Jolie Shapiro00:00.894
Hey everyone, welcome to Revenue Mind, a podcast where our new leaders talk about all things mental health. I'm Julie, your host, and a big welcome to Vladimir. Welcome to the show. Am I saying your name correctly?
Vlad Blagojevic00:12.056
Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate what you're doing here. I don't think a lot of people talk about it and I think it's super important. So, you know, you taking the time to actually put this together to invite all these people very much appreciate it. And thank you for having me as well.
Jolie Shapiro00:31.902
Yeah, thank you so much for joining. So before we dive into questions, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Vlad Blagojevic00:39.16
Yeah, my name is Vlad. I'm a Serbian Belgian who lives in Spain. That's the easiest way I found to explain that I run together with my co -founder Andre Zinke, which we run a full funnel .io, which is a consulting company for B2B marketing. We work with revenue leaders from sales and from marketing help. marketing and sales teams work together and have better results as a consequence and I've been doing this a long time. I changed careers several times but we've been in B2B since 2006.
Jolie Shapiro01:18.622
Awesome. So we're going to dive into the questions now. I know we have some pretty intense ones, but I know you have some awesome answers. So super excited to get into this. So can you share time when you had to navigate mental health challenges and what strategies helped you through that period?
Vlad Blagojevic01:34.232
Yeah, I was thinking a lot about what you asked me there and I, there were several, several times that were challenging like for everybody. But I think probably like one of the most intense periods was when I turned 40, we moved to Spain. We like my wife was pregnant with our first child and we were. you know, everything happened at the same time. We got a baby. He wasn't sleeping. I was trying to run my business. We decided to buy a new house. And then there was some miscalculations, whatever. It turned out that we needed more money than initially planned. So I was like, okay, let me work for that. Like, work, it's too hard. So I spent like, I don't know, like maybe even a year like, working day and night, not seeing my family, you know, just running after trying to make that money. I mean, long story short, I definitely managed to make it so we are living in our dream house in our favorite place in the world. And, you know, everything is now fine, but it was very difficult. I felt very estranged from my family. I felt burned out. and I ended up with a health issue. It wasn't anything life threatening, but it was extremely painful. Ended up with a like level nine, level 10 pain for several months having to recover from that. So I would say that that qualifies as a pretty tough time. And, you know, I thought a lot about like, okay, how did it get out of there? And it took us some time, right? But, and I think... kind of trying to think about what were the steps and stages that I went through. And I think like always, I think the most important thing is first like take the full responsibility for the situation that you're in, right? And I know like different things happen to different people and there is a lot of things that happen that are out of your control, but there are always things. that the decisions that you have made, I mean, in my case, that was clear, I made these decisions, I might have done this differently, you know, maybe it would have been fine if we stayed in our old house, whatever, right? But I felt like, very clear, this is my responsibility, I got myself here, how can I get out of there? And I think like, just in general, just being brutally honest with yourself about where you are. not trying to put your head in the sand or wear pink glasses, whatever the metaphor is, but be brutally honest and also like, okay, what were maybe the decisions that I made that brought me here or flip it around. There are always things that you might be able to do to get yourself out of there. And then... If it is something like I always ask myself then, okay, is this this is am I having this problem because maybe of the stories that I'm telling myself of some sort of a mindset, maybe problematic mindset that I have, or is it because it's a situation that I might need to try to change and then also like, if it is the problem with the situation, then Is this something that I can change or is this something that I need to learn how to accept and live with? Because some things you can't change. But there's always, it's usually like in very complex situation like mine was, it's a combination of all three, right? And I needed to learn to accept some things and I needed to change many things and definitely also change my mindset, especially when it comes to work and money, et cetera. And so like, changing the situation and changing the mind, changing the situation may be difficult. It took me, I think about a year to clean up my mess. And I know that for I've done this many times in my life, we moved to countries, I'm living in my third country, I've changed career four times. And it was always for the same reason, like trying to. be in a better place and improve my, you know, the way that we feel, the way that we feel in the quality of our life. And obviously also the mental health and fitness or whatever you like to call it. So there, I've been through a lot of changes and I feel like my whole life has been like in a search of, you know, yeah, better place to be in my mind. And I think maybe just like,
Jolie Shapiro06:07.102
you
Vlad Blagojevic06:29.08
One last point there is obviously changing the situation or mindset, et cetera, was important, but in this very specific situation, I also needed to learn how to take care of myself and to basically prevent this from happening again, from preventing this kind of burnout from happening again.
Jolie Shapiro06:52.094
That makes a lot of sense and I'm so happy you're okay. That sounds, when you go to hospitals and they say, what's your pain, what's your pain level? Nine and 10 is the max. So I'm really, I'm really happy you're all right.
Vlad Blagojevic07:05.464
Like I said, it wasn't anything life threatening. There was a relatively simple solution. Although it took a lot of time, but it was just extremely painful.
Jolie Shapiro07:16.83
So how did you stay sane and prevent just...
Vlad Blagojevic07:19.96
Honestly, yeah, I think I was... So several things actually back then, I remember at a certain point I was like lying in bed, like I couldn't get out and get out and I really was escaping in work for a lot of things. So I actually at that time I was already thinking about... changing things with my work and how it's all structured. And I remember spending hours writing this. I wouldn't call it an ebook or an essay or something like a mini book that I wrote where I was like sharing my thoughts like, and so I was like spending spending hours on that. So I really tried to, of course, not think about the pain all the time. I mean, accepting for what the it for what it was, not think about it and trying to basically maybe escape a little bit from that. But then also like my wife came to me and she says like, okay, you know, you're lying down, it's not gonna help it. Like it's never a good idea. And I remember like I will get get out and it was still very painful, but I started walking and walking and then after about 20 minutes of walking, the pain will go away. So that was something that I just discovered thanks to my wife's advice. And then I started walking. I walked like three, four hours every day. I would wake up early in the morning, I would go out and I would walk, walk, walk, and I would do that during the day. I would do that during the night. So that was also a way for me, like as I was walking and walking and walking, I felt okay. I felt normal. And then I would, you know, maybe do some work, you know, having calls, connect with friends, connect with family. So I think like... you know, being able to lose myself in work and the walking is really what kept me sane in that situation.
Jolie Shapiro09:18.942
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And there's something with anxiety, like especially if you're dealing with chronic pain and anxiety and stuff like that. There's a study where if you focus on nature, if you focus on your surroundings, you can't think about what's going on because your brain is occupied. So that's amazing. That's great advice.
Vlad Blagojevic09:43.32
And I'm blessed that I have an opportunity to live next to the very large beach and I really enjoy and I find also just the, you know, the ocean and the waves and the wind and everything like very calming as well. And I just like connecting to what you said about nature. I think probably that helped as well.
Jolie Shapiro10:03.582
Yeah, definitely. So just shifting or maybe not shifting, but just diving into a little bit deeper what you talked about. So you touch on the significant impact of acceptance and mindset shifts and achieving mental well -being. Do you happen to have a personal story where change of perspective rather than a change in circumstances profoundly impacted your mental health?
Vlad Blagojevic10:26.072
Yeah, I think wanted to kind of put it in context first. So when it comes to change in the mindset, I think there's probably two main things or main situations where I find it, where I personally find this very helpful. And the first type of situation is basically... conflicts, right? So very frequently if you find yourself, if I find myself in a conflict and you know, especially maybe with somebody that I have a close relationship with, maybe with my wife or maybe my business partner, et cetera, you know, maybe resentment was building over time. And you know how we end up sometimes with stories in our minds and kind of having an argument with that other person even if they are not there. So basically kind of like focusing on this conflict, focusing maybe on something they said and how that hurt us, et cetera, et cetera. And again, not really taking any responsibility, right? And I find like whenever I find myself in a situation like that, that...
Jolie Shapiro11:22.022
Yeah.
Vlad Blagojevic11:40.6
every time I can try to take a spell, first of all, recognize what's going on. Recognize also that this kind of resentment and this kind of like arguing and like focusing on these things is not going to help anybody. I'm just going to feel worse. And I'm just trying to maybe in that conflict, try to show them how I'm right and they're wrong or you know, that we know that just doesn't work. So whenever I try, whenever I find myself in that situation and I manage to change that story and start thinking, and really it's about, in those situations, it's about empathy and trying to figure out, okay, but what's going on with them and why they might be behaving in a way they're behaving or saying things that they're saying, et cetera. And then even if I might not be able to understand, just maybe then trying to... do something differently. So, you know, instead of feeling the resentment, maybe change little things in my behavior, for example, when it comes to, you know, relationship with my wife. So I know that she loves when she wakes up, she loves having her morning coffee. That's the first thing. Maybe she will do that even before she has says hi to anybody in the house, right? She's one of those. So what I try to do most morning is
Jolie Shapiro12:59.902
Ha ha ha ha.
Vlad Blagojevic13:04.856
you know, get it ready, get the espresso ready so she can just push the button. You know, it's a small thing, but whenever I would start doing small things like that or try to improve the way that I think or change behaviors in small ways like that, I always saw a disproportionate impact, a disproportionate positive impact, right? And just like giving up on the argument stuff and trying to show how I'm right. So I think like this is like one type of situation and the other one has to do with the story that I shared at the beginning and how I ended up in that situation because I was overworking, et cetera. So I think like everything to do with the way that you look at your work, the way that you look at money very frequently, you know, changes in a way that you think about business work. job, whatever, can have a, again, disproportionate impact, right? When I can focus on things. on ways in which I might be able to create value, create something cool, instead of like focusing on how much money I can make, or, you know, the things that I might not like about my work. Of course, the perspective changes and the whole feeling changes and then my behavior changes and the result as a result very frequently also the situation changes over time. Hope that makes sense.
Jolie Shapiro14:37.342
Yeah, no, totally. I'm nodding because I'm a couple of things made me laugh because I can relate. When you were talking about not getting so angry and not holding grudges. So I was in Dallas visiting a friend and I was cursing at everyone with on the road and she was driving me. She was really sweet. She drove me all over. So I was visiting her and she said, well, maybe they're just late for work as they're cutting us off. And I'm at screen, but I definitely have a case of road rage. And it's just having that perspective of maybe they're just late for work and tied them some slack.
Vlad Blagojevic15:23.608
Maybe, maybe a, their child is sick and they're, you know, rushing them, which has happened to me several times, you know, having to rush your child to a hospital or something, or, you know, just being, you know, being late or, absolutely, absolutely. And, and the road rage is a really good place to, like road, let's say is a really good place to practice trying to have empathy for other people because we normally don't.
Jolie Shapiro15:27.806
Yeah. And I love the circus. Hehehehe Yeah, it's a great benchmark, great starting point. So you've made, I love the incremental changes that you made in your life and especially that thing you do for your wife with coffee, that's awesome. So you've also had substantial changes, so including cruise ships, moving countries, and you mentioned a lot of it was for your mental wellbeing. What advice would you give to someone who's feeling kind of stuck in their certain situation, uncertain if they... move on.
Vlad Blagojevic16:24.824
Yeah, I think, I think going back to what I was saying, like the first step is taking the responsibility and, or at least not ignoring it. So I think just being honest with yourself about it. I think what I see a lot of times is that what people tend to do when they're stuck. I mean, what we all tend to do. I mean, people, what we all tend to do is. we tell, we tend to try to find ways to justify it or to, you know, tell ourselves a story, you know, but it's not that bad, you know, I'm actually, you know, making good money, maybe if you're stuck in a job, just as an example, but actually making good money and, you know, I have some good colleagues and whatever, right? So, I mean, I think just facing the reality and being honest about it. And maybe if that's helpful, you know, talking to people that you trust about it and just like being open about it. I think that's, that will be the first thing to do. Right. And then I think it's also like deserves to be made a priority. Right. I think like, you're stuck, you don't know where to go. Okay. But you can just like, if I make this a priority and start thinking about, you know, options that I might have, right. What I wouldn't advise or what a lot of people I see online and the gurus say, you know, you have to just jump in, especially if it's, you know, I don't know, quitting your nine to five and, you know, starting on your own. You know, I would definitely not advise that. Like there is a lot at stake. You know, you may not, you may really not be ready yet. So being honest also about that, I think is important. I remember like the first time, long time ago, back in 2011. when I quit my job and started working for myself, like I really thought about it. I spoke a lot about it with my mom, with my wife. And I remember like, I don't know where I got this idea, but like one thing that I did do was I actually renegotiated with my current, with my employer at the time to start working part -time. They allowed me. I mean, I'm not saying that this will work for you, right? Not everybody will, you know, be lucky that their employer might allow them to do that. But there may be alternative ways in which you might be able to do that. I know that in some cases, unfortunately, not so many cases in the United States, like people in Europe get this chance to taking a sabbatical and keeping their job, right? I know some people who have done this and shared their career. Like I know a guy who was stuck. working in a well -paid government job, but he wasn't happy there. He took that sabbatical, especially in government, that was a bit easier for him. He went abroad, he studied, he changed his career. He wrote a book. This book did really well, and he's doing now like, you know, speaking and consulting, he's joining that, he's enjoying that, he's building his own business, but it wouldn't have happened without a sabbatical, and maybe, you know, it would have been very difficult for him to make that. leap or jump, right? So there may be other ways to do it, you know, you need to plan it, it may, it may require you to restructure the way that you know, your costs, you know, the way that you're spending money or maybe saving up, whatever. So I always like to like, caution, like, okay, jump in, but you know, plan it well and do it correctly. Don't put yourself in, you know, expose yourself to too much risk if that's not necessary. And then, like also like I remember, for example, with Spain as well when we had to move to Spain, it was very scary. I was kind of starting to work remotely at the time. It was way before COVID. So it wasn't like accepted. And I was afraid, I was afraid, okay, am I going to be able to make it? Am I going to have enough work? Will people accept me leaving, you know, so far away and working with them remotely? You know,
Jolie Shapiro20:11.23
Yeah.
Vlad Blagojevic20:38.776
Like I said, it was long before COVID. And so what we did is again, we had an opportunity. My wife contract was adding, there was a little bit of money there. We decided, okay, we are going to buy something in a way that, you know, invest our money in that so that we reduce our costs. And at the same time, if we need to go back, we can just rent it out, like on Airbnb. And so like, this was kind of an exit strategy that we had just in case. So, a lot of things to kind of prepare and cushion this potential risk or impact really, I think, can help a lot. So, I'm like the most impatient person that I know and still like, I took quite a lot of time. It took me several years to prepare for like some of these big moves and I'm so glad I did it. So, I think it does pay off to prepare that well. You, I'm not hearing you.
Jolie Shapiro21:43.55
That's what Descript is for. You can cut out, cut out mistakes. thank you. no, definitely. And it's funny on LinkedIn. I don't see it all the time, but I definitely see it when I was on LinkedIn more. I see you'll make $5 million if you quit your nine to five and I'm making, you know, I have a house in Montenegro and I have, you know, I had this perfect life and I was, I was talking with a couple of people on LinkedIn.
Vlad Blagojevic21:45.696
Thank you.
Jolie Shapiro22:13.182
Excuse me, in this podcast, and they were saying, yeah, it's everyone's perfect moment. And it's really hard to start your own business. You have to have a lot of people, like kind of how you mentioned it, like you have to be ready. You have to have work lined up and it's tough. So that's great. And I'm super happy for you.
Vlad Blagojevic22:35.512
It is, and it will take much longer. It will take much longer than you think it will take. You know, you may start doing maybe some consulting and you may while you're building or whatever, but it will take, always takes longer, always takes much longer.
Jolie Shapiro22:47.934
Mm -hmm. Yeah, yeah, it takes a lot of time and you and a lot of people do nights and weekends like people don't talk about that that they start they do their full -time job and then nights and weekends on top of it to build their business so it's a lot of you know it's really great that you're talking about that.
Vlad Blagojevic23:01.368
Mm -hmm. They did that for years. I mean, did that for, yeah, at least two years, working weekends, working nights, trying to build it out. And then doing the part -time thing, well, I still work the weekends and nights and yeah, yeah, that is for sure.
Jolie Shapiro23:26.11
Yeah, it's a lot. But I mean, look at what you built.
Vlad Blagojevic23:30.2
I mean, I, I, I was always looking, I mean, different people have different goals. And I think that's really important for people to also understand really what they want. Is it because, you know, you bought into the hype? Is it because you think you need, you need more money? Or is it like, in my case, really being able to live the kind of life that I want Trump's money and. I didn't honestly I didn't understand that it took me a while to understand that but that I mean once you get that like this is your value I mean there's nothing wrong with making a lot of money I mean don't get me wrong but like how are you making your decision for example in our company both both Andre and myself like our top one priority top one value in life well both of us is family right so you know we are sometimes going to make a decision that might not be in the best interest of in terms of like growth and of revenue, but just because this is something neither of us want to compromise on. So I think like also understanding what your goal is, is very helpful as you're, you know, trying to make a change because what you don't want to do is you don't want to go through all of that working as our. and you know sacrifice and taking that risk etc to then realize hey that's not really what I wanted. Sometimes it's necessary that we all have to learn our lessons right and sometimes you have to learn in the hard way but you know getting in touch with like what's important with you earlier might save you some trouble down the down the road.
Jolie Shapiro25:15.006
Yeah, definitely. Thank you. So shifting a little bit. So we talked about key pillars in your mental well -being, purpose, values, connections, sleep, exercise, food, planning. Love it. That should be everyone. Everyone should be doing that. Could you elaborate on how these elements interact and support each other in your life?
Vlad Blagojevic25:38.551
Yeah, so a quick note, we did skip talking about it. So I don't know if you want to address it before we jump into this question, because like this, we did skip the second question. Yeah, yeah, we did. Yeah. So I didn't get to speak to that. Yeah. So the second question was about how to prevent burnout where I had actually spoken about it.
Jolie Shapiro25:49.246
we did. Didn't we? Where are we? the second question? I thought you answered. I totally thought you answered that.
Vlad Blagojevic26:08.92
No, I mean...
Jolie Shapiro26:09.23
I totally thought - I thought I heard, cause, sorry, go ahead.
Vlad Blagojevic26:12.408
I mean, yeah, either way, either way, I specifically didn't want because I thought that you would ask me the second question, so I didn't speak about it, which is not a problem. I mean, you feel free to guide the conversation wherever you want it to go. But the question that you just asked me doesn't make sense without us first having a conversation. That's why I'm saying it.
Jolie Shapiro26:32.574
Yes, yes. Yeah, good. No, my question was, I rephrased it. I said, how do you stay sane? How did you stay sane? So I should have said, how did you prevent burnout? But I said, so.
Vlad Blagojevic26:43.96
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it was a very specific situation that I was in and then you asked like the pain, how do you stay sane? Yeah, prevent burnout would be a different answer. Okay.
Jolie Shapiro26:55.838
Okay, so let's, okay, so where did we start from?
Vlad Blagojevic27:00.472
Maybe that's the question that you can start and then you can ask about integration.
Jolie Shapiro27:04.286
Yeah. OK. So let's. Or. So how did you prevent burnout?
Vlad Blagojevic27:13.208
Yeah, it's something that I learned very early on, right? So I, my university, they offered me a job and I had to like, still had a lot of exams and the final thing and whatnot. And they gave me a little bit of time. And so I was like working like crazy. That's the first time I had a burnout. I was young and it was the hit me really bad. Like I remember like for six months, I couldn't. just couldn't have a good night's sleep, whatever was happening in my life. I just didn't feel good about it. I was really bad. I just remember feeling so all the time. So I like trying to figure out how to prevent burnout for me has been always a focus. And over time I try different things and I realized it's actually these different things that work together that helped me do that. And it's actually quite. I mean, I don't think I was, I'm going to say a lot of new things, but I think a lot of people just don't do it. So the first thing I think would be never worry alone. Right? So usually as you're going towards a burnout, there's a lot of anxiety, right? There's a lot of things that are bothering you. So I think like the first thing is, and depending how you're raised, I was raised as, you know, man, don't complain. That's like an old school kind of. family and I thought that complaining, not complaining, but sharing and being vulnerable really is showing weakness. I mean, that's what I thought was thought, but of course we all know that's not true. So like opening up and like speaking about people you trust, just like connections. Connections are the antidotes to anxiety. the more better or the better connections that you can make, the saner you will be, right? So connecting in my case with my family, but also connecting with people. For example, we work remotely. And if I lived, for example, in suburbs and I would feel very isolated from people, you know, or not just not being like I'm living in a good part of the city where... a lot of it, you can just go out on the street and buy your bread or whatever, you can just talk to your neighbors, et cetera. That's the kind of environment. And so for me, this makes a big difference. For somebody else, it might be their game, either they're playing with their friends or maybe they go to church, whatever it is, this connecting also with people that may not be close to you, I think it's also important. And then also like, just making time for this like real life connections maybe with your friends or otherwise, especially if you're working remotely, you have conversations like you and I, but still it's very different than real life. So for example, Andrea and myself, we don't live close enough, but we do like try to see each other regularly. We like to, sometimes we get invited to events, like last week we spent a whole week abroad connecting with our community, so that was amazing.
Jolie Shapiro30:28.254
Mm -hmm.
Vlad Blagojevic30:32.856
that really gives you a lot of energy. But also like you're speaking about connection, I think like just connecting with yourself. And what I mean by that is I spoke about understanding the, you know, what's important to you, what are your values, like really trying to understand yourself. For example, like one of the main reasons why we moved to Spain was I remember the first time we came to Valencia in Spain where we live, I felt at home and it took me a while to understand. I remember thinking, hey, I feel... Like I'm in my living room because that's how at home I felt. And I was like, why, what's going on? And after a while I figured out it has to do again with the values, like the values that I share, or things that are important to me, what I value. I share a lot of those values with the culture, with the local culture, you know? And this was like, okay, so understanding that really I think is important to prevent burnout because then you can focus in on things that you value. instead of things that maybe you're sacrificing a lot of yourself for a goal that may not be that important to you or that's being imposed on you or whatever. And I think also like connecting, trying to connect with work, right? So trying to find some sort of a purpose. And, you know, in some cases, people might find purpose outside work, which is also fine. But I think like going through life without that feeling of purpose and fulfillment, or, you know, whether it's your community activity or your work, which I just like for me, that's like super important that I feel like I'm, you know, creating something that is bigger than myself. It's not just like the next paycheck that maybe, you know, I'm creating some sort of impact that I'm seeing that maybe I'm helping other people. Like these are the things that are important to me. And like, this is like for me, if I don't have that, I would probably get burned out much easier, easily. Right. So. that I didn't have that when I was trying to chase that diploma so I can start working, for example, back then. And then also, like, obviously, we are not a brain, right? So we live in our body and like, this is one of the biggest differences and it took me a while, too long to figure that out. Just, you know, regular exercise, sleep, food, like, this is such an important thing. and the older get the more important it becomes. And I know for example, my wife, she, I know if she's doing her pilates and exercising and if she's not, it's just like a different person. It's always easier of course to see that on other people. I'm sure that's the case for me too. But I know for myself, like if I'm not like maintaining this basic hygiene, I would say even mental hygiene of being asleep. you know, food and all of, and exercise, especially exercise, that will be, that will be, I wouldn't be in the same place. And then I think also like just trying to find a way to have consistency in whatever you're doing, you know, you know, whether it's like the way that you're playing your week and then you're doing some things on Mondays and Tuesdays, whatever, or if you're, Part of your work is maybe creating content, which may be the case for a lot of marketers. Having that consistency, I think, really helps. And then also, obviously, merciless prioritization. There's always a lot of things that you could be doing, but what really moves the needle? Because I found that usually it's 20 % of things that make 80 % of impact, or 20 % of activities that make 80 % of impact. but that we often get stuck with the 80 % and are trying to do the last 20 % and then spending 80 % on that if you are a perfectionist or just maybe doing some things that are not as important. So in other words, what this may mean as well, sometimes, I mean, and I really have trouble with this, I try to do this as much as possible. Sometimes, you know, just, okay, let me just finish that. Let me just figure it out. Let me just figure it out. Sometimes just like taking a 15 minute break, going out for a long walk, thinking, you know, taking a shower, whatever, just like leaving that thing for maybe tomorrow, you're gonna save a ton of time because instead of like trying to figure it out and not moving anywhere, you know, maybe sometimes we'll... maybe I shouldn't even be doing this or you know, maybe there is a very much easier way to do this. So I think like being very consistent in all of this, I think is really the key. And also not I think not bearing your hand in the sand, like being being aware of where you are sometimes you might need to change right sometimes you might need to change that something we already covered. But I think a lot of basic things can help a lot of people.
Jolie Shapiro35:53.918
Definitely. I resonated so much with what you said. I was just nodding like a bobblehead. Just then. Yeah, I especially for people, I think what resonated with me the most, especially for people with mental illness, structure is incredibly important. Having a sense of normalcy and structure and for anyone obviously, but for people with mental illness, it's huge. So thank you so much for sharing that. So the key pillars that you focused on, purpose, values, connections, sleep, exercise, food, and planning, how do those all work together for you?
Vlad Blagojevic36:34.104
It's. You know, it's, I found it that I'm at least maybe that's me, right? But I found it either in a vicious circle or a virtuous circle, right? And so if I'm not well, usually I might start losing out. Maybe I will start not eating as well. And then, you know, this might, or maybe I might have a few more drinks than I would normally do, which will start impacting my sleep, which the next day I'm going to be even more prone to stress and maybe not having enough mental clarity and mental space to do things in the right way or to set the priorities, right, etc, etc. I find this like, very quickly deteriorates and ends up in a really bad place, right? So I, but on the other hand, I find that, like these different activities or areas like, create the virtuous circle, right? So if I slept well, and of course, like we all like everything seems better, we are in a better mood, we can do more. But the same, and the same, by the way, you know, for exercise, etc. Like everything is just much easier to prioritize. It's much easier to like your resilience to stress is higher, you can deal with things in a better way, you can maybe avoid getting stressed out and burned out. So I think it's really like they, and vice versa, right? So if I have slept well and done well, I'm much more likely to then stick to my whatever exercise regime or whatever diet or whatever way of eating, et cetera, et cetera. So making better choices in general. So I really feel like, at least for me, like, Basically, all of these things are necessary to keep me sane and functioning well.
Jolie Shapiro38:44.478
I completely agree. It's funny. My partner says, you're just in such a better mood when you work out. Unlike Jolie 5 .0 when I work out.
Vlad Blagojevic38:52.184
Yeah. It's the quickest win. The easiest thing you can do is at least go out for a walk if nothing else, right? Or a bike ride, whatever is your thing, you're going to feel 10 times better already. That's the easiest low -hanging fruit. So if you don't have that, that would be the first thing to do. We'll make the biggest impact.
Jolie Shapiro39:22.654
Exactly. So pivoting a little bit. So how do you balance a need for a stable environment with the flexibility to change your situation or environment when it necessarily doesn't work with your mental health?
Vlad Blagojevic39:26.2
Mm -hmm. Yeah, that's a good question. So I think you want to have the stability, right? So to focus on this consistency, taking care of yourself, taking care of the people around you, this is kind of the default, right? But of course, you might end up still in a situation or... where you might need to, like you say, be more flexible and maybe change things. And I think I would say, like, first of all, don't wait too long, right? I am definitely well into my midlife, I never had midlife crisis. And the way that I always thought about it is like, I had a lot of mini midlife crises, like I might have like one every month or so. So always like thinking, not, not, not, not not necessarily being satisfied with the status quo, just like continuously trying to find better ways to maybe improve my situation, business, relationship, etc. Right? So don't wait too long, I would say that will help you avoid, you know, completely having to lose stability. But then also sometimes there is time for bold moves. Like sometimes that's what it's called for. And then, one way that you might deal with that and still try to kind of keep that stability is kind of think about it or use it as a kind of a sprint, right? So I like to think in sprint. So what if you dedicated the next whatever 90 days or maybe 30 days, depending on the scope of what you're trying to do to making a really significant step in the direction that you want to go, right? So instead of like, all or nothing and just like jumping etc. Like is there something where I can make a significant move but still kind of limited in time like a sprint. That might be helpful for some people, right? We are all different. But there are some periods that are inevitably going to be intense and they're going to be less stable, right? So whenever you can also... speaking about all or nothing thinking. I think that it's also important to realize that, okay, we are not like perfect machines, we are like going to get out of balance. And I think about the thermostats in your room when it's like for AC or for heating, you know, it's never perfect. It doesn't keep the temperature, the same temperature all the time, but it does it actually. you know, the temperature might go higher and then it might turn on the cooling and etc. Right. So it's always like adjusting based on the feedback. And I think also like one of the most difficult skills for me and mindsets and skills, I think to build was to get up after falling as quickly as possible. Right. Let's say you are, you know, dieting and then you... may have a big meal and then you say, WTF, I might as well go for it, right? So just being like, no, that's okay. I mean, that's just part of life. You're not perfect. And you're just picking it up the next day for whatever other situation that you might be in. This is probably the most important skill. that you can learn.
Jolie Shapiro43:29.918
I completely agree. I think all or nothing can be very dangerous. It can be very dangerous thinking. And there's a lot of gray. I think living in the gray is, to your point, the happy medium. Because we're not robots. There's a lot of AI coming out, so who knows? But with the implants they're doing right now. But just in general, we're human. And that's what makes.
Vlad Blagojevic43:35.48
Hmm. Hmm. Thank you.
Jolie Shapiro43:57.534
Life's so wonderful that there is a happy medium and there is gray, even in the hardest moments. So thank you for sharing that. So a couple more questions before I want to give you a chance to tell people how to find you and all that good stuff. Let's see, I'm going to cut this out. This filler word, I'm just trying to find questions. I'm cutting out a couple of questions because I have a hard stop at 10 .30. So I'm just going to do the ones that are the most impactful. Which one do you want to answer?
Vlad Blagojevic44:20.056
No worries, no worries. Yeah, no, no, no, no, don't worry about it. Yeah.
Jolie Shapiro44:36.766
Let's do one more.
Vlad Blagojevic44:38.84
Okay, so very quickly. Yeah, okay. Yeah, maybe you had number eight was, was an insight, then up to you. Well, maybe yeah, whichever and then like, if you still have the time, then nine or 10.
Jolie Shapiro44:56.286
You like number eight?
Vlad Blagojevic45:08.184
Either is fine for me, whatever you prefer.
Jolie Shapiro45:13.102
I think let's end on number eight. I think it's probably the most powerful out of those three. And I think I'm sure we're going to have a great answer. So let's... Okay.
Vlad Blagojevic45:23.16
Okay. Okay.
Jolie Shapiro45:34.558
So just want to pivot a little bit. You've given a lot of great advice so far. Thank you so much. This is a hard -hitting question. I know you're going to have a great answer. In your journey through various career and life transitions in search of mental well -being, have you encountered a moment or insight that fundamentally transformed your understanding of what it means to live a fulfilling life in a way that you think might surprise or enlighten others who are on a similar path?
Vlad Blagojevic46:00.632
It is a good question. And I think for me is the biggest insight was that we actually live with this brain with this mind. So I'm talking about a human mind. And you realize that we don't see the way that we don't see things the way they are. We see the things the way we are. I don't know who said it, but I like it because everything that you see, even whatever the colors and the shapes and everything is just like actually a representation of what we see and what we experience. And especially when it comes to complex situation and people and things that have a big impact on us, there is no reality. There is no objective truth that doesn't exist. it's always an interpretation. And it has to do a lot. And this interpretation essentially are the stories that we tell ourselves about the experience of the world, the situation, other people, whatever it's happening to us. Two people can be in the exact same situation and experience it very differently, right? So I might be like we spoke about it, you know, in the car or maybe... I'm like super worried about something that's happening with my child as I'm speaking to my employee and the employee at the same time might be thinking that I'm unhappy with the performance and maybe even worrying that they might get fired, right? Because somebody else got fired in the organization, right? It's like completely the same situation, completely different reality or interpretation. But that also means that most... of the limitations are in our minds. And I think like for me, maybe the strongest example is I've actually been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. And it's on the one hand, it's been very helpful for me to understand myself. And I had the new lens of looking at some of the things that were going on in my life. But lately what I've been seeing a lot on social media, this has been a topic that became popular, like on Instagram, whatever. And I see a lot of people sharing like, I feel like if you're ADHD, it's like normalizing some behaviors, I know being forgetful or like this, not being able to plan, et cetera, et cetera. And I just don't find any of those to be true for me. I mean, maybe I had to work extra hard to figure out how to plan and it's something that I still have to do every day and how to prioritize. and yes, I am forgetful, et cetera. But like, I just don't accept this. I don't accept this as a label that will define the way that I can still be disciplined and I can still be consistent and whatever, putting, let's say, putting content out every day. And I can still focus and I can still get things done even if I don't, might not like them. Like, I just wouldn't, I wouldn't accept that. for myself. Yeah, maybe it's more difficult, but how do I know? How do I know? Maybe for you it's even more difficult. I have no idea. Why does it even matter? Right? You're given what the cards we are dealt the cards that we are dealt. So I think understanding that it's a lot about perception might help you maybe also change the way that you're seeing your own limitations. Because again, it's just a story, but also, in terms of like how you treat other people, how you perceive other people, it may help you also have more empathy because you are always whatever you think is going on with other people you don't know. You know, you're making an assumption, like you really said, like maybe they're, you know, late for work. They're not an asshole, they're just late for work. Although maybe they are also an asshole, who knows.
Jolie Shapiro50:13.502
Could be a combination of both. Yes. It's that quote that I love what you said Everybody's fight. Everybody's fighting a Bob. Excuse me. I'm gonna do that Love that quote that you said or excuse me. I'm losing it. Hold on Love everything you said I think the quote that I remember and that I love is Everybody's fighting a battle. You know nothing about and that kind of encapsulates that understanding of we're all the stars of our movie, but if you look around everyone else's too. So you have to understand what other people are going through. This was great. Thank you so much. How can people find you?
Vlad Blagojevic50:58.648
I think people can find connect with me on LinkedIn. We didn't speak about at all about revenue marketing or anything like that. That's what I do every day on LinkedIn. Talk a lot about home based marketing, go to market strategy, share very practical advice about that. I think that's the best and easiest way for anybody to connect. I'm sure you'll drop a link in the show notes. Again, thank you for this opportunity. Really appreciate what you're doing. More people should be doing this, especially in revenue professions, which are so high pressure. There's a lot that is going on that is not fair to people. And I think one thing that we can do is talk about it and share. And so you providing this opportunity for me, which I never done before, is just amazing. So thank you for that.
Jolie Shapiro51:49.086
Yeah, of course, this podcast has been a dream come true for me. So I'm really happy that you also enjoyed it. Well, thank you so much, Vlad, and we'll talk soon.
Vlad Blagojevic51:58.936
Yeah, thank you. I know you need to go. So let's.
Jolie Shapiro52:08.094
How do we stop this? It's not stopping. Stop. That is so weird.
Vlad Blagojevic52:10.776
Stop recording.
Jolie Shapiro52:18.302
It's not saying leave, but it's not letting me stop it. my god, I'm gonna kill someone if it... Why? I don't want to refresh because I don't want to lose the recording. One second, let me go to people.
Vlad Blagojevic52:23.8
I hope it wasn't again. It's.
Jolie Shapiro52:44.478
recording overview. Let's see, how do I? Why won't it let me? Why? my God, stupid thing. Sorry, give me a second.
Vlad Blagojevic53:02.136
No worries, no worries, I mean, I want it to be recorded as well.
Jolie Shapiro53:06.174
Me too, yeah we all do. It won't let me like stop the recording, it's just blocked out.
Vlad Blagojevic53:17.56
it's disabled for you.
Jolie Shapiro53:21.182
Disabled?
Vlad Blagojevic53:22.488
like it's what you mean blocked out right like it's the button is you can't
Jolie Shapiro53:26.814
I'm the host, so... What the hell? my god, if this doesn't record, I'm gonna lose my shit. Audio and video, echo cancellation, recording, video and audio noise reduction. Okay, I'm going to take a risk and I'm going to refresh it and hope to God or maybe not. Can you, we'll let you stop the recording.
Vlad Blagojevic53:55.832
Okay. No, I can only leave.
Jolie Shapiro54:02.75
my gosh.
Vlad Blagojevic54:04.984
So I can do a refresh. I can leave in the refresh. Maybe that will stop it. Let me try that. Yeah.
Jolie Shapiro54:08.094
Yes, let's try that.