In this episode, Jon Christian, a high-performance coach and creator of the Conscious Human Performance Model shares how individuals and businesses can improve their performance and maximize human potential to achieve better results in all areas of life.

Resources mentioned

Free Conscious Human Performance Assessment

Website: www.zerkers.com

Books Business Abundance Facebook Group

3 Key Points

When we take that leap of faith to leave a good-paying job or pursue our passions, there’s fear that we have to overcome.

80% of the world’s population is unfulfilled in their careers, but it can be changed; it comes down to self-awareness and a shift in consciousness.

When people are fully aligned with their unique abilities and talents operating at the highest levels, they feel less victimized, angry or frustrated; it’s a complete balancing of energies.

Transcript

[00:51] Ellen: Hi everybody, and welcome to Episode 49 today. My guest is John Christian. John is a conscious human performance strategist and he developed the conscious human performance model in 2015. It’s a model, of both conscious evolution and human performance, which helps us understand and awakening human potential in the areas of consciousness, spiritual fulfillment, connection, relationships, contribution, career, and business, commitment, health and fitness, and the experiential X factor multiplier of adventure, which is life experiences. So, welcome to the call, Jon.

Jon: Hi Ellen. Thank you for having me.

Ellen: I’m excited to have you, we’ve been trying to do this for a while, so this is exciting. You are a busy guy.

Jon: Yeah, yeah. I’ve met a lot of people and have this mission, in my heart, and getting that out there. You got to, you got to get out there for sure.

[01:51] Ellen: Yeah. Well, why don’t you tell people a little more about your story? Tell people about your story.

Jon: Absolutely. Jon: Yeah, yeah, and for sure. So, I’ll go a little bit back, set some context, but I spent about ten years in the banking industry and I got married pretty young. I had a daughter at age twenty-three and my wife asked me, once we had the baby, she said, “You know, you should probably find a job that’s going to pay the bills”. So, I did that, and I got into the banking industry for ten years. And then, at a certain point, I was starting to get burnt out. And my daughter came to me, she said, “Dad, do you love what you do?” And I could not say, look her in the eyes and tell her I did. So, I had to start leading by example. And it was a really sad time because I’d always told her to follow her passion, but I wasn’t really doing it myself.

[02:43] Jon: So, I realize I had to start leading by example. And what happened after that was almost a miracle. I started accomplishing more in one year than I had in the past ten years of my life. So, I went and I got mentored by my childhood surfing hero, Brad Gerlach, who serves foot waves. And he helped me overcome fear. And I started doing things like skydiving and bungee jumping and endurance races and really pushing and challenge myself outside my comfort zone to overcome that fear. Cause when we take that leap of faith to leave a good-paying job or pursue our passions, there’s fear that we overcome. So, to build that, building that up, and that led me to backpacking three-quarters of the coast of Costa Rica surfing with crocodiles. And I got to the longest left-hand break in the world, and I heard this voice within and without and said, “Well done, now go tell the world.”

Ellen: Oh.

Jon:  And I was like, “What? Are you really going to put this on me?” Like-, “I really have to do this?” And so, I came back and I started facilitating adventure challenge experiences and connecting the physical experiences with the mental growth. And that really started the foundations of this Conscious Human Performance Model or overlapping conscious awareness and adventure, and then accelerating a person’s fulfillment and happiness in life.

[04:08] Ellen: Well that… I love what you do,  and the idea of getting over fear through having life experiences is a great way to get over it because that’s what we’re here to do. Right? Have life experiences.

Jon: Yes. One of the most powerful things somebody can do,

Ellen: But I can’t see you being a banker. I’ve known you for a while somehow yeah, I could see how that didn’t work.

[04:34] Jon: Yeah. And believe it or not, I was actually pretty good. I was a top salesperson and got all sorts of awards, and yeah, it’s almost like a lot of times we wear those masks in our lives. And I’d put that layer on top of me that I thought people wanted from me, and I think that’s when you start to lose yourself and a little bit of yourself and that fire inside. When you’re a kid, you understand what you like and what you love and enjoy. And I think that that, a lot of times it gets lost in transitions when you’re operating to support in your family and be responsible. So yeah, it was a different life and different worlds.

[05:14] Ellen: Yeah. So why don’t you tell us what conscious human performance is?

[05:20] Jon: Absolutely. So conscious human performance is basically a model that looks at a few different quadrants of your life and your awareness of where you’re showing up. So, generally speaking, there’s seven levels of consciousness. And so, if we look at say, and you’ll know the people that are in your life that are operating at these different levels, so like say a level one is somebody that is maybe feeling like a victim or feeling as if they have nowhere to go, struggling and just don’t have an idea of what their next to that step might be. So that’s an example of level one. So, level two is somebody that might be falling into a situation of anger and rage or frustration as a result of things that are going on in their life. And these lower levels are actually catabolic or a destructive energy, both for you and those around you.

[06:17]: And then, say somebody is operating at a conscious level of three. That would be somebody that might be rationalizing their situation, or, making excuses or figuring out different things that are happening to them. And they rationalize that situation. Level four is somebody that might be like a helper. Like you think of a single mother that’s burnt out and supporting everybody else, but not taking any time for themselves. And you might hear a little bit of yourself in some of these levels as well. And so, level five is somebody that has a lot of energy, very entrepreneurial, scattered ideas; and so that would be somebody, if you meet them, you know exactly that they’re following that level five. Level six is somebody that’s very spiritual. So, a lot of times, somebody’s operating a level six has maybe left a career, is traveling the world or going down the spiritual path and kind of disconnecting from the world.

[07:15]: And that level seven is a pure creation and passion. So, that’s somebody that’s operating a way where they are connecting the spiritual and the logical and practical, and stepping into their reason for existence and operating at their highest level. So, there’s a lot of nuances inside of that, but those things are happening in various parts of your life, and in your energy, how you’re feeling and operating your awareness of yourself and those around you, your love and your tribe, which is the connection piece of relationships, your contribution, which is, your money and your career or business, and then, commitment, which is the fitness and health aspect of it.

So, inside the model  there’s seventy questions that you can take and really get an idea of where you’re consciously operating in those four quadrants, plus the experiential, which is the adventure piece. So, a lot of times, we seem to get out of balance where, you have somebody that might have a successful business or career, but their relationship is suffering or they might have a good career, but their fitness and health is suffering. So, we want to balance this out so that you can live a fulfilling, healthy, happy life in all of these quadrants.

[8:34] Ellen: So, who is the conscious human performance for?

Jon: That’s a tricky question cause if for everyone, but specifically, the people that it helps the most are people that are feeling as if something’s missing. They know that there’s something more out there for them. They’re in a scenario where they’re not necessarily happy with what they’re doing. They might have relationships that are failing or not working well. They may be in a career that they’re feeling burnt out and not fully aligned. They get home, and they crash, and they’re not motivated and maybe suffering from a little bit of depression or anxiety. And there are those that are not necessarily doing their fitness routine or eating well. So, you can take somebody that is in that state of kind of rock bottom to a certain extent or ready for a change, but then you can take also some of that’s very highly successful, and then optimize their performance even to a higher degree.

[09:47] Ellen: Yeah. I think that was me before I became a book coach. I kind of reached that point where it’s like, I knew there was something more, and I wasn’t sure what it was at that point. And, I just wasn’t happy, and yeah, all the things you just said.

[10:05] Jon: Yeah. Well, we’ll think about it. The thing that inspired me about creating this is that the fact is, is that at least 80% of the world’s population is unfulfilled in their careers. And I think that’s something that we can change. And I think if we get into the school systems with programs like these if we can get into the corporations and create more conscious corporations, that’s really going to shift the overall happiness, fulfillment and life experience of many, many, many people. So, that’s why I’m passionate about it. Cause I didn’t find this stuff till I into my thirties and I really think that if we can introduce people to this earlier on, their quality of life will be a lot better.

[10:45] Ellen: I love that. And I completely agree. And that’s why I love you, and I love what you do, I just think it’s awesome. And yeah, I think that getting into the schools is so, so important. I think education is so important. And one of the things that I get really irate about is when people talk about how education is a waste of time, or they think that it’s just to go and make money and there’s so much more I think to it than that. Yeah. So, how did you come up with this?

[11:19] Jon: A lot of trial, a lot of error, a lot of working with myself through the transition. And then now applying that to the clients that I’ve worked with. So, I’ve worked with over, probably 200 clients in the past three or four years with the model. And then, through my career, probably over 500 people, really putting it through the wringer and testing it in real-world, practical applications. So, it was a process of like when I was going through these Spartan races, tough, mudders skydiving, all these different things, being very aware of how I was showing up in my mind, what was happening in my mind, and then also my body, cause they’re both connected. And I was like, there’s something here to teach others how to have that awareness. And it was like little things too. Like I never thought of myself as an angry person. And one day I was walking in the house, and I looked down, and my kid’s toys are on the ground, but one of the toys and  I was like, “Oh my God, like I’m angry about this.”

Ellen: (Laughing)

[12:24] Jon: And I realized that I was attached to some sort of outcome that the toys needed to be put away. Otherwise, my kids weren’t respecting me. But the fact that they were laying on the ground didn’t mean that my kids were not respecting me. It just means that they were maybe forgetful,  so it wasn’t a personal attack. So then, I was aware of these small things, and then I could shift and be like, “Oh, well, now that I’m aware that this is the unconscious conscious reaction, I now have a choice to make a shift”. And that shows up in all sorts of different ways in relationships when you’re having conversations with your wife or your husband, and they say something that makes you angry or makes you feel like a victim or helpless and all these different things, and it just gives you this awareness.

And what’s interesting about the model is that when you’re operating in lower levels, like say a one, two or three, you can’t see the four, five or six, or you can’t make decisions from those. You’re almost limiting your ability, so you’re actually becoming a more multi-dimensional person by allowing yourself to see more of the playing field in your life and how you’re showing up.

[13:31] Ellen: I love what you just said about how you think about something. I was just having a conversation with somebody yesterday about this, and he was talking about that exact thing, changing how you think about what you think. And I said, “Okay, well, let’s take an example.” And I just said to my husband, the other day that I’ve gone through the One Funnel Away Challenge with Russell Brunson and I didn’t do everything. It was a 30-day challenge. And sometimes, they get away from you, whatever. Anyway, so I said, I was going to go through it again. And this time, I wasn’t going to go to the next step until I really mastered the step I was on; and I’m committed to doing that. But I was talking to my husband and I said, “I want you to understand I’m doing the best I can, but this is really hard.”

[14:22]: And so he (the person I was talking to the other day) said to me, “Well, you know that when you’re doing something new that it’s a learning process. And so, you have to get better at it and you have to start, you start being bad, and then you get better.” And I’m like, “Yeah.”  And he says, “So it’s a process.” And I said, ”Right, it’s a process”. And he goes, “Well, what have you thought about it as a process instead of that it’s hard?” And I was like, “You’re right.” Because I know it’s a process. I’ve done new things enough times in my life to know that it’s a process.

[14:54]: So yeah, that is such an important thing. And I think, I’ve heard it so many times from so many people, but I think you have to really get it at a deep level to use it. What do you think?

Jon: Yeah, it’s that said attachment to outcome and also basing your value on the outcome of the work that you’re doing as opposed to the actions or the things that are happening in the moment, and kind of a connection or lesson around that was I was doing the GORUCK challenge a few years back and that’s run by special forces, military guys where you put fifty pounds of back weight in the backpack and then do a bunch of things and sand and water and all this other stuff. And one of the things they said was, “Embrace the suck.”

[15:44] Ellen: Oh, I like that “Embrace the suck” that one’s going to go on my Twitter feed.

Jon: And it’s just an amazing mindset when things are not going well, or if it’s challenging, just embracing that the pain or the growth in that process, and that gets you focused on the moment in time, and that’s so important.

Ellen: Well, isn’t that part of it too? Seeing it as the growth instead of seeing it as the pain.

Jon: Exactly. Yep.

Ellen: Yeah,

Jon: Yeah, absolutely.

[16:14] Ellen: So, what are some of the results that your clients have gotten from this?

Jon: There’s a number of them. There is one client that I was working with, that it was actually in a very toxic, corporate environment. And when I met him, he was up for three days straight and wasn’t spending time with his kids, very disconnected. His wife… the relationship was strained as a result, and they were able to basically give him this information, have him take the assessment and get a baseline of where he’s at.

[16:46]: And then, as we spoke, as we worked together, he was able to more consciously operate at work where he wasn’t so much triggered by what was going on with his boss. And he was able to reprioritize what was most important with him, which was his kids and how he was showing up and kind of re-position the way he was with his wife. At the time that he was with the wife, it wasn’t now about coming home and venting all of this stuff that was going on; it was actually connecting with her in a way that was a more healthy way. So, that’s just one example.

Ellen: Boy, and that’s so important, no matter what you’re doing.

Jon: Yeah. Yeah. Because thinking about it, the distress in a relationship with people that are going through these… especially in this challenging time, right?

[17:32] Everything that’s going on and people, now their entire lives are shifted upside down. So, it’s really important to have as many tools as possible to navigate, so you have choices and options of how to show up, and it just becomes a question of, yeah, we’re all human, we’re going to get upset. We’re going to feel like a victim. Sometimes, we’re going to get overwhelmed. We’re going to burn ourselves out, but then how long are you going to stay there? is the question. And, this is a tool that shifts you very quickly as opposed to a week, a day or even years going by in that scenario.

Ellen: Well, let me ask you about that. Like, people will say, how are you doing? And I think I’m doing okay. How do you know?

[18:15] Jon: Okay, so that’s an interesting question. And I actually had this similar conversation with somebody very recently. And what happens is that people get used to a state. So, there’s a lot of coping mechanisms that we have in order to protect ourselves from pain. And those coping mechanisms are like Novocain, so you’re not aware of the things that are going on because your body’s been so used to it until you get a little bit of glimpse of what is changed.

So, you could imagine like say, you’ve got a cut or something that is bleeding and you don’t realize that you’re cut. It’s like a slow awareness before you know it, you’re dead. So, coping mechanisms, you might feel like everything’s good because you don’t know the difference between that and you’re so used to those coping mechanisms. So, this is giving people enough of awareness of like, “Oh, Hmm, maybe I don’t want to have that in my life anymore.”

[19:10]: Or, maybe I don’t have to burn myself out. This is not something I have to force. Life can be a little bit more effortless, and I could feel a bit more joy. And it’s just opening that window just, a little bit enough for them to realize that there’s a different way to operate and that their current reality is not the ultimate reality that they could be creating in their life.

Ellen: So, what are some of the signs that my company is operating at a higher level of consciousness?

Jon:  When you have your team members that are operating almost in like a flow state. So, if you’ve ever worked with a group of people and you can almost read each other’s minds, or things are getting done very effortlessly, people are having fun, they’re communicating well, working in the same direction as opposed to opposition directions, and then the corporate environment, as opposed to being stressful and toxic, where people are cursing each other out, and going home and you would take it out on their wife, their kids, and their dog.

[20:08] Jon: You have people that are hyper-engaged and a very low turnover with the company as well. So, you have your people fully aligned with their unique abilities and talents operating at the highest levels inside the organization. So, you’ll notice less people feeling victimized, or, angry or frustrated or rationalizing situations, or it’s just a complete balancing of the energy of the company because you not only have this conscious human performance as an individual but now you can collectively bring together individuals and that’s a whole new entity. and you can do a 360 assessment and understand where everybody’s weaknesses and strengths are, and then work on them individually. So, it’s a really great way to increase the overall energy of the company. And then, that then translates into their message in the world.

Ellen: Do you work more with corporations or small businesses, or who do you mostly work with?

[21:06] Jon: I’ve mostly worked with individuals and small businesses, entrepreneurs, people that are transitioning from say a toxic corporate environment, or moving into the career or business that they were meant to be in, maybe they gave up years ago. So that’s primarily the people that I’ve been working with. And my next phase is to begin to bring this into corporations. I’ve worked with a lot of executives and some CEOs and things like that, but doing company-wide transformations is getting into the education systems and doing company-wide.

[21:41] Ellen: Right. How long does it take to see results?

Jon: It really depends on where somebody’s at; people have taken the assessment and they’ve said immediately that they’ve had awareness that they’ve been able to shift immediately, and then, some of the more rooted behavior patterns and things that have happened. So, all the experiences that we have growing up and then coming into our adulthood, there’s some really deep-rooted things that people need to look at. And sometimes, that can take a little bit a while to rewire because you’re basically rewiring your brain to operate in a different way. And sometimes, it takes a day, a week or a year. I’ve worked with people a year and then, all of a sudden it clicks and that thing falls away. So, it really depends.

[22:25] Ellen:  I have found that with everything it’s like, it doesn’t click until it clicks. Whatever it is. Like even when I’m learning stuff like that, I’ve heard it over and over, and then I’ll listen to them when I go, “Oh, now I get it.”

Jon: Yep. Well, this is one of those things that once you see you, can’t unsee it, you know? And there’s layers upon layers. So once you see one thing and you become aware of that, a whole new layer becomes into your perception. So, it’s almost like peeling an onion back, and you’re not able to see the underlying layer. And so, you look and acknowledge that first thing. And then, it just continues. It’s a lifelong journey.

[23:04] Ellen:  I want to ask you. Why do you think conscious human performance is important and why people should focus on it?

Jon: Yeah. I think a lot of people are suffering, silently suffering, that quiet desperation where they’re just going through their life and they’re surviving, they’re doing things. So, my passion and the thing I was put on this earth to do, is to help people feel alive and awakened. And there’s a lot of people in this world that aren’t feeling that. So, I think it’s really important as our life experience here to really light up inside of ourselves. And then, that spreads to others and people could feel that.

So, I think really focusing on evolving the consciousness of the planet is something that’s super important. And coming together to do that, I think about the effect of not only on the current generations, but also the kids, that are growing up, and so that they can operate in a conscious way, a conscious life, and not out of fear, you know? And that’s my vision is to give people the tools to go through their lives, and not feel stressed, and not feeling as much anxiety, and not being depressed or feeling as if they need to be doing something different.

[24:21]: Is that they are good as they are as a human being. So, this isn’t like self-help, like you’re-not-good-enough type thing. It’s more like, “Hey, this is where you’re at. If you want to operate in a different way, then let’s make a choice to do that.”

Ellen:  Now I have to ask you something else came up when you were saying that, which is, what do you think about what’s going on in the world right now as far as consciousness? It feels like we just went back forty years. So, I’m really curious about what your take is. It feels like that to me because I went through the sixties. Yeah.

Jon: Yeah. Well, I’ve been having absolutely amazing conversations, real conversations, true connection with individuals. So, it’s very, very unfortunate there are just people suffering and dying as a result of what’s going on at this point in time.

[25:14]: But I think it’s really a wakeup call and its giving people just a little bit of a pause in their regular lives where they can now say, “Is this really the way I want to be operating in my world?” Whereas before that space wasn’t there for them to sit with them and really figure out what’s next. So, I really feel aside from the negativity of what’s going on or the negative downside of it, I think it’s really an opportunity for us to shift as a world in the consciousness in the world in a powerful way. So, I think it’s a doorway, it’s a bridge that we can cross together. And we just need to do that together in a collaborative conscious way. And I think that the future is really going to be very bright as we redo that.

[26:01] Ellen: Oh, that’s good to hear. I hope you’re right.

Jon: Absolutely.

Ellen: So, do you have any tips for people before we go?

Jon: Yeah.

Ellen: What would you suggest they do first? What’s the first thing they should do?

Jon: Well, absolutely. I would suggest going and doing the assessment themselves.

Ellen: So that’s a free Conscious Human Performance Assessment.

Jon: Yup.

Ellen: And you want to give them the link?

Jon: Yeah, that’s right on Zerkers.com, Z-E-R-K-E-R-S.com. And there’s a click here or start-here link, which there’s no opt-in. All you do is go there, click on it and it’s an assessment. So, it’d be number one. And then…

Ellen: And there’s also a referral code for me and CHP02.

[26:59] Jon: Absolutely.

Ellen: So, that’s the first thing. Then what?

Jon: And the second thing is just taking some time at the beginning of the day to set some intentions of how you want to operate, say,” Hey, I’m going to operate at this level seven or level six or whatever for the day.” And then at the end of the day, just walk yourself mentally through that and see where you were triggered or where things are falling out of place. And then, the next day, just be very aware and shift that, either remove it or shift perspective. And then, if you do that over a period of days and weeks, and months and years, you’ll start to notice changes internally, and then externally in your life.

[27:43] Ellen: Well, thank you so much. This has been really great. I know I always say that, but I have the most amazing guests, so I really want to thank you.

[27:53] Jon: Absolutely. Thank you all. It’s been an absolute pleasure, and I really appreciate the work you’re doing in the world and your continued friendship and…

[28:00] Ellen: Oh yeah. Yeah. I should tell people before we go, first of all, John and I, we met on LinkedIn, and that’s amazing cause there aren’t a lot of people that I’ve connected with there that I’ve really, really connected with like we have. So, I’m really grateful for our friendship. And I’ve also been helping John work on his book. So, I so believe in what you’re doing, and I really do want to see you get that out into the world in as big a way as possible.

[28:29] Jon: Absolutely. I really appreciate that, Ellen. Yeah.

[28:32] Ellen: Okay. So, that’s it for today to get the transcript go to www.Books, BusinessAbundance.com/podcast. And you’re also welcome to join our Facebook group. The link is there on the podcast page again, that’s www.BooksBusiness Abundance.com/podcast.

And there is a free guide there for getting started. If you’re ready to get your message out into the world. So, take advantage of that, and be sure to go over to John site at www.zerkers.com/assessment and get that free Conscious Human Performance Assessment. And that again, one more time is Z-E-R-K-E-R-S.com/assessment A-S-S-E-S-S-M-E-N-T. And my referral link to that is capital CHP02. So, I just hope that we come out of this a better world. So that’s it for today. Bye-bye.

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