From Stress to Success: The Groundbreaking Strategies for Optimal Health and Performance

0:07Hello and welcome to another episode of the duct tape marketing podcast. This is John Jantz. My guest today is Jennifer Watson. She is a healer, high-performance coach, and breakthrough speaker on a mission to help leaders heal and accelerate their deeper purpose of impact through their vital wellness, leadership, genius, and potent speaking. She does this through her company, Jennifer Watson Leadership. So, Jennifer, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me, John. It's an honor to be here going into the holiday season and just honored to serve your community. So you have, let's see, not necessarily a typical background, entrepreneurial background.

0:47So I always sometimes love to kind of say, like, how'd you get here? You know, what was your journey that led you to this being kind of where, you know, what you were meant to do today? Absolutely. You know, I started as a high level athlete. I was a two time All-American track and field athlete. Used to be pretty fast, everyone. And go figure, I had my share of injuries and I started getting interested in the wellness and physical therapy world. because I had physical therapy. I went to doctors to help with injuries. And during that whole journey, I was also struggling with depression and anxiety.

1:19And I started realizing as an athlete that wellness and fitness actually incorporated more than physical. It was mental, emotional, spiritual. And it started my journey toward not only healing myself and optimizing overall health, but understanding that health is mind, body, soul. And because of my thought process on how to engage health in a more powerful way. I started my own practice several, just a few years after I graduated from PT school, because I felt that traditional way of healthcare, at least in the areas of true healing and optimizing, even performance with hyaluronic athletes was missing some pieces.

1:57So my practice has always incorporated mind, body, soul optimization. And from there, I just took it in the last four to five years into coaching and consulting and speaking because what I found is beyond my four brick walls of healing, people in leadership positions and executive and business leadership positions wanted this information. And I knew, listen, how can I accelerate this information more powerfully in the workforce? And that's when I became a coach consultant. And now I get to also speak across the country on aspects of mental, emotional wellness, as well as really staying into performance and team productivity, no matter the environment, that you can truly be successful and keep your health no matter what life gives you.

2:44And that's just an honor for me to do throughout the years that I've had here. So I've been envisioning you like working on somebody's knee and then like chatting them up about, you know, leadership skills and it just like blossomed from there. Is that is there a little truth to that? You know, it's absolutely you know, it's really interesting because a lot of people that came to me, John, were high performers, business leaders, executives that had physical issues, but also had some anxiety and depression or had some performance and productivity issues with their team. So, of course, after working with them for a while, that's when they started getting some of my expertise because I was leading teams and I was pretty good at it and giving them advice on that.

3:22So it was a natural bridge. Such a great question, John, because people ask me, how did you go into coaching, consulting, speaking from your PT practice, brick and mortar? It was actually a very easy bridge to craft is what you just said. A lot of people were drawn to the type of work I did as high-performing business leaders. and I got to just use my skills as a wellness provider and a leadership person because I was growing my own business. So the two got married together to really bring out the coaching, consulting, and speaking. And no one's ever asked me that. So thank you for asking. You know, I also, I've always said, you know, for years, I think a lot of people underestimate the physical aspect and maybe the sort of parallels to being an athlete to running a business.

4:03I mean, there is very physically demanding. There's a lot of the, you know, you need to have rest, You need to practice. You need to perform on game day. I just think there's a lot of parallels. Do you feel like, you know, your background as an athlete really helped you kind of understand what was missing maybe in, you know, in leaders and in entrepreneurial journeys? You know, it's interesting. A lot of executives and leaders that are drawn to me are prior athletes. So it's funny you should ask that question. I will say this. I learned about leadership performing in different environments, in environments that were not maybe optimal for race performance in a powerful way.

4:40So I would agree with you. There's a lot of things I learned in performance, mental edge, mastery, and leadership as an athlete. However, I want all of you to get this. What I also found is some things that were detrimental as an athlete that I had to learn to transition into different skill sets for myself and for the people that I work with to help readership and performance in a different way. What I mean by that is this, John, I think it needs to be very clear because a lot of high performers and athletes, former athletes, see performing hard as pushing through, as getting through the hard stuff as at all costs of often health, just get it done and be successful.

5:22And what happened is a lot of business leaders were tanked, were exhausted, overwhelmed. And I questioned that. I'm like, there's got to be an easy way in the business leadership world to do things, that you can actually be healthy and vital and actually still be a great business leader. So some of the things I took from being an athlete that you had to push through didn't work in business. So the things I did extrapolate that were good as an athlete were powerful in leadership and performance. But one thing I really feel downloaded just to share with your audience is actually how the transition for me was different.

5:56Becoming a business leader that I had to get a different relationship with resilience. I had to get a different relationship with performance. Because if I kept up the whole athletic press on, don't tell anyone, suck it up, buttercup. That's when I started self-imploding, to be quite frank, in my health, in my relationships, in my bottom line. When I started shifting what performance meant to me and the relationship with it, and shifting how I can shift that for my team and be a better leader in a healthier state is actually where my bottom line took off. Where are the productivity and performance of my team took off.

6:31So I did take powerful things from it, from being an athlete. But the biggest caveat I would give the leaders now is be careful about the push-push scenario. I'm not saying that's not necessary once in a while, but I will say on average, you need to be in a calmer flow state for you and your team to actually provide value and get things done effective on a time while keeping your health. Well, and one of the points there, though, I think athletes are especially at a very high level where, you know, there's millions of dollars on the line, right, you know, of their performance. I mean, rest is as equally as important as practice.

7:07You know, nutrition is equally as important as, you know, weightlifting. And I think that a lot of leaders, you know, are starting to wake up to that whole, I got to take care of my body if I'm going to like, you know, make it through, you know, this product launch or something. And I think that's a really healthy thing that I think is finally starting to land and push out sort of the hustle, hustle approach. You know, it's interesting because people obviously probably like you, John, say, what are the top three things that you think leaders need, especially post-2020? Like what do you think accelerates them that makes them maybe above the rest, like go from good to great or even from average to good at a powerful rate?

7:43And I will say from a physical sense, sleep is hugely important. There's so much research on this. And I'm talking about sleep, by the way, prior to midnight. You optimize more REM sleep and deep sleep when you're giving more hours before midnight. And I would say it's an active activity, everyone. So that's a number one. Number two, I'm going to go into a little bit later, but it has to do a little bit with nutrition. that's a good thing that will help with all leaders. But a second middleman that I really want people to get, because people ask me this all the time, if you could pick just one thing, and I don't think it's just one thing ever.

8:16I don't ever think, but if I had to pick one thing that would really help leaders be better leaders, help them accelerate their performance, their productivity, create good team culture and connectedness in their team and make a lot of freaking money doing it, is this, everybody listen up. You have to learn to manage, refine, and master your emotional state. It doesn't matter if something external has triggered you into, quote, bad emotional state or something internal, a belief has put you in an emotional state, big or small. It does not matter, everyone. When you have emotions that you cannot harness to work for you instead of against you, you will lose hours perseverating in the emotion, perseverating in belief and lose connection to your team and productivity.

9:07So I teach a lot of frameworks in my business and on my team, as well as a lot of leaders in workshops and presentations on ways to master and harness, no matter if it's whatever it's coming from. And you guys, that covers a lot of things from bottom lines to communication to losing staff at last minute to everything to maybe some personal stuff happening at home. And these templates really help people understand how to do that. when you do that, it game changes everything. And I see that leaders are understanding the value of that, especially since 2020. So I would say sleep is number one from a physical sense, even over exercise.

9:43Everyone, I'm a high level athlete, will say that. Number one is sleep. Number two is this emotional regulation of mastery that I really want to delve into. The third I can talk about in a second, but I'd love to answer any questions you have on that. But that's a big one for a lot of leaders and teams. Yeah. And I think a lot of it just becomes automatic response. You know, I mean, there's a lot of things that push our buttons, you know, throughout the day. And I do see this. And, you know, I know you talk a lot about meditation and pausing and mindfulness, which are all kind of practices to sort of bring all that back in.

10:15I think is the longer I stay in this, the more I realize, you know, how valuable that is. And I probably wouldn't go as far as saying I control my emotions all the time. But I realize when I'm being acted on, you know, as opposed to me, you know, mindfully acting. And I think that's a tremendous skill for sure. And the thing is, everyone, by the way, I can just give you kind of a tool right now to help gain traction on this. But there are some people that just have some, you know, core triggers that they just can't get rid of on their own. That's why we have coaches and consultants to help people navigate through that.

10:48I mean, we're human, everyone. And no matter how many tools we try our own and download from our YouTube, there might be times that you need support and that's okay. One thing that will help, you know, words are powerful. John, and what you said about trying to manage your emotions, I would say that shifting the words. So if you're feeling depressed, angry, sad, frustrated, especially those I'm calling more than negative emotions or negative feelings, I would say change the words. If you're feeling angry, like I'm curious. Okay, curious, everyone. That's a powerful word. It has a higher frequency theory.

11:18I'm curious why I'm feeling anger right now. When you allow yourself to choose a different word, it actually calms the nervous system, everybody. It's really important to calm your nervous system to get it on board to chill out so it's open to a solution or an idea or a reason, in this case, why you are angry. So when you choose different words, it already starts chilling out a little bit. I'm not saying a lot all the time, depending on where the trigger is coming from, if there's trauma behind that. But a lot of times it's at least going to chill you out. And then guess what the brain does. when it starts calming down the calm parasympathetic states the calm state of your nervous system it's in more optimal use of brain resources it wants to create an opportunity and solution for you it's going to start looking for answers when you ask a question so when you ask a question i'm curious why am i having anger right now you'll find out and start journaling figure out from there why and an optimal solution so that can create some momentum you guys for you there's sometimes more depth there's more layers to that especially there's other team members involved but it's a great way to help you start mastering that and moving forward because you're going to gain productivity performance and ultimately your bottom line so those are big things for emotional regulation so we talked about sleep we talked about emotional regulation and the third thing really even before exercise you guys know I didn't say exercise yet that's the fourth the third is really nutrition and by the way the big believer that is specific to each person metabolic rate blood type your past milk history i've been a practitioner a long time so specificity to your type of food plan is necessary to optimize your body and brain to feel vital that day however one thing i will say for every american across the board i will say every american okay we genetically modify a lot of different foods in this country okay for a variety of reasons and the thing is that happens we have a hard time digesting that colors food colorings all this and one of the things we genetically modify the most are wheat flour, our carbohydrates.

13:18And the reason why that's important for Americans to understand is Americans, 90 % of us eat too many carbs, too many wheat flour products. And most of us in research show that we have a mild to severe allergen to the genetically modified wheat products in everybody. So a mild to severe like celiacs, where you have more of an anaphylactic response. And the reason why that's important, everybody, it puts inflammation in your entire your body your brain your gut your whole body so you think if your brains alone flame do you think you're gonna be able to be more clear on your message articulate well during the day write up an email effectively no okay so those three are gonna be probably the biggest dominoes for you to start getting traction as a powerful leader to stay in your vitality and create connectedness and good productivity communication with your team sleep anything before midnight that's gonna be the big chunk for you guys number two learning how to manage and emotionally regulate your system.

14:14Sometimes you need coaching, consulting here, but at least trying to shift your words will open up Pandora's box in the brain in a powerful way. And then third, looking at not necessarily eliminating. I don't eat gluten. We eat flour, which is gluten itself, but at least modifying its usage, which can help calm down inflammation in the brain. And then fourth, we could go into a whole other podcast, is movement exercise. But those things, I believe, are really big things that can help people from a general level to create traction as powerful leaders and then they'll be in more powerful we need more coaching consulting beyond that you might actually live a little longer too i mean that's what you just uh gave was really a good recipe for uh you know having a you know a more enjoyable life period right 100 the quality of life don't we all want that the quality of life longevity of life right so if somebody came to you and said look i you know I listened to this or I went to your website and I'm ready to turn things around.

15:14Is there kind of a recipe for optimal health? Or you maybe said this already that everybody's different, but there's probably a few truths, I guess, that are going to show up on anybody's recipe, aren't they? No, absolutely. This is number one. We're just optimizing health. And again, everyone, leaders, this probably goes without saying, this is your vehicle that God gave you. We don't treat it well, hardly at all. It's really interesting. It's actually really brilliant. John, just by the way, we go on a whole other podcast on this, the brilliance of the body to rise, even with all the junk we inhale, from pollution to the food we're in, to the less activity, to the toxic environment, social media.

15:51Like, it's amazing our body actually rises as powerful it does. So just be thankful and grateful for that. If you want to optimize this, to actually work for you, because this is the tool, this is the vehicle we're using every day to show up, not just as John just said as leaders, but in our life as husbands, as fathers, as, Just wanting to enjoy life. First and foremost, I don't care if you're a person that's fit or a person that's athletic. You don't have to be. Get outside. The first thing I do in the morning all the time is get outside in the sun. Even if you don't have a lot of sun in your area and it's cloudy, it's still indirectly getting sun from just being outside in the light.

16:26There's so much that happens from vitamin D to actually grounding with the earth because we're positively negatively charged beings. So is the earth. It helps pull us into a powerful state, a calm state, a parasympathetic state for us to get ready for a day and optimize this. So get outside five minutes. You guys, I'm saying three hours exercise. Five minutes every day. Get outside. Put your head up in the sun. And this is where you're also going to second breathe, okay? Breath is life. It's not only necessary for all the interactions. It's a catalyst for many things inside our body to happen autonomically.

17:01but it also is huge for stabilizing our nervous system, our brain to body to be in a calm state. Again, the reason why I keep saying this already, 90 % of the day, our human beings are supposed to be in a calm, parasympathetic state. It's actually the reverse of that. So many Americans and leaders are stressed out. But the reason why that's important, research shows we need that for optimal brain and body to function. Okay. So that's why if they get outside, now that you've outside five minutes, we start breathing. You guys, there's so many different types of breath work out there. I use Wim Hof method with some of my clients.

17:35It depends on what your needs are, was more performance-based, trying to help with anxiety. But no matter what, just getting outside, taking 10 to 20 deep breaths starts that cycle going to get you into a calmer state. Again, there's more specifics that I teach to get more niche-y depending on what your needs are, but getting outside and breath is next. Third, the one thing that I always say you guys have to do is move. It doesn't have to be exercise. Move. It could be dance for five minutes. It could be jumping jacks. It could just be you doing some burpees for five minutes. It could be you just walking your dog.

18:12The reason why that's all also important is it's a triple kind of opportunity for you to not only get the blood flowing, okay, move into the brain, the body, get blood flowing, but guess what else it does? If you're waking up with what we talked about at the beginning of all this emotions that don't feel good emotions are energy just like food is energy when you start moving you actually start moving some of those negative anger depression anxiety outside of your body I'm not saying it's gonna be perfect depends the layers of what's going on there but it can move it through you guys I do this every morning if I'm feeling anxious about something I literally will jump up and down outside and it does move me into that calmer state because I'm moving energy that's not good out of my body and i'm getting the circulation for the day so get outside and it makes it makes for some good instagram posts too so yes yeah absolutely absolutely absolutely those are probably the biggest three yeah those are probably the biggest three things john but then i would say this connection is key we're relational beings and one thing that's going to help us from a vitality a physical standpoint and also an emotional standpoint is get connected to people that are your tribe it's not just your team that's in your business that's on the same mission and mission that love it but also the people outside we always hear this that the people the five people that you're on the most also influence you the most right but get around people that you feel good around everyone that works on your physical emotional mental well-being let alone all the things that can help you in mastermind and get the things that you want done in your business so So connection with people is cute.

19:51You're right, people. Moving, you know, really making sure that you're doing some breath and getting outside. If I give any tools, it'll be the four that I would give to people to start your day off. This is going to help you get to a higher frequency, calm the nervous system, to be ready to go and perform no matter what is happening in your environment that day. Well, I happen to be lucky enough to live in a national forest, so forest bathing is certainly something I do every single day. Well, Jennifer, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Anywhere you want to invite people to connect with you?

20:23Absolutely. So I'm the most active on LinkedIn and Instagram. LinkedIn, I'm Jennifer Watson. And then on Instagram, it's The Jennifer Watson. And I do answer my own DMs. So if you have any questions about this podcast or continue connecting with me more and learning more about what I do and how I can support you, connect with me there and be more than happy to support you. Awesome. Again, thanks for taking a moment to stop by, and hopefully we'll run into you one of these days in Colorado soon.