Michelle Baty (00:00):

The brainstem does not know what work is. It does not know what the gym is. It doesn't know what food is. It just knows output versus input, which is physical, emotional, mental, relational. That's the currency with which it speaks. When we look at the output and how much energy it takes, how expensive it is in the system to learn a new behavior, it may be that that new behavior over time is also a solution to support some of the deficits that might exist.

Michelle MacDonald (00:41):

I am so excited to have Michelle Baty with me today. She is a neuroscientist with well over 18 years of experience in the field. She's the creator of the Art of Nothing, a framework for leaders, coaches and founders to show up more effectively for their clients and their staff. I'm really excited for this conversation because Michelle challenges the idea that faster is always better. I first came across her work through my friend Hattie Boydle and her concept slower is faster, really stuck with me in a world that constantly pushes us to do more faster. She explains why True progress comes from being in the right state and not just doing more. She's going to break down the neuroscience behind real lasting change and how we can set ourselves up for success. Michelle, welcome to the

Michelle Baty (01:34):

Show. Thank you, Michelle. I'm very excited to be here. I know it's been a long time coming and particularly in, yeah, and particularly in my experience, professional experience working with athletes, world champions national level, especially in the area of physique competitors. It is one of my favorite areas of work to apply neuropsychology to. Now at this point, over 5,000 people across the globe have had an opportunity to step into some variation of this work. So in the anticipation of this, Michelle, I've been incredibly excited to bring some really cool elements today. I know you're going to introduce some of the topics and the intent is we're going to be able to give some takeaways and tools for the gals listening to be able to support them every day.

Michelle MacDonald (02:21):

I love that. So we're going to go right into it, right into the heart of it. And I want to start with this idea that slower is faster and it's actually how I've found you. Well, you work with my dear friend Hattie Boydle, but when I started digging around a little bit, one of the first interviews was somewhere around Covid I believe, and it was this slower is faster and I love this idea. And when I entered that into Google and AI pumped out an answer, it said that the SIF effect, the slower is faster effect. This is great. It occurs when a system performs worse as its components try to perform faster. And I feel like in this day and age when we have so much information coming at us, we've got all this tech, all this software that's helping us to optimize and be more efficient and do things faster, right?

(03:20):

We're trying to increase volume and do one to many and all of this, our calendars, I mean my calendar has about 10 different colors in it at any given moment and there's hardly any white space. I dunno how I'm going to change that. I'm trying to the internal fight. But you talk so eloquently about this idea and how we have to start to pay attention more, notice more, be more self-aware and ask ourself. I think the question is this the direction I need to go? Am I truly optimizing my life or are things starting to fall apart? Am I doing too much? Am I going too fast? Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Michelle Baty (04:01):

I would love to talk about it slower as faster is my favorite mantra as well. It seems so counterintuitive like you're saying there, Michelle, particularly these days, there is a perpetual internal sense with a lot of external dialogue coming in that says more is better at the increase in speed, increase of volume, like you're speaking to that, that's somehow going to get us a better result. And what's really interesting about neurology and neuropsychology in this sense is when we look at how neurons fire and wire together and in particular how new habits are formed when we're engaging in novel learning. So for instance, if you have goal that you want to achieve, you happen to be working with a coach, they are introducing different habits, low hanging fruit to practice that might feel a little bit uncomfortable. What is the state the nervous system has to be in to be able to one, engage, but then number two, start to wire and fire these neurons together.

(04:57):

So when we speak to the concept of slower is faster, what that really means is on a neurological level there is a state of the nervous system that fires more slowly. It's still incredibly fast. However, by default compared to the other state, which we'll talk more about in a sec, that is a slower firing in the system because it's slower firing. And that as a byproduct of it being slower firing, we actually have more parts of the brain online. That's why it takes a little bit longer. But when those parts of the brain are online and we're engaging in new novel behavior, it affords us the ability to notice, to practice, to learn from our mistakes, to hardwire those learnings in and be able to stay with discomfort, to be able to repeat that behavior enough to get better at it. Never going to get better the first try, but when we speak to that, slower is faster. Really what we're saying is there is a state of the nervous system by default that allows parts of the brain to come online that hardwires in new behaviors and allows us to stay with discomfort to practice long enough. I want to check to see if that feels clear, if that makes sense, Michelle, just so far slower as fast is

Michelle MacDonald (06:11):

Actually stayed. Yeah, let's repeat that again and I'm going to fumble a little bit because just listening to you, I had to slow down my brain because I knew Michelle's saying something and I've got to really pay attention. So you said you got to slow down. You have to notice, right? I don't know if you said you have to learn and learn from your mistakes and make sure that you're hard wiring in those processes, that you've got new neurons potentially firing and you really want to make sure you're hard wiring that in and it might take a few stabs at it and there's going to be discomfort around that whole process. So I missed a few bits. So could you repeat that again because I'm sure everyone's going Yeah, she missed something. I know it

Michelle Baty (06:57):

Definitely. And I love that distinction. So instead of those things being elements that you have to practice, like practicing hard wiring something in, it's not quite that. Instead that is a byproduct of a state of the nervous system that's going to happen automatically. So learning new behaviors, hardwiring in new behaviors, the system learning not to do the old reflexive behaviors that we'll probably talk more about soon, that is a byproduct of the slower is faster state. So first we want to be able to activate that slower is faster state. We'll talk more about that too. And then the byproduct of that is all of the result that we want in terms of learning, integrating the habitual practice of things where it takes less effort, something's really hard at the start and then it gets easier over time. That's a symptom and a byproduct of this slower is faster state.

Michelle MacDonald (07:52):

I love that. It reminds me a little bit in a different way of James, clear, if you can start with your identity, then processes, the goal will happen as a consequence almost, right? So I love that. I'm sure the audience is just like, okay, tell us more, all the goods and let's everyone take a breath and slow down and really pay attention to the knowledge that Michelle VA's dropping right now. I'm so excited about this. What do you want to start with next? Do you want to dive deeper into this idea of getting into what is this magical nana that we have to get into?

Michelle Baty (08:29):

Yeah, I think it's helpful to understand a little bit of the neurology. More neurology isn't necessarily better. However, there's quite a bit of science out there and certainly in my own experience to know that when we understand how the brain is structured and how the nervous system interacts with new uncomfortable behaviors that just on its own can change our neurology and help us approach and move towards those things with a little less resistance. So I think starting there and explaining a couple of different things can be helpful. Now of course we want to make it simple enough so Michelle, interrupt me at any time for clarification. I

Michelle MacDonald (09:04):

Will. Don't worry

Michelle Baty (09:05):

And we'll make sure.

Michelle MacDonald (09:05):

Great. Okay, good. I've got the back of the audience. I'm ready. That's it. I'm ready.

Michelle Baty (09:09):

That's it. So just as a start for you who's listening, if you happen to have a goal or there's something that you are wanting to improve, it's meaningful for you, there's purpose behind it, but then as a default you're aiming to engage in behaviors that are maybe a little uncomfortable at times or maybe you notice that they're hard to stay with. What's important to know from a neuropsychology perspective is your nervous system. In simple terms as two different states, there's one state where our nervous system is feeling a little too overwhelmed. There's too much too soon for too long going on and it doesn't distinguish going to the gym or food or anything like that. It is allostatic load, which is, that's a term for the total load of stimuli or messages coming into the system where you have to meet those demands. So how we would measure that or quantify that would be how much sleep are you getting?

(10:12):

How's the rhythms of your relationships, how much food are you getting? What is the quality of that food? How much output is there for your work and for your training? How much rest are you getting? How much play and creativity time do you have? And all of this information over time, day to day, week to week, month to month, over decades compounds to then create a possible state in the system where it's a little too much, too much, too soon for too long. And in that case where the demands of our nervous system are too high and we don't have enough resources over time to be able to meet those demands. So not for short periods, but for long periods of time, we don't have enough resources to meet those demands. Our nervous system will go into a very reflexive state. This is not the slower as faster, it's the opposite.

(11:03):

One very fast state where it prioritizes efficiency and it will choose neurologically. It will choose reflexes that keep us alive. Survival is number one, but also move us as quickly towards resources that are going to help us make up that deficit. I think an example might be helpful if you're not going to ask for it. Yeah, can we give an example? So a really great example, and I love working in the health and fitness industry because it's so airtight to be able to look at different analogies and how this shows up. An example might be if you happen to be in a diet phase and your calories are lower than your exertion and your output, right? In short periods of time, this is fine. A nervous system is built to do hard things. It is built to meet demand. We know in terms of building muscle, you have to break a muscle down, create a stimulus, and then feed it for it to come back stronger.

(11:59):

So this is still the same nervous system, it's great in short periods, really, really important. But when we look at this over time can see this with women's physiology, humans generally women's physiology. You're in a diet phase for too long without bringing food up, your body will be in too much of a deficit and we're going to start to see some adaptations. It's going to be too much too soon for too long. So we might have metabolic adaptations Michelle, way more about this than me. But one of the things that shows up in that example is we move into this very fast reflexive state that we are talking about part of the brain called the amygdala. It's not just the amygdala, but this fear center of the brain will start to signal your under a state of threat. So in that it's going to prioritize reflexive behaviors moving towards a thing that's going to keep it alive.

(12:53):

So in this case, and this is very, very common, if we've been in a diet phase for a very long time, our ability to regulate our appetite becomes increasingly more difficult. It may be that there are foods that you have noticed yourself maybe move away from or you're trying to shift and change your relationship with it and it becomes increasingly difficult not to engage in behaviors that you might then feel. This is really common too, are self-sabotage behaviors or feel as though you're failing your goal. I didn't quite stick to the thing that I intended. So share this because it's so normal. But the other piece is to be able to track what's happening in our neurology allows us to normalize it, understand what's really going on, not that we are failures, not that we are self-sabotaging even, but instead that our nervous system is in a state of survival and it's moving towards the thing that's going to keep us alive when resources are very low and demands are very high.

(13:51):

In this case, that's going to be food, right? Where our system is hungry and therefore we reflexively move towards food, which might be contrary to a goal, but the brainstem doesn't of course know that it might be three months versus the rest of your life. So this is a great example of this is a fast reflexive state. This state shows up when our nervous system cannot meet the demands over a long period of time and it will then prioritize moving towards the resources with ignoring the goal. The goal doesn't matter at this point, but reflexively moving towards the thing that are going to solve the immediate problem of threat and guarantee that our system is going to survive. So I want to check to see Michelle, if that piece feels clear, the analogy there as well. That's state number one. We can talk about state number two in a sec, but how's it landing so far?

Michelle MacDonald (14:41):

No, I think that that makes a lot of sense and I think probably people are listening and they want to put their hands up in there air and ask more questions about that state. But I think and maybe how to navigate that. If it's a state that you're in and there's this idea of allostatic load, what can we do to take off some of that load and continue to be in the deficit or continue to do the hard training? But let's dive into the, we're going to dive the second state and then we'll tie that back. We'll go back

Michelle Baty (15:12):

Totally and they're interchangeable. So we've got state number one, which means too much too soon for too long. That's how the brainstem would define it. And in that state, reflexive behaviors that are going to be contrary to your goal are going to show up. We feel as though we're a passenger to those things. We don't necessarily feel as though we have control over those things. Hijacked is the term. And then we've got this other state, and I know if you are listening here and you've been practicing something for a little while, I can guarantee that you've experienced some pocket of this before, which is when things are just flowing and you are engaging in a practice and maybe it doesn't feel easy, but there's enough bandwidth there, enough motivation there, enough support there or feeling rested enough, some excitement in there to go, Hey, I can practice this and it's actually okay.

(16:01):

So it might be discipline. You might use the word discipline, you might use the word willpower. Language is different for different systems. I'm always open to that, but there's something happening in that state that's distinctly different from the first one. Tying back to the initial concept that's the slower is faster state. We under an FM RI image, you can measure that there are more parts of the brain online, specifically the prefrontal cortex. If anyone's heard of the prefrontal cortex, it's my favorite part of the brain. Is that true too? I love the brain brainstem too. I love the brainstem too. The prefrontal cortex when engaged, when online allows us to regulate our autonomic nervous system, which is our heart rate, our breathing, how much inflammation is in the body. It also helps us regulate what's happening in our digestion, our assimilation of food and nutrients.

(16:50):

It helps us stay in tune with our muscles. So even just being in the gym mind to muscle connection and getting more out of that, recruiting more muscle fibers when we're in the gym, that's really important for result two, although slightly outside my scope, I know enough I'm going to drop that in there. This state allows us to regulate emotions, be aware of what's happening in our body, and it increases our level of resilience and our ability to engage in discipline when staying with things that are a little bit uncomfortable. So staying with discomfort is not something that is available in the first state we described, the system is already beyond threshold and therefore any more discomfort is too much. The nervous system goes already straw that broke the camel's back. We just need to survive. However, in the second state, because we have more of the brain online, our nervous system isn't in such a deficit and not just speaking to food, I mean that allostatic load the compound of everything going on.

(17:54):

It's not so much in a deficit. It means that we have quite a bit of bandwidth to be able to hold in, stay with and practice new things in the face of discomfort or in the face of challenge or in the face of uncertainty. This is really important. It's a byproduct. You still have to practice things and we're going to talk about the elements that support our system and being able to move towards that, but also hold us when we're teetering on the edge there, we're really pushing our limits. We want to stay in that state. So that is the prerequisite, Michelle, for any new novel learning in the first state, we quite literally cannot build new neurons. It is impossible in the second state. On the other hand, if we are practicing something quite consciously with the right support and resources, although it still takes time and energy and building new neurons is very expensive in the system. One, it's possible. But number two, we can be incredibly conscious when we know these things on what habits we want to fire and wire together, ensuring that they align with our future goal and that over time we get the result that we want. It also becomes easier, becomes more efficient over time as well. So checking to see how that piece feels. We've got state number one. That's incredible.

Michelle MacDonald (19:12):

Yeah,

Michelle Baty (19:13):

We've got state number two. We love state number

Michelle MacDonald (19:15):

Two. So is there a name to these states?

Michelle Baty (19:18):

So the first one we would call the protective state. A lot of the time you might hear yourself, and I'm speaking to our listener, you might hear yourself say, self-sabotage from a neurological perspective doesn't exist. It is simply a protective state where your nervous system has deemed I am not able to meet the demands with the resources that I have and reflexively I need to get more resources to be able to even out. And I love this work because it takes away all the stigma. We just understand the mechanism that's there, which allows us moreover to work with the system versus against it. So there's that piece there. If we notice ourselves say self sabotage, that would be indicative of a protective state. Survivals the only goal, our future goals don't matter there, right? Really great at keeping us alive. In fact, it's got a hundred percent success rate at keeping us alive.

(20:14):

Nothing in a Petri dish ever gets a hundred percent. I love the brainstem. And then the second state, so that's protective. Then we've got the second state, which we would call connective, protective and connective. The reason we call it a connective state is we've got the prefrontal cortex online where we are connecting to the lower parts of the brain, connecting to a central nervous system, our peripheral nervous system, which is our legs and arms and hands and feet. So we're very connected to that internally, but also able to connect outwardly with a part of the brain or a system of the brain called the social engagement system. An example of that would be if you are working with a coach, a connective state might be that you're more receptive to what they share, a little less resistant, even if it's scary or uncomfortable or even if it feels like a little bit unsteady and there might be some parts of your system that feel a little mistrusting, you are still able to engage with that coach knowing they have your best interest at heart, knowing there's enough data to say that they are skilled. They have the ability, they're going to check with me. We're going to work through this. We're going to learn some skills together. So that social engagement system, when it's online with the prefrontal cortex, that's the connective state, allows us to stay with discomfort. But one of the hallmarks of it is it allows us to engage with people around us that will also support our ability to do so when the stakes are a little bit higher.

Michelle MacDonald (21:44):

That's great. Yeah, protective connected makes so much sense. And I think just listening to how you're describing it, I know the listeners are going to be identifying probably a lot the allostatic glow that you're talking about because a lot of the listeners here are in the 40 plus category and many of them are career women, whether they've reentered the career force or they've been in it and are scaling up in their career or having to make choices. Do I want to go up a level? They've got kids potentially going into college and we know that dependency on parents is going up in years. So when I was a kid in your teens, that was it. You were going out the door and going to university and starting your life, but now it's very delayed with people staying at home well into their late twenties. That's very normal. And then parents, so aging parents starting to need assistance going into nursing homes and there's that transition. And then of course there's the menopause transition and that's a whole other thing. So we've got a lot owl static load from these things more than anything else. And then if you're working with a coach, you're probably choosing to go through a major lifestyle change. So you have to be online. Otherwise it's just going to be your a rubber ball stuff's going to just not be able to penetrate, not be able to get in.

Michelle Baty (23:21):

It's such a catch 22. Michelle, I appreciate your reflection on all of those elements. I'm going to impart and share also the rhythms and culture of the world that we live in. There is so much information coming in and that is inclusive of allostatic load. I think 20 years, 30 years from now, we're going to look back and just go, that was absolutely bonkers. Hopefully we'll be moving towards being able to support our systems in a better way. So I add that piece in as it's accumulation of everything. Everything. How much demand versus how much recovery. And not specific to just relational containers or work or training. The brainstem does not know what work is. It does not know what the gym is. It doesn't know what food is. It just knows output versus input, which is physical, emotional, mental, relational. That's the currency with which it speaks. So the catch 22 here, Michelle, is that when we look at the output and how much energy it takes, how expensive it is in the system to learn a new behavior, it may be that new behavior over time is also a solution to support some of the deficits that might exist. I'm going to ask you to repeat

Michelle MacDonald (24:41):

That one because it's important, right?

Michelle Baty (24:44):

So important

Michelle MacDonald (24:45):

How we prioritize, choose your heart, how we prioritize hard things.

Michelle Baty (24:50):

Yeah, it's a tough scene. So if our system is in a deficit of resources, that's a term for, it's just the accumulation of things that it might need to recover from all of the information coming in and processing for in a deficit over decades and decades, we have to generate a certain amount of energy and attention and focus, which is very expensive. It's not efficient to learn the behaviors, to be able to support and fill in that deficit. What's an example of this? The higher quality food we eat, the better our nutrition, the better our body will be able to sustain compensating for and recovering from stress. However, to be able to learn some of those behaviors and practice those behaviors over a period of time takes energy and it takes focus from a system that might not have a ton with its start point.

(25:43):

So this catch 22 is we're really tired and our system is like it's suffering. And in order to fix some of these things, we have to find energy to learn the new behaviors, practice the stuff to get good at it, to be able to become less tired at our low point of energy. We have to find the energy to then learn the skills to increase our energy. I want to check to see that. That makes sense. That's the catch 22. That's why it's so hard for people to engage in behaviors because often it's at a time where the resources that are needed to learn those new things be in that second state. They might not be readily and fully available, way easier when you're 17 than when you're 47 or 57. There's just less allostatic cloud when we're 17 on the whole of things. Can I check to see how that lands, if that feels clear, Michelle?

Michelle MacDonald (26:33):

Yeah, I think definitely we see that with the larger population. I think it's curious, at least in our program, the 24 week transformation program I run, which is probably at this point it's probably 80, 85%, 40 years old. And plus these gals are very busy and they're very successful, but they want the change and somehow whether it's a rock bottom experience, so a pain push or whether it's a pleasure push, like visualizing, maybe they've seen Jodi or Trish or one of these gals or my mother on Instagram and they think, oh my god, her before is me now. And their minds are opened up to the possibility that it could also be their story, this journey. And so maybe there's a pleasure pull, but somehow these gals are able, despite very hectic schedules and strong old patternings and maybe some resistance from their environment, they're able to make this massive change on mass large groups of gals together. So that's very interesting to me. And maybe that's tapping into some of the being social animals and being surrounded by other people all carrying you along this journey.

Michelle Baty (27:50):

Can I speak to that?

Michelle MacDonald (27:51):

Yeah,

Michelle Baty (27:53):

I love it. And always. So as a scientist and just loving data, nothing is a coincidence. The nervous system does not make mistakes. We may feel as though they are mistakes because they're misaligned with a part of our nervous system that says this was the goal missing that survival might've been the goal and we're alive because those reflexive behaviors have shown up. But I want to impart and just share in this space, the nervous system does not make mistakes. There are no coincidences. So as a data lover, Michelle, when you describe these events of going, it could have gone this way and all of the variables of decades and decades of too much too soon for too long, working on a career, taking care of a family, all of the pressures that women experience, which we might not talk about today, but we know they're in the room and it's important to acknowledge all of that over a lifetime. How is it that some people move towards this second stage and are able to generate and find from a reservoir of energy the ability to engage and practice and do so long enough to get better versus some other people who might not be able to do that for a period of time or perhaps ever in their lifetime with regards to a goal that they achieve. What are the pieces that determine that? So I love that question. I might share some possible answers around it if it's okay, Michelle?

Michelle MacDonald (29:22):

Yeah, absolutely. I think that would be a great way to wrap up this first episode. And guys, don't worry, we're going to go even deeper in a second episode and talk about some actual case studies and you might find yourself in those case studies. So let's dive in. Yeah,

Michelle Baty (29:38):

So that piece there, right, and for you listening, it may be that you have tried a couple of times and there's a lot of data out there to say the more times you try and fail, the more likely it is within the right context, particularly social context, the more likely it is you're going to succeed over time. There's a direct correlation between the number of supported failures, very specific supported failures and the likelihood that we will achieve our goal or be able to sustain the habits over a lifetime. So the number one hallmark of what's required to move into this second state, which allows us to stay with discomfort, to be able to increase our level of resilience, that even when there is every reason for us not to do something and we have very low energy and we're doing all the stuff for everybody else, the number one thing is safe social support, safe social support.

(30:41):

When we speak to biological hard wiring of the tribe and look at the mechanisms of the nervous system. When you have a coach, when you have a community, when you have social support around you with people or women who have similar goals who are working to practice similar things, there is an exponential increase in your nervous system's ability to be in this second state, this connective state train with John. That's a story that creates a connected state experience and suddenly our neurons fire and wire together very differently. It's possible there are others out there, I can speak, I can share, I can practice. They know trials and tribulations are held by community as opposed to being too much on your own, moving you into that first state. Not being able to engage over time or failure may be the final end and we never reach our goals or we never reengage in that goal.

(31:39):

So as a takeaway message here and a synopsis of what we've covered, I know we're going to do a second episode soon with some case studies. We've spoken about a few things. The first is, is that if you're aiming to achieve a goal, one of the prerequisites is engaging in practices that might be a little uncomfortable long enough for you to get better, for it to get easier. That has to be aligned with the goal that you're wanting to achieve. The second is, is the precursor for this is what state you are in. The first state, which is protective, is when the system is overloaded and does not have enough resources to be able to meet the demand that will shut down your ability to hardwire in new behaviors. Guaranteed. It doesn't matter how smart or clever you are, it's a guarantee if you happen to be in that second state or like we're going to talk about more in the next episode.

(32:32):

If you happen to have the resources and support to foster your ability to move into that state, you are exponentially more likely to engage in habits aligned with your goal. Also to just have a future goal in the first place and lean into the resources, the spaces, places, and people that can support you at times where you otherwise might revert to those old behaviors that keep you in the game. They keep you in the game long enough for you to keep yourself in the game long enough. So in that safe social support, it's really great if they happen to be skilled in the area of the goal that you're aiming to achieve. That's another element of that combo. But if we can get those two things together, there is a very high likelihood that your nervous system would be able to hardwire in new behaviors, increasing the likelihood that you're going to hit your goals. It sounds so simple.

Michelle MacDonald (33:28):

Thank you so much for an incredible introduction. And I mean, honestly, we can keep going in this first episode, but I know we're going to come back. We're going to tie it off here and we're going to come back. But when we come back, what we're going to dive into, what I'm hoping to tease out from you are some of the skills that we can practice, that people can practice, some really good take home skills that that can start working on so that they can create more space, more capacity to be in this state where all the goodness will come. Also, talk a little bit more about self-awareness and how important and how crucial it is to this whole process. I talk about a lot in my coaching to be incredibly self-aware and that is the holy grail of the journey of being human and aging really well and not being older and feeling like you've wasted your life. We want to be older and wiser and look back at our lives and feel like I chose well, right? But that requires self-awareness and being purpose-driven. Yeah. And then I'd love to go into some case studies and how do we get out of our way. So does that sound good? I'm looking forward to it all. Love it. Okay, great. See you next step episode. Thank you everybody, and we'll see you next episode. Thank you so much, Michelle.

(34:57):

What an incredible conversation with Michelle Baty. Here are my top three takeaways from today's episode. Number one, protective versus connective states. We got to understand these two nervous system states. They help us recognize when we're stuck in survival mode. That's the protective state versus when we're in a place where real growth, real learning, real change can happen. Two slower is often faster. Pushing harder isn't always the right answer. Being in the right neurological state makes learning and habit formation much more effective. So we got to be very aware of what state we're in. Three, the power of safe social support. Having the right people around us, whether it's a coach, a community, or trusted mentors can make all the difference in sustaining change. Next episode, Michelle's going to break down the skills and strategies you can use to get into that connected state more often and stay there. Plus why self-awareness is the foundation of real progress.