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Welcome to The Teamwork Advantage, a Gregg Gregory Podcast. Informal and insightful conversations with professionals and experts in the TLC arena - Teamwork, Leadership, Culture. A must-listen program, where we take you inside the mind's of these experts to discover actionable insights to be a stronger team member, a more effective leader, and enrich your team's culture.
04 -- Dr Amir Rashidian - Video
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Teamwork Advantage podcast with Gregg Gregory. Join us as Gregg interviews powerful thought leaders and successful team and leadership experts from across the country on teamwork, leadership, and organizational culture. Now let's check in for this week's episode.
[00:00:19] Gregg Gregory: Welcome back to the Teamwork Advantage. Hi, I'm Gregg Gregory, founder and creator of the podcast, The Teamwork Advantage, where we focus in every week. with people in the areas of teamwork, leadership, and culture. What I like to call the TLC of business. I want to thank everybody. We're into our seventh season right now.
[00:00:41] And we've been downloaded in over 80 countries all over the world. We've had people picking up podcasts, getting feedback from literally around the world right now. And it's really exciting because the principles we talk about, we review and we go over. Are those principles that are [00:01:00] applicable in literally every walk of life and today We're going to really focus in on you the human And how you fit into that teamwork how you can be a better leader And how that can affect the culture of any team you are on whether it is your home team your church or synagogue team, or, well, let's face it, we are here talking about a business podcast.
[00:01:23] So, we'll go into that area in a little bit. So, joining us today, we've got somebody a little bit different. If you've listened to a lot of the episodes in the past, somebody a little bit different. So, before we get into what he does, let's kind of understand this. He has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Human Biology.
[00:01:44] exactly my favorite topi college. He also has a doctorate in chiropractic care. Amir Rashidian is the atlantic center, Middle a[00:02:00]
[00:02:01] Patient visits per year. The Mid-Atlantic Chiropractic Center focuses out on high tech diagnostics to detect disturbances in the nervous system, and that's key because the nervous system really plays a lot into our brain health as well. The doctors in the, , practice promote Drugless Health Solutions with patients to eliminate the causes.
[00:02:22] of disease and not merely the suppression of symptoms. And as leaders, we know how important that can be making sure we find the root problem and not just treat the symptoms. As a consultant, Dr. Rashidian has also worked with 18 chiropractic practices. Sixteen were startups. So we're going to talk about how we can move a business through a startup phase all the way in.
[00:02:46] And they all reached profitability within the first three months of launch. He's also a very active speaker at corporate events, conventions, and churches. He's also frequently interviewed on local television and newspaper. Dr. Rashidian also serves on the [00:03:00] board of directors for the Habitat for Humanity, a major financial supporter in their local building projects.
[00:03:05] He also serves as chairman of the elder leadership. at his church, , the Grace Community Church in Frederick, Maryland. Now, he's also won multiple honors and awards, including Business Leader of the Year and Philanthropist of the Year. He's been married happily since 2005, and they have three children. So joining us today from, the Frederick, Maryland area, not too far from where we are here in Annapolis, Dr.
[00:03:31] Rashidian, and welcome to The Teamwork Advantage.
[00:03:34] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Gregg, I'm honored. Thank you so much. Thanks for the introduction. Thanks for having me.
[00:03:38] Gregg Gregory: We're excited about this because a lot of folks, they have a big misconception about chiropractic care doing nothing but manipulating. And off air a moment ago, you talked about the difference in manipulations.
[00:03:50] Do you want to share that with our listeners real quickly?
[00:03:52] Dr. Amir Rashidian: I'm happy to, you know, it's all about communication. You look at business. If you own or operate or the founder or the CEO, you're the [00:04:00] brain of the business. So how you communicate with your leadership team, your direct reports is how everything else goes.
[00:04:06] And the human body is the same to how the brain communicates with all the cells, tissues and organs of the body is how healthy that body is. And literally your health is determined by how much stress you can safely handle. And I believe as the leader of an organization, you're one of your jobs. I won't say your main job.
[00:04:24] One of your jobs is to stress the system to see how much they can tolerate and handle. So really there's a lot of correlation between the body and, just or organizations overall. So what makes us different is that our focus is on that communication. We do assessments, computerized tests, functional neurology tests to find out how your body's communicating with the brain and how the brain is responding to that communication.
[00:04:46] in return. And as long as that flow is good and normal and proven through not just subjective analysis, but objective testing, then we know that your body is going to be healthy and be able to withstand [00:05:00] stress, right?
[00:05:01] Gregg Gregory: Because we know that as we As stress increases, cortisol levels release
[00:05:08] Dr. Amir Rashidian: and then not just that.
[00:05:10] I mean, you know, I grew up in Iran and, and one of the experiences I had was when the war started, you know, they would do these air raid sirens in the middle of the night and you had to run out and run down to a basement or somewhere where you potentially be safe if a bomb hits you. But I remember being down in this dark, dingy.
[00:05:29] basement with a bunch of people from a building we were staying at in Tehran. And we heard the roar of this jet plane overhead. We heard the whistle of the bomb that had just been dropped. And literally that whistle is getting louder and louder as the bomb is getting closer and closer. Well, that's what stress is like in an extreme form.
[00:05:46] So yes, cortisol does get released now to, to, to not leave everybody hanging. The bomb didn't hit us. It was probably a block away, but you know, in that moment when you hear the whistle of that bomb, you don't know if you're about to die. And so [00:06:00] that's the extreme version. But there's a spectrum of that.
[00:06:04] It's not just extreme. So yes, cortisol does get released, but you get pupils dilate. Heart rate goes up. Breathing changes. The breathing rhythm changes. It becomes a 1 to 1 ratio. Sometimes you hold your breath, but it literally becomes a 1 to 1 ratio of inhale to exhale, which we can talk about later on how to shift that.
[00:06:22] Also, blood leaves your face, your hands and your feet because the blood wants to go to the muscles in case you have to fight or flee, right? And, so when blood leaves those areas you get dry eyes, dry mouth, dry skin, cold hands, cold feet. Also, two systems of your body stop working or slow down. One is digestion.
[00:06:42] The other is your immune system. And so in long term stress, chronic stress, people who have to be bombed on every single night, their immune system tanks. And so there's digestion. So to put it to real terms, let's say you're a business leader and you've got a lot of stress because you're responsible, not just for [00:07:00] you, for your employees.
[00:07:01] But you also want to feed your family and you you want to manage the economy and everything else that's going on and and you want to maintain a great culture in your business, right? So you're under a lot of stress. So if you're experiencing those things like dry eyes, dry mouth, dry skin, cold hands, cold feet, slow digestion and Lord immune system.
[00:07:19] An example is those are the people who Whose hands and feet are always cold. Even in the summer, even when it's warm outside, their hands and feet are always cold. They always have dry eyes, dry mouth, dry skin. They have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and chronic constipation. Like they have a bowel movement every two to three days instead of every day, you know, and they catch a cold in the summer.
[00:07:39] Not, not when it's actually cold. Right. Those are the people that are my clients. Those are the business goes. You've got to be in control of
[00:07:52] Gregg Gregory: that. That's impressive. Recognizing that how you go is how your business goes, how your business goes is how you go. [00:08:00] So if stress is building in the business, that stress is going to roll over to you.
[00:08:04] And the same thing is if you're dealing with stress in your personal life, it's going to affect your business life as well. So let's take a step back here. Okay. I'm here. Let's take a step back. You grew up in Iran. Get me from the bomb shelters in Iran through Frederick, Maryland and chiropractic care and teaching all these things that you teach.
[00:08:29] Two minutes.
[00:08:31] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Two minutes. You got it. So, , you know, when I was born, Iran was a different country. I mean, people like Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor would go to Iran for vacations. It was, it was what modern day Dubai is lots of money, lots of people. prosperity and, and wealth. Then there was the big revolution and everything changed.
[00:08:49] And, then there was the war and the bombing started. , one day I was nine years old. My dad wanted to show me, before we left the country, my dad wanted to show me how some of the pe other people live. And we went to this [00:09:00] village where, , there's no plumbing, no power lines while we're in the village.
[00:09:03] A woman went into labor. She was in tremendous amount of pain. Pain, and there was no. Hospitals, no doctors in this village, just the midwife. This midwife took one look at her and said, I'm sorry, I can't help you. There's nothing I can do. There's no heartbeat. The baby's not alive. And this lady is not going to make it.
[00:09:20] And she actually left. And the people had gathered around one by one start to leave. Her husband was right next to her. He's in tears. She's in tears. And at the age of nine, I'm looking into the eyes of this young woman who was just told she's not going to live. Another few hours. And I started to have that panic attack where your chest feels tight.
[00:09:37] Your heart's pounding. You're having trouble breathing. Tears are coming down my face. My dad saw me. He picked me up. He held me. He carried me out of there. He calmed me down. And then the two of us climbed down the mountain. We got in our car to drive home. On the drive home, I said, Dad, I don't want to feel like that ever again.
[00:09:52] Like what? Helpless. Like there's nothing I can do to help. He said, what are you going to do about it? Which is a great question. Everybody should ask [00:10:00] this. What are you going to do about it? Well, I said, I'll go be a surgeon. I'll be the best surgeon in the whole world. I'll carry my medical bag with me everywhere I go.
[00:10:06] And I'm just going to save lives. So that doesn't happen in front of me ever again. Well, 10 years past. I was 19. I was a student at George Washington University. And,, You know, I was on the path. You know, I wanted to be that surgeon, that great surgeon to save lives. Well, I went home for Christmas break.
[00:10:21] Our home was now in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I walked in the house. My dad had this big thick white neck brace on. You could tell he was under the influence of some serious painkillers. And he was limp and numb from the shoulders down. He couldn't lift his arms to even give me a hug to say hello. And we went on this journey of going doctor to doctor trying to figure out what's wrong with that.
[00:10:41] Every doctor we went to said, this is beyond my scope. You're going to have to go to this other doctor. We ended up in a neurosurgeon's office. Three separate neurosurgeons said dad needed surgery and it was going to be an invasive surgery where they cut him open in the back, break and remove bones, take pressure off the spinal cord.
[00:10:56] They want to put rods and screws into his neck. They said, you'll never [00:11:00] be able to turn your head again. It's going to fuse. You may not regain function of your hand, but we're hoping you have less pain. There's a good chance you're going to die under the knife because this is invasive surgery. Now dad was 70 years old at the time and everybody listening knows there's such a thing as a young 70 and an old 70.
[00:11:16] 70.
[00:11:16] Gregg Gregory: Absolutely.
[00:11:17] Dr. Amir Rashidian: 70 is not 70 for everybody, but he was the old 70. So there was a lot of risk. And so we got in a taxi to go home after the neurosurgeon's visit. The taxi driver looked at my dad and I, and I, you know, I'm sitting there. I looked at that. He's cringing. He's in pain. Every bump that taxi was hitting, hitting was sending lightning bolts of pain through his body.
[00:11:38] And I started to get that same emotion. When I watched a woman die in her husband's arms in that village, I'm watching my own dad suffer and it looks like he may not make it. And I got all those same feelings back. Well, this taxi driver looked at my dad and I in the state we were in. He said, Hey sir, I noticed you're in a lot of pain and I know you asked me to take you home, but there's a chiropractor [00:12:00] right down the street and I don't know what he does, but I've heard he helps.
[00:12:03] People like you, would you like me to take you there? I was a 19 year old, know it all, I said no. The only two ways to get better is drugs and surgery. Dad was wise and, he had a terrible fear of surgery, just did not want the surgery, was scared. So he said, let's try it. Long story short, this chiropractor explained everything, looked at my dad's MRIs and went to work.
[00:12:26] Six months later, My dad was able to turn his head. He had full use of his hands back. He was out of pain and he lived another 18 years. Dad lived to be 88 at 88. He was younger than when he was 70 because he'd wake up, work out, go visit his friends. His friends are in nursing homes, but not him living a great life.
[00:12:44] My dad lived long enough to stand next to me as my best man. When I got married. He lived long enough to meet my first son when he was born. So, that's, that's, that's, that was my journey. I decided I'm going to be a chiropractor because I'd much rather not cut people, but I'd much rather prevent surgery.
[00:12:59] [00:13:00] And it's a chiropractic became a chiropractor and that now we are just living a dream life. It's been incredible at its ups and downs.
[00:13:08] Gregg Gregory: Oh, if it didn't have its ups and downs, it would be a problem with that.
[00:13:12] Dr. Amir Rashidian: I agree.
[00:13:13] Gregg Gregory: So how did you get into helping other practices then? In other words, in your that you gave us?
[00:13:19] And we've looked, and I've researched, you've helped 18 practices. 16 of which were startups.
[00:13:25] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Yeah. It's actually now 19, but, , yeah, you know, I, I, , hired a management company, consultants to help me with my business. So, so I opened a business. The first one I actually opened in 2003, 14 months later, I'm struggling.
[00:13:40] And so I find this consultant and I said, well, you know, can you help? And this was a consultant who said, I won't charge you anything unless your practice grows. And he took a percentage of the growth, which I could afford that because unless you grow, you don't pay. Within a year, we quadrupled the practice.
[00:13:58] Everything was going [00:14:00] great. They said, you're one of the best clients we ever had. Why don't you become a consultant? And then they started giving me, , clients. And these, they called me a right start coach. And, , and so they would give me students and people would just graduated from chiropractic school and said, help them open an office.
[00:14:16] So we would go through starting, you know, business plan, getting the funding and financing. And then we would do the marketing upfront before you open your doors, we'll set the protocols procedures into place. And then once they open their doors. I handed them off to a different consultant and then later on I ended up consulting with some people who were already in practice as well.
[00:14:36] But that's how it started.
[00:14:38] Gregg Gregory: That's fascinating because again, with our podcast focusing in on teamwork, leadership, and culture, getting the team in place. And I, one of the things you said, I just was fascinated with there was, you know, getting the marketing plans, getting all this in place, getting the protocols in place before they open their doors.
[00:14:57] There are so many people that [00:15:00] in whatever their business is. are just constantly making those in flight corrections. Now don't get me wrong, they need to be made a lot of the times, but when they start a new team, when they start to get something together, they don't have a plan in place. So, the power of getting a plan in place up front is what I think is what I just took away from that.
[00:15:20] Is that kind of the direction you like to take it as well?
[00:15:23] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, you know, and that goes from a health perspective too, because if you're starting a business, you know, you're going to face some serious stress. You also need to train for that. You know, you, you won't see a professional fighter step into the ring or step into the Octagon without training.
[00:15:38] Yeah. You've got to prepare and train. And that's a, that, that's a six month process.
[00:15:44] Gregg Gregory: that
[00:15:44] reminds me of an old friend of mine who. had met somebody that he wanted to go out with and she loved to ride bikes. He said, Oh, I can ride. So he tried to ride 25 miles one day.
[00:15:56] Dr. Amir Rashidian: There you go.
[00:15:57] Gregg Gregory: After not riding in 15 [00:16:00] years or so.
[00:16:00] So yes.
[00:16:01] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Big mistake. Big
[00:16:02] mistake.
[00:16:03] Gregg Gregory: Oh, we've got to train. We got to train our mind. I train our body. We've got to deal with the stress. Now. You've also written two books on stress. Is that right? Right. So what are the two books?
[00:16:13] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Well, the first one came out in 2016 called the stress proof life. It's it's about it.
[00:16:18] That was written more to my patients. A lot of people were complaining about stress saying stress is a reason that they're not healthy and they have all the illnesses. And I said, well, maybe it's not the stress. Maybe it's how you're handling it. And so then I said, you're going to put on this stress proof vest, like a bulletproof vest.
[00:16:35] So stress can hit you and not hurt you. And then later on I thought maybe I should write one for the entrepreneur and the business owner. And this one is called, this one came out last October. It was a number one new release on Amazon. It was a bestseller in four different categories and it's called cracking the stress secret, how to turn pressure into power.
[00:16:56] And, this one talks to
[00:16:57] the, , person who says, the business [00:17:00] is too stressful. Maybe I should sell, or, or maybe I shouldn't start this. I don't know if I have what it takes. And, , we, we talk about how to become the person who can handle the kind of stress that you are gonna face on that road to becoming great.
[00:17:17] Gregg Gregory: So, when we think about the stress, and trying to get great, and recognizing, you know, the secret behind cracking it. And I go back to something Zig Ziglar said decades ago, he says, We get ulcers not from what we eat, but from what is eating us. And so therein lies the concepts of stress. And we've got to be able to contain, limit the amount of cortisol that's being released in the brain, so that we can focus in and get our endorphins up and get everything else functioning.
[00:17:47] So when we think about that, tie that correlation, if you can, between stress in the human body and how that then [00:18:00] transfers to what we're doing at work. Now this could be an entrepreneur, this could be a manager of a call center, this could be a frontline worker somewhere. What? How is stress affecting us in the work life?
[00:18:13] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Okay. first off, I want to say we have to define stress because everybody has different image of what stress is. Everyone has different thoughts about what stress is. And everyone thinks of stress. I had a fight with my spouse. I'm really stressed out or my employees aren't pulling their weight. So I'm really stressed out.
[00:18:29] Or I do all the work. They make all the money. I'm so stressed out. Financial issues, all that stuff. But stress is this one thing. It's force. Stress is a force that causes change in your life. The change can be positive or negative, but it's just a force. And so what's important is the response to that stress.
[00:18:47] Because exercise is stress. If I go to the gym and gradually and progressively add weight, to the bar and lift more weight each time I go little by little. The [00:19:00] result is going to be increase in strength, increase in size, increase in endurance, increase in stamina. I'm going to become a better person. Now, if I add too much weight too soon and the bar falls on me, now I'm injured.
[00:19:13] Or if I tear a muscle or a ligament or tendon, now I'm injured. So that stress was too much for me. So you have to progressively increase stress or you go to business, you know, starting out, I didn't have any employees. Then a month into it, I had one employee and that stress was enormous. Now we get up to 15 employees and It literally isn't that bad when one was a lot because I have changed and I can handle that stress better.
[00:19:38] So I want to, yeah, it's a, it's a bell curve. Okay. So when it comes to human body, also under low stress, your body becomes weaker and weaker because, imagine if I go to the and I only lift weights half. Of what I can potentially lift that I'm not going to grow. I'm not going to get any stronger If I every time I go to the gym, I lift less [00:20:00] weight than I did the day before i'm not going to get any stronger I will literally get weaker and weaker and it'll get to a point where the weight I could lift before I can't lift anymore Well leading an organization is exactly the same your leader.
[00:20:11] You have followers you have employees you have Team members. We call 'em team members. We're a team. And,, so your job is to stress them. Now that sounds bad, but it's not because when your employees have low stress, it's actually a bell curve. And, so, so, so imagine this bell curve on this side.
[00:20:28] There's low stress. Those people get bored and they eventually leave and they're not going to be satisfied with their job on the far side High stress those people get burnt out and there's going to be illness that way too They're going to there's going to be diseases and and mental issues and all that stuff too much pressure Or right in the middle.
[00:20:47] There's this sweet spot where they're under enough stress that it promotes productivity And growth, growth happens when you stress the system, you have to push it [00:21:00] and pull it and stress it to see if it responds properly. Same with the body. So every organization is like that. So how does stress, you know, relate to from health to work environment.
[00:21:11] I think it's, it's that you, you cannot have too little stress. You cannot have too much stress.
[00:21:16] Gregg Gregory: That's fascinating, because that goes into a line of getting out of your comfort zone, too. Because if we're in our comfort zone, we're not going to grow. We've got to get out of that. So that's, that's, that's fascinating.
[00:21:27] So, what are some of the ways that a team leader or, manager of a department or division could gently, and I'm going to use that word gently, Increased stress for different types of companies. What any thoughts there?
[00:21:45] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Absolutely. So so it comes to culture You have because culture speaks Thousands of words you couldn't write a manual to describe it, but that culture starts with a couple of things number one your employee half your the [00:22:00] person you're leading , it has to feel safe So you have to create that safe
[00:22:03] safety is they're safe to express themselves. They're safe to come to you about their issues and so on. So once they feel safe, the other thing is you have to have this greater vision. This is bigger than us. We're going somewhere big. What is that vision? You have to constantly create, clarify and sell that vision to the people that are following you as a leader.
[00:22:25] So the vision is powerful and then you have to also be serving the greater good. What are we doing? Why are we doing this? So in my business, it's very easy. We want to make the community healthier by reducing the need for drugs and surgery. That's, that's, that's the greater good. So are you serving that greater good?
[00:22:43] And once you have that in place, that's your culture. Then you can stress them to say, listen, where are we going? They go, oh, We're going to open a thousand offices. Good. Why are we doing that? Because we want to make this community healthier. Okay, great. So is it worth putting a little extra effort? [00:23:00] Is it, is it, can you stay an extra hour and help me with this now?
[00:23:04] It because you've got the why behind that. And, and so, and, and then the values, what are our values? You have to define your core values because again, if you live by those values, then you don't need the big giant thousand page manual of if this, then this, someone says this respond this way, go here, go there.
[00:23:21] Values keep it simple. So, so our core values at our business is simplicity. Everything has to be simple. Complexity slows us down. Simplicity. Sincerity. If you recommend something to patients, be sincere about it. It has to be best for them. And excellence. Excellence is doing your best in the amount of time you have with the resources you have.
[00:23:40] Did you do your best? Yeah. If I had more time, I would have done a better job. Oh, I understand that you had
[00:23:46] Gregg Gregory: guilty.
[00:23:47] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Absolutely. And, and then our last one is work joyfully, serve lovingly. And, and these are biblical principles. You have to maintain a joyful attitude all the time. You'll feel better. You'll do better and [00:24:00] serve lovingly.
[00:24:01] If you go that extra mile, you're going to get back tenfold. That's a fact. It's a principle. It's a law of the universe. Lastly, I want to tell you, a lot of people think. Morale drives productivity, and I found it's the other way around. I believe productivity feeds morale. So you look at somebody like their morale is down.
[00:24:21] Let's say, let's say one of my staff members, my team members. They seem kind of down. Well, I'm just gonna come up next to them and say, show me your objectives for today. They go, okay. All right. Hey, have you called these people yet? Let's call them together. Get on, get on the phone. Let's go. And they'll be like, okay, I called the first person, the second person.
[00:24:38] Okay, now let's, let's, look, work on our stats and let's do this. And then they start going, all of a sudden I see them start to cheer up and feel better because they're being productive and getting things done. So literally you have to understand productivity is what drives morale. Now morale can in the long run feed productivity, but you've got to increase productivity to increase morale [00:25:00]
[00:25:00] Gregg Gregory: You said something a moment ago Which ties right into that I I believe when you're talking about the morale, several weeks ago on our podcast We had vice admiral sean buck united states naval academy superintendent And, Admiral Buck talked specifically about the younger generations today and the fact that what they want to know is why, okay?
[00:25:23] And I believe that Simon Sinek has talked about that. I've been talking about the why for years. And then what happens is when you create the why, people will develop the will. When they develop the will, they'll figure out the skill. So then he starts to drive and then that morale gets stronger, then the skill gets stronger and they start to drive each other all the way up.
[00:25:41] There's absolutely no doubt. So I think that's powerful the way you put that, and I'm going to encourage folks to back this, audio up. If you're listening to this on audio on Spotify or whatever, back this up about four minutes right now and listen to this segment two or three times because that was just powerful with what he talked about all the way [00:26:00] from the aspect of understanding, create, clarify and sell.
[00:26:03] I mean, there's, I've got to go back and listen to that myself as we go on because that's just absolutely. Brilliant thought processes there that tie in the mind to your body, your mind and your body into your team, whether you're a team member or a team leader. So let's talk about why some people handle stress one way.
[00:26:26] It can be the same thing coming down the pike. Two employees, they get the same thing and they go in completely diverse directions. Why is
[00:26:35] that?
[00:26:37] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Well, , it goes back to a little bit on,
[00:26:39] the definition of stress. So I've studied people who are ultra successful and ultra healthy. And at one point when we were, I remember working really, really hard, you know, sometimes we're putting in 24 hour days, no rest, no sleep.
[00:26:53] And my, my father asked me, why do you work so hard? Aren't you worried about you know, affecting your health. And I said, [00:27:00] yes, I'm a chiropractor. I understand health and I don't want to sacrifice my health. But let me turn that around and ask you a question. What use is great health if it comes at the expense of my goals, my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations.
[00:27:16] And and he didn't really have an answer for that. I said, I don't want to be healthy and have nothing to show for myself. I want both. I want to have the cake and eat it too. I want to be healthy and wealthy.
[00:27:28] Gregg Gregory: Isn't that being
[00:27:29] greedy?
[00:27:30] Dr. Amir Rashidian: It is. It is. But I think in this sense, that's okay. Because if you think it's one or the other, Well, then you you have to make a sacrifice you're like, okay Well, then i'm not going to start that business I'll stay an employee or you might say i'm not going to step up into leadership in my organization Because it's too stressful and may hurt my health
[00:27:50] Gregg Gregory: Here's the fact i'm trying my brain is racking right now through the rolodex of my mind And for those of you under 30 years old, a Rolodex is what we used to use before we had a CRM.
[00:27:59] just to [00:28:00] clarify that. Going through that in my mind, I believe there was a book by Tom Leonard called The Portable Coach, if I'm correct. And in there, he's talking about those certain things, and the first habit he talked about in there For a leader in order to become successful is they have to become self selfish Because they have to take care of themselves from the body aspect to get those goals But they can't help other people they can't grow their business unless they take care of themselves You know what you're doing is the same thing.
[00:28:33] You're just pushing and pulling on that same principle
[00:28:35] Dr. Amir Rashidian: It's true when it comes to your health you think about it when my dad was sick and suffering and hurting He wasn't the only one who suffered I suffered. My mother suffered everybody cared about him suffered So if you if you take the time to take care of you to become a better person, you're not doing it for you
[00:28:51] Gregg Gregory: Right.
[00:28:51] Dr. Amir Rashidian: It's actually a lot easier to let things slide not take care of your health not take care of things not do the hard stuff That's easier [00:29:00] But that doesn't just hurt you. That hurts everybody around you. So the most successful people who have both and it's it's rare because most people think you can't have your cake and eat it too.
[00:29:09] But I want to change that limiting belief. You can because you have any cake on your on your counter that you can't touch is worthless. You have to be able to eat it too. And so the most successful people who have the health and the wealth, those are people who have a different definition of health, which I gave you the definition.
[00:29:25] They have a different relationship, sorry, different definition of stress. They have a different relationship with stress. And thirdly, they never ever. Focus on reducing stress. Never. That's not on their mind. And so you have to do it. You have to know what stress is, have a good relationship with stress, knowing that, Hey, this stress is going to help me grow.
[00:29:45] This stress is going to help me prosper. This stress is going to make the destination sweeter. And then you say, I'm not going to reduce it because reducing stress, the best way to reduce stress is to leave your family and quit your job. And now you have no stress. And [00:30:00] you can, you
[00:30:01] Gregg Gregory: have no stress for the moment because you're about to build more stress in a whole different direction.
[00:30:05] Dr. Amir Rashidian: Exactly. Exactly. In the long run, there's no benefit to reducing stress.
[00:30:10] Gregg Gregory: Yeah. So, and it's just managing the stress and that's something that we've talked about for years in different aspects of things and different people handle it different ways. If you were to give somebody three steps, five steps, things that they can do while driving to work, I mean, let's face it, we've all had the idiot cut us off on the drive to work, and, or somebody does something and they give us the single finger salute, all those things, and by the time you get to work, you're talking about this person, how they did this, and they were an idiot, Well, you've just absorbed all that stress and it's bottled up inside you when that other person has gone down the road.
[00:30:53] They don't even know who you are. And so, in that case, they probably managed the stress better than you did. [00:31:00] So, if you could tell somebody some things to do, do you have any steps on how When something comes at us that we're not prepared for are there a couple of tips that you've got for us
[00:31:14] there
[00:31:15] Dr. Amir Rashidian: So when someone cuts me off in traffic and it really bothers me The first thing I say is you're not gonna make me fat and stupid Because that in that moment the chemical changes that take place in your body will make you retain body fat Increase body fat and it shuts off the neocortex where you do all the high level processing and you become a primitive brain.
[00:31:38] And so I always say this guy's not going to make me fat and stupid. And so I'll intentionally put a smile on my face and go great, you know, have a nice day. I'm going to have a nice day too. And so, but, but it's because I know the consequence. And instantly when I get upset what happens in my body, I go, well, this is going to hurt me.
[00:31:57] It's going to hurt. My family's going to hurt everything. It's [00:32:00] probably reducing my lifespan. I'm not going to let you do that to me. So when you know the consequence you want. Now, if you think by getting angry, you're going to upset the guy, which you just said he's down the road. He's not going to hear you.
[00:32:11] Then go ahead and be upset, but you're not going to be able to get. So he's gone now. Here's the basic principle. Stress comes at you in three dimensions. Life has three dimensions. I'm going to leave the spiritual side out of it. We're just going to look at physiology. Those three dimensions are physical, chemical, and Psycho emotional.
[00:32:31] And so if you want to achieve health in a way now, wellness, the word wellness is one of those buzzwords that that's used in marketing. Nobody knows what it means. I'll tell you what it means. Wellness is how much health and vitality you experienced in those three dimensions of life. And so to achieve wellness, you have to improve wellness.
[00:32:51] Those three dimensions simultaneously. So in the physical, there's two sides to the coin. One side is exercise, the other side is rest. You [00:33:00] can't, you have to balance the two. You can't exercise and not rest, you can't rest and not exercise. Now you can exercise just a little bit and get massive impact because, like I said, if you improve each dimension simultaneously by a little bit, you get big results.
[00:33:12] If you focus on one dimension and improve it tremendously, you get little results. So you have to improve all three by a little bit. That's why I say it's easy. You pick a hundred things and improve them by one percent, you have a hundred percent improvement. so, so going back to the three dimensions, the second one was chemical, chemical two sides of the coin.
[00:33:29] One is nutrition, right? You have to feed the deficiencies in your body, be it vitamins, minerals, macros, micros, all of that stuff. But the other side of that. coin is toxicity. You also have to remove toxicity from your body, which means are you exposed to smoke, alcohol, drugs? What kind of cosmetics are you putting on your skin and your hair?
[00:33:49] And, and there's, there's lots, lots of sites where you can look those things up, but so two sides of the coin. Defeat the deficiency. Remove toxicity. The third dimension is [00:34:00] psychoemotional. So what are you feeding your brain with? Are you putting good things into your brain? Do your visualizations and affirmations on a regular basis.
[00:34:08] Take a 60 second vacation once a day and and go somewhere fun and come back. Now, on the other side is stop the negativity. So Do you have people in your life that drain you, limit how much access they have to you? Do you watch the news in the morning or in the evening? When you watch the news, your cortisol level goes up because typically, news that sells is bad news.
[00:34:30] And so if you watch it in the morning, you already have high cortisol. Cortisol is highest in the morning, lowest at night when you go to sleep. So if you watch the news late at night, your cortisol level jumps. You're not going to good sleep, good, get good sleep. So those are the three dimensions you have to improve simultaneously, not steps.
[00:34:46] So, one is, make sure you sleep deep, how you sleep is more important than how much you sleep. So as a leader, as a business owner, I sleep six hours a night and I'm lucky to get that. But I make sure I go deep enough that I get the recovery that my [00:35:00] body needs. How you eat is more important than what you eat.
[00:35:03] So, so many people are worried about what they're eating. You could be in your car in rush hour traffic late to work, , and, and stressed because you've got a big meeting coming up. And maybe even you're on the phone with a business associate and you're eating. while you're driving. Now that food, let's say, is the most nutritious food you've ever eaten and whatever your definition of healthy food is, but because your body is not in a state to receive that food, you will not get the benefit from it.
[00:35:27] That food literally will sit in your stomach and ferment. By the time it gets into your intestines, it's, it's, it's poison. It's not good food. Sometimes it'll regurg back up 90 minutes later and you get that heartburn. It's because so when I eat, even if I I'm busy, right, literally every number you said in the intro has increased.
[00:35:46] Now we're seeing over 20, 000 visits on an annual basis in our offices. I might have 15 minutes to eat lunch, but I spend the first minute saying a prayer of gratitude. Then I might play some Baroque classical music to get my head right. And [00:36:00] then now I've used up a couple minutes of my 15 minute lunch when and I put the food out and I sit down and I forget everything else and I enjoy every bite.
[00:36:08] I'm not going to eat fast because I want to get as much in as possible. I'm going to eat slow like I have all day to eat because that's the mindset that's necessary. This is why the French are immune to heart disease and obesity because they spend a lot of time eating. While we rush through our meals, so if my 15 minutes is up and I have to go back to work, I'll pack it up, put it away because I know what I ate is going to be absolute perfect nutrition in my body.
[00:36:32] So how you sleep and how you eat are powerful.
[00:36:35] Gregg Gregory: Those are just incredible things we start to bring into play from the physical, the chemical, the psychoemotional, all of that. And again, I want to encourage folks because Dr. Rashidianid, we could talk for the next hour on this. There's no doubt about it. But I want to just make sure we really focus in.
[00:36:55] on the key factors of coping with stress. [00:37:00] And when we do this, we're literally helping ourselves. By helping ourselves, we're helping create the, the better team at the work, or the church, or the synagogue, wherever we happen to do our spiritual side. Then there's also, , our kids volleyball teams. , I've had friends who have, actually gotten grants to study the effects of parents.
[00:37:24] At Little League or, CYO Bowl and things like that. And what they're doing and the effects it's having on the kids in the long run. So, everything we do affects everybody else. So, what's, I'm trying to figure out the question to ask and that is, How, how we do this for ourselves is great. And then some of the benefits that we get out of that from our team.
[00:37:48] Let's talk just briefly about some of the benefits of managing our stress more effectively. Okay. Let's assume that we've done the things we need to do. Talk to us about the benefits of why we need to do [00:38:00] this.
[00:38:01] Dr. Amir Rashidian: If
[00:38:01] you're, if you're part of a team or you're the leader of a team, doesn't matter if you're part of a team, your aspirations are, I'm going to lead one day, and so you have to understand you're on stage.
[00:38:14] Everyone, every eye is on you, especially if you're the leader. I mean, I know my staff within the first 30 milliseconds of me walking in the door, they know is doc in a good mood or is he upset today? I mean, they're watching. They're what everybody is. Why every eye is on you. So you have to manage your personal energy state all the time.
[00:38:30] Are you at your best? No matter what's going on in the back of your mind or whatever happened at home or anywhere else or Situation you're in you have to manage your personal energy state because everybody's watching you So one of the biggest benefits of doing this is so you can be at your best Walk tall walk strong walk with a pep in your step.
[00:38:51] You have energy They feed off of you as the leader Everybody follows you and they're what you are on stage every [00:39:00] second. They know what you're thinking They can read your mind So they've been working with you for longer than a year. They know you. And the second thing is your goal should always be to keep increasing team chemistry.
[00:39:10] Team chemistry is powerful. And it's one of the benefits of being healthy is you can have better team chemistry because they'll want to be like you and they want to be like you. They like you. Likeability and trust are the biggest factors when it comes to teams, right? Do you have to be likable and, and they have to trust you.
[00:39:25] You have to earn their trust. So team chemistry, you look at the Marines, right? Why do Marines get better results as a team than let's say a construction company,
[00:39:35] that has workers on the job getting paid by the hour, whether they produce or not. It has nothing to do with that. They asked Marines, they asked Navy SEALs.
[00:39:42] They said, why do you risk your life? For the, you know, for, for, you know, is it love of country? They said, no, it's not love of country. They said, is it because you believe in the mission? They said, no, that's not it. So why do you do it? He goes, because I know the guy next to me would take a bullet for me. So I'm going to take a bullet for [00:40:00] him because I know this team loves it.
[00:40:02] Love. We love each other. We're there for each other. We protect each other. And we're a unit going into danger and we're going to stick up for each other because we know if we love each other, serve each other, we're going to go far. And you can take that kind of culture and put it into your team where people like each other, trust each other, know that they're, they're there.
[00:40:21] That's why I said safety is the first thing you worry about when you're building culture. Your team members have to feel safe. They need to know. I tell my, my new employees, I said, listen, this is not the kind of business where we say the customer's always right. I know my team members are always right and I'll take your side and I'll defend you and protect you with your work here.
[00:40:43] We're a team. We're going to watch out for each other.
[00:40:45] Gregg Gregory: And that's powerful. We'll end it with that because there's so many organizations that really follow that philosophy. And you can see them in their successes along the way. Dr. Rashidianid, I'd love to have you come back, talk a little bit more about [00:41:00] how things are going.
[00:41:01] We didn't even touch. By the way, folks, this is powerful. We've been talking about stress and everything along those lines, and we did not even talk about how the pandemic affected the stress of everybody. That's a whole topic for another session. But I want to thank you again, Dr. Rashidianid, for joining us here.
[00:41:16] you got a copy of your book right there. You want to hold it up for everybody so they can see it as they're watching on the video. It's called Cracking the Stress Secret. So make sure you go pick it up on Amazon, get a copy of that. and understand how to crack that stress secret. You know, folks, once a week on the teamwork advantage.
[00:41:33] You get ideas that you can use immediately. And again, I want to tell you, go back and listen to this one again. There's some powerful things that are talked about in this episode. Listen to them. Practice them on yourselves on a daily basis. Get them as part of your daily routine. Okay, as James Clear talks about with atomic habits, you know, little inch by inch things work.
[00:41:53] Zig Ziglar said inch by inch is a cinch. By the mile it takes a trial. So think about those things, about how we can start to improve one [00:42:00] percent a day. Those little things. So folks, remember until next week, make sure you have an excellent and exceptional day because having a good day It's kind of like getting a C on a term paper.
[00:42:11] So go out and make yours excellent and exceptional. Thanks again. Dr. Rashidianid We'll talk next time. Bye. Bye
[00:42:16]