WEBVTT - #2022 WTF is Hardiness? - Dr. Paul Taylor 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:02.560 I get eight champions. It's the You Project? What else 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:04.920 would it be? Craig Anthony Harper reporting for Judy, know, 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:07.320 Tiffany and Cook. It's just me all by myself. 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:08.280 Fuck. 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.479 I hope I can manage it. Paul Taylor and I've 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:15.440 been friends for years. Nothing's changed. He's been a bloody 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.160 a mainstay on the Australian fitness and health landscape for 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.759 fucking decades. Now he's an immigrant. Don't hold that against him. 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:25.480 You probably won't understand him. But if I do need 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.400 to decode anything, I will. Great Champ, how are you? 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:31.200 I'm bloody awesome? 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.080 How did w are you? Sounding like an Aussie? More 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:39.920 and more? How long have you? Is it? Two decades? 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.920 Hello you? It is. This is my twenty first year. 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.080 It's going to be my twenty first anniversary here on 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:48.560 the fourteenth of December. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.040 Well, happy anniversary. It feels like five minutes ago that 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:57.280 you stumbled in like a tall leopard corn into my 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:02.600 facility at six four three in Apan Highway, which was 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.280 then called Harper's is now the Woodshed with Sam Wood. 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.959 But how long? What year did you come in? What 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:10.959 year did we meet? 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.360 We went a matt at two thousand and five, because 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:15.080 I got here the end of two thousand and four 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.880 and probably walked into your office I would say January 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.840 or February of two thousand and five. Ah, there you go. 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:24.760 For those who don't know, Paul, of course is an 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.800 excise physiologists, got a master's in X fears and nutrition, 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:32.440 and now a PhD in psychology. He's a straight up 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.160 smarty pants. He's not got a new book. We'll explore 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.959 that and more. But yeah, we worked, We worked together, 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.120 we worked in the same facility, We worked side by 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.320 side for quite a long time, and we've still been 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:50.160 collaborating over the years ever since. For those who don't 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.360 know you, who are meeting you for the first time, 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.160 give everyone a little bit of a because we have 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.520 a turnover of listeners and we constantly have new listeners. 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:00.800 So give us a little bit of it. Rather than 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.440 me reading some bio, give us a bit of a 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:04.200 snapshot of you. 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:10.080 So look, my background is pretty eclectic and born and 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.720 reised in Belfast from a mixed marriage, which has a 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:18.120 different connotation there and then everywhere else. Went to UNI, 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.600 studied information management, then did a master's sports science, then 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.840 joined the British military as an Arist Catholic, not many 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:31.520 of us. Spent eight years flying in helicopters, doing anti 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:36.119 submarine more for helicopters, starch and rescue, went through combat survival, 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:41.240 resistance to interrogation training, did another master's part time, and 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.720 then moved over to the Australia as an exercise physiologist 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.919 nutrition has set up in your business, and then started 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:53.040 doing corporate speaking, and then realized that it wasn't about 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.680 telling people what to do, it was about behavior changing 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:57.840 me and you had many conversations about that. So I 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:03.200 went and studied neuroscience and the last bit of the 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.040 puzzle for me was doing the pH d in psychology, 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:11.120 where I explored cognitive fitness, which is performance under pressure 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:15.440 and hardiness psychological hardiness, which is the topic of my 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:19.080 new book. So now me and Gig is I'm a 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.959 corporate speaker. I've also got a podcast like yours and 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:28.640 an author as well. So following in your footsteps, Graig. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.200 Well, you're definitely not. You've taken mom just in your dust. 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.640 I'm just wearing fucking goggles so I don't get all 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.200 the bloody debris in my face from just charging ahead 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.240 like a fucking ripper that you are. Do you know 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.680 what I mean? I have congratulated you, but let's congratulate 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.560 your fish officially, so doctor Paul Taylor for the first 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:53.640 time on this podcast anyway, Doctor Paul Taylor. Mate, really, 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.720 and it sounds silly something coming from me, who it's 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:00.520 funny how much our kind of lives parallel. But as 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.720 the guy who is not a doctor of psychology to 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.520 the guy who is a doctor of psychology, congratulations, sincerely. 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:14.400 I'm obviously I'm personally interested to know what's the feeling like. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.400 Is that relief? Is that joy is at fucking pride? 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.720 I don't know because it's in years. 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.880 Yes, And I think it's a little bit of everything. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.159 I think the first one I prayers submit is just 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:34.000 massive relief that fucking hell, this is finally done and 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:35.200 dusted and in. 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:41.160 And then you sent me a screenshot of that. I 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.839 was I was equally proud and resentful. I'm like, ah, 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:48.240 that's amazing. Fuck him. I'm like, oh, I couldn't be 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:49.520 proud of fuck off. 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:51.520 That's right. I see you were the first person to 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.200 you find eating before my parents, because I clicked because 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.560 we are sort of running in parallel and you're a 0:04:57.640 --> 0:04:58.920 better ahead of me. And then I was a better 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.919 ahead of you. And then luckily I had luckily I 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.240 had opened heart surgery which put me in hospital, and 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:09.159 the accelerated the finishing of my PhD because i'd probably 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:13.000 still be on it. So yeah, relief. And then and 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:17.640 then when I reflected, I remember actually I went in 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:22.640 the day after I went in to Carly maybe I 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.359 get up in the morning and I was saying, you know, 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:27.920 I was. I was sitting there and I was I 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:29.920 was going through my miner right right, what's the next 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.080 one we're doing next? And then I said to Carley, 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.880 I think I just need to slow down and take 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.000 a bit of a break for a while. And she 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.520 laughed at when she went, Paul, it's been less than 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:42.239 twenty four hours for God's sick. 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:43.279 Yeah. 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:48.560 Yeah, yeah. But then you know, then when people start 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.520 calling you doctor when you're doing a talk doctor Paul, 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:53.800 first of all, I was like, fucking hell, who's that. 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:58.880 So now I'm starting to get a little bit more 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.880 comfortable with it. Just presented at the Melbourne Business School 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:06.880 actually to the CEOs program, and it's it's nice because 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.919 it gives you, particularly when you're talking at that level. 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.720 You know, it's it's just that that kind of sense 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.240 of you know, you deserve to be there. It's the 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.480 I think it's probably the best thing is it's killed 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:27.440 that little residual thing that's in the back of your mind, 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:31.600 you know, that that whole imposter syndrome that has been 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.440 around for a long time, and I think it's now 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:35.360 finally Dad. 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:40.280 So well, I reckon with you know, multiple books are 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:46.640 very and internationally successful, podcast two masters a PhD. You're 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.520 probably going, okay, you can probably say I'm not a 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.440 complete fucking fraud, But that whole, I mean, what is 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.400 interesting is it almost doesn't matter what you do. Like 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:58.360 I've done a few good things as well, you know, 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.760 I worked with e late Sporting Class, I've spoken all 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.120 over the world all that shit, and yeah, for me, 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.159 I don't know. I don't know if for a PhD 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.280 is going to get rid of it, but I'll let 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.840 you know when the time comes. But yeah, that whole 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.160 I don't feel worthy. I don't feel good enough. I 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.200 don't feel whatever enough. Whether it's pretty enough, funny enough, 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:23.880 you know, clever enough, talented enough, skilled enough, it's almost 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:28.600 it's almost unavoidable for human beings some version of. 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:32.559 That, right, yeah, and look it can't be It actually 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.960 can be very useful. And I find that Maine was 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.680 very useful. For some people, it's not useful, but for 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.840 other people it sort of drives them on. So for me, 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:49.200 I talk about functional and dysfunctional imposter syndrome. It's just 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:53.320 like it's like narcissistic tendencies. There are some functional narcissistic 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.400 tendencies and some dysfunctional narcissistic tendencies. 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:00.280 That's so good. I love that. I like for me, 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.880 my kind of my analogy is I tell people that 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:07.200 mediocrity is my superpower because I'm so fucking average at 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:12.000 so many things. I'm really inspired and motivated to overcome, 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.600 like because I know that, you know, nothing has come 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:17.800 super easy for me. Probably the one thing that I 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.920 am naturally good at. But the only thing is communication, 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.360 building rapport connection, which is not a bad thing to 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.520 be naturally that good at, right, But other than that, 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:32.640 you know, building businesses, academia, you know, creativity, writing books. 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.240 All of those things were definitely not impossible, but it's 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.679 not it's not like, oh yeah, crag, you just are 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.559 natural at that shit. And so for me, that underlying 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.560 self doubt, and that not even just self doubt, but 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:50.320 self awareness around my own ability and lack of ability 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.200 in certain spaces. It kind of kept me motivated and 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.920 inspired because I knew if if I didn't fucking work hard, 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.360 and if I wasn't resilient, and if I didn't have 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:06.600 some hardiness beautiful segue harps, if I didn't have that, 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.240 I wouldn't fucking succeed. I just knew that I wouldn't. 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:14.920 And so it's almost that cliche of out workout perform, outlast. 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.840 It's like, for me, literally true. 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.960 And when you're on your death bed, you're going to 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.360 be looking back and going that was a life that 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:25.400 I could be proud of. 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:26.240 Yeh. 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:30.240 It's much better than looking back and going, hey, that 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:32.520 was an easy life because I was so fucking talented. 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:38.240 M Well, congrats on the book, dude. Let's dive in. 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.240 Let's have a chat about all things related to that, 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.599 because it's not one thing, it's many things. And I 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.080 love I love that there's a lot of intersecting variables 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.839 around this and a lot of factors, and I love 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.080 that you've chosen something which is pretty much relevant to 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.560 every human you know, when I mean, sometimes I'm interviewing 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.040 someone about their book and it's like, well, six of 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:03.280 my listeners will to this because you know what it's 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:08.240 like really really specific and not not broadly kind of representative. 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.719 But this is broadly representative. So the book was called 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.720 The Hardiness Effect, Growth from Stress, Optimized Health, Live Longer. 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:21.319 Doctor Paul Taylor, congrats on that. Give us the synopsis, 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:23.400 give us like and then I want to dive in. 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:28.640 Yeah, So resilience hardiness is a close cousin to resilience, 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:32.600 but there are distinct differences. Resilience is more of an outcome. 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:36.640 It doesn't tell you how to get there, whereas hardiness does. 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.040 And even in the if you look at the academic 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.880 literature when I was doing my literature review, so much 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.400 to be in an academic circles is resilience? Is it 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.160 a state? Is it a treit? Is it a process? 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.160 Is it an outcome? If? Is it something you're born with, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.600 something you have, something you develop, and there's so much 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:59.480 to be at about it. Hardiness is it actually tells 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:01.240 you how to get there. It's called the courage to 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:06.160 grow from stress. So the early research, particularly in the 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.160 US military, there was a bunch of it by a 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.120 guy called Paul Bartone who was a bit of a 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.880 mentor of me in this area doing my PhD. He 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:19.400 when they screened recruits going into military training, they did 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.560 a whole heap of psychometric assessments on them. And the 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.240 one thing that they find at the end when they 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.319 saw who passed and who field, and they went back 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.120 and looked at it to say, was there anything predictive? 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.839 The one thing that was predictive of passing and field 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.400 was hardiness. They then found that hardiness predict who passed 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:40.640 and who field. Special Forces selection training the toughest course 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.200 you could possibly imagine that's been found in different militaries 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.920 around the world. It also predicts who passes police special operations. 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:52.040 It predicts career longevity and high pressure environments. This is 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:56.319 the military, police first responders. It's been called the greatest, 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.280 the trade, the key trade of fifty of the world's 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.679 greatest leaders. And it also impacts our health. People who 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:06.360 are hiring hardiness and have better overall well being. Their 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.360 immune systems respond better to stress, they recover quicker from 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.920 serious illness, and even school kids who are hiring hardiness 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.600 are much more likely to go to university than those 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:20.560 who are lower independent of socioeconomic status. So I love 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:24.000 it because there's so many real world outcomes. What I 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:28.120 added into it, and this was part of my PhD 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:32.800 as well, was physiological hardiness because all the research is 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:38.520 about psychology. But for me, as a psychophysiologist, I believe 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:42.160 anybody who tells you that you can optimize for mental 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:46.840 health and cognitive health just with thinking skills is fucking 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:52.440 batshit crazy because your physiology has this huge impact on 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.720 your biology. So part one of the group of the books, sorry, 0:12:55.960 --> 0:13:00.240 it was all about psychological hardiness, where I unpack the 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:03.240 three c's and I've added a fourth. We can jump 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.640 into that if you want. And then the second part 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.800 of the book is all the physiological heartiness, and it 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:15.160 turns out that nature has actually designed certain things to 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:17.680 make us heartier, which I'm sure we'll unpark as we 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:18.160 go through. 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.000 It's funny because really, the only the only place in 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:30.040 inverted commas that psychology and emotion and even sociology, biology, physiology, 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.400 the only place they all operate in isolation is in 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:39.160 research exactly. It's like in the in the real fucking world. 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:44.040 All of that ship's intertwined and interconnected and interacting all 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:48.200 of the time. And when you probably say the same thing. 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.400 And I say that to you know, people in suits 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.160 as part of my job, and I say, even when, 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.920 and to demonstrate it, I say, you know, and you've 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.120 heard this old chestnut from me, and you probably use 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.400 a version of it. All Right, Let's say, right now, 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:03.640 you have a thought, and the thought right now is 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.000 that you're in danger. And let's say you believe that thought, 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.840 and then we talk about, you know, the cascade of 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:15.000 physiological consequences as a byproduct of that thought, right, And 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:16.880 then people go, oh yeah, And then I say, and 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.280 also what's happening emotionally, and what's happening to your blood 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:21.720 pressure and to your nervous system? And then and what's 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.960 happening you know, all of these things are happening, but 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.800 it happens kind of both ways too. Something happens to 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:32.400 us physically, then there's a psychological consequence to that physical experience, 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:37.320 and that Yeah, I think the idea that heartiness or 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:43.200 resilience or navigating life or trying to increase your capacity 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:48.240 to poor form under pressure is purely a psychological you 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:52.640 know process or cognitive process. Yeah, is as you said, 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:53.640 fucking ridiculous. 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.920 Yeah, it's complete and utter horseshit. And I love what 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.640 you said. The only place that they exist separately in research, 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:05.120 and that is absolutely true. You know, anybody who's ever 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:10.000 been chronically stressed knows that it can affect their gut health, 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:15.480 they get irdable ball syndrome. It affects their mood as well. 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:21.360 But your physiology has a huge impact on your psychology, 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:28.000 absolutely huge, right. Your brian completely depends on the health 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:31.280 of your body in order for it to function well, 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.560 and the same with mood. And I always say to people, 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:38.160 if you know, we're in this mental health crisis as 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:42.000 they talk about and lots of people, you know, it's 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.080 all about the solutions are all about psychology or medication 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:51.800 any like, if you're not moving and you are not 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.280 looking after your sleep and you're eating your crappy diet, 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.800 which is the average Australian lifestyle, good luck with your 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:02.080 mental health because you are swimming up stream massively against 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:07.880 a huge tighte, right, a huge tighte. And you know, 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:10.520 part of but my sort of mission is to bring 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:15.239 that awareness to people, but also give them that integrated 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:17.520 solution of how they can improve their lives. 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.440 Yes, Yes, I had a meeting yesday, which you have 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.280 these meetings all the time. So we've got to go 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:25.600 up to doesn't worry, it doesn't matter. I've got to 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.400 go in the state next week, and I can probably 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.160 say this bit. I've got to talk to a bunch 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:32.120 of lawyers, like a whole lot of lawyers, and we're 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:37.080 talking around the person, and I that we're chatting about 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:41.440 the event. We're talking about the issues and challenges, you know, 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:46.040 cultural practical, kind of all the dynamics within the organization. 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:47.920 Da da da da da. You know, we're talking about 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.760 all that stuff that needs to be in some way 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:56.480 kind of improved or addressed or spoken about. And I'm like, yeah, 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.680 all of that's good, and we'll do that. We'll talk 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.560 about that. But how about we talk about like, let's 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:06.240 step back a few steps and let's talk about how's 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.760 Dave when he gets out of bed? Is David two 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:10.960 out of ten? Or is David nine out of ten? 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:14.520 You know? How's Sally? How's her nervous system when she 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.320 starts checking shit on her phone at four forty five 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.200 and she gets out of bed at five forty five, 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.600 and she's already fried she's already stressed. And I said, 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.160 you know, if we've got people who are mentally, emotionally 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.400 and physiologically fucked before they get to work, good luck 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.920 being a good communicator or problem solver or conflict resolver 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:42.240 or negotiator or team leader or lawyer or anything. Because 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:43.360 if you show. 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.159 Up whatever your job is, whether you're Paul Taylor and 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:50.280 you're about to do a full day fucking conference, if 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:52.919 Paul Taylor shows up at two out of ten, like 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.520 because you haven't slept and you've been eating shits and 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.720 you're like, you can't be a nine out of ten 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:00.840 or an eight out of ten you on stage. So 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.840 you need to manage you before you manage your tasks 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.040 or you manage your responsibilities. 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.960 Yeah, and look, it does start with the morning. Actually, 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.560 it starts with the night before and all of your 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.520 preparation around your sleep, and then it's about the morning. 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.199 And as I said to these bunch of CEOs this 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:26.120 morning that we were dealing with was if you're if 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:30.040 you touch your phone before your feet hit the floor 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:36.200 in the morning, your life is fucked. And how many people. 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:42.479 I love it when you speak scientifically, but think about it, 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:46.000 how many people The first thing they do is they 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:50.439 check a goddamn phone, and it's just mental. 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.239 You're getting inputs, you're being switched on, You're upregulating your 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.520 nervous system before you even get out of bed. So, 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:59.280 as I was saying to these guys, how about we 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.280 wake up and we think, who do I want to 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.760 be today? You know, what what values and virtues do 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.399 I want to exhibit today? What challenges might I go 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:09.720 through today? How am I going to deal with this? Right? 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:14.199 And just do five minutes of mental preparation met just 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.840 like every world class athlete does before performance. How about 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.560 we start the day like that, right, and then we 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:26.600 continue today operating in peak performance mode. You know that's 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:30.600 that's really key. There's so many things that are out 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:35.080 there that steal our attention. And you know, me and 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:39.040 you were both involved in that DELFI study around the 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.640 cognitors drive cognitive drivers of peak performance. And I don't 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.080 know if you talk about that, but I actually realized 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.960 when you look look at that the number one thing 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:52.600 there was sixty four of us experts around the world, 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:55.199 or sixty two plus me and U squeezed in, but 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:01.920 all business psychologists and military psychologist, sports psychologists, and we 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.919 were all asked to rea it the cognitive drivers of 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:10.520 performance under pressure, and the thing that everybody said was 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:15.520 number one was attentional control. And our attention is being 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:20.400 stolen left, right and center, and then it drags our 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.440 nervous system with it. That's the key thing. 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:26.840 If it's got your attention, it's got you. It's got you, 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.320 it's got your body, it's got your nervous system, it's 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:33.119 got your time. Yeah, that's I say to people. You 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.399 and I have very similar processes. You know, when I 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:39.840 get up each morning, I essentially ask my well, I 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:41.560 get out of bed, I don't look at my phone. 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:43.960 I get out of bed, I walk to the I 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.359 do what I need to do, clem Mattie, splash my face, 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.520 walk to the cafe. And I literally asked myself this 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.240 question or a version is that is, in terms of 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:53.679 who I want to be, how I want to be, 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:56.400 and what I need to get done today, what's the 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:59.760 best use of my time, energy, and attention, Like, what's 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:04.280 the optimal use of me? You know, because it is 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.639 you think about people whose brain or attention is hijacked 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:11.639 by their phone and the people who you are, you know, 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:13.920 talking about whose list. Fucks they're looking at their phone 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.760 before their feet hit the ground. They're almost doing if not, 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.000 they are doing that on autopilot, like they don't wake 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:22.679 up and go, you know what I think I should do. 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:24.960 I should reach from my phone, I'll grab my phone, 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:27.720 I'll have it, Like they're just doing that before their 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.480 brain is really like this is this is an addiction, 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.320 This is a this is a groundhog day that is destructive, Like, 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.400 this is a this is now a habit that's actually 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:43.080 derailing your fucking everything from your potential and talent to 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:45.080 your energy and your physical health. 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.639 Yeah, and is it's it's a key part of heidiness. 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:53.160 It's commitment to orientation, which is being fully engaged. High 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:57.120 heiding people are fully engaged at life. They're engaged that work, 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:01.520 but they're also engaged in their free time. They're fully engaged. 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:04.479 And as I say, there are an increasing amount of 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:08.200 people who are spending an increasing amount of their spur 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.959 time with their heads buried on a fucking screen looking 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:16.480 to be entertained, whether it's on social media or on 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:20.320 Netflix or whatever your streaming platform is. And I don't 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:24.280 remember Aristotle or Socrates or the Buddha saying that the 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:29.520 purpose in life is to be entertained. Right. It's about 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:34.800 being engaged in life, being curious about life, right, and 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:39.000 actually just wanting to immerse yourself in it. And it's 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:42.680 also you know, commitment orientation. When you're fully engaged in life, 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:46.040 that's when you can find a sense of purpose and meaning. 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:48.840 And life has no meaning other than what we give it. 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:51.880 That's the key thing, right, there's no fucking purpose. Very 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:54.199 it's going to come along and show you what your 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:58.320 purpose is. We actually have to find it through meaningful 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:04.720 engagement in life, and that's hugely important, and that's commitment orientation, 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:09.280 but also then being committed to your own well being. 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:11.760 I'll tell you a quote that I show today, I 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:14.080 show all the time, so I say, my favorite quote. 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:17.320 It's from Seneca, and it's kind of paraphrasing his stuff, right, 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:22.520 But here's what it is. Every individual burs the responsibility 0:23:22.680 --> 0:23:27.200 to be of value to humanity, if possible, to benefit 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:30.800 a large number, if not, to benefit a smaller group, 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:36.160 If that too seems unattainable, then to benefit their immediate community. 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:41.360 But above all else, they must prioritize self growth and 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:44.840 personal well being. And I love that statement because it 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:48.840