Episode 93: Transforming Brain Health and Human Optimization | Dee O’Neill | Neurocognitive Fitness Founder & Brain Expert
Dee O’Neill is on a mission to change the way we think about and care for our brains. As the founder of Neurocognitive Fitness, she brings together neuroscience, mental health, and performance coaching to help people optimize how they think, feel, and function. With experience ranging from cutting-edge brain research to private practice and executive coaching, Dee is a leader in the brain health and human optimization space. Dee explains why regular brain check-ups should be as common as dental visits, how neurotechnology tools like brain mapping can improve cognitive performance, and why sleep, nutrition, and lifestyle choices directly impact mental sharpness. She also shares lessons from her years in Hawaii, her work with executives, and her belief that brain care is the most essential self-care. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, athlete, or simply curious about how your brain works, Dee’s insights will inspire you to take action today to protect and enhance your most important asset.
“Just like we take care of our other body parts, we should be monitoring, measuring and taking care of our brain. Especially as it’s the only body part that also defines who we are.”
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Lifeologie
YogaZama
University of Texas at Dallas
Brain Mapping
Hawaii
Chaminade University
Neuropsychological Testing
EEG - Electro Magnetic Activity
Jill Bolte - My Stroke of Insight
Alzheimer’s
Cognitive Decline
The Mind Diet
Dash Diet
Mediterranean Diet
Blue Zone
Kenneth Cooper & The Cooper Institute - father of the term aerobics
TED Talks
TED X UTD - October 2019
Mark Twain
Stagen Leadership Academy
Oprah
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Shaquille O’Neal
Brene Brown
Simon Sinek
Patrick Lencioni - 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Book
Landmark Worldwide
Neurocognative Fitness -
Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Meet Dee O’Neill
03:25 From Hawaii to Brain Health Expert
07:40 Discovering the Link Between Brain and Behavior
11:10 Research in HIV, Dementia, and Cognitive Decline
15:30 Founding Neurocognitive Fitness
19:15 Brain Mapping and Neurotechnology Tools
23:40 Why Brain Check-Ups Should Be Routine
27:50 Sleep, Diet, and Lifestyle for Cognitive Health
32:20 Lessons from The Mind Diet and Blue Zone Research
36:30 Coaching Executives for Peak Performance
40:15 Influences: Oprah, Wonder Woman, and RBG
44:00 Why Brain Care Is the #1 Self-Care
48:15 How to Start Optimizing Your Brain Today
We think about our physical body or our physical health. You know, I, I'll, I'll often say, how often do you go to the dentist? You know, we belong to gyms, we work out, and I know I go to a dermatologist and endocrinologist, you know, I have all these doctors that I go to, but the brain is always thought of like something you don't even like talk about unless there's something wrong.
That's d O'Neil and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast where I invite my favorite humans, the awesome, the up to something, and the extraordinary to come and share their story. I hope that you'll be left, entertained, inspired, and moved. To take action towards living your most powerful life.
As those of you who are regular listeners already know, I am a total nerd. I love learning. I love reading. I love geeking out over how the world works and the incredibly cool patterns that exist and connect us all. On this episode, I the pleasure of sitting down with one of my new favorite and fascinating people, Dee O'Neill.
Dee loves nerding out too, and her specialty is the brain. She's studied it. She's been part of very cool brain research projects. She's worked with executives on brain optimization. She works with mental health and brain health and her private practice and more. In this episode, we discuss why she's committed to normalizing routine checkups for our brain, why it matters, and how taking care of our brains may be the path to living beyond 100.
All that and so much more coming up. But first, if you're interested in discovering what possibilities and businesses are available for you to create and to live your most fulfilling life. Please visit the powerful ladies.com/coaching and sign up for a free coaching consultation with me. There is no reason to wait another day to not be living your best life when you instead could be running at full speed towards your wildest dreams today.
Well, I am so excited that you're here today. Well, I'm absolutely thrilled to be here with you today. I wish, I wish I was actually with you, but at least here with you. It was great.
I know, I really miss recording in studio. Um, there's benefits to recording remotely like this. Obviously there's a lot less prep and driving than I have to do to get, get sorted, but it's so nice to be in the same space with people.
Mm-hmm. And I think we're all craving that right now.
So true.
Well, I'd love to begin by telling the audience who you are and what you're up to in the world.
Okay, so, um, so d O'Neil, you might know that already. Um, gosh, what am I up to in the world? It's mm-hmm. Sort of a crazy, interesting, exciting, I think, um, unknown time, I think for many of us, and, um, included in that bucket for sure.
Um, of course we met through the endeavor with ology and yoga Zama. Mm-hmm. Which we might talk about. Um, I, right before that, just the way the universe works, right before that, I had gotten laid off from a seven year long run, uh, with a role through the University of Texas at Dallas. Um, and kind of always was like ready to launch, focus more on my private practice, which I've had much longer.
And so that was sort of like the, the nudge, the big nudge to, to do that and to kind of take that leap. So in the beginning it was kind of like the, the grief process was shocking, but now it's really. Still super kind of scary and shocking, but exciting. 'cause I'm really focusing on my private practice, which is focusing on brain health and fitness.
Mm-hmm. Mostly speaking to groups and companies. And I started doing it virtually when COVID started and didn't know how it would go. And I find that I love it almost more than May. Not more than, but equally as much as live shows. Mm-hmm. Or live talks. Um, and then also just working with clients one-on-one using all of my brain mapping and um, and other neurotechnology tools.
So, um, that's the current, it could change in a few months 'cause who knows where it's going. But right now, yeah. Focusing on my, on my practice and mainly public speaking.
Mm-hmm. And I met you, as you mentioned, through taking Yoga Zama together, which is a, um, neuro brain science yoga application. Um, there's none other that exists in the whole world, which is very exciting.
And it's basically applying brain science to all the principles of yoga so that it can be elevated and really working with clients at a different level, either who have anxiety, depression, or have experienced trauma. So whether you're a therapist applying yoga or a yogi, trying to be able to connect with a client at a different level.
And you were a phenomenal weekend. Two teacher teaching is all about brain science. So in my head you are like the brain expert of the universe. Um, how did you, I'm gonna use that
title.
You should, that's just the new LinkedIn Brain Science of the Universe. Um, how did you get into brain science?
Oh gosh.
Um. I know when people ask me that, I kind of go, oh my God, how did I get into this? 'cause it's so, like everything I do, if you could see my bookcase, it's all brain books. I mean, that's just what I do. Um, but it really started, I think back when I lived in Hawaii. I lived in Hawaii for about 20 years, um, graduate school, shaman University, studying psychology, I thought mm-hmm.
Kind of going down this licensed counselor track. And I took a, I took both a statistics course and then also a, um, I guess it was kind of a neurochemistry course and a psychometric course. So doing testing to then diagnose people with different disorders. Mm-hmm. And I just became fascinated with the brain behavior, relationship and sort of how they affect each other and impact each other.
And then right out of there. Got a job working in HIV dementia research, so people infected with AIDS and HIV dementia have a very specific way it affects the brain. And so I was able to do testing on, for a research study that was both HIV positive, but also negative, um, you know, pilot groups. Mm-hmm. Um, and then I got to sit in with a medical doctor doing spinal taps and just all the, I just got immersed in this world of neuroscience.
Mm-hmm. And just kind of never looked back from there. Um, then went, that was my graduate degree. And so ever since then, I've really, I spent many years doing neuropsychological testing. So sitting with people for eight hours, all the intelligence achievement, personality tests, and then kind of giving them the whole report of here's all the things, you know, wrong, quote unquote, have the air quotes going, um, all the things wrong, and then here are some suggestions.
Good luck. And at some point, maybe about 10 years ago. I decided I want to be on the solution side. Like, I don't wanna just be telling people what's wrong, but I wanna work with healthy people and help them elevate and advance their already really healthy brains. I think there's such a market for that.
Mm-hmm.
Especially in today's corporate world of stress and burnout and, um, just the busyness of our lives. So the focus the last 10 years or so has been more on the preventive. Mm-hmm. Um, and kind of more, um, proactive side of it.
Yeah. And if you look back at 8-year-old self would 8-year-old, you have thought you would become the, you know, master of brain science in the universe of the universe.
I, I don't think I
had the universe in mind actually at eight years old. I probably, I think I wanted to be a veterinarian, just loved animals. Mm-hmm. Um, and even, I mean, even through college, I think that's so interesting to think about how our, the paths we take and how we evolve over just life experiences.
Um, 'cause even through college, I thought, I. Um, you know, either do physical therapy or just fitness. Like, I was more like all about the body and then somehow when I got into the brain science it, I just couldn't separate the two. And now I see how they're so interconnected. Mm-hmm. So the 8-year-old might be like, boy, this is boring.
But at the same time, but maybe at the same time, fascinated by it. 'cause I think when I, even when I work with little kids and teaching them about it, 'cause I think we should teach little kids about their brains too. Mm-hmm. Um, they're usually like, wow, that's really cool.
Well, and so many people to your point, have no idea how their brain works or it's influenced or how to try to influence it in themselves.
Yeah. Um, what do you, yeah. What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions or things that you, in contrast, wish people knew about their brains?
Well, you're asking really good questions. I think that, um. I'm always surprised when people come up to me after a 1000, 2000 people keynote. Um, and actually I gave a talk about a week ago and people can't come up to you anymore, so it feels weird.
You have to just like exit stage left and like be gone.
Mm-hmm. But when,
when people used to be able to line up and ask questions, I would often at every talk have people say things like, like I just never thought about my brain before and I could almost see this, almost like disbelief of like, I had no idea.
And so, and because I think about it like all the time, that's what I just. You know, personally and professionally and, and sort of, um, impassioned with and obsessed with a little bit. I'm always surprised that people don't think about it, whereas we think about our physical body or our physical health, you know, I, I'll, I'll often say, how often do you go to the dentist?
A couple times a year. You know, we work out what most of us are pretty physically, you know, we belong to gyms, we work out, and um, I know I go to a dermatologist and endocrinologist, you know, I have all these doctors that I go to, but the brain has always thought of like, something you don't even like talk about unless there's something wrong.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so that's kinda the conversation I hope will shift is like, just like we take care and manage and optimize and maintain all our other. Body parts and pieces that our brain, because it's ultimately who we are, is, is in that same category that, that we're measuring it regularly. We, we know how it's performing.
We find what's working well and areas that we can improve, and then the tools and the resources are, are available to people to be able to, to, to make it better.
Yeah. 'cause I mean, I just went and got a blood panel, which is kind of a routine physical thing. Yeah. How far off do you think we are where a brain scan or a brain measurement of some kind is included in a yearly physical?
Is that 20 years down the road?
One year? Gosh, you know, I, when I first got into this field, we then, we were saying it's probably 10, 20 years and I feel like we're closer, but it still feels, um. I, I, I, I work with a lot of really forward thinking doctors here in Dallas and even more nationally mm-hmm. Who see the benefit of it Years ago when I started, um, one of the very specific patterns that we can see, for example, is A DHD.
There's a very distinct pattern of tension deficit in the brain, particularly the frontal lobes. Um, and. So for many years we were saying we could look at the EEG, which is the electrical activity of the brain, and say, this person has a excessive slow wave activity in the frontal lobe of their brain. Um, and if they have that pattern, they'll respond well to a stimulant drug.
Mm-hmm. If they don't have that slow wave, if they have fast wave, but it looks like attention problems, but really it's more anxiety and you, and you put that same person on the stimulant, then there's all kinds of problems. I often say, you know, I've read stories of seven year olds dying by suicide because they've got an anxious brain put on a stimulant just goes into overdrive.
Mm-hmm. So a lot of doctors are starting to see, read the science because it, it's been around for a long time, but they're starting to notice it and see it. And so when they started. Um, recommending it, you know, we've, we in the EEG field knew for a long time. Well, of course you can see that. And so I think that the research gets more robust and people just are, are more aware of it and accepting of it.
It's just gonna take, I think, a, a big shift in the paradigm of recognizing brain health as something that's not scary or to be avoided or mm-hmm. Or ignored. But to embrace, just like athletes embrace having a coach and sort of counseling is becoming more like mm-hmm. Coaching and I mm-hmm. I think the brain science that, and we will often attribute, I'm sure you've seen commercials on TV where it's like, train your brain different apps or different games, things that are out there that are not really based on science, but they're still bringing awareness to, oh, I can train my brain.
Oh, I can do something about it. Mm-hmm. So it's, it's advancing. I would say the field has advanced exponentially in the last, in the last 10 years. So I think in the next 10 it will. Exponentially advance again. So I think within a 10, a 10 year period, we'll have some kind of metric that that can be done definitely as a, as an annual, but maybe even at home.
And for anyone who's listening, like the fact that you, one of my biggest takeaways from our weekend, and you spoke to it again, is that there should be a brain scan before giving kids any sort of drugs related to A-D-D-A-D-H-D, that whole category of things before you do it. Um, hearing that in our weekend too, like freaked me out and I'm calling like everyone I know who has kids on something, I'm like, get it checked.
Get it checked. Get it checked. Yeah. Because so many, so many people, kids and adults are diagnosed with that. And I'm, I weak guess that most people don't have what they are taking drugs for. That probably applies physically too.
Yeah. Well it's kind of an uphill battle because we've just been programmed to think, oh, I can just take a pill and fix things.
Mm-hmm. Um, and I just think it often doesn't, I mean, this is the why we have more drugs available now than we ever did, but we have a bigger problem.
With
diseases and with brain diseases and, um, mental health issues. So obviously that's not the solution, but it just sounds like the easy solution. Um, I, I used to have an old slide in one of my presentations that said, um, exercise would, would be, you know, um, easy in a pill and, and it is a pill.
It just takes 30 minutes to swallow. Yeah. So it's almost like there's just things that we have to do kind of as lifestyles, as, um, habits that I think really can, um, help drive our brains to optimal health and then help inform when there's something actually going wrong. I'm not against medications for brain-based disorders, but I think it's often the first solution tried instead of.
Like the last solution. And I, I, I've seen that shift over the last 10 years with clients. Clients used to come to me after they tried everything and nothing worked, even made it worse. And they're like, why did it, why am I just hearing about you? Whereas now what I'm, what I'm seeing is people coming saying, okay, I heard about you.
I'm thinking about medication, but I'm gonna try this first. So Firsted. Mm-hmm. So to me that feels like a huge step in the right direction.
Well, and the, and the brain is so interesting because it overlaps with everyday functionality, intellect, emotions, um, there's so many layers to what is controlled and happening in there.
So there's a, there's a lot to, there's a lot of reasons to take care of it and a lot of reasons to not mess around with it either.
It's so true. Yeah. To, to today in our class, um, Lisa showed this video by Jill, um, Jill Bolty, I think is her name, but she wrote a book, um, my Stroke of Insight. Um, and she was a, a neuroscientist who had a stroke.
So she speaks to, in her Ted Talk and her book is all about, you know, waking up one morning and realizing like something's wrong. And then as a neuroscientist going, oh wow, I'm having a stroke. Oh, this is crazy. Like, like recognizing how cool it is. Mm-hmm. But then also as I said to the group, 'cause they're like, well, d what do you think about this?
And I had seen that talk before. Uh, and to me one of the most compelling things about it was, um. Because I'd be the same way. If I suddenly know, knew I was having a stroke, I'd be like, this is so cool to get to like experience, like where it is, what's gonna happen. But then ignorance is bliss 'cause what you don't know can be helpful.
'cause sometimes the, the more you know, the scarier it is. And that was the, my insight to the group today was I've been. Spending so many years looking at what's wrong with people's brains. Mm-hmm. And what can go wrong with brain injuries and head injuries and Alzheimer's and cognitive decline. That, um, it's, it's sobering because it, it's such a delicate, fragile part of who we are, and it makes us who we are.
I'll often say that, you know, most body parts can now be, if one of us had an accident, we could change. We could be donors for hearts and livers and kidneys and everything except brains. Because if I was in an accident and I got your brain, it'd be awesome. But I would be care. I wouldn't be d you know, I'd be, I would, I wouldn't be having my thoughts or my feelings.
So it is truly what makes us who we are. Mm-hmm. More than anything else. Um, so I think it is so imperative that we do all we can to keep it healthy in a more proactive and preventive, really intentional, deliberate way. Mm-hmm.
Um, one of the, we talked a lot about ways to keep our brain healthy in your weekend.
Two, and one of them was the mind diet. Which I don't think a lot of people actually know is out there. Yeah. Uh, so could you give a mini breakdown of
what the, the mind diet is? Yeah. So MIND, just like mind, um, and the mind diet is well established. Um, it was, it, it's a combination of the dash diet, which is for heart health.
And the Mediterranean diet, which has been really proven effective for, for brain health. So the, you know, the dash diet is a lot of what keeps our heart healthy. So it's similar to almost the brain. We always say what's good for the head, it's good for the heart and vice versa. So it's um, you know, less sugar, less fatty foods, more vegetables, um, kind of moderation of all things.
Mm-hmm. Um, and the Mediterranean though was very specific through studies done in the Mediterranean. So it's called the Mediterranean diet because that's the area of a lot of these blue zones where people are living beyond a hundred. These centenarians that tend to live to a hundred years and older. Um.
Without really knowing that they, that they are doing that. They're just like generationally living much longer, healthy, happier lives. And when they would, there's a great book called Blue Zones where the authors would go and find these people all over the world. There are a couple places in the US but they're mostly international.
And, um, the, and the things were like, they were physical. They tended, they tended to walk pretty far. They tended to have a lot of social interaction, but the biggest thing that they found was really just what they ate was so important. Mm-hmm. So in the, in the Mediterranean, they might eat a lot of fish, not as much red meat.
It's very plant-based, not as much sugar, processed foods. I'm almost a startled every time I go to the grocery store now and I realize like everything's in a can or plastic. Right. And you realize like everything we buy is just processed. Mm-hmm. Rather than like fresh fruit and fresh vegetables and go fishing and get a fish and there's nothing processed about it.
So. Mm-hmm. We've just gotten away from that and yet we have this. Whole brain and body disease sort of epidemic going on. So it's really those areas where we don't have as much of that, where people are, are just living healthier and longer. So the mind diet is a really simplistic, there's a whole graphic you can Google mind diet, and that's the most recommended, most, uh, proven effective.
To help brain health.
Mm-hmm. My favorite thing about the Blue Zone diet is that it's simply named after the pen color. They had. Like there's nothing about, um, the science, there's nothing about a location. They just happened to have a red pen or a blue pen and that was it.
I vaguely remember that. From here I'm thinking, thinking that's good to remember.
'cause someone's gonna ask me at some point why it's called that.
Yeah. Well, it gives me so much hope because you think when, from the outside looking in, whether it's a scientific study or a successful business, you're like, oh, everything must have been thought out. And you're like, no, nope. Half of the stuff is like, we're figuring out as we go.
That pen. Okay. Done.
Mm-hmm. So true. Right? I was just talk, talking to somebody recently, you know, years ago when cigarettes were invented like. People Smokey was recommended, right? It was cool to do. It was the, it made you cut, help you lose weight. Like it was just a great healthful thing to do, and now we know better.
Mm-hmm. Um, and then similarly, I think, you know, when sodas came around, they were like, so thought of as being like, such a treat. Um, here in Dallas we have something called the Cooper Clinic. Um, Dr. Kenneth Cooper, I may have mentioned this in the Yoga zma, um, but he was a triathlete in the fifties and sixties.
Or even before running was like really cool. He was a big runner and he would recommend people to start running. And he's, he is, um, quoted as being like the father of the term aerobics. 'cause he recommend a lot of cardiovascular workouts and he almost lost his medical license at first. I thought that was like a folklore here in Dallas.
Mm-hmm. But I've seen him speak many times. I've had conversations with him and he's very much like, yeah, I really like, I was threatened 'cause I was saying something kind of so out of the box. Um, and now we know that running is good and I, I think we're on that same cusp of about brain health and brain fitness.
Is there things we know we can do? And some people will be like, well, you know, is that it's not proven suddenly they want, they want the absolute scientific proof, right? They, they don't ask for that taking a pill necessarily. But when, if I offer some recommendations like, well, I haven't seen that proof, but we know that some things don't work and other things haven't been proven so.
It is sort of this trial and error, like we're all just trying what we think is helpful. Mm-hmm. And it may eventually be proven helpful or not. Um, but yeah, I agree with, I'm always surprised when I look back and think, oh, that's how they got to that. Mm-hmm. Or even, like, even medications, I think they, some of the first, uh, mental health drugs were found just because people who happen to be taking something for some physical disease suddenly had less depression or less anxiety.
And they thought, oh, maybe this beta blocker that's helping the heart is helping the brain. And that's really how a lot of these things come about.
When you look at what's happening specifically in America today, what's, what scares you the most about brain health or habits that people have that are impacting their brains and the vitality that they could have?
Gosh, um. I mean, I think that the point you bring up is so important that if, if we deny science, I think science isn't important or research isn't important. Um, but really it, it goes back to sort of like, science is just about theories. Like right? It's things that here's, here's what we think maybe is going on, and the whole idea of like the scientific method is like then testing that out and then being like, oops, no, we were wrong.
Um, and I think that's okay. Like, to me, that's, that's almost like development and learning and growth. Um, it, you know, I, I think it's sort of, um, science is so needed and, and I think, mm-hmm. It's just, I, it takes so much, I think for each individual to have their own scientific method approach of like, no matter what you hear, like questioning it and researching it.
My, my favorite clients sometimes are like, oh, I'm sorry. I have a bunch of questions. And I'm like, my favorite client is the one with all the questions. Mm-hmm. And the ones who have like, done their own research and, and maybe are, are almost like adversarial of like, here's, I found this and I read that.
It's like, great, like maybe I've read it too and we can talk about it. Mm-hmm. But I think we've kinda lost that ability to have healthy. Debate or conflict of interest or conflict of of opinion and just agreeing to disagree. Like maybe we'll just come to different opinions and that's okay. But things that can be proven.
I mean, I think that, um, 'cause even with the whole medication or the vaccine issues, right? They're so black and white where it's like people just believe partly from their own life experience or just from what they just believe without any experience.
Mm-hmm.
So for me, I think to the question of, the thing that I find the scariest is, I guess what I hear the most from clients is people are very scared of Alzheimer's.
Mm-hmm. And often it's like. Unfortunately, fear is kinda the biggest motivator. So sometimes they don't come until they're scared, um, or worried like dad or aunt or uncle. Mm-hmm. Or somebody has something wrong. I'll often kick off my talks, and I think I did this at Yoga zma, how often do you think about your brain?
And oftentimes I do a scale like one to five. And most people are like around sometimes, occasionally, or some, or some, a few might say very often. But the ones that who say very often, it's usually because there's been something scary. Mm-hmm. Like their kiddos, A DHD, autistic, seizures, car accident, whatever.
Their kids play sports, they're worried about concussions. Mm-hmm. Or they've had someone with Alzheimer's or they are at the age, or even just having issues of like walking into a room and like forgetting something. Mm-hmm. So, you know, I, I think that that's the, that's kind of the scariest thing is that people are.
Are now being driven by fear as opposed to being driven by, again, like being more proactive. Just like we know that prevention mm-hmm. Prevention, like taking care of ourselves and mm-hmm. Because if we are gonna, it's, it's very realistic that your kids, um, you know, our grandkids will all be able to live to a hundred.
Mm-hmm. With, with medical advances, people are being kept alive much longer than they would have generations past. Yeah. But who, but who wants to live to a hundred or 90 or 60 if your brain's not keeping up or there with you. So to me, if we don't pay attention to it now we're gonna have, we already think we'll have this whole epidemic of baby boomers aging and not having good brain health and, and Alzheimer's mm-hmm.
Is on the rise and. Really looking at the science. It's not rare, but it's a disease of aging. Yeah. It's a, it's much more common to have when you're 85 or older. There are some rare ones that happen much younger, like frontal lobe dementia and things like that, that can even be in the forties and fifties.
Mm-hmm. Um, but mostly we're had, we're seeing an increase because we're living much longer. So we have to, it's almost like an imperative that we do something to get our brains healthier so that we can live this longer life expectancy.
Yeah. And the things that people can do to be proactive, you know, the mind diet.
We also talked a lot about, you know, hydration and sleep in the weekend. Um, continuing to learn Right. And be social, you know, basically just using your brain.
Yeah.
Um, trying to keep stress down. Right. Balancing the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. What else? What have I missed?
The only one I didn't hear you list is exercise.
Just because we, because we know that exercise creates, um, BDNF, which is brain derived neurotropic factor, and so it's, I've heard it called miracle growth for the brain. It's literally what helps build neurogenesis. That's probably one of the reasons why maybe we are living longer. 'cause most of us are getting more cardiovascular exercise, so our brain's healthier, but then we're not eating as healthy maybe, or all the other things.
Mm-hmm. That, that you mentioned to me, I just see too, is this. You know, so all those things that we can, we can control to some degree, right? We can make sure we can exercise, we can eat right, and we can do all things right and still not have optimal health. But, um, sleep to me is such a key thing. We, we know that now during REM sleep is when the brain flushes out all these toxins that build up.
So when people leave my talk and I've listed all those things that, that you just listed as like, here's what you gotta do, guys easy. And people are like, okay, if there's one, if I can leave agreeing to one thing you told me to do, what, what should I do? I'll often say, then just try, make sure you're getting eight hours of sleep, meaning like restorative, restful sleep, so that you're getting those REM cycles.
Mm-hmm. Rapid eye movement when your, when your eyes, your brain is very active. Brain studies have shown during that time the brain's just as active as when we're having a conversation like this. So during those times, the brain is flushing out through the cere cerebral spinal fluid toxins that build up in the brain.
And we know those toxins are what leads to lar largely the. The tau proteins and the, the things that build up to cause Alzheimer's and cognitive decline. Yep. So it's like a, a scrubbing your brain gets a scrub. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's like the, it, there's a new, a New York Times that said, you know, it, it's when the cleaning crew c comes to work, but they only come to work during these REM cycles, which are only every 90 minutes.
And the first cycle is the shortest, like three or four minutes every 90 minutes it gets a little bit longer. So the longest REM cycle, the most beneficial REM cycle is at like the seventh hour of sleep. And I have so many executives and you work with high performers and leaders who are like, I'm fine on three or or four.
They just aren't getting the restorative and needed benefits of really restful sleep. So. Mm-hmm. That's one thing I'll often try to, um, be on my soapbox about.
Yeah. Well, one of the things that I loved that I took away from your, the weekend that you taught was clarifying even what I do. Because, um, I have so many, um, interests and passions that don't seem aligned in the, when you look at them separately, but ultimately what I'm doing through my private clients or, um, with powerful ladies is a lot of just optimization, right?
How do we optimize, um, you and your life? How do we optimize your business? Like it really is about, you know, I have a whole time management program, but if we're automating, delegating, or deleting work stuff, like, it really trickles into how we do it Personally, I tried for a long time. When I first started, I had three buckets of clients, personal business or financial, and they all got mashed into one 'cause we couldn't separate anything.
And so it was really great to clarify that being able to bring in that optimization word, hearing what, um, going through the Brain Science weekend, because I wouldn't feel complete working with the business or a client if their business was awesome, but their life isn't. And so all the things are always about how do we make.
Your business and your life thrive because they're so interconnected. You can't be a leader and be, you know, a acting out or being aggressive or being passive or any of the things. Right. It really is about how do you be on point. Um, so it's been great to see that clarity and like really evaluate what I'm offering and not offering to people.
So, thank you.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and you have a TED Talk that people can watch as well. Um, what was the experience like doing a TED Talk and um, was it like every other talk you do 'cause you've done so many, or was there anything special about that one because that's what most people know about versus all the other amazing things you're doing.
Yeah, so yeah, it was TEDx UTD back October, just a year ago. Um, and you know, they'll often say there's that great quote by Mark Twain. Uh, mark Twain. If I'd had more time, I'd have written a shorter letter. Yeah. Because really to your point of like being concise and having clarity around how we communicate and what we communicate mm-hmm.
Is such a leadership skill, but also. Just a needed personal skill because our, our brains are so limited in the attention span that unless we can communicate something pretty succinctly and impactfully that someone's already thinking about something else within about 10 seconds. So we have such a short time to really get something across.
So to be told like, you have 18 minutes, you know, to share something really compelling, I, it was really the hardest talk for me to prepare, getting into it. Mm-hmm. Because, um, I could talk brain, brain stuff all day, every day for forever. Um, and so like when I, when I was asked to teach the weekend, which was two eight hour days, first I thought, oh my gosh, it's so much how I can't possibly fill that time.
And I had to cut out a bunch of stuff. So I just realized like, there's a lot to say, so to
mm-hmm.
Feel like in 18 minutes. And, and at one point they even said, you know, shoot for like 15. And I was like, I, that's like three words. Like how can I possibly. And so it was just a practice of, you know, drilling down to like, what's most important.
Mm-hmm. Rather than feeling. 'cause I, I, I guess I often feel also like an obligation to like, tell everybody everything I know mm-hmm. To like, share all my expertise to, or to just try to get to, like, if I share all this, then maybe this much helps them and so I've gotta get to the whatever might help them.
Mm-hmm.
And, and so it was such an experience and having, and being okay with. Minimizing, which really helped me realize like, it's better, it's maybe it's more impactful if it's one or two big, big ideas rather than like 15 things that sort of land. And so then maybe nothing really lands. Um, and it was a, it was just a fun experience.
It was, um, super stressful, but I remember just, you know, feeling it, it is been on my bucket list strangely. Then I was asked to do it, so it wasn't even something I pursued, but when I was asked to do it, I thought, man, that manifestation piece of like, this is so awesome. Mm-hmm. And, and you mentioned a great meditation for manifestation yesterday, which I love.
So I'm all about that too. So I've added that to my, to my list and list. Um, yeah, so I think it was really just feeling just accomplished that I got something off my bucket list. And also to the brain science piece, it's all about harnessing stress rather than hinder having stress hurt us. So. Mm-hmm. I was able to drill down to just a couple of.
Tools that seem really simplistic. Um, but then afterwards, the speaker who was behind me backstage, he's like, I had people go through a really brief kind of, um, deep breathing and reframing, um mm-hmm. As some of the tools that, that I taught in it. And so afterwards he was like, I'm going next. Thank you so much because I was so nervous, but you just helped me like totally prepare for this.
So I thought done, like, like my work here is done. I've helped one person.
No, I love that. Um, no, I'm literally addicted to anything that's gonna make something better. Right. You know, whether it's listening to what ultra endurance athletes are doing or eating or, um, getting nerding out about why soil needs to be optimized.
Like those are all my favorite categories. Um, and the other one that I, I debate going back to get a PhD to like hang out in this area would be like, what I'm really obsessed with people who. Break the statistics to create things and, and, and success. Like how do they get out of the cycle? Hmm. Um, those outliers.
Like not bible with the outliers. Yes, exactly. Mm-hmm. Yeah, because I think it's so fascinating, um, as you mentioned earlier, like everyone's unique story and path, which is why I also have this podcast, but it's really surprising, like the choices people make and the things that they're dealt from the beginning and what you make of it all.
And the reframing part, I'm sure has a lot to do with, I think that's one of the lead, um, I think you said similarities, right? Between successful people or optimists can reframe things faster. Um, so I think it's all really interesting.
Yeah. Um, well, I mean you're this whole podcast powerful ladies. Like, I mean, to me is having a mom who is a super uber feminist and growing up thinking like, oh, that's kind of weird.
Like, why'd it be so weird about it? And now being like, at that same age where I'm like. I think feminism or just being powerful as a female has evolved to where it's like, mm-hmm. Um, you know, there are so many powerful and successful women, but then you hear about this just epidemic of, um, imposter syndrome.
Like many times, I'll often talk about very transparently. Before I got up for that TED Talk, I was literally like, I have no idea what I'm gonna say. I shouldn't be here. Why didn't they ask me to be here? I, I'm gonna get up there. I'm just gonna totally freeze. And you have that moment of just complete, like, if they only knew.
That I don't belong here. That kind of weird, um, self-doubt. Yeah. And I, I just went through this whole year long program here in Dallas called the Stagen Leadership Academy. It's, um, a really well respected deep dive into individual leadership and how you transform than to be a much more integrated leader.
And, you know, very powerful C-level people of huge companies had that same sort of sharing. Mm-hmm. And then what's beautiful is then men say the same thing. It's just not quite as talked about in the, in the male circles, but, um, to fully embrace our, our powerful and, and embody that and to move forward with it, I think is.
It's needed just as much as it's the brain health. So you're serving such a huge cause.
Thank you. Um, well, you read my mind because I was gonna ask you what does powerful and ladies mean separately and then what does it mean to you together?
Oh, I love that. This is like the Oprah questions that she closes with that are always like people.
Oh, but I forget what she calls 'em, but at her end of her thing, she calls 'em some kind of questions. Um, I mean, powerful to me, I think, um, it's hard to not have this vision of like Wonder Woman, right, of just feeling like. Both physically, but also mentally, um, empowered, um, strong, I suppose effective comes to mind.
Mm-hmm. Too, um, leadership comes to mind as well. Um, ladies, I think sometimes, you know, I tend to, I I tend to be kind of hyper, um, politically correct, so ladies maybe feels like so feminine, like mm-hmm. Like powerful women. But I, but I think part of that whole idea, and maybe you can, I'd love to hear why you called it that.
Mm-hmm. But I feel like I, I said to my, my ma my last mentor, 'cause she was very lady like more than I would expect, like a neuroscientist to be. And at one point I told her like, thank you for kind of embodying. You know, being still feminine and being still like a lady, but also really smart and, um, cerebral as well and having really good thinking.
And so together, I think it's, it's that combination, that kind of uber combination of being, owning our femininity and our, um, uh, being a lady, um, because I think it's that male, uh, male female, uh, masculine, feminine combination that's really most powerful. So.
Mm-hmm. Um,
I guess to me it's kind of the embodiment of both of those Yeah.
Extremes maybe into something really, um, um, super extreme.
Yeah. It's, it's, it's, um, very much like the yin and the yang sometimes. Um. I mean, the truth of where the name came from was just that like, I called my girlfriends like, Hey ladies. Like, like, it'd be the ladies. I don't even know where it started. I also, whenever I say ladies, I hear Missy Elliot in my head, Hey ladies.
Yeah.
Love it.
I'm like, yeah. Like it should be a party when we're hanging out all the time. Yeah. Um, but it's been a huge conversation of myself and the team of, part of the reason I didn't take powerful ladies from what it was six years ago to what it is today, sooner, is because I was stuck on the name.
Like, I'm someone who has so many, um, inspirational men in my life and male friends, and I worked in skateboarding for a while. Like most of my life is not very feminine. Like, I, I am actually quite bad at a lot of lady or girl skills, like hair makeup, like mm-hmm. Like, nope. I'd rather have someone do that for me than like cook.
So, um. But for me it was also about redefining what that meant, because a lot of people get uncomfortable with the word ladies. And it's been really interesting to see people's response to that question, because for some people, when they think powerful ladies, in their mind, it's like a bad haircut and a bad power suit.
Mm-hmm.
And other people hear that name and they think, you know, uh, wonder Woman if she was a 1950s housewife, and then other people think it's totally different. So I like the ability to, you know, by the, by the nature of women redefining that phrase and showing that what ladies actually means is so much broader than the commercial, you know, even Hollywood rendition of what it means to be a lady.
Mm-hmm. And moving away from etiquette class and things like that. But. I do think, you know, we just had a, our podcast that came out last week was about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and I think that, that she does a great job of kind of having those two sides of being such a force to be reckoned with, but doing it very methodically, doing it very like she played the long game.
I think there's a lot of power in, in knowing when to, as I said in the class yesterday, when to be the ninja and like someone needs to, you know, get a karate chop versus when to know to like almost play chess, know when it's okay to make these moves now. 'cause later we're gonna get the result we want. So to me it's like putting all that together at the end of the day.
Yeah. Oh, I love that. Your own podcast on that if you haven't already. 'cause I wanna listen to that.
Okay. I'll make a note. The powerful latest podcast.
Yeah.
But, but really get started as you'd mentioned, like I was doing a fundraiser, winning all the awesome, and like women that I knew directly who are inspired by to host an event and I would call them and one in two every other would be, would say, I can't, I'm not a powerful lady.
And I'd be like, wait, what?
I'm
calling you? Because I'd said you were by definition. But they didn't hear it. They didn't think of themselves that way. And that's what I was like, Mmhmmm, and that's standing for this.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. You're shifting that conversation. That's so cool. Um, yeah, it, it makes me think about sort of, 'cause the, I guess in some ways ladies feels formal, right?
Mm-hmm. Like ladies and gentlemen. Yeah. And I remember years ago being, doing a training where I used to work at, um, with a group of veterans at, it was at Fort Hood or at summer in Colorado Springs. Um. And so it was mostly male. 'cause I worked with a lot of veterans and military, we did a lot of work with Navy Seals and special forces.
Mm-hmm. And so I got used to saying guys like, Hey guys, or you guys, I think there was one in, one group I was in, there was maybe one female. And when I kept saying guys, like, I didn't, I didn't even mean the maleness of being a guy. Right. Like, like even to my dogs, like, Hey you guys, one's a girl, one's a boy.
Like, I didn't mean it. Yeah. And so I think it's, there's almost like an over generalization of what the terms even, sorry, the door you're okay. Of, of what those terms even mean. And then, um, tell my dad, Jim, can you answer the door please? Um. And so, you know, as like an over definition or an oversimplification of what that term means, rather than recognize like we are ladies.
Mm-hmm. And so then let's make it powerful. Why not be powerful ladies and, and really embody that. Yeah.
What are, what are moments in your life that have made you realize how powerful you actually are?
Mm. Oh my gosh. Um, I think I, I think back to times of like, uh. For some reason, the first one that comes to mind is just like breakups, right?
Like, you, you get your heart broken and you just think, oh, I'll just never be the same. And then I, I had one in a particular bad, really bad one mm-hmm. But feeling like I was sort of in this, in this tunnel. And then knowing the light was at the end of it and, and all the things I did. 'cause I did a lot to get through that.
Um, I remember feeling kind of once I got, I knew the, the end was coming of that, um, on the other side of it. And coming out of that, I remember feeling kind of powerful, having gone through it. And then almost on the other end of it, being grateful for it. Where in the beginning I certainly wasn't grateful, but by the end of it, feeling like, oh, I'm glad I, I experienced that.
I went through it and learned from it. Mm-hmm. Um. Certainly things like, you know, giving speaking engagements like that, even TEDx or keynotes that I've given. Well, my first keynote I gave a couple years ago, I was the opening keynote in the morning and the closing keynote with Shaquille O'Neal a couple hours after me.
And, uh, sorry. He was the opening and I, and I was the closing. So that was kind of a career moment of like mm-hmm. I'm on the stage that he was just on a little while ago. And that's kind of crazy. Um, I mean he opened for you sort of Yeah,
we're
just gonna say he opened for you. Shaquille O'Neill opened for D O'Neill.
It was bookends, yes. Mm-hmm. Um, and just to be in the presence of the way he just owned the room. He could just, his whole, the keynote, which I'm sure he got paid 10 times as much as I did, but what he did was just tell his story. Right. I mean, his whole thing is just, um, his life experiences. And I remember realizing kind of even in that moment of like, our, our, our lives are.
Everybody's lives would be, story is worthwhile. Mm-hmm. In, in some sense and in some degree. So I think it doesn't have to be some celebrity story, but just being able to frame your story in a way of here's what happened, here's the shit that happened, I'm supposed to curse. So there's, here's all the shit that happened in my life and how I came out on the other end of it.
And that's, that makes a full story. I watched some kind of cheesy movie last night and when it ended I was just like, oh, that was so like textbook and kind of boring. Um, I actually, I did a podcast a few months ago with a friend here in Dallas called The Remedies, where she also has people come on and talk about stuff they've been through and how they got over it.
Mm-hmm. And I remember saying to, to them was like, when you meet people, the most interesting people have some crazy story. Yeah. They, they aren't one of the people who haven't had some heartbreak or some, some challenge. And I think that's what I, I try to tell myself every time I'm. Feeling scared or feeling like I can't do this.
Recognizing God, the other side of this is gonna be so rewarding. And, and I, I think it, I've never put the word powerful on it, which now I'm gonna start to, um, I think I always just thought as like growth and sort of fulfillment, but I think it is, if there's like a power bucket or you know, a power level, I think, you know, it's, it's upping that level each time.
Mm-hmm. Um, even just going now through this to this layoff, you know, it's scary, but at the same time I feel powerful having. Having now opportunities coming that, that I wouldn't have expected. And, um, and just dealing with it, like getting up, still getting up every day and like feeling optimistic and hopeful for, for what's next?
Well, I, from my own experience, I know that a layoff usually leads to somebody's best business ever that they've created themselves. Love it. That's usually an indicator where you're like, all right, the universe that I gotta go, it's my time. Mm-hmm. Well, and I think too, like thinking about to people who tell great stories, Y yes, they've usually had these like crazy highs or lows happening in their life, but I also think there's an element of people really being able to acknowledge themselves or what they've gone through and to tell the, the, their own story, the way somebody who would, that direct their movie would, like, we're so bad at giving ourselves credit for even the small things, right?
Like. I'm sure for you it was like, oh yeah, of course I graduated. That wasn't even like an option. It was just done. And somebody else would be like, oh, like I went through all this and you know, I have a friend who surviving medical school is literally a survival. Like, and so the, it really is this like high, you know, up and down rollercoaster.
Um, my boyfriend Jesse is on the list of like most entertaining people, probably on the planet, and he tells these stories to the point where like, I know them all now. So of course I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go do something else now. But, um, he's just good at capturing like the high and the low and focusing there and I'm like, huh.
I see this, I see what you're doing. Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Well, and what, what I love about that, I, I saw some talk about it recently where that's the way our brains are wired. Like our brains are wired for story, like sitting around the campfire before we had electricity. That's what we, how we communicate. We told stories, we shared experiences, and I think that's why we're still like enthralled and captured by story.
Great storytellers because our, I actually gave a talk a few years ago about how our brain. Works. It was for a meeting industry conference and they were talking about how storytelling is important. So I did all this research on it and, and, and our brains are literally wired for visuals. Like if you, if I were to say white elephant right now, you would picture a white elephant.
You wouldn't see the words white elephant, right? So we're very visual. And so when someone's telling a story really nicely, we have this visual experience, and I think it's a whole brain at the same time. And I also think that with current thought leaders like Brene Brown or Simon Sinek, where it's all about being authentic and vulnerable.
Mm-hmm. In your storytelling or just in your life experiences. Like I part of this leadership program, I just came through, one of the coaches who, who was my coach and I've known for many years, he had a tagline of like, permission to be messy. Which I'm like, messy. No, no, no. I can't, I can't write a messy email or like, or be messy on stage.
But I think that's so helpful to just realize like, we don't have to all be perfect. We don't have to show up. Mm-hmm. And like say all, no one's gonna remember every. Perfect word that you said, but how they made, how you felt about it and to the Maya angel quote, like, people remember how you made them feel and not what you said.
Mm-hmm. And I think that's what really powerful storytelling. And I think that's why podcasts like yours are so relevant and important because you're essentially just having a conversation which fills that social bucket, but then it's people telling stories that other people can relate to and it's just really relevant and, um, powerful.
Well then it, you made me think of it earlier as well, that my, um, the definition of, of discussion is thinking together. Oh, is that right? And I love that because to me, it, you know, it fills in so many of the issues that we're having today. 'cause we're not discussing things enough. Like we're afraid to dis have a discussion.
But if you can think together, there's no way you can have a conversation with somebody and not leave some impact. Yeah. There's no way. So like what happens there?
Um, I, I love the definition thinking together. 'cause also, again, I go back to brain science, like thinking, reasoning, problem solving, decision making is all that executive functioning, the prefrontal cortex, the front of the brain.
Mm-hmm.
Which is only online when we're not really emotionally triggered or emotionally activated. And I think that's part of the issues today in our highly polarized world is, you know, we're all just so upset and mad. And if we could just think together to find solutions rather than just an us or them kind of mentality that's it's, that's so divisive that now mm-hmm.
If we could actually, 'cause I think ultimately I'm always surprised, like, guys, I think we all want the same thing. Like ultimately we do. I think we all want the same. I think we're on the same team. Like why are we fighting? Yeah. Um, so I think having those, if we can facilitate more of those kind of conversations, it's so needed right now.
Yes, the, the things that Americans fight about are privileged fights, like Yeah. And we really look at what we're, we're disagreeing about the details. So, okay. And I think that's part of what's so important in leadership too, is to remind everyone, like, Hey, we agree on points one through five, so let's remember that and let's just talk about five through 10.
Like there's, it's not, it's not a black or a white thing. It's, we agree on this foundation and then let's just figure out the top. So yeah. Um, but I love that you brought up being messy. Earlier. Um, I have to coach people on this all the time. I say I always, people get so nervous about messing up or not being perfect, and usually the people who are from my experience are the ones who like never will.
Like never. And so I tell people, I'm like, I want you to go and try as hard as you can to fuck this up. And they go, what? Horrified initially, like, triggered, horrified. And I'm like, no. Try. Like, I really dare you. If you're trying, you're gonna realize whole things that you didn't even think you like would, would be possible.
Yeah. And um, but there is something about that permission and like, you know, there's, we think that there's things that we can't correct and the truth is, most things in life we can clean up.
Yeah. Or it doesn't even need, doesn't even matter. Like, that's what I kind realized. Like I'm, I'm always, 'cause I'm kind of picky about like.
Vocabulary or grammar or all. And then I realized when I, when I would hear those words, permission to be messy 'cause you know mm-hmm. They were just about like, just share your, your authentic thoughts and your feelings. Mm-hmm. And so, but I'm the type to go back and reread emails just to make sure, and like, could this offend anybody in the universe?
And, and then I realized like, gosh, like my head didn't implode. Nobody else's head imploded. Like, we're still friends. And actually I, I I love that you mentioned this idea of like conflict because, um, and in leadership, especially one of the books that we read, I'm sure you're familiar with Patrick Lencioni, five Dysfunctions of a Team.
No, that sounds like a great book though. I'm gonna add that one. Oh, it's such a great one. 'cause although there's this whole exercise on conflict and how really. Conflict is not only good, it's almost like necessary
mm-hmm.
For growth and for optimization and, and for, um, profit and success, I think. And I think I kind of grew up thinking like con in a dysfunctional family, like conflict was bad.
I avoided conflict. And I think that's what made me almost like, and Melanie and I have talked about this at yoga, like we, we wanna focus on empowering women, especially because I think we tend mm-hmm. To like shrink a little bit or feel less powerful when we're in a group of other, maybe just other men, C-suite leaders.
And, um, rather than allowing that to happen. Recognizing like it's okay to like, feel uncomfortable. And then actually it made me reflect back to relationships or even friendships, like when there has been some strife or some conflict. Mm-hmm. If you get through it, you're actually stronger on the other side of it.
But, you know, I, I have some of these friendships you might have where there's super surface, like never any conflict, but it's not really deep and it's not really strong probably. But the ones where there's been like some totally heated problems or issues, maybe even big blowups getting on the other end of it, discussing, thinking together, working on it together, being vulnerable and emotional actually builds a stronger relationship.
But you said to really see who people are, um, and to me it ties into the conversation too of confidence. Like people are always asking, saying like, well, I'll do it when I feel confident. I'm like, yeah, but you can't be confident until you do it. It's like there's the, um, in landmark training they talk about be, do, have, most people wanna have something, then they'll do it and then they'll be happy.
Mm-hmm. But it's a complete opposite order. And so it's, we have, I often am telling people to go back to am I, I have a clarity exercise, and it has to do with going back to when you felt free. Like, were you a kid? Were you a teenager? Was it in college? Like, there's kind of three checkpoints for most people, um, to look at.
And we have to go back there because, you know, you didn't, we didn't have all the, the limitations that we put on our, in front of ourselves then. But part of like the, you can't be confident by not taking an action. There's no way.
Yeah. Chicken or the egg. Right. The confidence doesn't come before. Doing it?
No,
everyone is horrified. Like everyone's scared and freaked out. It's just who's willing to be scared and do it versus who doesn't. So it's, we, we've done a really good job, um, when we're in adult phase of not, of avoiding all conflict and fear and it's like, no, that's where
the good stuff is. Yeah. Yeah.
That's so true. I mean, I, I, I talk about it I think a little bit in, in my, in the TED Talk, and I may have mentioned it at Yoga Zama weekend too, that it, you know, it's all nervous system, right? Because when you're nervous and scared, it's like that sympathetic, that fight or flight is activated. And, and we want that sometimes, like that is when we get kind of all the juices flowing and you need a little bit of it.
Um, but I love the whole Bruce Springsteen analogy that, that I'll often give that, uh, because even now, whenever I give talks, I get nervous, but I'm able to reframe it. Mm-hmm. And, and the story that, that he, that is recounted, that I love sharing is he was being interviewed for a late night show and they said, they asked him if he got nervous before he performs.
And he was like, well, I used to, when I was younger, I would be sweating, I'd be shaking, I'd forget the words or the songs. And he said, but now I know. That's just my body's way of telling me. It's time to rock. So good. And so now when I have that feeling before anything, even before jumping on with you tonight, I have that same like, what am I gonna say?
She's gonna ask me questions, I'll know to answer it. And then you prep by saying like, you'll know all the answers, no trick questions. Yeah. But there's still that like, but I have nothing to say or I don't know what I'll say. And, and just recognizing like I'm nervous and that's a good thing. I'm excited.
Mm-hmm. And reframing it even to like, this is the adrenaline, this is the sympathetic activation I need to perform at my best.
Mm-hmm. So speaking of your best, we ask everyone on the podcast where you put yourself on the powerful ladies scale, zero being average, everyday human, and 10 being the most powerful lady possible.
Um, and I always like to know where would you rank yourself today and where do you think you would rank yourself on average? Wow. It's
the most powerful lady possible. Um, I. That's such a good question. Um, I'm gonna start using that scale. Um, gosh, I think that, you know, just catching myself at a good moment and after our conversation, I think, and just where I am at the moment, I, I think I'm on, I would give myself maybe a eight, maybe a nine, just because I feel like I am powerful for myself at the moment.
Yeah.
Relative, but also just time sensitive. Mm-hmm. Um, and in the future, I mean, I think it's, I, I think I, I think I vastly between an eight and a 10 on most days of just feeling like I, I'm, if I know every day that I'm, I gave the best I could give mm-hmm. Then that's as powerful as I can be. It may, the, the circumstances or outcomes or output may not look as good as I would like, but I think I'm becoming more, um, forgiving and accepting of myself that the outcomes are gonna be relative, but.
All I can control is my effort and what I put into it. And so if I'm doing that to my, up to my most every day, then I feel like that's as powerful as I can be.
I love it. Yeah. I, I do think there's definitely a psychological experiment that all these episodes combined would reveal with everyone's answer.
'cause every, everybody answers so differently. Um, and I find it so fascinating. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, so as we're wrapping up today, is there anything that you would want our listeners to know about, um, yourself or what's next or, um, even just what you're looking forward to?
Yeah, I mean, I would just, I, I hope that, that as our conversations continue over the next few years and we get to do fun retreats and stuff together, which I know is coming to fruition, I hope, um.
I, I hope that in a year or two we look back and just say that, you know, we're both feeling 10 powerful every day. Um, but also that just from, from my, my business perspective, that the brain science is more accepted that people are getting annual, regular checkups. That, or even just being aware that it's a possibility.
Mm-hmm. And that it's more easily accessible. Um, and I would just hope that for myself, I, I, I, I hope to have just more of a mind body vitality myself, of feeling like not only am I doing all that I can do, but that I'm feeling all of the, the benefits of doing all the right things too. Um, yeah, because I think the yoga za experience as well as new career path or more focused career path, is all leading towards something.
My through, through my leadership program, when I got laid off, one of my co one of my classmates sent three simple words or forcible words. 'cause I was like, oh, I just got laid off. I was bummed. And he just wrote, D you will soar. Yes. And so that's become like my pon my mantra, almost my visualization.
Mm-hmm. Like I think soaring implies like a gradual improvement and just an endless possibility.
Yeah. And, and um, there's this great saying of like, how you occur. You occur, how other people allow you to occur and how you occur to me is already someone who's like vastly soaring. So I look forward to like you catching up to how I see you and how the rest of the group sees you too.
'cause, um, it's, uh, finding people in your life who, you know, I admire the cerebral ness that you have and that you bring. But when you're sharing these topics that can be so complex or, or new, brand new to people, there's a such an approachability that you put into that space for everyone to get it and to, to be able to apply it right away.
And I think that's such a unique gift that, um. Not everyone has, who knows all the information. So for you to be someone to be passing this information on and to getting as many people to know about it as possible, it's like, I'm, I'm really excited. What's next for you? Because I know that, that the door is open wide.
So I look forward to seeing what's coming.
Thank you so much for that. I absolutely love that. And I'm just so grateful and blessed to have met you in this experience and look forward to our future adventures. Me too. Well, thank
you.
Do you now have 1,000,001 additional questions about your brain and how it works? Me too. I can definitely tell you that since taking week two of the Yoga SAMA training that de taught, I have been so focused on getting those eight hours of sleep. I gotta keep this brain crisp. We're all up to big things.
And to achieve those big things, we need our big brains to be on point. Brain Care is the number one self-care to connect, support, learn more and follow D. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter at Neuro fitow. All the ways to connect with Dee from her TEDx, her website, her LinkedIn, even her email, you can email her directly.
Plus links to the Mind Diet and more are all@thepowerfulladies.com slash podcast. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of The Powerful Ladies Podcast. There are so many ways you can get involved and get supported with fellow powerful ladies. First, subscribe to this podcast anywhere you listen to podcast.
Give us a five star rating and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Follow us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, join the Powerful Ladies Thrive Collective. This is the place where powerful ladies connect, level up, and learn how to thrive in business and life. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page, and of course, visit our website, the powerful ladies.com.
I'd like to thank our producer, composer, and audio engineer Jordan Duffy. Without her, this wouldn't be possible. You can follow her on Instagram at Jordan K. Duffy. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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LinkedIn: neurocognitive-fitness-llc
Email: dee@neurofitnow.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
