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About 30 Winter Mornings
30 Winter Mornings is a short daily podcast for people who deliver complex live events.
Each episode is a ten-minute morning reflection that offers perspective, reassurance, and calm during the most demanding phase of delivery. Drawing on decades of experience in large-scale events, the podcast focuses not on the event itself, but on the people behind it, the professionals who carry responsibility, make decisions under pressure, and keep showing up.
This is not a training programme or a motivational series.
It’s a daily check-in.
A moment of company before the day begins.
Good morning. I'm Christiaan Page, and welcome to 30 winter mornings. This is a short daily podcast for professionals delivering complex live events. And over the next 30 mornings, we'll be counting down to the opening ceremony at the Milan Cortina Winter Games. Each morning, we take a few minutes to slow things down, to find a bit of perspective, reassurance, and calm during the most demanding phase of the delivery.
Christiaan PAGE:This isn't training. It's not motivational. It's a daily check-in, a moment of company before your day begins. Four mornings to go. And as the finish gets closer, pressure starts to show up in the body.
Christiaan PAGE:Our breathing can sometimes get a bit shallower, Our shoulders lift, and our thoughts speed up. And all of this quite often happens without us even noticing, remembering that fatigue is also playing a big part in where we're at. So all of this is going on. And yet, how you regulate yourself right now directly affects everyone around you. So calm is not just a feeling.
Christiaan PAGE:It's a signal. And teams certainly take their cues from the people they trust. And when leaders breathe and calm, others settle around us. We mentioned this yesterday. People are observing, so being present, but how we show up is so important.
Christiaan PAGE:So when leaders rush, the pressure spreads, and that is contagious. And we talked about that choice yesterday, choosing to be calm or choosing to have tension, choosing to be calm, breathing, and that's where the pressure spreads. So there's a reason elite athletes focus on their breath moments before they launch into a race or an event. They don't take that pause and breath just to relax, but it's to return to control. And in live event delivery, breath is one of the few things you can influence instantly.
Christiaan PAGE:If we go back to the very beginning of this series, we talked about what is it that we can control. What is it we control is what our thoughts and what's in front of us. And breathing and taking a breath is something you can influence instantly. So before our day gathers momentum, let's pause for a brief check-in. So I wanna ask you, what is your breathing doing right now?
Christiaan PAGE:I don't want you to change it. I just want you to notice it. Because if we can internalize and notice what's going on, that's just that's as important as what we can do. So not changing it, just noticing how your breath is right now. Alright.
Christiaan PAGE:Second, where today might you need to slow your breath before you perhaps speak or make a decision? So perhaps in a meeting where you can just slow things down, take a breath, pause. It might be a difficult conversation. You might be having to say no to something, to a stakeholder, to someone who's come and asked for something. Again, getting back into those clarity changes right now.
Christiaan PAGE:Is it necessary? We might have to say no. So just pause. It doesn't have to be a huge momentous breath. It's just a breath.
Christiaan PAGE:Because you may also be leaning into a moment of pressure. It might be something that you have to do and deliver. Again, pause, breathe. So use your breath first. Really it really helps me, and I highly recommend it.
Christiaan PAGE:Alright. And how can you certainly one, how can you model calm for others today? Not by saying anything, but perhaps by how you move, how you stand, how you turn up, and equally, how you breathe. And if you're pausing, it might be just that little bit of reflection, and you're modeling a behavior that others might pick up on, and they might then just pause and breathe and bring calm into what is no doubt an incredibly intense day. So it is late in this part of the delivery.
Christiaan PAGE:Your nervous system is part of your leadership system. So breathe. Wherever you are, stay safe, stay healthy, and bye for now. 30 Winter Mornings is a legacy groupe project produced and presented by myself, Christiaan Page. This podcast is recorded on the shores of Lac Leman , also known as Lake Geneva, in Lausanne, the Olympic capital in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.