A Bit Of A Boost George Anderson

Continuing the series of interviews with 'in the trenches professionals', this week we have Shopify's Matthias Kleven.
 
One of the biggest workplace challenges at the moment is the number of meetings that are in diaries.
 
Of course, meetings can be an essential part of collaboration and productivity, but the conversations I’ve been having lately with coaching clients and in audiences I speak to suggests that the amount of time spent in meetings is detracting rather than adding to productivity and wellbeing.
 
Matthias is a sales lead at Shopify which is a company that had a pretty punchy response to the whole too many meetings conundrum at the start of 2023.
 
Matthias explains how the new Shopify meeting policies were implemented and what it’s meant from a practical point of view when it comes to getting work done and managing his team.
 
We talk about asynchronous work and other more effective methods of communication, work life balance, prioritising, natural energy rhythms and the concept of Deep Work.
 
There are some great insights from this conversation that can be applied to anybody’s workflow to boost productivity, effectiveness and wellbeing.
 
Matthias also has his own podcast, Free Shipping, where he interviews merchants and entrepreneurs about their journeys.
https://rss.com/podcasts/freeshippinguk
 
You can connect with Matthias via LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthiaskleven
 

I’m joined today by the chief business development officer at Exness, Artem Seledtsov who I met during a wellness consultation as part of the Senior Executive Program at the London Business School.
 
As we spoke that day it soon became clear that he already had a number of high performance wellbeing habits and in our conversation today he shares what some of them are.
 
Arty also talks about what life was like for him in his 20s when he was out of shape and struggling with his weight, and the pressure of conforming to a corporate culture that had a very narrow view of what success looked like.
 
Now, as an advocate for wellbeing and a true example of how to combine healthy habits with a high-pressure role he walks us through a typical day and some of the non-negotiable features that enable him to perform at a consistently high level.
 
His approach to switching off at the end of the day, scheduling in time for himself during the day including exercise and eating, and defending his time in a way that boosts his effectiveness and productivity.
 
Arty shares how he started the process of making these changes 12 years ago, some of the challenges he faced and how he overcame them.
 
And with a team of 350 people, we talk about his approach to motivation, mindset and leadership, in the context of managing a remote workforce spread across the globe.
 
Connect with Arty via LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/artemseledtsov

Most of my interviews for this podcast are with subject matter experts, or inspirational individuals sharing their stories, and I have loads more of these lined up as well, but for the next few episodes I have a something slightly different.
 
Through my presenting and coaching work I get to speak to many really interesting people, many of whom are already doing some aspect of wellbeing and performance really well.
 
It’s like they’ve cracked part of the code and gained some crucial insights that have helped them through a successful career, and after one of these conversations I thought to myself, ‘I wish I’d recorded that it would have made an awesome episode for the podcast!’
 
So I’ve managed to pin a few of them down to do just that - talk about some aspect of wellbeing and performance, and share their approach, experiences or insights in a way that we can all learn from.
 
Today’s episode is the first of this series, and I get to speak to Maninder Randhawa, the UK, Ireland, Middle East & Africa Early Careers Leader at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, about a topic that’s come up a few times in the sessions he’s been on where I’ve been presenting - Imposter Syndrome.
 
He shares his own experiences and understanding of what it is, how it’s held him back in the past and how - even though it’s still present for him - he’s learned to manage it more effectively.
 
We talk about:
 
- Comparing ourselves with other people
- Why it's important to focus on our own unique skills beyond our technical expertise
- How to build the mindset where you anticipate and embrace imposter syndrome
- Why imposter syndrome is an indication of learning opportunities
- The importance of a coach or mentor
- Identifying a tendency to focus on the negatives and ignore the positive
- Mindset strategies to counter holding back 
 
This is a conversation that I know many people will relate to and I’ve had my own experiences with it as well, and if you would like to connect with Mani you can find him here on LinkedIn:
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maninder-randhawa-88179552

Ahead of moving into a series of interviews with professionals where I'll be attempting to extract how they're 'doing' wellbeing and performance in their every day lives, I wanted to hit pause and reflect on the last 16 interviews I've done so far this year.
 
One of the best things about running a podcast is the guests I get to meet and speak to as a part of the show. 
 
I always end up learning something personally from these conversations and in this episode I summarise what some of those lessons or reminders have been.
 
 

I'm joinined this week by mindfulness coach and ex-RAF helicopter pilot Sarah Furness to share her insights into mindfulness.
 
It's a topic that can divide opinions, but Sarah's approach to practicing and using it is highly practical and no-nonsense.
 
Today we talk about what mindfulness is and isn't, and situations in every day life where it can be helpful to have more presence and awareness.
 
Sarah has been on the podcast previously about a year and a half ago and talking about resilience and control and much of her work as a coach and speaker is now centred on the topic of mindfulness.
 
I recently read her first book 'Fly Higher - train your mind to feel as strong as you think' which among other things details a number of different approaches, some of which we get into talking about today.
 
The book is available on Amazon and Sarah's website:
https://sarahfurness.com
 
Also make sure you connect with Sarah on LinkedIn where she regularly shares insights and reflections that make you stop and think!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-furness-7173a538

Have you ever fallen off the wagon and told yourself you’ll start again on Monday? 
 
Or started a new exercise habit and said ‘this time I’ll make it stick’… only to find yourself getting home from work the next night exhausted and stressed and opting for a night on the couch instead of going to the gym?
 
We all have our own narratives that have the potential to derail us and my guest today is somebody who’s unpacked her fair share of them, both personally and with her coaching clients.
 
Sonia Jhas is a mindset coach, speaker, and author of the book, “I’ll start again tomorrow (and other lies I’ve told myself)”. I’m fascinated by the power our inner voice has to either encourage us towards our goals and growth or hold us back and Sonia’s approach to understanding and gently changing this narrative is refreshing and honest.
 
We talk about how to identify limiting beliefs, (which can be a challenge when we… well, believe them!), then how to start chipping away at changing them.
 
Sonia shares her alternative approach to practicing gratitude, and how to balance holding ourselves to account with enough self-compassion that we don’t feel crushed or inadequate when we miss the mark.
 
There’s a ton of useful insights and techniques you can take away from this conversation and Sonia has really made a name for herself with not just her content but also her personality, energy and ability to connect with her audiences so I know that this episode is going to give you a bit of a boost!
 
Connect with Sonia here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soniajhas
Website: https://soniajhas.com