Everyday Mindfulness Show: Continuity Of Mindful Mindset With Mike Mumola

Welcome to the Everyday Mindfulness Show where we educate and inspire people to live fuller lives through mindful practices.

Let's get started with your host,

New York Times contributor,

Leadership advisor,

Sought after keynote speaker,

The author of the Amazon hot new release,

Everyday Mindfulness from chaos to calm in a crazy world,

She's smart,

Strong,

Sassy,

And a trendsetter in the field of mindful leadership.

Your host,

Holly Duckworth.

Hello and welcome to the Everyday Mindfulness Show where we are having powerful conversations about applying science-based mindfulness in corporate sports,

Athletics,

Media,

In a variety of industries around the world because mindfulness is slowly but surely going mainstream.

And today we are having a fun conversation with someone that I am really enjoying getting to know.

I know you're going to like him too because he comes with a lot of fun and inspiring background.

Mike Mamola is a trial attorney.

An attorney doing mindfulness?

An entrepreneur,

A business and personal consultant,

A speaker,

Influencer,

Actor,

And a jiu-jitsu competitor.

Come on,

Mike.

Really all of this plus you have time to meditate.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's an amazing introduction.

I need to write that down and use that every time.

So thank you for that.

Well,

It's so fun to see somebody infusing the personal practice of mindfulness into this corporate professional entrepreneurship world.

And I think especially right now,

Because unfortunately we live in a world that says division of church and state and division of work life and personal life,

But you and I both know since Facebook,

Instagram,

LinkedIn,

There's no separation.

So I love that you're with me living your fullness of your mindful life.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And listen,

It's important.

It took me a long time to figure all of that out,

But now that I've figured it out,

There's no turning back.

And more and more,

I think I was one of the first ones,

At least within the circles that I ran with years ago,

Who embraced mindfulness and started practicing it.

And I used to get looks,

Especially in the corporate world and from entrepreneurs that I knew and alpha leaders who kind of knew everything or didn't have time for things like meditation or mindfulness used to get strange looks.

And more and more now I get calls and texts saying,

Not just on the personal coaching,

But on the business and executive mentoring saying,

I want help.

What are you doing?

I see what you're doing.

I want to do that.

What's that all about?

So it's coming around for sure.

Well that's so funny because as I was,

I mean,

I know you and we've talked a lot,

But as I was scoping out your social media feed,

I saw something fun on Instagram.

I haven't bought into Instagram.

Beautiful picture.

I'm trusting it's you holding a menu with a beautiful set of,

I would call them mala beads.

I don't know if you call them mala beads.

They are.

Talk,

Talk to us about that.

What does that mean to you?

How did you come and what,

You know,

How do you use those?

Cause I'm a lot of people that can be a outward sign of an inner consciousness,

Mike.

It is in so many ways,

Right?

And,

And,

And quite frankly,

Those beads,

Or sometimes people will call them,

I think on that specific post,

I use the word bracelet because you know,

Some people that aren't familiar with mala beads,

They'll refer to them as bracelets.

It's an outward demonstration of who I am on the inside and I'm proud of it.

And so actually it's,

It's opened some really amazing doors for me,

But what does it mean?

So it's a,

It's an outward demonstration of who I am as a person.

I used to,

I used to wear an expensive watch on that wrist and I changed that.

Right.

And now I wear these beads and the bracelet and it reminds me,

It's a constant daily reminder of my purpose in this world.

Yes,

I want to make a lot of money.

Yes,

I do make a lot of money.

Yes.

I want to do a lot of great things.

And yes,

I want to help a lot of people do that,

But on a much bigger,

On a much deeper level.

And so those remind me of it when I see it,

That there's something bigger to all of us.

It's important to stay focused.

It's important to stay centered.

And it's important to put these things into perspective as you go through your day.

So that's what they remind me of.

So I left some stuff out of your bio intentionally and it,

And it's because you are so much more than this,

But I think it's important.

Mike has a vast network of high wealth partners,

Clients,

And companies.

You married your college sweetheart.

You have no children,

But you enjoy traveling internationally and you are focused on many philanthropic endeavors,

Including cancer awareness and treatment.

And when we talk about mindfulness,

I think there's a word I like to use,

Which is prosperity plus.

And you live this idea,

I believe of prosperity.

Abundance.

Yeah.

Abundance.

It's the fact that you're,

You're,

You're healthy mentally and spiritually.

You've got,

Got a great support network around you,

Whether they have $5 or $5 million.

And I think that that part of,

Of living mindfully in corporate America is what we need to embrace more that it's that yes.

And so I'm curious,

What does mindfulness mean to you?

We talk about this a lot on the show.

There's a lot of definitions,

But not one definition.

What's what's your,

Your gateway to mindfulness.

Yeah.

So mine is,

It's very similar to so many others that are out there,

But it's being present.

It's being aware at the moment with clarity and focus in a nonjudgmental way intentionally so that I can help achieve the desired outcome that I see best fit for whatever given situation I'm in.

And it's through that practice that I've been able to develop those techniques and those habits,

The ability to do that,

Whether it's counseling somebody or coaching somebody or handling a high level case or representing or walking someone through one of my business partners or associates through a high level negotiation with regard to their company,

Having that ability to be mindful,

To stay balanced in the moment,

In the present in a very specific and clear way.

That's what it means to me.

And I'll also add that with regard to the nonjudgmental aspect of it.

I mean,

Nonjudgmental in a way that I think most people and even myself used to look at the world and view the world,

Not to say that you're not very aware of the circumstances of what's going on at any given moment so that you can make a decision based on that.

But to do that based on the facts of what's in front of you at that moment.

And I think that that's where a lot of people drop the ball.

We're so concerned.

We're not,

We're not mindful.

We're not focused on things at the moment.

We're focused on what might've happened previously,

Five seconds,

Five minutes,

Five days before or vice versa in the future.

So,

You know,

That's in terms of being present at that moment.

That's what it means.

Oh,

Wow.

There's so much about that that we could unpack our world today.

Unfortunately we operate so much at the speed of stereotypes and I purposely put in your intro trial attorney because I know that puts a frame in somebody's mind.

But yet it's exciting to have this conversation move in the direction of judgment because it's our judgment of ourselves.

It's our judgment of others and a practice of the presence to say what,

What of those judgments is true for me?

What are not true for me?

And play with that conceptually.

I often catch myself in that,

Oh,

I'm judging,

This is good or this is bad or this is right or this is wrong.

And I,

I would be curious your take on the idea of judgment versus discernment because clearly when you're,

You're on a case,

You're,

You're having to infuse your mindful practice of being present with the facts in focus,

In clarity,

And yet you also have an intention to move forward.

Yeah,

I think the critical,

The critical difference there,

Whether it's with a trial attorney,

An athlete,

Or whomever,

It doesn't matter what you do,

What your walk is in life,

But it's,

You know,

When we judge and we instantly go off of that,

Quote unquote,

Judgment and,

And the emotion that goes with it,

That's where we go astray.

And so many people unfortunately do that because they,

Whether you react versus responding or responding versus reacting,

There's definitely better ways to approach the situation.

But so many times people do,

Most of the time,

I think without even realizing it,

Judge,

And then react based on the emotion that underlies that judgment.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

So,

So it's,

It's important to,

To,

You know,

Whatever your techniques are to bring yourself back to center,

To,

To figure out,

Like you said,

Discern what's going on exactly.

And to,

And to make the decisions that you need to make and with some clarity with,

With make,

With making sure that it stays on track with your desired intent rather than because I want to prove that I'm stronger or faster.

I have more money.

I have this.

What's the best possible outcome in this situation for everyone involved?

In some of the early episodes of the show,

We always,

Always asked our guests,

What was a question that brought them to mindful practices?

And it always makes me buy out when I don't ask that question and then a question comes forward and that,

And that's such a great one.

What's the highest and best outcome for any,

Any particular situation?

Yeah.

So you know,

It's to achieve for yourself and for the people that you're aligned with the best possible outcome that also align with your morals and your values to make sure that you stay true to those because,

And,

And this is why I think mindfulness is becoming more and more prevalent.

It's not,

It's becoming,

It's not so hidden in the dark corners anymore for the people that are a little different,

Right?

It's it's now in the mainstream and it's because we recognize that there's an importance to that.

The world is changing,

Society's changing and you could see it more and more when you look around that we're going from conflict and turmoil with certain aspects of business to cooperation and support.

And like I said,

Abundance coming from a place of abundance rather than a place of scarcity.

And so for me and for the people that I work with,

I know staying true to my morals and my values through practice,

Through mindfulness and various tools and practices associated to it helps me stay on course with that.

So Mike,

I'm sure you get this as you're,

You're conversing with current and new clients coming into your world.

Really Mike,

You want me to sit on a meditation pillow for like 20 minutes?

Like I don't have the time for that.

No,

It wasn't like,

Like how did you get on this?

That's my favorite.

Yeah.

So that's my favorite when they do exactly what you did and they roll their eyes and say,

Really want me to sit on this pillow for 20 minutes?

I don't have the time for this.

I say,

Good,

Then sit there for 40 minutes.

You really need it.

How did I,

I'm going to,

I'll tell you exactly how I got here,

Where I am now physically,

Mentally and spiritually.

I did everything that society tells you you are supposed to do in order to become successful and happy.

And once I did all of those things,

I went to school,

I got the grades,

I did all of the elite things you can do while there.

I got my law degree.

The first company that I opened was a law firm,

Still thriving.

From there more and more companies partnered with others,

Joined various charities,

Different things,

And I looked around and I wasn't happy.

And I said,

What went wrong?

Something's wrong here.

I did everything everybody said you're supposed to do and there's something that's missing inside of me.

So I went back and I re-engineered everything that I knew that I was,

Or that I thought I ultimately found out that I thought that I was,

And I embarked on this journey.

And you know,

Years ago now,

I can't believe the difference that I've seen in myself and more importantly,

That everyone else has seen in me that my productivity,

My outlook on life,

My perception,

Everything that I am has exponentially increased as a result of the practice.

So how did I get here?

I guess I got here by design or out of necessity.

And it's like,

Once you get there,

Figuring out the greatest secret in the world when you have something like when you see a great movie,

You want to tell your friends,

You have to see this movie,

Or you go to a great restaurant,

You have to go try this restaurant.

Once you figure out how enjoyable life can be,

And that is such an important part of success,

I defined success only on money up until a certain point.

How much was in my account?

What kind of a car did I have?

How big was my house?

Only to find out those things really,

Ultimately didn't really make sense to me in terms of what was going to make me happy.

The overall aspect of success being very happy with who I am as a person,

Being very happy and excited to help other people find their passions and their purpose in life.

Once you tap into that,

Through all of these things that we're talking about,

It becomes,

At least in my opinion,

Impossible to turn it off.

It's the greatest thing in the world and you just want to share it as evidenced by this conversation and all the wonderful things that you're doing.

Well,

I think that that's what's fun about mindfulness today is we'll let the listeners in on a little secret.

We actually met at an organizational networking event for an organization called the C-suite Network.

Just like any other cocktail party,

There's a hundred people there and you might meet 10 or you might meet 30 and you meet some,

Perhaps a lot of people at a very shallow level and a few people at a deep level.

It was really fortuitous,

Out of the blue that one of the hosts introduced us and we had this instant curiosity,

Connection about how to grow mindfulness.

I've had many,

Many conversations around that.

I'm curious,

You know I'm starting this mindful leadership council,

This mindful leadership movement.

What's one thing that you think we could teach the C-suite in mindfulness that might help them to be more open to this possibility?

You're clearly living a mindful life.

The impact of everything.

You know,

It's like if you had the ability to,

If there was a pill that you could take,

Right?

And you could instantly change your life,

Improve your creativity,

Your productivity,

Your efficiency,

Your happiness,

Your health,

Your interactions with your loved ones,

Your business partners and everyone else.

How much would you pay for that pill?

We all have it and it's free.

It's just about using the tools that we're able to teach so that you can have all of those things.

You know,

Everyone in the C-suite level or on the C-suite level all want to scale.

They all want to build.

They all want to grow.

I've done that.

I've seen it through everything that I'm doing.

I haven't changed anything,

But I've changed everything.

My productivity and my numbers with what I'm doing and the people that I'm working with,

They're unbelievable.

I literally have people coming to me and saying,

How are you doing this?

What are you doing?

And I just go through it with them.

And it almost sounds,

It sounds incomprehensible,

But it's all true.

It's by becoming,

It's really getting in harmony with yourself and raising your vibration and getting,

Becoming more efficient on so many levels.

And all of that is through mindfulness.

I haven't changed anything in my life other than mindfulness.

And with that came diet and some other things.

But through that,

I have improved as a person and as a professional exponentially.

So I'm walking proof that it works.

I'm living proof when I talk to these people.

That's what I like to say.

Don't do it because I tell you to do it,

Do it and see if it works for you.

And everybody comes back and says,

Well,

Of course,

Of course it worked for me.

And yet there are many paths to being mindful.

You talk about kind of how you start your day and how you conduct your day.

Would you be willing to share maybe one thing that you do at the start of your day that you consider mindful and maybe one thing you might do when you find yourself getting a little off the road?

Yeah.

So I start my day with a few moments of gratitude being present before I get out of bed,

When I open my eyes and thinking about two or three things that I'm genuinely grateful for in that moment and enjoying that moment.

And I know that as soon as I get out of bed and start the day,

I'm going to have 30 text messages and I don't know how many emails or missed calls,

But for that moment I'm present.

And I'm really grateful if it's for being alive or because I had a great victory or something wonderful happened in business the day before finding a few moments to be really grateful and enjoying and embracing that.

Then I go and I do some basic yoga,

I do some salutations and some basic stretching and then I meditate.

I meditate every morning for at least 20 minutes.

It's very important to me.

All of these things take place before I ever look at my mobile phone.

So I want to have a proactive approach to my day.

I want to be in the driver's seat.

I don't want to be in the passenger seat.

And I think so many people now today we wake up and people look at their phone and you don't realize the impact that that has on your conscious,

Your subconscious and your unconscious mind.

You start responding to the texts that are there and the emails and the missed calls.

So I keep myself,

That's how I start my day.

That's the foundation.

Throughout the day,

I keep myself in check.

I will constantly throughout the day look at things that are happening and be aware of them.

So you look at what happened and rather than reacting like,

Oh,

That's terrible and responding that way,

Trying to take a step back out of the traffic and look into the traffic without getting hit and saying,

Why did that happen that way?

Is it something that I did to bring this about and how can we avoid that in the future?

How can we make that situation better?

And then at the end of the day,

I will meditate again.

I'll take a few minutes and sometimes,

You know,

I get it.

People might not have time,

But I always make time.

If it's not 20 minutes at the end of the day,

It's something close to that.

And again,

At the end of the night,

When I put my head down on the pillow,

Just a few more minutes of gratitude and being thankful for some things throughout that day.

So you got to forgive me for this question,

But you know,

As the host of the show,

It's my job to ask the funny questions.

Yes.

So I got to know,

Like coffee before you meditate in the morning?

Or coffee after?

So I also do,

So the answer is no coffee most of the time,

Unless it's mushroom coffee.

And it's a,

I do intermittent fasting,

So I try not to have anything for the first few hours I'm awake other than a glass of water I drink.

And you'll appreciate this.

This is something that I've talked about and other people that I've told about it,

They now do it.

I've heard it on social media,

But my friend and mentor Dave Meltzer does this now too.

But it's a,

You know,

I drink one ounce of water for every 10 ounces of body weight.

So I drink about 17 ounces of water in the morning and I,

And I look at the glass of water and I think,

And I project and I,

And I do my affirmations and various things that I,

As I'm,

As I'm thinking about the day,

Going through what's going to happen,

Putting those intentions,

Drinking the water,

That's it.

I won't have anything for 45 minutes at that point,

45 minutes later,

Maybe I'll have some mushroom coffee,

Tea,

Sometimes coffee,

But yes,

That's when it happens.

That's kind of the chronology of things.

Well,

I just,

I think it's so fun as this mindful leadership continues to evolve and emerge that we can have a show like this to have real conversations with executives that are on the journey.

And some are just now starting their journey and it may follow like your path and others may go in other directions,

But that we all continue to be nourished.

You use the phrase,

You know,

Physically,

Mentally,

I think you even used the word spiritually earlier that we inspire and invite others to do their practice.

And sometimes it's those funny little questions that get in people's heads of,

Well,

I can't be mindful because I got to have my coffee in the morning or I can't be mindful because I don't have that 20 minutes or whatever.

And there's been times in my life where I've done,

Like you said,

20 minutes in the morning,

Midday and night.

And then I've had times where it's just morning or just night.

So we talk about mindfulness as a practice and you know,

In any one of these careers that you've taken on,

Entrepreneurship,

You know,

Being an actor,

Being in a training,

You had to try it and practice it.

So I hope this invites others to try it.

Yeah.

It's a nice,

It's an amazing journey.

It's life changing on every level.

And I hope so.

I hope they embark on it.

So Mike,

How can people get in touch with you and learn more about what you're doing and maybe see you on a social media tool?

Yes.

So follow me on social media.

My name is Mike Momola.

It's M-U-M-O-L-A.

My website is mikemomola.

Com.

You can get me on any of those places.

Take a look.

I will be speaking around the country this year.

Holly,

I hope to be doing some things with you so they can find me there.

But I will be,

I will be,

I will be visible throughout 2020.

So as long as people keep an eye,

LinkedIn,

Instagram,

Facebook,

All of the social media,

Likewise,

My website and wherever I may be,

Please reach out.

I am,

I'm an open book.

I really do believe in this so much.

And I'm so passionate about it that I'm always willing to answer questions.

I was the person who early on may have come kind of a little kicking and screaming,

Didn't really get it.

But now I am the,

I am the most passionate spokesperson that I know of because I know that what it's done for me.

And so I'm always happy to answer questions,

Always make myself available and email me mmamola at gmail is a personal one they could send to.

I'll always respond to emails.

Awesome.

Well,

Mike,

Thank you for your presence that night at that cocktail party for your listening.

You know,

You put your ears on your heart that night and we connected and we continue to do so.

Thank you for being a friend to the C-suite network,

A friend to the show.

And we hope that you'll come back on again because I know we just barely touched the surface on all of the great things you're doing to help lead a mindful movement.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Look forward to it.

Thank you for joining us for today's show.

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