Check out the latest episode below. Mr.Biz Radio provides business owners with the knowledge and insights needed to drive their companies forward.

Mr. Biz Radio: Maximize Your Mental Performance in Only 15 Seconds Each Day

Unedited transcription of the show is included below:

 (00:05):

Welcome to Mr. Biz radio, Biz. Talk for Biz owners. If you're ready to stop faking the funk and take your business onward and upward, this show is for you. And now here's Mr. Biz, Ken Wentworth.

(00:19):

All right, welcome to another episode of Mr. Biz with me, Mr. Biz Ken Wentworth. And we're gonna talk about something that, and I say this all the time, but it's so true, and this is why we, we scour the earth looking for topics that are, will resonate and are pertinent with people, especially business owners and entrepreneurs, of course, but also other people that listen and watch, listen to and watch the show. And I I, I, I shouldn't say stumbled upon it makes it sound way too informal, but I found this guest was very fortunate enough to fi find this guest a few months back. And he's, he's gonna be amazing. I'm, I'm telling you, I'm, I'm putting a lot of pressure on him right now, but this is gonna be an amazing discussion because we're gonna talk today about how to maximize your mental performance in just 15 minutes a day.

(01:07):

So we're all looking for that, right? Everyone wants these shortcuts. We are, we're, we're always looking for shortcuts. And so if you wanna men maximize your mental performance and only 15 minutes a day, you wanna stay tuned. Our guest this week is none of them, Dr. Coner Hogan. He is the author of the Gym Upstairs, the Neuro Neuroscientific Secrets of Future Champions. He is also the world's leading high performance neuro socio psychologist, say that three times fast and has been featured in Forbes, Inc. And Entrepreneur magazines. He grew up in a family business, so he's definitely knows the entrepreneur side of things. Like many of our, our viewers and listeners has had many small businesses himself and knows that it's out, out mount, geez, Louis, tongue down already mindset that sets apart, sets us apart if we wanna be successful or not. And since I can't even talk, Dr. Hogan, please take over and welcome to the show, <laugh>.

(02:00):

Yeah, the neuro socio psychologist thing can be translated into several languages. <Laugh>,

(02:08):

Well, clearly I can't even speak it in English, so I, I gotta, I gotta stay away from that phrase, <laugh>. Well, so, you know, you've got this amazing medical, sort of medical, pseudo medical background, right? But also you have the experience with your family businesses as well as your businesses. So why don't we start there? Tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey.

(02:29):

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. And thanks for having me, Ken.

(02:32):

It's, yeah, absolutely.

(02:33):

Well, I mean, it's funny, like we're starting off with talking about background and it just, what we're talking about the brain, for example, and, you know, our listeners and viewers, just to keep this in mind for us all individually, is that what we're wired with earlier on in life is very, you used the word pertinent. It is very pertinent. It's really important because that's effectively going to not shadow our thoughts, but kind of cup our thoughts in our decision making going forward. So if you're starting a business right now, if you're looking at the economy, if you're fearful, whatever else, that's really important to know that a lot of your analysis is going to come from your upbringing or your earlier experiences. And so that's not really a very kind of true objective analysis with regard to, say, for example, opportunities that my life out there for you.

(03:30):

So for me, just to put that into kind of a little bit more specific of a background for me. Yes, correct. I, I started off myself learning formally and more than theory. So, but like practically about business where my father was a farmer, a dairy farmer, okay. And my mother was a nurse, and obviously when they married a lot of the concentration of the, the, the work was put into the farm. And so I was the youngest and when I was 12 years of age, we changed some of the land into a golf course. And so interesting. You can imagine, yeah, it was like a couple of miles from the den city center, and it was quite rural at that time. And basically a lot of the land around our house at home was a golf course. It was a par three golf course.

(04:23):

So we had 18 holes, par three, and we had, you know, daily green fees. We had a little bit of membership. And essentially from 12 up to about 18, 19, 20, I was working in a family business. Our house was like a staff room, a such a locker room where it was, you know, we never really had family meals at that stage because we were just all doing shifts and working there. And I worked in various areas and none more, none more so than really, I suppose, gwe. I was, you know, directly with the customers, with the, the golfers, with the clients, and rangering going out on the golf course as well and taking money off them and guiding them and almost coaching them to doing not just golf, but, you know, seeing what was coming in the gate with regard to the business, with regard to the incomes and outcomes, and understanding that obviously that kind of business is a seasonal type business.

(05:21):

So in the summer you had very, very long days, 12, 14 hours. And of course, in the long winter nights it was much different. So you had to calculate and figure out exactly per hour what was happening, what was coming through the gates so that you could adjust in the wintertime as well. And so that's, that's how I grew up. And then that triggered me to do the more prac, the more well formative education of business college after that. So that was my first degree, believe it or not. And so in between, I did a lot of sales work to get by through college, so that was interesting. And I was very good at door-to-door sales, so that was as anybody who's ever done any sales would know, that's like the, the trickiest one, but it's also the most satisfying one I think as well.

(06:06):

Yeah. So I gotta ask was there, and, and maybe you, maybe you don't know this, but cause you were so, so young at the time, but was there a, a, what was the decision to, to translate some of the farming land into a golf course? Was there something there where your father, your mother, were like, Hey, this is, this is a better outlet for us?

(06:26):

Yeah, I mean, I was very young at the time and I, what I do remember very, very distinctly was, you know, getting cards through the door from neighbors and well, wishers and the word venture. And I couldn't figure out what's this venture thing, you know, and entrepreneurship, good luck with entrepreneurship and all of this. So it was very, very cutting edge at the time. There was nobody, certainly nobody doing any golf course at the time. Par three, it was unique not just in the county, but also in the west of Ireland and it like 25% of the land. But this was before the internet as well. So it was, it was difficult as course to get people or customers potentially to come from far off because we, you know, you just didn't have it of course, before the internet. So it was all word of mouth as such.

(07:10):

But it was just, I think, an inkling from my parents to go the entrepreneurial route at that stage. And I think, you know, again, listeners and viewers that often, you know, in a couple, you can have a partner that's suitable for that, but also you can have one that Dr pulls you back. And it's really important to, I think, have the right chemistry between two people. I think my father was very visionary type of person could see the bigger picture. And my mother had a lot of drives. So I think together they were a very good couple in that regard.

(07:43):

Yeah, that's very interesting. So we're running outta time here cuz I, but I'm gonna give you a question I'm gonna ask you at the next, in the next segment to think about a little bit. So I'm very curious based on your upbringing with the farming and then the golf course and the combination of the two, and especially with you as you mentioned you know, your, your, your dad being a visionary type person, your mom being very driven. I, I want to talk a little bit more about your specific journey and how you, you know, sort of you got a business degree and then you said, you know what, I wanna go into neuroscience. Like that's a big change. I, I mentioned to you before we got, got started here, our oldest daughter went into neuroscience and you know, my wife is a nurse and I'm in business. So it's very similar to your situation growing up. So, so again, we're talking this week with Dr. Coner Hogan. We're gonna get the answer to that question, but he's the author of the gym upstairs, the Neuroscientific Secrets of Future Champions. We all wanna be champions, whether it be in your business, sports doesn't matter, right? So you want to come back after the break. We're gonna talk more with Dr. Coner Hogan on Mr. Biz Radio.

(09:01):

If you would like to reach hundreds of thousands of business owners every week, Mr. Biz radio can help . Our show airs globally seven days a week for more than 25 hours across several internet radio stations, plus 20 plus podcast platforms. Also video exposure on the new exclusive Mr. Biz network streaming channel, which gets blasted to 100 plus streaming platforms and the Mr. Biz YouTube channel and our 350,000 social media followers multiple times every week. Join Mr. Biz nation as an advertiser by emailing us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

(09:40):

Are you ready to automate your business? Automation is the key to scaling a business and building wealth. It's also one of the most difficult things for a small business owner to do on their own. If you're looking for help with automation, Pulse Technology CRM can help. We have an exclusive offer for Mr. Biz nation. We will build everything for free, even if it's a sophisticated funnel, visit thepulsespot.com/MrBiz for this exclusive offer.

(10:10):

Got a question for Mr. Biz. You want answered on air, email it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Now once again, here's Mr. Biz.

(10:21):

All right, welcome back to the show. It's time for Mr. Biz's tip of the week before we get back talking with Dr. Coner Hogan. And the tip this week is success not surrender. When the road gets bumpy and as an entrepreneur, it will, you have a choice to make forge ahead with new determination or fold like a cheap suit. If you choose the latter, you're probably not meant to be an entrepreneur because there will be challenges as our guests this week knows from his childhood as well as in at being an adult as well with his own businesses. In his current business, there are a lot of challenges. So I've mentored a bunch of people who are, I call 'em entrepreneurs, they have an idea they want to be an entrepreneur, but honestly, they don't have the cor in, in my opinion, at least.

(11:08):

They don't have the correct mindset, the consistent perseverance that we talk about all the time that's necessary to be successful in the small business world, in the medium business world, in the big business world. And as an entrepreneur, you have to be able to do that because it doesn't matter how smart you are, who you know, how much money you have, you're going to get kicked in the teeth by, by the world and have some challenges. And so you have to be able to have that, you know, get up, you know, get knocked down seven times and get up eight. If you don't have that, you're probably not gonna be successful. It's part of me really frustrating for you. However, if you are wired that way, you're gonna freaking love it because you're gonna love the challenge of continually having to do that. While it sounds a little crazy for those of us wired that way, that's part of the challenge and part of what we love about it. So that's Mr. Biz tip of the week this week. So Dr. Hogan, we, I I I pre alluded this question right before the break. So what was that, you know, how did you pivot from sort of the business side of things into going into neuroscience?

(12:10):

Oh gosh, it's a, it's a, it's, it seems like a long road now because I, I honestly feel that I've lived a few different versions of lives <laugh> at this stage because I've been pivoting all the way through. So essentially I went from growing up in that regard. So first off, you know, when you're very young, you're around farm animals and all of that, then it goes into like the public business. So it's gone from private home life to open out to people. And then as I said, I went to business college, did a bit of sales work, and then I got into education, believe it or not. So I think that was the biggest twist and turn with regard to that. Essentially what happened to my personal life was when I was growing up, I was mad into sport as a big tall guy, six foot four athletic, played a lot of sports, team sports here in Ireland.

(12:55):

I was quite talented, but I got injured and the medics couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. So a lot of chronic pain essentially. Then in my late teens, I was, you know, one of these people. And you kind of touched on it there thing in your introduction, this question with regard to how you were wired, how you were essentially upstairs, you know, the gym upstairs, there's my book <laugh>, essentially, you know, between your ears, how you, how you think, how you feel, and wan and when I was growing up, I was the type of person just for my sport to just do ridiculous amount of practice. You know, I'd be up before school doing it myself. Obviously we were working in the, the family business after school, so I was around an exposed to sport, then we would go to official training with teens, stuff like that.

(13:37):

I would come back and practice more and more, but also at night I would read and I would research trying to get that little bit of inch, you know, better at what I was doing. Also, understanding that and growing up, you know, physically. And that's when the growing pains and the, the issues that I had with my spine, I had scoliosis twisted spine. And so, you know, you can imagine a context sport was quite, quite different. You know, you're, you're not balancing the same way as others and all of that. So essentially it was just that, that, and you touched on it again, it's that habit that you build with regard to self-improvement, with regard to just trying to get that into head in everything that you do and every way that you do it. And so in my healing kind of success personally, I just adopted the exact same attitude with regard to that.

(14:23):

So when I was told I was inoperable in Europe at the age of, say, 20 years of age and couldn't play any sport and had a bundle of energy to put into something, I just kind of, you know, I just adopted that attitude to try and get myself in research to figure out what was wrong. So I was reading, I was educating, the internet was coming out around the same time, a little bit slower here in Ireland at the time, of course. And it just all kind of crescendo together in, in a bundle of learning. And so I was teaching, that was my profession initially, and then all of the teaching I qualified in, you know, primary, which is elementary, then post-primary, which is high school, then I went into special needs. That's where the brain stuff started kicking in professionally. But of course, I was learning that myself through the mind body connection with regard to when I, you know, talk about a twisted spine, that your central nervous system is around your spine or through your spine.

(15:14):

And so that's of course linked to your brain, so your body, brain, mind connection is there. So all of the things that were happening within my body, within my mind, when I was improving myself and reading up and educating myself, and then in the teaching, I could see a lot of issues with regards to, you know, children with suicidal ideation at seven years of age. People with eating difficulties, teenagers social problems at home all of these different things. And so I basically, I was educating completely hyper educating really, to be honest. And everything I did, I just did it on myself and I self improved. And then I started, you know, getting clients and from there I was kind of working two jobs the teaching world, and then kind of coaching and therapy in the evenings for a few years until I went out on my own and went the entrepreneurial route with regard to 100% leaving the teaching and, and, and going it out alone and doing what I'm doing now.

(16:08):

Yeah. So we've only got about three minutes. Yeah. So I'm sure you could talk about this for days, but so what's that look like? So when someone goes out www.docconor.com Yeah. What's that look like for them to engage with you and, and how you help them? And again, I don't wanna give you, I don't want you to give away too much to talk about, you know, some of those maximizing mental performance in only 15 minutes during the next segment, but what's that look like generally speaking?

(16:36):

So essentially, if a person, like you mentioned, rewiring, right? We can rewire our brain. So I did say at the very start that when we're younger and the things that happen when we're younger in life, in business, or whatever else, your experiences, they shape you take that as a, like a cup, but at the same time, you can kind of etch through that cup and you can actually start brand new neural patterns, right? Neural threads. And so that means that if somebody like inspires you right now, or it just twigs an idea in your mind, that is a real thought, you know, there's an electrical impulse there, so you need to build on that, so you need to take action, of course. And so put that into what does that look like, you know, to start something. So there is that kind of talk therapy type coaching that I do as well with it, but there's also techniques that I would use, for example, and you have to get to the bottom of, for example, visualizations and how and why to visualize the proper method to do it.

(17:32):

Because there is a lot of, you know, people off the internet, they'll just, you know, read something once and then they'll go and they'll do it, and then suddenly, you know, that's not doing it properly, right? Sure. Also, the other kind of perceptions that we're receiving, like obviously our oral perceptions how we, we hear the words that are said, how we can reframe those words. There's lots of different things, but it's packaged up essentially within 15 minutes a day. And the reason I do that is because people want, you know, entrepreneurs want time back mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, right? Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And so if we can kind of put that in, in the correct, by the way, brain brainwave state, which is really, really important. There are several different brainwaves, but we can influence the brainwave state that is most relaxed. We can do that. And over time, then regular. And the thing about me is I'll do it every day, every day, including Christmas day. I've done it before with clients. And so we'll remain committed and be accountable to me so that you can rewire your brain in order to trigger that first thought, that inspirational thought, so that you can go ahead and actually take action in the right way in your business.

(18:39):

I love it. I love it. Well, we're gonna hit a break here, but in regards to what you just mentioned, Dr. Hogan I just, so we just had Thanksgiving in the United States here recently, and I, I set a goal for cycling for the fourth quarter of this year, and I did a massive cycling on the, I got up super early on Thanksgiving to do it, and my buddies are like, why are you doing that? I said, because my goals don't care that it's Thanksgiving. They don't care that it's Thanksgiving. Right? The, the, the goal is the goal. So we're gonna hit a break here. Come back after the break on Mr. Biz Radio.

(19:10):

How would you like to have direct access to Mr. Biz to help you run your business more profitably and more efficiently at mrbizsolutions.com you get live access to not only Mr. Biz, but also several of his handpicked and trusted business experts. Each with 20 plus years of experience to help you optimally manage and grow your business. That's just the start of where Mr. Biz solutions begins. Learn more at mrbizsolutions.com. That's mrbizsolutions.com.

(19:40):

Business owners have a continually growing to-do list with little time for revenue producing activities, with Check Off Your List and their experienced team of virtual assistant. You can focus on growing your business, visit, checkoffyourlist.com to learn how Check Off Your List. Skilled team can handle your day tasks like social media, bookkeeping, calendar maintenance, and much more. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 8 8 8 2 6 2 1 2 4 9. To see how their virtual assistants can help you live to work rather than work to live.

(20:11):

Check out all three of Mr. Business best-selling books at mrbizbooks.com. Now, once again, here's Mr. Biz.

(20:21):

All right, welcome back to Mr. Biz Radio. And again, we're talking this week with Dr. Coner Hogan. He is the author of the Gym Upstairs, which is probably the most important gym there is, even for the sports fanatics and, and athletes out there that are watching the show and listening to the show. Even as a former athlete myself, I know it all starts there. You could be physically gifted. We've all seen it with professional athletes even that are physically gifted, but they just don't have the mental capabilities, or, well, they probably do, but they don't utilize the mental capabilities. So Dr. Hogan, I I want to ask you, so, so first of all I want to mention again, go out to www.docconor.com, and by the way, you can go out to www.docconor.com/freegrowth and check out what he's got there.

(21:08):

You're gonna love it. So I did it, admittedly, it was just earlier today, I was doing some show prep. I went out and checked that out. You're gonna love it. So definitely go out and check that out again www.docconor.com/freegrowth Um but so if you would, again, without giving away your secret sauce, give us some tips to maximize our mental performance and only 15 minutes a day. And, and I think you're gonna probably weave this in, but one of the things I was intrigued by that I know that you, you sort of profess is to not multitask. Yeah. And I know as entrepreneurs, like I'm guilty of this to the end degree and I try to catch myself, but so if you can weave that in a little bit as wells, like what are, where are the dangers of multitasking and how's that kind of trip us up?

(21:51):

Yeah. So let's just simplify that for a second. With regard to multitasking. A lot of people say, oh gosh, that's not true. But when we're very young, we learn one thing at a time. And then when we're say teenagers, we can like do these simple things, two or three things together. I think it's in the learning, that's where the brain phase is kind of like, hold on a second, I need to learn this properly. So if you're doing something that's like in an entrepreneurial field, very regular, let's say you're emailing and you need to email 10 people, right? Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, even if you're emailing a similar email to 10 people, you're better off to compose the email, say 10 individual times, do that task once, and then in the second task, after you do the 10 individual compositions, then do the sending. Rather than doing, say for example, the first email, compose it, dear John, I like your, you're from whatever state in the us.

(22:46):

And then you send that off, and then you go back and do the composition of the second email and send it off. Because what you're doing there is you're not getting the efficiency. And our brain loves efficiency. Think of a computer. Remember a computer is designed, or, you know, mobile phones are designed efficiently, speed. So our brain loves that. It fuels it, it gets fueled off that essentially, so do the same thing. The boring things think boring. As an entrepreneur, we often think of a D H D and entrepreneurship, but if we think boring and consistently, we'll also get there a lot faster.

(23:18):

Well, it's interesting you say that, and it, it goes all the way back to, I'm not even sure the year that that he said this, but Henry Ford who started the Ford Motor Company here in the United States the specialization of labor, instead of having people doing, you know, during the assembly line of assembling a, a, a motor vehicle, instead of having people way it was done, I guess early on, was that you would have people that would go and go to each stage of, you know of compiling of, of creating that vehicle, of building that vehicle. Instead, they created this assembly line where all I do is seats, and I do seats all day long, and I'm a master at seats because I know how to do this, and I do it all the time, and the next person does, you know, a part of the engine and then the next part of the engine, et cetera, et cetera. So everyone's very specialized, so we're not multitasking. And I can imagine how even using that, that, that that theory that prum from so long ago really translate into today's world.

(24:21):

Yeah. And the other thing is, let's say if we're doing a simple thing, for example, like listening to a podcast, which is fantastic, and then also trying to do an email, right? Compose an email and send an email. What's happening there is, even though we can listen to some of the podcast and we're getting the information, maybe educating ourselves on the topic that we're actually doing, or the, the business we're in one little kind of word or emotion from the broadcaster or from the podcaster or a little story can take our concentration away because we, again, the brain loves focus, loves efficiency, and it's there to be focused, right? So when we look at something like meditation, one thing we know about meditation is that you're hyper-focused, believe it or not, on a specific task. It could be your breath, it could be a candle or whatever else, but what you're doing is you're making the brain stable within a certain brain wave. So it's really important to just do the one thing that you're doing at that time, and then you'll become more efficiently, more efficient and sustainable in the long term. And like you said at the start of the show, it's a grind. It can be a grind at times to be an entrepreneur, to keep on going. So it's about, you know, setting out those habits and keeping going with them.

(25:34):

Yeah. So you know, we're gonna run out of time here. Unfortunately, we've only got about four minutes left, but so what are some other things that we can do, some practical tips that yeah, an everyday person can do and weave into their day? Like I, I, I know your whole thing is 15 minutes, right? Because like you said, time is of the essence, especially with business owners, entrepreneurs, et cetera. What are some practical things that we can implement into our daily lives to become, to maximize our performance?

(26:00):

So one of the things I'm, I've been guilty on in the past, especially trying to keep up with you guys because there's an hour. You know, there's eight hours of a difference. I'm eight hours ahead of PST time. I'm five hours ahead of Eastern time, so often when I'm communicating, I'm, you know, communicating late at night. And so for me, then of course, you'll get a habit. And a lot of entrepreneurs, they grind, they work hard, they try to, especially when they're starting off, they try to do everything at once and try to do it late into the night. And then you're putting yourselves into a bad type of habitual way, because in the morning, you're gonna be very tired, or you can't wake early in the morning. So it's really important to get up in the morning, not just because you know, you wanna be motivated or anything like that, but to go out and get morning light.

(26:41):

And there's brain science with regard to that. It's really, really important to get that morning light again, to sustain and to keep that focus, to alert the brain. And then of course, connections, connections with people are really important to network with the correct people. I know that sounds very simplistic, but if we look at, say for example, COVID, when we were disconnected, physically disconnected, it's fantastic doing things over Zoom, doing things radio, whatever else, television, wonderful. But the presence of a, a human being that say, for example, is a, a better entrepreneur than you, that is more successful, just feeding off their energy is really, really important. There's a lot of research being done on that. Then you've got the brain gut access. Again, huge amount of research that's been done in that. And that means essentially that via from the brain right down to the stomach and what you eat, will again, sustain you, but also fuel you and help you to focus. And again, the brain waves, if we're going in and out, if we're not digesting correctly, if we're going against what is the best thing for us to eat, then we're not going to perform it the best in the best way.

(27:42):

Look, I was nodding and pointing at you because you hit the nail on the head from me, because when I'm, when I start off my morning and I don't get, it's not sunny out, it has a major impact on me. Unfortunately, getting that morning light, I think is so critically important. It sets you up for the day, gets the circadian rhythms all good to go, right? Not to get too technical, but in the people connection, I, I got this during Covid. I had a little, I'm gonna admit like a little bit of a, I wouldn't call it a breakdown, but I, I was kind of like starting to get a little cuckoo because I was trapped in my house and I wasn't getting those connections with people. And I, thankfully I realized that when I was like getting super irritated about the silliest things. And, and finally I told my wife, I said, I cannot go more than 36 hours without leaving this house. I need to leave the house and have a connection with another human being outside of these four walls. And just that simple exercise during covid I could just go to the grocery store and get a gallon of milk, doesn't matter. That reset for me was huge.

(28:48):

Hmm. It's so important. So, so think so think what that does when you're upscaling your business, when you're actually, you know, building and connecting with greater entrepreneurs. It's phenomenal.

(29:00):

Yeah. Well, especially when you're, you know, like you said, connecting with amazing people, not just getting a gallon of milk, right? But, but even just getting that is super important. So unfortunately we're outta time here, but go to www.docconor.com or if you wanna check out www.docconor.com/freegrowth, we'll put the link in, in, in the show notes. Dr. Hogan, I'm sorry, Dr. Coner Hogan, thank you so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate it.

(29:25):

That's weird. Thank you so much.

(29:27):

Yeah. Awesome. Awesome guys. Thanks for watching. I'm sure you got a lot on this show. It was amazing. Have a great week. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. And don't forget, as always, cash flow is king

(29:40):

To become part of Mr. Biz nation, follow him on all social media platforms or never miss a show by going to mrbizradio.com. If you prefer free video content, visit the Mr. Biz YouTube channel or check out his streaming channel, which is available on 100 plus streaming platforms at mrbiznetwork.com.