? Spotlight on an Incredible Speaker: Dr. Jemma King ?
Savannah R.
Rakuten Advertising Senior Manager, ANZ Publisher Partnerships | 2022 Finalist Women in Tech Awards | ex-Spotify
Earlier this year I had the incredible opportunity to attend Thoughtful Minds, an event organised by The Thoughtful Agency. It was my second time hearing Dr. Jemma King speak at their wonderful event, and both experiences have been nothing short of transformative and thus, I must share…
Jemma is an Australian Behavioural scientist holding her PhD in Human Behaviour, is the Director and Founder of BioPsychAnalytics and is an expert in emotional intelligence and performance under stress. She’s a specialist advisor to the Australian Defence Force, Olympic Athletes, Tier 1 Management Consultants and is an honorary research fellow at University of Queensland and that’s not even the full list. She’s doing the most and I’m a guilty fangirl.
At the first event last year, I was a panellist discussing the affiliate partner landscape across regions and how Rakuten can help brands enter new markets through partnerships.
As someone usually confident in presenting and public-speaking, I found myself nervous pre-empting the panel and size of the audience whilst sitting in the session before hand. Little did I know, I was in the presence of a true master. Sitting next to me was none other than Dr. Jemma King, an expert in stress management and here I was trying to calm my nerves with breath work right next to her while monitoring my heart rate to try and bring it down. It felt like nothing was working for me until I was actually onstage and speaking to the audience and by then I was truly oblivious to my heart rate and breath.
When I later looked at my watch I realised that during the panel my heart rate had actually levelled out opposed to being what I would've thought thought at that time, off the measurement scale and in need of emergency help. I do remember feeling a surge of clarity as soon as I was on stage and starting to talk about a topic I confidently knew about. There had to be a reason for this right!?
Later in her keynote, Dr. King actually explained (and I’ve since listened to this point again in the podcasts below) that the shakes or nerves we feel are just adrenaline preparing us for the "fight or flight" moment. I was feeling scared or had the feeling of potential embarrassment and my body was prepping me to get out of that situation as fast as possible if needed. I fought the nerves and what actually happened is that the adrenaline most likely helped me think more clearly and present confidently on stage. So this is a hot tip that you can re-direct those nerves and re-categorise them internally as excitement to tackle whatever is causing the adrenaline. This action can of course even increase your reaction speed time, ie- your start time off the swimming block or on the track. Very appropriate for Olympians and a hot topic at the moment so look out for their pre start routines/actions and what they're doing to control the nerves and control the adrenaline for quicker start times when that gun goes off.
Here are some other fascinating insights from Dr. Jemma King's talks that have stuck with me:
1.???? Breathing Through Your Nose: In high-stress situations, breathing through your nose can calm your body faster. The science behind this is that deep nasal breathing stimulates nerves that send calming messages to your body. Imagine being chased by a lion; you wouldn't be calmly breathing through your nose now, would you? By doing so, your body signals that you're safe. There’s so much more to this point about breathwork particularly your exhaling as you’re also dumping your CO2 levels, something that I’ve also learnt has great impact through freediving. Yet, another crazy link to make here but I was recently doing some training with horses and when they’re regulating themselves you will often hear them do a big breath out. Or think about a time that you’ve been really stressed, overwhelmed, not satisfied – do you find you’re self ever doing a big sigh, that’s your body often subconsciously regulating itself. It’s human and animal nature to regulate your nervous systems, and if you don’t learn or make the time to do it yourself your body will often try to make you do it.
2.???? Resetting the Vagus Nerve: If you need to quickly reset after a stress response or you’re facing something that is a little stressful a simple yet effective way to calm yourself is by beating your chest to reset your vagus nerve. Fun fact: In Wolf of Wall Street Matthew McConaughey was using this method before his iconic scene had started to remember his lines, he uses it often as a technique. They had started rolling the cameras and the director/producer loved the take so much that they kept it in there for the movie.
3.???? Psychological Safety & Creativity: Individuals in high-stress environments or those lacking psychological safety at work often can't tap into their creative abilities or think clearly. In the most recent Thoughtful Minds event that I was able to see Dr. King present at, she demonstrated in real-time how stress and exclusion affect heart rate and cognitive function. Supporting your team's stress management and psychological safety can boost creativity and productivity.
4.???? The Future of Wearables: The health and wellness wearable industry is booming and we're just at the beginning with devices like Whoop, Oura, and Apple Watch. The potential for these tools to monitor and improve our well-being is immense. Samsung have just released their smart ring device and watch who jumps on the band-wagon next (??). It’s impossible to think of what could be next in this space with wearable devices but we may even get to the point of health and wellness tracking – think contact lenses that adapt to light levels that the wearer needs at specific times to promote wellness or shoes that clothing that changes temperature depending on the day. In the podcast below, Jemma gives her two cents on this space and where it may be going.
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For more of Dr. Jemma King's incredible insights on sleep and stress management, I highly recommend checking out these podcasts:
A Behavioral Psychologist's Tips for Managing Stress Styles with Dr. Jemma King
Performing Under Pressure - Dr. Jemma King
Optimising for Human Performance in an increasingly complex technological world - Dr Jemma King PhD
I have shared these podcasts with family and friends who found them invaluable and hope that it reaches someone else that may need this information as well. If you ever have the chance to see Dr. Jemma King in person, don't miss it, her knowledge and tips are truly life changing.
If you’ve made it this far well done, this topic is something that I’m just starting to get in to and am super passionate about so if you have any information or recommendations for me, please share!
#Leadership #StressManagement #PublicSpeaking #AffiliateMarketing #WearableTech #Wellbeing #vagusnervereset #psychologicalsafety #breathwork #publicspeaking
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Fx Med Health Coach | Optimisation & Longevity Program Lead
7 个月Awesome article.
Chief Growth Officer & Co-Founder @ Furthr - Australia's Largest Card Linked Loyalty Network (16K+ Connections)
7 个月Love this Savannah R. - some great insights :)
Affiliate Partnerships
7 个月This is great Sav, thank you for sharing ?