ProductiviTree: Cultivating Efficiency, Harvesting Joy

ProductiviTree #12 Secrets of the Elite - The Life Coach Behind Hollywood’s Success Stories

• Santiago Tacoronte • Season 1 • Episode 12

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In this engaging conversation, Leslie Juvin-Acker shares her insights on productivity, focusing on the unique challenges faced by high achievers, the importance of empathy, and the role of neurodiversity in success. She emphasizes the need for effective time management, energy alignment, and the significance of personal metrics of success. Leslie also discusses the impact of wealth on happiness and the necessity of rest and self-care for maintaining productivity. Throughout the discussion, she encourages listeners to trust their intuition and prioritize meaningful connections over societal pressures. 

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Hello Leslie, welcome to ProductiviTree Thanks for having me Santiago. You coach top performers in Hollywood and the corporate world. What are the biggest productivity struggles of the ultra successful? Gosh, would say from the altar of successful is the people who distract you. That's the number one. I know it's like as simple as it could be, but you have to really know who your real friends are, who are the people who are really looking out for you. as opposed to the people who are psychophantic, who want to take from you, who want to distract from you, who want you to do what they want you to do. And it's kind of like you have your own agenda of helping people and doing what you're supposed to do. And then there's some people who come into the circle and they want to take from you. There is kind of that thing where there is givers and then there are takers. And the number one... drag on productivity are people who are distracting and having relationships that you don't even realize are distracting you. So you work obviously with people that are high achievers and there is a tendency to think that high achievers are more disciplined. Do you find that's true or do you think that? Yeah. I don't know because I would say I wouldn't say that that's absolutely true. would say, you for example, my husband, right, he's I consider my husband a genius, but he has serious ADHD, like absolutely serious ADHD. And it's it's kind of gotten to the point where I say to him, put it away, don't put it down kind of mentality, because a lot of times in high productivity individuals, there's a lot of neurodivergence. And I think working with neurodivergence and working with kind of neuro spiciness is definitely one of those things that in corporate world and in business that we're learning to recognize and appreciate. I think that's kind of the battle right now with the EI and all these things is like, there's just different ways of looking at the world, different ways of experiencing the world. And my husband is one of those people. think there are... The multimillionaires that have started businesses that I've worked with are people who just can't sit still. They don't do very well in school. They don't take authority very well. They're mavericks is what I call them. And I feel like if we can learn from that and we can appreciate that, we can have fun with that, then we can do something with it. But we just don't realize like, you know. that kind of opportunity and learn to see from within yourself what makes you different and unique in terms of how you get things done. What's one surprising habit you've seen among the most successful people you coach? You know, it's funny because Elon Musk said recently, like, the weakest thing about somebody is their empathy. And I just don't agree with that. I've seen people who have had multi, like, multi hundred million dollar businesses. I've coached these people and they're so emotionally intelligent and they help people. put people. ahead of themselves. Like, for example, one of my friends, he was a founder of a multinational company and several companies and did very well for himself. And he's always about other people and their success and is always about helping them succeed. And I think when you have this like small town mentality where everybody in your neighborhood and your community is a part of you and you're a part of them and their success is your success and your success is their success. I think like that opportunity to build real community, real connections, real love, real friendships is really the way to go. And I think we've gone so far in corporate America where we just turn everybody, everything into dehumanized robots. But when you take it from this multi-international perspective and you take it down to Main Street and run your business, no matter what size your business is, a small business, your own business, and that if you affect somebody, and their welfare, it gets back around, it gets to you. I would say my advice is just to take more of a tribal mentality with your community because you have to go out and you have to go to the doctor. You have to go and get bread. You have to go get groceries. And those people are connected to all the people in your community. And I think like we've kind of like washed our hands from that sense of community and connection in corporate. I think like we need to go back to that because it's become to dehumanize and unfortunately we don't see the humanity in people anymore at greater scale. So I would say take it back to small town thinking. I love that. I just finished Elon Musk's latest biography. And it's funny that he's talking about empathy because apparently he has a disease, and I'm not an expert, a disease that is called Asperger that somehow prevents him to show empathy to others. So I found it funny that he's saying that empathy is a weakness, being something that he himself cannot somehow have. Yeah, I mean, we don't know. We don't know if he was actually diagnosed with it or not. You know, we don't have that kind of like medical access to his stuff. But the people that I work with who have, you know, a lot of like artists and a lot of creative people that I work with, like all the way to like making movies and cartoons and all these kind of things, they have all sorts of neurodivergences. It doesn't mean that they don't. feel and that they don't relate to people in their own way they do. But it just doesn't mean that everybody relates the same way. And I just feel like from my experience, the people who do super well and who live very happy, rich lives, not just make a lot of money, but have rich lives are the ones that connect to people and are interested in other people. You've mentioned a couple of times multi-million dollars and this is the objective of many people. I think it's a trend, the billionaire trends. But many people in their way to success hustle perhaps too much and then burn out. What's the number one mistake people make when trying to achieve high? Gosh, you you talk about burnout. I did a workshop for Surruptiveness International, which is a nonprofit that one of the biggest missions is against human trafficking and trafficking of girls. And the workshop is all about burnout. I think especially for women, think women, speak specifically to the issue of women's time. We don't value it. We think that women should do all these things and, you know, It brings value, but we don't pay for it. And then when we can't translate it into the workplace and then give that value. So I would say for women specifically in this in this question is like learn to value your time because there is the exploitation of women's unpaid labor. And I would say women value your time because there are guys who will just not even waste their time if there's nothing in it for them. But women will do it no matter what. And we have to learn to like. to be a little bit more protective of our time and value our time a lot more and see the value in our own time. Because a lot of times women especially and even like lower paid workers, they don't see the value of their own time and their efforts and what they put in even if their job doesn't pay much or is not of like high position or perceived to be high value. I think the moment you start to perceive yourself as high value, the world will start to see you as high value. We saw that during the pandemic. All these essential workers working at the dollar store and the grocery store, suddenly they were essential, but they're getting paid minimum wage. I think we need to really think again. You help clients align their energy for peak performance. Energy for peak performance. Can you break down what it means in practical terms? Your energy and performance, I talk about this in my book, Engineering Your Mood. You have to start paying attention to your habitual mood. Your habitual mood is your mental, psychological dwelling house. And it starts with these premises by which you live your life. I am strong, I am capable, life loves me, life provides for me, I am protected, I am taken care of. Every day I've got new ideas, I know exactly what to do. through these premises by which we live our life, we take on a mood, we take on an energy, and then we express what we believe through our internal dialogue, through our actions, so we can become self-affirming in our action or self-sabotaging in our actions. So the key here in terms of your energy and your presence is what are you saying about yourself, your self-concept, and what are you saying about life, your concept of the world, and what are you saying, and your concept of the world includes other people. So you have to learn to see people in life from a positive point of view, not, they're out to take me, they're out to get me. It's, have value to give here, I can transform this. And the more you practice getting into that habitual psychological state, priming yourself is what they call it in neuro-linguistic programming, the more you feel like you can, the more capable you feel. But it starts with these self-concept and your self-image and the way you see your world. It starts with... the words that you speak and affirm to be true. So it's always being very careful about your assumptions about yourself in reality and having a correct and healthy, powerful self-concept about yourself rather than a very limiting and weak one. Let's move a little bit into productivity. What are some of the most effective time management techniques you recommend to your clients? Highly busy people. I'm one of those people. The one thing is, is like a lot of people say like, you know, like do the fun things first. Like I would say really and truly before you go to bed, close your eyes and imagine everything that you don't want to do done. Practice in your mind very much like professional athletes who I've coached top of their game. You close your eyes like jet pilots, you close your eyes and you go through the motions of yourself doing it. Because it's easier if you're laying in bed or you're slouching around. So this is very good for crass-nators. You close your eyes and you see yourself doing the thing you don't want to do or you think you can't do. If you see yourself in your mind's eye doing it and it's done, all of a sudden it's really funny. You just get up and you do it. You don't even think about it. So I would say it's a very simple, easy trick, but get it done in your head first. And then when you wake up, the next day, you're just kind of on autopilot. We don't realize how much we are on autopilot because we are psychologically the day before and the night before prepping ourselves for the kind of day that we're gonna have the next day. So use that as a skill. You just said that you have a crazy agenda and many other have overwhelming schedules. How does very successful people like you and some of your coaches structure the time differently than the average person? It has to do with what your metrics of success are. You have to know what your metrics of success are. Yeah, sometimes they are financial goals. Sometimes they are, okay, this year or this day, I'm going to make this amount of money or I'm going to do this project. And they have to be very specific goals. But it's not just about time and money. There's a very capitalistic point of view of productivity. You got to kind of put that here. Then there's other metrics of success. My personal metric of success is I got to do a hundred acts of love a day. That's for me. For animals, for Mother Earth, for myself, for my children, for my loved ones, for mankind, whether I'm getting paid for it or not. I have to do those 100 acts a day. It's for my own self-esteem. It's for my own sense of values. You have to really take a look at yourself and write down what are my metrics of success. I have a silly one. I gotta say five nice things to my husband a day. And it's silly. I've been with my husband for almost 20 years. I look like I was a child bride, and I was. But that's one of the things. His love language is he wants to hear the words of affirmation. And it seems like I'm really tartining the toast, you know? honey, you are the smartest, most gorgeous, most successful, sexiest man alive. He wants to hear it. That's what he wants to hear. I say it, and I lay it on thing. And that's my metric of success. It makes him happy. So as silly as that is, as opposed to, okay, I've got these financial goals. I've got these things I got to do, or maybe five hugs a day. You know, they also say medicine, you get hugs, it boosts your immune system. Or I exercise 40 minutes, or I walk 7,000 steps. Whatever your personal metrics of success are. Hit them every day, hit your targets. And then before you know it, you have a very full productive day and you are making progress. And in law school, the most annoying thing my professors ever said when I was in law school is, how do you eat an elephant? And then we'd say, one bite at a time. Because you're learning 10,000 laws, you're learning something very complex, and you have to take it one little bite at a time every day. So take your little bite at a time. And my final point is that millionaires are not just get which crick schemers and Bitcoin miners. They're people who make little emotions every day, little things. like a heat seeking missile, you course correct. You make a mistake, you course correct. And every day and every month and every year you build and you correct and you get stronger and stronger and you've achieved so much. So get to know your own personal metrics of success and take it one bite at a time. In this world of excessive information, how can people overcome mental exhaustion and stay consistently productive? That is a good one. We are getting overwhelmed. I think the biggest warning that I would have for people, especially in the age of massive global propaganda, is, is somebody trying to inform you and empower you? Or are they trying to tell you what to think and what to feel and what to do? And that is a very, very, very fine dichotomy. Sometimes we don't know. So I really want people to start paying attention to, is somebody trying to encourage me to think constructively, originally for myself, to do better for myself or to do them being better for somebody else? Or are they trying to manipulate me, control how I feel and do something different? So one, recognize your sources and two, make sure that they're useful to you, that they're serving you and not you serving them. Because the thing about propaganda and about news, Having studied politics myself and participating in coaching politicians is that you have to know the difference in this information age is when that information is using you or if you're using it. Let's talk decision making, is huge component of productivity. Taking the right decisions make a difference. How do you coach your people to sharpen their decision making ability? So I used applied kinesiology. A lot of people don't know what that is, but it's muscle testing. I have been using that my entire career. A lot of people don't know what it is, so it's using muscles that you can use with your hand, you can use with your arm, you could use, you know, front and back. A lot of people think it's pseudoscience, but it's not because I've learned through coaching so many people, thousands and thousands of hours, that when you help a person get in touch with this feeling inside of themself, truth feels strong. and false feels weak and empty. So once you learn to recognize that feeling that this feels true, objectively true, not what you want to be true or what somebody's saying is true, what is absolutely true, the more you seek hungrily for truth and you can feel it, this feels right, this doesn't feel right, and really trust your intuition, you're starting to have confidence in yourself. this intelligence from within yourself. And then when somebody's standing in front of you trying to BS you or trying to get you to do what they want, you know, you just know, and this is from thousands and thousands of hours and over a decade. I don't want to date myself of doing this with people. So my goal as a coach is not for them to come to me and say, Leslie, what should I do? Oh my God, I'd be so exhausted doing that. I already do that with my husband, okay? I want people to learn how to trust themselves and feel from within themselves this inner lie detector and make those decisions based on the truth. Is this truthful information? Is this going to help me? Does this serve me? And learn to ask questions, yes or no, so that way you can start to feel it out and suss it out. So when you get information, you can tell, this isn't right or, oh yes, this is right. I should take this. Leslie, you talk a lot about intuition. And we are in an age, and this is very close to my heart because I work with data analytics and productivity. These days we tell people, forget intuition, use data. What roles plays intuition in productivity and how can people develop it? That's a very good question. I like that one. Well, you know what they say, and God we trust and all others bring data. I think there needs to be this harmonious connection between your intuition, your faith. You're really true, like this still small voice from within yourself, that feeling and that intelligence within you and that connects all of us and facts and data and information because truth is truth. Numbers don't lie. Information that you get from an objective scientific point of view doesn't lie. And in fact, I'll kind of dig a little bit more towards the sense of, you know, super spiritual bypassing people. We do need facts. We do need that. And if you if you're building your intuition and the world you see is not connecting, you have to have that mirror effect. So you can have a feeling. Right. And maybe sometimes things are not adding up, but you have this feeling, I need to suss it out. And you kind of act on that. and you're seeing, okay, things are making sense. It's about discernment. I really want people to realize that intuition is not just like the force and this like mamzy-pamzy stuff. It's about being able to see something and immediately understand what it is, to immediately understand it, to see it for what it is. And a lot of people think like intuition is, and I say this all the time as a medium myself, seeing spirit, I see them. But the thing is, is that if they don't, give you information that is real and truthful and if you don't feel from within yourself something's real and truthful, then what's the point of it? If you're getting information that's not helping you do something, then what's the point of it? So intuition really is about being able to see something and understanding something and recognizing something and knowing something and being able from a practical sense to do something with it. So I know it's kind of like a vague answer, but it's the most practical answer I could give to anybody who wants to develop the information. There should always be evidence. always with intuition. It's not just about this is what I feel and this is what I believe. No, there should be evidence to back up what you feel. And that's how you know you're on the right track. What's the biggest mindset shift that someone can make to instantly improve their focus? Hmm, that's a good question. That is a really good question to instantly improve your focus. I think honestly, your focus is honestly what feels right and what feels true. I think a lot of times we get too stuck on what we think we should do, who we think we should be and who we think we should work with. You got to go and lean into what feels right. A lot of us are scared to do that. Because we don't know what's on the other side of it. Every... I just... When I coach people, a lot of people think, I need to do this, I need to do that. And that... And again, it goes back to the original question you asked me. It's distraction. So if you start going in the feels right and you don't know how it's going to go, go for it anyway. Go for it anyway and try. Go for what feels right. That right there is your intuition, which leads to your very last question. But really start to go with what feels right and trust it. Trust yourself. Many successful people struggle with work-life balance because maybe being busy or working a lot takes them somewhere, to a great place. How do you help them stay grounded and live in this small town that you mentioned at the beginning of the interview? You know, it's funny, I used to say it. I had a toxic trait. I get so excited because I want to do everything. I love that I am alive because I almost died once and I've been in like near death experience and a friend of mine died by suicide. And I realized like, oh my gosh, I'm so lucky to be alive. and I'm so happy to be alive. And my toxic trait was wanting to do everything, waking at 6.30 in the morning and going until 10 o'clock at night. And then I just get tired and then I get, then I have to lay down for a week. And that's the thing with high performers and people who have businesses and children and you know, want to do a million things. And I'm serious, I have a lot of friends who are in the same boat and we burn ourselves out and we can't say no. That's the other thing. Can't say no. We want to say yes and we want to be a part of everything. But the one piece of advice I can say, and I have learned from coaching myself, is rest is productive. You gotta rest. Whether you're going on vacation, whether, you know, rest might be like for me, going to the Yucatan and mountain biking in the jungle. For me, that's my rest. It rejuvenates me and energizes me. But you have to ask yourself, Am I allowing time for rest? And me, myself, moving to France has really been about, okay, I'm going to slow down and I have to be forced to because Sunday the stores are closed, everything closes at seven or eight. I would say for high performers, you've got to learn to rest because if you don't, you're going to burn the candle at both ends. Goes back to the other question. You're going to have burnout and learn to say no to the things that, as your first question asked, distract you. When you coach rich people, wealthy people. Is richness money a big driver to happiness? I honestly think for real, and I'm thinking about a lot of people who I know, like huge mansions, estates and stuff, money can be an impediment. I really do think it can be because a lot of times, and this is something a friend, one of the richest people on the planet has said to me, I don't know sometimes who my real friends are. because you just don't know. You don't know if they're after your money or if they're after who you know. There's that. The other thing is that if you have a lot of money, you get afraid. then for some odd reason, you get afraid that someone's going to take it. And then you start to become, I joke, but you start to become a Republican. So there's that. There's that fear. And then the other one is the third one. is that from my clients, because I used to do a lot of high net worth families and I would work with the very wealthy parents and then their trust fund babies. So they would have trust fund babies and then they would fly me and I would coach their children because their children were so sheltered. And unfortunately, money can shelter these children and they don't know how to survive on their own. They don't know how to do it. So then I get hired to teach them how to do it because the parents don't teach them how. So money can be an impediment. to happiness. don't think these people do it on purpose. I don't really think that at all. I just think that it can be a distractor. And again, it goes back to the other question you asked. I say and I implore people, know what your metric of happiness and success is, your own personal metric. And that requires you getting in touch with yourself, really and truly getting in touch with yourself. Because to be honest with you, Santiago, I am just as happy if not happier. You know, when I was having 36 cents in my bank account then, you know, having a ton of money and all the things, all the things on the checklist. So happiness is something you can have and experience and embody now, but I warn people the more you make, which is good, you should have it and you're entitled to it. Be careful not to let it be an impediment to your own happiness. How do you protect yourself and those around you, Leslie, from the billionaire culture that we're living? When you go to YouTube, everything is about how to make money, how to double, get a better car, get a mansion, travel all over the world in a private jet. And I see that new generations are falling for it. They all want to be the next billionaire. Yeah. How do you protect people from being alienated by everything that is surrounding them? Well, it goes to these metrics of success. I mean, it's really interesting conversation we're having today. It really is like these false. metrics of success when I was coaching in action sports industry and entertainment in Southern California. The metric of success was I'm going to create a product, I'm going to have a trademark or I'm going to have it patented, then I'm going to sell it to Johnson & Johnson or whatever capital firm and then I'm going to have tens and hundreds of millions of dollars and then I'll be happy. I'm going tell you this right now, knowing these people being at their homes, it don't make you happy. It really doesn't. It really goes back to knowing truly what is your metric of success. And it really does go back to that. think this conversation is that what is your metric of success? Because I've seen it. I've been around the world. I've been in some of the richest people on the planet. I've been with them on vacation. I've been in their homes, I've met and coached their children, I've been with them in their bedrooms when they're sad and depressed, I'm telling you, it will not make you happy. From real honest to God hand on a Bible, it will not make you happy. I think the more that you use your money to help people and make the world a better place, truly the bigger smile you have on your face, because you cannot take it with you. You gotta get busy giving away everything you have now. and enjoying it because you're not going to take it with you. It's the point of being the richest person in the graveyard. Let's go one step back, Leslie. What your metrics and your goals and your KPIs are. How do you find metrics when the only metric that the world is telling you it's valid, it's money? How do you sort? Think about young people, right? That are still maturing their minds and growing as humans. How can they find purpose, metrics? I think honestly it goes back again to question number one, your influences. Really. I mean, even for me, I have two kids, 10 and 12. They are the iPad generation. They love YouTube. For them, this celebrity isn't on, know, Warner Brothers or, who's the biggest freaking YouTuber? It's a completely different world. And their metric of success is what they see on YouTube. That's it. That's their world. I didn't have that. I had MTV. Okay. Turn it on, click the channel. That's what I had. So every generation is going to have different external validators, external metrics of success. Every generation is. So I think honestly, as a parent and as somebody who becomes self-aware, you know, you really have to go, what are my influences? For me, my influences are that, you know, Neville Goddard and Joseph Campbell and, know, philosophical people and Edgar Cayce and, you know, Philoshova Shen and... Florence Hovashen and philosophers of the New Thought Movement. Those are the people whose ideas live in my head and I speak. So I would really say quite simply, who is influencing you? And are you influencing somebody? Are you an influencer yourself? And what are you influencing for others? Because this is the generation of the influencer. So are you going to be influenced or are you going to be a good influence yourself? So true, I love that. Let's do some rapid fire questions, 30 seconds or less to answer. Number one, what's the worst productivity advice you've ever heard? The worst product... Grind and hustle. Nah. Bye. Don't do that. Number two, what's one small habit that delivers big results? Walking walking and I'm saying this to para menopausal women like myself I exercise 40 minutes a day in the gym cardio and all of that for strength and having a rock and bod But walking keeps the weight off. It keeps you thinking it keeps you moving and you're having fun and you're feeling good You're getting stuff done walking morning routines overrated or essential I would say essential baby. I gotta have that double cappuccino. I gotta watch my just touch. gotta, I gotta hug and kiss my kids. There are just certain things I like to do that get me going. I like to exercise and all that. You gotta have them. How do you know when it's time to step back and recharge? For me, I'm sleepy. I just get sleepy and it's time to close my eyes. That's just for me. I think everybody needs to recognize that. one thing people should stop doing immediately to be more productive. Oh, that's a good one. Getting upset about what other people do or say. Stop doing that. Don't care. Not my business. Don't care what they think or say. Just live in your lane. Don't worry about what other people are thinking or doing. You talking about social media, what you see in Instagram or Facebook or TikTok? I'm saying everything. You know, I was at the ophthalmologist today. The girl is so rude. I don't even know why. And I'm just going, all right, girl, this has nothing to do with me. Next. I just keep moving. I don't take it personal. If you could give one piece of advice to the thousands of people that listens to this podcast on sustainable productivity, steady, continuous productivity, compound graph, kaizen, you name it, what would it be? invest a little bit every day. I'm telling you money, time, energy. love a little bit every day. mean, I remember, and I use this from a money point of view. I remember one time I sat in an automatic investment account, $5 a day. I forgot about it for three years. By the time I went back and I had almost $10,000 in that account, I didn't even realize that I had that money. And that's not just about money, it's about love. It's about little things that you do for yourself, a little bit of activity, a little bit of exercise, a little bit, a little bit, just do a little bit. If you could do five minutes a day, fine, just do that. A little bit, one little bite at a time. Compounded over time, you'll get those big results. Leslie, where can our listeners connect with you and learn more about your excellent work and soak up some of your energy? You know, I always say if I could bottle how I feel, I'd be very, very rich. I love it. I would say Instagram, Leslie Juveneker, and then on my website I have a blog I post almost daily, lesliejuveneker.com forward slash blog, and then YouTube at author Leslie. Amazing. Leslie, I want to thank you for 30 minutes of an explosion of energy wisdom. And I'm super happy that you were with us today and I'm wishing you the best and never lose the energy and the smile. I got it baby. Thank you so much for having me. You asked me some great questions. I can't wait to share this with my friends. Thank you. But I