emotional intelligence Archives - Training Unleashed

How to Build Your Mental Toughness and Be the Best You Ever with Chris Dorris

In this episode of Training Unleashed, Evan and Chris Dorris talk about building your mental toughness and being the best you ever!

Do you want to become the best you possible – a person who lives your life on your own terms and exceeds all expectations, even your own? The secret lies in something that Chris Dorris calls mental toughness. And in this life-changing podcast, Chris explains how to put its transformative power to work for you.

You’ll want to listen to the entire podcast. Here are some highlights of what you can expect.

What It Means to Be Mentally Tough (It’s Not What You Think!)

Chris told Evan that mental toughness is about making your life easier, which is something we are all empowered to do if we think the right way.

“As human beings, we are not designed to settle,” Chris said. “We are not designed to struggle . . . and we sure as hell are not designed to suffer.

“There is a guy, a Harvard dude, who has done the math on this. . . his name is Ali Binazir. Mathematically speaking, we are incomprehensible probabilities . . . We are literally miracles which were designed to create miracles.”

For Chris, the fact that each of us is a miracle is not theoretical. It can be proven mathematically.

“. . . consider the likelihood of everything that ever happened in the world before you,” he explained to Evan, speaking of the millions of chance events that led to your creation. “The likelihood that your parents would have ever met. We are in fact a miracle! Let’s create miracles! Why would you ever waste a life and waste that gift? Yet we know most people live unhappy lives because they are not satisfied.

“So why the hell would we settle? But there is an answer to the question of why we still struggle and suffer. And it’s because it’s really just the human experience. It’s the game that we get to play is to free ourselves from the conditioning of our past so that we can create magic with our reality.”

Lessons from Being in the Zone

Chris went on to tell Evan, “As a sports psychologist, I always ask people what it was like when they were at their best ever. I ask, ‘When you had your best round, your best recital, your best theatrical performance, your best game, what was it like?’

“One of the most frequent descriptors is `effortlessness.’ So I wanted to work my ass off to learn how to build that kind of effortlessness and to make the creation of effortlessness way easier.”

It All Has to Do with Training

“Mental toughness is the consequence of training,” Chris told Evan. “It is the consequence of having invested tons of effort into strengthening the way that I use my mind so that fundamentally, I only use it in ways that serve me right.

“To simplify that even further, mental toughness is characterized by emotional mastery and the ability to profoundly manipulate my psychological state. . . . choosing is the operative word, choosing to think my way . . . to think my way into psychological states, emotions, and moods. I’m doing what I want in that moment, getting what I want in that moment, being who I want to be in that moment . . . and therefore become an emotional master so that I can choose to manipulate my states all day, every day, in ways that make the creation of excellence easier. So that’s what I’m doing with my life, teaching people how to do that . . .”

How to Do It

Chris explains the basics as, “Start at the beginning. Really heighten your awareness to your moods. Start paying attention to how you feel and become excellent at labeling those states . . . The happiest, mentally tough, successful people choose to live in a state of perpetual self-inquiry, meaning they’re always asking themselves questions like:

How am I feeling right now?
What state am I in right now? Is it competence? Is it fear?
Is it working for me right now?

Special Offers for Training Unleashed Podcast Listeners from Chris

Chris invites you to sign up for all three of the following offers by visiting ChristopherDorris.comlists

A complimentary subscription to his daily email newsletter, “The Daily Dose Mental Toughness Tips in 30 Seconds or Less.”
A personal invitation to read his blog on Mental Toughness, which is updated every second Thursday.
If that weren’t enough, Chris also invites our listeners to subscribe to his own podcast.

About Our Guest Chris Dorris

Chris is in the business of Success Coaching. He helps people close the gap between how their lives are and how they want them to be.

He started his career as a social worker working on the streets of Atlantic City, helping the mentally ill, drug addicted, and homeless populations upgrade their lives. Over the course of those several years, he observed that some of those folks – as a consequence of their belief and their persistence – were able to overcome some pretty serious challenges. That experience, in retrospect, was the perfect foundation for what would become Chris’s vocation.

He then decided to marry his passion for the power of the human spirit with his passion for sports. He moved to Arizona to attend graduate school at Arizona State University and created an internship with the Men’s Golf Team which evolved into a paid position as the formal Mental Toughness Coach. Over the course of those 10 years, he really learned a ton about the mechanics of training the mind. His new mission was to coach professional and amateur golfers.

Since then, Chris discovered that the Mental Toughness tools that he was using with many of the world’s greatest athletes were perfectly applicable to many other disciplines beyond sport. Since then, he has trained the minds of world-famous actors, NFL and NHL Coaches, business executives, Superbowl Champions and billionaires.

Chris states, “And now I’m a `coach’s coach’ as well, helping them build thriving practices. I can honestly say I live a work-free life. Because I truly love what I do, and I love the folks with whom I do it.”

Chris is the author of two books: The Daily Dose: Start All 365 Days of Your Year with a Dose of Mental Toughness in 30 Seconds or Less and Creating Your Dream: Confidently Stepping into Your Own Brilliance, and several audio programs including the Creating Your Dream Audio Course, The Edge: Mental Toughness for Miraculous Golf, and ALL IN! as well as the online course, ALL IN! 2.0.

Agustina Morero2021-08-24T12:06:13-04:00August 24, 2021|

The critical importance of compliance with Steve Vincze

In this episode of Training Unleashed, Evan discusses compliance issues with Steve Vincze, President and CEO of Trestle Compliance. Steve, an attorney by training, has been specializing in compliance issues for more than two decades

You will want to hear Steve’s expert insights into the importance of compliance, because:

You will learn to protect your people. If you understand the critical importance of compliance, you will be doing a much better job of shielding your people from injury, death, personal legal liability, and other risks.
You will learn to protect your company. When you become aware of compliance issues, you take a vital first step toward protecting your company from crippling lawsuits that can cost a lot of money and, in some cases, put you out of business.

Compliance Awareness Saves Money

“In this day and age of Covid-19 and high risk, “Steve explains, “the relative cost of putting in an effective compliance program, compared to the risk of a whistleblower lawsuit or a violation because you are out of compliance, is just enormous.

“In this high risk world that we live in, a compliance program is a smart, sensible way to put in place controls that enhance and enable your business to compete and win, regardless of what your business is.”

It Takes a Trained Team to Keep Your Business Safe

“We’re all familiar with going through the airport,” Steve explains, “and the idea that if you see something, say something. And the same attitude should be internal to any company.

People in your organization have to be able to look around and say, `Hey wait a second, we are not in compliance in this area, and that could be a problem. And that’s where training is perhaps the most important element.

“Training is the glue that connects all of the structure – from policies, procedures, monitoring – and holds it all together. Through training, people understand why compliance is important. It’s the why behind the what that training really exploits.”

A Case Study that Proves the Point

Steve, who has worked extensively in the life science industries, says, “One case that really comes to mind that I think all your viewers are very familiar with is the Theranos case. Elizabeth Holmes, the former child genius from Stanford, founded that blood-testing company with the concept that it is possible to learn amazing things from just a pinprick of blood.

“Well, it sounded too good to be true. And guess what, it was. But she attracted incredible investors, and the company took off. And she was, I believe, at one point, the wealthiest woman CEO in the world. But then it all came crashing down. Why? Well, there weren’t controls in place to catch the problem, which was that the technology didn’t work. Or to catch the smoke and mirrors.

“Employees or fellow executives could have said, `Wait a second, this doesn’t sound right. Wait a second, this really isn’t working. Wait a second, where’s the science to back this up?’

“A compliance program builds that kind of internal check . . . So that’s a clear example of where a compliance program. and I would add an ethics and compliance program, could have prevented tremendous problems.

Steve Summarizes . . .

“Compliance is not about just doing what’s required, it’s about doing what’s right.”

Have you been thinking about compliance in the right way? Are you certain you are doing all you can to protect your company and your people from legal and other risks?

If you are not sure, be sure to watch this episode of Training Unleashed today.

About Our Guest

Steve Vincze, a global compliance expert and President & CEO of Trestle Compliance, provides risk assessments, compliance programs and software for BioTech, Pharmaceutical and MedTech innovators. Prior to forming TRESTLE, Steve split his private-sector career between service as an in-house or outsourced Sr. VP or VP Chief Compliance Officer for several life science companies, forming his own firms as well as serving as a non-equity partner for a “Big 4” firm. Steve also served as Counsel to a U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee.

Agustina Morero2021-08-17T15:22:10-04:00August 17, 2021|

Use Intention, Small Steps and Clarity to Get Great Things Done with Terry Warren

In this episode of Training Unleashed, Evan talks to Terry Warren, one of America’s top coaches to highly successful executives, discussed his proven strategies for achieving much greater success.

In this life-changing podcast, you will learn to apply his philosophy to produce immediate benefits in everything you do.

Here are some insights you will gain from Evan’s conversation with Terry.

Intention Is the First Step toward Getting Great Things Done

Terry told Evan, “When people make an intentional choice to do something, and they commit to it . . . it’s as if they were jumping off a cliff. When they do that, the success rate is 100 percent. They’re declaring an intention, letting the world know about it, and are willing to be accountable for it. That realization came to me after coaching 30 or 40 people. I saw there was something going on there.”

Together, Evan and Terry called this, “The Power of Declaration.”

Use Small Steps to Ignite Major Change

“I once worked with a person who was tremendous when he was working with clients,” Terry recalls, “but was having difficulty internally in his communication style. And he was called on the carpet by HR and told, `This can’t continue.’

“But this person engaged with me and accepted the idea that he needed to change. Then we talked about baby steps he could take to do that. One of those steps was for him to find somebody in his own team, somebody he trusted. And then to say to that person, `I realize I need to change how I’m coming across, will you help me with that? And I am going to give you permission, not during a meeting, but after, to call me to account if I did not do well.’

“And it was transformational . . . I find that baby steps are a great place to start. And so if I’m talking to people, I say, `Let’s just commit to one small thing right now, and let’s take some baby steps to get to that, then we can come back to others. But let’s just start with one, because that doesn’t seem overwhelming.”

Try Constantly to Gain Perspective

Terry observes, “Things look different, depending on where you’re standing to look at them. The example I like is a Rubik’s Cube. Hold up a Rubik’s Cube and just look squarely at the face, and it’s a square! But if you turn it a little bit, you might see one of the other sides or if you turn a little further, you might see some of the bottom. One of the ways to change how we approach business problems is to bring a new perspective to them . . . if you get other people’s input, you might then say to yourself, `What do I need to stop believing in order to do this?’

“And I think if you get those other perspectives, that leads to clarity about what needs to be done. You get better results when you actually have a different perspective.”

Strive for Clarity

“If you’re clear about what you’re trying to do, then you can actually accomplish it,” Terry told Evan. “But sometimes it’s not possible to get total clarity about something you want to accomplish. If that is the case, you need to ask more questions, and to get additional information. And at a certain point, you need to consider, how much information have I gathered? Have I gathered as much information as possible in the time I have? Have I gathered enough information to believe that I’m clear on what has to be done?”

Those are only a small selection of the big ideas that came into focus during this powerful Training Unleashed podcast.

Terry’s Giveaway

To thank you for listening to his Training Unleashed podcast with Evan, Terry would like to send you a complimentary chapter of his new book The Art of Choice: Making Changes that Count in Work and Life.

Follow this link to get acce https://warrenexecutivecoach.com/trainingunleashed/

About Our Guest

Terry Warren, an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach, has more than 40 years of leadership experience in the financial services and healthcare industries. He has held senior leadership roles in sales, strategic planning, client engagement, and executive coaching. He is a member of the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management Executive Coaching Network and author of the new book The Art of Choice: Making Changes that Count in Work and Life.

Agustina Morero2021-08-12T11:34:56-04:00August 10, 2021|

Leadership in the new post-pandemic world with Kevin Eikenberry

In this episode of Training Unleashed, Evan Hackel interviewed Kevin Eikenberry an individual who expresses his views on leadership, training, and other topics in a way that is unlike anyone else – he is different and very, very smart.

Remote Working Is Not Really New

Evan pointed out that he has long been working remotely, and letting employees of his companies do so too, for years. He noted that since working remotely became common during the pandemic, he has lost one of his preferred tools for recruiting employees. Pre-pandemic, offering candidates the chance to work from home was highly attractive. Now, it has become routine.Kevin, from his side of the conversation, recalled similar experiences. “I’ve been leading a remote team or a hybrid team for over a decade,” Kevin told Evan. “And then about seven years ago, we formed the Remote Leadership Institute as a part of our larger organization. I was working with a gentleman named Wayne Turmel. And his whole focus was around remote communication for trainers, for presenters, for salespeople, etc. And so we brought all of our leadership work together under the umbrella of the Remote Leadership Institute. And now we’ve written several of books in this area, one called The Long Distance Leader and then more recently, The Long Distance Teammate. So we’ve been in this space helping people work remotely for a lot longer than the pandemic.”

The Fundamentals of Leading Have Not Been Changed by Remote Work

Kevin told Evan something about leadership that is simple, yet important. He explained that even though people are working remotely and will continue to do so, where they work might not be what matters most.

“For our latest book, The Long Distance Leader” he said, “we identified rules for remarkable remote leadership. And the first rule is, leadership first.”

He went on to explain that when new changes happen – like remote work – people tend to focus exclusively on them. But remote work has not changed what it means to be an effective leader.

“So let’s not lose sight of what we already know that works,” he told Evan.

Yet Some Things Have Changed

Evan noted that pre-pandemic, people would arrive at work and, first thing, engage in casual conversations to catch up with each other. And those “water cooler” conversations improved working life and teams.

And Kevin agreed that because that kind of socializing has been all but eliminated over the last year, there are risks.

“What’s different about work now,” Kevin said, “is that we don’t have incidental and accidental communication anymore. We may therefore have less trust in each other yet need trust more than we did before. The longer we have worked by ourselves, the more pressures and tensions have shown up for us in our work.

“It has become harder for people to remember that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. And at the end of the day, that is the single most important thing.”

Remote Tools Can Deliver Better Training

During the pandemic, most professional people became much better at using video meetings to communicate more efficiently. Now, Kevin points out, is a good time to use our new skills to extend the reach of and effectiveness of training.

“In my case,” Kevin said, “I work with clients all over the world. I’ve got to know all the tools, right? Zoom and Microsoft Teams and WebEx and all that. We all need to know them well.”

Evan and Kevin agreed that certain popular video conferencing tools, like breakout rooms, can function just like breaking a training group into sub-groups.

About Our Guest

Kevin is co-author of the book The Long-Distance Teammate: Stay Engaged and Connected While Working Anywhere (Berrett-Koehler Publishers). He founded the Kevin Eikenberry Group in 1993 and is the co-founder of the Remote Leadership Institute. He has twice been named one of Inc.’s Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World. Kevin is also an opinion columnist for CEOWORLD Magazine.

You will want to invest 35 high-quality minutes listening to everything that Evan and Kevin discussed on this podcast.

Agustina Morero2021-08-10T11:51:55-04:00August 3, 2021|

Identifying your Blind Spots with Candace Sjogren

In this episode of Training Unleashed, Evan talks to Candace Sjogren, entrepreneur, coach, author, as well as co-founder and center director of Boston Breakthrough Academy (BBA) about the benefits of attending the leadership development and emotional intelligence training.

Emotional intelligence training isn’t commonly used to describe leadership development training. According to Candace, “from an employer’s perspective, it’s awareness. Awareness of what am I bringing to the table, what are you bringing to the table, and how do we shift an otherwise tense situation into something that’s supportive to both of us.”

Leadership development training programs that focus on emotional intelligence, like the one offered through BBA, help you identify your blind spots. They help you determine what you’re not seeing. “Why is my boss continuously telling me that I’m a star performer, ‘but…’ Why is that ‘but’ continuously showing up in my life? And how can I break through that in order to be at the next level of whatever it is in life for me. Whether that’s being the next level mom or next level executive,” explained Candace.

It’s all about building or breaking the habit.

And, during the interview, Candace teaches Evan a really quick exercise that anyone can practice in their life to create a new habit and shift behavior.

And remember to listen to the end of the episode to get Candace’s BIG tip and the details about her giveway are below.

Candace’s Giveaway

Candace has two offers for Training Unleashed listeners.

Free 30-minute consulting appointment for you and team to talk through what the program can do to support you.
Free 15-minute coaching call for you or one key employee to get clear on what you want and clear on what is standing in the way.

To learn more about the free offer, email Candace at [email protected]

About Our Guest

Candace Sjogren is the cofounder and Center Director of Boston Breakthrough Academy, a practicing attorney, and a management consultant, where she leads strategy with venture backed companies such as Marqeta, Inc. Previously, Sjogren was the founder and CEO of two fintech companies and Chief Strategy Officer at lending platforms Dealstruck and LoanHero. Candace continues to serve as an angel investor and contributing author for Entrepreneur Magazine. She received her JD from Salmon P. Chase College of Law and resides in the South End with her husband, son and golden doodle.

Janet Brideaux2021-05-25T10:08:12-04:00May 25, 2021|