Serve Conscious

Learn what mindset really is and how it can (and must) be applied beyond just learning and performance. It was actually inspired by Stanford psychologist Dr. Alia Crum's study of hotel workers that revealed how an instantaneous perspective shift can occur from a simple suggestion. You'll be amazed at the profound impact that the team's new mindset had on the physiological level - and hopefully become inspired to try planting similar seeds with your service team.We discuss...The unexpected ways that mindset is influenced in your organization.How the simple ways in which you listen and ask questions can effect mindset.The gradual and instantaneous ways that unhealthy mindsets can be shifted.General praise-filled announcements aren't enough - understand the importance of individual connection in positively influencing your team members' mindsets.The role of mindset in creating a culture of true safety where everyone feels inspired to share mistakes, struggles and differing opinions.Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesContact or Work With MeGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

It seems like there's a lot that can go wrong when implementing something like mindfulness, coaching,  or any mental wellness modality into your workplace culture. You might be thinking, "What if everyone thinks it's weird ?" or "What if they don't like the facilitator?" or "What if they're tired of trainings and just don't wanna show up?"This episode answers all of these questions, and more, discussing creative (and sometimes surprising) solutions to these common uncertainties. We explore things like...How to have a remote program for team members that are burnt out of Zoom.The role of discomfort in practice, well, anything providing mental wellness.How to evaluate whether a problem with the program is actually a problem.The value of culture-matching your facilitators.How to make mental wellness less serious and, potentially, more fun.Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesContact or Work With MeGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Do you do a one-off workshop or offer continuous support? Do you offer mindfulness, coaching or some other brain-tweaking modality? Do you bring in a third party or give your team the training to build an in-house program? If you're looking to begin a mental wellness program in your organization, these are good questions to be asking. Each organization has a unique culture with its own wellness needs so knowing determining the right fit for you is the name of the game.Why should you even bother doing this in the first place? Good question. We explore the importance of articulating your mental wellness mission before initiating your program.The right kind of space to create so that your team will get the most benefit out of the program.How far into wellness do you need to go to get real results? We explore how to easily (and affordably) make it part of your culture. How to extract the most benefit from any third party teacher or coach that enters your organization.Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesContact or Work With MeGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

We live in a time where it never feels like there's enough mental energy to go around. A big part of my mission is certainly to help people build more of this energy so that can be happier, healthier and more successful. But on the other side of this equation is the importance of acknowledging the limited inner resources of others. You can make an extraordinary difference in your relationship with a team member or customer by acknowledging the effort put into simple every day tasks.This episode gets into the powerful strategies you can use to build a service culture, retain your best players and ultimately provide a smoother experience for your customers. All from simply accounting for the fact that we humans have limited time on this earth and how we spend it actually matters.Highlights:People are drawn to other people and experiences that: 1) demand less energy from them 2) appreciate the energy that they do put in.The existential crises that your older team members might be facing and how you can prevent them from thinking you're the reason for it.How TV's Ted Lasso can teach us how to influence through kindness and validationHow generosity pays off in the long run.The Serve Conscious mission is re-focusing its mission on only organizational challenges (not individual professional challenges - stay tuned for the Professional People Pleaser Podcast, which will focus solely on those areas).Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesContact or Work With MeGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Maybe you say "yes" to too much, or pick up the slack of negligent co-workers, or get pushed around by customers or managers. Feelings of resentment are probably one of the most common experiences in the workplace that nobody wants to deal with. Why? Maybe we don't like our resentful selves. We'd rather not feel so petty, grumpy and victimized as it concerns our daily commitments. But what happens when we don't like a feeling? You guessed it: we avoid it! It doesn't get the attention and healing it needs and it continues to fester. So I wanted to dedicate this episode to the specific tendencies we have to perform tasks resentfully and work on them using our mindful self-coaching skills. You might learn... Resentment is a spectacular opportunity to learn about our values, relational tendencies, communication habits, and general sense of freedom.The feeling of resentment isn't necessarily the problem as much as the STORY that comes with it - so we'll learn just how to deal with such mental stories.Game-changing ways of saying no, making requests and dealing with what appear to be unavoidable demands.Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesContact or Work With MeGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

I think this is the perfect holiday practice and also has a profound impact on the people-management skills you need for true  service (AKA: the part that really counts). I challenge you to practice it using the person in your life that you find most different from you, most difficult to understand, or just straight-up most annoying.This is a practice that uses visualization and intention-setting to prepare your mind for whatever all the crazy humans in your life might throw at you, making you better at automatically responding in a more compassionate, patient and understanding way. it works wonders for healing difficult relationships and for managing difficult customers. Although the full practice (minus the brief and de-brief in this recording) is around 10 minutes, you can shorten it to mean your time constraints. Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

The holidays provide an opportunity to connect to the aspects of service that are truly meaningful to you. And this is the key to really serving to your highest potential: doing what makes YOU feel good (not just what you think you have to do). This episode shows you how to go beyond just the transactional job requirements of service and access your natural motivation to serve REGARDLESS of what you're getting out of it.Also discussed...How to respect your customer's/client's individuality while still attempting to guide them towards their best interests.How to make a REAL new year's resolution (that will also lead to sustainable change to your life of service).How make service feel more meaningful.How pride in your work can lead to snobby mindsets that alienate you from your customers.How inner resentment of your customers can affect them even if it's bottled up.Why you need to become an expert on your own life and how that will help you serve others (especially those that appear to make the worst possible decisions for themselves).Next episode:A guided "Just Like Me" practice that preps your mind to connect to almost anyone - even if you seem to have nothing in common - and allows you to get more out of serving them. Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

If a customer or colleague is being unkind, why do we insist on feeling personally attacked by it? Well, we're designed to. We can try as hard as we want to not take things personally, but we all know that never works. So what do we do? You're going to learn a much different approach to keeping your sense of self from getting affected by someone else's foul mood so you can continue to perform and enjoy your service-oriented work.We'll learn...Why most of the advice your friends/colleagues/bosses give you after you've been attacked by a customer simply doesn't work - and what you need to do instead.Communication skills that get you out of your own head and into understanding where the attacks are coming from in the first place.How to stop missing opportunities to raise your self-worth and become more resilient to challenging interactions.Ways you need to start being your own support system.How to embrace taking something personally in a way that actually totally defuses its intensity.Goes Well With...How to Let Things GoMindful Communication w/ Oren Jay SoferGo Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Do you find yourself making assumptions, criticisms or unfair evaluations of the people you serve or work with? These ideas may just float by your mind and remain internal, or they'll slip out at the wrong time and wound a relationship. Either way, being judgmental might feel like it really gets in the way of your success and happiness. Be sure to listen to the end of this episode  since you're going to be left with powerfully simple methods to master your judgmental mind. Expect to learn:That you can't control judgment, and trying to stop it can be counterproductive (I know, I know, I answer all those, "What the heck do I do instead?!" questions, don't worry).How awareness is your most powerful ally and how you can start building proper awareness skills.How mistaken judgments can be used to your advantage.The key to have the best relationship to your thoughts - even the really unhelpful ones.How judgmental tendencies make you more self-critical - and what to do about it.How judgmental thinking isn't just about being overly negative about someone. (Wait, can you actually be too positive? We'll talk about).Goes Well With...How "what" questions can often be more useful than "why" questions.Self-Worth, Gratitude & How to Make Service Feel Like A Privilege | Ep. 102Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Do you find yourself making assumptions, criticisms or unfair evaluations of the people you serve or work with? These ideas may just float by your mind and remain internal, or they'll slip out at the wrong time and wound a relationship. Either way, being judgmental might feel like it really gets in the way of your success and happiness. Be sure to listen to the end of this episode  since you're going to be left with powerfully simple methods to master your judgmental mind. Expect to learn:That you can't control judgment, and trying to stop it can be counterproductive (I know, I know, I answer all those, "What the heck do I do instead?!" questions, don't worry).How awareness is your most powerful ally and how you can start building proper awareness skills.How mistaken judgments can be used to your advantage.The key to have the best relationship to your thoughts - even the really unhelpful ones.How judgmental tendencies make you more self-critical - and what to do about it.How judgmental thinking isn't just about being overly negative about someone. (Wait, can you actually be too positive? We'll talk about).Goes Well With...How "what" questions can often be more useful than "why" questions.Self-Worth, Gratitude & How to Make Service Feel Like A Privilege | Ep. 102Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Loved having a dialogue-style session with my homie Neal Woodson, who was kind enough to return to jam out on some of our mutually-beloved topics like empathy/compassion, service cultures, dealing with difficult humans, and how to help professionals feel empowered to serve to their highest potential.Other questions we chewed on...Are we getting more empathetic/compassionate as a society?How has COVID made us better at understanding the people we serve?How can “seeing the iceberg” transform your ability to service people that are suffering?Why should you be grateful when you're stuck in traffic?Why are people inspired to work at Disney (sometimes unconditionally)?Should a company be customer first or employee first? (Spoiler alert: you're asking the wrong question).Find Neal here one his website. Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

"Ummmmmm, excuse me? I thought you always start with 'Why?'" I know, I know - sorry Simon Sinek fans. Him and all those other Why-seekers out there are not misguided, they just maybe haven't experienced the volatility and unreliability of 'Why?' questions.  In this episode I wanted to talk about contacting the purpose that drives your service and the key foundation of awareness that's good to have before the 'why's' are able to take you anyway.What the heck am I talking about?The importance of connecting to the feeling of purpose - a profoundly more effective way of approaching purpose than looking at is as an objective or a reason. True purpose is not always reasonable.How to familiarize yourself with the truly meaningful drivers of the work you do so you can create maximum impact, happiness and fulfillment.How to avoid the uncertainty and abstraction that exploring 'Why?' can create.When to check in with and re-evaluate expired 'Why's.How to use your past pain to heal and help others.Goes Well With...Service Prep Practice | Mobilize Your Inner Service SuperheroWin By Letting Go of Service Outcomes | Ep. 111Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

What a great conversation with a fellow service superhero, Molly Bruttomesso of Wunderkind, a darling of the digital marketing world that seems to be in a continual phase of blossoming.We covered a lot of ground around organizational culture, professional growth, true customer support, and more, so I definitely recommend this episode if you are a service leader or a service professional looking to grow into your potential. Some of the points we covered included:The importance of supporting the individuality and humanity of your team.Honoring the particular strengths of your people reveals that the  bubbly personality traits that are stereotypically associated with service are not necessarily what determines a great professional (and how, in fact, the opposite is often true).How setting weekly mantras can be more effective than weekly goals.How true professional growth sometimes doesn't require seeking the next promotion.Mindfulness and meditation practices that are actually relevant to the workplace (and life in general).Roads That Lead to MollyConnect w/ Molly (LinkedIn)Work for Wunderkind - they are growing and need awesome people like you!Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This guided practice combines a lot of tools into one big activation of your very best qualities. By envisioning yourself handling challenges, creating positive impact and generally being the person your want to show up as, the mind will begin to habitually think, act and crush it as the superhero you already know you are. To maximize this session...Find a comfortable spot, where you won't be disturbed. (Do NOT attempt this while driving).Hit play.Follow the instructions. Embrace doing any aspect of it "imperfectly."The main stages of the practice look like this...Focusing the mind.Understanding your current emotional state.Envisioning your service superhero self.Feeling embodied in this fully-realized version of yourself.Visualization yourself thriving in challenges and creating positive impact.Setting the intention to embody more of your service superhero self throughout the day.Practice this before service or a big moment you want to feel super prepared for. Once you get the hang of it, you can dip into shortened versions of it, but as much of the full journey as possible is ideal since it prepares the mind for optimal visualization and intention-setting capabilities.Note: Planning to later add a script so you can pick and choose sections in the event that you're ever short on time.Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

As service professionals, our work gets super-powered by the need to help others, bring happiness, solve problems, etc. The problem is: we get so latched onto these outcomes manifesting that we get crushed by things not turning out how we want. What to do? You can't control people's disappointing responses to our good service intentions. But if we let go of our need for positive outcomes, we may lose the very spark that motivates us!Guess what...Letting go is an art that you simply haven't been taught properly.When and where we aim our "letting go energy" is everything.You can still double down on setting really lofty intentions for a good service outcome if you learn some tricks for adapting to the outcome.You can't force letting go...so stop trying.Letting go actually involves the most surprising and counterintuitive approach to our minds that you imagine.Mindfulness makes this all happen beautifully (P.S. It's easy and I end up teaching it to you on the fly in about 90 seconds).Goes Well With...You'll Never Make Anyone HappyKarma Yoga (Article)Karma Yoga (Podcast)Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Relationships to customers are everything - same with relationships to coworkers, friends, family and (maybe most of all) ourselves. This episode looks at the inevitability of stress - especially in a role as stressful as service - and how to not only be able to handle the discomfort of it, but also rise to meet the challenges ahead of you.This one is part of a continuing series on stress and, though it stands alone, you can listen to the first part here.Inside:What stress really is - and how often you experience it - may surprise you.Do we really need stress to perform?How your mind prolongs what would otherwise be a short stress reaction - and how to hack that programming.How stress compromises your judgment, awareness and general humanity - and to prevent it from taking over your mind.How to use stress as a call to adapt to change. Complementary:Free Mindfulness Course - Master That Human Thing!Guided Practice: Self-CompassionGo Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

What would service life be like if stress wasn't a problem? Thus begins a series tackling the obstacle to service success that is so pervasive, its influence cannot be understated.Inside:Stress release: effective and ineffective ways to actually get the stress out of your physiology.Keeping stress from messing up your work life is not just a matter of "reducing" it, but becoming resilient to it.How stress affects you and lives in your body - and what you can do about it. The positives and negatives of "letting your anger out" - are there alternatives?Complimentary...Previous Episode: The Struggles of Holding in Our Pain & Performing the "Happy" Customer Service RoleUpcoming Free Mindfulness Course - Master That Human Thing!Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Service professionals are especially required to show that they are in pleasant emotional states - cheerful, calm, friendly, etc.  But when you're not feeling that way, it's often difficult and straining to fake these emotions. This episode talks about these struggles of "Emotional Labor" and how to emerge victorious in what can often feel like a miserable trap of performance expectations.You'll learn...How to get better at feeling unpleasant emotions and the surprising positive impact that it has on our emotional state.What real authenticity is - it's not what you think.When empathy can work against you.How to cultivate compassion for customers.A powerful visualization practice that allows you to genuinely become more of the person you want to be so that you can more readily summon authentic emotions when you need them.How to bring the right intentions to everything you do.Do This Too!Self-Compassion Practice - feel what you're feeling!Free yourself from any ideas of being obligated.Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Important stuff we make sure you walk away with in this episode...No more fear of being "selfish". Selflessness is not what you think it is.The importance of understanding and meeting your needs (as well as your customers'/coworkers'/employers')Do you feel "forced" to serve a certain way (by clients or management? Here's how to work with this.How to make everything feel voluntary (esp. service!) - AKA: like it's your choice. Freedom is a mindset!The importance of boundaries (personal and professional) in order to be the service master you can be.Why you also need to keep the macro-aspect aspect of your service game in mind.As promised, some complementary content...Upcoming Free Mindfulness Course - Master That Human Thing!Serving Mindfully = Understanding How Free You AreGo Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Do you think that the principles of running an organization and the best practices of piloting a commercial jet are an unlikely combo for a leadership guide? You won't think so by the end of this discussion with dynamic duo Octavian Pantis and Emil G Dobrovolschi. They share pearls of wisdom from the book they recently co-authored, Dark Cockpit: How to Communicate, Lead, and Be in Control at All Times Like an Airline Captain.Get ready to learn some interesting and powerful new perspectives on communication and leadership practices!Inside The CockpitWhy good leaders do as little as possible during a crisis (wait, what?).How to create better learning environments by forcing mistakes.How to be more supportive, patient and understanding, even in high stakes environments. How to work fluidly and intimately with an ever-changing team.Don't underestimate the power of briefings - learn how to actually nail the art of information your team (or speaking up as a teammember).How to communicate like nothing can be assumed (because it can't be). Use repetition and redundancy to make people feel understood.The BookDark Cockpit: How to Communicate, Lead, and Be in Control at All Times Like an Airline CaptainThis is EmilLinkedInThis is OctavianLinkedInGo Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Being able to connect with people and navigate a social situation is not a “have it or you don't” quality. It's a learnable skill that gets nurtured by surprisingly simple practices. In this episode you'll get connected with some of the ways that I broke out of emotional illiteracy.You'll also learn ...How to build your social capabilities without learning “charisma tricks”.How restoring your mental and emotional health is  the root structure of social competency in service.A 3-step process for shifting a bad work situation from something you're simply “surviving” to something you actually have the power to change.How to give more balanced service by pulling back on an area that you commonly over-deliver on and give more to an area that you often miss.How mastering your emotional life is at the core of mastering your customer's emotional life.What it means when you've been “working on yourself”, but some old emotional pattern shows itself.Further Assistance:Guides: Meditation that works for anybody plus a meditation that I think particularly transforms your emotional and social range.Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

An inspiring discussion with Kass Thomas, entrepreneur, coach and communication expert. Learn how to discover and pursue what lights you up (it might be so natural that you don't even notice it).Other riches inside:The effect that work culture and management has on the ultimate experience of the customer. How to stop devaluing the contribution you make to others through the work you do.How to own your role rather than worrying about your status.Presence = there are no bad experiences.How the definition of "work" is different in other countries and what this tells us about what work has to be.All roads that lead to Kass Thomas:TwitterYouTubeInstagramFacebookGo Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement: Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

I'm very excited to share this conversation with Kenneth Starr, who served as solicitor general of the United States from 1989-1993. Though he's probably best known for leading the perjury investigation of president Bill Clinton from 1994-98, he may not be as well known for his lifelong work as a public servant and legal education leader. Currently, he serves on the boards of Christian Legal Society, Advocates International and Alliance Defending Freedom. Throughout his career, he has championed the cause of religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all persons. We gathered mainly to discuss his book Religious Liberty in Crisis: Exercising Your Faith in an Age of Uncertainty, which is a very rich account of the constitutionally protected nature of religious practice in America (even though he himself is a practicing Christian, the book emphasizes the freedom available to all all religions, from Shamanic to Islamic). The discussion spoke to my lifelong fascination with religion and belief systems as well as my more recent explorations of public service. Key PointsWhat makes something an "essential" service? See how COVID revealed America's priorities when governments shut down synagogues, churches and temples, but kept chain stores, casinos and liquor stores firing on all cylinders.How we need to rediscover the importance of maintaining a religiously diverse society.How to make space for people with different world views.The value of having some sort of faith as a catalyst for truly serving your community.Go Deeper Into the Mindful Service Movement  Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This week we talk about the belief responsible for continuous and untold damage to your workplace well-being:"I am looked down upon and not respected." This belief is all-too-common - and understandable - in service-oriented roles so having the tools to kill the negative impact of it is super game-changing.  I show you some simple techniques, plus more!Recommended Pairings:Podcast Episode: Next-Level Gratitude Practices That'll Fill Your Service TankGo Deeper Into the Mindful Service MovementSubscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Don't miss this talk. I mean, c'mon, it's with the twin engines of human potential, Mark Victor Hansen and Crystal Dwyer Hansen. Individually they're authors and coaches that have set world records, transformed businesses, and imbued countless people with the tools they need for true health, happiness and success. Together, they're the co-authors of their first (of many, I'm sure) joint publication Ask!: The Bridge from Your Dreams to Your Destiny. Our discussion centers around the book's main objective: helping you recover the lost art of asking the right questions. What are the right questions to ask? Well, you'll have to listen to find out, but here's a spoiler: they're the questions that 1) direct your life towards its highest purpose and 2) allow you to be an agent to help others do the same.Why this discussion was awesome:They show us actual techniques where you can use the asking process meditatively in order to begin thinking and perceiving on a higher level.You'll learn how to discern wise thoughts from unhelpful thoughts.They'll reveal the power of storytelling as a means of understanding and overcoming your own challenges.You'll learn why we, as humans, tend to suck at asking and how to drop the common hangups that get in the way of our fullest potential.You can see how to be successful, inspirational and masterful at whatever work you do no matter where "on the ladder" your role is.All Roads That Lead to Mark & CrystalMark Victor Hansen Crystal Dwyer HansenOrder the Book: Ask!: The Bridge from Your Dreams to Your DestinyGo Deeper Into the Mindful Service MovementSubscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

For this milestone episode, I share some love for you my listeners and also my inspiration for creating this podcast.  And also...Awareness practices that make others want to be around you.What I learned from the art of interviewing and how you can transform your daily (non-podcasting) life with the same skills.How to notice when your comfort zone has snuck up on you - and break out of it!How reflective writing really works.How you can bring the badassery of Joe Rogan to your service game.The power of playing the supportive role.Go Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

An eye-opening conversation with Dr. John Demartini, human behavior specialist who's authored over 40 books in 38 languages - many of which are international bestsellers. He's presented his vision of human potential alongside some of the world's most elite leaders thinkers and leaders -  from Wayne Dyer to Sir Richard Branson. He's been on Larry King Live, CNN, CNBC, and is a contributor to Oprah Magazine and hundreds of other magazines.But his lifelong mission has also taken him to underserved and impoverished communities, providing tools to thrive in challenging circumstances. The stories he tells are moving and motivating. Check it out and learn along with me!All Roads to Dr. John DemartiniHomepageFacebookInstagramLinkedInYouTube

If you think you're a bad communicator, then fear not, communication is a learned skill. And my guest Dan Huston has found that after 20+ years of teaching it: you can't learn how to really, deeply speak and listen (emphasis on the "listen") without learning how to do it mindfully. Hope you can catch our amazing conversation where we discuss things like:The importance of self-awareness (physical and mental) while communicating with others.True communication is not about having a prepared script for everyone situation.Why you can trust yourself to have a good response available without planning what to say while someone else is talking.How "soft skills" like communication are priceless in even the most technical jobs.Mindfulness transforms how you ascribe blame in any dynamic.All Roads That Lead to Dan Huston:Dan's Site Dan's Communication ProgramDan's TEDx TalkDan's Book: "Communicating Mindfully"Wow, Another TEDx Talk! Faithful Sidekicks:Say What You Mean: Interview / Oren Jay SoferGo Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

We've talked about the power of gratitude in elevating our service game (while bringing greater happiness to our lives in general). Now we're going to learn how to be gratitude masters with these high-octane approaches to living with appreciation.Inside:How to practice gratitude so it feels honest and brings real results.The different made by practicing gratitude on hard-mode.SoF: Sense of Fullness - what it is and how it determines service success and professional growth.How to challenge yourself to choose a different route than the usual complaints.Why you have the same qualities as people you think are way more awesome and saintly than you are.Go Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

So fortunate that Ron Kaufman could offer me some of his time and wisdom for a superpowered conversation around his lifelong mission to transform how organizations serve. I first discovered him in reading his best-selling book Uplifting Service, which I now consider required reading for anyone looking to make their organization have extraordinary - from the interior culture to the final product. He looks at the system of service in a particularly holistic way - every dimension matters and can be continually fine-tuned like a luxury automobile. One could call him a thought leader in "the art of blowing customers away" or perhaps "hitting the always-moving target of being an exceptional service provider." Discussed (Among Many Other Things):The future of work is a service-oriented landscape. Learn how "serving, caring and loving" puts you on the leading edge. True service is the kind that is authentic - the person serving actually cares and wants to help. The right and wrong ways companies go about trying to cultivate authentic service in their team.How to build more warmth and humanity into your service game - regardless of how gravely functional your product is and at how large of a scale you deliver it.The most effective ways that companies can start evolving their culture to support their team’s growth and development as service professionals.All Roads That Lead to Ron Kaufman:ronkaufman.comLinkedIn PageFaithful Sidekicks:Bringing Humanity Back to Large Scale ServiceGo Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramConnect with me on LinkedInCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This is a short guided practice that I consider to be martial arts training for emotional resilience. You’re basically exercising attention and feeling capacity as though it’s a muscle. You can do this:After work, if you find you need to shake off difficult situations that are still clinging to you.You can also start your day with it as a morning meditation to build a state of calm, compassion, well-being and generosity, but also toughness in the face of discomfort and conflict. This can be done in the middle of the day if you have an opportunity to get away and reboot your hard drive.A short version can also be done as an in-action mindfulness practice rather than a formal meditation practice that you need to isolate yourself for.Go Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

What does it look like when the organization you're employed at supports every aspect of your inner growth? What's required to do ensure that this strategy produces an extraordinarily successful business (versus a disastrous one)? This episode looks at:The cost of hiding our inner selves from our workplace.Pretending we're awesome and performing on the surface is not enough.How our success is most affected by the deepest struggles we bring to our jobs.How you can continue to professionally grow if you don't work at an organization that supports your inner growth.Practices you can do with a partner or on your own to clear out your obstacles to professional presence and growth.Also: Check out the Upcoming webcast with the Institute for Organizational Mindfulness.Faithful Sidekicks:Download: Chart of Human Needs + EmotionsPodcast Episode: Navigate Human NeedGo Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Is service something that you either just naturally have an affinity or not? In this episode, we continue to explore the reality that everything is learnable. We know that service learnable, but how is its fulfilling nature equally learnable? After introducing The Service Mindset in the previous episode, we get into how to actually develop this service mindset. We discuss techniques to...Make service feel meaningful again.Connect with the kinds of ways you want to serve.Make all the work you do feel like volunteer work.Cultivate one of the most powerful service skills: the beginner's mind.Become better at learning - even if you've been in the same environment for a long time.Use meditation and mindfulness to develop your service mindset.Recommended Pairings:The Beginner's MindThe Service MindsetGo Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Service is natural and yet every aspect of it is learnable. Understand the mindset that assures success, growth and fulfillment in service.This article about The Service Mindset gets into more detail. Here's a list of features of these mindsets...The growth mindset in service...Service can be mastered, but requires the same persistent effort and presence with the process as any other skill. Mastery of service occurs in proportion to mastery of myself.Service is an opportunity to become my best possible self.Growth is nourished by openly meeting service challenges.Resilience, effort, grit and adaptability are my greatest resources. Just as the growth mindset doesn’t require ego-gratifying performances for it to be meaningful for me, my role doesn’t require ego-gratifying service opportunities.It’s not about proving myself, impressing others, being accepted or deemed valuable, but my willingness to meet every service opportunity head-on.Growth is made most possible by a sense of service to something greater than my own ego. I’m on a lifelong journey of development. I’m always in-process and always have something to learn (from sometimes the most unexpected places)How the service mindset can take the growth mindset even further...Anyone can love service – all they need is the right service context that reveals its value in a way that resonates with this particular person. Will any other skill (weaving, basketball, computer science, corporate leadership), you need to actually have an affinity for it to apply the growth mindset to it. With service, you just need to find the context that is right for you.Service itself offers meaning and fulfillment rather than just the improvement of myself and my skill set. Service makes the growth process especially inviting since the growth journey now also involves positively impacting others. Even with the right mindset, the growth process can sometimes feel solitary and isolated. With service, my journey of self-mastery becomes shared with others – their needs, hopes and struggles are revealed to be interconnected with my own. I’m always in-process, always becoming, but always worthy of equal care and love as my craft – and those I serve. The energy I’d put into my own success/happiness will just as readily be offered to others – in fact, it’s usually more gratifying to do so.Every moment is an opportunity to live the growth-through-service process, not just the areas where you’re deliberately training, learning or even on the job.The value of having an open, embracing self-image that’s always available to learning is not just valuable for your own development, but the capacity to truly show up for others.Even if I found another role that isn’t directly service-oriented, service is still at play. Service is always at play and always where growth and fulfillment is possible.Go Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This superpower will...Allow you to resonate with and skillfully communicate with others.Change your habits in how you respond to people when they are "being difficult", making you less reactive and more patient and understandingDevelop emotional intelligence, resilience to challenges, compassion, and understanding.Develop inner happiness - things like compassion inspire surprisingly levels of happiness in the people practicing it.Stage 1: SetupFind a quiet place to sit.Close your eyes (or just unfix them from focusing on anything).Just try and move your attention from your thoughts to your body breathing.See if you can slow and deepen your breathing.Select the your target (you'll be visualizing them). There are options:Someone you’re currently struggling with (colleague or customer).Someone that really bothered you (colleague or customer).Everyone you might serve today (as a big crowd of people).Everyone you ever served (as a crowd).Stage 2: MimicryRepeat these phrases to yourself, keep your object in mind:This person/people needs to feel safe and healthy, just like me.They need to feel free, just like me.They need love and belonging, just like me.They need to feel joy - just like me.They need honesty and integrity - just like me.They need life to make sense - just like me.They need to feel like they matter - just like me.They need peace and relief from struggle - just like me.Throughout, also keep your awareness in your body and notice the feelings that the practice brings up.This sequence can be repeated as much as is necessary.Switch objects as necessary.Stage 3: Kindness PowerKeeping your object in mind, send them good will in the form of phrases like the following:May you be happy.May you be healthy.May you have what you need.May you be free of struggle and pain.Repeat as often as you have time for.Try and put as much feeling and intention of care and goodwill behind the phrases.Note when the phrases get empty and repetitive - return to the feeling of care.If you find that you’re unable to care or that your mind is arguing against behind kind to your object(s), then this is totally normal and a sign of successful practice.Keep doing it.Important: remember to do this practice on yourself as well.

If you've read the great service book Setting the Table, you might be familiar with Danny Meyer's "Collecting Dots" Principle. When I began to realize that the most important aspect of my own service game was my capacity for awareness, I asked myself, "How can that be applied to the inner game of Service as well?"Inside:How to trust yourself to handle uncomfortable situations.What happens when you collect information openly, readily and fearlessly.The mindset that allows you to learn, grow, and evolve - even from familiar every day situations!Go Deeper Into Mastering the Service Mindset:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesGet Access to the live workshops and master the service mindsetJoin the Facebook CommunityFollow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

“If you know you have something to give, you have personal power no matter what.”-Clifton CarmodySuch a profound discussion with a former hospitality leader who now coaches leaders to achieve "purpose, peace and profit in life and business". He was just named Business Insiders top 20 mindful thought leaders to follow into 2021. Somehow, in his spare time, he also manages the renowned Tsultrim Allione's Buddhist meditation center in Colorado. Such a great opportunity to tap into the wisdom of true agent of conscious business. And listen for a very special and insanely generous offer from Clifton - all you have to do is email him and mention the show.In this discussion...How a brief encounter with the Dalai Lama resulted in his discovery of the truest, most unexpected way that he could be of service to the world.How to compassionately lead and still be firm and effectively - and the success it will bring you.What happens when you shake off fear-based management styles that (we've been conditioned to accept by industrial revolution thinking) and tap into the possibility and profitability of conscious business principles in the service sector."We don't need more monks, we just need more business leaders that are caring." How to care for employees during lockdown and the economic stress of the hospitality industry.How to re-apply service skills to other career paths and thrive during a period where so many service sectors - especially hospitality-oriented - have been compromised.How the principles of service recovery (weaving magic from mishap) in a company can be applied to transforming your own life.How to create a "staff of leaders" that are self-sufficient, resilient and capable of handling any service challenge.How service and care creates success and fulfillment no matter what kind of role you have (customer-facing or not) or where you are in your career (management or mailroom).All Roads That Lead to Clifton:MNDFL LDR Homepage Email CliftonLinkedInFacebookInstaGo Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesCheck Out The Serve Conscious Homepage and Get Your Game-changing Mindful Service Guides!Join the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This is a strategy and quick practice to consistently drop into greater self-awareness throughout the day - have more calm, focus and authority over your emotions throughout the day. This is basically the essentials of mindfulness packed into 10 minutes or so. And like all mindful practices can be done quickly, compressed to a few minute check-in. For example:1) How am I breathing?2) How am I feeling? (scan body, name some emotions)3) What are my thoughts doing?4) What else is worth noticing?5) What do I need right now?Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesCheck Out The Serve Conscious Homepage and Get Your Game-changing Mindful Service Guides!Join the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This episode is for leaders and aspiring rockstars at the organizational levels of service in addition to restaurant and hospitality domains.Why are beautifully-recovered service experiences often considered the best ones? Because service isn’t technical, it’s emotional. Any service-oriented business is in the market of emotions. And customer journeys that dip and recover offer the most memorable emotional arc. Emotionally-charged reviews and stories to friends are more likely to follow from such a scenario.Customer loyalty is more likely to emerge from a good recovery because the organization basically stress-tested itself in front of them and revealed that not only are they awesome when things are good, but they’re even better when things inevitably go wrong. They can be trusted to handle anything.A truly effective service recovery can’t just feel like another protocol being followed and it can't even just be a gesture of, “What can we do for you beyond what we normally offer?” It has to be driven by, “How can we compassionately see your unique struggle and offer you something tailored to your truest needs?”Protocols and policies are nothing in comparison to what your people on the frontline have learned (or intuited) will delight their customers on an individual level. Your employees are more likely to do the intelligent thing when they are given the respect, space and trust to do so. It’s being bogged down with policies that make them freeze up and not know how to act. Rather than punishing errors, it's much more effective to focus on enabling your team to improve the situation, and reward them for recovering, learning and growing. They will improve and your customer loyalty and happiness will accelerate.Recommended Pairings:Handle mistakes like an emotion master with this Guided Self-Compassion PracticeGo Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesCheck Out The Serve Conscious Homepage and Get Your Game-changing Mindful Service Guides!Join the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This is a "don't leave home without it" practice. This is a special one because it's not meant to be done in a safe, quiet place. It's a self-compassion practice, which are meant to help you meet your moments of greatest struggle.Yeah, service is painful and emotionally challenging. And in case you're saying "Yeah...and so is, like, all of life", that's exactly why you need to always have this in your back pocket.Customers can be cruel. Even if they weren't we make mistakes that invite us to lash ourselves. What if our biggest, most painful inner challenges only need to be moments of emotional discomfort that pass without leaving an imprint?By default, we tense up and speak viciously to ourselves, furthering the intensity. And also, more deeply carving beliefs that we are lowly and deficient (too easy of a temptation in the service role). What if we could break that pattern and meet the reactions we have with the kindness and support of a good friend?This episode is a step-by-step guide to meeting your inner challenges with understanding, support and care rather than the self-condemnation we so often subject ourselves to. It's a game-changer. Follow the instructions, get comfortable with the approach and get into the habit of doing this on your own.Below is a brief summary of how to quickly move through this practice on your own. Call it: Recognize a moment of struggle (emotional discomfort). Tell yourself "this is struggle. It's natural and universal.Notice: What you're thinking and feeling with openness, curiosity, and non-rejection. Inquire: Ask yourself, "what kind of support do I need right now?" Understanding? Care? Motivation? Encouragement?)Serve Yourself: Speak to yourself as a friend would. Provide the support you would normally outsource. See how much of a caring feeling you can offer yourself. Embrace the struggle as a mentor to yourself that knows you are growing and learningThe effects of this practice on happiness, energy levels, growth, success, you name it, are unquestionable. Deliver a powerful dose of self-compassion to yourself, disrupt the usual cycle of negativity and you'll feel capable of handling anything (after all, challenges are usually only scary because we expect to abuse ourselves through the process).Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesCheck Out The Serve Conscious Homepage and Get Your Game-changing Mindful Service Guides!Check out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This episode is a response to requests for some more guided practices. Knowing that we all have limited time and space in our lives for these things, I wanted to provide you with what is basically my favorite practice for building the service mindset. It's also one of the 3 most important meditation practices I have in my life.Just follow the audio instructions - and then go about your day.You'll need a quiet place to practice - or just anywhere that's safe to close your eyes.Do this regularly and life and work will start to be a very different experience for you.You may notice you have more energy, calm, compassion, generosity - and general capability to master difficult service skills.Another written version of this can be found here in the Serve Conscious Practices page. A written Step-by-Step is below (and it's a little different than the one we practiced, but generates very similar results.Sit down, closed your eyes and just sort of settle in and soak in yourself.Feel your body naturally fill and empty itself of air.Settle your attention into your body and noticing the sensations of breathingAnd then just have a look at what’s churning in you..Bring your attention to your heart area.Try and see what feelings of goodness in are churning you. You'll recognize them: they might feel warm, good-willing, caring, expansive, etc.And now let’s stir those sensations up a bit.Think to yourself or apply the intentions:“Let’s be happy.”Feel the results.“Let’s thrive."Feel the results.“Let’s belong.”Feel the results.Now, visualize everyone you love, everyone that irritates you, everyone that you’re indifferent to - people you saw once the other day in a line somewhere - and everyone you serve in some way.Rather than just thinking thoughts about them, try and just see the details of them like you’re watching a movie.And if all these individual people are too much to process, just maybe visualize a crowd that represents them.Hold them as best you can, with openness and care.Note they’re all probably struggling with something right now.Or probably a number of things - things, that make them feel unsafe or hurt in some way.What’s happening in your heart when you notice this?What feelings are churning? (It could be irritation - everything goes).Then repeat that first process of well wishing: "Let's be happy, thrive, belong."And keeping your attention soaking in your goodness, bring your attention back to your breath.Feel yourself back in the room.Open your eyes.Done.Each phase can be repeated as many times as you have time for. This practice can also be targeted to specific people that you want to work on your relationship with (or work on how they're occupying your head).The phrases you use don't have to be in the realms of "be happy" "thrive" "belong", etc. They can be ones you consider more relevant. But the general guideline is that they're general and universal privileges of being human. Try to avoid specific, especially materialistic things like, "May you acquire a boat."Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesCheck Out The Serve Conscious Homepage and Get Your Game-changing Mindful Service Guides!Check out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

What's your favorite style of self-sacrifice? The martyr?The fixer?The soloist?The co-dependent?All of these archetypes promise us problems. And though they have honorable aspects to them (which we will talk about connecting to), they ultimately compromise our service game. This episode hopes to disrupt the myth that good service somehow needs to involve a constant outward flow of our energy into "helping" others.Draw boundaries around when you need to serve others and when you need to serve yourself. Service is not about quantity, it's about quality (and quality happens when you serve YOURSELF with the same gusto that you seek to wow your customers).Bring care to yourself that truly fills your service tank - starting from the moment you open your eyes. To get started on this path I share a key daily routine for service professionals.Use mindfulness to notice crucial streams of information that we normally ignore during the service exchange. Notice what truly requires attention and meet the needs of the moment.Learn simple but shockingly effective ways to convert negative thinking into positive support for yourself.Master yourself one small action at a time with another simple mindfulness practice that will do wonders for rebuilding that most important service relationship: the one you have with yourself.Recommended Pairings:Lifestyle Practices to Maximize Your Service GameGo Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Subscribe/Review on i-TunesCheck Out The Serve Conscious Homepage and Get Your Game-changing Mindful Service Guides!Join the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on InstagramCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

"Be kind, for everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about."-Ian McLarenThis is a very important discussion for both individual service professionals looking to bring more mindfulness and inspiration to their work and for leaders that want to elevate their team's culture and effectiveness. The organizational space needs more people like Neal Woodson (but human beings with missions like his are rare indeed). He's a coach and consummate service fire-lighter. He's the author of The Uncomplicated Coach and is a powerful resource for service-based companies that want to take their service game to the next level. We talk about service from the micro all the way to the macro levels, but ultimately kept returning to the same principles: good service requires the people serving to feel valued, engaged and, well, like dignified human beings. And to always have opportunities to practice service on each other.This was such a valuable and timely discussion that it inspired me to make up a term: intra-service! What does it mean? Listen and find out! Also discussed:The profound difference between knowledge and knowledge delivered with care."Bartenders are the best psychologists" is true...in very unexpected ways.How to make the most "menial" job a true craft.Coaching isn't teaching, but guiding someone to their own brilliance. How organizations can weave coaching principles into their daily operations by asking three powerful questions to their staff.Why service lacks mindfulness and inspiration - and how to re-ignite it when it's lost.Recommended Pairings:Podcast Episodes: Bringing Humanity Back to Large-Scale Service (pt. 1) Bringing Humanity Back to Large-Scale Service (pt. 2) Neal's Situation:Neal's WebsiteGet Neal's book The Uncomplicated CoachNeal on TwitterNeal on LinkedInGo Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This is sort of a follow-up to a recent episode about navigating the challenging emotions you experience in the service dynamic. The service exchange is ultimately about facilitating positive emotions in the people we serve. This episode looks at the skills we need and challenges we face in trying to elevate the experience of others.Other Discussion Points:Think you love "making people happy"? Well, that good intention isn't always what you think it is. Learn the more mindful, skillful approach to bringing out the best in others.The art (and supreme challenge!) of sympathetic joy (Mudita in Buddhism). Learn how to deal with jealousy, envy and the general annoyance we feel towards people that are happier than we are.Take the pressure off of yourself and expand your idea of what "making your customers happy" needs to look like. Why does service cause us to abandon our own needs? Override that and ultimately empower yourself to serve better.A simple question to ask yourself after each encounter in order to create more consistent habits of being present and making the most of an encounter.Learn how to avoid unexpected mistakes we make when we think we're being curious, inquisitive listeners. Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Sneaking in a quick and always spirit-elevating conversation with my friend Dushan Zaric. He's running a live course starting October 26th, 2020 @ 3pm EST. The topics around service life he plans to cover were something I really wanted to get deeper into and draw everyone's attention to. They include:Reconnecting with what hospitality really is (from the individual to the collective culture).Working with burnout (kind of a service speciality, isn't it?). What it truly is and how it works may surprise you.Service in the COVID reality (we didn't get as deep into this topic, but every tool we discussed will be essential in dealing with the profound impact that its had on service-oriented industries).Also discussed:What causes service to lose its luster?How do you build a culture of hospitality in your organization?What personal practices arm us to walk into the doors and meet the challenges of service life?How your present situation brings with it the perfect conditions for your growth.Dushan's Situation:The Bartender Survival Course (with ARAR)dushanzaric.comInstagramGo Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Emotions. We all have them and, strangely, rarely want to admit their influence. When we re-acquaint ourselves with our emotional lives, then we gain untold mastery over the challenges of work and service. We also gain mastery over our service game - after all, service is an absolute economy of emotional exchange.Firstly, admit you have them all the time and that they determine basically all your decisions and behaviors. This might be unappealing since we can probably trace emotions back to every problem we've faced in our lives. But they are also a powerful ally and information source.Learn how mindfulness, self-development, and our success at doing almost anything is a matter of emotional mastery. And this doesn't mean learning to feel our preferred emotions, but having the capacity for the uncomfortable ones. This episode looks at powerful techniques for observing where and how emotions are actually happening and how to support ourselves like a friend would (rather than an adversary).Speaking of emotional mastery, that is a HUGE part of the new meditation and mindfulness membership program that I've been developing with Tenshin - as any mindfulness program worth its salt would prioritize. Enrollment for the Self-Made Mind community is only open until the end of the month! Grab a spot and get on a transformative path to mindful living. Reach out if you have any questions about that: stefan@serveconscious.com.Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

How can you get the most out of your meditation and mindfulness practice? Is it just about technique or can you look at your whole relationship to your program - and you life...I reveal news about my upcoming free live course that will give you the tools to master your practice (whether you're a beginner or a veteran).Discussed in the episode...The important questions you need to ask yourself to know if you're on the right track. We also discuss why "all practices are designed to fail" and how this concept can give you back your power and capability rather than kill your confidence in your program.To go deeper into these principles, check out the Actually-Effective Meditation & Mindfulness Live Course for free! You don't wanna miss it (but if you do, you can watch the replays)!Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” ― TagoreBuilding on the the previous week's episode on meaning and purpose (but also standing alone), this episode is about - no big deal - fulfillment. Big topic, but what if fulfillment wasn't some huge "ultimate aspiration", but a natural emotional state that we can tap into at any time - all we need is the right tools. Discussed inside:Why do high achievers (let's say wealthy ones too) seek opportunities for service? And why could they do your "lowly" service job with more joy and enthusiasm than you?Service is the arena that fulfillment can be 1) cultivated 2) fumbled with (in a valuable constructive way 3) delivered to others.Are you serving from a place of believing that like you're lacking something? How shifting out of that mindset transforms your relationship to your work and the effectiveness with which you do what you do.Your body remembers all the times that life sucked. And those programs will continue to run and lead your mind to believe that you are unsafe, deficient and lacking something. Learn how to heal that with meditation.Want to incorporate these principles more thoroughly into your life? I'm hosting Free Live Meditation & Mindfulness Course! You don't wanna miss it!Recommended Pairings:Podcast Episode: Find Meaning & Purpose In Life As A Laborer | Ep. 79Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

Happy labor day!So, I don't know where I get off speaking about today's struggles in the same conversation as surviving the holocaust, American slavery and working conditions during the early industrial era. But its survivors (and casualties) have brought us some important lessons on resilience, dignity and self-understanding as working people. I like extreme examples to illustrate the finer points of my rather un-extreme and comfortable modern life. And to challenge me to have gratitude and authority over the privileged life I've been given.Discussion points:How to find meaning in your work in a socioeconomic structure that isn't really designed around a respect for the working person. The true history of labor day and the tragedies around it are especially relevant to today.How the service role has been tainted by society's tendency to take advantage of the people serving them - whether it's your clientele or your employers - and how to drop this baggage and reconnect to the growth potential that the role offers us. How the ego hijack's our search for meaning and feed us false signals about it's location. We discuss ways to use mindfulness to hack the ego's oppressive fictions and connect us to the true location of our sense of purpose. Gratitude is a practice and can be employed to get us through the most challenging (and dire) of situations - and to find fulfillment no matter where we are in our lives.Once again, I'll disclaim that the human capacity for resilience, and the way that empowered mindfulness allows us to adapt to - and even thrive - in difficult situations, does not excuse organizations from improving the way that it treats its employees. In fact, mindfulness done properly connects people more thoroughly to their worth, and can make them more likely to press for positive change, not less.Recommended Pairings:Podcast Episodes: True Hospitality Means The Employees Get Just As Much Care As The Clientele – Interview w/ John DeBary | Ep. 54Bringing Humanity Back To Large-Scale Service Pt. 1 | feat. Joel Bailey | Service With New Purpose Series | Ep. 69Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

This is a core discussion on mindfulness and service. The straight essentials to implement mindfulness into your service life and watch it transform. Learn practices for building the power of our attention - after all, good service is proportionate to the amount of attention we can give it. And the same is with mindfulness! Whoa! It's as though mindfulness and service go hand-in-hand (oh wait, that's what inspire this whole Serve Conscious project).Items of interest:Service demands that we meet the moment on its own terms rather than pushing against it with our rigid patterns - meditation and mindfulness naturally develops this capacity.The key difference between meditation and mindfulness. Why beginners have the all the ingredients to be effective, powerful meditators.What if you could take the same state of happiness, connectedness and calm that you feel when you're doing the most pleasurable activity into any activity (even the most unpleasant experiences). A deep look at one of the most important things to understand with our practice: the struggles with mindfulness are valuable, mindful growth experiences.Recommended Pairings:Resource: Lethal Kindness PracticeResource: Mindful Service 101 (Coming Soon)Go Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness

I get back into discussing lockdown life and how to truly take advantage of this time in isolation.Items of interest in this episode:If you want to next level how you do something, then you need to change your thinking patterns on it. And to do that, you need to do something that gets you thinking/perceiving differently. More lessons I gained from more of my crises. This particular one involved me getting tired of enabling my clientele's tendency to hide from themselves (via poison, AKA: alcohol), which led to my departure from the industry for years (the most important years of my life as it concerns my service career).Learn how drunks have the ideal mindsets for becoming master meditator.Being the best service professional you can be may not be about learning how to love it, but learning how to find purpose in a difficult situation. How to feel worthy enough to pursue what truly switches you on.Recommended Pairings:Podcast Episode: How Crisis Revealed The Secrets of Work, Life & ServiceResources: Meditate EffortlesslyGo Deeper Into The Mindful Service Movement:Explore The Book ToC w/ Live Content LinksJoin the Facebook Community & Bring Us Your Service Struggles & Insights!Follow Me on Instagram & Learn Mindful Ninja MovesSubscribe/Review on i-Tunes & Support the showCheck out my partnership with The Institute for Organizational Mindfulness