A Bit Of A Boost

It's been a couple of months since the last episode of A Bit Of A Boost and I'm keen to get things back to a regular schedule again!

If you've ever found a good habit drift away to the point where it's no longer there, then this episode contains some questions to ask yourself that could help get you back on track.

I have a very special guest on the show today, somebody who's research I have been following for a number of years and that is having a tremendous impact on creating better places to work around the world.

Professor Christina Maslach is a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been studying burnout for over 4 decades.

When we think about engagement, burnout, or wellbeing at work it would be impossible to do so without getting into some of the areas that Christina and her team have explored and researched over the years.

With the focus on these topics becoming ever stronger the work that Christina has done to put the challenges and ideas into frameworks and models that make them easier to understand and take action on has become even more important.

Her latest book 'The Burnout Challenge' lays down these frameworks and explains how we can start to take action on an individual basis to support our wellbeing and engagement at work, but more importantly what leaders and managers can do to create the environments that will enable their teams to thrive.

In our conversation today we talk about the 3 dimensions of burnout and the 6 'job-person mismatches' that could predict our tendency towards disengagement and burnout.

Christina shares examples and suggests starting points for how we can start to bring about change in teams and organisations regardless of size and whether they are remote, hybrid or back in the office.

Our conversation is the tip of the iceberg and I strongly encourage anybody with an interest in driving engagement in their teams to get a hold of The Burnout Challenge, read it thoroughly and start to take action!

The Burnout Challenge > https://www.amazon.co.uk/Burnout-Challenge-Managing-Peoples-Relationships/dp/0674251016

Christina Maslach profile > https://psychology.berkeley.edu/people/christina-maslach

I love the expression 'success leaves clues' and today I get to talk to a man who has plenty of these clues to share!

So often we look at people who are already achieving what we want to achieve - whether that's in their careers, personal life or with their physical wellbeing - and focus on the results that they're getting.

This can be inspirational, but it can also lead to comparison, or a sense of not-enough-ness, which ultimately has the opposite effect to motivating or instructing us.

Paul Avins is a business coach and mentor specialising in helping already successful entrepreneurs and business owners to scale up, and become even more successful.

As you can imagine, he's made a few observations over the years about some of the habits and approaches that high performers have in common, and has integrated many of these into his own day to day philosophy.

We talk about mindset and attitude, habits and routines, energy and flow, and Paul also shares some of his own personal story which incredibly includes a rather pivotal wake up call 9 years ago after coming very close to death.

I was particularly excited about recording this interview with Paul because later this week - depending on when you're listening! - I'll be speaking at one of his mastermind events and this is another topic we get into during our conversation today.

Paul regularly shares valuable content on LinkedIn so that's the place to follow and connect with him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulavins

For longer video content check out his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@paulavins

His main website is https://www.paulavins.com and for a free 90 minute masterclass visit

https://www.scaleupmasterclass.co.uk

Following a bit of a break from the podcast over the last few weeks I have a new series of interviews and solo episodes lined up.

But first though I thought I'd start with a topic that's always top of my mind around this time of year (September - though it's relevant whenever you're listening to it!): resetting your 'environments'.

We have several environments that I touch on in this episode; notably the internal and external ones.

Every year as a personal trainer I saw a significant increase in enquiries in September as the chaos of summer gives way to a more structured and predictable few months to the end of the year.

It's like the new year, but without the pressure.

A good time to make a few changes, reclaim a few good habits and get set for some change.

I've personally I've always found it a good time to review goals, make plans and get organised, which itself can lead to a nice boost of motivation.

So in today's episode we get into this topic, and some of the things you might want to consider.

I would also love to hear from you if you have suggestions for future episodes. Books you may have read and want to know more about, challenges you've been experiencing, things you've heard about but don't fully understand...

Drop me a line at [email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachgeorgeanderson and let me know!

I hope you enjoy this episode and that it gives you a bit of a boost!

"I know what to do, but I just don't do it!"

If you've ever found yourself saying these words to yourself then you're not alone. With so many things that you could be doing to help boost your physical and mental wellbeing, it can feel overwhelming when there's no structure.

This episode outlines a series of points in the day where a set of behaviours can be turned into routines, rituals and habits that have a positive impact for minimum effort. The idea isn't to try and do them all, but rather to find the ones you think will be sustainable and have the biggest difference.

Pick 5-10 new things that you want to try and add in, then set up a tracker so you can note your progress. Don't worry about missing a few days here and there, but try to build up a picture of the changes you are making and what differences you're noticing.

You can download a copy of the notes for this episode with all of the habits and behaviours briefly described by visiting the website bygeorgeanderson.com/podcast

This is a direct download with no email-opt-in required, though whilst you're over there you wish to sign up to my occasional email musings anyway!

If you've ever found yourself at a fork in the road, needing to make a decision - or the default of NOT making one - then this strategy might come in handy.

It's a simple thought exercise that can bring clarity to the decision, and ensure that you won't look back at a later date with regrets.

Hindsight can mess with our memories and what seems obvious now we assume must have been obvious back when we made our choice.

This method prevents this from happening and can help give you the confidence to make the call.

If you've ever thought to yourself "I wish I'd been more confident!", or "I shouldn't have got so angry...", then being more intentional could help shake you out of your default reaction patterns.

In this short solo episode I share some of the ways that being intentional can help you show up as your best self more consistently, and improve the way that other people (and you!) experiences you.

We take abstract 'showing up words' and turn them into real world demonstrations of how you want to be, and look at a number of different scenarios where this technique can be helpful.

Being intentional is like an antidote to autopilot as it makes you more mindful and deliberate about the way you choose to respond. You won't always get it perfect, but being intentional vastly increases your chances!

The world of wellbeing has changed a lot in the 20 years that I've been professionally involved in it. One of the biggest areas of development has been in the science and research, driven by the relatively new area of positive psychology.

My guest on today's episode spent 12 years researching the subject of happiness and positive psychology for his PhD and he shares some of what he learned in that time.

Dr Andy Cope - AKA The Doctor Of Happiness, AKA Dr Happy - lives and breathes the practical applications of the science to our every day lives.

Much of what we intuitively knew about how we should be taking care of ourselves has been proven through numerous studies, and one of the most exciting developments has been the shift towards happiness as a 'performance enhancer'.

We have more energy, we're more creative, more productive, more resilient and concentrate better when we're happy, but is it as simple as just deciding that's how we're going to be?

Andy and I get into this topic, as well as what happiness really means, and what is it that differentiates what he calls the '2 percenters' when it comes to performance.

Andy has written numerous books for adults and children (including the Spy Dog series!), and is the host of the Art Of Brilliance podcast.

https://www.artofbrilliance.co.uk

Setting big goals is the bread and butter of ambitious people. But when you are solely focused on 'what's next', it can push happiness out to a future that keeps moving further away.

On the other hand, you may not want to 'play small' and get too content with what you have in case it diminshes your drive and ambition to become all that you can.

So how do we tackle this conundrum?

My guest on today's episode is Kate Trafford, a coach, speaker and author of the book 'Get There, Love Here! The busy professional's guide to authentic, enjoyable success'.

Kate helps successful professionals wrestle with these seemingly opposing attitudes and helps her today she shares some of her insights.

We talk about authenticicy (and what it really means), purpose, courage and character strengths, and why for some people 'getting there and loving here' may require a change of job or even career, for most of us it can be achieved with a few tweaks to the current role.

A lot of the conversation today is about quite high level thinky topics, but Kate brings it back to practical steps we can take to boost happiness in the present whilst accelerating towards our most meaningful goals.

Connect with Kate on LinkedIn here (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katetrafford) or check out her website where you can buy her highly recommended book (https://www.katetrafford.com).

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-There-Love-Here-professionals/dp/1912300869

Continuing our series of interviews with people out there in the real world using their powers of resilience, wellbeing, mindset and motivation in their day to day jobs, this week we have Gökhan Nazenin, the MD Europe at Paycore.

We set out to talk about motivation as this is a topic that has come up in a couple of our conversations over the last couple of years since we first met, but as predicted we move along all kinds of tangents.

We talk about the importance of building habits and systems, how to cultivate confidence and overcome the fear of rejection, the dangers of toxic appreciation and finding the balance between holding yourself to account and being self-compassionate.

The subject of motivation is such an interesting one as it's 'easy' to be motivated when things are going well, but how about when they're falling apart?

How do you stay on track and motivated to keep going in those conditions?

Dive in and find out, and don't forget to connect with Gökhan on LinkedIn to follow his posts:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/g%C3%B6khan-nazenin-86aa365b