Vidya By Pia & Bart

It feels a little like we are back in March-2020, when we advised our clients to “hope for the best, prepare for the worst”. Except we didn’t know what we meant by “the worst”. Certainly not that we would, almost two years later, be back at what feels like another chapter in the ongoing story of this global pandemic. Today we discuss resilience. How can we train ourselves, our bodies and minds, to be more physically, mentally and emotionally resilient? This, we argue, is a super power that is very useful in a world full of covid-induced setbacks and disappointments.

In this early morning recording of this episode, we talk about sleep. We start from the technology, the biohacking / tracking tools we use, Whoop (Pia) and Oura (Bart), and how we use these tools in optimising sleep. We discuss some of the basics of sleep for example the four main aspects of sleep: Quality, quantity, continuity and regularity and the main stages of sleep: Deep, REM and light sleep. We continue discussing other matters such as the value (and potential risks) of daytime napping, the value of each of the main sleep stages on body and mind repair, and the importance of knowing your chronotype: Are you a lark, a night owl or somewhere in the middle? Do you need an alarm clock to wake up in the morning? Then you are probably not a lark! We talk about the stages of life and how this impacts sleep, for example the sleep of teenagers, parents of very young children and older people. All sleep deprivation in our lives, throughout our lives, has an effect on our health, in particular later in life. H

It has been a while since the last episode, not sure what happened to the time! In this episode, we discuss organisational culture. A good episode to listen to before you listen to this episode is Episode 3, of May 2019, in which we talked about personal values. We define culture as those values and behaviours that are important to a team, group, company or country. What is important to us who work and/or live here? Culture happens anyway, whether you are aware of it or not. We talk about the importance of leadership, and the relation between leadership and culture, and the importance of walking the talk. We also touch on the importance of the company founder(s) in culture, especially when they are still around in executive roles, and for senior leaders to explicitly work with culture. Next is the importance of culture in international expansion, and how for example a European country’s corporate culture might meet US corporate culture and how to get the best out of both. We discuss the importance of auth

Following on from our last episode on coaching, we are discussing a closely related topic, motivation, with one of our clients, Max Barclay. We discuss the importance of motivation in managing and leading people, and what’s important in motivating people. We talk about: Knowing the people you motivate because it’s personal and situational, generational differences, the limited role of reward in motivation, the connection between personal values and motivation, how to use feedback in motivating people, and the importance of motivation in happiness at work. We touch on our favourite book on the subject, Drive by Daniel Pink, and the three drivers of motivation: Autonomy (leave them to it, don’t micromanage), mastery (allow people to get really good at what they are good at already) and purpose (support them to find some meaning bigger than themselves).

It’s the early morning on Good (Long) Friday and we are talking about coaching. What do we talk about when we talk about coaching? Of course, it’s our profession. It’s also a communication or leadership style. And it’s a methodology, a series of behaviours. It’s a personal value, and it’s a way of being in the world. We discuss some of the most essential coaching behaviours: It’s about showing curiosity and openness, being present in the here and now, having empathy with the person you are coaching (which means real interest in the whole person, not just the subject matter), and we discuss some tools such as using silence. We leave listeners with some ideas on what to experiment with the next time they are in a coaching conversation.

Back together in Stockholm after a few months on zoom, we discuss the topic of feedback. Before that even, Pia explains how in her calendar 8 minutes equals one hour, but that aside. Back to feedback, we believe sometimes people think this is a boring topic in leadership development, “oh no not feedback!”, and we also believe that people are not really giving enough feedback in practice. And that it doesn’t have to be difficult, and it can actually be fun. We kick it off by discussing the barriers to giving feedback. Why is it not happening? Then we discuss some other things, here is a selection: Timing of feedback (the earlier the better). The best set and setting for giving feedback. Focus on strengths (getting even better at something) versus fixing weaknesses. Talk from yourself and not others (your feelings, your thoughts, your observations). Feedback is continuous, not an annual event. Be very specific, also about positive feedback eg ask “what was good about it?”. When discussing improvements, coach,

It’s January 2021, some of us are back in full lockdown, and we are talking about Pia’s most used phone app: Calendar. She addresses some of these questions: Why is this her most used app? Why is planning so important to her? What does planning for spontaneity mean to her? Other questions that we address in this episode: What are some of the neuroscientific and psychological aspects of how we use calendars? How can we be more deliberate about how we use calendars? What is, or should be, the impact of pandemic/working from home on how we use calendars? Some practical aspects of using the calendar we talk about: How to use the calendar for all aspects of your life and work, not just for meetings? How to use the calendar to enhance joy and calm in your life? What can we do in our corporate cultures, systems and team working practices to enhance the most effective use of calendar? How to plan well in advance for space for “no meetings”, solitude and deep work? How to deliberately plan for breaks in between meet

We are back online, back on zoom, to record this 2-part podcast on curiosity. We discuss the many aspects of curiosity. Why is it important to be curious? What can we be curious about? How does curiosity work? How does it feel to be curious? How can we invoke curiosity? What stops our curiosity? What is the purpose of curiosity? What is needed for us to be able to be curious? We roughly identify three categories of curiosity: Curiosity into the self, curiosity into others, and curiosity into things. We discuss different ways to develop curiosity and to learn more about curiosity, the relation between curiosity and the personality trait of openness, the importance of curiosity in leadership, how curiosity is an antidote to polarisation and how the inner journey of inquiry can help us get in touch with the essence of our true nature. Our discussion takes us into many examples, ranging from discussions with cardiologists, Rumi poetry, why we practice yoga, what stops puppies from learning, the metaphor of scuba

We are back online, back on zoom, to record this 2-part podcast on curiosity. We discuss the many aspects of curiosity. Why is it important to be curious? What can we be curious about? How does curiosity work? How does it feel to be curious? How can we invoke curiosity? What stops our curiosity? What is the purpose of curiosity? What is needed for us to be able to be curious? We roughly identify three categories of curiosity: Curiosity into the self, curiosity into others, and curiosity into things. We discuss different ways to develop curiosity and to learn more about curiosity, the relation between curiosity and the personality trait of openness, the importance of curiosity in leadership, how curiosity is an antidote to polarisation and how the inner journey of inquiry can help us get in touch with the essence of our true nature. Our discussion takes us into many examples, ranging from discussions with cardiologists, Rumi poetry, why we practice yoga, what stops puppies from learning, the metaphor of scuba

We recorded this 2-part podcast in a very special, happy place for us, a tiny village in southern Spain, and we discuss happiness. What are the important elements of happiness for us? We touch on nature, slowness, timelessness, lack of a need to perform, presence, mindfulness, space, absence of self-doubt, the somatic experience of emotions (positive and negative), purpose, personal values, truth, freedom, pleasure, positive relationships, flow states, physical and mental wellbeing, success, attention, lightness, play and the relative joy of carrots. We discuss some formulas for happiness, for example the relationship between happiness and success, or the relationship between happiness and expectations of life. We also discuss some distinctions for example between happiness and pleasure, happiness and desire, and happiness and purpose and we dig a little deeper into the purpose of negative emotions. We discuss some important practical tips, we suggest to try for example meditation, gratitude writing, refl

We recorded this 2-part podcast in a very special, happy place for us, a tiny village in southern Spain, and we discuss happiness. What are the important elements of happiness for us? We touch on nature, slowness, timelessness, lack of a need to perform, presence, mindfulness, space, absence of self-doubt, the somatic experience of emotions (positive and negative), purpose, personal values, truth, freedom, pleasure, positive relationships, flow states, physical and mental wellbeing, success, attention, lightness, play and the relative joy of carrots. We discuss some formulas for happiness, for example the relationship between happiness and success, or the relationship between happiness and expectations of life. We also discuss some distinctions for example between happiness and pleasure, happiness and desire, and happiness and purpose and we dig a little deeper into the purpose of negative emotions. We discuss some important practical tips, we suggest to try for example meditation, gratitude writing, refl

It has been a little while since you have heard from us, we took a break. This episode is a follow-up on an episode we recorded in May 2019: Episode 4, titled Decompression. We suggest you listen to that episode if you didn't already. We go deeper into this topic, and discuss the importance of taking a break from a high intensity life, and also bring it into the context of the current COVID situation. We distinguish between taking a break and taking a holiday, the two are not the same. We discuss the reasons why we should take breaks, different ways of taking a break, for example taking a break from the clock or planning for spontaneity, the different levels of taking breaks, e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, annually, and we give some examples of our own experiences in terms the need for taking breaks and what we do to take breaks. We give some hints and tips on how listeners can take some actions, in particular to reflect on the summer break and decide what it means for the planning of future breaks.

In this episode, the 20th episode to date, we discuss trust. What do we mean by trust, how does it relate to sensemaking and news (and fake news)? We discuss for example how the Swedish COVID situation is reported in international media, and the distinction between truth and truthfulness in journalism. We discuss what makes people trustworthy, and the importance of knowing yourself and authenticity in trustworthiness. We also discuss one other important aspect of trust, which is “not lying” and what we can learn about trust from children and teenagers. We introduce the trust equation (David Maister), and we define the different elements of the equation: the trust equation argues that we should maximise credibility (which comes from experience and subject matter expertise), reliability (quality and timeliness, and managing expectations truthfully) and intimacy (authentic connection, openness and vulnerability), whilst minimising self-orientation (people with low levels of orientation on self and high levels

We have managed to go one and half year since starting the podcast without personality being the main topic of dialogue, so we thought it was about time. We discuss the importance of personality in how people react to the COVID-19 situation, we briefly touch on the point of neuroticism and how it impact how we react to the crisis, but the main discussion is about introversion versus extraversion, and what this means for how we we lead our lives in a world of lockdowns and physical distancing. Western society is normally geared towards extraverts, and the past few months have been much more kind towards the lifestyles of introverted people. We discuss what this means and our hopes of what will remain in the post-pandemic world. Will society be kinder to introverts? Will the introverted lifestyle be more accepted by extraverts? Will introversion be more valued in leadership? We suggest that listeners take some time to reflect on the past few months, on their personality type and how they can integrate these i

In this episode, recorded in the third week of April, we discuss compassion. Continuing the theme of the last episode, we thought it would be appropriate to follow up with a discussion on compassion, perhaps one of the most important values for humanity in these unusual times. We start by discussing distinctions between empathy, sympathy, compassion and kindness. We discuss the importance of self compassion, as well as the need for compassion for others, which also means that we acknowledge that people are in different living, work, and family situations, as well as that each person reacts differently to the general anxiety of these times and to for example the impact of physical distancing. We discuss some practical examples of compassion and acts of kindness, specific to the current times.

In this episode, recorded at Easter, we discuss radical self care. Lots of people are in lockdown, busier than ever trying to do a job, perhaps looking after children and other family members, staying in touch with friends, providing support to people that need it, selflessly being kind to others, and often the very last on their priority list is their own wellbeing. We discuss the concept of radical self care, and why it’s important, particularly now, to ensure a sustainable life. We suggest that you need to move your own wellbeing to the top of your list, and make it a priority, once in a while, to take a break from all your responsibilities, whatever your needs are: Spending time in nature, being in solitude, listening to music, exercising, yoga and meditation, reading, writing, nesting, decluttering, doing whatever feels good or that you know is good for you. It’s important to structure and plan your day/week to be deliberate about care for yourself.

In this episode, recorded in mid March 2020, we discuss working from home. Many people, most people in fact, are housebound because of the COVID-19 situation and we thought it would be good to share some practical tips and hints on working from home. We discuss for example the importance of creating the right space to work in, tidying that space, ensuring it is a quiet space, and perhaps wearing headphones to cancel out noise from outside. We discuss questions such as: What can you do to create some virtual social interactions? What are some of the ground rules you should put in place as a team, as families and in virtual meetings? We talk about the importance of minimising distractions, such as putting the phone on airplane mode, and we discuss the importance of being very deliberate about structuring your workday, including breaks, and what to do during these breaks, e.g. go for a walk.

In this episode, we discuss the value we can get from trying things out in our lives: Experimentation with different supplements, tools and techniques on our own bodies and minds, and then the qualitative and quantitative measurement of the impact, also sometimes referred to as biohacking. We give a range of examples from our own lives, things we have tried and tested and that have become routines and/or habits for us. We discuss for example the benefits to the body and the mind of consuming omega-3, (home-) fermented foods, medicinal mushrooms and nootropics, and the benefits of consuming less animal protein and/or carbs/sugar. We discuss the why, what, how and when of daytime napping, (intermittent) fasting, breathwork, cryotherapy/cold exposure, sensory deprivation (flotation), forest bathing and biometric testing. We suggest you google and try some stuff out.

In this episode of the Vidya podcast, we discuss attention. We define attention as the ability to focus or concentrate on one particular thing, it is the opposite of being distracted, it comes with a sharpness of the mind. Distractions are addictive, and in a world of constant distractions and information overload, attention is becoming more and more important while at the same time it’s becoming increasingly difficult to practice attention. We discuss the major benefits of attention: Real improvements in effectiveness and productivity, better listening, deeper connections and therefore better relationships, and higher levels of happiness/wellbeing and less stress. We also talk about the practice of training our mind for attention, through for example meditation, mindfulness in mundane daily activities, taking a break from our phones and being less scattered throughout the day.

In this episode of the Vidya podcast, we discuss learning. In this special anniversary session, exactly one year after we started this podcast, we go back to the topic we also discussed in the very first episode, this topic that’s so close to our hearts. We talk about what excites us so much about learning, why is learning so important to us, why is it an important value for both of us and why did we make it our profession. We discuss several things around learning: The different types of learning (knowledge, skills and attitudes), learning motivation, how to prioritise learning, the learning process (experience, reflection, insight and planning), how to learn effectively, learning styles (activist, reflector, theorist, pragmatist), different methods of learning (reading, listening, watching, dialogue, application) and give some tips on how to take this forward.