The Talent Forge: Shaping Workforce Behaviors with Jay Johnson

From Martial Arts to Trauma-Informed Leadership: Laura Armstrong on Safety, Boundaries, and Real De-escalation

• Jay Johnson • Season 1 • Episode 63

Share episode

Safety isn’t a side project—it’s the system your team runs on. We sit down with martial arts champion and corporate coach Laura Armstrong to unpack trauma-informed training that actually works in the workplace.

Laura breaks down the window of tolerance—where people learn, collaborate, and think clearly—and what happens when we slip into hypo (freeze, shut down) or hyper (fight, agitation) states. From synchronized breathing to tactile grounding to micro-routines that create predictability, she shows how small, repeatable practices restore focus and dignity without forcing productivity.

We also shine a light on de-escalation as a daily leadership skill. Laura names subtle aggressor behaviors many managers miss—unsolicited promises, microaggressions disguised as jokes, “loan sharking” favors—and maps out how they push employees into survival mode. The fix is practical: name behaviors precisely, use culturally aware eye contact, square your stance, and deploy boundary scripts that remove guesswork. Pair that with explicit assurances of safety and no-judgment support, and you get a container strong enough for hard truths, clean repairs, and faster resolution.

If this conversation resonates, follow, like, or subscribe to the show, share it with a friend who leads people, and leave a quick review so others can find these tools too.

Meet the Host
Jay Johnson works with people and organizations to empower teams, grow profits, and elevate leadership. He is a Co-Founder of Behavioral Elements®, a two-time TEDx speaker, and a designated Master Trainer by the Association for Talent Development. With a focus on behavioral intelligence, Jay has delivered transformational workshops to accelerate high-performance teams and cultures in more than 30 countries across four continents. For inquiries, contact jay@behavioralelements.com or connect below!

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayjohnsonccg/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jayjohnsonccg/
Speaker Website - https://jayjohnsonspeaks.com

Jay Johnson:

Before we begin, a quick note for our listeners. In today's conversation with Laura Armstrong, we explore trauma-informed training practices and the importance of creating safe learning environments. During this discussion, there are mentions of traumatic experiences, including violence, sexual assault, and other distressing acts. While these topics are addressed from an educational and professional standpoint, they may be triggering for some listeners. Please take care of yourself while listening. Pause the episode, return when you feel ready, or if it is something that might create the conditions of trauma for you, please skip this episode. If you know someone who is struggling or in a crisis, help is available. In the U.S., you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. For international listeners, please seek local resources or trusted organizations in your area. Now let's begin the conversation. Welcome to this episode of the Talent Forge, where together we're shaping workforce behavior. Today I'm joined by special guest Laura Armstrong. Welcome to the show, Laura.

Laura Armstrong:

Thanks so much. I'm excited to be here and I'm looking forward to our conversation.

Jay Johnson:

Laura, you have an incredible history and uh a lot of things that many of our guests on the Talent Forge have not necessarily accomplished, including some gold medals in martial arts. And now you're working to help people build better relationships with money and a holistic approach. So uh let's get to know you just a little bit more. Tell us your story. How did you get to this space?

Laura Armstrong:

Well, you know, it's interesting because even when I was younger, um, I always loved sports. And so um I was, I had won the I live in Toronto, Canada. So I live in Canada, I had won the provincials for bodybuilding and powerlifting. And I was scouted by the IFBB, the International Federation Bodybuilding. And they told me that if that I had the means to be an international competitor, earn a lot of money, get a lot of recognition, all that stuff. And but they said you're gonna have to take the drugs, right? And back then, like in the old days, because I'm 15 now, that was a while ago. Yeah, that that was like the norm then. And it was just a part of the culture. And I was like, you know, I'm not even 20 yet. Um those things are not reversible. So I didn't, I um I refused. And then I thought, well, I loved, I'm very active. You know, I was always the overweight kid in school, though, always the fat kid. And but I still loved exercising, I loved moving, I loved being around, and I always loved trying to keep myself in the best shape I could. So I joined this continuing education class, you know, the ones you can do at night, and I did start taking Aikido through that. And so I go to this class, you're gonna laugh when I tell you this. I go to this class and they teach you like the basics, you know, the first class stances, you know, rolling, all this stuff, right? And I loved action movies, like I loved anything martial arts, anything to do with that. So we get to the end of the class, and and the um teacher's like, and she's like four foot nothing. I'm like, you do not mess with this woman. She was my teacher for over 30 years. And she was like, Does anybody have any questions?

Jay Johnson:

I have a story to share on the same continuing.

Laura Armstrong:

You get me, yeah. She's like, Well, does anybody have any questions? Of course, my hand goes up, and I'm like, Well, when are we getting to the kicking and punching? Because that's really what I'm here for. And I can just like see her like internally rolling her eyes, like, oh no, not another one, right? But there was something there for me, and I kept going. And back then, you couldn't just join a dojo or a school, you had to be invited. And so I took several of these iterations with her before I got invited to her school, and and the rest was history. And then a few years into my training in Aikido, uh, we had a guy come and teach weapons, and I had always been enamored of weapons, and I joined his club, and that was more the competitive side. And that, you know, that's where I started doing martial arts. Um, and then yeah, won my first gold medal in my late 20s. Um, and so there's a good story around that. I'm sure we'll get to that today. Um, and then I worked in corporate for a couple decades as a commodities trader, the only woman on the trading desk. Won two more golds in when I was 42, and I decided to retire from fighting. I coached the Canadian uh weapons team for probably two decades, and I created probably close to 23 champions. So I know what that formula is. Um, but all through this, I still was teaching a lot of self-defense and empowerment. And so, for that, things like back then, this wasn't common languaging, gender-based violence, de-escalation, microaggressions, um, trauma-informed training, verbal strategies, all those things were like foreign. And companies were looking for a way to change the culture within their employees and their management, and they just didn't have the tools back then. Now everybody talks about it, but a lot of the time, Jay, they don't know what they're saying. And so I think the fact that you have this podcast that brings on vetted experts is just so key to switching that culture around.

Jay Johnson:

Well, thank you for that. And I I got a quick story for you. So the first time that I took in a keto, and a lot of the audience may not know this, but I did mix martial arts for a long time. Right. And I joined a keto class while I was at Wayne State University. And the instructor was, I don't know, I would say late 60s, early 70s, and just kind of a small, frail guy. And I was thinking to myself, like, they're the scariest. He tossed me around like a ragdot. And I I was a hockey player, I was I was in great shape. Doesn't matter. Literally just whooped my ass. Like when you said that I immediately thought of sensei and was just like, oh, I remembered my favorite words was Kaikol Shario, which was class is ended. Thank God I just got whooped.

Laura Armstrong:

Or posted down was the other one I got. Because they just had no more patience for me. Yeah.

Jay Johnson:

Well, let's dig into this because I think it is important. And and you definitely bring up a great point about for so long uh and and still to this day, I think that there's a lot of information out there. So uh, you know, with the background in behavioral science, I I get really kind of uh touchy when I see some of the different things that are happening. And knowing your background, uh, knowing your background, I'd love to dig into this trauma-informed training, because a lot of the people that are on uh listening to this podcast may not be familiar with it. Could you help us get a better understanding of what you mean when you say trauma-informed training and what does that look like in the corporate world?

Laura Armstrong:

Sure. So to first to to before we even talk about the tr the training, it's how to recognize it, right? And so um there's two, there's a portal of safety or the window of tolerance where we call where most people thrive, where that's their everyday life, right? And then there is events that happen to us as human beings, and a lot of the time why we move out of that portal of safety is because our brain and our body cannot process. And so it goes into like a coping mechanism, right? So it usually goes one of two ways. So first it can go into hypo, okay, hypoactiveness. So that means that people start to freeze, they start to shut down, they start to close off, um, uh, all sorts of like anxiety, depression, all of those are all side effects of that hypo, right? Um, and those are very recognizable symptoms um when it's not someone's normal behavior. If it's their normal behavior, they've probably been in it for a very long time. Okay. Um the other one is hyper. And so, like we all know what hyperactive is. It's the same thing. It's when it's a coping mechanism. So people are hyperactive, they talk a lot, they talk about a lot of details, um, they they it's you know that fight, flight or freeze. So they go into the fight and the and and you know, they they want to engage at an in an angry or not angry way, it doesn't matter. They want to engage at a at a really hyper level, right? Um, and so people like that, people who are in that state, it's it's more visible because it's more noticeable than you notice the person who's shutting down. It's just the way human beings work when they notice things. And so once you recognize the symptoms, that's the first key, right? Now, understanding how to not only bring people out of it, but keep them out of it is where the key in the training is, right? So it works like a three step step process. So knowing what it is, um, and when they're when they're out of that portal of safety, how to bring them back in. And then the third is how to keep them there. And so how to bring them back in for the hypo person who's quiet, you need them to move. So physical movement, but all of these things can be done through somatic exercises, things like breathing, breathing, things like feeling grounding. For the hypo person, they need to move, they need to feel connected to their body again. Um, and so what happens when they connect to their body, their brain kicks in. It's just automatic because our brains are primal, right? They're really the caveman brain. That's really what it is, even though we like to think we're super intelligent beings, right? We have those fight or flights. That's just how our brain works. And so for trauma-informed training for that is you need to work with that person breathing, get them more grounded, get them in more engaged on a physical, mental, emotional level, and bring them back into that portal of safety. And that's literally how they stay there, so that they feel inclusive, they feel safe. That's a key word here for both. Safe. Um, they feel like they're being engaged and valued because a lot of the time in the employee space, those four things don't exist for a lot of people, and they're just managing being there every day.

Jay Johnson:

For the hyper person, Laura, let me let me pause you there before you go to the hyper, because you know, this is obviously something that we see this, and you know, having having had a lot of conversations with people that are either experiencing some level of uh depression or some level of sort of uh, you know, even just call it burnout. You know, we we often conflate burnout, depression, resentment, and all of these other different monikers. Um, but for somebody that's experiencing that, in so many cases, one of the ways that I've heard it communicated back is I just, you know, I'm hungry, but I I can't even muster the energy to get up and get off the couch to go get something to eat. Or I know that I have to go to work and literally I call in today because I just don't feel like I have the energy to move. So somebody that's in this hypo space, how do you help them, you know, how do you help them muster the energy when that energy doesn't feel like it's accessible or that they internally don't have it? Because you're absolutely right. I think it was uh Dr. Gaber Mate, who's a fellow Canadian, that talks about, you know, movement being one of those antidotes to some of the the normalities of being stuck or being sitting down or just you know, sort of not having that. How do we get them to take that first step?

Laura Armstrong:

Yeah, so there's three uh three-pronged approach. The first is um create new habits for them. Okay. So every day they do this, they do their breathing exercises, every day they take a five-minute walk. So get them in the habit of the routine because the routine will keep them in the portal of safety because it's something that that's predictable for them and it makes them feel safe. Okay, as soon as they feel safe, they're gonna be more comfortable. So that's number one.

Jay Johnson:

And then it flow a little bit more once.

Laura Armstrong:

Yes, that allows everything that kind of starts the engine running. So they get the you know, they're feeling comfortable. Um, the second is conversations, is they've probably forgotten what brings them joy. And I know this sounds a bit woo-woo, but what do they want? Because the most insightful conversation I had when I was at the lowest point when I worked in corporate was what's gonna make you happy, Laura? And even if I didn't know, I knew what didn't make me happy. So you can always start there. So what would you like from your job? Like what do you feel that you would love to do the most? Like what what is it that brings you joy about your job and what don't you like? Right. And so how you can mitigate those things and mix them together so that they can have a better experience, but no, they still have to get their job done. Maybe it's someone bullying them and they never said anything.

Jay Johnson:

Yeah, right.

Laura Armstrong:

And so until they feel safe, they're not going to say anything. Yeah. So you as the employer need to create the container of safety. I'm gonna talk about that in a minute. The third thing is to know that um until they want to do it, you can't do anything. And that's just the truth. All you can do is provide the means for them. So the the question I would ask then is like, do you want to change this?

Jay Johnson:

Yeah.

Laura Armstrong:

And so they yeah.

Jay Johnson:

I I think that's such a, you know, that's such an interesting, it's such an interesting perspective because, you know, I think cognitively, it ultimately we want to change it or people want to change it, but then it's almost like this little voice inside that keeps them from saying You can't do that. Exactly. You know, you can't do that, or change is scary. Like we at least know where we're at right now. And I I see that with a lot of I see that with a lot of people who have experienced trauma. One of the questions that I've asked people in the past is uh you've experienced trauma, you're working through this, you're doing the therapy, you're doing the conversations, you're doing this. What does healed look like to you?

Laura Armstrong:

Yeah.

Jay Johnson:

And it was, you know, because when you talk about post-traumatic post-traumatic stress, you know, there's a there's a shift in the industry to post-traumatic stress injury because it's not a disorder, it's not something you're born with, but it's something that comes from an injury of trauma, i.e., an external circumstance. Exactly. You know, so what does healed look like? And very interesting because when I've asked this question, most people that have experienced some kind of trauma, they they find that very difficult to answer. They don't know what healed looks like. And what that tells me is they don't have a goal set for how they operate, what they look like, what their energy level is. Like it's not a very defined aspect. So when you're speaking to this, how do you maybe help them see the difference between what does injured look like and what does healed look like?

Laura Armstrong:

So for them, it could be the same thing. So there's two things you can provide. So, first of all, is the routine. The routine will get their cognitive brain um creating new neurosynapsis pathways. And so that uh automatically will help them. The second thing, and I think what's so important is um there's two things here. The first is they don't feel supported, they can say they do, but they really don't. So have you created a strong enough for container for them to feel safe? I keep saying this, but that's really the key word here because they're not gonna go anywhere unless they feel safe. Right.

Jay Johnson:

They're gonna be stuck in a sympathetic nervous system and just back.

Laura Armstrong:

And so you need to provide that for them. The third would be no judgment, because even though it's automatic for you to say to know you don't judge, they need to hear it. Right. And so, and then this the next thing I would do would be to give them knowledge, to give them verbal strategies or physical strategies or whatever it is that they need so that they have tools so that they can implement things and move out of that space. Because right now they don't feel like they're trapped, they don't have anything, they're stuck, right? And so using those four things can actually help bring them, but it has to be the right support system and they have to feel safe or they're just not going to do it. Both in hypo and high hyper, same thing.

Jay Johnson:

Well, and let's move to the hyper right now, because we we do see a lot of hyperactivity. I think that you know, if you look at the if you look at the number of people that have been clinically diagnosed with ADHD, and I'm not just talking about self-diagnosis, but I'm even talking about clinical diagnoses. Right. You know, we see a rise in this. And there's a number of different, you know, postulations and theories of why that's occurring. Um, but ultimately, when it comes down to it, I it was Gaber Mate who again had suggested I've never met somebody with ADHD with like a real debilitating ADHD, because I think that everybody has attention challenges at different points in time, myself included. Um, I've never met somebody with ADHD, true like debilitating ADHD, can't hold a job, can't stay in a position or anything else that doesn't have some level of trauma that comes along with it.

Laura Armstrong:

Yeah.

Jay Johnson:

So the fact that you're into the hyperactivity makes a lot of sense. So let's let's dig into that.

Laura Armstrong:

Yeah. So first of all, I just want to say I'm not a medical doctor. I'm I'm just I'm giving you my perspective from my learned experience. Like I've taught in everything from women's prisons to men's halfway houses. I've taught in um high impact, high violent areas in Israel. So like I've I've taught um empowerment self-defense all over the world in different, you know, in different areas. Like I remember one morning teaching 13-year-old girls about rape. And then at the night, I'm on the other side of Israel teaching women of the night about how to survive the night, right? And so I've had to really stretch my learning and be in all sorts of different um personalities and and and things that people have gone through to actually learn these things. And so I just want to be clear about that. So I'm only giving you my learned experience. So for and I and I do a lot of training and studying in this because I think I'm a lifelong learner. So the other part about the hyper that I think is so interesting is I have the attention span of an at. But the fact of the matter is I've learned to manage it so that I can stay focused. And so when someone goes from that portal of safety into hyper, something set them off that edge. Right. And so whatever it was, it doesn't matter. You need to bring them back into that portal. So they're gonna be acting jittery, hyper, possibly violent, aggressive, verbal, physical, mental, whatever it is. So a lot of the time for someone like that, they just need to ground down. So uh the somatic breathing is super, super important for this. Even if you sit with them within three breaths and you do it together, you will synchronize your breathing right away. They will start to calm down. Um, so their nervous system calms down, then they start to feel safe. It's just like the same thing with people in hypo. And so the other thing I do with people who are in the hyper state is I give them grounding exercises. So feel your feet on the floor, hold a cold cloth. And then these seem like simple things, but these are tactile things that actually connect with the brain. And so then the neural synapses connects to the nervous system and says, Oh, I can relax now, right? Like I don't need to be in that state. One idea is growing roots out of your feet and picturing them going down into the earth, into the core of the earth, and like really grounding the body in, right? Um, I had one lady I was working with, and she had um, she was in my full contact self-defense class, and she had been someone had attempted to kill her with a knife. And so it came out in the class, and she was sitting huddled in a ball like this and shaking and sobbing, right? And and I just sat there with her, and all she wanted to do was touch the side of my arm. That's all she needed because she couldn't take anymore. And so we did the breathing, we brought her back into her body, and she was able to process everything because you're keeping that in your body, that's not good, right? You got to get rid of that trauma, you gotta get rid of that stuff. And so we were able to bring her back into her body, and she was able to move forward. Now she teaches ESD and programs all over the world, like she's an amazing human being. So these things of being in hypo and hyper, they are not permanent, right? Everyone thinks PTSD is a curse. It's not. So the thing is it's temporary and you can change it. You just need to be with the right people with the right training who can hold the container for you so you feel safe about not just processing, but bringing yourself back into the portal of safety. And they and they need to know how to do that.

Jay Johnson:

Yeah. No, and I think that's super powerful because I I I know some people who have who've gone through um, you know, different traumatic events that have created conditions for post-traumatic stress injury. And I will tell you, you know, a lot of times I think that they they believe that there is no out, that there is nothing or anything else. And I've watched uh several of them go through a series of different programs, working with a licensed psychologist, working with um different aspects that have really helped them elevate and talking to them afterwards, you know, definitely give some insights of like, yeah, when you're sitting in the cave and all you see is dark, you don't see the light or anything else until you actually start doing some of the things that you need to do to be able to process and resolve and to heal and to understand and to create the conditions of connection again, because that's one of the things that ultimately ends up getting dropped. So, you know, one of the things, one of the things that uh that I find extremely interesting is your applications of some of your knowledge and experience to the de-escalation aspect, right? In the workplace right now, we and I I think, you know, to kind of round this out for the leaders, managers, HR, the first step is recognizing hypo, you know, hypoactiveness versus hyperactiveness, recognizing that there may be some level of challenge that is going on. And the next step is, you know, stepping in and creating that safe space. So let's talk about let's talk about the you know, what happens when that safe space is not met. And maybe we have some different tension, conflict, hopefully not violence, but we live in this, we live in an environment right now where triggers are uh triggers are everywhere. And you know, uh people are not always as kind to each other as as I advocate for them to be. Um so let's talk about this de-escalation aspect. And I think that you're gonna provide a really interesting perspective on this. Talk to me about what that looks like right now in your world.

Laura Armstrong:

Sure. So there's a couple pieces to that. So, first of all, in the management area, when I train managers, I also train them on aggressor behaviors because a lot of them are unaware that they're doing it, it's just their normal behavior. And it's not a they're not intentionally doing it, but it's how they don't understand why people are reacting that way. So it's also having the awareness around that. That's the first step. And also um the level upping their level of emotional intelligence. So understanding that empathy is the number one thing that they should be concerned with more than the bottom line, more than with um numbers, more than with business. It should be people first, because people are what is going to create your culture and your company, and that is what people look at first now. It's not numbers anymore.

Jay Johnson:

I mean, it's great to get bought out and all that, but we need that, but it that that comes after the people because it's the people that ultimately get us to that. Correct. So let me ask you this question because we can think about you know, maybe aggressive behaviors as somebody um glaring at you or somebody pounding their fist on the table, or somebody yelling, and all of those very um obvious direct aggressive behaviors. But help the audience maybe what are some of those smaller aggressive behaviors that could be signs that are on.

Laura Armstrong:

Sure. Yeah. So there's a lot. So there's seven um seven strategies that aggressors use. And so it could be things like unsolicited promise. So if you do this for me, if I do this for you, you do this for me.

Jay Johnson:

Okay.

Laura Armstrong:

Seemingly innocent, but it's a manipulation, right? Microaggressions. Oh, you're probably right. Um, that's the best you can do. Or you, oh, you drive that car.

Jay Johnson:

Sure. Right.

Laura Armstrong:

Oh, that's your that's your degree. Right. So all these are you like, but they're normal speak, like they they're in the in the I want to say the old days, but that was never like that was the norm. That was the, you know, and so this has pervaded our workforce, right? And so we the awareness around these things are really key. Um, you know, another good one is called loan sharking, where like um, so um, I did this for you, so now you have to do this for me, right? And so there's this this perceived authority that um that managers have that their employees must accede to this if they want to get further, if they want to keep their job, if they, you know, want to get paid, right? And so then there's that level of fear and control that the person down here doesn't know how to deal with because they're like, okay, I'm stuck here. I got to do this to earn my money, right? Um the good thing is, and I just gave you a couple of examples because we have limited time today, but the good thing is that there are strategies that we can use, um, that employees can use and both management can use um to bring ourselves back into that portal where everyone's having a resolution, right? And they're and and everybody's boundaries are being respected. Because I feel like a lot of times people talk about boundaries, but they don't really know what it means. Um, a boundary is a safe point for you. Like really, it's the point of where you don't want things to crash. It's that really that simple. So when you're when you're thinking of verbal strategies um for people, um, a lot of the time some of the cues that you need are there are things like making eye contact, saying what you mean. Because that there's a lot of disconnect there. Well, I don't like when you do that. Well, do what? Right? Like I don't like when you speak to me that way and say this. Now that person has no, there's no guesswork, no wiggle room, yeah. There's no wiggle room, right? Uh having um your body squared up to them because if you do it like this, and I'm like, well, you know, I'm not feeling, you know, no, it's this, right? You're squared, you mean what you say, and there's no should've, could have, would've. Now, these are maybe uncharacteristic things that you don't normally do. You don't have to do them all at once because people are like, what the hell, right? But you can try one of them, like making eye contact or being direct about what you want to say, right? And don't look away, do not have shifty eyes. So all of these cues, there's probably about 10 basic ones that we teach, right? Um, give you not only the presence to set your boundary, but also um give you the confidence to step in and and and grow from there and not feel like you're being pushed down or trapped or you know, and this goes on a management level as well.

Jay Johnson:

So, Laura, let me ask, let me ask this question. Okay. I because I know what somebody in the audience could be thinking right now. They could be thinking, easy for you to say, Laura, you're a bodybuilder, you're a badass in martial arts, you know, you you've you've conquered fear, you've stood in the face of adversity. Easy for you to say. How do you help somebody that's maybe that doesn't have that that natural confidence or that built-in confidence that either you've developed, had a little bit of, whatever that looks like. But some people just don't have that sense of confidence or authority in themselves. And you know, something as simple as eye contact, it's like in and I know this just from the study of ethology in the animal kingdom, eye contact is can be considered aggression. And so me making eye contact and keeping eye contact with you without turning down or lowering my face could be an escalation gesture. So some may not necessarily see that as a defensive posture, like more of a resistance strategy as opposed to it being a more of an aggressive strategy. How would you help coach them towards that confidence of being able to say, hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, two things there.

Laura Armstrong:

So, first of all, a great comment about the eye contact. Um, that is also a cultural thing. So if your culture is not used to that and you're in a corporate environment in corporate America, corporate North America, you gotta have eye contact because that's how you get respect. Okay. And that's how the hierarchy in corporate America works. Because they want to know that you're engaged, that you hear them, that you're listening, and that you acknowledge that. And they do that through a lot of eye contact. So they will respect that. But if I'm teaching a class in Africa and I'm in a different company, like that is not happening. They will look down. That is a that is a sign of aggression or um rudeness when you look in someone's eyes. So you need to know the cultural impact. And that's why we as instructors, we go around teaching this because it's important to know that. So for the person who doesn't feel they have a voice, so what I recommend is we do exercises in our classes where it's the number one thing, Jay, that I find that people struggle with is using their voice because they're afraid to they're afraid to make waves, they don't want to be heard or cause trouble. Um, you know, they don't want to everybody looking at them. We teach people to use their voice for three reasons. First, it brings ear witnesses, not just eyewitnesses, because if other people People are hearing what's going on, then that's important to know that you're not allowed, that you have that support there. The second is to breathe. And the third is to generate power. So when people feel they can't use their voice, what we tell them is we do different exercises with them in our classes. So for instance, we tell them to say the alphabet from A to Z. A, you start out really quietly, so you can barely hear. By Z, you're yelling as loud as you can. Because why people don't use their voice a lot of the time is A, they've probably been traumatized or uh chastised or told, you know, to keep things quiet. Um and so there's that fear, right? And so the other piece of that I'd like to add in before we finish up here is it's really important that people do affirmations. Do you talk about that on your show?

Jay Johnson:

Um we have uh uh past guests has mentioned affirmations, but go ahead and dig into it.

Laura Armstrong:

Yeah, I think it's important because affirmations aren't just some woo-woo thing you do every day. When you do affirmations, it starts to create a habit and after time it starts to create a ritual. And when that ritual starts, then it starts to manifest or show up. So when you do affirmations, it actually changes the neurosynapsis in your brain. And so these things start to show up in your life. And so that that has to do with the reticulator activating system in your brain. And so that's the system where let's say I say to you, uh, Jay, I need to see an elephant tomorrow. All of a sudden I'm seeing elephants everywhere, right?

Jay Johnson:

You you know how that works, right? Yeah, it's the buying a car and then all of a sudden you see your car everywhere.

Laura Armstrong:

And this, this is it, that's exactly it. So we're starting to get our reticulator activating system working for us. Right? I am a powerful person who takes back my power from others and I own who I am. I'm confident, I'm comfortable, and things show up for me with ease. Like whatever your affirmation is, do them every morning, look in the mirror. It can be difficult at first, um, but what these start to do is they start to build your confidence, confidence almost unconsciously, um, so that all of a sudden you're sitting straighter, you're speaking up more. So all of these habits, including the breathing, all the somatic thing, this is just one more tool in your toolbox that you can use.

Jay Johnson:

Yeah, Dr. Allen Langer talks a lot about that and sort of the like the positive mental framing, because the mind follows the body, the body follows the mind. When we say something positive, we look for something positive. When we say something negative, the body reacts and looks for something negative. So I love that as a tactic to take away from here.

Laura Armstrong:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jay Johnson:

Laura, uh, this has been a fascinating conversation. I know we could probably talk for hours, but given our time, if the audience wanted to get in touch with you, how would they reach out?

Laura Armstrong:

Sure. You can reach out to me on LinkedIn. So just look look for me. Um, and uh you can also uh check me out on my website, wealthmasterysystems.com. Uh, and I'm happy to speak with any of you. Uh, I also, if it's okay, I I also love to offer people to spend time with me and hear more about them and give them more tools. Is that okay, Jay?

Jay Johnson:

Yeah, absolutely.

Laura Armstrong:

So they could just simply go to wealthstrategy with Laura.com and book some time on my calendar, and I'd be happy to speak with them.

Jay Johnson:

Amazing. Well, thank you, Laura. I really appreciate hearing your perspectives. And it's definitely, you know, you've got such a rich history and an exciting story. Definitely want to learn more about that. So we'll we'll look to have you back and maybe talk about some of the other aspects of workplace behavior. But for now, thank you so much for being here and sharing your uh sharing your knowledge, your experience, and your wisdom.

Laura Armstrong:

Thanks so much for having me.

Jay Johnson:

And thank you, audience, for tuning into this episode of the Talent Forge, where together we're shaping workforce behavior.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jay Johnson, CEO and Co-Founder of Behavioral Elements

Host