 Here we are today at the studios of the Think Tech studios right here in downtown Honolulu in the Plaza building and we are so excited because we're going to be inspired when we're done with our talk today. Today our topic of discussion will be on mastering the mindset of inspired living. Again, let me repeat that because this is so critical. It's going to be on mastering the mind on inspired living. What I would like you to take away from today's discussion is the idea that your daily mindset determines your health and your success in life. So again, I'd like to repeat that because this is so critical. So your daily mindset, every day, your thoughts determines the health and your success in life. So today we are so honored to welcome my dear friend, Cory Campbell. And Cory Campbell is the CEO and founder of Akamai Training and Consulting, a Honolulu based company that's helping organizations develop their leaders and enhance their customer service. Welcome, Cory. Thanks so much, Wendy. Exciting to be here. Very good. I'm so excited. I finally get you on for the show. With my best friend, Wendy Lowe. Yay! So our first slide will tell us a little bit about Cory Campbell. And so go ahead, Cory. Tell us about who you are. Yeah, Wendy. I sometimes like to talk a little bit about how I got here because I believe in order to change the way you view every single day, oftentimes you have to reflect on your past. I am extremely lucky to be in Hawaii. I came here in college on an exchange year, fell in love with this place and decided to move here after I graduated. I got my first job at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company as a bartender. And what I found there is if you inspire people to just enjoy themselves, you can change someone in a period of 45 minutes and make them happy. I moved to Japan. I taught English for about three years, loved that experience, came back to Hawaii and I got my first job in hotels at Sheridan Waikiki as a guest services manager. And that role deals with guest complaints. And I always like to explain this. About four months into that role, I thought, this job is tough. I'm getting yelled at every single day. And about four months in, I decided I'm going to re-approach how I view this. And I said, I'm not going to let people's negative energy change my approach. And I just started coming out to people with a big smile on my face. I said, hey, I'm here to help you out. And I found it changed everything. Really quickly, that led into a role at Royal Hawaiian and then Starwood Corporate where I did leadership training. And about four years ago, I started Akamai Training and Consulting, just built around helping people. You know, Corey, exactly. We, the tourist industry, needs you, needs more of you. Because being that tourism is our main industry, we really want to apply what you're going to teach all of the management as well as staff, those, you know, just simple inspirational being and how to start your morning off on the right foot versus the wrong foot. Because one wrong foot, wrong attitude, you're the front line of that hotel, of that business. And so it's really, you are key. And what you're training the people there, it's so key. So I know you shared with us a little bit about your work history. And so tell us more about how does that attitude apply in your life, in your business? Sure. When I feel really lucky, I have two unbelievable parents who have been positive, inspiring my whole life. But I also had a really unique experience. When I was in high school, I kind of chased a dream. And I think the slide kind of shows I left my parents and I moved up to New Jersey. I live with an assistant coach and I went to one of the top basketball schools in the nation, St. Patrick. And I went from a kind of all white school, honestly, to inner city, pretty much all black school. And I think I learned that the world is not fair to every human being. And the way we don't get to control other people's reactions to us, we only control our response. And I saw firsthand how people treat people differently based on color of skin. And what I took from that experience is how we view ourselves in our lives is the most important aspect. And we cannot let other people determine who we are. And so it gets back to every single day you wake up and you set how I'm going to live my life, regardless of what happens. Very good. I'm glad you clarified that. Because when you said you went to St. Patrick's School and you graduated high school from there, I'm like, the St. Patrick's School we have here in Hawaii is a great school. And so I'm like, whoa, you went all the way, boy. I wish I had been here. You went all the way. So how does your attitude to your company, Akamai Training, I mean, how does that apply? I mean, all these great things that you learn from school, from your great parents, how does it apply with your training that you do at Akamai? Yeah, so I struggled for a while on what name I was going to call this. And I met with a cultural specialist on the meaning of Akamai, which means obviously to do things in an intelligent way. But it was Ramsay Tom. And actually what he explained to me is if you break the word apart, Akai is your shadow. And if you kind of bring the ma in the eye and it represents your aura. And he said to me, if you live in a way that your shadow scares you, you're going to live scared the rest of your life. But if you live in the right way and you do things the right way, your shadow is a friend to you. And I've kind of taken that. I chose a sundial as my logo because every single day is a new day. And we have the power to change what we've done in days past and the power to create the life we want to have. And at Akamai, I spent quite a while on this mission statement really to ignite the spirit of every person we touch to live an inspired, energized, and engaged life personal and workplace productivity and success. It's got to be both, Wendy. It's personal. It's workplace. And we're going to look at some data, I think, later, which shows most people approach work not really wanting to be there. So it's a decision we have to make. And I'm trying to use everything I have in me to just instill that in others because it takes a lot of work for me to get there too. Right. And then personally, I mean, I see you in action. I see the way you just your relationships that you build around you. And even instant, it's an instant thing because they see your positive energy and they're just drawn to that. And so that's why I mean it when I say I'm so blessed to have you as a friend because you're like the positive light. And I want more of you to be rubbed off on more. And so that, of course, being in your business as well, it helps to build not just your business, but the businesses. You're helping businesses build their business. And you have a very impressive client tell list. On the next slide, it will share with us. And I wanted to just ask you, do you find that companies today are interested in applying this concept of approaching every day with a fresh outlook, a fresh positive outlook? I mean, because that's what you're training them to give and to receive a positive outlook. Absolutely. Well, first of all, Wendy, you have that too. And you inspire me in how you approach every single day with a smile and this zest for life. I find with all these different companies from premier restoration, helping your home to the Army, to ROB construction management, to hotels, that everyone is realizing we need to inspire our workforce to approach work, to approach life in a way that I come in and I'm excited to be there. And it's tough. Life is tough. It's never going to be easy. We can have terrible traffic. And that can impact the whole rest of my day. But I find companies are really seeking this. I'm always talking about, can we add an inspirational lesson into this? Of course, we'll talk leadership skills or service skills. And I find a lot of them are loving this idea that, yeah, let's hit the core of every human and let's first impact the way they view themselves, their lives. And then we can talk about service skills, leadership skills. That is so critical. I mean, we here in Hawaii, we have the aloha spirit. And what you're doing is just building on that. And that word, aloha, I mean, that's what's selling the state. That's what's driving our industry. And you have to make sure we capitalize on it from the heart. And then make sure that their brain and their mind understands this concept. Because it's when your brain and your heart work together that you can deliver your heart. That's exactly right. And it's so key. And a lot of places where we travel to, you notice that they have the aloha spirit. They must have a kori Campbell in their back pocket sharing with the world on what they need to do. So what is the core belief that drives a positive mindset? That's a big question. But I think it's encapsulated in this idea, Wendy, that we have the power to see life the way that we want. When we open our eyes, and this is kind of interesting, we can either focus on what's wrong every day or we can focus on what's right. And psychology, unfortunately, has taught us to focus on what's wrong. It was an interesting study done on psychological abstracts from 1967 to 2000. And what they found is that a ratio of 21 to 1, we focus on anger, depression, and anxiety instead of joy, happiness, and satisfaction. So we've been taught, wake up and go, what's wrong in my life? And my whole goal is to wake up and say, how do I look at what's right and start to view this world and set my intention that this world is going to be what I want. And I will make that happen through my actions and my behaviors and what I put out. That is so key. You hit it right on the nail. Sometimes we have to believe that bad news and all the bad things sells. And it excites people because they want to hear that. But you know what, we have to change. We have to change our mindset. We have to change the way we approach things and turn it to positive. Because then more of the negative things that we thought were in our lives will be changed because of what we did. Yes, so true. And it's so key. And we have so much control over that. And your job is not an easy one, but your job is a very critical one for our industry, for our marriages, for families, relationships. It's so key to just go into life with a positive attitude. Because you know what? Positive and joy and happiness, that sells to me. That is absolutely. I mean, it sells to me, man. So we have the next slide. And you mentioned a quote that changed your life. What is the quote? So Wendy, we see it up here. Life is a product of your most dominant thoughts. And this quote truly has changed my life. I repeat this to myself. Every single day I wake up. This was told to me years ago by a CrossFit coach, Keoni Subiono. And honestly, I didn't really process it at the time. And then I came back to it. And there's two applications to this to me which are really important. First, what story do you tell yourself every single day? Earl Nightingale said, what we think we become. And I think a lot of us, myself included, sometimes we wake up and we tell ourselves a negative story. At this big meeting, I'm not ready for it yet. I didn't sleep enough. I'm not smart enough. And ultimately, what we think we become. So I love to think about how do I pay attention to those thoughts and start to tell myself a better story. And Wendy, I want to tell you a funny story about this. And I'll make this quick. But I was working with someone years ago. They came into work, a female. And usually, she's more on the reserve side. But this one day, she was just really outgoing, engaging. And everyone that came in, she was like, hi, how are you? Wow. And I remember I said, what did you eat today? And this person said, guess what my horoscope said this morning? And I'm not a big horoscope guy. I was like, I don't know what your horoscope said. And she goes, it said I'm going to meet my future husband today. And I watched her. And her energy was just amazing. And everyone that came in was responding to her. And I thought about this later on. What changed in her world? Her perspective for that day. A horoscope said you're going to have the most amazing day of your life. And she was making it come true. And so I always tell people, what would your horoscope have to say this morning for you to have the best day? And then just do that every single day. And that's exactly how we should live our lives, with those positive thoughts. That's why people doing devotions or just reading positive sayings like that. So just starting your day off. I always say, like when you sit on the toilet and you have a little poster when you're sitting there in the morning, you might as well read what your day is going to be like. Something very positive. And so you start your day off in that direction. And it really matters, because you manifest joy and happiness. And if you want to receive the opposite, the negative side of that, then you're going to manifest that. But we don't want that. There's enough of that out there. And if we can change our mindset, then we can try to influence others. So then more positive things will come on. Then what will we put on the news then? Wouldn't that be great. All positivity. I should say. So is this idea of mental health driving everything else catching on in companies that you work with? Your positive attitude going in there and just trying to reach from the bottom and just encourage and influence them and inspire them? Is it catching on? Yeah, I really find that it is. First of all, Wendy, I also do a lot of my best thinking on the toilet, so I can appreciate that. It's your one moment to calm your mind and think. But yeah, I'm finding it's amazing. I get this opportunity to work with different companies and really just push this message. And I got to work with the Family Business Center of Hawaii. I got to do a lot of work with the Institute of Real Estate Management. I think there's a few images that show that. Oh yeah, there's a few slides that we show. But to me, I am so lucky to have a venue to talk about what I believe. And I am so passionate about helping people live the life that they can that it's amazing to see companies really resonate and respond to it and go, this is what our people need. And we're about to take a look at a poll that was done by Gallup. On the next slide? Which this is scary. So Gallup did this in 2017, over 31 million respondents. And they asked the question, how engaged are you at work? Do you enjoy being there? 15% said, yes, I do. Are you just there for a paycheck or not engaged? 67% said so. And 18% said, I'm actively disengaged. I am miserable, and I don't want to be here at all. So here's the crazy thing. When we look at those stats, over three quarters of our workforce in the world is arriving at work going, I don't want to be here today. And here's the challenge in my mind is we are waiting for someone else to inspire us. And I hear it every day, companies, when I meet with the frontline team, they go, well, our leaders don't do this, they don't do this, or maybe they do, but they go, I'm still my coworkers, I don't get along with them. I would love to say that leadership and coworkers are great, but ultimately it's a decision we make every day. So Corey, I mean, I know we are playing on the 15%. And your job is a hard job because the other 67% is the one that you need to inspire and work with. And we're gonna return right back after we take a short break. So Corey Campbell, thank you so much. And you know what, just keep that thought. We're gonna continue right after this break. Awesome. All right, Mahalo. Aloha, I am Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Cold Green for Think Tecawaii. I appear every other Monday at three and I have really, really exciting guests on the exciting topic of energy efficiency. Hope to see you there. Hi, I'm Pete McGinnis-Mark and every Monday at one o'clock, I'm the host of Think Tecawaii's research in Munna. And at that program, we bring to you a whole range of new scientific results from the university, ranging from everything from exploring the solar system to looking at the earth from space, going underwater, talking about earthquakes and volcanoes and other things which have a direct relevance not only to Hawaii, but also to our economy. So please try and join me one o'clock on a Monday afternoon to Think Tecawaii's research in Munna and see you then. Here we are back at Think Tecawaii and we have our really amazing guests and inspirational speaker, Corey Campbell. And he led us through the first half with some amazing inspirational topics and hints and he's gonna continue to leave us with more as we continue the journey with him. And you know, before the break, I was just excited to realize that myself and cameraman Rob and yourself, we're at the top 15% of people going to work and actually liking and loving what we're doing. So we're blessed because the other 67 plus percent are not very happy. So that's where your job comes in and you've got a tough job. But you're doing a great job. So is it easier said than done to help people make these changes? And do you find people have a hard time making changes towards where they are and where they should be? I think it's extremely challenging to change your habits. You know, there's a lot of research out there that says it takes anywhere from 30 to 40 straight times to change a habit. I also think you have to exchange a habit for a new one. And so funny way of looking at this is if you think the same way, right? The same thinking leads to the same results. And so when I look at that, I go, okay, so how do we change the way we do things? Winnie, I need systems. This, it takes a lot of work for me to remain positive every single day. So in order to change this cycle that we have, I put a lot of systems into my life or as I like to call them rituals. What's the ritual that puts me in a place to change it? And that's really where we can make change. And just a little bit, we're gonna be talking about one of the best methods I've found called the miracle morning. Like how in the first 30 minutes of my morning do I impact the way that I think to truly change my entire day? And it can be done. It can be done, yes. I love the idea of really mastering the mindset but then how do you do it all? Yeah, so I was joking, we have an image here. To me, mastering the mindset means waking up like this. Waking up positive, waking up excited. Now, here's the thing, a lot of times people challenge me on this and they go, yeah, but my life's not that easy. I get it, right? My life is tough and it's extremely difficult and honestly what I've learned as every human being has gone through something really, really challenging, painful, but we can either let that control us or we can start to put systems in place right to change the way we think. Somebody told me one time, somebody was having a bad day and they said, are you really having a bad day or did you just have a bad 10 seconds this morning and now you're milking it? Oh! I thought that's so true. Right, right, right, right. It's easy to let one little thing impact our whole day. So mastering the mindset of inspired living is setting a system in place to change that. Okay, well so then can you give me an example of what you have done with a client? Yeah, so I'll give you a great one. Just recently we did a two-day executive retreat for the Elohi Lani executive team and we have an image that shows, we woke up and we said, all right, so each day, how do we change the way we think and start to put ourselves in this productive nature? And this is just an image up from Laie, we rented an Airbnb and got the team together and we started one morning with yoga and it was just in order to calm our minds, do things a little differently. We also talked about the miracle morning which we're gonna be looking at, but here's what I've realized and you'll hear this across the board on podcasts. If you wake up and the first thing you do is grab that phone, it will dictate your life. So how do I wake up, calm my mind, process my day, think about it, put my goals in place and really start to go, I'm gonna create the day that I wanna have. That's powerful. Okay, okay, so that means I have to not pick up the phone when I'm still on the bed. That's right. Okay, okay, so see, I'm learning. Yeah. Okay, so that's a big chunk of stuff. First half hour, you can't touch it, or maybe hour. Oh, okay, that's gonna be a tough one, but you know what, if Corey Campbell says, I need to do that and have even more positive of a day and start it off even more right, so what would you recommend that I replace that first hour with? What should my exercise be? Okay, so we're gonna talk about the miracle morning, but right before we get there, I just wanted to show you one slide, and this is a quote, and the quote says, whatever happens to us, we have a choice in the way that we respond. Exactly. And you know, we've all heard this, right? You can't change the circumstances, but you can change your perspective, and that's how I view life. So if we believe this, that I have the power and I have choice, and we can change everything, and I once saw this funny little ad, and it looked like an app, and as you woke up, it said, choose what day you're going to have, positive or negative, and I thought that's actually pretty true, right? Let's set our intentions to have positive, and so next, I'm really excited to talk to you about this concept called the miracle morning. It was written and created by a guy named Hal Alrod. He's got about 10 books on it. Have you ever heard of the miracle morning? No, I'm gonna hear about it from you though, I'm sure. You're gonna help me get through my morning, that's what I'm praying for. So yeah, so here's when you put the phone down at least half an hour. No, no, not even touch the phone. Don't even touch it. Don't touch the phone again. People always say, but it's my alarm clock. Yeah, it is. But an alarm clock only costs about $5 now. We can buy a different alarm clock, right? Got it. And here's what we're gonna do, and so I'm gonna walk you through. This is a six minute kind of adaptation of how Alrod's miracle morning, and I love it. And what it does is it puts you in a different place in six minutes. We're gonna talk about six activities you do one minute each. People always go, I don't have much time. I'd like to believe we can carve out six minutes. But if we didn't pick up our phone, we have at least 10 minutes. Exactly, for more. This is what we have to tell ourselves. I'm not touching my phone for 30 minutes. So of the 36, I can dedicate it to starting my morning in a more positive light. Perfect, all right. So here it is, when? Okay, so on the screen, we're gonna see. This is a lot, so I'm gonna break it down. The first minute, you sit in silence, calm your mind. You just think about what is my purpose for this day? Develop this deeper sense of peace. And you know, days where I don't sleep enough or I'm tired, I wake up and I'm agitated. And I go, what is my purpose today? And that balances me. And I get into a new state. Second minute is affirmation statements. This is incredible, Wendy. You are going to build yourself up and tell yourself all these positive things as opposed to the negative. Tell yourself how amazing you are, what you're gonna accomplish. Build your confidence. See, if you have a TV show today, you're gonna go, I'm gonna be incredible in this TV show and I'm gonna believe in myself and I'm gonna communicate to the people and give them purpose in their life, right? You build yourself up. This one's really hard to do even for one minute straight. Okay. Third minute visualization. You're gonna picture your day. You're gonna picture the meetings you have. You're gonna picture the client you have to talk to. And this one, I also add this in, is very important. I would love for everyone to picture walking back into their homes tonight and what do they wanna give to those they love the most? When they walk through that door, picture yourself smiling, engaging, happy, as opposed to what can easily happen, right? As we're tired and we walk in and kinda go, hey, don't talk to me right now, I'm exhausted, right? So change that in your mind. They say the brain doesn't separate the fake world from the real world, which is why we cry in movies, right? So if we practice it once visually, we will actually be more likely to do it physically. Fourth minute, very easy gratitude. You're gonna write three new things that you're grateful for every single day. It starts very easy, but after a few months, what I tend to find is I'm looking for things that I'm grateful for. One time I jammed in my finger and for a couple of days, I couldn't use it and I thought, I am so grateful for this finger and I had never really thought about it before but you start looking. So psychologists will tell you you rewire your brain to think more positively. The fifth minute reading, you're just gonna find something, a book, a quote, anything to impact your day. I call it a gift of one minute to look for some piece of information to change the way you're viewing that day. And the last minute, everyone's favorite is exercise. So this is wild, but in one minute, if you do one minute of jumping jacks, which is surprisingly long in real life when you try it, you will get your heart rate up. And that's our idea is we wanna get your heart rate up. So at the end of this six minutes, you will feel, and I will, I promise everyone watching this, you will feel entirely different. Your day will go differently because you now you, I mean, there are days where I miss it, Wendy. And I kind of go, I'm not all put together today. And I'll find a little hole in the corner somewhere and I'll give myself six minutes to change my views on that day. It's very powerful. Okay, so that was probably like about $100 of therapy. Sure. $100 of therapy. You can just send the jacks directly to me, you know. I'll make sure that Corey gets it. Give it to Wendy. Yes. But you know, I must say, I totally, and in agreement with what you just stated and shared with all of us, pretty much I walk myself through those steps. But I do pick my phone up firstly to see who and what I miss. Then I'll put it down. But I do, I do have the affirmations, you know, and I do just can just repeat all the good things that I like about what I've done. I also promote what is going to happen in a positive way. I do my exercise for at least a minute. All I do is I do leg lifts, you know, while I'm lying on the bed, as I just want to get my body warmed up for the day, and I do a bunch of these things, and you know, because I'm wahini, I can multitask, okay, but now I cannot be doing this and doing all of that. So now my instructions are that I'll leave the phone down and I'll start going into the six steps. Okay, and with a focus intention, and wow, can you imagine how much more powerful all this will make all of us? It's amazing, Wendy, and I want to add one thing to this. I've had a lot of people push back and go, I didn't like this one, right? I said, that's great, get rid of it. If you said there's one of those that I love, just do one. If you said there's something else I do, I do aromatherapy, I do meditation, I do yoga, I write, I watch YouTube clips. I mean, every morning, Wendy, I have a waterproof speaker and I'm putting on some YouTube motivational lesson just during my shower, and every time I find there is something that impacts me and goes, yes, I needed to hear that this morning, it changes my entire day, entire perspective. So I would tell people, just find the ones you love, one, two, three, four, five, six, whatever, and just make a commitment to yourself. But here's the thing, Wendy, how many times? 30 to 40, right? And my last part on this, I've had a lot of people after a session, and I've been trying to teach this in all the sessions I do, because I think it's that important. I've had people go, man, that was so much fun. After one week, but I kind of stopped, right? And that's the hardest thing to keep going. It has to be lifestyle. It's a lifestyle built in and then it becomes just a part of everyday routine, like brushing your teeth. So if you don't cleanse your mind and build your mind in a positive way, we won't have that, and that's the issue that we face. So making it an everyday, brush your teeth, but before you do that, don't touch a phone, do your six steps. Then you wake up, you brush your teeth, you get yourself ready, and you start your day because it's like part of your routine. You need to incorporate that. And Wendy, there's one other really helpful tip that I love to share. This has changed my life too. Every time I grab a door handle, I have trained my brain to make this sound. When I grab it, I go, whoo, yeah! And what I have found, this is true. And you will notice, I hope you'll notice, whenever I walk into rooms, I usually walk in like this. And it's because I've trained my brain, whether I do it out loud or do it in private, I do that. And I've been sharing this with people and going, watch the difference, your energy when you enter the room, when you start with that, or even going home tonight. I know, and you know what, it's contagious. And then others that weren't like that, now you're inspiring them. So you know what, we got so much to talk about because you're so inspirational. You inspired me to do more and better things so that we can do more and better things. And that's exactly what I want you to continue to, people listen to this talk, and just at least take one, two, three, and then maybe you're up to six of the steps and I tell you, changing your life in the most positive way. So Corey Campbell, Akamai, training, I just appreciate you so much for being such a dear friend and a positive dear friend that will inspire so many here in Hawaii. So for now, we'd like to say mahalo to you and aloha. Aloha, guys. Aloha. Aloha.