The High Performance Life

I recently had an interview with David Robson. (You should check it out if you haven't already!) But our conversation got me thinking about the power of having a positive mindset and outlook on life. Here are my thoughts!

In this week's episode, I am joined by Lavina Mehta MBE!

Lavina Mehta MBE, founder of Feel Good With Lavina, is a 46-year-old Personal Trainer, Bestselling Author, Wellness Coach, TED Speaker and mom to three. Lavina was awarded an MBE for services to health and fitness during Covid-19.

Her mission is to help all ages (up to 100) Feel Good physically, mentally and reduce risks of common chronic diseases through her concept of "Exercise Snacking" & free desk/chair workouts (as seen on TV & Radio with her mother in law.) Her slogan is to "Exercise for Sanity not Vanity."

Lavina is a Patron of the Menopause Mandate. Lavina is a proud Ambassador for Diabetes UK, Wellbeing of Women and Alzheimer's Society, as well as supporting many charities.

She has been sharing her own perimenopause journey on social media and press to help normalise the conversation, especially in the workplace and in the South Asian community where many women are suffering in silence.

She wants to break the taboos, raise awareness, change the narrative and help women feel empowered to find solutions, as well as educating the men around us. Lavina promotes the power of exercise, strength training and lifestyle changes to help women 'feel good' and embrace this phase and beyond.

Lavina's new book "The Feel Good Fix" hit #1 Bestseller before publication across Amazon in Menopause, Fitness Training & Exercise and Fitness Categories, hitting the top 100 books at number 60; and on publication, it hit #1 Bestseller in Fitness & Training on Amazon.

Key Points

• Perimenopause can impact mood and memory

• Men should join the menopause conversation

• It's never too late to start exercising

• Social connection vital for a happy life

• Quick, simple exercises benefit daily life

• Why every "exercise snack" counts

Best Quotes

04:16 - 04:27

• "I was pretty alarmed that these statistics that I researched just before the Covid pandemic were like, were six times more likely than the average white person here to have type two diabetes." 05:26 - 05:39

• "It was just transformational that made me wanna research the science and sit the exams just out of my own knowledge, not even thinking that it's gonna be a future career path."

07:05 - 07:15

• "It's like the different goals I think, you know, 'cause I was older, I wasn't striving to do it to get a six pack or to go on social media."

08:29 - 08:40

• "But it was the gym and it was lifting weights and having that out sort of that space for myself that gave me the chance to actually deal with grief

10:50 - 11:08

• "But the amazing the, but the point that I'm getting at is I'm much, I feel accomplished before I even start my day air quotes here. Yeah. And, and I've, I've already accomplished enough for myself where I feel like I've done enough to invest in my body to invest in my mind."

Website: https://feelgoodwithlavina.com/

In this week's episode, I am joined by Jeff Wetzler! Jeff Wetzler is a leadership expert best known as the co-founder of Transcend, a diverse team of educators and innovators rewriting the way we deliver education.

He recently wrote Ask, a book all about the art of asking questions.

Jeff has been on a quarter-century quest to transform learning opportunities, blending his unique set of leadership experiences in the fields of business and education.

He has pursued his quest as a management consultant to the world's top corporations, as a learning facilitator for leaders around the world, as Chief Learning Officer at Teach For America, and most recently, as co-CEO of Transcend, a nationally recognized innovation organization.

Jeff earned a Doctorate in Adult Learning and Leadership from Columbia University and a Bachelor's in Psychology from Brown University. He is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and is an Edmund Hillary Fellow.

He lives in New York with his wife, two children and their puppy. Key Points

• Choose curiosity to deepen connections

• Make it safe for honest dialogue

• Pose quality questions for learning

• Listen to uncover unspoken truths

• Reflect and reconnect to grow together

Best Quotes

03:42 - 03:59

• "Absolutely. If, you know, if you are just interacting with someone to get something from them or to, you know, to get, get a piece of information people might be happy to share the first time, but if that continues to happen over and over again, people are basically like, this person doesn't care about me." 04:27 - 04:36

• "BS listening stands for back to self listening. So when you know, when someone is listening to you and you tell 'em something and then they say, well, that reminds me of this thing about me, or whatever. That is back to self listening."

06:07 - 06:12

• " Sometimes the most important things will only come out if you let the silence do its work."

06:16 - 06:26

• "I interviewed a lot of professional listeners for the book and one category of professional listeners that I interviewed with psychotherapists, and they, they talk about this thing called the doorknob moment."

To learn more about Jeff: https://www.askapproach.com/ https://transcendeducation.org/team/jeff-wetzler/

In this week's episode, I am joined by Yanni Hufnagel!

Yanni transitioned from a successful career as a men's college basketball coach to creating a health-focused drink and a mission to offer healthy hydration accessible to all.

And so, Lemon Perfect was born, bottled water infused with organic lemons, electrolytes, and vitamin C.

Creating a new company in the food and beverage space was no small feat. While it's relatively easy to get started, securing shelf space, managing margins, and outmaneuvering extremely large and resourced products creates considerable barriers to entry.

Yanni Hufnagel, a first time founder, former division I college basketball coach with no background in the CPG space was able to raise over $37M and achieve national distribution in 5 short years with Lemon Perfect.

Key Points

• Balance is a myth in entrepreneurship

• High stakes of building a beverage brand

• The art of talent evaluation

• Strategy behind beverage innovation

• Aiming for a billion-dollar business

Best Quotes

03:24 - 03:40

• "It's not realistic. It's not realistic. We have 91 incredible people. Many of decorators have families. I have over 300 investors. We've raised $99 million."

04:54 - 05:10

• "I think I'm crazy enough, I wanna do this one more time. And so winning, winning, winning and being acquired or, or finding our way to liquidity, very, very important."

08:10 - 08:28

• "My psychology, it is what it is. It's not for everyone, but that's how I'm wired. And I'm not gonna change because maybe the world says, oh, you have to have great balance. Yes, I want our people to have great ba I want most of our people." 10:19 - 10:30

• "And I would imagine that if you look at the most successful entrepreneurs, they're out of balance."

12:29 - 12:39

• "You can't have great freedom and balance and, you know, it just, it's, I just don't think you can have it all."

46:32 - 46:45

• "I've gotta have, you know, certainly a longer term lens, I think in this environment right now where you have, you know, some, some pricing headwinds or you know, where, where the consumer's slowing down a little bit."

In this week's episode, I am joined by Thais Gibson! Thais has a Ph.D. and over 13 certifications in modalities such as CBT, NLP, somatic experiencing, internal family systems, and shadow work.

She has nearly a decade of experience running a successful private practice and engaging with over 30,000 clients through individual sessions, workshops, and an educational platform.

She is a counselor and co-founder of The Personal Development School, is THE leading expert in attachment theory and her cutting-edge research is extending the frontier of psychology with her modern Integrated Attachment Theory.

It was widely accepted that your attachment style was set for life, but Thais' research shows that you can actually CHANGE your attachment style, improving your romantic relationships, close family connections, and friendships.

Thais was a keynote speaker for Google's International Women's Day, and The Personal Development School has over 30,000 members in 115 countries.

For more about The Personal Development School: https://university.personaldevelopmentschool.com/ Key Points

• Explore four primary attachment styles

• Recondition beliefs and heal past wounds

• Understand love languages vs. attachment

• Secure vs. insecure attachment impacts

• The power of self-talk in personal growth

Best Quotes

01:04 - 01:08

• "No matter what your attachment style is, you can heal to become securely attached."

07:50 - 07:55

• "They actually internalize a lot of shame, and sometimes emotional neglect isn't like very overt."

07:58 - 08:06

• "The vast majority of the time it's very covert. It's like...if you cry, go in the other room and come back when you're ready to stop crying."

10:00 - 10:10

• "Which obviously makes them quite confusing partners to be with. But the best news of all of this is that no matter what your attachment style is, you can heal to become securely attached."

I recently launched an episode with Justin Roethlingshoefer. Justin is an expert in the health field, and has spent countless hours researching and studying health, heart rate variability, and how you can live an overall healthier lifestyle. It got me thinking about my own health journey, and the things I've done to put myself on the right path going forward.

This week, I am joined by Cory Wharton-Malcolm!

Cory is a running coach, Runner's World columnist, founder of the West London running crew TrackMafia, and an Apple Fitness+ trainer who embarks on running adventures all over the world with 'Time To Run.'

Previously Nike Run Club's European Head Coach and still the voice of the Nike Run Club app, he has been featured in publications including the Guardian, the Evening Standard, Men's Health, Runners World, and Metro!

Key Points

• Running: More than just cardio

• Life is rhythm; running embodies this

• Find joy in the process, not just results

• Community creates momentum in life

• Embracing change yields growth & love

Best Quotes

01:40 - 01:50

• "All You Need is Rhythm and Grit is because I honestly do believe that that is all you need to be a good runner and also like, good at life."

03:26 - 03:50

• "It's not about, okay, I'm going for this incredibly fast time, or I'm going for this specific race. Of course, all of those things are amazing, but the true beauty for me lies when you just release yourself from all of those things and just use running as, see, it's weird for me to say an escape because running isn't actually an escape for me."

04:17 - 04:25

• "What's interesting is the more we focus on the result, the less we enjoy the ride Yes. The more we focus on the process." 09:13 - 09:30

• "When you dig into to people's reasoning, a lot of the time it's, it's like their own belief in themselves. And when you sort of put your arm around them and say like, like, I believe in you, or this person believes in you, or that person believes in you, that also really, really helps to get people out the door."

09:54 - 10:13

• "This def definition that you've, you've created to define yourself in this box. When you break free from that and you realize how, how you can press past the boundary or pass the goal, you see that there's so much more to enjoy in that, in that run or that new experience or whatever it may be."

11:39 - 11:47

• "The moment I sort of opened up about my journey, people were far more welcoming. People were far nicer."

13:39 - 13:49

• "So when I first started running, it was probably around 2006 or 2007, and I had just gone to watch the London Marathon."

Website: https://corywhartonmalcolm.com/

In this week's episode, I am joined by David Robson!

David is an award-winning science writer specializing in the extremes of the human brain, body and behavior.

After graduating with a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University, David worked as a features editor at New Scientist for five years, before moving to BBC Future, where he was a senior journalist for five years.

His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Atlantic, Aeon, Men's Health and many more outlets.

In 2022, he won Mental Health Story of the Year at the MJA Annual Awards and was a finalist for the Best British Science Journalist of the Year Award from the ABSW. David's first book, The Intelligence Trap, was published in 2019, and received worldwide media attention.

His second book The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life, was published in the UK on 6 January 2022 and in the USA and Canada on 15 February 2022.

It is "a journey through the cutting-edge science of how our mindset shapes every facet of our lives, revealing how your brain holds the keys to unlocking a better you".

The Expectation Effect was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and won a British Psychological Society Book Award in the popular science category.

In June 2024, David will release his brand new book The Laws of Connection: The scientific secrets of Building a Strong Social Network - a groundbreaking study revealing how social connections are far more important than we thought, showing us the steps we can take to build better relationships and improve our lives Key Points

• How mindset acts as life's lenses

• Shifting from scarcity to abundance

• The intertwined science of success

• Mindsets influencing longevity

• Meaningful tech connections matter

Best Quotes

01:53 - 02:10

• "And there's a huge amount of research now showing that our mindsets can create self-fulfilling prophecies now that can, it can change things like our physiology, our perception, our behavior, our capacity to deal with failure, our motivation." 02:31 - 02:35

• "by changing your mindset, you're kind of releasing the brakes on your potential."

03:20 - 03:28

• "And when I broke that down and started focusing from scarcity to to abundance, I started seeing the world in such a different way."

05:11 - 05:20

• "So you perform this, this activity called self-affirmation by kind of listing the 10 things that you think are most important about yourself or your life."

06:10 - 06:18

• "So that's just one example I think of how like a small psychological intervention that changes mindset can actually have a really big impact."

To learn more about David: https://davidrobson.me/media/

I recently finished up a podcast with relationship expert: Adam Lane Smith! It got me thinking about a common relationship issue I see far too often. Everybody thinks about the width of relationships that they have, instead of the depth of the relationships they have. Here are my thoughts! I encourage you to check out the full episode with Adam Lane Smith if you haven't already!

In this week's episode, I am joined by Myer Krah! Myer is the host of The Here4Dads Podcast!

This episode takes a deep-dive into the whirlwinds of fatherhood, personal growth, and life transitions.

From high-stakes Navy tales to parenting nuances and future fears, this conversation is a heartfelt journey through imperfection, leadership, and the art of embracing the unknown

Key Points

• First generation dads: The legacy challenge

• Leading with love and showing real vulnerability

• Fatherhood lessons from imperfect pasts

• Transitioning out of the Navy with grace

• The power of curiosity in personal growth

Best Quotes

00:23 - 00:33

• "So here my dad is picking up that baton and running his own race, running for his life to try to protect and provide for the son that he now has."

13:12 - 13:16

• "That's how it is when you get full circle and you start to get that perspective and it makes so much more sense." 13:50 - 13:57

• "So many times we I think get down on ourselves and things get a whole lot harder for ourselves because we're trying to be the main character."

20:12 - 20:20

• "These are all the types of things that the more we go back, the more I realize that I just need to be more present."

37:38 - 37:59

• "You're the oldest son and I'm the oldest in my family. And I, it's, it's always funny to me 'cause my sister and I will talk about stories and she doesn't even know these things existed, but my perception of everything around me, 'cause I was the first, so he's nervous because he's not only doing it the first time for him, he's doing it for his brothers is bigger than him."