Alice Penn MD

Berlin 🇩🇪not the result I was hoping for or trained hard for but proud of digging deep and getting it done. Not a PB but the first time I have ever totally tanked to the point even my own mother asked if I had started going backwards at one point 😂😂😂 Great weekend away with Dale, a much needed break from parenting teenagers and time together. Also just loved meeting so many friendly runners and learned a lot for next time!
11 weeks till Valencia - let’s go get the work done! (After some down time first!)

🧠Sometimes at work you need to get on top of peak stress FAST.
😬Aware of your anxiety and stress response rising, there isn't always time to head outside for a walk or chat to a friend to find your calm. You need something that works, IN REAL TIME.

🥵Presenting to a room full of colleagues, pitching to investors, handling a challenging sales call, prepping for that big promotion panel. Whatever it is, knowing how to take yourself from a sweating, heart pounding mess, to focussed, alert but in control, is key.

The great news is that you can tap into your physiology immediately and shift your stress response within moments.

Stanford Neuroscientist, Andrew Huberman, describes the 3 step "physiological sigh".

Fortunately most of us can fortunately tap into our breathing ON THE SPOT.

🫁The physiological sigh is something that can occur spontaneously to blow off built up carbon dioxide when we sleep, BUT we can use it deliberately to slow down the heart rate and lower our stress response.

🧠HOW TO
1) Take a sharp, deep in-breath (ideally through your nose).
2) When the lungs feel full, take another in-breath - this is the essential DOUBLE in-breath to completely fill all the little sacs in the lungs.
3) Forcefully exhale. Squeeze all the air out. (Through your mouth.) The focus on the exhalation is critical.

A double inhale (nose) followed by a long exhale (mouth) is all you need.
Repeat once maybe twice. 1-3 x is all that is needed to get you ready to do your best work!

🧠Try it and let me know how it works for you.

Why should you care about this? Well, for many people work plain old sucks.

​Dr Paul Zak, neuroscientist, a pioneer in understanding oxytocin and how it can be applied to our work, examined 1000s of brains in the work environment and learned that we need 2 things to ensure we feel our work does not suck!

TRUST & PURPOSE
I'll focus on trust here:

Zak found both of these have a shared neurologic foundation and were key to teams’ engagement and therefore performance at work. Zak looked at oxytocin levels and found when you are intentionally trusted, your brain produces more oxytocin. This allows us to understand others better, and work together effectively. High levels of oxytocin helps us to work harder as a group to meet our groups’ goals.

Trust makes work easier - work feels less like work when the oxytocin is flowing.

When engaging with your team remember to foster trust - next week I'll share the science based tools Zak's research has shown will build better trust at work.

In your own life, if you are not feeling engaged at work, you may want to start exploring looking for a new role, new approach to your work or perhaps an entirely new path.

As you do that, consider these 2 factors: trust and purpose. Where will you experience more trust in your environment and where may you experience the feeling that your work in some way matters?

ACCORDING TO DATA, THIS IS THE BEST MINDSET TO PERFORM AT YOUR BEST AND 'IMPROVE IN ANYTHING':
-
I recently listened to the HubermanLab podcast on 'mindset' and various studies were discussed, summed up below:
-
Most of us have heard of a 'Growth' mindset (coined by researcher Carol Dweck). This is the mindset that you believe improvement is possible if you focus your effort on the PROCESS of improving and not just on the results. We take on greater challenges and improve over time as we are prepared to say we may not be great at that thing YET, and we believe that with the right effort we can improve. A reminder to praise others (and yourself) in your work and life for EFFORT not just results.
-
The 'Stress is enhancing mindset' is spoken about by researcher Dr. Alia Crum. This is believing that stress can be beneficial. Understanding the benefits of stress for enhancing performance despite the discomfort, is key to being able to do things that are more challenging and improve at them over time.
-
Dr. Crum's work looks at bringing these 2 mindsets together. Her studies showed that combining a 'sress-is-enhancing' mindset with a 'growth' mindset further increases learning and performance in the short and long term.
-
How will you apply your growth and stress-is-enhancing mindset to your work and life this week? What area of challenge are you facing and how can you apply this data for better performance and progress?

This powerful question can help you start to get clarity about what limiting beliefs could be holding you back from your own progress....

Try making a list and answer these....
1) What are the things you feel you MUST always do?
2) I should always.....?
3) I should never.....?

Once you have a few items in your list, take stock. What stands out to you? What deep seated belief ties these ideas together? Can you challenge these? Are they true? Are they absolutely true? What impact is believing this having on your life? Is this something you would like to change?
In my coaching program, the SuccessRx, the foundation work is to start to break down and challenge the beliefs that could be holding you back from your own brilliance.

So, what is it that you believe you MUST do? Let me know. DM me if you'd like any thoughts or tips on challenging what could be a self limiting belief for you.

If you are thinking about leaving your current role, you may want to consider the 4 Rs before quitting! These come from the fantastic book, Design your NEW Work Life (Bill Burnett and Dave Evans). Leaving your role may be right for you, and perhaps this IS the moment you take the plunge and start your own business BUT before pulling the plug consider these options.......

When you want to embed down a new behaviour and form a new habit that will take you to your bigger picture goals, consider using one or all of these 4 'rules' to behaviour change/habit forming.

For example, you have signed up to complete a qualification/course and as part of it you have books you want to read, so you are eager to read regularly but finding it hard to make this new habit stick:
1) Make it easy - start with 2 minutes and day and once that is habitual and easy to do, increase the duration incrementally.
2) Make it obvious - habit 'stack'. Pair it to a time or place - e.g. after having your breakfast.
3) Make it satisfying - read while you have your treasured cup of coffee. This is not only tethering it to something you already do with ease but also something you enjoy!
4) Make it rewarding - you could find simple ways to allow yourself to enjoy the fact you are actually taking these 2 minutes (and eventually longer) out of your day to form this new habit that is taking you towards your overall learning and development goals. Perhaps you record your daily reading in your calendar and take a moment to feel great about the fact you are actually doing it! Seeing those calendar moments stacking up over time can feel rewarding and help us stay motivated to continue over time.

What new habit are you looking to form and which of these 4 'rules' will help you create a system to meet your bigger picture goals?

One of the biggest mistakes I see:

So often we think we need MASSIVE effort in order to reap MASSIVE results.

Like the time I picked the hardest possible route I could find to summit a mountain - the result was an epic fail. I had picked a route only traversable with proper ropes and rock climbing equipment! I could have made it up that mountain if I had just picked another route: a steep and challenging path that would have required smaller steps, over a longer period of time. It would have felt easier to begin with and I may not have felt it was as challenging at first, but I would have made it to the summit that day!

So many of us try to do too much too soon. We want to see results quickly. The biggest mistake I see time and time again is people trying to change through insisting they start with heroic efforts! A week in, they bail. The trick is to start small. Change is compounding - small changes every single day will lead to far greater results over time.

This week, challenge yourself to START SMALL. Want to read more? Don't aim for an hour a day, aim for 2 minutes and do it every single day until it is easy and more habitual. Then add on a few minutes more, until that is easy to do. And go from there. See where you are in 6 months.

In order to make a new behaviour habitual, you need to repeat that thing over and over again. Repetition is key to embed down those new neural pathways. And if the task at hand is too challenging - well then you'll never get those repeats in.

SMALL STEPS LEAD TO SUCCESSFUL SUMMITS

What is the one thing you need to do today or this week to move the needle in some part of your life, work or business?
For me: reach out to at least ten people to let them know about my new keynote and see who they may know looking for speakers at events, team strategy days, workshops etc.
What's important now (WIN) in your life today? Let me know in the comments.

Belonging v Inclusion and Diversity

Belonging is an essential part to building any strong team or organization. Are you ticking the boxes for inclusion or creating an environment where people are able to feel they belong?

"The concept of belongingness goes beyond diversity and inclusion. Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance; and belongingness is being able to dance like no one is watching. Belongingness is an innate sense of psychological and emotional security that allows people to be their authentic selves and contribute in their own, unique way." Montrece McNeill Ransom (Author, Speaker and Coach)

Credit - I saw this wonderful quote in a coaching newsletter (The coaching tools company - worth a subscribe if you are a coach in some shape or form in your work!)

Take a listen to on .

In this conversation we spoke about all things ‘getting unstuck’, moving past perfectionism and how what you believe about yourself could be holding you back from living into your fullest potential.

We spoke about how having confidence doesn’t mean you need to have it all together on the inside and also how NOT being aligned to your true self can have its detriment to you as a person and your mental health.

If you are looking for someone who finds ways to inspire others with her own amazing story, look no further than and . I loved this conversation and encourage you to take a listen wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Conflict is an opportunity
When you know HOW to handle conflict and have difficult conversations (without going round the corner out of sight, kicking the wall and damaging your foot - it was a looooong time ago 🤣🤣🤣) you can build trust and in my experience forge solid connections, friendships and a stronger team.
Take a look at my latest YouTube (link in Bio)
Don’t forget to like and subscribe ❤️