Episode Transcript
Adam O'Leary (00:01.019)
If you're business owner struggling to manage the chronic stress of being an entrepreneur and a leader, then our guest, Professor Pete Alexander is about to give you a simple win you can implement today. Professor Pete is a two time TEDx speaker and bestselling author on reducing stress in your everyday life. He is also a certified laughter yoga ambassador and improv comedy stage performer.
who enjoys bringing laughter and joy to his community. Professor Pete, I'm so excited to bring you out today.
Professor Pete Alexander (00:34.03)
Adam, thank you so much for having me on your show. I greatly appreciate your time as well as the listeners time
Adam O'Leary (00:40.703)
Absolutely, this is going to be a really good episode. So I've heard you discuss how stress can severely impact health and business performance. So why is it so critical for business owners to address stress proactively and how can simple techniques make that difference?
Professor Pete Alexander (00:56.952)
Sure, great question. Well, proactively managing stress, it helps business owners stay focused, make better decisions. And key here for me was avoid burnout, which directly impacts their team's morale and productivity. So what I found was that simple techniques like deep breathing, short breaks, also known as micro breaks or laughter exercises, they can quickly restore clarity and resilience in keeping your business and your people thriving.
Adam O'Leary (01:28.381)
Very cool. And one thing that I've heard before, and you just talked about it, micro breaks. So what is a micro break? Just so people can understand that.
Professor Pete Alexander (01:37.835)
Yeah, good question. So what happens is that what we often will do, especially those of us that are type A personalities, we will be just working on whatever it is that we have to get done. And we're just trying to plow right through it. And, you know, we might only get up to go to the bathroom, let's say. Well, what a microbeak is, is it is a very specific
intention where let's say every hour you take five minutes, you get up, you take a quick walk, you do some stretching, something that relieves the tension that's in your body. Because what happens is, is if we are just constantly go, go, go, go, go, go, go, not taking even a couple of minutes to kind of catch our breath and to restore our, you know, our normal bodily, you know, structure.
What ends up happening is that we add additional stress and tension into our bodies and that over time will actually cause problematic things for us down the road.
Adam O'Leary (02:46.654)
Oh, that's interesting. And I know one thing that entrepreneurs primarily will struggle with and I even do as well. So help fix me. No, I'm just joking.
Professor Pete Alexander (02:54.606)
And it's a simple thing. mean, literally, you know, even if you're let's say you're on a conference call, you know, standing up and just kind of, you know, doing a little bit of just kind of movements with with your body. While you're on that conference call that that that alone is a micro break. It's just something where you don't
you take a breath and it's not just, okay, I gotta go run to the bathroom and come right back and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. It's really important to do that. And that extends also for, let's say when you're having lunch, a lot of us will just eat our lunch at our desk while we're doing our work. But if we can be mindful and take just a few minutes to be present with our food and eat it a little bit.
more slowly and methodically, that can also reduce our stress and add to the health benefit of the food that we're eating.
Adam O'Leary (03:53.811)
That's super good to know and a question about this is so I know a lot of entrepreneurs they'll go ahead and still be thinking about work when they go to sleep. They might even wake up in the middle of the night thinking of work and they'll for sure wake up and the first cross that comes through their head is work. How does somebody overcome that because there's no way that that's healthy for somebody.
Professor Pete Alexander (04:04.11)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Professor Pete Alexander (04:14.368)
Yeah, that's absolutely true. The first and foremost thing that I would say is, believe it or not, do not have your phone in your bedroom. Because what happens is, is if you have the phone in your bedroom, even if you have to use it for the alarm, get yourself a separate alarm clock. The problem with a phone being in your bedroom is that any thought you have about work or something, I need to send this last email or something like that.
Well, then what that does is that jolts your brain awake and then you can't fall asleep. It's better to have just a notepad on your nightstand. And if you wake up and you think, yeah, I have to do this. Okay, well, if you've got a pen and a notepad next to your bed, go ahead and just jot that note down. Then you've got it there. It'll be there in the morning.
and you can then get back to sleep. Because a lot of us, what happens is that if we think of something and we don't do something about it, we worry about it that we're gonna forget it. Well, if we're writing it down, we won't forget it, but then we're not also turning the phone on and then all of sudden, guess what? There's a text, there's an email, something there that you go that says, I better take care of that as well. You don't want that distraction because
It's, we really, it's statistically and clinically, what's been shown is that when we continuously have our phone with that digital reminders and constant stimuli, we don't start to relax. And that's the problem where having that phone right there pinging you at any point, it's just not healthy. And so,
I've made the habit of I have my phone in the kitchen. It's away from me. Don't hear it if something buzzes. But I also have that notepad right next to my bed in the event that I wake up in the middle of the night and go, yeah, I forgot about this. Okay, jot that quick note down. I can let it go and I can get back to sleep.
Adam O'Leary (06:32.222)
I love that. Actually, my dad taught me that trick, not about putting it next to the bed stand, but when I was a kid, he used to wake up in the middle of the night thinking of work. This is well before phones. But he would go right out to the kitchen and he would start writing and writing and writing whatever was on his mind. And within five minutes, he'd go back to bed. So that's a really, really good trip because I know it works because I've done it myself for sure.
Professor Pete Alexander (06:41.709)
Mm-hmm.
Professor Pete Alexander (06:51.767)
Mm-hmm. Glad you concur- concur.
Adam O'Leary (06:57.276)
Absolutely and so I know one of the big things comes down to like a morning ritual Okay, so people are always trying to improve their mornings because obviously the morning is the start to your day What do you think could be a decent type of a morning routine or what have you? Proactively done inside of that morning to make sure that you're set up properly for that day
Professor Pete Alexander (07:18.078)
you know, one thing that I, I learned this probably four or five years ago, I read a book called miracle morning and what the author talked about there was doing, doing stuff first thing in the morning to set your day with intention. And so what I do is, and I do this in the evening as well as I have a gratitude exercise where my wife and I in the evening.
we ask each other, what are we grateful for from that particular day? And we focus on the simple things, not the major things. We can talk about the major things, but it's the simple things like maybe having a conversation with one of our kids or not getting stuck in traffic or something very simple like that. In the morning as well, waking up and thinking, okay,
first and foremost, be grateful that you woke up. And that's an interesting one because I remember reading years ago about how in the history of the world, there, so this was like 10 years ago, 15 years ago, the author talked about how in the entire history of the world, there was roughly 115 billion
people to have lived. And currently there was only at that point seven or eight billion. And so the math said that 14 out of 15 people who have ever lived on earth are dead. So the fact that we wake up in the morning, that means that we have this day to do something.
whatever it is we wanna do. So we should be grateful for the fact that we have that opportunity. So if you start the day with gratitude, that's very, very positive and it starts your day on a good note. But then also, if you get up a little earlier, you can also set aside 10 minutes to read something that is going to improve whatever skill set you're looking to improve.
Professor Pete Alexander (09:36.653)
you know, whether it's something that you want to learn how to meditate or you want to meditate, or it could be just something that, you know, let's say they learn more about AI, for example, because that's got all the, all the attention now, something like that, where you take 10 minutes in the morning to do that before you, you, all your distractions start that can work really, really well. And what I also do is, I do one brain, exercise.
in the morning as well. So I like to do this. It's actually on LinkedIn and it's called Pinpoint and it's basically word associations and it takes a couple of minutes to do that. But it's something that first thing in the morning as I'm having my coffee, I can do that. And it's just a routine that gets me thinking, gets me started in the morning for setting me up for hopefully a good rest of the day.
Adam O'Leary (10:36.04)
That's awesome. And one of the things that definitely appears in entrepreneurs' lives for sure is just this constant barrage of stress, right? So it could be...
The world's on fire, right? Like everything's on fire all the time. And so what are some quick, I guess you could say five minute stress techniques that you know that a business owner could try to really be able to de-stress themselves in as quick of a way as possible.
Professor Pete Alexander (10:50.158)
you
Professor Pete Alexander (11:06.146)
Yeah, there's actually a couple of them that I think are really good to try and they're very easy to do. One of them comes from my first TEDx talk, which is laughter. you know, as adults, what ends up happening is that we have to have a reason to laugh. But as a laughter yoga ambassador, I've learned that instead of thinking,
Do we have to have a reason to laugh? We laugh for no reason. And the reason we do that is because when we laugh for at least five to 10 seconds, what ends up happening is our bodies release positive endorphins that give us a whole bunch of medically proven benefits, including stress relief. Now, the crazy thing is as smart as our bodies are, they don't know the difference between a real
and a simulated laugh. It only knows that we're laughing. And so what I did was during my TEDx talk on overcoming rejection, what I did was I took the audience through a laughter activity. And I can do that with you too, and just seeing anyone listening, this is something that you can do. As a business owner, we often will get some sort of challenging message.
If you hold your hand out as if you were holding your phone and then what you do is you imagine receiving some sort of challenging text or email message from a person or organization that you respect. And you look at that, you know, that imaginary message and you think, so kind of let that sink in about what that could be doing to your overall morale. And then.
With your other hand, you go ahead and you point at that imaginary message. And then what we do is we just laugh out loud for 10 seconds like this. So go ahead and do it with me.
Professor Pete Alexander (13:28.332)
Now Adam, how do you feel? Lighter and more energized? Yeah.
Adam O'Leary (13:32.517)
For sure, for sure. It's like when somebody has like that crazy, crazy laugh on a subway. Like on the train.
Professor Pete Alexander (13:36.931)
Yes, it does. It's because, you know, when somebody, it doesn't even have to be a crazy laugh, but if somebody is laughing, laughter is contagious. And so, you know, there's been times, more times than I can count, where people start laughing and I'm laughing and I have no idea why I'm laughing, but I'm laughing because they're laughing. And it's so positive. And so if we can get into the habit.
of laughing before responding to something, it will be hugely beneficial to our health. Like for example, if we're stuck in traffic, sitting in our car, instead of getting all upset about it, if you laugh out loud, then you are not going to let the stressor get to you as easily. So, and you know, if you're in your car and somebody looks at you and goes, you know.
Why are you laughing? Well, how do they know that you're not talking to somebody and talking about something funny or you're listening to a funny podcast or some sort of radio show? They don't know, just enjoy that. And the same thing if let's say there's something stressful going on in the company and you have this important meeting or let's say you have a regular weekly meeting with your staff. If you incorporate a laughter exercise
at the beginning, it's amazing how that builds teamwork because those, you know, people who laugh together, it is the great equalizer because no matter what, what background somebody has, no matter what religious belief, political beliefs, when you, know, everybody laughs together, they come together. And so that's a really powerful tool that I would highly recommend to business owners is just, just to do that. And
And if they need a couple ideas, they can reach out to me and I'm happy to give them a couple ideas that can work for that. The other one is visualization. And visualization is a good one just to do individually. And basically, you do that is you go ahead and you close your eyes. You take a deep breath in.
Professor Pete Alexander (16:00.109)
And you imagine going in your mind to a place you like to relax. Call it your happy place. Maybe it's the beach, maybe it's a park, maybe it's a lake, maybe it's your backyard, maybe it's a spa, maybe it's your favorite recliner. Wherever it is, go there now and take in all of your senses. So what do you feel?
Do feel the sun on your face? Maybe the grass or the sand under your feet? And what do you smell? Do you smell the fresh air? Maybe the lotion from the spa? Maybe you made popcorn for your favorite movie. And what do you hear? Do you hear the wind blowing through the trees? Maybe the water splashing on shore?
And what do you see? Do you see the blue sky? Maybe the green of the trees or the grass? Whatever it is, take it all in and take another deep breath in.
Professor Pete Alexander (17:17.833)
And gently open your eyes and notice how grounded you feel now. It's a very powerful tool that can take, it only takes a minute. And the only thing you just not going to do it, of course, while you're driving a vehicle, you know, cause you don't want to be driving a moving vehicle with your eyes closed. But otherwise it is a wonderful grounding technique that I know people have done. Let's say as they drive up to make a sales call on an important
Adam O'Leary (17:31.229)
Hahaha
Professor Pete Alexander (17:47.086)
potential client so they can do it in their car, in the parking lot. Or I know people who have started to stress out about something that's happened and they may not have an office to go into, but they go into a bathroom stall and do it right there in the bathroom. mean, it's a very simple technique, but it grounds us. And when we're grounded, we're more likely to make
an effective decision as opposed to a decision that's being made under duress.
Adam O'Leary (18:21.287)
I love this. other, what have you seen from business owners who have implemented this? What sort of results have you personally seen from founders and entrepreneurs that have implemented this? And where should people go to learn more about you?
Professor Pete Alexander (18:34.765)
Sure. basically, the people that I've worked with, they tend to end up having lower stress levels. So, you know, they find that their blood pressure is going down. If they're diabetic, their blood sugars are going down. And one of the most powerful ones, I can just speak for myself. When back in 2008, when I was diagnosed,
with stress-induced diabetes. If you saw a picture of me from back then, and now you see me today, other than a little more gray hair, I actually look younger today than I did back in 2008, 17 years ago. And that's what stress does to us. It prematurely ages us. And so it's really important to get a handle on it and to try and
you know, be able to, to deal with it in an effective way. Now, you know, it's not like we're going to get rid of all of our stress and not all of our stress is negative because there is some good stress, but you know, the good stress is the stuff that we're, you know, working on. It's something that we want to accomplish. It's not something that we're working on under duress. That's positive stress, but we want to try and minimize the what's called
distress that basically is two flavors from my experience one is ruminating about something in the past that we can't control and it's in the past or Having some sort of anxiety about something that may or may not happen in the future So if we can handle those two forms of stress all the other stresses are going to be a piece of cake and you know if I
I highly recommend people go to my website. I've got my two TEDx talks there and I've got a lot of other resources available at petealexander.com and happy to connect with people too. My social media accounts are there too.
Adam O'Leary (20:45.991)
Pete, what an absolute pleasure to have you on today. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for joining us and I feel so relaxed right now.
Professor Pete Alexander (20:52.333)
Adam, thank you so much for having me on the show and I greatly appreciate the listeners time as well.
Adam O'Leary (20:58.524)
Absolutely, thank you guys so much for joining us and I will see you on the next episode of Simple Wins.
