Master Your Mental Health for 30% Better Performance

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Claire Davis 0:12

one everybody and welcome back to another edition of today's medical sales leader. And today I am so absolutely thrilled to share with you somebody who I recently met who has cracked the code on what it takes to be really effective in medical sales by dealing with what is between our ears. First, she is a mental performance coach. And I'm so excited to introduce you to her as well today. I have Danielle connected with me. And I would love it if you take a minute to just introduce yourself and tell us what you are up to.

Danielle Kenagy 0:51

Yes. Hi, thank you so much, Claire for having me on here. My name is Danielle Kenagy. And like you said, I am a mental performance coach, I am so excited to have a chat with you today about what I do. But to start off with I got my bachelor's in psychology from the University of Washington, I fell in love with psychology and I love sports. So as decided why not put them together. So I went and got my master's from John F. Kennedy University, which is down in California. And I got a master's in sports psychology and ever since I became a mental performance coach, and I've been working with so many amazing people. I am up in Spokane right now. But I've had the opportunity to meet with athletes and businesses that are all around the country. And I also have a couple of clients that are abroad and over in Europe. So it's been super cool. The biggest part of what I do is my job is to just help people achieve their optimal performance by working on their mental health. And using an incredibly huge bank of skills. I'm basically building a toolbox of skills for you to use so that your mentality going into every performance is at a top notch level. But besides that, when I'm not there, I mean, I'm just I love a big body of water. I'm always swimming or going voting. And my dog loves it as well. My fiance, so we're big outside people if I'm not tied with mental performance.

Claire Davis 2:17

That's awesome. I love that. Well, first of all, thank you so so much for being here. And second. I mean, as a pacific northwest corner, I know we love to get outside, right? That is so yes. We recently just discovered priest lake up north, and it's absolutely incredible. So there's Yes, just no lack for fun things to do up here. But, you know, for everybody listening here and watching. So Danielle and I first met because I was in a bad way with my lower back and I went to her clinic where she works, which is called built to move. It's right here in Spokane, Washington. And they basically helped me walk again, which was amazing. But when Danielle and I first started talking, she was not just stopping at the, you know, the physical nature of chiropractic, I noticed that she was into sports psychology and for everybody listening, especially if you're in medical sales, you already know that it's half of the things that you learn about sales that make you great at what you do. But the other half and many would argue more is the mindset that you have when you're going into do that. So take me take me back a little bit. Danielle, when you very first realize that you wanted to start pairing sports and your psychology major, was it because you were playing sports? And then you thought, wait a minute, I think I can maximize my own performance? Or is this something that you learned in school and like the light bulb went on? And you thought, oh, I can definitely apply this. So talk us through a little bit about how you made the connection?

Danielle Kenagy 3:53

Absolutely. So while I played sports, and I was an athlete, when I was younger, in college, I went to college to go to college and have a good time. I played recreational sports, but nothing serious. But I would say it definitely happened in the classroom. I knew that I wanted to be in some kind of sports field. And it just happened that psychology was going really well. And I was having a blast in these classes. And I ended up taking an undergrad sports psychology class, from Dr. Small. He is one of the most incredible people he is retired now. But he was what made the connection for me and it was such an intense class. But if you took it seriously, I was just incredible. And so I ran with that. And then I ended up taking one of his graduate classes after that. And from there I was like this is this is it and I just had this lightbulb that you know it while it's called sports psychology, this could go so much farther than just athletes. And I think that's where it came to play as well as it really helped me my own education using those skills using what I learned on the mental side of things.

Claire Davis 4:58

Yeah, and I think that, you know, especially in the last two, three years with everything going on and the market fluctuations and career fluctuations, I think everyone is just a little bit more in tune, if not very in tune with the fact that mental health really needs to be a priority. And, you know, like it or not, we've all been dramatically affected, in some way or another. And so I think it's really brought to light that you have to take care of your mental health or something is kind of give right Something's gotta give. So absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about because I know you probably see a lot of these folks. But, you know, how can somebody recognize when maybe their mental health needs a little bit of a tune up? What are some of the signs they can be looking for? When they're feeling a little bit off? Or they're not performing? Like they were? What did people feel and see? And what are they going through? That would maybe your mark that just needs to be worked on?

Danielle Kenagy 5:56

I think, you know, in my field, everybody individually is so different. But I think one of the biggest telltale signs is they get very negative with themselves. So you know, when you're performing well, and you're achieving all of these things, we're in a positive, happy mindset. We don't have a lot that we want to tear ourselves down on. But the minute we start doing a little bit less well, or we're struggling in different parts of our performances, we get negative Yeah, you know, we start to question ourselves, that's a huge thing. But the negative self talk the way that we tear ourselves down, we are so good at doing that. Yeah. I think that almost for every individual is a huge telltale sign no matter the performance.

Claire Davis 6:36

So you know, when you start that negative self talk, what do you walk your patients through? You know, you because I know, and specifically for women, we are really good at beating ourselves up. I mean, it doesn't, men and women, of course, but for some reason, I feel like we're experts at this. And sometimes we're doing it without even realizing it. In fact, I was reading a book the other day that said that we we implement self negative self talk, in our day to day, it occupies like 30% of what we think, which is like, like, every third thought is us dumping on ourselves so clearly that, that we need to change if we want to move forward. So what is the first step for somebody who's like, Okay, I'm starting to really beat myself up, I've got all these negative thoughts, what do they do next.

Danielle Kenagy 7:30

So the next part is the awareness piece. You can't you know, work on yourself, if you don't stop and realize what's going on, you know, that negative self talk can lead to a lack of confidence, a lack of motivation. Resiliency is down, when you start to realize all these things, that's great. And that's where we need to take that first step. But that first step is doing the awareness piece, which comes with many different things. I would say specifically for self talk, I like to give all my clients that self talk log. While it's homework, I try to not say at work, if that awareness piece, you know, we got to do it to get somewhere. But being able to write down those things, that's a great, great tactical skill to have to be able to write down, hey, I had a negative self talk. And then you can start to pick out the themes, you know, when are we having all this self talk? Is it around a certain performance a certain time, and all that kind of stuff? So awareness piece, best next step? Okay.

Claire Davis 8:29

And you know, when someone does become aware, because I think if, if you're listening, if you have become aware of negative self talk, I don't know about you, but it surprises me. Because I start to think, Okay, well, I don't talk to my kids this way. I don't talk to my friends, or my peers this way. Like, why do I suddenly feel like I am just the biggest waste of space in the world? Right? And we know it's not true. But breaking the cycle is so important. So okay, so number one, you have to get aware. And I love that you do a lot because I think sometimes when we get things in writing, that's when we can really start to get them out of our mind and give ourselves a little bit of headspace a little bit of peace. So what's the next step that somebody might take? If then they come aware now, what do they do?

Danielle Kenagy 9:15

So the next part would be kind of jumping into the skills, right? self talk is a skill in itself. But being able to break down self talk starting out with, Okay, we have the awareness of when, where, and what, but like you said, the why people ask themselves, Oh, I know, this is not true. Why is this happening? You know, why? Why, why? We're going to sit there and we're going to talk that out, we're going to hash it out. I'm going to ask questions about your future and your present, and how you know, times have changed and your performances and that kind of thing. So join that into that awareness piece. But then moving forward and learning about self talk. So what's wild is there's so many different parts of self talk and I'll just briefly give you two of them, but I use a certain skill within self talk that's called countering versus riff. Preventing. And countering is basically taking a negative self talk and refuting that with reasons, facts or beliefs. So, you know, if you say something negative to yourself, and then you're like, Well, why did I think that? Well, let's pull out the reasons and facts on why that's not true. And then you go to become a lot more aware. And you're like, oh, yeah, I am saying these awful things to myself or whatever it is. But there's facts and reasons behind it, that will lead us to the positive self talk, it was so interesting.

Claire Davis 10:32

And so do you feel like when you're, you know, looking at the different ways that self taught could crop up for us? Do you feel like most of that come? Like? Are there any patterns? Do they come from, you know, times when we tend to compare ourselves to others? Do they come from, you know, past failures? Do they come from fear of the future? Where do you see most self talk coming from?

Danielle Kenagy 10:58

If you are in a performance, and it's not just a single individual performance, it's against someone, it's with someone you are comparing. And when they're doing better, and you're not bill, you're attacking yourself, you're being negative with yourself, I would say that's a huge one. And I think the fear, just fear of failure, not even future past present, it's that fear of failure, none of us want to fail. And when we start to potentially go down that road, or feel like we're going that way, the fear just overrides, and it just completely blind, zero and blind.

Claire Davis 11:32

Yeah, there are a lot of different pharmaceuticals and devices and, you know, diagnostic tests that compete with each other in some, you know, version or form to treat the same thing. So it's a very creative industry. Where I think sometimes I see and I know, I've done this in my own career, you know, for example, back when I was selling radiology and imaging, we had a very, you know, big competitor in Sacramento, you know, just down the street. And we it was constant comparison. And it wasn't necessarily that I felt I was doing a poor job. But I think purely because I hadn't come around to the idea of, okay, we're all in the same boat. We're all just doing our, you know, jobs, the best that we can, we're all trying to get in with the same physicians and let them make the choice. I beat myself up all the time, just purely because my competitive 100% Right. So silly. Yeah, so silly. Looking back, we can tracted it before we even notice. Right?

Danielle Kenagy 12:36

Exactly. And that's what you're saying like, right, as they walk in the door, right? You haven't even done your pitch or, you know, whatever it might be, you're already, you know, less confidence, potentially a little less motivated. And you're just jumbled. Sometimes, you know, when we lose our core skills, in our minds, and in our mindset, we're kind of done for we stumble over our words, we can't rebound. We don't know how to almost contradict what our competition is saying.

Claire Davis 13:04

That kind of stuff that's human, you know, the ripple effect, then, right is then you look incompetent in front of your customer. And specifically in this industry, I was just talking to somebody this morning, they said sales and sales wherever you're at? And I said yes, except for medical sales in front of that oncologist. And you're uncut, you're not confident in what you're sharing. I mean, how can they be confident in what you're selling? Right? So let's talk a little bit you were talking about the countering to these negative thoughts that we have. And you said there was a second one, what was the second one?

Danielle Kenagy 13:38

It's called reframing. It is very, very similar to countering but some other some people like to use it, and some people like to use countering. So reframing is basically taking a different perspective. So taking that negative and going to the positive almost immediately. So saying the grass is greener on the other side. Not using as many reasons or as many beliefs, but just switching to a completely different perspective.

Claire Davis 14:09

Do you feel like people find this one harder to do then the first one?

Danielle Kenagy 14:15

Yes, definitely. I feel it. It's kind of almost hard to explain, because it's so individual. But I think that reframing that can take the aspect of you have to have an optimistic mindset. And if you're coming in and you're so negative, you're so down on yourself, you don't even know where to begin on the self talk, it will be a little bit harder to find that optimistic mindset. And so I think that reframing falls into that category of you got to almost have a little bit of positive on the other side to be able to refute that.

Claire Davis 14:49

So do you feel like these are habits that people have to start to create? Or are they like, are they habits or are they tools, do you not I mean, I just learned I Just read this. It's not new, but it's really awesome. It's called atomic habits by James clear had to think for a minute, I was like what. And what I love about it was he talked about how behavior change really stems from the habits we make, and also the environment that we put ourselves in. So like when you were talking about, you know, naturally, people can reframe a little better when they have that positive mindset. So are there ways that you help your, you know, the folks that come to work with you, for this mental toughness? Are there ways that you help them so that when they're in the moment, they have these tools, but they're setting themselves up for success with their environment, or their habits, so they, it happens less often?

Danielle Kenagy 15:48

100% Yes, the having everything around you, right, especially with you talking about medical sales, and being in that competitive environment, finding those little things that are positive, and I think that's a big thing is, when we're in the moment, we're in the moment, if you see your competitor come in, instead of going negative on yourself, find that positive, well, you know, I'm wearing a blue shirt today, and I'm confident in my shirt, you know, make pull it back to yourself, and keep it positive, you know, are finding those little positives or setting yourself up in an area where you're comfortable. And you know, this and you got this, and you can use those reasons, again, in that countering to pull it back to yourself and less on the person walking in and the person standing next to you,

Claire Davis 16:30

you know, I think that everyone is drawn to what they do in their career, because for some in some way, they're kind of made for it, you know, like, it's either been a situation in their past or they just have a special spark or personality trait that kind of predisposes them to the job that they're in. So I want to know, from you, like, what was it about you or your past, or maybe you know, your kind of your natural way of being that drew you to this craft,

Danielle Kenagy 17:01

I bound in the back to my parents, my parents raised me in such a great way, but not just how they raised me, it's what I watched them do, my parents were very giving. And my, I just, I was so listened to, I always felt heard, you know, if I did something wrong, I needed to listen to them. And then they also got to take my perspective. And, you know, if, if something was going on, I was, I could just talk and I could say whatever. And I felt very heard. And I learned about growing up. And I watched them do that to every single person that we were ever with, whether they were in our family, someone we didn't know, whoever it was, and no one in my close knit family is in this profession. So just watching them do that and get that influence, I think really led me down the road to be able to really listen to someone and take in what they're saying and help them with everything, but really make sure they feel heard. And I think that is one of the biggest things is sometimes we just have to talk to talk. And we really need someone to just listen and take it in for us. And let us release that. And I just, I I just found my passion and that and yeah, I would say big.

Claire Davis 18:15

Oh, I love that. That's so awesome. Okay, so So let's dive into that listening just a little bit more. I remember when I very first set foot and built to move. And it was from when I walked in the door at your front desk to meeting you want when I was rounding the corner to going to the Jolina, who was my chiropractor, you guys have to check out bill to move through listening in Spokane area. Just go You'll thank me later. But the thing is, every single step I was listened to. And I think sometimes, even when we tend when we tend to talk a lot when we tend to talk for a living as a coach or a provider. The things that we say are, you know, valid, but sometimes it takes people like you who hear what we say but here what we're really saying Do you know what I mean? Like the the meaning behind that actually share to really dig to what's going on at a deeper level. So when do you see this with your patients when they see you know, they come into you with one problem that they think they have? Right? Or they say that they know. And then you have to be sort of the investigator in the investigator role.

Danielle Kenagy 19:19

Oh, yeah, that is a huge part of what I do, you know, digging into that awareness especially. But yeah, I always have a notepad and a pencil that's somewhat considered old school now because we have this incredible technology. I could take notes anywhere. But I am an old school, I keep it to the pen and the paper and instead of writing, you know, every single thing that you're saying, I write down the little stuff because the little stuff is where I can dig. And I can because you we talk, we talk we talk and then that's my opportunity to say Hey, I hear you I hear this big problem. But you said this, and I think this is where we're going to come gonna dig in today and talk about, and it's always like, Oh, wow, I never, you know thought about that, or I didn't even hear myself say that. Just like that negative self talk we're talking about, you just don't hear yourself say those things.

Claire Davis 20:12

Let's talk about what having a positive mental toughness can bring about, right? So so once you do recognize negative self talk, you work on it, you develop these positive habits using the methods that you mentioned, you're reframing, you're doing all these things? What kind of opportunity lies ahead? What kind of strength does that breed for somebody who then starts to practice this in a positive way? Like, what are some of the positive outcomes you see from your patients who come in, and they're downtrodden. And they're stressed out, and they don't, they don't even understand what their own issue is, they need you. And then you see that transformation, what lies ahead for them when they get it together.

Danielle Kenagy 20:53

I mean, just ran off about so many amazing things, I get so excited when I watch them go down that transformation. But I would say one of the biggest things is having that confidence, and having that motivation to continue on, you know, there are people who get almost, there's never an end, right. But they get to that point where, you know, we've done a lot of work, and now we're just going to meet for sustainability. And they just come in with their head head held so high, and they're just so motivated, you know, what else can I do? And, you know, can I go farther with this? Am I mastering this skill, all those things, but you're also finding that resiliency, and you're finding that resiliency within the tools and yourself. And that's the biggest thing you are giving back to yourself and pushing yourself. So I would say that's the that's the most exciting thing to look forward to. And something that I've noticed so far with a bunch of my people. And I just I Yeah, it's a great thing. But confidence is a huge one, just being able to like, hold your chin up. And know that you can go into pretty much any situation and find the positive or be kind to yourself, push yourself through that.

Claire Davis 22:06

Yeah, let's say we're speaking to a, I'm gonna I'm going to pull out a company that I know loves to hire sports minded and athletes, you know, previous athletes and current athletes, let's talk about strikers say we're talking to somebody who works for striker. Right. And they are on a team. Okay. And they have to help motivate the team. Right? So the team has a lot of negative self talk, the numbers aren't the way that they had hoped, you know, but this person has to go in and put on their, you know, Danielle ConnectKey, like, you know, Persona and reach them. What advice would you give for that person who's trying to motivate a team, so that they can proceed with confidence and regain that spirit, that camaraderie that they had before,

Danielle Kenagy 22:52

first of all, that leader should really have a good idea of what their self efficacy is, which is a kind of a part of that confidence that we have been able to go in there and know what makes them motivated, how they've stayed motivated. And then I think the biggest part would be share your experiences, share your super positive experiences, share your neutral experiences, and share the heart experiences. But instead of making it such a negative experience, or oh, I went through this and this and this, say, you know, this was what happened. And this is how I bounced back from it. So I think that being the leader, you want to have your own sense of motivation and confidence, but then work your team through it in a positive and neutral way, the entire time. Versus this negative thing happened. This is so bad. You know, don't go down that road. Stay motivated, stay confident yourself, and then help share your experiences.

Claire Davis 23:50

Tell us if we would like to find out more about you and connect with you. What is the best way that people can do that? On LinkedIn?

Danielle Kenagy 23:57

I'm on there. Daniel, can they Yeah, I'm sure it'll be spelled out podcast and you could spell my last name. Getting it right the first time she said it. So that's exciting. So LinkedIn is great. And then we also have a site a website with built to move it

Claire Davis 24:15

has been so nice chatting with you. I know selfishly I get to see you guys all the time as I do come in for my routine appointments for my kinda fracture. Thank you, people to move. But yeah, like I was immediately drawn to you and your positivity when I came into the clinic. And once I found out that you help people access better mental performance I just had to have you on. If you are in medical sales and listening or watching the show right now you know how important it is to take care of your mental health and your you know, your spirit, right, your confidence. So if you want to find ways to access that, go follow Danielle on LinkedIn or check her out at Feel to move right here in Spokane. And thank you, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for being here. Thank you everybody for watching and until next time have a great day!

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