A Bit Of A Boost – Details, episodes & analysis

My guest on today's show is cofounder of Thriviae and Workplace Performance Strategist, Luke Mulcahy.

For the last few years Luke and his team have been developing a revolutionary platform that help support organisations in tackling some of the most pressing challenges of the modern workplace.

His recently published academic paper and research report introduces the Periodic Table of Workplace Thriving, which I have to say really spoke to my love of order and organisation. It structures 24 enablers and over 100 measurable elements that shape wellbeing, performance and development across organisations.

We began by focusing on the tricky topic of PURPOSE. What this really means, why it's important, and some of the challenges in articulating it as well as creating teams where there is a shared sense of purpose.

As predicted, our conversation ran into a number of different topics including belonging, multi-generational workforces, burnout and team cohesion.

If you want to find out more about Luke and the work he is doing you can find him on LinkedIn and his website, and I recommend having a read of the white paper and academic paper if it's a topic you're interested in!

White Paper: https://www.emerald.com/ijoa/article/34/12/1/1334179

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukemulcahy/

Thriviae website: https://www.thriviae.com

Articles: https://www.thriviae.com/thought-leadership/

Hello and welcome to A Bit Of A Boost with me, George Anderson

I'm a wellbeing and performance coach, speaker and author and this podcast brings together guest experts, inspirational stories and ideas that I hope will you a bit of a boost.

My guest today is a long time client and personal inspiration of mine, Laura Chandler.

I've seen her overcome many challenges and completely transform her life over the last few years, but life has really been testing her in the last 18 month.

Laura's approach to adversity, challenges and change isn't just inspirational, it's also instructive. In our conversation she shares many of the strategies she has put to use to help her navigate some of the most challenging months of her life.

I'm joined on the show today by a senior director of customer success at the software company, ServiceNow, Damien Davis.

I haven't known Damien for long but whenever we have spoken I've come away feeling like I've had a bit of a boost so it just made sense to invite him on the podcast!

Damien shares stories of both triumph and tragedy.

We talk about perspective, impact and workplace culture, Mental health and wellbeing, and the challenges of integrating these into a high pressure role that involves International travel.

*** Our conversation does also touch on the topic of suicide ***

Damien really is a positive energy radiator, and I hope that listening to this conversation will give you a bit of a boost!  

Connect with Damien on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/damiendavisuk

In today's mini-motivation episode I share one simple idea: your energy flows where your attention goes. With all the noise in the world today it's up to each of us to decide in advance what we're going to pay attention to.

20 years ago when I started my career as a personal trainer clients would come to me asking the question 'George, how should I be eating and exercising in order to lose weight, tone up and get fit?'

This is the bread and butter of many personal trainers and although I think things have got a bit more sophisticated over the past couple of decades with out understanding of the other more immediate benefits of diet and exercise, ultimately the question of 'what should I be eating' is still very much at the front of most people's minds when it comes to making positive changes

In today's episode I want to get into the subject of diet, sharing with you my personal approach as well as some of the Food Foundation Principles that I believe can be overlaid to any diet you choose to follow

I'll share with you some mindset tips and tricks that may also help you do more of the things you say you're going to do

This is a brand new series of podcast episodes I'll be dropping into the show throughout the year, where I'll aim to share just one quick idea with you in just 2 or 3 minutes.

It's actually a part of one of my own goals to improve my ability to be concise, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback about how useful or interesting you find them!

This first Mini-Motivations episode is about the different ways we can measure progress, and how it can affect our motivation.

My first guest of 2022 was also my first guest of 2021, and I'm thinking maybe this will become a thing as long as he's happy to keep coming back on!

James Stott, AKA the Magic Marine joined us last time to talk about motivation, and he returns today with to talk about adventure, magic, myths and motorcycles. We also talk about taking ideas we read about in books and applying them to our own lives. 

James is an ex-Royal Marine turned professional close up magician and if you want to see some of his skills in practice make sure you take a look at his Instagram account:

https://www.instagram.com/themagicmarine

The end of one year and the start of another is a great time for reflection. 

Among other things it's a good time to look back over the previous 12 months and identify some of the things that you're going to take forwards into the next 12, and some of the things that that you'd rather leave behind.

In today's episode I want to share some of the things that have made my list.

The 6 things I will be taking forwards into 2022 are:

Planning

Disconnection

Attention

Flow

Creation

Implementation

The 6 things I'll be working on leaving behind are:

Disappointment

Over consumption

Distraction

The Quick Check

Clutter

Attachment to outcome

Thanks for tuning into the A Bit Of A Boost podcast this year, I hope you've managed to take something positive away from the solo episodes and guest interviews.

Don't forget you can join my podcast wellbeing email list here and if you subscribe, rate and review the podcast it really does help more people find it who may also benefit!

Every experience we have in life has the potential to teach us something about ourselves, and if we pay enough attention to it we can take these lessons and transfer them across to other areas of our life.

My guest for today's episode is a living breathing masterclass of precisely this. Following a 21 year career in the RAF flying combat helicopters, Sarah Furness has taken what she has learned about performing under pressure in war zones and the resilience required to resist interrogation, and transferred her wisdom to building a second career as a performance coach and speaker.

I asked Sarah about what it was like to fly helicopters on the front line, as well as using them to usher elephants out of the way in Kenya. We talk about making big bold changes in your life, why wine and mindfulness go together so well, and how your choice of underpants can never be taken away from you!

Find out more about Sarah here:

https://wellbeitcoach.com

https://sarahfurness.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjfurness

Are you outgoing or reserved? People or task focused? Are you an influencer, a supporter, decisive or cautious?

Although your answers may change from situation to situation, we all have a set of general tendencies that we otherwise know as our 'personality'.

Personality profiling is the topic of today's podcast, and I'm joined by award winning DISC coach Vicky O'Farrell.

Vicky recently did my own DISC profile and we spent some time together going through the results, and I figured it'd make for an interesting discussion, especially if you've never done any profiling  before and are wondering what it's all about.

We talk about the benefits of understanding yourself and others better, what this can mean for relationships, emotional intelligence and team work. I ask Vicky about how to use something like DISC without feeling like you're putting yourself and other people in a box, and the all important question given the time of year we recorded this; is leaving your Christmas shopping to the last minute despite every year swearing you're going to have it all done by the end of November, fundamentally linked to your personality or is it something we can change?

You can find out more about Vicky and her work over on her website:

https://queenofbehaviours.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriaofarrell