Meet Jeff Armstrong – Go with the flow
Stopping to take inventory on what matters most is not something new for Jeff Armstrong. In fact, over the past 5 years he has made it his life’s work to improve his own well-being as well as of those around him. So how did this disruption of business-as-usual affect someone who admittedly has worked hard at teaching leaders (and himself) to build resilience and find flow as a way to navigate change? The short answer is — by practicing mindfulness.
What started as an unwelcomed pause quickly evolved into an opportunity that Jeff yearned for. While he has been busy building his business along with his wife, Laura, he had not been able to devote the necessary time to fully flush out what was next for their business. The order to shelter-in-place granted him the advantage to make the most of it. “[It] has created a unique vacuum for me to focus on my business with more energy and clarity than I would have been afforded otherwise,” said Jeff.
A winning combination
Jeff and his wife are a dynamic duo. Laura has an illustrious career working with Fortune 500 teams and executives in a variety of communication, alignment, diversity and leadership training initiatives. Jeff is a certified HeartMath trainer, earning him an expertise in Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a skill he uses to teach resilience building and create flow by practicing how to relax the nervous system and opening the heart. He can now measure the efficacy of their techniques by leveraging smartphone-enabled biofeedback. The inclusion of a technology-enabled tool is a nod to his 20+ year career in owning a highly successful outsourced technology company in Chicago.
Their powerful dual professional backgrounds resulted in co-founding, Mindful Communications in 2017, where they have committed themselves to help people build self-confidence, discover inner balance, communicate more effectively, and improve personal effectiveness.
A man on a mission
Jeff is no stranger to the debilitating toll chronic stress can take and as a result, he has made it his mission to discover the best tools and techniques to build resiliency and find flow for himself and others. During this pandemic he has strived to provide free webinars to others to learn what resonates as well as provide a reprieve from the stress and pressures leaders may be experiencing.
“What I’ve come to understand, after a ton of trial and error, is that resilience is a muscle that can be strengthened, just like any other muscle, with a bit of intention and practice.” – Jeff Armstrong
The options are endless for where Mindful Communications can go but Jeff has devoted the past several months to not focusing on the outcomes but rather on the process. A process that is clearly defined and scalable. “I couldn’t believe how hard I had to dig to figure out how to truly become more resilient and experience more flow. This became my why. Now people don’t have to bump around in the dark as much as I did – I’ve created an extremely efficient roadmap,” said Jeff.
Mindfulness starts at home
Jeff and Laura have experienced this sheltering-in-place time together with their three children. As parents, they realize that while they are all teenagers, each child handles uncertainty and change in different ways. As a means to create balance at the onset of the pandemic they would gather every morning at 10:00 am for the first month to reflect on and share three things:
- What went well the day before?
- What didn’t go well?
- What are you most grateful for?
The value in doing and being
“If you feel you can provide some type of value to others, go for it! Realize the journey always starts with the first step, then the second step, and so on. You can create momentum by always appreciating where you are while being eager for what is next. That type of mindset reduces a lot of mental resistance.”
In Jeff’s words, “I believe we are collectively being teed up for something better.” What a positive perspective to have and one that is rooted unashamedly in hope!
To learn more about the work Mindful Communications is doing watch the RedShelf video “Heartfulness: Your Next Leadership Superpower,” where Jeff leads an exercise in heartfulness to fuel health, happiness, and performance. You can also connect with Jeff on LinkedIn or visit their website.
Next up in Part 4 of my blog series, you can read about Paul Northover, serial entrepreneur. When his two event-based businesses were upended by the pandemic, he relentlessly pursued alternatives to preserve the security of his longstanding employees and loyal customers.
Meet Jeff Armstrong – Go with the flow
Stopping to take inventory on what matters most is not something new for Jeff Armstrong. In fact, over the past 5 years he has made it his life’s work to improve his own well-being as well as of those around him. So how did this disruption of business-as-usual affect someone who admittedly has worked hard at teaching leaders (and himself) to build resilience and find flow as a way to navigate change? The short answer is — by practicing mindfulness.
What started as an unwelcomed pause quickly evolved into an opportunity that Jeff yearned for. While he has been busy building his business along with his wife, Laura, he had not been able to devote the necessary time to fully flush out what was next for their business. The order to shelter-in-place granted him the advantage to make the most of it. “[It] has created a unique vacuum for me to focus on my business with more energy and clarity than I would have been afforded otherwise,” said Jeff.
A winning combination
Jeff and his wife are a dynamic duo. Laura has an illustrious career working with Fortune 500 teams and executives in a variety of communication, alignment, diversity and leadership training initiatives. Jeff is a certified HeartMath trainer, earning him an expertise in Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a skill he uses to teach resilience building and create flow by practicing how to relax the nervous system and opening the heart. He can now measure the efficacy of their techniques by leveraging smartphone-enabled biofeedback. The inclusion of a technology-enabled tool is a nod to his 20+ year career in owning a highly successful outsourced technology company in Chicago.
Their powerful dual professional backgrounds resulted in co-founding, Mindful Communications in 2017, where they have committed themselves to help people build self-confidence, discover inner balance, communicate more effectively, and improve personal effectiveness.
A man on a mission
Jeff is no stranger to the debilitating toll chronic stress can take and as a result, he has made it his mission to discover the best tools and techniques to build resiliency and find flow for himself and others. During this pandemic he has strived to provide free webinars to others to learn what resonates as well as provide a reprieve from the stress and pressures leaders may be experiencing.
“What I’ve come to understand, after a ton of trial and error, is that resilience is a muscle that can be strengthened, just like any other muscle, with a bit of intention and practice.” – Jeff Armstrong
The options are endless for where Mindful Communications can go but Jeff has devoted the past several months to not focusing on the outcomes but rather on the process. A process that is clearly defined and scalable. “I couldn’t believe how hard I had to dig to figure out how to truly become more resilient and experience more flow. This became my why. Now people don’t have to bump around in the dark as much as I did – I’ve created an extremely efficient roadmap,” said Jeff.
Mindfulness starts at home
Jeff and Laura have experienced this sheltering-in-place time together with their three children. As parents, they realize that while they are all teenagers, each child handles uncertainty and change in different ways. As a means to create balance at the onset of the pandemic they would gather every morning at 10:00 am for the first month to reflect on and share three things:
- What went well the day before?
- What didn’t go well?
- What are you most grateful for?
The value in doing and being
“If you feel you can provide some type of value to others, go for it! Realize the journey always starts with the first step, then the second step, and so on. You can create momentum by always appreciating where you are while being eager for what is next. That type of mindset reduces a lot of mental resistance.”
In Jeff’s words, “I believe we are collectively being teed up for something better.” What a positive perspective to have and one that is rooted unashamedly in hope!
To learn more about the work Mindful Communications is doing watch the RedShelf video “Heartfulness: Your Next Leadership Superpower,” where Jeff leads an exercise in heartfulness to fuel health, happiness, and performance. You can also connect with Jeff on LinkedIn or visit their website.
In part four of my blog series, you will read about a serial entrepreneur, Paul Northover whose two event-based businesses were upended due to the pandemic and who relentlessly pursued alternatives.
Michelle is Mariola Unlimited’s Chief Brand Officer and has 20 years of experience in branding and marketing strategy. Her blog is dedicated to sharing her mastery of marketing best practices, insights into building brand equity, and her reflections on creating intentional cultures and the leaders that make it happen.
