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Robert Eyler [00:00:05]:
Hey, this is Rob. When I’m not meditating in a hut in Joshua Tree, I’m listening to John Garrett on What’s Your “And”?!

John Garrett [00:00:11]:
Welcome to episode 687 of What’s Your “And”?. This is John Garrett and each Wednesday I interview a professional who, just like me, is known for a hobby or a passion or an interest outside of work. And to put it another way, it’s encouraging people to find their and those things above and beyond your technical skills, the things that actually differentiate you when you’re at work. It’s the answer to the question of who else are you beyond the job title? And if you like what the show is about, be sure to check out the award-winning book. It’s on Amazon, Indigo, Barnes and Noble Bookshop, a few other websites, all the links are at www.WhatsYourAnd.com. The book goes more in-depth with the research behind why these outside-of-work passions are so crucial to your corporate culture.

John Garrett [00:00:56]:
And I can’t say how much it means that everyone’s reading it and writing such great reviews on Amazon. Thank you so much for those and more importantly, changing the cultures where they work because of it. And if you want me to read it to you, that’s right, this voice reading the book, look for What’s Your “And”? on Audible or wherever you get your audiobooks. And please don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast. You don’t miss any of the future episodes. I love sharing such interesting stories each and every week. And this week is no different with my guest, Robert Eyler. He’s a senior manager and national leader of WOW,

John Garrett [00:01:27]:
A well-being network at Baker Tilly us, and also the founder of Alchemy SD where he’s a certified, certified mindfulness meditation teacher out of San Diego, California. Now he’s with me here today. Robert, thanks so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”?!

Robert Eyler [00:01:42]:
Thank you, I’m glad to be here.

John Garrett [00:01:44]:
No, this is gonna be awesome. The wow had an exclamation point behind it, so I had to give it a little punch. It does.

Robert Eyler [00:01:49]:
It does have a big exclamation mark.

John Garrett [00:01:51]:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I got 17 rapid fire questions. Get to know Robert out of the gate here. Let’s see how this goes. Star wars or Star Trek?

Robert Eyler [00:02:00]:
Star Wars. My dad loves Star Trek, but I’m a Star wars guy. I would say if I had to pick. I actually like Dune, to be honest.

John Garrett [00:02:06]:
Oh, dun. Okay, we’ll take Dune. Absolutely. Yeah. No, that totally counts. How about your Computer? More PC or Mac?

Robert Eyler [00:02:12]:
I’d say PC, although I have an iPhone.

John Garrett [00:02:15]:
Oh, okay. All right. They sneak in like that. I see how that is. Do you have a favorite movie?

Robert Eyler [00:02:20]:
The first thing that comes to mind is Pineapple Express followed by Face Off. Yeah. So two very different movies.

John Garrett [00:02:26]:
Okay. Yeah, yeah. But still, still great. That’s awesome. This is also a great movie, but a great question. Planes, trains or automobiles?

Robert Eyler [00:02:34]:
That’s a good question. I’d prefer a plane. A private one.

John Garrett [00:02:38]:
A private one. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Because I don’t want to go through security. I don’t want to have to like be around people with like their shoes off in pajamas, like what’s going on? It’s crazy. How about ice cream? You go in a cup or in a cone.

Robert Eyler [00:02:50]:
I’d have to go in a cone so I could eat the whole thing.

John Garrett [00:02:53]:
Ah, yeah. There you go. I like that. I like that. Do you have a favorite animated character? It could be Disney or anything.

Robert Eyler [00:02:59]:
Animated Cartman from South Park.

John Garrett [00:03:02]:
Ah, solid answer. That’s a solid answer. How about favorite number 42? Yeah. Is there a reason?

Robert Eyler [00:03:08]:
Yeah, I was that number in football. It was kind of just handed to me. And so as a part of that I’ve kind of. I’ve used it a lot throughout my life through businesses and things like that.

John Garrett [00:03:17]:
That’s cool. Number. Yeah, that’s awesome. All right. Are you more pens or pencils?

Robert Eyler [00:03:21]:
I like pens.

John Garrett [00:03:23]:
Yeah. Okay. No mistakes. I like that. All right. I like that. That’s the confidence. There you go.

John Garrett [00:03:29]:
How about favorite toppings on a pizza?

Robert Eyler [00:03:32]:
We’ve been getting a lot of veggie pizza recently, but favorite toppings? If, you know, I could just get to pick and have whatever I’d like. All the meats. Pepperoni, sausage, salami.

John Garrett [00:03:41]:
Alright, there you go. How about sudoku or crossword puzzle or jigsaw maybe?

Robert Eyler [00:03:46]:
I like Scrabble or Words with Friends. Those are my favorites.

John Garrett [00:03:50]:
There you go. How about a favorite color?

Robert Eyler [00:03:53]:
I like red and green. I kind of mix the two.

John Garrett [00:03:56]:
Okay. Okay, I’ll take it. Do you have a least favorite color.

Robert Eyler [00:03:59]:
Then like a light brown. I’ve never thought of a least favorite.

John Garrett [00:04:04]:
Color before, but that’s definitely high on the list. Brown is pretty popular as far as being unpopular. How about when you’re a kid? Favorite activity in gym class.

Robert Eyler [00:04:13]:
Favorite activity in gym class. That’s funny. That’s probably the only class that I got a D in because she would just send me running the whole time and she said I didn’t participate and I said I Can’t participate because you’re sending me running the whole time.

John Garrett [00:04:26]:
Right.

Robert Eyler [00:04:27]:
But I like the monkey bars. If I were to pick when I actually got to participate and she sent me running because I was obviously fooling around, but.

John Garrett [00:04:32]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were bringing the monkey to monkey bars. It’s in the name. Come on, lady. How about a favorite actor or an actress?

Robert Eyler [00:04:40]:
Favorite actor I really like. Seth Rogen, I would say.

John Garrett [00:04:44]:
Ah, yeah, the Pineapple Express right there.

Robert Eyler [00:04:47]:
And he just came out with Studio on Apple, which is a wonderful show.

John Garrett [00:04:50]:
Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that’s really good. I haven’t seen it yet, but, yeah, I’ve heard it’s a really good show. How about a toilet paper roll? You go over or under?

Robert Eyler [00:04:56]:
Oh, over. I always told my wife there’s a special place reserved in hell for the people that go under with.

John Garrett [00:05:04]:
Totally. Because, yeah, people are like, I’ll change it. I’m at a stranger’s house, I’ll flip it. Like, I’ll bring it back, like, to over, like, what’s wrong with these people? Okay, so we got two more. Sweet or savory?

Robert Eyler [00:05:17]:
I like both, but I’d have to go with savory. Primary. Yeah, more of a smoked salmon type of guy.

John Garrett [00:05:23]:
Oh, okay. Okay. All right. And the last one. The favorite thing you have or the favorite thing you own?

Robert Eyler [00:05:28]:
You know, my wife just got me a light that goes on top of the book so I can read it at night instead of having, like, these super bright lights at night to kind of help me sleep. It’s got, like, a red light. Yeah, I’d say that’s. Honestly, it’s nice and simple, but she got it for me for Christmas. It’s probably the one thing I use the most.

John Garrett [00:05:44]:
Yeah, I feel like she got it for herself, to be honest.

Robert Eyler [00:05:48]:
I think she got it for me because she uses it now because I’m more sensitive to the light, and she’s like, can I use the light then so I can read in the room? So you could fall asleep.

John Garrett [00:05:55]:
Yeah, exactly. Everybody wins now. No, that’s great, man. And it’s the little things, right? It is, absolutely. So let’s talk yoga and meditation. And how did that get started? Was that something from when you were a kid or was it later in life?

Robert Eyler [00:06:08]:
Yeah, no. So I played football through college, and hanging up the cleats, it was like, okay, how do I continue to find this kind of athletic something to do, you know? And the thing I like about yoga is it combines athleticism with spirituality, but which is something that I’ve always been connected to and interested in as well. Also, when I finished football, I couldn’t touch my toes. My body was a mess. I was probably like 80, 70, 80 pounds heavier. Not potentially out of shape, but just like a ball of muscle. Like, I never stretched. So once I got to yoga, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is what my body needs.

Robert Eyler [00:06:39]:
And then getting the yoga teacher certification was just like, okay, if I’m feeling this, like, let me at least, you know, share this practice with other people. And if they could feel 10% of what I feel like, I think it’s just kind of giving back. And then from there, it just kind of exploded. But the main thing for me, especially with Yogin, I think you and I talked before this was that it brought up I was able to enhance my public speaking skills, you know, which. Which has. Which has an impact on so many other facets of life. Having to, you know, enunciate and the posture and be able to know your rights from your lefts. It’s had a huge impact.

John Garrett [00:07:11]:
So that’s interesting to hear that. Yeah. Because, I mean, when you do hang up your cleats and you are done playing sports, you know, I become friends with some athletes that go on even to the pros. And then when that’s done, I mean, your identity is gone because, I mean, you played football from when you were like, probably six, you know, and so then all of a sudden it’s like, that’s who I’ve been forever and how everyone knows me, how I know everybody, how I relate with everyone. So that’s a weird shift that you have to go through to make that bridge when you don’t have those other things outside of and to the football, if you will. Yeah. So was that. That had to be a tough shift.

Robert Eyler [00:07:47]:
Yeah, it is tough. And then to go from that to like, okay, now sit your butt in a chair for 8, 10, 12 hours a day. And athleticism is now, you know, all the working out is now on top of what you were doing before. It’s not rewarded, it’s you doing it for you, getting out of bed on your time to take care of you. So that took a lot too. And yeah, it was a huge shift. And, you know, so once I passed the cpa, I really wanted to be a personal trainer. So I studied for that and passed that and then just kind of went into this fitness realm, did a lot of personal training.

Robert Eyler [00:08:15]:
But the yoga is really just was kind of what stuck with me. I had picked up an adderall habit in college, and I had been addicted to it for probably close to seven years, and I’ve been sober for five. And at its height, I was taking like 70 or 80 milligrams a day, which is a lot more than they even prescribe the people that need it most. But I needed it to focus. I needed to talk to people. I needed it to turn my computer on. I needed it to read, to exercise. Like, at its height, I felt like I was disconnected from the human experience.

Robert Eyler [00:08:43]:
And so at that time, I. I quit my job, I went to Mexico. I taught yoga, I practiced yoga, I learned yoga. And then as a part of that, it really allowed me to just kind of slow down, and I was like, this is what I need to heal. And so it’s really just kind of helped heal my body and my mind.

John Garrett [00:09:00]:
Yeah, no, I love that so much, man. And it’s so cool that. That you found that and that you didn’t continue down that path of more, more, more, more. Dial up the heat, dial up the speed, dial up, you know, everything more, faster, bigger, badder. You know, it’s like, no, no, actually slower and quieter and calmer. And that’s what you need to heal. And it’s so weird how this world is just chronically damaged where it tells us the opposite. And that’s what we think is rewarded.

John Garrett [00:09:28]:
And that’s maybe in the short term, but long term, definitely not. So kudos to you for realizing that. That’s huge, man.

Robert Eyler [00:09:34]:
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it. And I agree. I mean, just in general, I feel like our world is moving at a thousand miles an hour, and it’s tough to slow down. That’s why I teach these yoga classes or give these talks just to kind of. Just a slight reminder that there’s a quote out that says, like, sometimes by slowing down, we go further. And I think there’s so much to that, because we want to multitask and do a thousand different things.

Robert Eyler [00:09:54]:
And like you said, there’s ambition, ambition, ambition and growth and growth and growth. But then you get to a point, it’s like, at what cost? At the cost of family time, at the cost of, you know, love and relationships. It has a whole facet of impacts and side effects.

John Garrett [00:10:08]:
Yeah. I mean, as you said, the human experience, you know, it’s so. It’s so amazing how people can be human, but so detached from being human and almost so scared to be human. That’s the thing that’s so wild, is when people ask me, you know, why do you think people don’t bring their and to work? Or why do you think people don’t share these outside of work, hobbies and passion? I mean, what are your thoughts on that?

Robert Eyler [00:10:30]:
Yeah, I have strong thoughts on that. Just reading your book, I was like, oh my gosh, this guy is uncovering some magic as a part of this whole wellbeing journey. I was at a company previously, they were a top five accounting firm and I had kind of helped roll out their well being program from scra. And at the very beginning of it, there was a lot of resistance and I had even gotten told from a partner like, hey, like, you’re a great auditor in spite of everything you do. And I’m like, wait, what? In spite of I’m a great auditor because of what I’m doing. Like, I’m more energized. Exactly.

John Garrett [00:11:01]:
That’s why I was laughing so hard.

Robert Eyler [00:11:03]:
Yeah, yeah. And so you feel that resistance. And I think it’s, it’s kind of an old school thought process of like, no, like you had a great line in your book like, is, do work 3,000 billable hours and there’s a partner that said, great job. Like, wait, what? Like how much of those hours were efficient? Like, I highlighted that, like printed it out. I’m like, it’s this, this is, it’s important to talk about because it’s so true.

John Garrett [00:11:25]:
Yeah, no, I appreciate it, man. Yeah, I mean, I, I think it’s hilarious when I, when I work with organizations, I come in and I’m like, so do you have kind of like a red flag that pops up if somebody’s not working enough hours? Oh yeah, definitely. If they’re not hitting their mark, then we definitely have meetings and we talk to them. And I go, how about the inverse? If somebody works too many hours, do you talk with. No, we’ve never even thought of that. And I’. Well, that’s the real red flag, you know, that’s the problem. Like, that’s the person that you don’t.

John Garrett [00:11:53]:
They’re off the rails and this is going to be dangerous for everybody. That’s where, you know, it’s hey, who’s working too much, who’s working too many hours, who’s way too into this, you know, type of thing where they aren’t living their best life, they aren’t having that human experience, as you said, you know, like, and that’s, that’s so huge for leaders to remember is make sure your people are having that human experience.

Robert Eyler [00:12:17]:
Yeah. Like, how are you on the field and how Are you off the field? Like, when your computers are closed? Like, you got to really ask people, I think even started saying, like, when you start conversations, it’s like, how are you? Like, how’s your sleep? How’s your family? Not like, hey, let’s get into this immediately. This business talk, that stuff’s important.

John Garrett [00:12:34]:
No, that’s. It’s so true. So do you have any times that come to mind from your yoga or meditation experience that have been cool moments in your journey that popped to mind?

Robert Eyler [00:12:44]:
Yeah, I went on a 10 day silent meditation retreat where you meditate for about 12 hours a day. And that was intense, man. Like, there was a point where it was a two hour sit and like, my mind was replaying the entire series finale of Game of Thrones. I got to a point and I was like, whoa, what? What just happened? It’s funny what the mind does when you just allow it to kind of do its thing and you got to kind of rein it back in to what’s going on in the body. I’d say sits like that are important. I try and do at least one of those a year. I mean, we have twin boys now 17 months, so it’s a little more difficult. That’s one of my.

Robert Eyler [00:13:21]:
One of my highlights for sure. And then after the retreat, I actually. I went to Yosemite and hiked Half Dome in running shoes. And I almost fell off the top.

John Garrett [00:13:30]:
Yeah, I was gonna say in running shoes. Are you crazy?

Robert Eyler [00:13:33]:
There was a guy at the retreat on the last day that said, like, because I was gonna go on this hike, and he’s like, yeah, you could totally do it. I was like, I have running shoes. He’s like, you could still do it. He did it when it was sunny, and it was sunny the whole time. Once I got to the top, it started to snow. And then I looked down and I got to get up, and my foot against the granite just slides. And I’m like, okay, this is going to be difficult. And so there’s these cables at the top and I have no use of my feet and I’m sliding down, just.

Robert Eyler [00:13:58]:
And all I could think about was my wife, eight and a half months pregnant, and our unborn children. And when I finally got down to the bottom, the guy that I was hiking with was like, you would have died twice because your wife would have killed for leaving early. It was intense.

John Garrett [00:14:13]:
Yeah, exactly.

Robert Eyler [00:14:14]:
But I go back to like, that meditation saved my life. Because if it wasn’t for my ability to focus on my breath and work through that, even through the cramps and everything that was happening in that moment. I don’t know if I would have been able to make it down.

John Garrett [00:14:25]:
No, that’s incredible, man. That’s awesome. Yeah. And so clearly you talk about at work, but was there ever a part of you that was like, oh, maybe I shouldn’t share this side, or, oh, I shouldn’t start to create this wellness program from scratch? Or was there ever that thought that came through?

Robert Eyler [00:14:41]:
Yeah, 100%. And it still comes through. There’s a stigma at work, and you’ve hit on it so many times of not bringing your and to work and like, no, you’re here to get done. What’s to get done? And the whole off the field approach. Right. Of, like, caring for your people off the field, especially the beginning. Right. I would study on my lunch breaks and study for either the CPA or the cpt, personal training or yoga or whatever it was.

Robert Eyler [00:15:04]:
And I had a supervisor that was like, well, you’re not going. This. This was years ago. He was like, you’re not going to lunch with me. So I’m writing in your eval that you don’t like to hang out with people. I was like, I’m trying to get this stuff done, man. So I think it does. And to an extent, I totally understand you need the social connection with people.

Robert Eyler [00:15:20]:
It’s just at that point in my life, I was trying to build something. And when you’re building anything, I think, great, or something that you want to build, you’re going to have resistance from people. And it takes sacrifice as well. And I think people want to just fit you into a little box. And if you’re outside of that box, people think you’re weird when you’re growing up and you’re a little weird. They call you names or you get bullied, but those are the kids that are running the world now. And so even with our twins now, we. We invite them.

Robert Eyler [00:15:43]:
Like, we never tell them to, like, stop screaming or stop being too loud or stop dancing. Like, no, do exactly what you want to do. Like, that just means they feel safe and they feel heard. And it’s just learning all that. I now want to instill it into them, you know, to kind of pass it on.

John Garrett [00:15:56]:
Yeah, no, that’s so true. Yeah. I mean, it is. It is something where, like, that. That leader is half right, and, hey, he doesn’t go to lunch with us. Like, he’s not part of the team, but the other half of that is. Yeah, but how are you trying to bridge that gap With Robert, like, how are you trying to connect with me on what I’m doing? Like, I’m not going to lunch because of what, like, are you asking me? Are you curious? Are you interested in what I’m doing at all? Are you meeting me where I’m at? And probably not, you know, and so they’re half right, but they’re also half wrong. And you know, and so it’s like, okay, you know, can you, can you at least bridge that gap? Because that’s what’s so wild about this.

John Garrett [00:16:36]:
What’s your and philosophy is it bridges so many gaps of generational differences. I don’t care how old you are, if we have the same hobby or passion, well, we’re best friends type of thing, or what year you went to, if you went to the same school, we have a connection. If the deia differences that’s bridged, all the things that we feel are dividers, these are ands are connectors. And even if you don’t do, even if that person has never done yoga or thinks yoga’s weird or whatever, he’s now at least curious about it and learns about it, you know, it doesn’t have to be the same thing that you do.

Robert Eyler [00:17:13]:
It’s just learning about the full person. Right? Like not just one little side of them. It’s like, who are you as a complete human? And I think and when you do that, the work output is better. Like this is what I think a lot of people don’t understand is when you’re connected with people, when they’re talking about stuff outside of work, they’re going to work together better as a cohesive unit. There’s probably a lot less turnover. I think on average it takes like 50 grand to replace someone. Even like an associate. Like it’s.

Robert Eyler [00:17:37]:
Turnover’s expensive.

John Garrett [00:17:39]:
Easily more than that.

Robert Eyler [00:17:39]:
Yeah, right.

John Garrett [00:17:40]:
Yeah. And people are so focused on the forward thing and it’s like you got a giant hole in the back of your boat. You know that, right? I don’t care how much water you pull in, it’s all going out. Like it’s, it’s crazy. But no, no, faster. We got to keep the boat going faster. I’m like, no, no, fix the holes, then you’re fine. But I love that, you know, just, just know the whole human and it doesn’t have to be like creepy level of getting to know you, you know, what do you think about on that 10 day meditation retreat? What are all of your inner thoughts? No, not that level.

John Garrett [00:18:09]:
It’s just, you know, like those 17 questions I asked you at the beginning. Like I bet you know, a lot of co workers don’t even know those about each other. You know, little things like that. But then you know, what is your. And, and then there’s follow up questions a month later, you know, three months later, like, you know, periodic check ins about what lights you up. How’s that going?

Robert Eyler [00:18:27]:
It’s about curiosity, right? I think curiosity is so important. I don’t think you’ve ever seen Ted Lasso, but there’s a scene where he talks about like being more curious than judgmental. I think Baker Tilly played it at a national conference like that, that video clip. And I’m like, that’s so true. Like you got to be curious. And that that will eliminate like being judgmental and that low vibrational frequency that that emits and it’ll allow you to connect with other people.

John Garrett [00:18:50]:
It’s so hard, so hard to not be judgmental. I mean it’s really, really what got me started down the Spiritual Path was documentary Ram Dass’s Becoming Nobody. It’s on Amazon for like five bucks. It’s totally worth a watch for everybody listening. But yeah, I mean he just tries to watch from above, like yourself in a show and it’s like, oh, far out. Look at that character. That character’s like getting super pissed off because somebody didn’t use their blinker in a turn lane. That’s amazing, you know, type of thing.

John Garrett [00:19:20]:
And it’s really wild to just take that observational approach to that human experience, to just watch it. And if you’re not able to do it in the moment, which is difficult, at the end of the day, replay a scene or at the end of the week, replay a scene and go back.

Robert Eyler [00:19:36]:
I think what you just said. Rick Rubin, he’s a famous music producer, he follows a lot of Ram Dass and spirituality. And he had a book called the Creative act, which I absolutely love. But he talks about kind of taking a step back and saying, okay, what’s the main character of this story? What’s the hero of the story going to do now given the situation that they’re in? And so when you look at it from that perspective, I think it allows us to kind of take a step back because we get so inundated in our, in our own thoughts and self judgment and neuroses when we’re not our thoughts, right? Like we’re this, this, this awareness behind our thoughts. And the quicker we can get there, the better we feel, the more peace that I think we experience. And you’re able to make better, kind of more sound decisions when you can take a step back, you know.

John Garrett [00:20:17]:
Yeah. And you’re a better professional also at the end of the day. And that’s where a lot of this comes in. And you know, the research that I’ve come across from like Duke or Northwestern, some of the stuff I put in the book, you know, where it’s, it’s. This makes you a better professional. And I’ll fight anybody on this, you know, and, and it’s, it’s so wild to me how, you know, there’s CPE in the, the accounting space, but a lot of the, you know, CLE and the law space and you know, all this, you know, continuing education of some sort and you know, that’s mandatory to make you as good at your job, but half the time you’re not even paying attention. You can get all the questions wrong and still get credit. And it’s totally ridiculous.

John Garrett [00:20:53]:
But when you’re doing your, and you’re all in, I mean, you’re 100% focused on that. And I think that there should be a minimum number of passion hours that you have to do a year because that makes you a better professional. And if you don’t hit your minimum number of passion hours, then we gotta talk like, what’s up, like what’s going on type of thing. And that’s my ultimate. If we were able to wave a magic wand kind of thing. But that seems like a reality that could be very useful for, oh, 100%.

Robert Eyler [00:21:22]:
And I think the biggest counter argument to that that I hear so much is like, I don’t have time. Like, I don’t have time, I don’t have time. And for me it’s like, okay, tell me your day, show me your schedule, and I can probably give you about an hour and a half back of your time from scrolling through social media, from watching whatever we’re watching on tv, the screens, the, the apps. Like we’re so distracted that I think we lose sense of our AM because is. We’re so focused on, on other things. There’s a wonderful book out there called I think the five Types of Wealth that actually just came out that this author Sohail Bloom, talks about. It’s not just financial, right? Like we think we work for financial. But there’s social, there’s time, there’s physical, there’s mental.

Robert Eyler [00:22:01]:
So like when you think about that, like your, and contributes to social, to time wealth, to your physical wealth, your mental wealth, like, what good is the, the financial if you have no time to spend it or people to spend it with or health mentally or physically, you know, so and all that, I feel like your. And contributes to those four other buckets.

John Garrett [00:22:19]:
Yeah. And in your case, I mean with mindfulness and yoga, I mean, that can be done in five minutes. It could be also on your drive. It could be at any point. I mean, it doesn’t have to be for 10 days straight. It doesn’t have to be for an hour. It’s literally a five minute unplug and just go to a higher place and just, just, yeah, detach, you know. Do you have any tips for anybody listening? That’s.

John Garrett [00:22:44]:
Yeah, that is like a, you know, I don’t have time type of thing or, you know, something quick, take a breath.

Robert Eyler [00:22:50]:
I like to say a lot, like, there you go.

John Garrett [00:22:52]:
It’s even faster than what I thought. Like, it’s even better.

Robert Eyler [00:22:54]:
Three deep breaths is scientifically proven to release a lot of the toxic, like cortisol and the stress that we experience. But the breath, I think when you’re able to focus on your breath and if you. A lot of people, it’s hard to focus on the breath. So if that’s too much, you can focus on what you’re feeling in your body. So those two different anchors, right, Mindfulness of breath or mindfulness of body allows you to teleport, like out of your thinking brain and into your body. There’s a book out there called Feeling is the Secret. And that’s true. Like, in order to heal, we’ve got to feel.

Robert Eyler [00:23:22]:
And the sooner we can get into our body and understand why things are happening or how things are happening, the more we can work through it. The biggest thing I learned on that meditation retreat is that we can’t solve an anxious thought with more anxious thoughts. It doesn’t happen. Right. The Game of Thrones episode is just going to keep playing over and over and over. We got to get into our body, right? Like, okay, that person cut me off in traffic. Like, where do I feel? Okay, I feel that in my chest or I feel on the back of my neck. Like, bring your awareness there.

Robert Eyler [00:23:45]:
And I think Dan Harris created the Waking up app, but he talks about Sam or Dan. It might be Sam Harris, but they’re both meditation instructors. He talks about being willing to sit with a sensation so much, being willing to burn up with the sensation. And then you’ll notice that the half life of that sensation is moments, like maybe minutes and definitely not hours. So. But if we get lost in our thoughts, it’s hours and hours and hours.

John Garrett [00:24:09]:
But if you can really, it’s days, it’s months, it’s years, and then it’s disease, and it’s all kinds of chronic everything.

Robert Eyler [00:24:15]:
So true.

John Garrett [00:24:16]:
Yeah. No, that’s. That’s great, man. That’s so perfect for. Yeah, everybody. That’s. That’s awesome, man. So do you have any words of encouragement to anyone listening that has an and that they feel like no one cares about? Because it has nothing to do with my job.

Robert Eyler [00:24:28]:
I think that’s the most important thing, that nobody. Nobody cares. I think it’s. It’s not about anybody caring. It’s about you filling your cup up. Because the thing is, we can’t fill anybody else’s cups up if our cup runneth empty. And I think pursuing your aunts and your passion and what you care about is going to fill your cup up so that then you can then pour from a full cup for other people. I think that’s honestly the secret of life.

Robert Eyler [00:24:54]:
To live a meaningful life is to do the stuff that you enjoy. I told my wife at the end of the day, I told her, I was like, hey, when I’m at the end of my life, I’m not gonna look back and think, man, I wish I would’ve issued that audit report a week earlier. No, I wish I would have went hiking more. I wish I would have hung out with my kids. I wish I would have took them to the park. Or you did yoga with them on the ground. These little things, laughed with them more. That’s the stuff that we’re going to look back on.

Robert Eyler [00:25:18]:
And I think the sooner we realize that, the better off we’re going to be.

John Garrett [00:25:22]:
No, I love that, man. That’s so great. So great. Well, this has been awesome, but I feel like since I rudely peppered you with questions at the beginning, it’s only fair that we turn this around. Make it the Robert Eyler podcast. Do, do, do, do, do. I don’t know what kind of music you want. Thanks.

John Garrett [00:25:37]:
And whatever questions you have, I’m all yours.

Robert Eyler [00:25:38]:
Yeah, I did have a question, actually. What was the most difficult aspect of writing your book that you ran into?

John Garrett [00:25:47]:
Ah, yeah. I think the most difficult aspect of writing a book is who am I to write a book? You know, I don’t have a tweed code with elbow patches or, you know, like, have, you know, I don’t know. Like, I’m just a regular guy, you know, type of thing. Like, who am I to write a book? And so. And so getting over that every day is work. You have to really, really want to write a book. I mean, one of my favorite books is Steven Pressfield’s the War of Art. And it’s also for creatives.

John Garrett [00:26:16]:
And it’s true. I mean, there’s this inner resistance that always comes up in all of our lives that prevents us from being the best version of ourselves. And it holds us back and it’s trying to keep us safe. It’s a protector of sorts. Probably left over from when I was four, but I’m an adult now and we’re safe and we’re good and we don’t need this anymore. But it still comes up, and it comes up every day now. But the more and more that you fight it, the easier the fight gets and all that. But, yeah, but that was the hardest part, was who am I to write a book? But the feedback and the overwhelmingly positive movement now that this has become is totally worth it to have gone through that.

Robert Eyler [00:26:56]:
That’s super interesting because I’ve always toyed with the fact of writing a book. I’ve been told I should write a book, but it’s like, like, how do I get started? And again, like, who am I? There’s a question for you. How did you get started? Did you just open up word on your computer, close the door, grab some coffee?

John Garrett [00:27:10]:
Oh, no, no, no. Definitely don’t do that, because then it’ll. Game of Thrones, you’ll spin around in this crazy world. Do not do that. So find a content editor. So basically somebody that will be your Yoda through the book writing process, but can see it from the outside. And then he came in, I flew him into Denver. We got a working space, and for 40 hours, it eight hour, five days, we hammered out the structure of the book.

John Garrett [00:27:36]:
Who’s it for? What’s the tone like all of that. And then basically created the skeleton of the book. And then from then, then you open up word and you just basically just go nuts. Unedited. Just let it all out. Even I told the story already. No, tell it again because it’ll be in a different way. And then that content editor takes these bricks and builds the amazing house that becomes your book.

John Garrett [00:28:04]:
But you have that structure. And then you just let it all out. And then, you know, between the two of you, you’re like, oh, I like the way I told the story here. But it needs to be in this part of the book or it needs to. So set that structure up first and then just write completely unedited, because trust me, there’s Going to be plenty of people that get their fingers into the pie along the way to make sure that the sentence grammar’s right or the, you know, the punctuation’s right or whatever. So. And even if you’re more of a speaker, like just talk it, talk it out and have it dictated and then, you know, clean it up from there. But it’s just all the thoughts that are in your head, just get them all out and then new thoughts then rise and you’re like, oh, I didn’t even know I had that buried down there.

John Garrett [00:28:47]:
That’s a good little nugget, you know, type of thing. But it’s also knowing how my book is different, who it’s for, and all of that besides the structure. So then you know that you’re not writing just another book because there’s a lot of them, you know, so in your own way, maybe it’s structured differently. I mean, what’s your. And is structured in a unique way. You know, it’s bite sized micro chapters, very readable. It’s my words, I wrote it. So, you know, it’s just, it’s a different kind of book.

John Garrett [00:29:14]:
So, you know, do it in your own way. And then you’re more convicted to know that, you know, what I’m doing needs to be out in the world.

Robert Eyler [00:29:23]:
One last question. When I need to go out.

John Garrett [00:29:25]:
Sure, man, I’m at your mercy. Just don’t ask me to do downward dog because I also struggle on that one.

Robert Eyler [00:29:32]:
I’ll be sure to refrain from any yogic poses when I need to get out and clear my head or clarify things. I’ll go out to the desert or Joshua Tree or just somewhere to just kind of be able to turn everything off and focus. Is there somewhere you went either mentally or physically to write your book?

John Garrett [00:29:51]:
That’s an interesting question. I mean, luckily I live in Colorado and I’m close to about an hour from Rocky Mountain national park, so we go there often. So that’s for me now what that is. You know, it’s just getting out in nature unplugged, you know, phone off. And for me, the way I’m programmed and built, that that’s very helpful. And so that’s been a good thing. I mean, for, for the writing the book part of it. Yeah, it was literally just every day just start writing and then say I’m going to write for five minutes and then just oops, I accidentally just wrote for two hours.

John Garrett [00:30:28]:
And then there were some days where it’s like, man, I might get to five Minutes, barely, because nothing’s coming. I don’t know what. But unless you open that tap, then you don’t know how much is going to flow. And so just open the tap every day and give it a go and see. And you can always go back and write more about something else or whatever. You know, some of that I think is probably the way that I approached it was just every day just pop open the word and grab, you know, a subtitle from a chapter or whatever and just pour into that type of thing for five minutes and then if you hit five minutes and you’re done, then be done and that’s it. Or, hey, I just accidentally did two hours. That was pretty cool, you know, type of thing.

John Garrett [00:31:10]:
So that, that was probably. It was more of just sit down and do it and that. That’s probably more for me. But definitely, as you go down that journey and it gets closer to publication, you know, yeah, the. You really gotta, gotta be really proud of what you do and the work that you’re doing because it’s tough. It’s a real gut check, that’s for sure.

Robert Eyler [00:31:31]:
Beautiful. Awesome. Thank you for sharing, John.

John Garrett [00:31:33]:
Yeah, well, no, I appreciate you having me on your show and more importantly, having you be a part of what’s your hand and a living example of this and all the work you’re doing in the world. So thank you so much. Robert, of course.

Robert Eyler [00:31:44]:
Thank you.

John Garrett [00:31:48]:
Yeah. And everybody listening. If you want to see some pictures of Robert in action or maybe connect with him on social media, be sure to go to www.WhatsYourAnd.com everything’s there. And while you’re on the page, please click the big button. Do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture and don’t forget to check out the book. So thanks again for subscribing on Apple podcasts or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread that who you are is so much more than what you do.