Meeting Joel a number of years ago, he was always someone who had a different outlook on business and psychology.He isn’t the stereotypical psychologist with the thin wire rimmed glasses and tweed jacket with the elbow patches who sits on a leather sofa with pad and paper in hand. Well, maybe thats just the visual stereo type I have in my head because I have been watching a lot of movies during lockdown?!
He has worked with high profile sports clubs and personalities in the past, but his passion is the promotion of general wellbeing as a whole. He wants to get people out of the old mindset of “whatever happens, she’ll be right mate!” This attitude does not cut it in this day and age.
Being as cutting edge that I know Joel is, I wanted to touch base with him to see how he has been these past couple of years and to see whether his approach to business has changed in this new digital frontier. I wanted to see what he was doing differently living and working in the digital world.
As Lisa and I recorded our podcast with Joel, he himself had also recently released his own podcast based on having conversations with people of all walks of life driving around in his Datsun 180b. Yep that’s right, a Datsun…not the Kingswood!
His episodes can be found on his Endeavour Wellness website and on his Youtube channel. He takes out ordinary people for a drive in his Datsun and gives them an opportunity to share and chat about life in general. It is his way of getting people comfortable and talking. Nothing too deep of course, but enough for people to open up and share their experiences in life.
Indeed, this unique experience encourages people to talk about everything and nothing in particular (Next think you know, he will create his own Seinfeld episode!).
As much as Lisa and I are advocates of the opportunities working and living in the digital world, Joel gave us another perspective which gave us a light bulb moment.
He points out that people shouldn’t just change their whole careers because thats what everyone else is doing. Sometimes people need to look at this option to know that going digital may not actually be their path.
What he does say is that there is now a new “normal.” There are now many different options for people and for businesses to operate within industries that can adapt and change how their workforce operates.
There is now the opportunity for people to work from home, and maybe even have a mix where people do both throughout the week. Businesses now need to be flexible to provide an adaptable working environment. He does heed however that some caution will need to be noted. Joel points out some people actually do not fair well working in isolation where others thrive on it. In general, most people like to have the the connectivity of face to face interaction that a regular workplace provides and many people will continue to work in the traditional office workspace.
There will, indeed be many new issues that companies need to navigate through in this new frontier of the working world. The fact is, many businesses are already geared up for people to work from home, a situation created by the current pandemic lockdown. It is now also relatively easy for small business to be set up to do the same.
So, there you go folks. Like I said, Joel is no ordinary Psychologist. His perspective and approach to psychology is down to earth and his outlook on getting his message to the masses is a breath of fresh air. He is on personal mission to break down the stigma around mental health and is making inroads in achieving this goal.
The example of his podcast is somewhat unorthodox in the psychology world, but the world needs more people like him. I look forward to catching up with Joel and maybe even sitting with him in the future, in the 180b, doing blockies in the Shire.
Until next time, adios amigos.
Luki & Lisa
Live Work Digital 