Terry Williams on The Mind-Body Connection, Performance, and Well-being​

John: You’re listening to The Present Professional, where we explore the intersections of personal and professional development. To change your experience of life and work with every episode.

Tony: So tune in, grab your notebook, and let’s go. Let’s go.

John: Welcome to another episode of the present professional today. We have a special guest with us, Terry Williams, owner and head coach at the league, the gym here in Houston, Texas, and a performance and mindset coach with Ember and Stoke. And I was introduced to Terry. Not too long ago, actually, when it comes down to it, it feels like I knew you as soon as I met you in a way. And I feel that I’ve already learned so much about him and learned so much through him that I’m excited to share him with you guys as listeners to The Present Professional. And one thing I want to comment on is his enthusiasm. You will see it come in through this podcast and you will see it come through at the league and anywhere else that you can interact with him. So all of that will be in the show notes for you guys afterwards. And I did my best to introduce you, Terry, but I’m going to let you introduce yourself to the listeners.

Terry: Sweet. Yeah, my name is Terry Williams, perhaps better known as Terry the Trainer. Super just humbling and honoring intro there. I do feel like I’ve known John for a long time. It’s funny, we met, and it kind of felt like we had been connected for a for decades. And interestingly enough, when we first met, the individual who came to meet us in the meeting was like, whoa, you guys look like you could be brothers. So there’s that too. Yeah, like John mentioned, I co-founded the league with my wife. I am head coach there. We do strength and conditioning classes. It’s kind of built on the principles that are used with professional Olympic and collegiate athletes, all of whom we serve. But it’s all communicated in a way that everybody has access to. So the person with the bad knee, the bad back, the 60-year-old, the pregnant person, every human has a place at the league through our PACT training format. And then with Embrin Stoke, it’s a coaching collective for minds. We step into high-performance cultures and we basically I’d say we help with people problems. We go in and we assess how the organization is working. And we don’t tell people there’s no I in team. We say there are a lot of I’s on this team. And if we can capitalize the I, if people show up with self-awareness and awareness to how they are related to others, the entire organization is uplifted. So that’s a little bit on me and what I’m up to on a daily basis. Wow.

John: I love I love what you said there with the capital eyes. That’s exactly right. It all starts with the individual capital I am just to give you guys a little bit of context of why we’re here. And just even from Terry’s introduction, you can see the importance and how the mind body connection flows into the work that he does and the work that each and every one of you do. That what you put in your body the way that you move your body impacts your mind and vice versa the way that you see your body the way that your mindset is set up will set up your physiology as well and. I know that Terry incorporates a lot of that into his personal life and professional life. That’s been a big part of my life. And I know that that’s been a big part of Tony’s life as well. So I’m going to let Tony chime in on that one as well. So just want to let you guys know, mind body connection, what we’re here to talk about today.

Tony: Yeah, man, I love that introduction. And y’all definitely look like brothers. So I agree. Man, you know, Terry, thanks for hopping on with this. Man, I had a question for you when it comes to your mind, body, and spirit or mind, body practices that you do. What’s some things that you’ve incorporated or some principles that you stand on, personally at least, that you know that has worked for you over the years and how can our professionals that are listening kind of incorporate some of those things?

Terry: Yeah, that’s a big question. I think for me, the biggest practice that I’m engaging in on a regular basis is gratitude. From a scientific standpoint, I recently read how gratitude, if it were a drug, because of the number of diseases it could cure, would be like, I mean, it’d be hard to afford. Like, how do you even buy something that you’re able to have access to in your mind and in your spirit, right? And the innumerable things that it can fix in a life, right? I also took in some really great words from Greg McCune and said, gratitude is a superpower because it turns whatever you have into enough. When you focus on what you lack, you lose what you have. But when you focus on what you have, you gain what you lack. Then I was in a coaching session recently with an individual who consumes a higher quantity of marijuana than they would like to, and they’re working on this, right? I won’t use the term addiction. I’ll say this person is basically saying that they would like to reduce or eliminate their use of this thing. We were kind of talking through like, okay, what do you feel? What do you experience? Why are you leaning on it? What draws you back? And it was funny, because as they were explaining the things that they were experiencing while under the influence of it, I was like, thinking to myself, I experienced all those same things, but I’m in a state of gratitude. a heightened sense of awareness, a dissipation of stress, like, it’s all here for me in gratitude. So pardon the long-winded answer, but I think gratitude’s the biggest practice for me. And then as far as at the league, what we’ve done for the mind-body connection is kind of, you know, what you teed up here in this question is bringing mental health into the conversation. So we do this thing called SWEAT-U, and the SWEAT stands for strength and well-being and emotion, agency, and thought life. And so we just have this safe space in a Facebook group and we have these conversations. It’s like, hey, you come in on the turf, you get these reps, your body’s getting stronger, but whoa, what a shame it would be if your brain doesn’t get any stronger. And we’re noticing that as people make the decision to tap in and do the mental health work, they always improve in the physical health work. So it’s key, yeah.

John: That acronym is really beautiful. That’s something that, can you repeat that again for the listeners?

Terry: Yeah, so we call it SWEATU, SWEAT University. And the SWEAT is an acronym that stands for strength and well-being in emotion, agency, and thought life. So in other words, your emotional well-being, your sense of agency, like claiming autonomy and doing stuff today that says, I’m done with yesterday, I’m building tomorrow, like actually taking action. And then thought life, the determining or just the quality of your thoughts will determine the quality of your actions. So what is it that you’re mentally focused on and working through? Wow.

Tony: Wow, that’s beautiful. Terry, you know, I got one more follow-up question on that because that’s, I love how you’ve incorporated mind and body and how it is really just become a really, I won’t say a trendy topic, but I’ve just seen like a huge shift in culture, especially the sports world where mind is just as important as body. Mental and emotional well-being is just as important. as physical. Did you see a shift occurring at any point in your career or your work working with athletes and working with those that are looking to improve their physical?

Terry: Yeah, for sure. I think that the big difference there, speaking specifically to the mind and body of athletes, those who compete professionally and have made a career out of it. I think the biggest thing is the difference between purpose and passion. If I’m skilled at something and I’m passionate about it, the moment that gets challenged, oh, I’ve lost my passion, I’m demanding a trade, I want out, right? But if an individual feels purpose to do something, it’s incredibly hard to talk them out of anything. So the individual who’s passionate about what they do might show up late to an off-season conditioning session with me, because they’ve been out partying the night before. The person who believes this to be their purpose has a very, goodness gracious, a very respectable and admirable practice of hydration and rest, and they wanna tell me about the podcast episode they listen to, and I’m getting inconvenienced on the other end of the spectrum, because they’re showing up very early, and I’m like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m still with the previous client, and we gotta, okay, foam roll and stretch in the lobby for a bit, bud, right? I think that passion perishes when you’re pissed, and purpose prevails when you’re pissed. This plays out in relationships too, right? I think you’re really hot, okay, so I have these tingles in my body when I see you with my eyes. When we get in our first argument, this ain’t gonna work, right? But if I feel a sense of purpose, I’m connected to this individual, I feel like we were meant to align, connect, and build a legacy and a family line together, Oh, well, we disagree, like this is a speed bump, not a brick wall. We’re going to figure this out because I’m supposed to be here, right? I think that I picked up on, you asked if there was a turning point. I think I started to pick up on this stuff early on, but didn’t really quite have the tools to carry it well, didn’t know what to do with it. I just looked at it like there’s no such thing as mediocrity. Some people can’t hold their own weight and some people are exceptional. But now, as I really think about it, and after having gone through my own mental health battle during the pandemic, I can understand how every human has a made-up mind, and where your mind is will determine what your body does next.

Tony: Wow. You’re preaching. Thank you.

John: I love it. Right. I always say that, man. I was like, Terry, you’d be a great preacher.

Terry: Hey, I do. I have a bit of a ministry background as well. And it’s something that I feel called to and purposed to do as well. And I think for me, I’ve kind of taken it outside four walls of church or faith-based community specifically. And it’s like, I’m going to be who I am. So if that’s something that I carry and it aligns with my purpose, let’s bring it into the podcast space, the gym space, everywhere. So technically, I am preaching right now.

John: That’s what I was gonna say. I was gonna say, man, I would come. I would come to your service for sure. But I guess I’m in your service right now. So let’s go. Oh, man, I love that. And, you know, and that’s that says something, right? Like bringing who you are to what you do in such a unique and authentic way. I think that says a lot about you. And I think that says a lot about our listeners as well. Even just, you know, even showing up here for yourself, even taking a listen into something that where you may be able to learn and incorporate just something different in your life. But then it comes into what do you want to embody in your life? Yeah. Right, like who do you want to be when you show up on the field, whatever your field may be, right? And that work happens before you step on the field. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And when I hear that, and I’m thinking about my field and what I do to prepare myself, A lot of that is preparation for the mind. A lot of that is my meditation practice, my nutrition. The things that I put in my body and to set up prioritizing my rest just as much as I prioritize my performance is the thing that really sets me up for a clear-headed, positive emotion filled day, right? You mentioned your gratitude practice. Is there anything else that you’d recommend to listeners to help them step into their authentic voice, like how they show up on their field?

Terry: Yes. It’s something that you just said, rest. Rest is key. Rest does not have to be sleep. Rest does have to be restful. I think about, let’s use iPhones, for example, tech devices that we all have. They can become huge distractions, right? And let’s say there’s three states to preparing your iPhone to be used, right? There’s rest, there’s recharge, there’s re-engage. Rest means it is literally not being used at all. It’s not plugged into a charger. It is, you know, turned over on a table such that you’re communicating to those you’re with, this won’t be a distraction. It is at rest. It’s not in hand. Right? Then there’s recharge. It’s still in a bit of a restful state, but now it’s plugged in. Now we’re energizing this device for future use. And then there’s re-engage. Now we use it. It’s in hand. It’s now back in the game, right? I think the same thing happens with our minds and with our bodies. There needs to be a time of rest. You’re literally unplugged. You’re asleep or your feet are not on the floor. You’re in a relaxed position. Then there’s also recharge. Like sometimes there’s an element of active rest where you’re out on a walk. but you’re getting that vitamin D, that melatonin is flowing, sunlight is entering your eyes and clearing your mind. You’re having an incredible conversation with a person and the sense of connection that you feel from the hormone of oxytocin and great stories being told is genuinely healing you, right? And then there’s re-engage, get out into the world and be who you’re here to be. And so for me, my little thing that I remember and just like keep with me daily that helps me to do that is get quiet to live loud. I cannot go and coach classes at the gym. I cannot run strength and conditioning camps for professional athletes. I cannot step into the boardrooms of organizations and do mindset coaching if I do not myself turn my brain off for a while. And then as I’m turning it on, simply take in gratitude, simply be present, simply notice my surroundings, simply get reconnected before it’s time to re-engage. Rest is big, huge.

John: Get quiet to get loud.

Tony: Right. Put that on a shirt. No, that’s super critical, man.

Terry: Go ahead, John. It’s good.

Tony: I had a client recently that is working towards a degree and that he is compromising his rest.

John: by thinking about what he’s not doing or thinking about how he’s not studying or not applying himself while he’s resting. And it’s in the thing is the vicious cycle is actually holding him back from doing well when it’s time to study, when it’s time to do the work. That’s big. Right. And so that, you know, what I mentioned to him is like, what if, what if you applied the same level of tenacity to your time off? Hmm. Like what if you applied the same level of structure and purpose to your rest, that it’s uninterrupted, it’s a priority, and I’m committed to my rest, whether, even if it’s 20 minutes, if it’s two hours, if it’s a long night, but when I’m resting, I’m resting. Because I love what you mentioned with the phases, right? The off, you’re plugged in, and then you re-engage. But then when those get mixed up, you’re not resting.

Terry: Yeah, so good. I love the way you coach that. That’s beautiful. You’re essentially telling, and this is important because I think a lot of people are stuck in hustle culture and social media feeds it and there’s this anxiety of I’m not doing enough and this is my age. I haven’t hit this landmark that I feel like I should be at by this point in my life and all that. And listen, high performing individuals feel those things too. They’ve just, in some cases, I believe, mastered an art of honoring rest in a more sincere way. John, the way you, what I think is so beautiful about how you coached that was you told this person, the reason you lack rest is because of your tenacity. To be in integrity with yourself, essentially, is to apply that same tenacity to the act of rest, such that you maximize performance when it’s time to perform.

John: That’s big. Exactly. It’s being where you are.

Tony: Yeah. It’s so critical, too, to add grace to that. You think about that person that’s in school and they’re giving themselves such a hard time. You made it. You’re in school. You’re going for a degree. You’re where you need to be, but now you need to apply grace to yourself so you don’t have this perfection killer that’s killing you because you’re not performing where you think you need to perform. You’re there. And I think a form of grace is almost like rest for your emotions. You’re like, okay, I’m here. I’m happy where I am. I’m good to be here. I’m happy to be here. Let me just back off the table for a bit and just breathe and just be grateful, but also give myself grace for not performing where I think I need to perform. It’s okay. It’s okay.

Terry: Wow. And then what that unlocks for you, what that makes possible for you, ironically, is greater performance. The idea that grace could be framed as giving rest to your emotions, wow, that’s mind-blowing, right? Self-compassion over self-judgment, being able to have a neutral mindset and say, I can acknowledge what did not go well yesterday, I’m not sugarcoating it, I’m not running from it, I don’t need somewhere to hide or someone to blame, I can own it. What’s my part in it? I apologize for it. What did other people do? I release control of that, because I can’t change them ultimately. Yesterday was trash, but yet I still believe for tomorrow to be awesome. So what is there for me to do today? Like being fully present in this moment, can I forgive myself for past shortcomings and commit to a future of present productivity, like that’s so massive. I think that’s huge. I think for every listener, if you miss everything else that’s said, please give yourself some grace, friend.

John: 100%. And I think that comes full circle to your, to gratitude. Yeah. Right. Cause I mean, cause giving yourself grace ultimately is having compassion for being human.

Terry: Wow. For being a whole human, a complete human.

John: Yeah. I mean, that’s the experience of being here in this world is we get to experience flaws. We get to experience bad days. Yeah. Because without the experience of bad days, without the experience of hardship, how do we know true joy and accomplishment? It is only an antithesis to the times that we say are bad times, but really, they’re just the polarity of the beautiful experience we get to have over here. And that’s the dance that we get to do in this life together. And so when it comes to that, When it comes to giving yourself grace, there’s a level of self-compassion there, and that comes with being grateful for where you’re at. In order to give yourself grace, you are practicing gratitude in a way.

Tony: 100%. 100%. I mean, you got the graces for you and the gratitude exudes through you and other people can feel it. When you’re walking around and you’re happy to be somewhere, that energy is transferable and people can feel it, for sure.

Terry: So big. I think, too, this connection between accomplishment and hardship, like the beautiful moments It’s not only that we have to allow ourselves to experience hardship, but we can’t be our best selves without experiencing it. I think the things that we appreciate the most, the things that we have the most gratitude for are the things that it took some hardship to get, right? Like one of the athletes I work with, brilliant dude, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me sharing this story. His name is Matt Schnell. He’s one of the top 10 UFC flyweights in the world. He just had a fight recently that ESPN calls the greatest comeback in UFC history. he had to eat four shots that frankly should have put him to sleep. There was nothing coaching could do to solve it. In that moment, it was like, big dog, you got to dig deep and find a way. And he ends up coming back, winning this fight, submitting his opponent, putting him to sleep, right? And then he, it came time for contract negotiations. He’s on the biggest contract he’s ever seen in his life. It would have never happened without going through the most grueling fight of his life. I think also about recently I was traveling through Emory & Stoke. We work with an NBA organization. It was the day prior to traveling to go and meet with this team, and I had car trouble. I actually took a photo of it because I wanted to savor the memory. I’ve like favorited it in my iPhone photos. where it’s just the irony, in less than 24 hours, I’m gonna be in a really cool space, but today, I’m standing outside of this car shop, holding two car seats, because I had to drop off my car at the shop, and I gotta migrate these car seats to my wife’s car. I think it is so funny how life does that, and I’m actually grateful for it. I think God put that in there, so it’s like, you know what? You can experience awesome stuff, but you’ll never be able to be disconnected from the full spectrum of a human experience, such that you can love hurting people, you can exude empathy, you can carry humility into the spaces that you’ll go into. And so, not to derail us, but I just thought that was amazing how you pointed out, John, that we have to experience hardship. It is key and mission critical to our eventual success.

Tony: 100,000%, you said the most grueling fight of his life, and then he gets the biggest contract of his life, and that’s literally how life works. Every time you run from what you know you’re supposed to do, or you’re running from something that’s really hairy and scary, you’re really just running from your destiny, because on the other side of that is the life that you really want. But you’re not gonna get that life that you really want if you don’t go through the hardship, because you’re gonna learn something when you go through that, and it’s gonna change you. You will become a different person and then you can now look back, teach others, bring others through anything that they may be going through similar or even maybe not as ruling as yours. That’s how you reach the guru state or that’s how you reach the state where you now can now teach and share. Love that story, man. That’s big.

John: And I think a lot of those experiences that you’ll find after a grueling hardship and stepping into that accomplishment and stepping into the next state, you see that in people’s bodies. You see that in the way that they carry themselves. You see that whenever you step into the room, like someone that is stepping into the room that is not just comfortable in their own accomplishments and their achievements, but it’s comfortable in a foundation of what they believe, what they value, the people that they love, and stepping in there with a solid foundation, then you’re able to take on these hardships and know that your footing is solid. If you get knocked out, you’re going to land in some comforting hands there. You’re going to land in the support that you built and the foundation that you built. there are different ways to start building that foundation. I think we talked about a lot of them here with gratitude, with the people that you love, with rest, with connecting to connecting to your values and really starting to live them. And I want to say that the opposite is also true, that you can start stepping into that confidence physically and let the mind catch up as well. Facts, right? That a lot of times it’s, you know, you hear about the research around the power stance and things like that, right? And how to practice that before you step into a room to give, you know, to give a talk. But then at the same time, it’s, it’s, it’s in the gym, right? It’s being pushed to your edge in the gym can also translate to being pushed to your edge mentally and professionally.

Terry: Oh, for sure. I think, I mean, I think it was what Muhammad Ali might have said it. He did actually. He said, the fighters won or lost long before you step into the ring and dance under the lights. I don’t remember the exact words of the full quote, but it was so beautiful. Something to the effect of the fighters won in the gym, the fighters won on the road as you run your miles, the fighters won. The list goes on and on. And I think that’s so real. I know I’ve experienced personally where there’s like a big moment that I probably should feel some imposter syndrome or should be a little unsure, but it’s because of the reps I put in in preparation with my physical body, my mind chooses to relax, to receive, and to know like, man, I’m here for a reason. And like, God bless whoever’s against me, I’m a dog today. Like this is a W kind of day, right? And that thought has never been wrong. It’s always before. being able to really successfully pull something off. To give a little bit more research backing for our listeners, John, I love what you said about practicing the power stance before you walk into a room. I was recently taking in some research on the RAS, the reticular activating system. It’s a network of neurons that sits like a hairnet over the brain. Like think to lunch lady hairnet, right? Like this is what it looks like on top of your brain. And it basically only has four things that are let into your conscious mind. There’s so much going on in the world, like if you were hyper-aware of everything going on, you’d have no shot at productivity or focus whatsoever. So the four things it’ll let in, your name, your name being called, it can wake you up when you’re asleep, it can snap you into awareness. Issues of safety for yourself or those you love. Another one, interestingly, is when your partner is in a willful state for reproductive activity, which makes sense. It’s reproduction. It’s legacy. We’re surviving, thriving, and building things, right? But then the fourth thing that your RAS will welcome in is literally anything that you tell it is important. Now, isn’t that interesting? So, if I have something that I need to prepare for, when I begin to put in the hard-earned reps to prepare for that thing, I’m literally telling the bouncer on my brain, hey, hey, bro, this one right here, VIP list, let it in. Now, I’m seeing it everywhere. This is why when you buy a new car, now everybody has my same car, right? It was on the road anyway. Now, you’ve begun to focus on it, you’ve welcomed it in. When we get in the reps with our physical body, our brain says, hmm, I think this is pretty important to John. I’m gonna go ahead and let him experience being able to see himself in this position, excel in this position. I’m gonna show him examples now to become really apparent to him who’s killing it in this space that he’s taking interest in so he can be inspired by them. It just comes calling forward all the greatness in you that you didn’t see in yourself.

John: Man, that, that research is, and the RAS, like if you want to learn more about that, like please look into it. That’s, that’s exactly true. And the thing that I came and I built into my own life based on that fourth principle is I do that for what I want to create as well. Great. When I’m, when I’m looking for inspiration, And that’s why rather than working on several different projects during a week, I like to dedicate a week to one particular project. Like say, OK, this week I want to let in or I want to let in information for the next article that I want to publish. First, I want to find a topic and then it will just be popping up in conversations, in podcasts I listen to, in a song, and then, wow, there’s a topic. Okay, now I have the topic. Let that be the focus. Let’s let in information, people, and resources. that are going to support developing that topic. And then that starts to happen. You start to have conversations around it. You meet an expert on it. You get a LinkedIn recommendation of someone in that field. And it just starts coming into your awareness that you have to be intentional about that it’s important. And the way that my brain works is when there are a lot of different priorities, figuring out which one is the priority, is using the mental resource, is using the resource. So whenever I determine the priority and I say, mental resources, you are being utilized for this priority, then I start to, then you start to really manifest what you need, like what’s needed to actually bring that into reality. And that can happen with so many different areas of your life. If you’re putting your focus on your work, a specific area of work, if you’re putting your focus on your relationships, like what are the things that I can do to improve the relationship with my wife or husband? When I’m putting that energy there and that awareness, what are the things that I can see and notice now? Because I’m realizing that that’s important to her or him, and that is important to me. So brain, let that in. What are the things that I want to see? What are the things that I want to notice? How do I let her know that I see them? Right, and then you’re not distracted with the other priorities because like you said, you let the brain know that this is the priority at the moment.

Terry: This is all massive, right? Yeah. It reminds me of another thing I picked up on just taking in Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism. Oh my goodness. The thoughts that he’s sharing, it’s incredible. He talked about how priority used to only be singular. The term did not have plurality. And it meant the first or prior thing. It was that simple. Priorities, IES, came along as a common term in the Western hemisphere after like a huge economic meltdown, when like all of the media and advertising and propaganda machine was like, we got to get people productive out here. We got to save the day. We got to make money and produce goods.” And so it was like, tell people it’s okay to focus on more than one thing. But to what John is saying, if we pull forward a priority, a first or prior thing in each domain of life, we say, this is my focus in this present moment. This is the thing that I’m determining I want to let in. This is the thing I want to grow in, the thing I want to excel in, the thing that I want my thoughts to be consumed by. So if I say with my spouse, priority is connection, a sense that we are connected. And if I say with my kids, priority is, heck, I don’t know, fun. Okay, well now I can be the adventurous dad, right? If I say with my work, priority is X, Y, and Z, on and on we go. Choosing a priority is telling your brain even good things can become distractions, yet when we are focused, we don’t get distracted by those things, we’re able to really carry forward the thing that we want to do right here, right now, in the present moment.

Tony: Man, y’all, that’s so clutch and perfect, and John knows, that’s why, as y’all are saying these things, it made me think of some principles that I kind of have been operating in for the last few years, and I really operate in 90-day, quarterly kind of mentality, where like I, I will literally have the same priority for at least three months in a row. And before I even move on to the next thing, I may have to roll it over into the following quarter because I’m not comfortable or I may not feel like I have a state of master yet, so I won’t even find myself dabbling into too many things at one time. And that just gives me more time to just sit in whatever it is that I want to work on or whatever I want to become. Or like you mentioned, the relationships that I want to build. I will take that time and do that. So I love how you said take that I-E-S off priority and just make it. Priority over priorities is so, so important and so important for our listeners who are, many of them are high performers. You know, many of them are, are, are dads, are moms, are husbands, wives, business owners, entrepreneurs, and have many different responsibilities and commitments. So, so kudos to you for just bringing that up, Terry, and thanks for driving it home, John.

John: Perfect. Yeah man and a lot of those habits like it comes down to habits and structure as well because like you mentioned with what you do with your the way that you approach quarters right I was mentioning the way I approach my weeks but it’s about taking that time to really set up that structure for yourself in a way that works with you, right? Because each of our minds bodies are uniquely themselves. Like we are not like any other being on this planet period. Well really in this universe and Tailor your world to work with you. Don’t succumb to the environment. Build your environment to work with you. And by environment, that is place, that is structure, that is timing, that is priority. So start to build that around yourself, but first you have to know yourself. You have to know who am I? How does my brain best work? You know in what ways and you do that by experimenting play with it. You know we’re here to we’re here to dance try on another try what tony said tribal works for me tribal works for terry. And you know if it doesn’t work if it doesn’t fit then you know put it back on the rack. That’s fine, but you take these little things throughout your life to start to learn more about yourself and how you work best. And then start to build your environment around that. And I’ll say that your priority and your habits, your habits will reflect what you actually value. Actually being the key word. mm-hmm like I can say I value my health but then like are my habits really reflecting that I can say that I value my relationships but are my habits and actions really reflecting that habit definition automated behavior

Terry: based on context dependent, well, wait, how do I word that more cleanly? Habit is an automated behavior, which is context dependent. So when I am in X situation, I produce Y action. Habits are hardwired into your brain. Your neurons all agree. This is what John automatically does, right? If I throw a jab, he throws a hook, right? If this car passes Chick-fil-A, do I hit that UE real quick and go get me some fast food? Or do I focus on getting to the gym and getting that kale salad afterwards, X, Y, Z? Not to take us on a rabbit hole. that’s so big, our habits will show what we actually value. The things that we’ve done as a practice that have become hardwired and grained and become literally who we are and then expose all of our behavioral patterns will show this is what this person is really about.

John: And this is, I mean, that is really what brings in full circle the mind-body connection for me. It’s like what are you physically at? What are you actually practicing in this world? What are you actually doing? You know, which is tied to what I’m saying and what I’m thinking Right. It is all connected and you can start from either end of the spectrum right what you’re doing in the physical world what you’re doing in the thinking world and If you’re not doing both Then you’re not moving forward, right? And so as we kind of close that out, as we close this out and wrap up this topic in this episode. First, I want to thank you for being a guest on the show. Terry, you’re just a rock star human being and I’m. Super excited for the listeners to get to experience you and get to work with you. And I hope all of our Houston listeners make their way to the league because I think about the presence of this conversation, what he mentioned with the sweat acronym. like building that into your physical practice and the mind body space. Like he’s literally created a container for it. So if you guys are thinking about a space where you want to start incorporating that in your physical practice, give Terry a shout. Go check out the league. But before we close out, Terry, what’s if the listeners were to take one thing from this episode? What would you want to give them for them to walk away with and take into their lives today?

Terry: I think that grace thing was big, I can’t walk away from that. Grace, giving rest to your emotions. Allowing and welcoming in the anxiety that you inevitably feel. Take off your mask, own it. You feel anxiety, you feel stress, you feel burnout in some seasons, most likely. Disappointment, resentment, these things will happen to you. Sometimes you’ll feel these things, these frustrations, even toward yourself. But when you can practice self-compassion over self-judgment, you’re able to have a very clear picture today of what you’d like tomorrow to look like. It helps you to walk away from yesterday. Helps you to take autonomy and agency today. Helps you to create action today. It helps you to think a thing today, which moves your feet toward taking meaningful, purposeful, intentional steps tomorrow. That, to me, is big. Beautiful. Beautiful.

John: Well, thank you guys for listening to another episode of the present professional. Please rate us and review us anywhere that you get your podcast and look out for more information from us in the show notes. You’ll be able to connect with Terry and his information there and look for any other ways to connect with us on the presentprofessionalpodcast.com and have a wonderful rest of your day. Take this into your life. Let us know what you think, what’s working for you, what’s not working for you. We’d love to hear it. Take care of my friends.