Enhance Workplace Well-being with Mindfulness Practices with Trish Tutton

I'm amazed at how often I'm hearing about toxic workplaces. They seem to be everywhere. Aside from bullying and harassment, a toxic workplace includes things like excessive workloads, lack of support, and poor communication. As leaders, we have a ton of control over our work environments and how our team responds and reacts at work. And that's what we're going to be talking about today on Experience Leadership.

Welcome to Experience Leadership, a podcast that challenges small business owners and entrepreneurs just like you to dare to be the exception. Join our host, customer experience expert Marc Haine, as he uncovers relevant and timely content To help you script and direct your business and teams to create jaw-dropping experiences your customers and staff deserve. Here is the host of Experience Leadership, author of Lights! Camera! Action!, customer experience expert Marc Haine.

Welcome to this episode. It is so great to have you here. My guest Today is the mindful expert, Trish Tutton. We will be spotlighting how you can overcome stress and overwhelm on your team, conquer a lack of focus and lack of productivity, and douse negative attitudes and low employee morale. So, stay tuned. This episode has the potential to transform If this is your first time with us, I invite you to check out our other episodes on this channel. Each one is chock-full of information and learnings you can apply to your business today. You know, I hate to say it, but according to the American Psychological Association, nearly 1 in 5 employees report a toxic workplace. And a third of American workers plan to look for a new job right this second. Somehow, we have to find a way to stem the bleeding. So that brings us to our Question of the Day. What tools do you have that you can leverage to recognize and deal with the stressors that you and your staff feel every single day. I'd love for you to be part of this conversation. Go ahead and share this episode on your favorite social media platform. Hashtag it #ExperienceLeadership and put down your own comments and feedback on our question. As I mentioned, my guest today is keynote speaker and mindfulness strategist, Trish Tutton. Trish has taught mindfulness to thousands of people across North America in the last decade. She is deeply passionate about empowering people to meet the challenges of their life with more peace and presence, to use the practice of mindfulness to reduce stress and anxiety and create individual and team resilience. You can find her as a teacher on the world's number one free meditation app, Insight Timer, And she is the author of the Mindful Mornings Journal. Trish is on a mission to help you be calmer, happier, and more effective. Trish, welcome to the show. It is wonderful to have you here today.

Thanks for having me, Marc. I'm really excited for this conversation.

Yeah.

Hey, before we get into today's topic, could you maybe fill us in a little bit on how you serve your clients? Like what kind of clients hire you? How do you serve them? What are the outcomes? That sort of thing.

Yeah. So generally, I find myself working in high-stress industries. So think nursing, first responders, firefighters, police officers. A lot of healthcare industry is what I generally tend to work in. Also, some finance and some of the law industry as well tends to reach out to me. And really, I provide keynotes and workplace trainings all directed around this idea and this practice of what I call becoming unshakable, which is my fancy way of saying becoming more resilient. And we're doing that amidst constant change and constant chaos and constant stress that seems to kind of be ever-present in our lives. And whether it's personal or professional. So, I teach folks really tangible data-based mindfulness techniques to help them to become unshakable amidst chaos and change.

Love it! So, why is this such an important topic for today's day and age? Like, why is this bubbling to the surface and why do people need you so desperately?

I think you hit the nail on the head, Marc, talking about toxic workplaces. And I hear over and over and over from my clients and the leaders that I speak to about their teams that they face similar challenges. All of them really, whether it's overwhelm and burnout, whether it's just kind of this negative attitude or negative morale in their workplace, or sometimes what I call like a culture of stress or even a culture of negativity or a culture of tension really, where everyone just kind of feels like they're walking on eggshells because they're so stressed. You know, I think through the pandemic, and we're kind of on the other side of that now, but through the pandemic, we really saw stress management and mental health bubble to the top of a lot of organizations' and individuals' priority lists because it was unavoidable. Everybody was facing, again, all this chaos and this change and all of the negative results of folks being in a really high stress, long-term experience really bubbled to the surface. And so, we saw a lot of people saying, okay, I have to and my organization has to address stress. And interestingly enough, I think a lot of us thought, once the pandemic is over, this is it. Just let that end and then life will be stress-free and I'm going to feel great and I'm going to feel so positive and so relaxed.

Haha.

Yeah, joke's on us.

It's interesting because it's not like the stress and stuff didn't happen before. I think the pandemic just put a magnifying glass on it and it exacerbated a problem that was already there. And now that we're aware of this problem, it's not going away anytime soon.

Well, it's because the problem, Marc, is that life is unpredictable and that's never changing. That's literally never changing, right? So I think that we need as humans I often say, like, stress is unavoidable, right? Because everything is always changing around us in completely unpredictable ways. The stress is unavoidable, but it doesn't have to dictate our lives, and it doesn't have to turn our workplaces into these toxic, horrible places where we have the Sunday scaries. Have you ever heard that term before? Or we have the TGIF mentality, like, let's just get to the end of this.

Yep.

And by the time the weekend gets here, I'll be stress-free. And then, we spend the whole weekend, or at least Sunday afternoon with those scaries worrying about and thinking about what the inbox looks like. And then we check it and then we feel more stressed and it's this never-ending cycle.

Yeah. You know, it's so funny because I'm at the butt end of the baby boomers. And so people who are older than me, I've, I've talked to a lot of business operators and they don't understand this idea of mental wellness and mindful. They don't understand it because in their mind it's like the stress has always been there. Just get over it. So what has changed in the men? Are we, are we becoming more sensitive? Are we like—

It's a great question. I think we're becoming more self-aware. I think we're seeing the negative result of just pushing down all that overwhelm and that burnout and just going, I gotta keep going. And it's normal to feel stressed. And it's normal to Maybe cope in ways that are not that great for us with all that stress, right? Finding those kind of negative coping mechanisms. I think that is very common, you know, amongst all generations, but actually in my personal experience, a lot more with some older generations. And I have compassion for them too because they weren't given these tools.

Right.

They weren't taught how to, in a skillful way, cope with stress. And emotions that are sometimes kind of tricky to handle. So, I think it's just a growing self-awareness. It's like, wait, maybe I don't want to, I don't know, drink my stress away. Or maybe I don't want— right?

You don't have to drink it away now. Marijuana is legal. No, but it's not a solution. I'm just joking. You know, when you look through, like when you look at this, like Gallup always is putting out polls about wellness and well-being in the workplaces. And it just seems to be buzzword. I do know that there's a lot of business operators out there who are looking for the band-aid solution. Is well-being just a one-and-done kind of initiative or should there be more strategy behind it?

Yeah, I think so. It's kind of like when I talk about mindfulness being really supportive actually on 3 levels for us. It's helpful for our mental health, our emotional health, even our physical Well, it's kind of like I invite people to think about it the way we now think about exercise, right? 50, 60, 70 years ago, if someone were to take their lunch break and go for a run, what would their colleagues be thinking?

You're nuts.

You're nuts. What are you doing running? Is something chasing you? You got to get somewhere really fast? Why don't you just get in your car? And now, sometimes we look at techniques like mindfulness and mental well-being strategies and we think, what? You're just going to sit and breathe and that's all you're going to do for 5 or 10 minutes? Why the heck are you doing that? But now, we know exercise is something that when it's done regularly, and again, it's not one and done. There's no such thing. This is what one of my teachers says, no such thing as a one-walk dog. No such thing as a one-walk dog. You can't go for one run and then go back to your doctor and they say, oh, your cholesterol is great, Trish. You did such a good job on that one run. So mindfulness techniques and exercises are the same, right? It's something that really, when, if we really want the benefits, which a lot of people have heard, ooh, mindfulness, I hear it's good for stress and good for communication and good for reducing burnout and all these things, anxiety. And they try it once and they go, ugh, that was really hard. And it's like, well, yeah, if you run one time, that's hard too. You're sweating, your legs are tired, you're panting, you're, you know, but over time you get better. Over time, it gets easier. And over time, just like with exercise and your body responds in a healthful way, over time with the practice of mindfulness, your mind, your emotions, and even your body does respond as well, taking you closer to that experience of resilience and well-being in your life.

It's been such an ingrained component to a lot of work cultures, this idea of having stress. Like tight timelines and that sort of thing. How do leaders know that they have a problem?

Yeah, I think many do. And I think actually what they're not aware of is how to solve it. But again, I would say like the top 3 things I hear, the top 3, I would say headaches that leaders have: employee overwhelm and burnout, right? Burnout is massive. There's a ton of statistics out there that burnout obviously creeped up during COVID But it actually hasn't improved since then. So, one of the big headaches you might notice is overwhelm and burnout. The other one is that negative attitudes, that morale of negativity, that morale of tension. Everybody is just tense with stress. And then, one that might not be as explicit is a lack of focus and productivity. So, folks feeling like, I don't have enough time to get all my stuff done. And that then creates stress and creates burnout. And those are really the top, I would say, 3 headaches I hear from the clients that I work with. And one thing that they're often shocked and excited to learn is that if they are to focus on stress management, on teaching their team, on bringing in programs and workshops to help their team manage stress, It can actually address all 3 of those things. It can address the stress, overwhelm, and burnout, the lack of focus and productivity, and that kind of negative pessimistic attitude that can kind of spread like a virus. Is that too soon?

Yeah. So is it like, is it my imagination? I mean, I've gone into a lot of conversations and again, I'm dealing with people who've been in business for 20 or 30 years, but I get a sense that Business leaders, business operators are almost delusional. Like they seem to blame the symptoms of a dysfunctional workplace. Like they'll blame, oh, my people don't listen, or my people are lazy, or my people are always getting— they're such pansies. They always call in sick, or they're always missing deadlines. These are all symptoms of a bigger problem. But they're looking at the actual Symptom as being the problem.

That's right.

Why hasn't this changed? Why hasn't this changed significantly in the last 30 years?

Good question. I might argue that it has changed a little bit purely to the fact that I have a job. So obviously, there are organizations and teams and leaders out there who do see this connection. They see that— I mean, these are my favorite clients to work with honestly is the ones who see that when they take care of the well-being of their employees, of those individuals, what they're actually doing is taking care of the well-being of their business. Because it's the team, the individuals who actually help the well-being of the business. Yeah.

It's all tied together.

It's kind of like going— you go a little upstream, right? You go a little upstream and you see, yeah, what is really preventing my team from being their best?

Right.

And often, it is these negative effects of stress. So, I would actually say it is shifting. And yes, there are still people who don't necessarily understand the kind of ROI of investing in your employee wellness. But I would put this to them, this kind of little example. You know how in most, many workplaces, office setting workplaces, I guess I would say, many office workplaces, they provide access to free coffee. Why do they do that? Well, we might say they do it because they know it increases energy. It increases morale. People love their coffee, love their caffeine, right? It maybe even improves communication because people gather around the coffee maker and they meet there and they pour their cup. Well, my vision really is that people will start to see engaging in wellbeing programs like offering mindfulness exercises and classes to their teams is exactly like that because we know there is data to say that these practices, these simple techniques that I teach increase energy, reduce stress. They have all these positive ripple effects just like coffee does. But actually, I would say mindfulness has even more positive effects and it doesn't come with a crash.

Yeah.

So, I think people are starting to understand this and they also sometimes require some of the data and the science behind it, which I'm always Happy to share too.

It's interesting, I, I got a text from Angela before the show. She says, what's wrong with the word thoughtful? Why mindful? Is there— sure, is there a difference between being thoughtful versus being mindful?

Yeah, that's a really good question. I would say in some, in some ways of using the word, it's a synonym, right? So many people have heard mindful used maybe like this: oh, let's make sure we're being mindful of our client's budget. Let's make sure we're being mindful of our whole organization's goals as we look at our own department. And that's what they're saying, aren't they? They're saying, let's be thoughtful. Let's be considerate. Let's take into consideration. Let's be intentional about our choices while keeping this in mind. Beautiful. And that is one way of using the word mindful.

Love it.

Another way of using the word mindful is that To be mindful is this: to be mentally aware in the present moment. And you might say, well, yeah, I'm mentally aware in the present moment. But I would question that. Have you ever laid in bed and thought about and worried about and wondered what if about some scenario that's going to happen tomorrow? Some meeting you need to lead or some project you're working on that isn't going as smoothly or some client that's being a real— Pain in the butt. Pain in the you-know-what. That's the opposite of mindfulness. That's when your mind is not where you are. It's wandering. It's thinking about the past and thinking, oh, I wish that didn't happen. And what if things had happened differently? Where would I be now? And what might be— or it's your mind wandering to the future. What if this happens? And how are my finances going to be in the future? And what about my relationship? And what about my job? And what's my next career move? And oh, my boss, which if I could just get a new boss, that would make everything better. So, there's kind of 2 uses of it. And Angela is right. One of them is interchangeable with thoughtful, and the other one is to anchor or orient our mind into the present moment instead of dwelling on the past or worrying and stressing about an uncertain future.

Love it. Anna has a question. Good afternoon. What does an employee do when the manager's causing the stress? Ooh, that it's the actual manager causing the stress over the employees.

I have so many questions.

Yeah, I know. It's true.

For this question.

Well, why don't you ask the question because we're about to go to a quick break. I do want to uncover the practice of mindfulness and how it can benefit. So, we'll go through that a little bit. But maybe Anna, if you could put— ask your questions of Anna right now. And then, while we're on break, Anna can go ahead and type in and then we can come back to that topic.

I guess I have maybe less of a question, more of a contemplation for Anna. I would ask Anna in this scenario to think about what Anna has control over and what you don't have control over in that situation. And maybe you make a couple little notes, a couple little columns, what you have control over and what you don't.

I love that. So, as I mentioned, I'd like to uncover how the practice of mindfulness can benefit organizations and their people. I know that you have Some really good examples of that. And we'll get to that right after this. When the spotlight shines on your business, are customers applauding or yawning? In other words, how is your business performing? Make your business a star with a new book, Lights! Camera! Action!, Business Operational Excellence Through the Lens of Live Theater by Marc Haine. Marc uses his business and acting experience to help you see your business like a live show so you You can create a performance your customers will never forget.

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today at your favorite online retailer or directly at marchaine.com. Welcome back! I am here with the amazing Trish Tutton and we're having an amazing conversation. So Trish, I'd love to get into some steps leaders can take to be more mindful and even create mindful programs for their organizations. But before we do that, I'd love to talk a little bit about How mindfulness can be reflected in the ROI. You mentioned that a little bit earlier. Can we talk a little bit about the business model or the business sense behind creating mindfulness programs?

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there is lots of data out there that really anchors us in how a practice of mindfulness can actually support us. One of the studies I often reference, it comes from actually an American healthcare insurance company called Aetna. And it's a really interesting story. The CEO of Aetna, he actually suffered from a really terrible ski accident. And in his healing, he was taking time off from work and he was, of course, doing all the traditional Western medical healing. And he was finding it was working, but only to a degree. And he was suffering from a lot of chronic pain from this ski accident. And he kind of in a desperate moment trying anything, he's, you know, Willing to try anything, he goes all the way out to the fringes, maybe at this time years ago, of well-being and he finds mindfulness. And someone says it can help with pain. It can help with stress. So, he starts engaging in a practice of mindfulness and it starts to have incredible results for him, for his stress and his pain. He then decides, wow, well, who are the most stressed people I know? My employees at Aetna. I think we need to bring this to them. He goes to his C-suite fellows and he says, okay, here's what I want to do, team. I want to bring in some mindfulness programming to our team to reduce their stress and to just have them be happier at work and be more fulfilled. And his C-suite colleagues are somewhat critical. You might say that's an understatement, somewhat critical. And they go, I don't know about this. This sounds fluffy. This sounds woo-woo. And he says, okay, I have an idea. Nearby their head office was a major university. I'm making a guess. I'm thinking it's Stanford. I could be wrong though, so don't hold me to it. But it was a pretty big, well-known, renowned university. And he said, what if we bring them in and we get some researchers to study this program and to actually see what are the tangible return on investment that we can get from doing this? Well, they had some pretty incredible results. After an 8-week mindfulness training program, they surveyed their participants before and after. And afterwards, they saw on average about a 30% drop in their employees' stress levels after 8 weeks of taking these classes.

Wow!

They also measured productivity and they saw on average, the employees that took this program gained about 70 minutes a day in productivity. Why? How does this work, right? Well, let's think about it. I already said mindfulness is about having your mind in the present moment. What do you have to do to focus and be productive? You have to be focused on the task at hand, not distracted. Mindfulness teaches us how to focus. At the same time as you're focusing on the present moment, what are you doing less Of mind wandering into the future, worrying about potential stressors, maybe real stressors too, but no one really knows what's happening in the future. So a lot of our worries and our stress are actually a result of our mind jumping forward into the future and making a ton of assumptions about all the difficulties we're going to face. So you see how these data points may have come to be after practicing mindfulness for 8 weeks. They also said, he reported, his name is also Marc, the past CEO of Aetna. He said, we had this groundswell inside the company of people wanting to take these classes. And I see that too in my own teaching, in my own classes, that it's like a couple people begin and then you can tell they start to tell their colleagues or maybe their colleagues start to notice that they're less stressed and they go, what the heck are you doing? And they say, well, we're attending these mindfulness classes. They're really helping. And there starts to be just like a wave of interest and people leave the sessions feeling better, feeling more optimistic, feeling less stressed, feeling more focused, and also feeling taken care of by their workplace. They feel like somebody cares. Somebody cares that this job that I give 8 plus plus plus hours a day to Somebody cares that this job creates stress for me, and they're supporting me to reduce a lot of that stress and suffering that's being caused.

I imagine that people who go through programs like that, that not only do they actually increase, like, they get better with their interpersonal skills because now they're intentional. Like, I mean, it's what they say. They said that if you do something, like, if you adopt a workout schedule. You're brand new. Every day, you're going to go for a walk. All of a sudden, there's spin-off benefits because all of a sudden, you start focused because you're doing that walk every day. It's like, you know what? I'm also going to eat better. And so, it becomes a low stress.

And I sleep better because I've expended some energy.

And so, I imagine that when you do these programs or when organizations implement programs like this, that they must see spin-off. Not only is it the interpersonal transactions and relationships must get stronger, but also the culture as a whole must shift as well.

Yeah. I mean, one simple example of this is like, what is one of the things that happens in our communication when we're stressed? We react. We react instead of respond, right? React, meaning there might be a seemingly small, benign little stimulus that we encounter in our life. We open an email, it's bad news. We answer the phone, it's bad news. A client is— a customer is upset with us. They're not happy. And we react in a way. A key note to know you've reacted is 10 minutes later, an hour later, you go, oh, shoot. Why did I do that? I really could have done better. Right?

Yep.

So, when our stress is lowered, and reactions happen when we're stressed. I had a client of mine talk about— I loved this analogy she gave. She goes, You know, I react when I'm pre-irritated. I said, oh my gosh, tell me about that. What does that mean? She goes, you know how you preheat an oven? Well, sometimes life is so stressful, you just go around all pre-irritated. You're clenching your jaw. Your shoulders are tight. You're irritable. Any little thing that comes your way, you're just gonna lose it. And that is often what creates this headache of a problem for leaders where their culture is toxic and negative and pessimistic and people are reacting to each other or Even worse, sneaking around talking behind each other's backs. So yeah, there is certainly a ripple effect that happens there. And one of the things I often reflect on in the work that I do is that I'm creating that ripple effect. One person reducing their stress, they're going to show up completely different with their colleagues, their family, with the clerk at the grocery store, with the person that cuts them off in traffic. They're going to be kinder. more understanding, more patient. And really, when I think about the big picture of what I do and what I'm teaching, it's like that is having a ripple effect of honestly peace throughout the world. So that's what I anchor myself in when I close my eyes at night and I'm like, okay, I'm doing good work.

Nice. I imagine that this is equally true for the leaders, for the people who might say, okay, I understand the mindfulness, but that's okay for the employees. I don't need it. I have a sneaking suspicion that it has to start at the top because the leader does set the tone.

Yeah. The most common question, Marc, I often hear after my presentations and workshop is this: I have someone in my life who could use this so much, which is people's nice way of saying, I have someone in my life who is so stressed out that they're making my life miserable. I have someone in my life who could use this. How do I encourage them? And often, it's like I have a spouse or I have a kid, right?

Mm-hmm.

And if there's anything that I've learned over the years, it's that setting the example is the best way. And we know this. Actually, this is grounded in science. So, any leaders out there, if you have never heard the term or encountered the term mirror neurons, You need to look this up and learn about it. Mirror neurons just mean that we mimic each other's— humans, we mimic each other's feelings and sensations even. It's kind of like if you ever watched America's Funniest Home Videos, child of the '90s here, and someone gets hurt, right? Or if you're younger than me and you watch fail videos and somebody hurts themselves, you laugh. But the first thing you do before you laugh is you cringe. When somebody gets hurt. That's a mirror neuron. Or it's why if you see someone yawn, why you have the urge to yawn. That's a mirror neuron. Now, what we know is that the mirror neuron effect is only amplified when you're a leader. So, the folks that follow you, and think about this formally or informally, it could be at work if you lead a team, but it could be if you're a parent or you're A big sister, big brother, big sibling, right? Or you're a leader in your community. When you show up stressed and frazzled and overwhelmed and reactive, the chances that the folks who follow you are going to feel that way too and live and experience and work that way too are just— the volume's cranked up on that. But the alternate or the opposite is true too. If you practice these skills, you manage your own response to stress. You feel more calm, confident, focused, that is going to have a ripple effect to your team too. So, that's one of the first things I say to leaders. You cannot expect people to do something you're not willing to do. You need to, as a famous quote says, go the way, show the way. Yeah, you have to really go in that direction. No, that's what it is. It's know the way, go the way, show the way.

Oh, there you go. And so, to Anna's question, she didn't put any more examples down. To her question then, you mentioned the one comment/question that you had is, what are you in control of? You might not be in control of your leader.

Right.

But if you have any kind of moral authority within your team, if you just within the shift even, that by you taking on some of the mindfulness techniques we're talking about, that you yourself will start— what's the word I'm looking for? People will start learning from you because of the way that you're reacting, right?

That's right. And you'll ripple that out. And there is a chance too that you'll ripple it out to your manager, right? Mirror neurons don't just work one way, leadership down. They work a lot more strongly that way, but they also work the other way too. So, I would suggest for you that you focus on your own stress management and then kind of a bigger, not really mindfulness thing is, but organizationally, I really think we should be implementing things like 360 reviews. Leaders out there should be asking for feedback from their teams. What can I do better? And in that situation, if that manager was engaging in that kind of willingness to hear feedback on the way they show up, that would be an easy situation. It's like, I noticed you're really stressed and I start to kind of feel like it's contagious when I come into work, your stress on the team and on myself. And if they were open enough to having that conversation, Now, maybe their stress is so much they might be reactive. We don't know. So it is a sensitive situation too.

At the time, the staff and I didn't have any control. We were threatened with our jobs every second day. Today, I have made an effect— an effort to be kind to my team and create stress-free and workplace and safe workplace. And well done, Anna, because you basically learned how you don't want to be a leader. That's—

you don't want to—

you don't want to assume you've been intentional. With saying, I don't want to be a leader like that.

Oh, and that's so powerful.

It is powerful. Thank you, Anna, for sharing.

And I would also, I would just challenge Anna on one little piece. You might not have had any control over that manager's actions, but you have control over your actions. So, what that might mean is if you leave work overwhelmed with all that stress that was contagious from that manager, you then can go and do some things that help you to process that stress, that help your nervous system shift from that kind of fight or flight mode back to that relaxation mode. That is one thing you do control really in any situation is your own actions and your own attitudes.

Yeah. And how you react. This has been absolutely brilliant, Trish. I imagine, you know, we have 79 thumbs up, by the way, on the broadcast. So just so you know, this is really resonating with people. How can people get in touch with you if they want to work with you?

Yeah, I would say the easiest way is to visit my website, trishtutton.com. There's a contact form there. It goes right to my email address and you can find me.

That sounds great. At the top of the show, we talked about negativity. Is it fair to say that mindfulness practices will be able to conquer a lot of what goes on? We talked about the gossip at the water cooler, this kind of stuff. Is this— would it be fair to say that this is one of the best ways of conquering that practice?

It is a data-based way that we know shifts the brain into a positive state. So, what you may or may not know is that your brain, the human brain, can be in a negative state, a stress state, a neutral state, or a positive state. And there's a really great book I'm going to give a shout out to here if anyone's interested in this. The Happiness— I'm just looking over here because it's on my shelf— The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. And he talks about the advantage personally and professionally. He calls it the happiness advantage of being in a positive brain state. And he gives around 5 or 6 different data-based ways we know shifts our brain into that positive state. And mindfulness is one of them. What happens when we practice mindfulness? Remember I said, if we're not If our mind is not anchored in the present moment, it's either thinking or dwelling on the past, worrying about the future. What we know as well from the data is that when your mind wanders away, when it goes from the present moment somewhere else, 2 out of every 3 times it wanders, it goes to something negative.

Hmm.

This is our negativity bias. This is a survival mechanism of the human brain. It keeps us alive really well, but while we're alive, we feel kind of bummed because we're thinking a lot about negative things. So when we practice mindfulness, there's this little part of our brain. It's literally the size of an almond. They say it's tiny, but it dictates so much of our life. It's called our amygdala, and it's almost like our threat alarm. And anytime we sense that there might be something negative or a threat, Which is a lot because again, our world is uncertain. We never really know what's coming our way. It goes off. And with long-term practice of mindfulness, that amygdala has been proven to get more quiet, to start to shut up a little bit and stop telling us that the worst thing in the world is going to happen tomorrow or next week or in 6 months. It gets a little bit more quiet and we get a little bit more perspective to also consider what might go well for us in the future.

I love it. You know, this is such a great topic. I'd love to delve into some strategies to help leaders create a mindful practice, and maybe you can give some keys to that, and we'll do that right after this break.

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Welcome back! I am having a fabulous conversation with the mindfulness expert, Trish Tutton. As you can tell, Trish and I are really passionate about serving business owners and managers just like So, if you are planning a leadership retreat or management training in the near future, or perhaps you belong to an association that could be served by today's topic with our help, feel free to reach out to Trish and myself to explore how we can help you support your event. Our contact info is in the show notes. Trish, if a leader wanted to take the principles that we're talking about today, What are some key steps that they would need to implement in order to pull off an effective, practical, mindful practice in their day-to-day operation?

Yeah, so a couple things. One of the things I think gets in our way a lot is this feeling, and it actually has a name, it's been given a title, this feeling of, I don't have enough time. Everything she's saying sounds so good, but I don't have enough time to do this. My team doesn't have enough time to do this. We're too busy. So while you might think that your life is way too busy and you have no time to do it, this state of having these thoughts over and over of I don't have enough time is actually called time famine. Time famine. It's kind of like a psychological thing where you get stuck in this pattern of feeling like you don't have enough time. And the only solution to it is not to go faster, is not to buy all the new time-saving journals and apps and computer programs and everything. It's not to get another assistant. It's not to— it's actually to slow down. It's to slow down. So, a few of the things I would say is first, if you're having this thought immediately like, we need this but we're just— I'm too busy. I need to— I don't have enough time. Take a moment to really slow down and maybe get clear on the challenges that your team faces, right? Really thinking about what are my big headache issues with my team and do they fall into these categories I've chatted about today that could actually benefit from stress reduction? And think about other situations in your life when maybe you've slowed down and you've got intentional about your next steps forward and how that actually can set you up for better success than just rushing right into something and making a ton of mistakes and then having to redo it again. I would also say for most leaders I work with, they're not in the position yet of setting that example. They're kind of, although they're a leader in their workplace, they're not a leader yet when it comes to embodying mindfulness. It's kind of a level playing field with their staff. Many of them don't know mindfulness and neither do their leaders. So, I would say be willing to kind of level yourself off with your staff and be a student. Be willing to be a student. And maybe it's working together with myself and developing a customized program so we can address the specific big headaches you have with your team and how mindfulness can support those. So setting that as an example. One other kind of smaller way that someone might begin a mindfulness practice is actually with a journal I wrote that they might be able to see. Well, they might not. So maybe I'll hold it here. I created this journal. It's called the Mindful Mornings Journal. I created it in fall of 2020 when, well, we all know what was happening then. And people were saying to me, Trish, now is the time. I really need mindfulness now. How do I start? And I realized I had this mindful morning routine that I had really been doing for years. And so I turned it into a journal. And so that journal is a really nice way perhaps for you to begin a practice. So you can check that out, it's on my website too. And it just really sets you up. I find it's like the morning is like the foundation of my day. So when I take my mindfulness practice and I put it right at the foundation of my day, it's almost like everything that comes afterwards becomes more intentional, becomes more purposeful. I become more thoughtful about every action I take. And yeah, so that routine's really helped me and a lot of my clients as well.

I love that. For people who do want to implement something in their workplace, are there any cautionaries they should be aware of as they try to do something that's going to be a little bit different, a little bit outside of their comfort zone?

Sure. One of the things I always share with leaders who are bringing me in with their team Don't make this into a buzzword. Okay, so what do I mean by a buzzword? To me, what a buzzword means is like everybody or most people have heard the word before. They're like, oh yeah, mindfulness. But then if you say to them, so what does it mean? They go, um, oh, actually I'm not really sure. And then you say, oh, do you practice mindfulness techniques? And they go, I've done it like once, or, no, I don't really know how. So, that to me is what a buzzword is, right? It's like a trendy jargon word that people use a lot. So, I always say to the teams that I work with, don't use this as a buzzword. Don't now just walk around your office going, be more mindful, be more mindful. Oh, we should be mindful.

We have a poster. We have a poster.

I know. We're really just amplifying the buzzword of it. Instead of using the word all the time, I would much prefer that you embody it, that you practice it, and you let that be the ripple out instead of just continuing to say to people, oh, we got to be mindful. Oh, well, I was really mindful here. Oh, and don't forget, be mindful. Like, let's get rid of that buzzword and let's start to just embody it.

Okay, Trish. Well, I have my clipboard here with a checklist. I want to see how many times you were mindful today.

Exactly. Great.

Any other cautionaries that you would think of about implementing something? Yeah.

So, I would say similarly to any habit because I would say mindfulness when it is really beneficial is when it's a habit. So, let's think about other habits in our life, right? Exercise might be a habit that you're working on. Maybe reading. That's one for me. I want to try to be reading most days even if it's just like 5, 10 pages of my book. Or maybe it's healthy eating, whatever that looks like for you. When it comes to habits, we have to remember that perfection is not the goal, right? It's kind of like you think about New Year's resolutions. Why do most people fail their New Year's resolution? They actually fail because they can't tolerate failure. Just think about that for a moment.

Think about—

And I thought it was because of February.

Because it's too cold, February blues, the snow in Canada at least. They can't tolerate failure. So, what do I mean by that? Well, they say, I am going to practice mindfulness every single day for 10 minutes a day, and maybe they've never done it before. That's a lot. If you're just beginning, that's a lot, 10 minutes a day every day. So then, you do it one day, you do it day 2, and then oops, day 3, you were supposed to do in the morning but then you woke up and your kid was sick and you spent all morning taking care of them, and then the afternoon comes and you go, I can't believe I failed. And then you tell yourself, you make it an identity. Now I'm a failure.

Mm-hmm.

And what does a failure do? They probably don't practice mindfulness tomorrow or the next day or the— so they turn one failure into an identity of being a failure and then they don't continue. So this is actually one of the things that when we practice mindfulness, We're encouraged to do is to treat ourselves with kindness and compassion. No one is perfect. Life will absolutely, I can guarantee it, throw you some wrenches when it comes to forming a habit. The best thing you can do is just that, is your best. When you fail, have some compassion. Oh, well, I failed because my kid was sick. That was really hard. And of course I wanted to be there for them. Of course that was more important. than my mindfulness practice. I can do that again tomorrow. That's fine. I'm going to get back on the wagon tomorrow, get back on that mindfulness train tomorrow. So it's kind of like a— it's also a tip to kind of lighten up, like take ourselves less seriously. You know, don't beat yourself up when you mess up. It's going to happen. Tolerate a little failure and be willing to start again.

Give yourself the grace to be a human being. Gosh darn it.

Exactly.

MTS has a question. So MTS, uh, let's see if I can get this up here. Uh, how can employers encourage employees to participate in mindfulness programs, ensure the integration of these practices into the company culture? I think this is a great question because I do know that employers have put processes and systems in place to support wellbeing, but a lot of times the employees don't jump on it.

Yeah. So I would say Firstly, to go back to something we chatted about before, make sure the leaders are in attendance, right? If you're not— like, I have had organizations that I've worked with where people will come to the sessions, but they go, my leader has never come. And so, sometimes I feel guilty about coming. I feel guilty about attending because my leader never attends. So, attend the sessions as much as you can yourself. Talk them up. Invite folks. Hey, our session's at 12 o'clock. Are you attending? You could make it a competition. This is a thing that comes up in wellness programs in organizations. You make it a competition, right? There's a prize for someone who attends the most sessions. I don't— I'm not a really big fan of making them mandatory. I think you can make them really highly suggested that you attend. But again, we have to be willing to be flexible for people when life comes up and work scenarios come up. But setting the example is huge. Sharing, and I do help my clients with this, sharing the benefits, sharing the data behind the practices. Hey, have you heard this is actually how it can help you with stress? For those people who are a little skeptical. By the way, as a leader, don't assume people are going to be skeptical. I often hear that from leaders. They say, oh, I feel like these people are not going to be. Let me tell you, I worked with a plant manager. In one of the plants in Calgary a couple of years ago. It was a small team of plant supervisors, largely men. And after the session, I spoke to the HR leader who booked me and he said, you know, the people who I thought were going to be the most skeptical were the people who came up to me after and said, I needed that. Thank you for running that session. And let— also, I think, so there's those kind of tangible things you can do. And I also think it takes Mm-hmm. And let the momentum build naturally and let people kind of share about it naturally and ripple out the benefits and have those conversations at the cooler and have those conversations getting their coffee. And maybe just ask them, yeah, what do you think?

How are you?

And let them do that in front of some of the other employees and share the benefits that they've received. And also surrender and know that you can't force everybody to do it. And some people, it won't be for them. And so, you might have other wellness initiatives that you engage in too, not just mindfulness. You might do other things and people are going to pick and choose what's supportive for them.

Yeah. And I do imagine that in some organizations, when you start a program like this, you're going to have some of the people who are going to be the naysayers who don't want to get involved just because it's so different. But they also have the propensity to be negative about it as well. I can't believe these people take 10 minutes. They're going into the boardroom and I can't believe that. Right? And so, I think it would be Strategic to understand that some people will be that way and to be able to have a proper response that you could teach people about that.

Right?

And sometimes as well, Marc, unlike that program or that organization Aetna that I said, I don't bring in a university to research. But sometimes if a client would like, I do a survey. I'll do a pre-program survey, a post-program survey, and then they've got data. They've got data that applies to them and they are welcome to share that data around with their employees. And maybe they share it with everybody. And included in that are some people who are maybe a little hesitant. But again, don't assume the people who are going to be hesitant because sometimes people surprise us.

Yeah.

And again, you cannot assume that you know what everybody's going through. So, the fact that you have the humility to, number one, do this as a leader first and then encourage everybody to come out Tricia, this has been such a fabulous conversation. I can't believe we're 50 minutes in. Do you have any last—

Oh, wow.

I know, it went by so fast. Do you have any last thoughts about what we've talked about today?

I would just say again, and I said this earlier, but it really is something I want people to start to contemplate and embody, that stress in your life, there's no magic eraser for it. I think we all sometimes get in these mindsets of like, it's the, when COVID's over, I'll be stress-free. When I'm done with this client, this headache client, then I'll be stress-free. Oh, we're getting a new boss and maybe they'll be great and then I'll be stress-free. Or when my kids go to college or when we finally renovate the kitchen or when we get that new car. We always are kind of delaying our fulfillment and our happiness and our peace of mind For some future time that it just doesn't exist. There's no magic eraser for stress and mindfulness is included in that. But there are things you can do to dramatically increase your ability to manage that stress, to ride the waves of life. There's a brilliant quote I love by a meditation teacher. He says, you can't stop the waves. That's the stress. You can't stop the change of life. You can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf. And mindfulness to me is this simple data-based surfboard.

I love that.

I love that. How's that for an analogy?

I love that.

And it can help us, yeah, it can help us live happier, work happier, and really be unshakable, so resilient to stress and change.

You know, as you were saying that, the one thing that popped into my head was all the people who say, I can't wait to get back to normal. And I hate to break it to you folks, but normal is a setting on a dryer, right?

And normal in life is change and stress.

There you go. Trish, thank you so much for sharing today. I, I love your passion. I love the scope of your expertise. I really appreciate what you've done with us today. Could you remind everybody one Absolutely.

Just pop over to my website, www.trishtutton.com. Tutton is T-U-T-T-O-N. You can see it on the screen there if you're watching live. And there's a contact page. There's all the info on my keynotes, my workshops, my trainings. Or just pop me a note on the contact page. It comes straight to moi and I will answer it personally.

Love it. Trish, thank you again.

Thank you.

Why don't you let me know if this was of value to you? As always, my offer stands. If you would like 30 minutes of my time to brainstorm your business with you and your team, feel free to book yourself on my online calendar. The link is in the show notes. It's the one that's marked meetwith.marchaine.com. I wanted to say a special thank you to Anna and Imtiaz for being part of This conversation by bringing your comments forward. You made it just so much more dynamic by doing that. So, I want to thank you so much for doing that. It would be my absolute honor for me to be of service to you. If you think you could use us, drop us a note. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please, why don't you go ahead and subscribe to this channel? Leave a comment. Leave a review. I'd love to get your feedback. feedback. Was this of value to you? It has been so great being here with you today. My name is Marc Haine. I hope that you stay safe, stay healthy, and I hope that you dare to be the exception.

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