April 29, 2025 • 26 mins
In part 1 of this episode, we discuss the importance of reframing goals to be present-focused, which helps individuals value healthy habits in the moment, with speaker, trainer, and coach George Anderson. George introduces the DASH framework (diet, activity, sleep, hydration) as a quick-win strategy to build routines and boost energy, sharing specific examples of positive results from his clients. Additionally, George explains how his Mindset Boost app's self-diagnostic assessment can identify areas for cultivating different mindsets to improve performance and growth.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Best (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Growth Workshop Podcast.
(00:02):
We're thrilled to have GeorgeAnderson here today. Welcome
George. Thank you for comingalong.
George Anderson (00:06):
Great to be here.
Matt Best (00:06):
Thank you and George. You're a performance coach, and
you help individuals andorganizations as they think
about their own performance andthe energy and focus and mindset
and all of those things thatwill help them be essentially
better and more successful, andwe're going to unpick that in
the discussion today. So verymuch looking forward to that, as
(00:26):
is customary on the GrowthWorkshop Podcast, we like to ask
our guests a sort of interestingquestion, I guess, to kick us
off. And today, what we'd liketo understand from you, George
is, if you could choose twopeople to be on your personal
board of advisors, so those whowould advise you in your
personal life, who would thosepeople be, and why? And they can
be anyone from celebrities, wellknown people, individuals that
(00:47):
only you know. Who would thosetwo people be?
George Anderson (00:50):
I love this question because it it's
something that I know I'm goingto take away from and reflect
even more deeply on after thepodcast today, when you ask me,
but I think I have got a couplebut one person who actually is
on my virtual board of advisorsalready. And one person who is
somebody who I would, I wouldlove to have access to his
brain. The person who alreadyknow is a guy called Jerry Duffy
(01:11):
who has been, I've worked withhim many years. He's a speaker,
and he's, he used to be very,very successful endurance
athlete as well, and he didn'tdo so much of that now, but he
was the first person I ever cameacross who had done a ridiculous
ultra endurance challenge. Did10 Iron Mans in 10 days, which
is just like the mind boggling.So I got in touch with him, and
(01:32):
I interviewed him, I got to knowhim, and we became close
friends, and he actuallyinspired me to then go and do my
first big Ultra challenge, whichis sounds nothing in comparison,
but I did 10 marathons in 10days a couple of years later,
and Jerry was very muchinstrumental in coaching and
inspiring me and mentoring methrough that process. And he has
been very helpful to me over theyears as I've been building my
(01:55):
business as well. So it's thevery kind of sage advice I get
from Jerry.
Matt Best (01:59):
And what about the second person?
George Anderson (02:00):
Well, the second person is a bit of a I am
a bit of a fan boy of and it'sanother podcast host Andrew
Huberman from the Huberman lab,and I've been listening to his
podcast for the last few years,and just absolutely love his
approach. Is the way he's somethodical about obviously,
very, very clued up. If anybodyis a fan of the human lab,
(02:22):
they'll know he's very, verydetailed. I love the questions
that he asks, and I can justimagine him being an advisor and
just calling me out on anythingthat didn't quite make make
sense and and just ask me thoseimportant questions that I'd
have to really stop and thinkand give you a proper
consideration to. So yeah,Andrew human, he'd be my second
board of advisors.
Matt Best (02:41):
That's brilliant, it sounds like a great balance, and
it's almost, I guess, linkedback to what it is that you do
and how you help people in thosetwo sides of things. I know when
we first met, you were sharingwith us the connection between
physical well being and mentalwell being and and how important
that is. So maybe you could justdescribe for the audience,
George, a little bit about whatyou do and how you help people.
And then I know we've got a kindof fun, fun exercise, as it
(03:03):
were, that we're going to gointo around Jonny and my own...
Jonny Adams (03:07):
Slightly nervous, may I say...
George Anderson (03:10):
I came into doing what I'm doing now, which
is, as you said, helpingindividuals, teams,
organizations, with performance.And there are many different
facets of performance. It couldbe around resilience, could be
around motivation or mindset oreven one of the big things that
I spend a lot of time workingwith people now on, which is
energy. How do you create that?That energy, physical, mental,
(03:31):
emotional energy that gives youthis foundation so that you can
access those tools of resilienceand mindset and motivation. And
I came into this through theroute of personal training,
which I started off doing 20plus years ago, worked with lots
and lots of clients, and Ireally found that the people who
were best able to stick with thechanges that they were making
(03:52):
were the ones who weren't justconnecting what they were doing
to their goals in the future,but rather to the impact it was
Having on them right now, likewhen they were exercising a bit
more, eating a little bitbetter, sleeping a little bit
more as well. They were justfeeling better, and they were in
a better mood. They had a betteroutlook. They were more
optimistic. They had betterrelationships. They were telling
(04:13):
me these things, and 20 yearsago, I didn't really fully
appreciate or acknowledge thesignificance of it, but I just
noticed that they were the oneswho are the most motivated, and
found it easiest to stick tothose, those habits. So that's
what I try and bring now to theaudiences and teams that I work
with.
Matt Best (04:30):
Wow. Brilliant. Love to as we dive into the
conversation, I'd be curious tothink about how long it takes
some individuals to get there,and I know for my own, my own
journey as well. I think, Iimagine, lots of our listeners
are probably in the same boatwhere actually it's quite hard
to connect what you're doingright now to how you how it's
really making a change and adifference in your in your life,
and it's maybe easier to lookback over time and reflect on
(04:52):
how that feels. So it's I'mcurious to explore that a little
bit further, but I think we'lldo that after after first. First
of all, we look at the resultsof mine and Jonny's own
performance mindset survey. Soon George's website, there is a
link to the performance mindsetscore. And Jonny and I, just
before we started recording thispodcast, undertook the survey,
(05:15):
and we have our performancemindset scores.
Jonny Adams (05:18):
It's 48 questions, and the website is
bygeorgeanderson.com.
George Anderson (05:22):
That's subliminal, By George. By
George...
Jonny Adams (05:27):
48 questions, takes about five to seven minutes to
complete, and then what comesback is a score. We're about to
tell you the score, what we'vegot back, and you're gonna,
we're all gonna watch George'sreaction when we give our score.
George Anderson (05:39):
I'm intrigued this because I was watching you
do it and seeing the changes ofexpression on your faces as
well, and even like you wereeven complaining about how you
said it would take fiveminutes...
Jonny Adams (05:51):
So we're about to read out our scores, and then
George, you're gonna give us alittle bit of coaching on these
scores as we go through over thenext few minutes. Who's gonna go
first?
Matt Best (05:59):
You are, Jonny.
Jonny Adams (06:00):
Ah, right? George, the response here, so my overall
score out of 100 is 67.
George Anderson (06:09):
Well, it's okay, right? It's not a
disaster. But we go into thefour different mindsets as well.
So what tell us what the mindsetscore results were for the
individuals as well.
Jonny Adams (06:21):
So I'll start with the lowest stress advantage
mindset, which when doing thequestionnaire was was one of the
things that I thought about themost. 58% adaptive resilience
mindset. 63% growth mindset,should be better. 71% and then
self leadership mindset, which Iyou know, when answering the
(06:42):
questions felt right, was 76%.
George Anderson (06:44):
I think, probably worthwhile briefly
explaining what each of thosefour mindsets are slightly from
the bottom, that stressadvantage mindset really is this
a set of kind of thoughtprocesses around how you
perceive pressure and stress,and it doesn't mean you have to
Enjoy the feeling of stress, butthose with a higher stress
advantage mindset tend to tothrive and to form better under
(07:07):
pressure, because it's almostthe signals are that him, I'm
rising to the occasion here andand the way you frame stress can
really make a significantdifference to how you then
perform when you are under thepressure of deadlines or You've
just had some kind of rejectionor setback, and you really need
to get that deal through. Thatcan really make a difference.
Jonny Adams (07:27):
Unpacking a little bit. But just for the listeners,
stress concerns me. Stressactually builds anxiety in me.
So when I read the question,because of the history of
anxiety and depression in myfamily, I looked at the
questions going, I don't want tobe anywhere near that word
stress, so I wonder if it hasany of that impact.
George Anderson (07:44):
Interesting, because it does actually make a
difference the way you frame theword stress, and even thinking
about the word pressure might bemore aspirational to you. It's
motivational. So this ispressure, and I perform under
pressure. There's the wonderfulBillie Jean King quote that
pressure is a privilege, andseeing that, okay, I'm in this,
but I've got an opportunity hereto there's a reason why I'm in
(08:05):
this situation with thispressure, because I can do this.
So that's the first one. Whatwas next? Some stress
advance....
Jonny Adams (08:11):
Adaptive resilience design set 63%.
George Anderson (08:14):
Yeah, this is really your ability to manage
and navigate and adapt tochange. So when things don't go
the way you wanted them to, orthings happen around you, and it
could feel like it's happeningto you without your consultation
or consent, there's that kind ofchange. And when you have a
strong adaptive resiliencemindset, then you'll probably
find that you get to a place ofacceptance. And all right, I
(08:35):
still have to like it, but thisis the this is the situation.
What do we do with this? You'llget to that point faster when
you have this stronger, adaptiveresilience mindset.
Jonny Adams (08:44):
That's really interesting. I call it the
quadruple. In the last recentyears, I got engaged, got
married, had a kid and got adog. Oh, I moved house, so I did
the five, yeah, not particularlygreat at change, and how I've
survived that. But that's areally interesting point. That's
something I do want to work on,is that change piece so we're
really keen to dig into thatlater on. The next one growth
(09:05):
mindset, 71%.
George Anderson (09:07):
Yeah. And one of the things that often
surprises people about growthmindset is it shows up in a lot
of different aspects. It's notjust the belief that you can do
something if you were to put theeffort in. Now, that's our usual
understanding of it. But oftenwhen you think about how it
applies to say, receivingfeedback, maybe critical
feedback. If you have more of afixed mindset, then you're
probably more likely then totake that personally, to maybe
(09:29):
discount what the person issaying if that you don't
particularly like them, or youdon't have that respect for
them, whereas if you have agrowth mindset, you still might
initially have that response,but you're more likely then to
go away and think about it andtake the kind of the nuggets of
gold from it, if indeed thereare any. So it's really about
looking at where growth mindsetshows up in a lot of different
aspects of life, but 71% sothat's a pretty decent, decent
(09:52):
score for that one.
Jonny Adams (09:52):
I'm gonna unveil the next one, and then Matt
would be great to hear aboutyour score, and maybe George,
you could, you could take usthrough, maybe. Some ideas
around how to develop. You know,the fourth and final aspect was
self leadership mindset, which Ithought was a really interesting
bucket to unpack. 76%.
George Anderson (10:09):
Yeah, I find this shows up quite heavily in
the sales community. That hasbeen quite strong because
effective, high performing salesleaders and professionals, they
tend to have to be selfsufficient and and resourceful
as well. And these are all someof the characteristics and
traits of someone with a highself leadership or strong self
leadership mindset. I thinkentrepreneurs tend to have quite
(10:31):
a lot of this as well. Don'twait to be told what to do,
hanging around and hoping thatsomebody else will do it. So
when you're ready to just thisis the way we need to move. And
I'm just going to take action onit. That's usually an indication
that you're going to have afairly strong self leadership
mindset.
Matt Best (10:47):
similar to Jonny I looked at when I see the word
stress, I don't take it as and Ilove your reframing of it to
pressure, because I think I seestress as the the negative
stresses, the stuff that'soutside of your control, the
stuff that or that feels outsideof control, not always outside
(11:08):
of your control.
George Anderson (11:09):
Yeah, the original research into this came
out probably started around fiveor six years ago, with a lot of
research into the the mindset ofthe Navy SEALs. And as you can
imagine, they probably had verystrong stress is enhancing, or
stress advantage mindset, versusthe stress threat mindset, which
is where you see all stress asbeing bad. Got to avoid it, got
(11:30):
to mitigate it, try and try andstay away from stress, because
it's bad for us. And there'sbeen a lot of research into the
impact that seeing stress as apotential positive, something
that's going to elevate ourperformance to deal with
whatever it is that's in frontof us, how that has an impact on
our health metrics, but, butthis is the first time believe
that it's been studies how itimpacts your your performance
(11:52):
from a mental perspective. Soactually, it can open you up to
making better quality decisions,to seeing things more clearly.
And in the Navy SEALs study froma few years ago, it was shown
that actually they wereperceived to be better recruits,
potential recruits into the SEALteams by their colleagues and
also by the commanding officersas well. And they perform better
(12:15):
on a lot of other benchmarktests as well, like obstacle
courses and problem solvingtasks also, and the only
differentiator was this, stressis enhancing, or stress
advantage mindset. But the wordstress absolutely just like you
were saying a moment ago. There,Jonny, that it's it can feel,
not triggering. But actually, weall have that experience. It's a
natural phenomenon we need tohave that it's our brains and
(12:37):
bodies getting ready for action.But what do you do with that?
How do you pass it? How do youunderstand it? And then do
something with that? Just theway you think about stress can
have a really significantimpacts on what that performance
and what those decisions andbehaviors then turn into being.
Matt Best (12:53):
I think I can see, I see a lot of that in myself just
completing this, and I think itcan definitely relate to that. I
think that that sort of mindset,the the next for me was 79 on
growth mindset. So I think thathad me coming out as medium.
George Anderson (13:08):
Did you, when you were working through the
questions, really think abouthow, where, how they were a part
of the growth mindset? Becausesometimes, as I said, growth
mindset can show up in all sortsof different ways in our lives.
But the way the questions aredesigned is to sort of maybe
just get you thinking about, Inever really thought about how I
approach these differentsituations. Did you notice any
(13:29):
of that as you were goingthrough?
Matt Best (13:30):
Definitely a couple of questions that I had to kind
of reread and really think aboutthat. Yeah, absolutely.
George Anderson (13:34):
Because I think even just with the app, with the
score app, there thequestionnaire, it can be useful
because it brings awareness, andthat really is the purpose of
doing this. And when we talkabout mindset, it's all very
well and good having the toolsand the frameworks and so on,
but you need to create theawareness of it in the moment as
well. So if you're thinking toyourself, oh, well, every time I
(13:55):
encounter some kind of a change,somebody shifts the goal posts
or is the target, and now we'vegot a bigger target. I know that
I normally start thinking this,or I start thinking, oh my
goodness, why they're doing thisagain? Or that's not fair, if
you know that, that's how younormally think, even if you get
on board in the end, then thenext time you go into those
situations, having thatawareness, you can be more
(14:16):
intentional about it. Think,Okay, well, that still doesn't
feel awesome to have that happento me. But how can I better
process that and thinkdifferently in that moment, so
that I can actually then performbetter externally, but also
think and feel better inside myown head as well?
Jonny Adams (14:31):
It's interesting. You mentioned that there,
George, one of the things that,you know, I was always searching
for the, you know, what does EQmean? What does IQ mean? You
know, emotional intelligence. Ialways was searching just for a
simple, simple approach. And Ilike, I like this approach where
I've heard it before is, youknow, self regulation, self
awareness, or self awareness andself regulation. And you sort of
(14:52):
describe that a little bit bygoing through the questionnaire.
It's actually raises your selfawareness. And then when it
comes to a scenario where youhave to be a bit more. Adaptive
or things change actually. Howdo you self regulate your mind
set to actually adapt to thatscenario? But if you're not self
aware in the first instance, howare you going to then regulate?
George Anderson (15:10):
Exactly and it works the other way as well, not
just looking at the times whereyou might find yourself
disintegrating towards a lowerperformance mindset, but but
actually looking for thosemoments where you you actually
do really embody and embracethat growth mindset, or that
stress advantage mindset, thosetimes where you have felt that
pressure and felt good like youwere performing. Because when
you can go back in your mind tothose moments and those
(15:32):
responses, you can really savorthose experiences and think
through them very deeply, andthen they become almost this,
this cape of like superpowersthat you can put on and say,
Well, I'm that's the kind ofperson that I am, rather than
defaulting to, well, I'm alwayslike this, because actually, no
one is 60, 50% for the stressadvantage mindset. And so
(15:54):
there's still going to be a lotof occasions where you, you, you
do default towards feelingreally good in that stress and
pressure environment, sofocusing on those and then
creating this sense of identityand capacity potential to be
like that and to respond likethat again in the future.
Matt Best (16:12):
Yeah, and I know we'll come on to talking about
mindset in general in a moment,and those tools that we can put
in place to sort of help withthis the other the next one for
me is 85% self leadership.
George Anderson (16:24):
Are you feeling that that sounds about right for
for you, and the work that youdo, the kind of way you approach
things?
Jonny Adams (16:29):
A lot of compliments are given to Matt to
your face. But also a good signof a great leader is someone
that doesn't always get thecompliments to their face. So
your peers regularly mentionedto me how you're really well.
You've got a great process,you've got a great discipline in
what you do, but you're acrosseverything, and you've really
got that self starter approach.One of the things when we first
started working together was,wow, where's this man come from?
(16:52):
You know, you've got highaspiration, high motivation. So,
yeah, I mean, that's that feelsright, right?
George Anderson (16:58):
Because how often do we like systemize
getting that kind of feedbackand that reflection, and
certainly when the things thatare related to our strengths,
our character strengths, whensomebody can reflect that back
to us and it's like, okay, no, Isort of intuitively, no, I'm
pretty good at this. But whenyou know that other people are
seeing it and experiencing aswell, that's really powerful,
not just for you and for you,but for other people around you
(17:20):
as well. Because you're probablygoing to, you know, make sure,
make sure you you do more of thething that comes quite naturally
to you, and recognize that asbeing one of your superpowers.
Matt Best (17:27):
Yeah. And I think it's always nice to, sort of to
hear that stuff as well. And Ithink it just reinforces the the
way you see that, and the way,you know, especially when you
catch yourself, and youmentioned in those, in those
sort of slightly sort ofsomewhat sort of destructive or
negative moments, and actuallybeing able to turn that around
in something that's that's alittle bit more productive. And
(17:48):
then finally, the adaptiveresilience mindset at 90 now, my
wife will attest the fact that Ilove change. Okay, I'm like, a
change fan, so I guess I'mprobably least surprised by that
one despite the fact that it'svery high and very you know,
someone changes plans lastminute. No stress. We crack on
roll with it. Yeah, yeah. Iencourage it, much to my wife's
(18:10):
annoyance.
George Anderson (18:11):
What about bringing change into your life
voluntarily, like changing yourhabits or or things? So that's a
feature as well is it?
Matt Best (18:21):
That's a feature as well all the time. And that can
make me sort of somewhatimpulsive sometimes as well. And
I think there's a sort oflinkage there. I'll tell you a
semi boring story. I don't liketo wake my wife up in the
morning if I've got to get upearly to go to London for a
meeting or to go somewhere for ameeting, or something like that.
So I use one of those, likewearable alarm clock things. And
(18:42):
I've tried, probably, I don'tknow, five or six different
options in the last month. And,you know, some might say that's
kind of impulsive, but part ofthat's me inviting more change
to find the perfect solution.And I think it's just I'm always
willing to kind of try stuff andlike and I always see myself at
the sort of front of the bellcurve that really makes it I'm
(19:03):
definitely an early adopter, soI was the first person to get
one of those flippy Googlephones, which was just
absolutely rubbish. But itdidn't matter. I just want to
try that. That looks cool. I'mgoing to try it. And I think
that's just my, yeah.
George Anderson (19:15):
It's interesting with change, because
some people will do really wellwith bringing change into their
lives, and some people stillfind that hard, like they want
to change. Want to changehabits, or they want to change
processes, or even like serviceproviders. And some people can
find that really hard to dothat, because I'm just so used
to it, even if they're decidingto do it. Changing career is
another great example. I want todo this and then really
(19:37):
struggling with a change, andthen you've got the kind of
change that really the adaptiveresilience mindset is more about
which is this, when change ishappening around you, or it's
happening and it's not ideal foryou, then that's different
again. But I think most peopleare either good at one or the
other, rather than beingnecessarily good and leaning
(19:57):
into both of them. So the factthat you've got that and. Um, or
maybe the fact that you are soready to bring change into your
life, it's almost inoculated youagainst it, so you're so used to
it now. So when then changehappens and it isn't in
alignment with the plans you'vegot these mental processes and
and structures to to deal withthat and get on board really
(20:19):
quickly.
Matt Best (20:20):
Yeah, I'd say that's probably reflective again, just
change organizations,organizational things. I spent a
lot of my career in startups aswell, where change is very fast.
Jonny Adams (20:30):
The point around change is really interesting. We
run a large number of projects,and these projects can be number
of years. And the type of workthat we do is sales and
marketing transformation work,where, fundamentally we put
processes, we put systems inplace. Yeah, okay, but let's
talk about people, and this iswhat we're talking about. Is
performance, the way thatprojects live and die, is by
(20:51):
change, and whether change goeswell. We just talked about Matt
there having that score. Whatare some of the things that you
can do as an individual todevelop your resilience to
change, or if we unlock thatbucket a bit more? Because I
reckon our listeners, just ingeneral, our clients, could
really value some of your ideasaround how we can help people
change or be more adaptive toit.
George Anderson (21:12):
Yeah, that's a great question. There's a couple
of parts to that as well,actually, because I think, as a
leader, if you have a very highadaptive resilience mindset,
then it can almost befrustrating when the rest of
your team don't come with youquick enough. So I think as
sales leaders, it's important torecognize that just because
you're really good at somethingdoesn't necessarily mean that
(21:33):
the rest of the team aren't youneed to maybe coach them or
support them as they get up tospeed. Being involved in the
change process as well seems tohave a really, really positive
impact on someone's willingnessto adapt and acclimate to it. So
if you feel like you'vecontributed, you've been
listened to, and your worriesabout the change understood,
then again, even if it's stillgoing to happen and it's nothing
(21:56):
has changed about the change,you're more likely to feel like,
All right, okay, peopleunderstand me and what the
challenges are now, rather thanthings are just happening to me
without my consent andconsultation. But also, I think
there's something about justfinding ways to get used to
change even small things.Sometimes, when I'm teaching, I
use the fun example. They get upin the morning and you go to the
(22:18):
fridge and there's no milk, soyou can't have your Weetabix,
which is a usual Breakfast has,oh my goodness, I can't believe
I can't have my breakfast.Someone's used up all the milk
again, right? And some peoplewill genuinely be like
completely derailed by havingsomething small like that. So if
that's the sort of thing thatwould normally take you out,
but, but what is it? Where arethose small opportunities for
(22:41):
for recognizing that there's alittle bit of change here that's
okay, I've got this not, notgoing straight into the big
stuff, big seismic systemicchanges in the corporate or the
business units that you'reoperating in, but the little
changes, and then just beingwith it and thinking, okay, how
can I move through this? How canI get to that place of
acceptance faster? And actuallyit's okay and things aren't as
(23:03):
they were. I can't have myWeetabix. I'll have to have my
peanut butter on toast thismorning instead. But that's
okay. Change is good for me, andyou start building up this
belief that actually I can doit, and then the mindset is then
transferable to these otherdomains, these other areas,
these other bigger challengesand changes that do then happen.
Jonny Adams (23:22):
So what I'm hearing from there is that it's about
that the small things lead tothe big things. And maybe
businesses are able to helpothers and individuals
understand that in their day today life, that actually could
become more resilient to thatadaptation. Is that what I'm hearing?
George Anderson (23:38):
Yeah, it comes back to that word cultivation.
So, you know, we don't justbecome resilient or become
better at change or get a bettermindset. It doesn't just happen
like that. It happens over time,and it takes effort, but we can
do it. So if you're not verygood at change at the moment,
and you you go on and say, well,in the next six months, I'm
going to really try and work onthis. And I know people who have
(24:00):
done this, and they've just gotsignificantly better at working
through change and adapting muchfaster, but giving yourself that
permission just to take a littlebit of time and and to get
better and generally cultivatethat that resilience, to
cultivate that mindset aroundchange. And I think that links
into something else which isreally key as well, which is
about being intentional about itin the first place. So we
(24:23):
gathered awareness that what hismindset is. Well, how can I each
day show up as somebody who'sjust a bit better at managing
change and looking out for thoseincidences through the day and
recognizing how does that makeme feel? How am I responding and
how could I respond differentlyin the future? The small things
lead to the big things.
Jonny Adams (24:41):
Appreciate you sharing that what you're sharing
is going to help not only peoplelistening to this, but actually
just that ability. You'rereferencing things that you can
control effectively, which isyour mindset. You go to the
fridge, right? What's thealternative? Rather than
throwing hissy fit and say, Oh,where is the milk? Sounds a bit
like me at home, actually. Butyou know that that aspect. Is
really interesting.
Matt Best (25:01):
That is a fantastic place for us to end today's
conversation. So thanks so muchfor joining us, and we hope that
you join us again for part twoof this conversation.
Hello and welcome to the Growth Workshop Podcast.
(00:02):
We're thrilled to have GeorgeAnderson here today. Welcome
George. Thank you for comingalong.
George Anderson (00:06):
Great to be here.
Matt Best (00:06):
Thank you and George. You're a performance coach, and
you help individuals andorganizations as they think
about their own performance andthe energy and focus and mindset
and all of those things thatwill help them be essentially
better and more successful, andwe're going to unpick that in
the discussion today. So verymuch looking forward to that, as
(00:26):
is customary on the GrowthWorkshop Podcast, we like to ask
our guests a sort of interestingquestion, I guess, to kick us
off. And today, what we'd liketo understand from you, George
is, if you could choose twopeople to be on your personal
board of advisors, so those whowould advise you in your
personal life, who would thosepeople be, and why? And they can
be anyone from celebrities, wellknown people, individuals that
(00:47):
only you know. Who would thosetwo people be?
George Anderson (00:50):
I love this question because it it's
something that I know I'm goingto take away from and reflect
even more deeply on after thepodcast today, when you ask me,
but I think I have got a couplebut one person who actually is
on my virtual board of advisorsalready. And one person who is
somebody who I would, I wouldlove to have access to his
brain. The person who alreadyknow is a guy called Jerry Duffy
(01:11):
who has been, I've worked withhim many years. He's a speaker,
and he's, he used to be very,very successful endurance
athlete as well, and he didn'tdo so much of that now, but he
was the first person I ever cameacross who had done a ridiculous
ultra endurance challenge. Did10 Iron Mans in 10 days, which
is just like the mind boggling.So I got in touch with him, and
(01:32):
I interviewed him, I got to knowhim, and we became close
friends, and he actuallyinspired me to then go and do my
first big Ultra challenge, whichis sounds nothing in comparison,
but I did 10 marathons in 10days a couple of years later,
and Jerry was very muchinstrumental in coaching and
inspiring me and mentoring methrough that process. And he has
been very helpful to me over theyears as I've been building my
(01:55):
business as well. So it's thevery kind of sage advice I get
from Jerry.
Matt Best (01:59):
And what about the second person?
George Anderson (02:00):
Well, the second person is a bit of a I am
a bit of a fan boy of and it'sanother podcast host Andrew
Huberman from the Huberman lab,and I've been listening to his
podcast for the last few years,and just absolutely love his
approach. Is the way he's somethodical about obviously,
very, very clued up. If anybodyis a fan of the human lab,
(02:22):
they'll know he's very, verydetailed. I love the questions
that he asks, and I can justimagine him being an advisor and
just calling me out on anythingthat didn't quite make make
sense and and just ask me thoseimportant questions that I'd
have to really stop and thinkand give you a proper
consideration to. So yeah,Andrew human, he'd be my second
board of advisors.
Matt Best (02:41):
That's brilliant, it sounds like a great balance, and
it's almost, I guess, linkedback to what it is that you do
and how you help people in thosetwo sides of things. I know when
we first met, you were sharingwith us the connection between
physical well being and mentalwell being and and how important
that is. So maybe you could justdescribe for the audience,
George, a little bit about whatyou do and how you help people.
And then I know we've got a kindof fun, fun exercise, as it
(03:03):
were, that we're going to gointo around Jonny and my own...
Jonny Adams (03:07):
Slightly nervous, may I say...
George Anderson (03:10):
I came into doing what I'm doing now, which
is, as you said, helpingindividuals, teams,
organizations, with performance.And there are many different
facets of performance. It couldbe around resilience, could be
around motivation or mindset oreven one of the big things that
I spend a lot of time workingwith people now on, which is
energy. How do you create that?That energy, physical, mental,
(03:31):
emotional energy that gives youthis foundation so that you can
access those tools of resilienceand mindset and motivation. And
I came into this through theroute of personal training,
which I started off doing 20plus years ago, worked with lots
and lots of clients, and Ireally found that the people who
were best able to stick with thechanges that they were making
(03:52):
were the ones who weren't justconnecting what they were doing
to their goals in the future,but rather to the impact it was
Having on them right now, likewhen they were exercising a bit
more, eating a little bitbetter, sleeping a little bit
more as well. They were justfeeling better, and they were in
a better mood. They had a betteroutlook. They were more
optimistic. They had betterrelationships. They were telling
(04:13):
me these things, and 20 yearsago, I didn't really fully
appreciate or acknowledge thesignificance of it, but I just
noticed that they were the oneswho are the most motivated, and
found it easiest to stick tothose, those habits. So that's
what I try and bring now to theaudiences and teams that I work
with.
Matt Best (04:30):
Wow. Brilliant. Love to as we dive into the
conversation, I'd be curious tothink about how long it takes
some individuals to get there,and I know for my own, my own
journey as well. I think, Iimagine, lots of our listeners
are probably in the same boatwhere actually it's quite hard
to connect what you're doingright now to how you how it's
really making a change and adifference in your in your life,
and it's maybe easier to lookback over time and reflect on
(04:52):
how that feels. So it's I'mcurious to explore that a little
bit further, but I think we'lldo that after after first. First
of all, we look at the resultsof mine and Jonny's own
performance mindset survey. Soon George's website, there is a
link to the performance mindsetscore. And Jonny and I, just
before we started recording thispodcast, undertook the survey,
(05:15):
and we have our performancemindset scores.
Jonny Adams (05:18):
It's 48 questions, and the website is
bygeorgeanderson.com.
George Anderson (05:22):
That's subliminal, By George. By
George...
Jonny Adams (05:27):
48 questions, takes about five to seven minutes to
complete, and then what comesback is a score. We're about to
tell you the score, what we'vegot back, and you're gonna,
we're all gonna watch George'sreaction when we give our score.
George Anderson (05:39):
I'm intrigued this because I was watching you
do it and seeing the changes ofexpression on your faces as
well, and even like you wereeven complaining about how you
said it would take fiveminutes...
Jonny Adams (05:51):
So we're about to read out our scores, and then
George, you're gonna give us alittle bit of coaching on these
scores as we go through over thenext few minutes. Who's gonna go
first?
Matt Best (05:59):
You are, Jonny.
Jonny Adams (06:00):
Ah, right? George, the response here, so my overall
score out of 100 is 67.
George Anderson (06:09):
Well, it's okay, right? It's not a
disaster. But we go into thefour different mindsets as well.
So what tell us what the mindsetscore results were for the
individuals as well.
Jonny Adams (06:21):
So I'll start with the lowest stress advantage
mindset, which when doing thequestionnaire was was one of the
things that I thought about themost. 58% adaptive resilience
mindset. 63% growth mindset,should be better. 71% and then
self leadership mindset, which Iyou know, when answering the
(06:42):
questions felt right, was 76%.
George Anderson (06:44):
I think, probably worthwhile briefly
explaining what each of thosefour mindsets are slightly from
the bottom, that stressadvantage mindset really is this
a set of kind of thoughtprocesses around how you
perceive pressure and stress,and it doesn't mean you have to
Enjoy the feeling of stress, butthose with a higher stress
advantage mindset tend to tothrive and to form better under
(07:07):
pressure, because it's almostthe signals are that him, I'm
rising to the occasion here andand the way you frame stress can
really make a significantdifference to how you then
perform when you are under thepressure of deadlines or You've
just had some kind of rejectionor setback, and you really need
to get that deal through. Thatcan really make a difference.
Jonny Adams (07:27):
Unpacking a little bit. But just for the listeners,
stress concerns me. Stressactually builds anxiety in me.
So when I read the question,because of the history of
anxiety and depression in myfamily, I looked at the
questions going, I don't want tobe anywhere near that word
stress, so I wonder if it hasany of that impact.
George Anderson (07:44):
Interesting, because it does actually make a
difference the way you frame theword stress, and even thinking
about the word pressure might bemore aspirational to you. It's
motivational. So this ispressure, and I perform under
pressure. There's the wonderfulBillie Jean King quote that
pressure is a privilege, andseeing that, okay, I'm in this,
but I've got an opportunity hereto there's a reason why I'm in
(08:05):
this situation with thispressure, because I can do this.
So that's the first one. Whatwas next? Some stress
advance....
Jonny Adams (08:11):
Adaptive resilience design set 63%.
George Anderson (08:14):
Yeah, this is really your ability to manage
and navigate and adapt tochange. So when things don't go
the way you wanted them to, orthings happen around you, and it
could feel like it's happeningto you without your consultation
or consent, there's that kind ofchange. And when you have a
strong adaptive resiliencemindset, then you'll probably
find that you get to a place ofacceptance. And all right, I
(08:35):
still have to like it, but thisis the this is the situation.
What do we do with this? You'llget to that point faster when
you have this stronger, adaptiveresilience mindset.
Jonny Adams (08:44):
That's really interesting. I call it the
quadruple. In the last recentyears, I got engaged, got
married, had a kid and got adog. Oh, I moved house, so I did
the five, yeah, not particularlygreat at change, and how I've
survived that. But that's areally interesting point. That's
something I do want to work on,is that change piece so we're
really keen to dig into thatlater on. The next one growth
(09:05):
mindset, 71%.
George Anderson (09:07):
Yeah. And one of the things that often
surprises people about growthmindset is it shows up in a lot
of different aspects. It's notjust the belief that you can do
something if you were to put theeffort in. Now, that's our usual
understanding of it. But oftenwhen you think about how it
applies to say, receivingfeedback, maybe critical
feedback. If you have more of afixed mindset, then you're
probably more likely then totake that personally, to maybe
(09:29):
discount what the person issaying if that you don't
particularly like them, or youdon't have that respect for
them, whereas if you have agrowth mindset, you still might
initially have that response,but you're more likely then to
go away and think about it andtake the kind of the nuggets of
gold from it, if indeed thereare any. So it's really about
looking at where growth mindsetshows up in a lot of different
aspects of life, but 71% sothat's a pretty decent, decent
(09:52):
score for that one.
Jonny Adams (09:52):
I'm gonna unveil the next one, and then Matt
would be great to hear aboutyour score, and maybe George,
you could, you could take usthrough, maybe. Some ideas
around how to develop. You know,the fourth and final aspect was
self leadership mindset, which Ithought was a really interesting
bucket to unpack. 76%.
George Anderson (10:09):
Yeah, I find this shows up quite heavily in
the sales community. That hasbeen quite strong because
effective, high performing salesleaders and professionals, they
tend to have to be selfsufficient and and resourceful
as well. And these are all someof the characteristics and
traits of someone with a highself leadership or strong self
leadership mindset. I thinkentrepreneurs tend to have quite
(10:31):
a lot of this as well. Don'twait to be told what to do,
hanging around and hoping thatsomebody else will do it. So
when you're ready to just thisis the way we need to move. And
I'm just going to take action onit. That's usually an indication
that you're going to have afairly strong self leadership
mindset.
Matt Best (10:47):
similar to Jonny I looked at when I see the word
stress, I don't take it as and Ilove your reframing of it to
pressure, because I think I seestress as the the negative
stresses, the stuff that'soutside of your control, the
stuff that or that feels outsideof control, not always outside
(11:08):
of your control.
George Anderson (11:09):
Yeah, the original research into this came
out probably started around fiveor six years ago, with a lot of
research into the the mindset ofthe Navy SEALs. And as you can
imagine, they probably had verystrong stress is enhancing, or
stress advantage mindset, versusthe stress threat mindset, which
is where you see all stress asbeing bad. Got to avoid it, got
(11:30):
to mitigate it, try and try andstay away from stress, because
it's bad for us. And there'sbeen a lot of research into the
impact that seeing stress as apotential positive, something
that's going to elevate ourperformance to deal with
whatever it is that's in frontof us, how that has an impact on
our health metrics, but, butthis is the first time believe
that it's been studies how itimpacts your your performance
(11:52):
from a mental perspective. Soactually, it can open you up to
making better quality decisions,to seeing things more clearly.
And in the Navy SEALs study froma few years ago, it was shown
that actually they wereperceived to be better recruits,
potential recruits into the SEALteams by their colleagues and
also by the commanding officersas well. And they perform better
(12:15):
on a lot of other benchmarktests as well, like obstacle
courses and problem solvingtasks also, and the only
differentiator was this, stressis enhancing, or stress
advantage mindset. But the wordstress absolutely just like you
were saying a moment ago. There,Jonny, that it's it can feel,
not triggering. But actually, weall have that experience. It's a
natural phenomenon we need tohave that it's our brains and
(12:37):
bodies getting ready for action.But what do you do with that?
How do you pass it? How do youunderstand it? And then do
something with that? Just theway you think about stress can
have a really significantimpacts on what that performance
and what those decisions andbehaviors then turn into being.
Matt Best (12:53):
I think I can see, I see a lot of that in myself just
completing this, and I think itcan definitely relate to that. I
think that that sort of mindset,the the next for me was 79 on
growth mindset. So I think thathad me coming out as medium.
George Anderson (13:08):
Did you, when you were working through the
questions, really think abouthow, where, how they were a part
of the growth mindset? Becausesometimes, as I said, growth
mindset can show up in all sortsof different ways in our lives.
But the way the questions aredesigned is to sort of maybe
just get you thinking about, Inever really thought about how I
approach these differentsituations. Did you notice any
(13:29):
of that as you were goingthrough?
Matt Best (13:30):
Definitely a couple of questions that I had to kind
of reread and really think aboutthat. Yeah, absolutely.
George Anderson (13:34):
Because I think even just with the app, with the
score app, there thequestionnaire, it can be useful
because it brings awareness, andthat really is the purpose of
doing this. And when we talkabout mindset, it's all very
well and good having the toolsand the frameworks and so on,
but you need to create theawareness of it in the moment as
well. So if you're thinking toyourself, oh, well, every time I
(13:55):
encounter some kind of a change,somebody shifts the goal posts
or is the target, and now we'vegot a bigger target. I know that
I normally start thinking this,or I start thinking, oh my
goodness, why they're doing thisagain? Or that's not fair, if
you know that, that's how younormally think, even if you get
on board in the end, then thenext time you go into those
situations, having thatawareness, you can be more
(14:16):
intentional about it. Think,Okay, well, that still doesn't
feel awesome to have that happento me. But how can I better
process that and thinkdifferently in that moment, so
that I can actually then performbetter externally, but also
think and feel better inside myown head as well?
Jonny Adams (14:31):
It's interesting. You mentioned that there,
George, one of the things that,you know, I was always searching
for the, you know, what does EQmean? What does IQ mean? You
know, emotional intelligence. Ialways was searching just for a
simple, simple approach. And Ilike, I like this approach where
I've heard it before is, youknow, self regulation, self
awareness, or self awareness andself regulation. And you sort of
(14:52):
describe that a little bit bygoing through the questionnaire.
It's actually raises your selfawareness. And then when it
comes to a scenario where youhave to be a bit more. Adaptive
or things change actually. Howdo you self regulate your mind
set to actually adapt to thatscenario? But if you're not self
aware in the first instance, howare you going to then regulate?
George Anderson (15:10):
Exactly and it works the other way as well, not
just looking at the times whereyou might find yourself
disintegrating towards a lowerperformance mindset, but but
actually looking for thosemoments where you you actually
do really embody and embracethat growth mindset, or that
stress advantage mindset, thosetimes where you have felt that
pressure and felt good like youwere performing. Because when
you can go back in your mind tothose moments and those
(15:32):
responses, you can really savorthose experiences and think
through them very deeply, andthen they become almost this,
this cape of like superpowersthat you can put on and say,
Well, I'm that's the kind ofperson that I am, rather than
defaulting to, well, I'm alwayslike this, because actually, no
one is 60, 50% for the stressadvantage mindset. And so
(15:54):
there's still going to be a lotof occasions where you, you, you
do default towards feelingreally good in that stress and
pressure environment, sofocusing on those and then
creating this sense of identityand capacity potential to be
like that and to respond likethat again in the future.
Matt Best (16:12):
Yeah, and I know we'll come on to talking about
mindset in general in a moment,and those tools that we can put
in place to sort of help withthis the other the next one for
me is 85% self leadership.
George Anderson (16:24):
Are you feeling that that sounds about right for
for you, and the work that youdo, the kind of way you approach
things?
Jonny Adams (16:29):
A lot of compliments are given to Matt to
your face. But also a good signof a great leader is someone
that doesn't always get thecompliments to their face. So
your peers regularly mentionedto me how you're really well.
You've got a great process,you've got a great discipline in
what you do, but you're acrosseverything, and you've really
got that self starter approach.One of the things when we first
started working together was,wow, where's this man come from?
(16:52):
You know, you've got highaspiration, high motivation. So,
yeah, I mean, that's that feelsright, right?
George Anderson (16:58):
Because how often do we like systemize
getting that kind of feedbackand that reflection, and
certainly when the things thatare related to our strengths,
our character strengths, whensomebody can reflect that back
to us and it's like, okay, no, Isort of intuitively, no, I'm
pretty good at this. But whenyou know that other people are
seeing it and experiencing aswell, that's really powerful,
not just for you and for you,but for other people around you
(17:20):
as well. Because you're probablygoing to, you know, make sure,
make sure you you do more of thething that comes quite naturally
to you, and recognize that asbeing one of your superpowers.
Matt Best (17:27):
Yeah. And I think it's always nice to, sort of to
hear that stuff as well. And Ithink it just reinforces the the
way you see that, and the way,you know, especially when you
catch yourself, and youmentioned in those, in those
sort of slightly sort ofsomewhat sort of destructive or
negative moments, and actuallybeing able to turn that around
in something that's that's alittle bit more productive. And
(17:48):
then finally, the adaptiveresilience mindset at 90 now, my
wife will attest the fact that Ilove change. Okay, I'm like, a
change fan, so I guess I'mprobably least surprised by that
one despite the fact that it'svery high and very you know,
someone changes plans lastminute. No stress. We crack on
roll with it. Yeah, yeah. Iencourage it, much to my wife's
(18:10):
annoyance.
George Anderson (18:11):
What about bringing change into your life
voluntarily, like changing yourhabits or or things? So that's a
feature as well is it?
Matt Best (18:21):
That's a feature as well all the time. And that can
make me sort of somewhatimpulsive sometimes as well. And
I think there's a sort oflinkage there. I'll tell you a
semi boring story. I don't liketo wake my wife up in the
morning if I've got to get upearly to go to London for a
meeting or to go somewhere for ameeting, or something like that.
So I use one of those, likewearable alarm clock things. And
(18:42):
I've tried, probably, I don'tknow, five or six different
options in the last month. And,you know, some might say that's
kind of impulsive, but part ofthat's me inviting more change
to find the perfect solution.And I think it's just I'm always
willing to kind of try stuff andlike and I always see myself at
the sort of front of the bellcurve that really makes it I'm
(19:03):
definitely an early adopter, soI was the first person to get
one of those flippy Googlephones, which was just
absolutely rubbish. But itdidn't matter. I just want to
try that. That looks cool. I'mgoing to try it. And I think
that's just my, yeah.
George Anderson (19:15):
It's interesting with change, because
some people will do really wellwith bringing change into their
lives, and some people stillfind that hard, like they want
to change. Want to changehabits, or they want to change
processes, or even like serviceproviders. And some people can
find that really hard to dothat, because I'm just so used
to it, even if they're decidingto do it. Changing career is
another great example. I want todo this and then really
(19:37):
struggling with a change, andthen you've got the kind of
change that really the adaptiveresilience mindset is more about
which is this, when change ishappening around you, or it's
happening and it's not ideal foryou, then that's different
again. But I think most peopleare either good at one or the
other, rather than beingnecessarily good and leaning
(19:57):
into both of them. So the factthat you've got that and. Um, or
maybe the fact that you are soready to bring change into your
life, it's almost inoculated youagainst it, so you're so used to
it now. So when then changehappens and it isn't in
alignment with the plans you'vegot these mental processes and
and structures to to deal withthat and get on board really
(20:19):
quickly.
Matt Best (20:20):
Yeah, I'd say that's probably reflective again, just
change organizations,organizational things. I spent a
lot of my career in startups aswell, where change is very fast.
Jonny Adams (20:30):
The point around change is really interesting. We
run a large number of projects,and these projects can be number
of years. And the type of workthat we do is sales and
marketing transformation work,where, fundamentally we put
processes, we put systems inplace. Yeah, okay, but let's
talk about people, and this iswhat we're talking about. Is
performance, the way thatprojects live and die, is by
(20:51):
change, and whether change goeswell. We just talked about Matt
there having that score. Whatare some of the things that you
can do as an individual todevelop your resilience to
change, or if we unlock thatbucket a bit more? Because I
reckon our listeners, just ingeneral, our clients, could
really value some of your ideasaround how we can help people
change or be more adaptive toit.
George Anderson (21:12):
Yeah, that's a great question. There's a couple
of parts to that as well,actually, because I think, as a
leader, if you have a very highadaptive resilience mindset,
then it can almost befrustrating when the rest of
your team don't come with youquick enough. So I think as
sales leaders, it's important torecognize that just because
you're really good at somethingdoesn't necessarily mean that
(21:33):
the rest of the team aren't youneed to maybe coach them or
support them as they get up tospeed. Being involved in the
change process as well seems tohave a really, really positive
impact on someone's willingnessto adapt and acclimate to it. So
if you feel like you'vecontributed, you've been
listened to, and your worriesabout the change understood,
then again, even if it's stillgoing to happen and it's nothing
(21:56):
has changed about the change,you're more likely to feel like,
All right, okay, peopleunderstand me and what the
challenges are now, rather thanthings are just happening to me
without my consent andconsultation. But also, I think
there's something about justfinding ways to get used to
change even small things.Sometimes, when I'm teaching, I
use the fun example. They get upin the morning and you go to the
(22:18):
fridge and there's no milk, soyou can't have your Weetabix,
which is a usual Breakfast has,oh my goodness, I can't believe
I can't have my breakfast.Someone's used up all the milk
again, right? And some peoplewill genuinely be like
completely derailed by havingsomething small like that. So if
that's the sort of thing thatwould normally take you out,
but, but what is it? Where arethose small opportunities for
(22:41):
for recognizing that there's alittle bit of change here that's
okay, I've got this not, notgoing straight into the big
stuff, big seismic systemicchanges in the corporate or the
business units that you'reoperating in, but the little
changes, and then just beingwith it and thinking, okay, how
can I move through this? How canI get to that place of
acceptance faster? And actuallyit's okay and things aren't as
(23:03):
they were. I can't have myWeetabix. I'll have to have my
peanut butter on toast thismorning instead. But that's
okay. Change is good for me, andyou start building up this
belief that actually I can doit, and then the mindset is then
transferable to these otherdomains, these other areas,
these other bigger challengesand changes that do then happen.
Jonny Adams (23:22):
So what I'm hearing from there is that it's about
that the small things lead tothe big things. And maybe
businesses are able to helpothers and individuals
understand that in their day today life, that actually could
become more resilient to thatadaptation. Is that what I'm hearing?
George Anderson (23:38):
Yeah, it comes back to that word cultivation.
So, you know, we don't justbecome resilient or become
better at change or get a bettermindset. It doesn't just happen
like that. It happens over time,and it takes effort, but we can
do it. So if you're not verygood at change at the moment,
and you you go on and say, well,in the next six months, I'm
going to really try and work onthis. And I know people who have
(24:00):
done this, and they've just gotsignificantly better at working
through change and adapting muchfaster, but giving yourself that
permission just to take a littlebit of time and and to get
better and generally cultivatethat that resilience, to
cultivate that mindset aroundchange. And I think that links
into something else which isreally key as well, which is
about being intentional about itin the first place. So we
(24:23):
gathered awareness that what hismindset is. Well, how can I each
day show up as somebody who'sjust a bit better at managing
change and looking out for thoseincidences through the day and
recognizing how does that makeme feel? How am I responding and
how could I respond differentlyin the future? The small things
lead to the big things.
Jonny Adams (24:41):
Appreciate you sharing that what you're sharing
is going to help not only peoplelistening to this, but actually
just that ability. You'rereferencing things that you can
control effectively, which isyour mindset. You go to the
fridge, right? What's thealternative? Rather than
throwing hissy fit and say, Oh,where is the milk? Sounds a bit
like me at home, actually. Butyou know that that aspect. Is
really interesting.
Matt Best (25:01):
That is a fantastic place for us to end today's
conversation. So thanks so muchfor joining us, and we hope that
you join us again for part twoof this conversation.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.