The Growth League

My guest today is Kristen Holmes, Vice President of Performance at WHOOP. As you know, whoop is a sponsor of the show, but that's not why Kristen is here. I wanted to talk to an expert about sleep and actually understand much more about the analytics I've been getting from my whoop band, and I was so excited to talk to Kristin.

I used to think that sleep was something you had to endure to be able to function, but I've learned that sleep is an amazing miracle process that makes you function at your best and regenerates and restores your body each and every night… If you let it.

Kristen works with thousands of the best professional and NCAA athletes in the world. If your favorite athlete is having trouble sleeping, she’s the one they would call to help understand and interpret their data and figure out what to do about it. Kristen is also an amazing athlete and coach in her own right. She’s a former member of the U.S. National Field Hockey Team, as well as one of the most successful coaches in Ivy League history, having won 12 league titles in 13 seasons and the first national championship ever for Princeton University.

Kristen and I are going to talk about:

• Why sleep is more important than nutrition, exercise, and anything else you could do to improve your life
• What are the different stages of sleep and how can you maximize the ones you needWhat is sleep hygiene and how to develop your routine
• The 90 second habit you need to adopt to increase how quickly you get to sleep at night
• How to go back to sleep in the middle of the night

Important Links for the Show:

• The ultimate fitness tracker optimizes your life: https://www.whoop.com/ and use code DIANA at checkout for 15% off!
• A bank that prides itself on how it treats both it's employees and it's customers: http://nbkc.com/diana - get a box of awesome Professional AF stuff for signing up, including a book that we discuss on the show!
• Get a better nights sleep with the Purple mattress. To get the Purple pillow I covet for FREE with the purchase of your mattress, just text the code "DIANA" to 84-888. And you can combine this offer with what they have on the site!
• The Sleep book we discussed today: https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=why+we+sleep&qid=1573439408&sr=8-3
• Kristin online: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-holmes-b9b44647/
• Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
• Diana online: www.DianaKander.com

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I've stayed away from productivity books and talks like they were the flu. I just didn't think I needed efficiency in my life. I didn't want to hear their email hacks or their prioritization matrix.

And then I came across the work of Laura Vanderkam and understood just how wrong I had been all this time. Productivity isn't about being a more efficient cog at work. Productivity is about managing your life in such a way to significantly increase how much fun you're having and how much growth you're achieving.

Laura is the author of several time management and productivity books, including Juliet’s School of Possibilities, Off the Clock,I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall StreetJournal, Fast Company, and Fortune. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and four kids.

Laura and I are going to discuss:

• The biggest question you can ask yourself to increase the time you have available each day
• How we ruin the free time we do have
• How to help yourself do the things you really want out of life
• The tool Laura recommends to help you find all the free time you actually need
• How to change your morning routine to be a lot more fun and productive

Important Links for the Show:

• The ultimate fitness tracker to help you make positive changes in your life: https://www.whoop.com/ and use code DIANA at checkout for 15% off!
• A bank that prides itself on how it treats both it's employees and it's customers: http://nbkc.com/diana - get a box of awesome Professional AF stuff for signing up, including a book that we discuss on the show!
• The ultimate STEAM project each month: http://kiwico.com/DIANA - my code gets your first month free
• Laura's book that we discussed today: https://www.amazon.com/What-Successful-People-Before-Breakfast/dp/1591846692/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=laura+vanderkam&qid=1572821941&sr=8-4
• Laura's website: https://lauravanderkam.com/
• The time tracker worksheet: https://lauravanderkam.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/168-hours-v2.pdf
• Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/Diana online: www.DianaKander.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that every interaction you have with someone releases chemicals in their brain? And if you can release the right chemicals, you can increase, trust, cooperation, performance in significant ways?

Paul’s two decades of research have taken him from the Pentagon to Fortune 50 boardrooms to the rain forest of New Guinea.

His latest book, Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performance Companies, uses neuroscience to measure and manage organizational cultures to inspire teamwork and accelerate business outcomes. His 2012 book, The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, recounted his unlikely discovery of the neurochemical oxytocin, which we'll cover a lot in this episode, as the key driver of trust, love, and morality that distinguish our humanity.

Here are his specs: Paul is the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics, Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He has degrees in mathematics and economics from San Diego State University, a Ph.D. in economics from University of Pennsylvania, and post-doctoral training in neuroimaging from Harvard.

Paul’s research on oxytocin and relationships has earned him the nickname "Dr. Love." He’s all about adding more love to the world.

Paul and I are going to discuss:

• Small things anyone can do to create more trust
• What you can do if you are not the leader of your team to increase trust
• How long it takes to create a culture of trust
• Why over half of all change management initiatives fail
• The business case for increasing trust in your company
• Why the way most companies do annual performance reviews damage culture and trust

Important Links for the Show:

• The fitness tracker that helps you make positive changes in your life: https://www.whoop.com/ and use code DIANA at checkout for 15% off!
• The bank that creates a lot of trust with its customers: http://nbkc.com/diana - get a box of awesome Professional AF stuff for signing up!
• Get 1/2 of your daily fruits and vegetables in a convenient shot!: https://superfoodshot.co and use code DIANA at checkout for 30% off.
• Paul J. Zak: https://www.pauljzak.com/
• Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
• Diana online: www.DianaKander.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This weeks wisdom comes from the most unlikely places. Just about 150 years ago. If you're anything like me you've heard of or sampled the works of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Susan B. Anthony, Mark Twain, and you thought, I should really make time to read more of those books. And that time has never really come around. Well, my friend John Jantsch has done us all a solid and put together a new book with a daily excerpt from each of these authors and many more.

John is a very successful though leader. His Duct Tape Marketing blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite and his Duct Tape Marketing podcast was called a "must listen" by Fast Company magazine. Seth Godin called John the "Peter Drucker of small business tactics."

This book is something very new for this marketing guru. It is titled the Self Reliant Entrepreneur, but the concepts we're going to discuss are immensely helpful for anyone trying to create something in this world and for anyone trying to make a difference in their organization.

John and I cover:

• What it means to be self reliant and why it's so important to accomplishing our goals
• How to change your relationship with fear
• Why play is so important to creating your best work
• Why being cautious about how you are perceived will get in your way of creating real change, and
• How to revise your definition of success and happiness

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is about the number one thing that prevents us from being the person we want to be; the number one way we hurt ourselves and the people we love. I'm talking about Shame.

As Brene Brown states: "Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change."

I tried to get Brene Brown on the show and wasn't able to this season, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from having what I believe is the most important conversation we need to have. So I invited my therapist, Candy Smith, to discuss Brene Brown's book, The Gifts of Imperfection. This episode is like sitting in on my personal therapy session discussing shame. Including a moment of vulnerability, where I suggest a parenting technique I've been trying with my son, and Candy kindly tells me how I might unintentionally be causing shame.

Candy has been a licensed therapist for several decades. She specializes in working with adults, and children with trauma. That's how I met her. And in every session, I've left with lessons and sayings that I could come back to again and again. And I'm confident that's just how you are going to feel after you meet Candy.

Candy and I are going to talk about:

• How shame sabotages our relationships,
• How to treat someone confessing something they feel shame about, and
• How to stop shaming others, which, it turns out, we all do pretty frequently.

Important Links for the Show:

• The ultimate fitness tracker that doesn't shame you, butactually helps you make positive changes in your life: https://www.whoop.com/ and use code DIANA at checkout for 15% off!
• A bank that prides itself on how it treats both it's employees and it's customers: http://nbkc.com/diana - get a box of awesome Professional AF stuff for signing up, including a book that we discuss on the show!
• Get a better nights sleep with the Purple mattress. To get the Purple pillow I covet for FREE with the purchase of your mattress, just text the code "DIANA" to 84-888. And you can combine this offer with what they have on the site!
• The Brene Brown book we discussed today: https://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Imperfection-Think-Supposed-Embrace/dp/159285849X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=gifts+of+imperfection&qid=1570996976&s=books&sr=1-1
• Candy online: https://www.candysmithcounseling.com/
• Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
• Diana online: www.DianaKander.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.