Lori Saitz is the founder of Zen Rabbit and the Zen Leadership Program. Lori shares how leaders can enhance productivity, reduce stress, and improve retention through intentional actions and workplace well-being practices. Drawing from her experience, Lori emphasizes the importance of grounding exercises, deep breathing, and gratitude to foster a calm, productive environment. She explains how being a leader who embodies calmness influences the team’s energy and engagement, and ultimately, leads to success. The episode also highlights the powerful impact of gratitude on productivity, citing research that shows grateful leaders inspire more loyalty and effort from their teams. Lori’s message is clear: true leadership begins with self-regulation and showing up as the person your team wants to support.

Want to learn more about Lori Saitz's work? Check out her website at https://zenrabbit.com/.

Connect with Lori on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorisaitz/.

Key Points & Timestamps:

• [00:01:20] Introduction to Lori Saitz and her Zen Leadership Program
• [00:02:14] The importance of productivity and well-being in leadership
• [00:03:49] Misconceptions of hard work and success
• [00:05:36] Personal responsibility in managing stress and staying calm
• [00:12:05] Marine Corps lessons: finding calm amidst chaos
• [00:14:08] Breathing exercises for grounding and stress relief
• [00:17:27] Becoming a leader that people want to support, not just follow
• [00:22:16] Gratitude as a tool for enhancing team productivity and loyalty
• [00:29:06] Empowering team members to make decisions without micromanagement

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show.

00;00;51;10 - 00;01;20;18
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Lori Saitz. She's the founder of Zen Rabbit and the Zen Leadership Program that helps leaders improve productivity and engagement through workplace wellbeing. Some of her stats that she shared with me is she's been able to increase productivity 120%, which is insane. That says for the same labor cost, you just got more than a new worker.

00;01;20;21 - 00;01;23;05
Craig Andrews
You know, we've doubled your workforce.

00;01;23;05 - 00;01;39;06
Craig Andrews
53% improvement in retention. 30% decrease in stress related symptoms. 85% decrease in absenteeism and 27% reduction in irritability. I have a few people I want you to talk to.

00;01;39;06 - 00;01;40;16
Craig Andrews
And the,

00;01;40;16 - 00;01;47;08
Craig Andrews
she also is a host of her own podcast. That is fine. Is a four letter word. Lori, welcome.

00;01;47;10 - 00;01;51;00
Lori Saitz
Thanks for having me. I am excited to be here, Craig.

00;01;51;03 - 00;02;05;15
Craig Andrews
You know, I'm excited to I've been looking forward to this conversation because, you know, there's so many reasons why what you do is important. And if we just start with the most practical reasons.

00;02;05;15 - 00;02;14;25
Craig Andrews
We have a birth rate that doesn't support, our, our current productivity. So we got to do some of these things that you're talking about.

00;02;14;26 - 00;02;39;02
Craig Andrews
We need to be more productive with our time. Inflation is real. And if we don't want to, you know, just have prices skyrocketing, we need to be more productive. But at the end of the day, that's. I think that's really secondary. I just think one of the things that makes me sad, and I think this is part of what drives you, is you just hate to see people go through life all wound up.

00;02;41;06 - 00;02;51;12
Lori Saitz
Yeah. It's not necessary. I know people have been conditioned to believe that this is just how life is, but it's not.

00;02;51;14 - 00;02;56;26
Craig Andrews
So which is interesting. It's not necessary.

00;02;56;29 - 00;03;06;22
Lori Saitz
No, no I think people are going through life like hair on fire because they don't know any better. They've been led,

00;03;06;22 - 00;03;08;19
Lori Saitz
led to believe they've been,

00;03;08;19 - 00;03;24;21
Lori Saitz
I mean, they've been programed by generations before them that believed that this is just how life is. So every generation learns what the generation before it taught them. Right. So it becomes like, okay, this is just how it is.

00;03;24;21 - 00;03;40;23
Lori Saitz
But they didn't learn the tools and techniques to not be that way. And once people are even aware that it is possible to live a different way, then they can become interested in learning how to do that.

00;03;40;25 - 00;03;49;08
Craig Andrews
So what are some examples of traps that people fall into that they inherited from prior generations? What was it look like in practice?

00;03;49;10 - 00;04;12;24
Lori Saitz
Okay, so this is a big one that you have to work hard to succeed. Success requires hard work. I don't believe that success certainly requires actions and some work, but it requires intentional action. It's not just let me be busy 24 seven and hustling all the time. Yeah,

00;04;12;24 - 00;04;18;29
Lori Saitz
I think that's a big one. I hear that from people all the time that they were taught that success to.

00;04;18;29 - 00;04;21;20
Lori Saitz
In order to succeed, they have to work hard.

00;04;21;23 - 00;04;26;26
Craig Andrews
Yeah. I, I'll be honest, I, I think I struggle with that.

00;04;26;26 - 00;04;33;28
Craig Andrews
My wife, where she here would say he definitely. I definitely struggle with that.

00;04;34;00 - 00;04;37;07
Lori Saitz
I've struggled with it as well. You know, I was,

00;04;37;07 - 00;05;01;12
Lori Saitz
I'm a first born Capricorn, like hard work, mountain goat climbing, climbing, everything have to be perfect and, you know, succeed at everything. I hate being a beginner because I want to just be good at it already. So, yeah, it's a matter of unlearning some of these things that we have learned in order to live.

00;05;01;14 - 00;05;04;20
Lori Saitz
A happier, more joyful life.

00;05;04;22 - 00;05;11;14
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So there's, you know, there's a few things there mixed in.

00;05;11;14 - 00;05;30;08
Craig Andrews
And I think some of it is cyclical. I there's, there's a book that anybody that knows me, I reference frequently called pendulum, talking about how we move through eight year cycles. And every eight years we get a little cantankerous. And I think most people would describe us as cantankerous right now.

00;05;30;11 - 00;05;33;07
Lori Saitz
Yes.

00;05;33;09 - 00;05;36;03
Craig Andrews
How do we unwind that?

00;05;36;05 - 00;05;56;18
Lori Saitz
It's each person's personal responsibility to do this. And because you're the only one who's in control of you. So you have to take the responsibility for managing your own, your own thoughts and feelings and behaviors. And so when we talk about,

00;05;56;18 - 00;06;01;07
Lori Saitz
one of the, the tools that I teach people is how is,

00;06;01;07 - 00;06;05;08
Lori Saitz
some calming and grounding exercises, for example.

00;06;05;11 - 00;06;22;08
Lori Saitz
And so learning what those are and then implementing them to two different pieces here. Right. One. Becoming aware of what they are and then saying okay I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do them consistently, not just one time and then say it doesn't work.

00;06;22;08 - 00;06;31;02
Lori Saitz
Is as a personal responsible like how to calm your mind, how to calm your the stress that you have in your life.

00;06;31;04 - 00;06;38;18
Lori Saitz
There are ways to not feel stressed all the time, to be able to fall asleep faster.

00;06;38;18 - 00;06;53;14
Lori Saitz
To have more kindness and feel more compassion so that you're not constantly getting pulled into, into arguments and disagreements with people, whether it's, you know, in your house, in your workplace,

00;06;53;14 - 00;07;00;03
Lori Saitz
online, wherever it is that you feel compelled to jump in and argue calm.

00;07;00;03 - 00;07;11;02
Lori Saitz
There's there. Calm it down. And so I think once each person says, I can do this myself, like I can't control what you do.

00;07;11;02 - 00;07;24;02
Lori Saitz
If you choose to, you know, use calming, grounding exercises or to meditate or to practice gratitude or to, work out, drink more water, I don't know. I don't have any control over what you're doing.

00;07;24;03 - 00;07;27;02
Lori Saitz
I only have control over what I'm doing.

00;07;27;05 - 00;07;34;04
Craig Andrews
Have we reached a point where it's safe to say that picking a fight on social media isn't going to change his mind?

00;07;34;07 - 00;07;37;01
Lori Saitz
Yes. Yes, we have.

00;07;37;03 - 00;07;54;04
Craig Andrews
I mean, because it's election season, I. I know a guy. I think the world of him. I think he's a wonderful guy. And he puts these posts out, like, now I'm just looking for input here. And I'm like, yeah, that's like the cheese saying

00;07;54;04 - 00;08;00;13
Craig Andrews
cheese telling the mouse, I'm just here for decoration. I'm here for you.

00;08;00;16 - 00;08;06;26
Lori Saitz
Right. Yeah. I don't know, I mean, I think people are they're looking for attention because,

00;08;06;26 - 00;08;18;07
Lori Saitz
and they're looking to stir things up. Like, can I get in the middle of this? Because most people are conditioned for drama. This is the thing. Like when I talk about helping people feel more calm and,

00;08;18;07 - 00;08;22;12
Lori Saitz
calm amidst the chaos, they don't know what that feels like.

00;08;22;14 - 00;08;33;27
Lori Saitz
And when they do, if, if and when they do achieve some level of calm feels very unfamiliar.

00;08;33;29 - 00;08;46;21
Craig Andrews
That's that's interesting. I'd never. So if I'm hearing it correctly, when it feels unfamiliar, are you saying that makes them insecure and it makes them a little bit nervous and they feel like they have to disrupt that.

00;08;46;23 - 00;09;08;04
Lori Saitz
Yeah exactly. It's it's I want to say it's uncomfortable because it's unfamiliar. So you would think that being in a constant state of stress and chaos would be uncomfortable. And for a lot of people, it is. They don't like it. They say they don't want it. I just, you know, you ask people, what do you want in your life?

00;09;08;10 - 00;09;31;11
Lori Saitz
I just want to be happy. Well, they they say that, but then they don't do the things that would get them there. Because in part because it doesn't feel familiar. So it's it's uncomfortable. And what happens when something is uncomfortable. Everything's uncomfortable in the beginning when you're learning to ride a bike it's uncomfortable until you figure out how to do it.

00;09;31;17 - 00;09;35;05
Lori Saitz
And then it's not. It's perfectly comfortable.

00;09;35;07 - 00;09;35;29
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;09;36;02 - 00;09;43;29
Lori Saitz
And so yeah, it's a matter of giving calm a try or giving calm a chance. I guess.

00;09;44;02 - 00;09;47;20
Craig Andrews
You know, one thing that keeps flashing through my head is,

00;09;47;20 - 00;10;18;29
Craig Andrews
my time in the Marines. And let me first say, thankfully, I've never fired a rifle in anger. And I'm very thankful that I don't have to live with the ghosts that so many people do, or the demons that so many people do. But through a series of exercises, it became very, very clear that should I be in that situation when all hell is breaking loose around me, my best chance of survival is to calm my mind, calm my breathing, and take that well-aimed shot.

00;10;19;02 - 00;10;27;09
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And feel like, you know, even though life is in a combat zone, sometimes it has that feeling.

00;10;27;12 - 00;10;56;12
Lori Saitz
Absolutely. It has that feeling. It has that feeling frequently for most people. That's how life feels to them, is I live in a combat zone, and my goal in life is to survive. It's not to thrive. It's not to necessarily feel good. They would like to feel, to be happy. But when it comes down to the day to day, I just need to get through this day so I can get up and do it again tomorrow.

00;10;56;15 - 00;10;58;09
Craig Andrews
And and that just sounds miserable.

00;10;58;13 - 00;11;26;01
Lori Saitz
Yeah, it absolutely does sound miserable. And at the same time, you can, again, you can find ways to find calm. Like you were just saying. What you were trying to do is to find the calm so that you could respond instead of react impulsively. Because when you're reacting from that reptilian part of your brain, which is where most people are operating from, typically,

00;11;26;01 - 00;11;27;20
Lori Saitz
you make mistakes.

00;11;27;22 - 00;11;33;11
Lori Saitz
You're not focused. It takes you longer to get through tasks and,

00;11;33;11 - 00;11;46;23
Lori Saitz
chores and projects, and you're probably making mistakes. You're going to have to go back and do it again. You know, if you're going to go with the same analogy, you're going to miss the shot.

00;11;46;26 - 00;12;05;12
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. And I can tell you in my you know, I did various drills and what have you. I did miss the shot until I slowed down. Tuned out the chaos. Breathe. And just took that while I'm shot. Yeah.

00;12;05;14 - 00;12;16;10
Lori Saitz
That's what you have to do. You have to learn how to do that, right? Like you didn't just walk into the Marines and go, I'm here. I know how to shoot. Totally calm. They trained you?

00;12;16;12 - 00;12;20;10
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's,

00;12;20;10 - 00;12;33;03
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And there is a lot of breathing. You know, a lot of marksmanship is breathing. Now, how about what you do? How much of what you do is about breathing?

00;12;33;06 - 00;12;54;07
Lori Saitz
A lot of it is about breathing. Well, I always start with that because presumably everybody who's listening is breathing, but they are probably breathing very shallowly, which is what happens when people are feeling stressed is they're breathing, but they're breathing from the upper part of their chest. And it's very shallow breaths, like, I mean, it still sustains you.

00;12;54;07 - 00;13;13;14
Lori Saitz
It keeps you alive. But learning to breathe all the way down into your abdomen. And this is one of the exercises that I teach when I'm doing workshops, is let's just take a moment and you can do it. Whether you're walking into a meeting or you're walking into a,

00;13;13;14 - 00;13;34;06
Lori Saitz
situation that you expect might be stressful, or you're walking out of a situation where you're like, oh, that didn't go well at any time to just take a really deep breath in all the way down to your abdomen, maybe put your hand on your chest and your abdomen, one hand on un chest, one hand up, and feel that air going all the way down into

00;13;34;06 - 00;14;08;07
Lori Saitz
your abdomen. When you look at how babies breathe, that's how they naturally breathe is all the way down to their abdomen, not just in their chest. And then. So sucking in all this air, breathing in as much as you can, and then just letting it go. And when you do that, when you're letting it go, letting your neck relax and your shoulders relax and your, your arms, your hands just like let everything relax as you release that breath and do that for a few times, let's say 60s 90s not that much time.

00;14;08;07 - 00;14;09;24
Lori Saitz
It doesn't require,

00;14;09;24 - 00;14;16;23
Lori Saitz
a long commitment. Yeah. Again, it's very easy. And it's also easy to not do.

00;14;16;25 - 00;14;20;22
Craig Andrews
And for the record, you're giving me flashbacks to the rehab hospital.

00;14;20;22 - 00;14;36;03
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Three years ago, I was in a rehab hospital, and, you know, my lung capacity was less than a third of what it is right now. And I, you know, if I walked away, I would learn how to walk again. And if I walked,

00;14;36;03 - 00;14;39;22
Craig Andrews
ten feet, I would start hyperventilating.

00;14;39;22 - 00;14;51;24
Craig Andrews
I would do those shallow breaths. And they were like, no focus. And they're telling me all this stuff. I'm like, come closer so I can take my scrawny, little atrophied arm and smack you with it.

00;14;51;24 - 00;15;06;05
Craig Andrews
It's hard. I mean, when and and so I think that's. I think that's one of the challenges is, you know, people are like.

00;15;06;05 - 00;15;10;23
Craig Andrews
Lori, I hear what you're saying. I can't, I can't.

00;15;10;25 - 00;15;32;07
Lori Saitz
You can't or you don't want to because it's unfamiliar, because most people are not having the challenge that you were having, where it was a physical challenge to do it, and yet you still did it. You're physically challenged to do it, and you didn't want to. You still did because you you needed it for your recovery.

00;15;33;06 - 00;15;39;24
Lori Saitz
So I can't had are you familiar with David Goggins.

00;15;39;27 - 00;15;40;21
Craig Andrews
I, I'm not.

00;15;40;28 - 00;15;41;21
Lori Saitz
Okay. He's

00;15;41;21 - 00;15;44;04
Lori Saitz
I don't even know how to describe him because,

00;15;44;04 - 00;15;46;15
Lori Saitz
he's like a superman and,

00;15;46;15 - 00;15;52;07
Lori Saitz
he's. What was the book he, I now I have to look up the name of the book,

00;15;52;07 - 00;16;08;08
Lori Saitz
that he wrote, but he has pushed himself beyond what most people would consider physical, human limits. And set an example. It's like when Roger Bannister ran the four minute mile.

00;16;08;08 - 00;16;16;17
Lori Saitz
Everybody said, it's impossible. It can't be done until he did it. And then a whole bunch of other people shortly afterwards did it too.

00;16;17;14 - 00;16;40;13
Lori Saitz
It's not everything and anything is possible. We just set these limits on ourselves and say I can't, it's impossible. It's not. Or maybe you can do it, but I can't. How badly do you want the calm. How badly do you want to succeed in whatever it is you're looking to accomplish?

00;16;40;16 - 00;16;50;17
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. And, boy, and not the case for so many things. You know, I think about,

00;16;50;17 - 00;16;55;08
Craig Andrews
you know, I think about Michael Jordan, one of the stories I've heard about him told by one of his,

00;16;55;08 - 00;17;02;28
Craig Andrews
coaches when he was in the playing baseball. He said, you know, the game would end and all the players would go out drinking.

00;17;02;28 - 00;17;20;27
Craig Andrews
Michael would show up at the batting cage and say, I need to work on batting while everybody else is. It's, you know, the thing that made him the phenomenal athlete they was was he would do that little extra that nobody else would. And that's why I'm hearing you say is, you can do this and you can stand out.

00;17;20;27 - 00;17;27;03
Craig Andrews
You can be different. You can stand above everyone else if you just take on this one thing.

00;17;27;05 - 00;17;33;06
Lori Saitz
Right, right. Jerry Rice would do the same thing. You know, be out there on the field when everybody else was gone.

00;17;33;06 - 00;17;44;02
Lori Saitz
And before I forget, David Goggins book is called Can't Hurt Me. He was a Navy Seal and an ultra marathon runner. Ultra distance cyclist. All this. Anyway, just to close that loop.

00;17;44;02 - 00;17;50;24
Lori Saitz
It's. Yeah. We're not asking you to stay on the practice field for an extra three hours.

00;17;50;25 - 00;17;51;23
Lori Saitz
We're asking,

00;17;51;27 - 00;18;14;05
Lori Saitz
I'm recommending. I'm encouraging you. I'm not even asking. I'm just inviting you to breathe more deeply so that you can fully oxygenate your brain and your blood so that you can be more focused so that you can feel better physically and mentally.

00;18;14;08 - 00;18;27;17
Craig Andrews
So how do we know? I have the benefit of having very high dollar training in the rehab hospital where, you know, they actually had me put my hand on my gut and take me through some exercises to breathe.

00;18;27;17 - 00;18;28;14
Craig Andrews
What's the,

00;18;28;14 - 00;18;31;25
Craig Andrews
do it at home version of this? Where did people learn how to do this?

00;18;31;26 - 00;18;54;10
Lori Saitz
I just I we just did it. I mean, put your hand on your abdomen and put your hand another your other hand. Another hand. You're your third hand. You're another hand on your chest. And feel yourself breathing. Breathing in really deeply. If you want to take it one little notch up, close your eyes, because then you're blocking out some of the distractions that you have.

00;18;54;17 - 00;19;20;20
Lori Saitz
But just focus on your breathing for 60 to 90s just close your eyes and focus on breathing in really deeply and holding it for two seconds, three seconds, and then letting it go. And that's it. That's the practice. Like I know people say to me all the time, it can't be that easy. Where I we said before we started recording, like, they want 17 steps so they can skip three of them and then go, yeah, it doesn't work.

00;19;20;22 - 00;19;31;20
Lori Saitz
Yeah. There are no other steps. That's that's the very beginning. Most basic thing you can do. And then you can move in to other calming grounding exercises. For example,

00;19;31;20 - 00;19;45;26
Lori Saitz
going outside and sitting, standing, standing in the grass. Like putting your feet in the grass. If you can take your shoes off and do it and you know fire ants aren't going to bite you.

00;19;45;28 - 00;19;49;23
Lori Saitz
And grounding yourself. There's,

00;19;49;23 - 00;20;13;17
Lori Saitz
a lot of research behind doing this, too. Just this physical thing of putting your feet in the grass in the ground and. And then I'll take it a step further and say, imagine that you're a tree with a really deep roots all the way into the center of the earth. And that nothing can blow you over, nothing can push you down like you are grounded and rooted.

00;20;13;19 - 00;20;25;00
Lori Saitz
It helps. It helps with that. Staying calm. No matter what chaos is swirling around you, you can't change what's happening around you. You can change how you respond to it.

00;20;25;02 - 00;20;33;14
Craig Andrews
Wow. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's so profound. You can't change what's happening around you. You can change how you respond.

00;20;33;17 - 00;20;54;14
Lori Saitz
Yeah. And the funny thing is, then I say, you can't change what's happening around you, but you actually, if you change how you respond to it, you are somewhat influencing what is happening around you. Because if you respond in a calm way, the people around you will pick up on that energy and and things will calm down.

00;20;54;14 - 00;20;56;29
Lori Saitz
If you respond to hair on fire,

00;20;56;29 - 00;21;09;09
Lori Saitz
we gotta, you know, everything's everything's on in flames. The people around you will respond accordingly. So you actually can influence. But it doesn't necessarily, you know, like you're not going to change.

00;21;09;09 - 00;21;17;10
Lori Saitz
You you're not going to change the outcome of some things, but you're going to change the energy around it.

00;21;17;12 - 00;21;36;05
Craig Andrews
You know? Well, I'm for leaders. That's such an important lesson that because whoever you're leading and I would say that to some degree, everybody's a leader. Not maybe they're not a great leader, but people are looking to you for clues on how they should respond, especially if you're in a leadership role.

00;21;36;09 - 00;21;37;03
Lori Saitz
Yes.

00;21;37;06 - 00;21;45;25
Craig Andrews
And if you're showing chaos, that chaos is going to be amplified through your team.

00;21;45;27 - 00;22;13;04
Lori Saitz
100%. When you mentioned I have a program called Zen Leadership and Zen, part of Zen leadership is who being being somebody that people want to support, not just follow. It's not follow the leader. I mean, there is that phrase, but it's being somebody that that people want to support. And how do you show up every day? Who are you being and how are you being?

00;22;13;11 - 00;22;16;18
Lori Saitz
Because that is setting the tone for your leadership.

00;22;16;21 - 00;22;40;17
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. There was something you said one pivot a little bit. There was something you said in the green room, and I didn't react to it because I really wanted to talk about it here. And so the whole concept of grateful, what does you said that one of the things you help people do is learn how to become more naturally grateful.

00;22;40;19 - 00;22;43;27
Craig Andrews
Why should they care?

00;22;44;00 - 00;22;46;10
Lori Saitz
Aside from it's a human,

00;22;46;10 - 00;23;14;21
Lori Saitz
you know, it makes you more human and compassionate from a business standpoint. There's been a lot of research on this that it makes you more productive. Grateful people have, have been shown to be 55, zero, 50% more productive. There have been studies on people who work for leaders who are great, more grateful than, you know, leaders who are more grateful.

00;23;14;23 - 00;23;19;17
Lori Saitz
Their team members are willing to work harder for them. They are willing to,

00;23;19;17 - 00;23;44;10
Lori Saitz
stay longer for a leader who is grateful and who expresses that gratitude. So from a business perspective, bringing gratitude into your business is profitable. It's more profitable. And it doesn't cost anything. You're not adding to the bottom. You're not adding to the expenses by being grateful.

00;23;44;10 - 00;23;46;19
Lori Saitz
We're not saying by everybody, you know,

00;23;46;19 - 00;23;55;28
Lori Saitz
$50,000 cars to say thank you to them. We're saying it could be as simple as starting a meeting with,

00;23;55;28 - 00;24;07;22
Lori Saitz
again, this is a great tool or a great technique for helping people one become grounded. But second to feel more grateful, start a meeting with by asking people what,

00;24;07;22 - 00;24;09;19
Lori Saitz
what's good right now?

00;24;09;21 - 00;24;21;04
Lori Saitz
What's going on? That's good right now. It helps refocus attention away from all of the complaining and criticizing that happens on a regular basis into, oh,

00;24;21;04 - 00;24;38;15
Lori Saitz
let me transfer my thoughts to something that is good, that's happening, and it changes the energy. There was I just heard about this study that when you can get yourself into a grateful state, it changes the energy of the people around you.

00;24;38;17 - 00;24;49;09
Lori Saitz
Again, like we were just talking about it. It changes the energy in the room. It can change the energy of people, not even in the room. Yeah. Really? Really.

00;24;49;09 - 00;25;00;15
Lori Saitz
Interesting. Powerful. Not commonly like people. Oh, how does it change energy? Well, I mean, we could go down a different rabbit hole if we are all energetic beings. We're made of energy.

00;25;00;22 - 00;25;07;15
Lori Saitz
So when energy here changes, it can change energy over here. But,

00;25;07;15 - 00;25;23;26
Lori Saitz
the bottom line is like when you practice gratitude, let's say sharing, catching people doing something right instead of always, hey, you did that wrong. Next time, remember to do it this way. Catching people doing things right, that is

00;25;23;26 - 00;25;40;16
Lori Saitz
and telling them boosts their morale, makes them feel good about being part of the team again, makes them want to work harder and be more engaged and be more supportive of what the mission is.

00;25;40;19 - 00;26;01;25
Craig Andrews
You know, it's really interesting because I recently watched an interview with Steve Wynn, you know, the Wynn Resort Encore Resort. And for those that don't know, Steve Wynn, the guy who basically reinvented Las Vegas into the town that is today. And he began when he built the Mirage, it was the first hotel that's, you know, the massive resort.

00;26;01;27 - 00;26;27;06
Craig Andrews
And the question that was asked, they was asked was, Steve, how do you Azure Empire grows? How are you able to keep the same standard of excellence? And he said, look, I can't manage these people. It's too big. My job is to manage the culture. And he gave an example of something that happened at a whim resort.

00;26;27;06 - 00;26;52;05
Craig Andrews
There was, you know, so at I think at the when somebody was checking in the room and they had a, you know, a bellhop take the luggage up. And they had trained the bell staff that before you leave the room, ask the question, have we forgotten anything? And so this bellhop asks, have we forgotten anything? And so husband and wife and the wife starts freaking out and she's like, oh my goodness, I forgot my makeup bag.

00;26;52;07 - 00;26;58;17
Craig Andrews
It has my diabetes medicine in it. And and he,

00;26;58;17 - 00;27;17;29
Craig Andrews
you know, and she said, I left it, you know, one left in the lobby. She had left it back in L.A. And he said, and so this bellhop, with nobody's permission, said, well, ma'am, it's it's at your house in LA. And she said yes. Is there someone at your house that we give it?

00;27;18;01 - 00;27;39;22
Craig Andrews
I have a cousin that lives in LA. Would you be able to tell whoever's at your house to give it to my cousin? She said, sure. He said, ma'am, if you'll do that, we will make sure. When do you need this medicine? Bye. She said absolutely. By breakfast he said, ma'am, we will have it by breakfast. And and so she said, oh, thank you so much.

00;27;39;22 - 00;27;41;06
Craig Andrews
And she made the call. I think it was her.

00;27;41;06 - 00;27;52;01
Craig Andrews
You know, nanny or somebody that was back there. And so he went downstairs, went to his boss, and he said, hey, I just made this big promise, had some ideas on how to fill it.

00;27;52;01 - 00;27;55;21
Craig Andrews
One is that I just drive back to LA. I won't be able to work my shift.

00;27;55;21 - 00;28;15;25
Craig Andrews
I'm going to drive back to LA, pick up her bag, and then bring it back and his boss again without asking permission, say, go do it, comes back, delivers the medicine before breakfast. They have a delightful experience. He's telling the story in the shift change. And and,

00;28;15;25 - 00;28;21;28
Craig Andrews
the manager knew to press a certain button on the phone, and immediately there was a film crew there.

00;28;22;00 - 00;28;50;12
Craig Andrews
The film crew filmed this whole testimony of what happened. And before the end of the day, they had it running on the employees TVs and the employees break rooms of this wonderful thing that he he did. And it's that that giving that gracious spirit where you can have it built into an organization all the way down to where people feel that empowerment is transformative.

00;28;50;14 - 00;29;06;19
Lori Saitz
Yeah, yeah. And to do that, I mean, there may have been some expense involved, obviously, in the driving in the car, but giving people the freedom to make decisions.

00;29;06;21 - 00;29;28;02
Lori Saitz
Is it is transformative. And so many organizations want to micromanage how their people are working, giving them the freedom like that. It makes them feel valued. And they are I mean, he's bringing a solution that nobody else might have come up with.

00;29;28;04 - 00;29;47;09
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. And what did it cost Wynn resorts a little bit of lost productivity of him during his shift. And maybe they threw 50 or 100 bucks of gas money at them. But he felt like a hero because he's being celebrated on the TVs his coworkers are watching. Oh this is how you get celebrated at work.

00;29;47;09 - 00;29;58;21
Lori Saitz
Yeah, yeah. And how much longer is he going to stay with that organization because of that too? So looking at retention, yeah.

00;29;58;24 - 00;30;02;27
Craig Andrews
There's something else I think of when I think of gratitude. There's a,

00;30;02;27 - 00;30;21;18
Craig Andrews
lady by the name of Joe and Demetrius and her claim to fame as she picked the O.J. Simpson jury. And she said something. She wrote a book, and she said that the degree of someone satisfaction with life tells me more than I could learn from any other number of traits.

00;30;21;20 - 00;30;49;23
Craig Andrews
And she went on to say that people that have fallen short, they tend to have a victim mentality. They can be quick to place blame on others may be bitter, angry, negative, pessimistic and vengeful. But that just ties into when you said gratitude earlier. That's where my mind went. It's such a powerful force. She used that to pick the 12 people in the world that thought O.J. was innocent.

00;30;49;25 - 00;31;10;00
Lori Saitz
Yeah. Yeah. Well some of the other things that gratitude can do is it strengthens the neural pathways in your brain. It releases the feel good chemicals of dopamine and serotonin, which because of that can help reduce physical pain and improve your physical health.

00;31;10;00 - 00;31;13;24
Lori Saitz
Helps with sleep quality. How many people do you talk to who are like,

00;31;13;24 - 00;31;19;28
Lori Saitz
I can't sleep or my sleep sucks or I, you know, I only got three hours of sleep last night.

00;31;20;01 - 00;31;40;09
Lori Saitz
Becoming grateful helps you sleep better. Reduces cortisol, which is that stress hormone which when you have a ton of cortisol running through your your body because you're so stressed all the time. Chronic stress, it creates inflammation in the body and inflammation in the body is. And I'm not a doctor. Just saying

00;31;40;09 - 00;31;43;28
Lori Saitz
that is what fuels most disease in the body.

00;31;43;28 - 00;31;47;14
Lori Saitz
So feeling more grateful,

00;31;47;14 - 00;31;53;10
Lori Saitz
can help improve your health in every single way. So then therefore, it increases the,

00;31;53;10 - 00;32;09;04
Lori Saitz
effectiveness of your immune system, and it actually changes the way you see the world changes the way you are. So because it changes the way you are, it changes the way you see the world. Really powerful.

00;32;09;07 - 00;32;19;23
Craig Andrews
You know. So what's something what's an exercise somebody could do to practice gratitude every day?

00;32;19;25 - 00;32;25;01
Lori Saitz
Great question. I will give you one of my favorite exercises. Okay.

00;32;25;01 - 00;32;35;26
Lori Saitz
It's called, but I'm grateful for. All right. So is there something that happened Craig, in the past I don't know, 24, 72 hours that that you were just like,

00;32;35;26 - 00;32;39;09
Lori Saitz
okay. Yeah, right. I started complaining about.

00;32;39;11 - 00;32;48;05
Craig Andrews
I had a podcast guest that didn't show up. And so, you know, for those that are listening or those who

00;32;48;05 - 00;32;49;07
Craig Andrews
are listening,

00;32;49;07 - 00;33;00;29
Craig Andrews
Lori and I had a miscommunication. I, I saw something in the waiting room. I thought that was her. I, I, I started thinking, oh, geez. Two days in a row, I had a guest not show up.

00;33;01;01 - 00;33;06;12
Craig Andrews
And so, yeah, I, I was hurt yesterday. And then I started reliving those emotions today.

00;33;06;18 - 00;33;16;18
Lori Saitz
Okay. So the complaint is a guest didn't show up and. But I'm grateful for what?

00;33;16;21 - 00;33;21;07
Craig Andrews
I'm grateful for our conversation we're having now because this is delightful okay.

00;33;21;14 - 00;33;44;01
Lori Saitz
So this is the exercise. The next time or any time you catch yourself complaining or criticizing about anything, you catch yourself. And I say when? Because you will. We're human. But I'm grateful for. But I'm grateful for whatever it it doesn't even have to be related. The guests didn't show up. I'm I'm angry. I'm frustrated. Whatever.

00;33;44;01 - 00;33;47;26
Lori Saitz
But I'm grateful I have an awesome cup of coffee, or I'm,

00;33;47;26 - 00;33;49;24
Lori Saitz
having dinner with friends tonight.

00;33;49;24 - 00;33;59;29
Lori Saitz
Whatever it is, what you're doing is you're changing the focus. And the reason we're using the word but is because but negates that whole first part of the sentence.

00;34;00;03 - 00;34;01;09
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;34;01;11 - 00;34;22;21
Lori Saitz
And that's what we want to do is take the focus off of the complaint and put it on the gratitude. And the more you practice this exercise, the more naturally grateful you become and the quicker you will go from. Of course, you're still going to recognize, oh, somebody didn't show up. That screws up my schedule. It annoys me, but I'm grateful.

00;34;22;21 - 00;34;29;26
Lori Saitz
And you will be living much more of your life in the gratitude part of things.

00;34;29;28 - 00;34;37;22
Craig Andrews
That is such sound advice. And you know, I wish we could go on because I know you have more nuggets like that, but,

00;34;37;22 - 00;34;50;17
Craig Andrews
Lori, this has been delightful and I really feel like people need to reach out to you. I mean, I one, you know, because you'll just live a happier, more fulfilled life if you can adopt these things.

00;34;50;17 - 00;35;05;02
Craig Andrews
But again, I'm looking at the statistic. You increase productivity 120%. That's like doubling your workforce for the same payroll without having to do double the number of performance reviews every year.

00;35;05;05 - 00;35;13;25
Lori Saitz
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we just talked about how gratitude being grateful increases productivity by 50%. So this is this is how you do it.

00;35;13;27 - 00;35;15;27
Craig Andrews
So how do people reach you?

00;35;15;29 - 00;35;28;26
Lori Saitz
My website, my company is Zen Rabbit. So my website is Zen rabbit.com. And you can reach out to me there. You can find my links to my socials. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, but you can find me.

00;35;28;26 - 00;35;32;07
Lori Saitz
Yeah. Zen rabbit.com has the links to all the socials.

00;35;32;09 - 00;35;39;15
Craig Andrews
Well, Lori, sites bring the heat. How to be calm in a cantankerous society. That may be the title of the show.

00;35;39;18 - 00;35;41;13
Lori Saitz
I like it. Thank you.

00;35;41;15 - 00;35;42;21
Craig Andrews
Thank you. Lori.

00;35;42;21 - 00;36;09;17
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Alize for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this

00;36;09;17 - 00;36;11;12
Craig Andrews
episode on social media.

00;36;11;14 - 00;36;34;24
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest, tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.

00;36;34;26 - 00;36;43;01
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe your thumbs up! Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.

00;36;43;01 - 00;38;45;06
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Alize for me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.