978: Crafting Your Personal Resilience Plan for Beating Burnout with Marie-Hélène Pelletier

Pete Mockaitis
Marie-Hélène, welcome.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Pete, thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Pete Mockaitis
Well, I’m so excited to hear about your wisdom. And I’d love it if you could kick us off with any particularly striking, surprising, fascinating, counterintuitive discoveries you’ve made about us humans and our resilience and mental health while putting together your book The Resilience Plan here.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
You know, something I’ve loved in my studies, in general, and in my work was always interdisciplinary. I always found the creativity of bringing ideas together was great. So, I’m going to say the immense benefits of bringing psychology and strategy together, just amazing.

Pete Mockaitis
Can you give us an example or elaborate on that?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
I can, absolutely. I came to this because I work a lot with professionals, leaders, business owners, high achievers of any kind, and they came to me, and they would say things like, “MH, I don’t know what my problem is. I’ve dealt with much harder things before. What’s wrong with me?” And if I had only spoken to them as a psychologist on the resilience side of things, they probably would have dismissed it. But because I brought analogies from the strategy side of things, because we took their context into account to better understand the actual reality that they’re in, that’s what changed everything. And when we do this, small shift, big change.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Could you give us a story or example there?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Yes. When I was writing the book, one of the things that sometimes people do is they do a focus group. So, it’s my first and only book, so I’m learning as I go. I do a focus group. In the group, there’s this woman, senior leader, who proceeds and does her strategic plan with us and the book. And then, shortly after, she sends me an email and says, “Okay, I need this for my entire team of leaders. Can you travel, do this as a workshop?” Yes.

So, I travel. She comes and says, “Hello.” She says, “I’m going to sit at the back because, you know, I’ve done this before.” Great. So, I proceed with the workshop with her team, and at the end she comes back and says, “Okay, I started sitting here thinking I’ve done my plan already, there’s nothing for me to gain in addition. I’m doing this for my team.” And she said, “But I realized I had implemented successfully for the first time all the actions I wanted to implement as it relates to my resilience, and I’m now ready for the next iteration of the plan.”

And so, that’s an example of how, given these particular tools, you can actually get to a plan that you can implement, that makes a difference, and just like in business, can evolve after a period of time. So, we can dive into the details of how do you get there but that’s an example of how practical this can be.

Pete Mockaitis
Maybe let’s return to that notion of people say, “I don’t know what my problem is. I’ve dealt with stuff that’s way harder than this before and yet I’m wiped out. I’m burnt out. I’m tired. I’m exhausted. I’m overwhelmed.” And so, they are puzzled, and then you say when you bring the strategic elements in there, it becomes demystified. Can you elaborate or give us an example of what that might look like?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Yes. Well, the analogy that sometimes I would give, and that’s in part what led to writing it in the book, was how, if we were in a business situation and we had a great idea for a new service or a new product, would we just have the great idea and launch? Or, would we have the great idea, and then look at who else is offering this? How much or something like this, how much are they charging for it? Who is willing to pay for it? Which forces might impact the launch? We would do all this, right? We would look at the context around this idea and then design a launch strategy that would be successful.

So, same thing here. Yes, we want to be more resilient, and initially we don’t understand it, but if we, actually, use the same tools we would use in business strategy to understand with more clarity the context, then we can actually create a plan that works. And that’s what changes everything. It’s as if initially we disregard many elements of the context. We are not realistic about the amount of demands we’re facing, the quantity, the importance of the demands we’re facing, that’s one example, and other aspects of the context, which makes any intention not that easy to implement and, frankly, not successful.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. So, in other words, we don’t want to simply do a one-size-fits-all resilience plan in terms of what you got to do is you got to do your deep breathing, you got to do your exercising, and you got to sleep well, and you’re done! But rather, you’re going to go into the depths of the particular context in order to customize it to be just right.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
That’s right. And it may include any of the things you just mentioned, or it may include other things. It depends on your current context, as well as other things, like your values, the type of demands you’re facing, the type of supply of energy that you have right now. And so, when we take all this into account, then we can design something that makes sense.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Well, so then maybe, as we’re deconstructing myths or misconceptions about resilience, like it’s not one-size-fits-all, any other top things you want to clarify for us in that domain?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
It’s not a one-size-fits-all, absolutely, which means the plan you designed for yourself, Pete, in this moment in time will be different from mine, and even yours will be different from yours maybe six months from now. So, there’s that. I think even before this, one of the misconceptions we need to clarify is that often people will tend to think that they are resilient as an individual. That’s who they are as a person. They own it. That’s like a personality trait.

And people get to thinking this for logical reason. They’ve gone through very demanding things before successfully. Sometimes people around them have said, “Pete, you are the rock of the team. You’re the rock of the family. You’re so resilient.” And you get to a point where you believe that it’s who you are. And the challenge with this, number one, it is not a personality trait. It’s our ability to go through adversity and come out even stronger, which will fluctuate over time, therefore we can influence it.

So, it’s not a personality trait, and so it is something you want to invest in because there will be more demands coming forward. We can be proactive about this, and I will argue we really want to so that we can prepare for those demands moving forward. So, this notion that it’s who we are, “And, therefore, it will always be there for me. I don’t need to do anything about it, and I will respond in however way I do,” that sort of very, in a way, passive response is not helpful. So that’s one of the key things we need to change.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. So, if it’s not a personality trait, I mean what is it? What would we liken it to? Is it an asset?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
A state.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, it’s a state, like an emotion?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Yeah, an experience. So, including, yeah, your emotions, the way you’re thinking, the way you’re responding to the situation. So, it’s all of these. And so, therefore, the more you’ve prepared, invested, planned, the more you can, in some ways, increase that baseline, if you will, such that when additional unexpected larger demands come, many of which we actually want because they’re interesting challenges, things we are happy to solve for, then you’ll be able to bring your best.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Well, could you maybe give us an example of a professional who was encountering a state of low resilience repeatedly, and then figured out a plan, did some things, and saw a transformation?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
It’s something that I can say, you know, I’ve gone through similar situations, you may have as well, but one person I worked with came to me and really felt like their schedule was completely out of control. They were running after the most screaming demands at all times. It just felt like they were not leading this ship. It’s as if they were on a downhill bike and the bike was going faster than what they could control in some ways, and they happened to be working with me at that moment.

And so, what we did, and that’s what I’ve done in the book, I’ve extracted some of the tools we use in business strategy but using them for our resilience. So, first, we looked at this person’s values, what’s most important for them in this moment in life. And that includes both personal and professional. For this person, some of their values, just from memory, included things like health, family, relationship. They valued physical activity. That’s something that had been important for them before, and they had some others.

Then we did this exercise where I get the person to draft on one piece of paper, two columns, their sources of demands and their sources of supply. And for this individual, they realized how they had an immense amount of demand, both from work and personal life, which they initially did not really account for in some ways. So, yes, they knew they were busy at work, for example, but then they realized, as we were looking at their personal life, that they also had a friend who was leaving a key relationship.

One of their parents was dealing with health issues. Of course, people we want to support in our professional lives, and personal in this case, but the reality is that they do represent demands and we want to be realistic about that. Now, this person realized they had not invested much in anything that gives them energy, so the supply list was very short. And we did all the work looking at the equivalent of their SWOT analysis, looking at their context.

And so, for them, it led to creating their strategic plan, which usually I’ll go with three main pillars, and one of them for her was to invest in managing her time better. She realized that she was not good at estimating the amount of time it takes to do things. She tended to underestimate how long anything took, most things, and so for her one of the pillars was “Better managing my time.”

And under this strategic pillar one of her concrete actions, a tactic, if you will, was, and we always focus on tactics that are very simple, for her it was to challenge herself once a week to guess how long something’s going to take, and then actually measure how long it takes her to do that particular task, just to help shift how she was assessing her time. And there were other pillars on her on her strategy, but that’s an example.

Pete Mockaitis
Well, that’s fun. Let’s hear it. So, what are some other pillars there and tactics that go with them?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
It will depend, of course, on each individual. Sometimes I work with people who will realize that in their values, the value particular relationships that they have, whether it’s family, friendships, people they live with, people in their lives, one way or the other. And I’m thinking of one individual in particular who at times worked from home, and sometimes when he was working from home, if he was not in a meeting, he would open the door of his office, and he had a young child, who at times would come in the office, the door was open.

And he realized how, more often than not, of course he was doing something when the child would come in, so he would say “Oh, wait a second” or would just finish typing whatever he was doing. His next action in his plan, one pillar was relationships, and his action was, “Whenever someone from my family, who I love and value, because now I have even more clarity on that value, whenever an individual comes in, I will actually stand from my desk, stop what I’m doing entirely, mid-word, mid-email, not finishing the thing, turn around, step out of the office, and be with them.”

So, it was just connecting. And you see how one of the things that is so important in this type of work, and just the same way in a business type of strategic plan, you want actions that are implementable, that you can do. And here, in this particular strategic resilience plan, we very much need these actions to be so small that we are highly likely to do them. So, they cannot take an immense amount of time, which no one has, because then you’re building self-efficacy.

You’re building that sense that you can do this, and from there, you can grow it if you want, but we have to start really small. Otherwise, most people’s schedules are full, overflowing even, and therefore no change is going to happen.

Pete Mockaitis
MH, I really love that notion of it’s super small. And I’m reminded of a conversation we had with BJ Fogg about tiny habits and how those really can be quite transformational. And so, we talked about the demands and supplies, so an economist thinks of supply and demand in terms of price versus quantity and what is the price point at which I’m willing to supply so many units of yada, yada. And you’re suggesting the units here, it sounds like, is not so much price, but energy. Is that accurate?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
That’s right. Yes, I’m using the term because we are used to using these terms in a different context, and it just seems to resonate with people I’ve worked with. So, I’ve used them in different ways before, and it seems to resonate. So, yes, here I’m looking at, “Where is your energy going? That’s your sources of demands. And sources of supply, is what is bringing energy to you?”

Pete Mockaitis
Now, in a way, this can be tricky in terms of distinguishing the finer points here. Like, my precious children, of course, I love them, being with them is delightful. And other times, they’re driving me nuts. They are feeling like a demand. They’re sucking me dry. So how do you think about any acid tests or key indicators or guidelines you use when you’re categorizing stuff?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
No, go with the flow. Go with what’s easiest because, very much for any of the worksheets that I’ve developed and the ideas in the book, it very much is going with the done is better than perfect, Pete. And, yes, others have said golf also tends to fit on both the demand and the supply. So, yes, I would say keep going.

Put it in both columns if it fits there. For right now, the most important thing is we’re getting this done, and any of the exercises I’ve suggested there can usually be done in 5-10 minutes so that, I sometimes say if you’ve got a flight that makes you cross the continent, you can get out of your flight if you started at the beginning with your plan. So very doable, we’re not getting bogged down by details. I hear you. Some things will fit on both but most things will actually find their way in one, more clearly than the other.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah. And I think, with some careful reflection, discernment, you can, I think, distinguish some of the nuances. Like, working out or golf could be the same way as like, “Oh, golf is energizing when I’m connecting with really great people. And it’s not energizing when I’m stressing, trying to beat my best score ever,” for instance.

Or I can say that with weightlifting, “It’s energizing when I do a modest number of sets and I’m trying to beat my previous record. And it’s debilitating when I’m just doing tons of volume, and then it feels like more of a demand.” And I love that notion, specifically of the personalization with that example of the working from home, “I’m going to stop what I’m doing. I’m going to attend to the person.”

Because someone else may very well really love the flow states, and that’s more of a supply, like, “Man, when I get into an uninterrupted groove of 90 minutes of just creating something, that’s really a big supply,” and it would maybe, for that individual, be the opposite, “Oh, let me stop mid-word and address somebody.” That could be the opposite of a resilience-boosting approach for them.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
It could. But you see, I love where you’re going with this, because it does. It’s a great way to demonstrate how it will depend from one person to the other. Because, let’s say, I mean, it could actually, in fact, be in the same person, that you value your wonderful relationships, you want to honor them. If someone comes in, you want to really acknowledge them, and you also value when you’re in the flow of something and you want to maintain that creative path that you’re on.

So maybe what we’re saying is right now there’s a bit of a disconnect, because you do realize you want to keep going but someone interrupts you who you love and you want to honor. Maybe one of the pillars is called boundaries, and in those boundaries, when action will be to be a bit more deliberate about when you need to not be interrupted and make sure the door stays closed, not just for the Zoom meeting or the podcast recording, but also for the moments where you need that uninterrupted time.

So that way, you can still have the other action related to family members that you will interrupt yourself. If the door is open, that means you’re willing to interrupt whatever you’re doing, and you do. But if you’re in the flow, maybe you create the structures to protect that too.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s cool. Well, M.H., maybe, I know, in a way, this is an impossible request, but I’m going for it. Could we perhaps do a 10-minute rapid accelerated, like fast motion demo of, let’s say, you and I were creating a resilience plan, what would be step one? And I’ll give you just like a quick answer example.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
I love it. Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
And then we’ll charge through.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
So, you’re willing to, you’re the person, you’re doing this. We’re doing this on you, Pete.

Pete Mockaitis
I am. And I know we won’t get all the way done, but if we could just get a sense for, “Oh, I see what step one is and some of the outputs that might emerge from step one. And I see what step two is and some of the outputs,” you know, we’ll just get a sense.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Let’s do it. First, Pete, tell us some of the most important things for you in life. That’s your values. Don’t get bogged down on, “Is this a value or not?” Just tell me what comes to mind.

Pete Mockaitis
Sure. God, integrity, service, growth, optimization, family.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay. I’m making some notes so that I can help and remember. Okay, keep going. Next, tell us about, if we were to do a supply and demand table right now, we’re not doing a full table, but give us maybe top few, two or three demands you have on the work front these days.

Pete Mockaitis
Sure thing. Well, producing podcasts regularly; working with the production company and getting that squared away nicely; integrating two of those companies to serve people well; and not having anybody abandon us, either employees or customers in the shakeup.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Retention?

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay, give us some things on the personal side, things you’re willing to share with the entire planet?

Pete Mockaitis
Sure thing. Well, I mean, just kids, and they’re young, and their associated needs, just kind whatever we’re working through, like learning, and just making sure they’re healthy and safe and loved, and responding to their needs as they emerge.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Fantastic. Okay, let’s jump. If we were doing this fully, we would go in more details, but let’s keep going. On the supply side, what kinds of things on the work front give you energy?

Pete Mockaitis
On the work front? Well, I mean, I’m discovering really cool stuff from guests who say something that blow my mind, like, “Whoa, I’ve never heard that. That’s really interesting.” Maybe discovering new tools or approaches for getting things done and making things happen. Entering new domains, we’re getting some YouTube and some video stuff happening. So, I guess discovery exploration as a general theme, yeah.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
And give us maybe one on the personal side, sources of supply.

Pete Mockaitis
I’d say exercise.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay. Let’s go with this one for right now. Now, we’re probably going to skip doing the full SWOT analysis because that would be a bit longer than the 10-minute that we’re trying to reach here, unless you’re willing to give a shot at one thing in each quadrant. How do you feel, Pete?

Pete Mockaitis
In general, like a strength, a weakness, an opportunity, and a threat in the domain of resilience?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
I’ll guide you. Okay, let’s do it. You look like you’re going to do this. All right. On the individual side, so just looking at you as a person, what is one thing that makes building resilience naturally easy for you?

Pete Mockaitis
Well, I’m reminded of BJ Fogg who told me, “Pete, you are a natural celebrator.” And it’s true.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay, perfect. Okay, love it. It’s perfect. Now tell us something about you, same thing, you personally, that actually makes resilience building a bit challenging?

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, probably like self-criticism or like the need to perform, like, “Oh, I’m so bad,” you know, if I screw something up.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Perfect. Yeah, you’re good. Great example. Okay. External, so in your context, around you, personal or work, something that makes resilience a bit easier for you?

Pete Mockaitis
Just like a general contextual, environmental, external thing that makes it easier?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
That’s right.

Pete Mockaitis
I would say, well, when family’s happy, that’s easier. Like, if they’re in a playful, “Ah, da-da, let’s do this fun thing!” mood, that’s easier as opposed to like, “Wah!” you know, they’re like bickering and arguing amongst themselves, like, “Oh, come on, man.”

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay, okay, perfect. Great example. And last quadrant, you’re doing this, still on the external side, tell us an example of something that, in your overall context, makes resilience challenging?

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, maybe sleep interruptions, someone crawl into bed, waking me up too early.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay, good. So now that we have this, we would design a strategic plan, and I often start with, say, three strategic pillars. Now, by strategic pillars, we’re talking about three directions that you would want to invest in. And within each of them, we’re going to find one action or a tactic that potentially you will consider.

So now that you’re looking at the values we’ve talked about, sources of supply and demand, and your overall context, I’m going to ask you first, otherwise I’ll provide ideas, but if something emerged for you, that’s usually a good place to start. Is there something that you’re already thinking, “Yeah, this looks like I could invest a bit more here,” and that may be a good idea?

Pete Mockaitis
Well, I guess I’m thinking about on the work front, it’s like, at times, there are new cool fun interesting things I like to explore and try. And other times, I just sort of forget about that, sort of crank it out, like, “All right, next episode, let’s do that.” Like, “Oh, email process, go.” So, I mean, I have a giant list in OmniFocus of all these potential ideas or initiatives, and it would probably be really swell if I just had a short list I could refer to make sure that there’s usually something fun, cool, interesting, novel to explore and grow into there.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay. So, pillar number one could be exploration focus, let’s say, and potentially one of your tactics there could be, I mean, one option is what you just described, creating a short list. Sometimes a short list can take a longer amount of time. If we wanted to scale this down even more, you could say pick one, one a month, just pick one.

Pete Mockaitis
Sure.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Pick. It’s a good list. You’ve liked all these ideas anyway at some point. If you spend the time to rank and create the shortlist, that may take you too long and you may not do it. So, yeah, it could be either a shortlist or pick one a month and explore, for example. Okay, so we’ve got one pillar. Another pillar, do you have another one that came to mind or you want me to throw in one?

Pete Mockaitis
What you got?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay. Another one could be to be proactive on the family front. Now this is, I have little information, so I’m not saying you are or are not right now, but family is a value. It’s something that occupies an important part of your life. Potentially, there’s a part, there’s an opportunity to do one more thing even more proactive. Either you’re talking about the sleeping, kids are coming in, or sometimes, you also said it’s a strength when the family is happy, when everyone is in good moods and that kind of thing.

Do we have an opportunity to, I don’t know, once a week do a family check-in? Again, you may already be doing this. Or is this an opportunity to look at, “Who of the kids is now transitioning to an older age where we could look at helping shape their sleep patterns, for example, so something works a bit better?” So, I don’t want to dive too far, it’s personal life and all this. But that could be an example of another pillar that would combine some of the things you’ve observed and how things are going, as well as your values.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah, that’s good. And what’s funny, what’s coming to mind is I’m just thinking about food.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Okay, tell me about this one.

Pete Mockaitis
It’s like young kids get cranky when they don’t eat. And yet they might not eat because they don’t want whatever foods. And so, if I could get laser-focused on, “Okay, what are healthy foods you like to make sure they’re always in supply, that we could cut down on some of the crankiness because they don’t want to eat whatever we got, even though it’s perfectly good, and maybe they need to learn, whatever, in the short term, make sure? Okay, blueberries are the thing,” for example. “Let’s just make sure we always got ample blueberries in the refrigerator.”

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
That’s right. So, you could literally have a pillar called food for kids with actions, like you said, it’s in supply. And maybe number two, you’re prompting the eating because sometimes it’s there, but no one’s touching it or whatever. And then they realize too far, or you realize far further on the road, that it’s impacting how they’re reacting. So, there you go. You can have your three pillars just like that.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay, cool. Well, thank you. That’s fun. So, I know we just spent a lot of time talking about how it’s all custom, and context-specific, and everybody’s different. But now, M.H., I’m going to put you on the spot and tell us, what are some top pillars and tactics that you’ve just noticed seem to come up again and again and again, and be super helpful when people embark upon, knowing they may well not be applicable for all persons?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
That’s right. Well, I mean, there are areas that we know from research if we, all of us, it’s just the implementation needs to be very personalized. But the reality is that humans, in general, and we know this from body of research, decades of research, we will be more resilient if we are doing more on the exercise front three types of things: cardio, strength training, and meditative type activity. So, that’s one.

We will be more resilient if our nutrition is better, so it connects with the pillar, your food pillar here. And we have solid research, literally showing a difference if we’re having this meal healthier, it will have an impact. It’s not just long term, 20 years from now. It’s having an impact. Our sleep will have an impact on our resilience.

Spending time with people we enjoy spending time with, and then there are additional ones, like time in nature, doing pleasurable activities, things you enjoy doing, which is critical for recovery from work so that we can then bring our best to what we do. Other themes that fairly often will emerge for individuals I work with, there usually is some version of better boundaries, however it gets defined, that’s often there.

Fairly often, there is this element of managing my time differently, connects a bit with boundaries, but sometimes it’s also very time-specific, again with that tendency to underestimate how long something is going to take. Yeah, so some of these are examples.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s lovely. And then perhaps within a couple of these, could you share some top do’s and don’ts, like some things that people might get wrong? For example, with exercise, perhaps folks overdo it and it’s counterproductive. I’ve been there. Or they neglect one side of things, like maybe, “Strength is not my thing. I don’t want to get too big, bulky muscles.” That’s a whole another conversation. But tell us, are there any top do’s or don’ts that you find within these domains?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Yes. On the exercise front, more people, if they do anything in this area, they’ll be on the sort of active recovery, and will see meditation as something that is not for them, either because they’re like, “Ah, I’m not that person,” or they’ll say, “I’ve tried it, MH, and I can’t calm my brain down. It’s just not for me.” Well, hello, the reality is that research is crystal clear. It is critical for all of us. It makes a huge difference. So that’s probably one of the next frontiers. If you’re wondering what to do next, that probably would be the one.

Now, here’s the key thing. If you’ve tried it and you’re in that camp saying, “My brain just doesn’t slow down. It’s not for me,” all that, change your success criterion. It’s not about, “Did I calm my brain down and leave these feelings out?” No, success criterion, “Did you press play on the thing? And did you sit down trying to do it, and doing your best to bring your focus back on your breathing?” for example, whatever the guideline was. And that’s it.

If you’ve pressed play, you’ve done it, two minutes, four minutes, whatever the duration is, start small, full points for this, even if your brain was going the whole time. So that’s an example. Meditation would be one. Another area to really consider is the sleep. People will tend to bring their electronics in the bedroom, which then becomes tricky, because if we don’t sleep in the middle of the night, it’s very easy to reach for the electronic, which then is engaging the brain as opposed to giving the brain the message that, “No, no, no, it’s time to sleep.”

So, the “don’t” would be don’t bring the electronics in the bedroom. If your phone is your alarm, buy a small travel alarm, and that will be smaller than your phone probably and will ensure that you actually create the boundary there as well. So, these are some examples. Sometimes people are skipping meals on the nutrition front, so making sure there are easy things. You were talking about kids earlier, but it’s true for us too. Sometimes the day will go so fast, we’ll just reach for what’s easy, and that may not be what’s going to help the brain best sustain for all the next hours. So proactively planning for this, that is another example.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. And with the research on meditation, you mentioned two minutes, four minutes, does the research suggest that such small doses are actually effective and useful for us?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Anything’s better than nothing, but in eventually, yes, longer will have more benefits. But again, here we are about starting small. Even smaller than this. You could start with just committing to doing five deep breaths while you’re washing your hands. We wash our hands many times a day. It does not require more time for you because you’re still doing this. Might as well use the moment to slow the breath down completely, all the air out, and slowly breathe in. It’s there and it’s a start. And what happens when we start in these smaller ways, we build that sense of self-efficacy, that we can influence this and that builds. Once we start building this, we will be able to extend over time.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. Well, MH, tell me, anything else you want to make sure to mention before we shift gears and hear about some of your favorite things?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
I would say stay curious for the small actions. And I know how everybody, how so busy, so full everyone’s schedule is. If it feels like you can actually step away and create, invest in creating that plan for yourself, fantastic. If it feels like even that is too much for right now, then start with something very, very small.

But the reality is you will need to invest in yourself so you can bring your best to what you do in your personal and your professional life. It will serve as a protective factor from burnout. It will serve as a model for others, whether it’s your kids or people you work with. And so, staying curious about your next action and implementing is key.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. Well, now could you share a favorite quote, something you find inspiring?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
I’m going to go, and that’s very much the spirit of this book, with, “Done is better than perfect.”

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. And a favorite study or experiment or bit of research?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Recent research on priming, so the non-conscious ways in which we can support our brain in attaining our goals. And there’s been fascinating research there, I could give you an example, but the short point of this is, if we expose our brain in advance to an image or words that represent our goal, and we know images are actually even more powerful, we’re increasing our chances of reaching this goal. Still need all the conscious planning, the smart goals, the planning for it, the small initially, the whole thing, we need all this, and priming can help. Fascinating research there.

Pete Mockaitis
So, when you say priming, just like, if I want to be in shape, I could get a picture of an underwear model and post that somewhere that I’ll see you regularly, and that in and of itself will increase the odds of me achieving the goal?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
That’s right. And it could be that, it could be weights, it could be whatever for you represents that goal, yes. And it just needs to be at a place where your eyes see it so you don’t need to think about it, meditate, visualize. These are other processes that are also positive, but priming, it truly is just about your eyes seeing it.

Pete Mockaitis
And is there a particular researcher or journal article we should link to there?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
There are. Two key researchers would be Latham and Locke. So, if you search Latham and Locke and you look for priming, you’re going to get to their research and then many others.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. And a favorite book?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
I’m going to go with Mind Over Mood written by Greenberger and Padesky, over a million copies sold, 20 plus languages translated. It’s a very practical workbook, so it has theories that come from psychology, as well as exercises, always, to implement. And it’s a book that I think everyone should have in their homes, at work. It just provides great tools to deal with normal parts of life, some that are easier to manage, some that may be more challenging, but just research-based, very practical.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. And a favorite tool, something you use to help you be awesome at your job?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Well, I want to say, I’m going to say, actually, doing a strategic resilience plan, because I’ve used it. I’ve used it in various phases of various demands I’ve gone through personally. I’ve seen others, obviously, but I’m using this tool.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. And a favorite habit?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Walk outside.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. And is there a particular nugget you share that really seems to connect and resonate with folks; you hear them quote it back to you often?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
“Anything’s better than nothing.”

Pete Mockaitis
All right. And if folks want to learn more or get in touch, where would you point them?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
TheResiliencePlan.com will get you to everything I do. Always happy to connect on LinkedIn as well, and love to see what others are thinking and doing and all that. So that’s another great way.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. And do you have a final challenge or call to action for folks looking to be awesome at their jobs?

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Step back and be strategic about your resilience the same way you’re strategic in what you do at work.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. MH, this has been fun. I wish you much resilience and adventure.

Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Thank you. Love that, resilience and adventure. And same to you, Pete, and to your audience.