it pay?
You should be thinking what do I want to earn?
And then reverse engineer from that. Julie and I talked
a lot about this mindset, these pillars of success anyone
listening might keep in mind when going into their average
work day. So one pillar reverse engineering, You know, what

(05:24):
do you want for yourself and then really think about
what's preventing you from getting there? What are goals? What
are the things that you want to be sure you're
accomplishing every day, and why aren't you getting those things done?
After you set those goals, start off each day with
them in mind. Make sure that you set your mindset
prior to going into your work day. You know, choose
how your day is going to go, and don't let

(05:46):
the day run you, which she says should always start
with another pillar. Taking care of yourself, so full night's rest,
make sure you're having breakfast, make sure that you do
get some exercise in keeping your eye on the big
prize when you go into work. Don't let it kind
of little things distract you, she says. She sees people
do this a lot. They walk in and then they
let the barrage of emails and complaints take control and

(06:08):
they're just putting out fires all day instead of really
moving their business ahead. And one of the biggest things
she sees successful people do every day is network. Network network.
People love to work with their friends, so you know,
they'd much rather do business or hire someone that they
know and they like than somebody who's a complete unknown. Lastly,

(06:30):
and most importantly, being relentless in pursuit of your own improvement.
For me, you know, that means reading research for an
hour every day to learn new things and making sure
that I'm on my game. That's kind of how I
see it. As a common thread throughout, whether it's me
or clients, we all can be better, and it's our
job to kind of push ourselves if that's where we
want to go. Most people wouldn't know this about you,

(06:52):
but you are a big fan of going to fights.
I am. I'm a big fan. When we get back
from the we talked about one of Julie's favorite pastimes.
One she frequents to watch the psychology of success play
out in real time. A strong work ethic takes pride
in a job well done, sweats over the details. This

(07:16):
is the kind of person you need. Express employment professionals
can help. Finding the best people requires more than sorting
through applications. You need to conduct a thorough surge. Express
understands what it takes to hire the right person. It
takes real people, real interviews, discovering the talents you need.

(07:39):
We find good people matching their skills with the right jobs.
At Express, we find people for jobs and companies of
all sizes and industries, from the production floor to the
front office. Sometimes finding the best new employee really is
about who you know. Express knows jobs. Get to know Express,

(08:01):
go to Express pros dot com to find a location
near you. Dr Gurtner believes there's a lot you can
learn about a successful mindset by watching a fight. The
ultimate goal isn't about hurting or hitting other people. It's
about the same things we all search for when we
look for success. We're looking for freedom, We're looking to
provide for our families, We're looking for financial security. I mean,

(08:25):
these are common goals that we all have. Julie is
not immediately who you'd picture in the front row at
fight night. She's bet she's very put together, usually dressed
business casual. But whether it's boxing, m m A, you
name it, if it's a very primitive sport, I find
that there's sometimes a lot of value in seeing, you know,
people who are bringing their best without any instruments, it's

(08:48):
only themselves, their psyche, their body, uh and bringing that
to the table. She gets the same thrill from watching
a boxing match that a lot of us do, but
at the same time, she's also seeing the whole thing
through the eyes of a psychologist. I try to get
seats as close as possible because I like to see
directly kind of everything that's happening from their facial expressions

(09:11):
to what they look like when they're walking out. Some
come with these massive entourages that I don't know if
they're for a show or to help them feel better
about themselves, or as kind of a demonstration of power
like an army or anything else. She pays attention to
music they play when they come out, if it's funny
or if it's hardcore and supposed to be intimidating. And

(09:32):
then you look at how they interact with the other person,
you know, before they even start the fight. Some people
will touch gloves. Some people try to be intimidating in
ways where they don't touch gloves. She watches what rituals
they have going into the fight. Do they, you know,
touch their head, do they have to kiss them att
do they have certain things that make them feel secure,

(09:54):
And then as they begin to fight, seeing how they respond.
The fighters that do well are the fighters who realize
their own weaknesses and they plan for those, Like do
you have good endurance? Are you the fighter who has
a really great left hook? What are your strengths and

(10:16):
what are honestly the areas you need to be sure
you're aware of so that you're pulling those up? Do
you tend to get tired when the rounds go on,
and if you do, what's your game plan? I mean,
there are some fighters who never researched their opponent. They
just go out there and they're just swinging for the
fences without a real plan. They're just kind of sluggers.
And those people never go very far. And then you

(10:40):
get the individuals who come out there and they may
not look like what you expect a fighter to look like,
but they're thoughtful, they're planful, they prepare well, they study
their opponent, and those people end up going further than
you think. There was a local fighter in Philly that

(11:02):
I followed for a long time. His name was hammer
and Hank Lundie Hammering Hank Lundie. Hammer and Hank Lundie
eventually went on to have a successful career. He was
on ESPN, but Julie went to see him when he
was still doing local fights in Philadelphia and at one
match ended up sitting next to his fiancee. At the time,
she was hysterical. She pulled out a little bottle of

(11:23):
vodka or something from her purse and we were chatting
and I said, well, aren't you worried about Hank out there? Like,
don't you get so nervous? And she said, no, one's
going to touch Hank. Everybody will miss him who swings
to hit him. He plays this all over and over
again at home. It's all he thinks about, is, you know,
being good for his kids and being able to have
a long career. And I thought, wow, you know, that's

(11:44):
a such an interesting perspective because I would have been
at the edge of my seat if my spouse would
have been out there about to get into a fight.
She was calm as could be, enjoying the fight. And
you know, Hank really didn't get hit very much and
he won. I love that she didn't even see it
was not even up to chance because he had broken
down his practice so much, right, she felt, so it

(12:07):
was not a gamble, no, And I think that's what
you have to do with your career as well. You
don't want to say I'm going to put this in
the hands of luck, because when you do, whether you're
fighting a fight or you're out there in the job market,
you do have a shot that things will work out
for you. But why not stack the odds in your favor.

(12:28):
Julie says there are generally two types of people she
sees when looking at those who succeed in what they
want and those who don't. There are individuals who say
they make wishes. I wish I had a million dollars,
I wish I was better off whatever it is. And
then there are people who say, Okay, I really want
this particular income and I'm going to reverse engineer how

(12:49):
to get that. I'm going to go after it. I'm
going to make a plan. And there's a big difference
between planning and wishing. Are you the person wishing playing lottery,
hoping that it hits and you know, maybe you will
be discovered, maybe some boss is going to notice that
you're doing pretty well. Or are you the person that
planfully puts their career together so that they do get noticed,

(13:11):
so that they do get that promotion, so that they
are getting skills that make them valuable. What kind of
person are you when you start off your day, when
you look at your career. Almost everybody I talk with
knows they could be more than what they are right now,
and there's this sense within them of frustration that they

(13:31):
can't be there, or they feel they can't be there.
So to watch people begin to get close to that
and begin to see what they're actually capable of doing.
That kind of excitement. It's kind of like a kid
in a candy shop, and that makes me excited. So
as long as you're open and receptive and willing to
self examine, we can all get to the next level.

(13:58):
You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.
Thank you so much, Julie. You can learn more about
Julie and her work at dr Gerner dot com. That's
d R g U r n e r dot com
for On the Job on Motus Gray. This season up

(14:30):
on the Job is produced by Audiation and Red Sea Ventures.
The episodes are written and produced by me Otus Gray.
Our executive producer is Sandy Smallens. The show is mixed
by Matt Noble for Audiation Studios at the Loft in Bronxville,
New York. Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Anno Domini Beats.
Find us on I Heart Radio and Apple Podcasts. If

(14:51):
you liked what you heard, please consider rating or reviewing
the show on Apple Podcasts or Revere Listen. We'll see
you next time. For more inspiring stories about making yourself
a cent l as you discover your life's work audiation,
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