Navigating the Hybrid Work Environment with Physical Intelligence: Recent Episodes
Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton, Companies in Motion
This comprehensive series of podcasts enables listeners to harness what for most people is an untapped intelligence, our physical intelligence. Physical Intelligence doesn't just sit alongside but underpins our cognitive and emotional intelligence and helps drive our performance - in times of crisis and beyond. Right now, hundreds of chemicals (hormones and neurotransmitters) racing through our bodies (in our bloodstream and nervous system) largely dictate how we think, feel, speak and behave. Most of us operate largely at the mercy of those chemicals – experiencing thoughts, reactions and emotions, without realizing that we can strategically influence them through how we breathe, move, think and communicate. Physical Intelligence is the ability to detect and actively manage the balance of certain key chemicals so that we can achieve more, stress less and live and work more happily.
As we continue to navigate the Covid 19 crisis and the shift to a hybrid work environment, we’ve been talking with leaders and their team members daily.
Leaders are being forged and strengthened by the minute as they lead their teams through this crisis. Decisions being made today will shape careers and organisations for years to come. And while the challenges vary across industries and organisations, everyone has been impacted by this crisis in some way. Even for experienced leaders who have weathered other storms, no one has navigated a storm quite like this one -- there are no guidelines to follow. Physical Intelligence will be an especially important resource right now, giving us the Strength, Flexibility, Resilience and Endurance to succeed.
In this podcast, we share with you what we’ve been learning in order to help you become a more Physically Intelligent leader.
As uncertainty in the world around us continues, we remain in a collective Endurance Tunnel but our journey through that tunnel is unique to each of us. In terms of Physical Intelligence, Endurance is about mental toughness, determination, perseverance and planning, having a strategy for sustaining effort during difficult times and maintaining peak performance over the long haul. Dopamine (our pleasure/reward chemical) and DHEA (our vitality chemical) underpin endurance, with endorphins and Oxytocin also playing an important role. Dopamine makes us determined because we are drawn to a reward that we perceive in the future, whatever that may be (e.g. job satisfaction, money, a sense of achievement, feeling alive, surviving adversity), while DHEA gives us lasting energy reserves that power us steadily forwards, like the engines of a huge ship progressing through deep water.
An Endurance Tunnel is a period of relative difficulty when we are fully aware that we will need to apply enormous effort for the long haul. As we move through the Endurance Tunnel, at the most challenging points in that journey, it may feel as though the tunnel is narrowing or collapsing. We may feel hemmed in and overwhelmed, and finally lose motivation and give up. We need stamina to keep the walls of the tunnel from closing in or collapsing on us and to keep the light at the end of the tunnel switched on, despite the difficulty. We need to apply the Physical Intelligence Endurance strategies, which we will review in this podcast.
Applying resilience resources to our busy life style – especially during the ongoing crisis and shift to a hybrid work environment – is vital.
In today’s business environment and society in general, our performance is increasingly challenged by an accelerated pace, demands for increased capacity, limited resources and higher expectations. We need to be more robust and resilient, agile and innovative, collaborative and competitive – athletes, running our own personal marathons and artists, approaching challenge and change with creativity.
Resilience is our ability to bounce back quickly from adversity – physically, mentally, and emotionally – to adapt to change and to grow and learn while doing so. Many people working at today’s demanding pace spend at least some time in overdrive – unable to take their foot off the accelerator, even at weekends. Recognizing ‘overdrive’ – in ourselves and others – is very important. Overdrive can initially feel exciting, even exhilarating, to work and work and hardly ever stop, but when you feel the need to be achieving and busy all the time, your physiology will soon tell you, “No.”
In this episode we look at the three key Resilience Resources – Physical, Mental and Emotional Fitness – essential for building Resilience before we need it or while in the midst of challenge.
As we continue to work in these unpredictable times, motivation and determination are suffering for many people. Many of us do not have the same clarity around expectations that we’re used to having, we are managing more distractions, and may feel demotivated, perhaps under-appreciated. We may also be wondering how the work we are doing now will be relevant in a changing economic environment. In these circumstances, it can be difficult to know where to best focus our efforts. All of that affects our determination.
Determination is a defining factor in whether we perform well in extended periods under pressure without succumbing to stress and reduced levels of reward. Determination can also be learned and more deeply accessed by working on what truly motivates us. Motivation is improved when we are aligned with our values and core purpose. Becoming more conscious of these deep motivations makes it more likely that we will persevere. Self-appreciation and the encouragement of those around us also enable us to endure the difficulties of the journey.
All of these concepts come together in the set of Physical Intelligence techniques designed to increase our determination and motivation which is the focus of today’s podcast. Determination builds as we work on all four elements in the Physical Intelligence curriculum: Strength, Flexibility, Resilience and Endurance, until we can make a sustained effort, be persistent, plan well and always think clearly about where we focus our energies.
We cannot live without each other. Social contact is a vital human need, like food and water. Young babies cannot survive without physical and verbal contact, children cannot learn, adults cannot thrive. The experience of losing someone close to us is experienced as physical pain and the joy of working alongside people whom we trust and who lend us support gives us physical pleasure.
Finding these vital social connections is crucial for our resilience so that when we are experiencing adversity we can rely on their support, especially relevant today. There is compelling research linking positive social relationships with health and longevity. It is not our ability for abstract reasoning that has put humans at the top of the food chain, but our ability to live and work together in groups.
In fact, contrary to popular belief, money doesn't make the world go around, the incredible chemical oxytocin does. Oxytocin is the neurotransmitter responsible for social bonding and trust. It orchestrates our social behaviour, enabling us to find our support and to want to give it to others. In this podcast, we explore how to build a network in three key areas of life, how the chemistry of trust works and the impact of giving back on our network and wellbeing.
As we make our way through this crisis, we are all in a collective Endurance Tunnel but our journey through that tunnel is unique to each of us. In terms of Physical Intelligence, Endurance is about mental toughness, determination, perseverance and planning, having a strategy for sustaining effort during difficult times and maintaining peak performance over the long haul. Dopamine (our pleasure/reward chemical) and DHEA (our vitality chemical) underpin endurance, with endorphins and Oxytocin also playing an important role. Dopamine makes us determined because we are drawn to a reward that we perceive in the future, whatever that may be (e.g. job satisfaction, money, a sense of achievement, feeling alive, surviving adversity), while DHEA gives us lasting energy reserves that power us steadily forwards, like the engines of a huge ship progressing through deep water.
An Endurance Tunnel is a period of relative difficulty when we are fully aware that we will need to apply enormous effort for the long haul. As we move through the Endurance Tunnel, at the most challenging points in that journey, it may feel as though the tunnel is narrowing or collapsing. We may feel hemmed in and overwhelmed, and finally lose motivation and give up. We need stamina to keep the walls of the tunnel from closing in or collapsing on us and to keep the light at the end of the tunnel switched on, despite the difficulty. We need to apply the Physical Intelligence Endurance strategies, which we will review in this podcast.
As we continue to work in these unpredictable times, motivation and determination are suffering for many people. Many of us do not have the same clarity around expectations that we’re used to having, we are managing more distractions, and may feel demotivated, perhaps under-appreciated. We may also be wondering how the work we are doing now will be relevant in a changing economic environment. In these circumstances, it can be difficult to know where to best focus our efforts. All of that affects our determination.
Determination is a defining factor in whether we perform well in extended periods under pressure without succumbing to stress and reduced levels of reward. Determination can also be learned and more deeply accessed by working on what truly motivates us. Motivation is improved when we are aligned with our values and core purpose. Becoming more conscious of these deep motivations makes it more likely that we will persevere. Self-appreciation and the encouragement of those around us also enable us to endure the difficulties of the journey.
All of these concepts come together in the set of Physical Intelligence techniques designed to increase our determination and motivation which is the focus of today’s podcast. Determination builds as we work on all four elements in the Physical Intelligence curriculum: Strength, Flexibility, Resilience and Endurance, until we can make a sustained effort, be persistent, plan well and always think clearly about where we focus our energies.
As we navigate the Covid 19 crisis, we’ve been talking with leaders and their team members daily.
Leaders are being forged and strengthened by the minute as they lead their teams through this crisis. Decisions being made today will shape careers and organisations for years to come. And while the challenges vary across industries and organisations, everyone has been impacted by this crisis in some way. Even for experienced leaders who have weathered other storms, no one has navigated a storm quite like this one -- there are no guidelines to follow. Physical Intelligence will be an especially important resource right now, giving us the Strength, Flexibility, Resilience and Endurance to succeed.
In this podcast, we share with you what we’ve been learning in order to help you become a more Physically Intelligent leader.
We cannot live without each other. Social contact is a vital human need, like food and water. Young babies cannot survive without physical and verbal contact, children cannot learn, adults cannot thrive. The experience of losing someone close to us is experienced as physical pain and the joy of working alongside people whom we trust and who lend us support gives us physical pleasure.
Finding these vital social connections is crucial for our resilience so that when we are experiencing adversity we can rely on their support, especially relevant today. There is compelling research linking positive social relationships with health and longevity. It is not our ability for abstract reasoning that has put humans at the top of the food chain, but our ability to live and work together in groups.
In fact, contrary to popular belief, money doesn't make the world go around, the incredible chemical oxytocin does. Oxytocin is the neurotransmitter responsible for social bonding and trust. It orchestrates our social behaviour, enabling us to find our support and to want to give it to others. In this podcast, we explore how to build a network in three key areas of life, how the chemistry of trust works and the impact of giving back on our network and wellbeing.
Applying resilience resources to our busy life style – especially during the current crisis – is vital.
In today’s business environment and society in general, our performance is increasingly challenged by an accelerated pace, demands for increased capacity, limited resources and higher expectations. We need to be more robust and resilient, agile and innovative, collaborative and competitive – athletes, running our own personal marathons and artists, approaching challenge and change with creativity.
Resilience is our ability to bounce back quickly from adversity – physically, mentally, and emotionally – to adapt to change and to grow and learn while doing so. Many people working at today’s demanding pace spend at least some time in overdrive – unable to take their foot off the accelerator, even at weekends. Recognizing ‘overdrive’ – in ourselves and others – is very important. Overdrive can initially feel exciting, even exhilarating, to work and work and hardly ever stop, but when you feel the need to be achieving and busy all the time, your physiology will soon tell you, “No.”
In this episode we look at the three key Resilience Resources – Physical, Mental and Emotional Fitness – essential for building Resilience before we need it or while in the midst of challenge.