Serve Conscious

It seems like there's a lot that can go wrong when implementing something like mindfulness, coaching,  or any mental wellness modality into your workplace culture. You might be thinking, "What if everyone thinks it's weird ?" or "What if they don't like the facilitator?" or "What if they're tired of trainings and just don't wanna show up?"

This episode answers all of t...

Do you do a one-off workshop or offer continuous support? Do you offer mindfulness, coaching or some other brain-tweaking modality? Do you bring in a third party or give your team the training to build an in-house program?
 
If you're looking to begin a mental wellness program in your organization, these are good questions to be asking. Each organization has a unique culture with its own wellness needs so knowing deter...

We live in a time where it never feels like there's enough mental energy to go around. A big part of my mission is certainly to help people build more of this energy so that can be happier, healthier and more successful. But on the other side of this equation is the importance of acknowledging the limited inner resources of others. You can make an extraordinary difference in your relationship with a team member or customer by ...

Maybe you say "yes" to too much, or pick up the slack of negligent co-workers, or get pushed around by customers or managers. Feelings of resentment are probably one of the most common experiences in the workplace that nobody wants to deal with. Why? Maybe we don't like our resentful selves. We'd rather not feel so petty, grumpy and victimized as it concerns our daily commitments. 

But what happens when...

I think this is the perfect holiday practice and also has a profound impact on the people-management skills you need for true  service (AKA: the part that really counts). I challenge you to practice it using the person in your life that you find most different from you, most difficult to understand, or just straight-up most annoying.

This is a practice that uses visualization and intention-setting to prepare your mind for ...

The holidays provide an opportunity to connect to the aspects of service that are truly meaningful to you. And this is the key to really serving to your highest potential: doing what makes YOU feel good (not just what you think you have to do). This episode shows you how to go beyond just the transactional job requirements of service and access your natural motivation to serve REGARDLESS of what you're getting out of it.
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If a customer or colleague is being unkind, why do we insist on feeling personally attacked by it? Well, we're designed to. We can try as hard as we want to not take things personally, but we all know that never works. So what do we do? You're going to learn a much different approach to keeping your sense of self from getting affected by someone else's foul mood so you can continue to perform and enjoy your service-o...

Do you find yourself making assumptions, criticisms or unfair evaluations of the people you serve or work with? These ideas may just float by your mind and remain internal, or they'll slip out at the wrong time and wound a relationship. Either way, being judgmental might feel like it really gets in the way of your success and happiness. Be sure to listen to the end of this episode  since you're going to be left with power...

Loved having a dialogue-style session with my homie Neal Woodson, who was kind enough to return to jam out on some of our mutually-beloved topics like empathy/compassion, service cultures, dealing with difficult humans, and how to help professionals feel empowered to serve to their highest potential.

Other questions we chewed on...

• Are we getting more empathetic/compassionate as a society?
• How has COVID made us better at...

"Ummmmmm, excuse me? I thought you always start with 'Why?'"

I know, I know - sorry Simon Sinek fans. Him and all those other Why-seekers out there are not misguided, they just maybe haven't experienced the volatility and unreliability of 'Why?' questions.  In this episode I wanted to talk about contacting the purpose that drives your service and the key foundation of awareness that&apos...

What a great conversation with a fellow service superhero, Molly Bruttomesso of Wunderkind, a company that's become a darling of the digital marketing world and seems to remain in a continual phase of blossoming.

We covered a lot of ground around organizational culture, professional growth, true customer support, and more, so I definitely recommend this episode if you are a service leader or a service professional loo...

This guided practice combines a lot of tools into one big activation of your very best qualities. By envisioning yourself handling challenges, creating positive impact and generally being the person your want to show up as, the mind will begin to habitually think, act and crush it as the superhero you already know you are.

To maximize this session...

• Find a comfortable spot, where you won't be disturbed. (Do NOT a...

As service professionals, our work gets super-powered by the need to help others, bring happiness, solve problems, etc. The problem is: we get so latched onto these outcomes manifesting that we get crushed by things not turning out how we want. What to do? You can't control people's disappointing responses to our good service intentions. But if we let go of our need for positive outcomes, we may lose the very spark that m...

Relationships to customers are everything - same with relationships to coworkers, friends, family and (maybe most of all) ourselves. This episode looks at the inevitability of stress - especially in a role as stressful as service - and how to not only be able to handle the discomfort of it, but also rise to meet the challenges ahead of you.

This one is part of a continuing series on stress and, though it stands alone, you can listen...

What would service life be like if stress wasn't a problem? Thus begins a series tackling the obstacle to service success that is so pervasive, its influence cannot be understated.

Inside:

• Stress release: effective and ineffective ways to actually get the stress out of your physiology.
• Keeping stress from messing up your work life is not just a matter of "reducing" it, but becoming resilient to it.
• How stre...

Service professionals are especially required to show that they are in pleasant emotional states - cheerful, calm, friendly, etc.  But when you're not feeling that way, it's often difficult and straining to fake these emotions. This episode talks about these struggles of "Emotional Labor" and how to emerge victorious in what can often feel like a miserable trap of performance expectations.

You'll l...

Important stuff we make sure you walk away with in this episode...

• No more fear of being "selfish". Selflessness is not what you think it is.
• The importance of understanding and meeting your needs (as well as your customers'/coworkers'/employers')
• Do you feel "forced" to serve a certain way (by clients or management? Here's how to work with this.
• How to make everything feel voluntar...

Do you think that the principles of running an organization and the best practices of piloting a commercial jet are an unlikely combo for a leadership guide? You won't think so by the end of this discussion with dynamic duo Octavian Pantis and Emil G Dobrovolschi. They share pearls of wisdom from the book they recently co-authored, Dark Cockpit: How to Communicate, Lead, and Be in Control at All Times Like an Airline Captain.

G...

Being able to connect with people and navigate a social situation is not a “have it or you don’t” quality. It’s a learnable skill that gets nurtured by surprisingly simple practices. In this episode you’ll get connected with some of the ways that I broke out of emotional illiteracy.

You’ll also learn ...

• How to build your social capabilities without learning “charisma tricks”.
• How restoring your mental and emotional health is  the...