Episode 4 | Preventative Mental Wellness

Guest: Bill Lennan

Apr 08, 2021

Raised on islands and diversely educated, Bill has always focused on solving human as well as technical problems.

Over the span of his technology career, he has built products, teams, and solutions for mobile, recruiting, e-commerce, social media, and now education.

He has helped companies ranging from Google and Walmart to hotels and restaurants.

Building high-functioning teams has been fundamental to Bill’s success.

His team successes are directly attributable to the skills taught in the HAERT™ Curriculum.

We talk about comfortable and uncomfortable conversations, what catastrophizing is, creating career flexibility, curiosity, communicating with experts, finding ease, and choosing where to apply struggle.

Bill also tells us stories about surfing and breaking bones.

😛 We intentionally keep in noises from Bill’s background when an airplane ✈️ flies overhead and when birds chirp here and there.

Resources mentioned:

Catch it, check it, change it - an exercise from cognitive behavioral therapy (Note: For informational purpose only. Neither of us is delivering therapy here.)
Simon Sinek on starting with why

Links to the podcast episode:

Spotify

Outline:

0:00 Introduction
1:06 Feeling stuck
2:42 Goal of communication
3:30 Career flexibility
5:14 Starting in tech sales
5:24 Learning to code
12:28 "Humans are programmed"
14:23 What can I contribute to the improvement of the world?
14:42 Surfing
15:11 Scarcity
16:14 "What's scarce is people who have really good mental health in the world, and I can put my energy there."
17:45 "When you take a long enough time frame, experts are wrong 100% of the time."
20:18 "No two people share identical mental models."
22:46 "It's OK to start too small."
23:41 The next time you get boba
25:30 Insecurity
26:51 Where is it that the other person wants to take the conversation?
27:41 Build relationship
29:30 Testing
30:06 Catastrophizing
30:40 Catch it, check it, change it
31:43 Doctors telling Bill he would never run again
34:07 Emotional tie to expertise
42:33 Story about Bill's mom

Bonus updates from me:

I attended a few talks recently that also related to mental wellness and enjoyed getting my drawing on.

Hua Szu Yang @heythrive

Kelsey Walker: The Psychology of Interior Design: Styling Your Space to Rewire Your Brain & Boost Your Mood #shinebootcamp

Hua Szu Yang @heythrive

Ling Choi: The Tiny Moments: Let Small Things Spark Big Joy #shinebootcamp

Hua Szu Yang @heythrive

Karra Barron @byCHBarron : Cross the Finish Line: Lessons Learned from Running Marathons that Will Help You Finish Your Novel #shinebootcamp

Hua Szu Yang @heythrive

Alison Gibbins @alivey : Awkward is ok: critical conversations about mental health at work #shinebootcamp

I co-produced a music video for fun with Sarah Ho, Sanyee Yuan, Sound Editor Sam Cook-Stuntz, Video Editor Dave Marandola, and a lovely cast of singers, including Angelique Henderson.

Hua Szu Yang @heythrive

Since @FeistMusic explores the passing of time and self-reinvention in her work, the song "1234" inspired @sarahho61 and a team of people of all ages to make a music video infused with feelings that shaped our views on loss and hope in the past year.