136: Mindful Technology Choices That Will Save Your Life with Jim Spellos

11/29/19 • 26 min

Jim Spellos is the President of Meeting U., whose mission is to help people become more productive and comfortable with technology. Holly talks with him about the past ten years or so that they’ve known each other and how a health crisis helped Jim implement a routine of meditation, exercise and a new eating lifestyle. As mindfulness returned, he supported it with technology and apps that helped him find restaurants and places that were conducive to his new healthy lifestyle. He and his wife implemented their new eating regimen based on Mark Bittman’s book, Vegan Before 6pm (VB6). Jim also shares that he is building a community through Patreon.com. He offers courses for subscribers for $5 a month. He shares various content to help subscribers stay up to date with changing technology, through his Minute Tech video education series. Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/jspellos. One support tool that Jim is particularly passionate about is In Case of Emergency or I.C.E. apps. He encourages listeners to download one ASAP so that first responders have critical information that is easily accessible in the event of an emergency. Jim encourages people to not be afraid of using technology to balance their lives. Jim delivers over 150 keynote and educational sessions annually on how to use technology more efficiently. In 2015, Jim was named one of the Meeting Industry’s trendsetters by Meetings Focus magazine. He is a faculty member at New York University, teaching in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies since 1990. He has been honored with both their Award for Teaching Excellence and their Outstanding Service Award. With a passion for helping people and companies understand what’s new in current and future technology including the latest information about virtual & augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. Find out more about his work at https://www.meeting-u.com/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

135: Create Your "Grategy" All Year Long with Lisa Ryan

“Grategy” = Gratitude Strategy Lisa Ryan, Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), talks with Holly about making gratitude matter and how she turned a major bump in the road into a success strategy. One day, she woke up and by lunch, she found herself without a job. Fortunately she had implemented a gratitude practice about a year before her job left her. Not knowing what she was going to do, she asked herself what she could be grateful for and what came to mind was a goal list that she had written many years prior. She realized in that moment of gratitude, that she had already accomplished many of her goals. She said to herself, “I’m going to laugh about this someday, why not now?” and she set out to recreate herself. Out of this time was born a career as a best-selling author and international, award-winning speaker and trainer. Ryan’s programs focus on positive workplace culture, inter-generational communication, employee acquisition, engagement, retention, and gratitude strategies (“Grategies”) for personal and professional development. Her down-to-earth approach and willingness to share best practices have proven to be a winning formula for her clients. With her clients, she highlights the power of authenticity. She recommends feeling the depth of whatever emotion that is being experienced, and then find what can be appreciated. These conversations about gratitude raise the energy of a room and halts the negative spiral where so many find themselves. Most talk about gratitude for friends, health, family, education and the “things” that they have. Lisa encourages people to find the surprises and be grateful for the little things - running water for example. Lisa’s daily gratitude practice includes a morning and evening journal. Her morning journal gives her gratitude in advance. She also writes on the ABC’s of gratitude - using the letters of the alphabet, she writes all the things associated with each letter, giving the monkey mind something to do in alphabetical order. Write a hand written thank you card every day. Lisa shares that she takes pictures with her clients and makes a card to send to that client as a thank you. Sometimes it isn’t about the cards, or the handwriting, its about the show of gratitude! Use every day technology well: tweet your gratitude! She also gives her clients thank you cards to send out. One of her clients buys a sheet of stamps every month and sets a goal to use all of them. With her “S.H.O.W.” (Self, Health, Others, Wealth) and THANKS programs, she teaches leaders that gratitude grows employee engagement. She encourages leaders to start meetings with a positive note, catch employees doing something well and recognize staff for what they contribute. Since 2011, Lisa has used a weekly gratitude thought of the week to engage her loyal followers. It includes a quote, a story, a lesson and an action. From this, she says that she gets the gift of heartfelt responses and authenticity with her subscribers and readers. What can you be thankful for in advance as the holiday season unfolds? Lisa says “gratitude is very easy to do and very easy not to do.” Challenge yourself for 30 days to write down 3-5 things each day, and at the end of the month you’ll see that it works! Create your own “Grategy!” Contact Lisa Ryan at https://lisaryanspeaks.com/ or email her at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

137: Breathe Your Way Thru the Holidays One Possibility at a Time with Rebecca Kordecki

Breath is life! After 25 years in a health and fitness career, Rebecca Kordecki always felt along her journey that she was meant to do more in a different way. She was completely focused on working with people from outside in, through fitness and nutrition, but she felt that she was always meant to touch people from the inside out. Her big “Aha” moment came when she discovered breath work three years ago and she realized that she found the tool to help herself and others - from the inside out. She had been excavating through her own work and it became such a great tool that she started teaching it to her clients and in classes. She says that it has never failed her. Holly highlights how different kinds of breath work techniques are the perfect way to insert into applied mindfulness into people’s busy schedules. Rebecca shares that the beauty of breath work has so many facets that will calm, energize, induce sleep, reduce asthma, and release trauma. She suggests Box breathing, or a four by four. It goes as follows: inhale for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale for four counts doing this for six to eight cycles. There are variations that can be applied, such as inhale for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight. The point is to just BREATHE consciously! She mentions her teacher, Dan Brulé, the world's foremost expert and renowned pioneer in the field of breathwork, and leader of the worldwide Spiritual Breathing movement. She wanted to share his outlook on playing with every single breath. Play with the inhale, the hold and the exhale. Just breathe... and play! Learn more about Dan at https://www.breathmastery.com/. The biggest gift you can give yourself is a big inhale and a big sigh of relief exhale. Create space, release anxiety. Create levity. Try incorporating people in whether you’re a busy mom, salesperson, manager, leading a small group, just play with breathing together. The question they presented for audience consideration for the break was: Can I be willing and open to allowing all the possibilities and opportunities that are showing up around me right now? After the break Holly shares that she has a word of the year - this year’s word is “allowing”, which was the perfect segway for being open to the opportunities, and Rebecca’s new book that will be released in 2020: Flip Your Switch. Rebecca got the idea when she was questioned about how she came out of the childhood and addition to cocaine - what was the trick? How did you flip your switch? She feels that surviving these came through many different techniques and the book is a result of gathering her remembrance of all the things that she did to get to where she is, fulfilling her purpose. Rebecca asks, “Do you choose to stand in your story, or on your story and inspire from it and spin gold. She offers a two weekend The Breath Zone Teacher training can be a great way to deepen a personal practice as well as become a teacher of her method. About Rebecca Kordecki (from www.rebeccakodecki.com) Rebecca Kordecki, the creator of Booty Slide and owner of RK FIT, has enjoyed a robust 20-year career as a Beverly Hills Celebrity Trainer, Group Exercise Teacher, Diet Coach, Corporate Wellness Advocate and Speaker. Also, Rebecca is now offering wellness retreats in resort locations. You can spend 3-5 days away with Rebecca and a small group of like-minded people in a beautiful and relaxing setting. During the retreat, you have daily workouts with Rebecca while getting away from the daily grind and with Rebecca’s Booty, Body and Breath approach to refreshing and recharging every aspect of your being, you will head home with valuable tools to sustain a healthy and balanced life. You can also find more about Rebecca at: www.thebreath.zone Instagram handle: @rebeccakordecki Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices