Elements Essential...Essential Elements have been shown to experience better business results and have more engaged employees. To understand the power of the Five Essentials Elements

Barbara Waxman MS, MPA, PCC© 2020 Odyssey Group Coaching. All rights reserved.

The Five EssentialElements

DISCOVER THE FIVE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS TOTHRIVING PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY AS

YOUR BEST, MOST EFFECTIVE SELF.

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How do some people consistently show up in ways that inspire?Unlock the answers and you will not only transform yourself, you willhave the ability to shape others’ capacity to do the same. In order todo this, you must discover the elements that enable you to thriveand show up as your best and most effective self, both at work andat home. Whether you know it or not, you are a leader. In ways large andsmall, leaders assess the current state, identify problems, andactivate pathways to change things for the better. Leadershipbegins with your ability to effectuate these elements for yourself bydefining your personal version of a life well-lived. Only after you gainclarity for yourself can you meet your potential as a leader as youstrive to impact your family, workplace, community and more.

W H Y D O S O M E P E O P L E S E E M T O T H R I V E— E V E N I N T H E M I D S T O F C H A L L E N G E —W H I L E O T H E R S W I T H E R ?

“ M O S T O F U S L I V E A N D W O R K I N W A Y S T H A TR U N C O U N T E R T O F U L F I L L I N G O U RP O T E N T I A L . ”

- B A R B A R A W A X M A N M S , M P A , P C C

© 2020 Group Coaching. All rights reserved.

T H E P R O B L E M

We’ve been conditioned to associate top performance with longhours spent at work, minimal hours spent at sleep, and the greatestnumber of productivity apps installed our smartphone. Is this way of operating allowing you to be the best, most impactfulversion of yourself? Professionally, are you supporting people in ways that increase theirlevel of engagement and productivity?

The answer?A resounding NO.

Our cultural norms reinforce anapproach to life at work and athome that runs counter tofulfilling our potential.

© 2020 Odyssey Group Coaching. All rights reserved.

T H E S O L U T I O N

The Five Essential Elements

Athletes, musicians and other top performers have created a lifecentered around making good lifestyle choices and consciouslyactivating a mindset to keep them. They create a life based aroundThe Five Essentials Elements, and in doing so, have cultivated amindset that allowed each individual to achieve greatness in theirdomain. But you don’t need to be a professional athlete or musicianto apply The Five Essential Elements. High achievers in any realmare passionate practitioners of their craft. Their success rests upon astructured investment in themselves in order to produceextraordinary results. Perhaps it was inevitable that as we spent more and more time infront of computers, we allowed ourselves to slide into the pattern oftreating employees, team members, and ourselves like machines. Today it’s more common to place ourselves in roles as ‘humandoings’ rather than human beings. But we are not made ofautomated, programmable components. And we lose out on ourgreatest competitive advantage–people power—when we fall intothis pattern. We cannot buy more RAM when we need to integratenew skills and knowledge, or even when we need to rememberwhat movie we saw two days ago. Half-hearted jokes about having ‘senior moments’ are no longerrelegated to people of a certain age. Recent research shows that ouraverage attention span has dropped to just eight seconds. Thisdangerous trend will continue if our habits don’t change. We willbecome more confused, more stressed, and less able to recallinformation as we overload our short-term memory banks. As muchas we might try, we simply can’t re-boot, turn off for a few minutes,say a prayer and turn ourselves back on, good as new. Pretending soonly hurts us individually and diminishes our sense of engagementat work.


I t ’ s b e e n e s t i m a t e d t h a t i n t o t a l , o r g a n i z a t i o n sw i t h d i s e n g a g e d e m p l o y e e s l o s e o v e r $ 4 5 0b i l l i o n a n n u a l l y t h r o u g h a b s e n t e e i s m ,t u r n o v e r , e m p l o y e e s a f e t y i n c i d e n t s , a n dp r o d u c t i v i t y .

So what do most managers do? They try to keep up by multi-tasking themselves and ask their team members to do the same. But long-held myths about multi-tasking being productive havebeen debunked by scientific research. Dividing our attention leavesus emotionally and physically depleted, and consumes more timethan focusing on a single task. Yet we continue to operate ourorganizations and teams with this outdated ethos, harmingeveryone’s energy levels and lowering our overall effectiveness andengagement. The Gallup company measured engagement by tracking factorsincluding absenteeism, productivity and profitability.

W h e n c o m p a n i e s e n a c t e d p r a c t i c e s a d d r e s s e db y T h e F i v e E s s e n t i a l E l e m e n t s , t h e y r e p o r t e d4 1 % l o w e r a b s e n t e e i s m r a t e s , 1 7 % h i g h e rp r o d u c t i v i t y a n d a 2 1 % i n c r e a s e i n p r o f i t a b i l i t y .

If organizations, both for-profit and nonprofit, doubled the numberof employees who reported being engaged at work, our economyand our quality of life would be dramatically improved. Sleep is also a misunderstood and undervalued organizationaleffectiveness tool. Many people today equate a good night’s rest todessert: something to indulge in on weekends or while on vacation.Some even report feeling guilty for sleeping a healthy eight hourseven though research shows that being well-rested is vital toworkplace productivity.

T o d a y , o v e r 8 0 % o f t h e U . S . w o r k f o r c e —r o u g h l y 6 6 m i l l i o n p e o p l e — s a y t h a t t h e y d o n ' tf e e l e n g a g e d w i t h o r c o m m i t t e d t o t h e i r w o r k .

T H E C A S E F O R T H E F I V E E S S E N T I A LE L E M E N T S A T W O R K


W h i l e 9 7 . 5 % o f t h e w o r l d ’ s p o p u l a t i o n n e e d ss e v e n t o e i g h t h o u r s o f s l e e p t o f e e l r e s t e d ,t h e a v e r a g e A m e r i c a n g e t s w e l l u n d e r s e v e nh o u r s p e r n i g h t .

This explains why only one in seven people report waking upfeeling refreshed and two in five people report feeling tired most ofthe week. Simply put, a lack of sleep leaves us wasting our waking hours, andtime is money. Yet, we often fritter time away in front of screensmeant to expedite workflow. We live in the Information Age, a time that gives us more access totechnology than at any point in history. The era of technologyostensibly makes our lives more productive and connected, butthat’s increasingly not the case. When overused, technologyconsumes our time, clouds our thinking, and decreases our focus. Inorder to create clarity and focus, we need to un-do regularly bytaking breaks of different types. Research has shown that our bodies function in “ultradian rhythms”throughout the day, moving from a high-energy state into aphysiological trough every 90-120 minutes. By recognizing when ourbody needs a rest and taking time to restore our energy, we canstay sharp and stay present to others throughout the day. In asurvey of 2,000 employees, Bain & Company found that amongthirty-three traits, the ability to be present, or centered, wasconsidered a hallmark of leadership. Likewise, the most successful leaders have the ability to connecttheir sense of purpose and their personal values to aspects of theirwork. This is often undervalued in our current workplace, but can bethe difference between average and exceptional performance.

A r e v i e w o f m o r e t h a n 1 5 0 l e a d e r s h i p s t u d i e sf o u n d t h a t e m p l o y e e s r a t e i n t e g r i t y a s t h em o s t i m p o r t a n t q u a l i t y f o r a l e a d e r t o p o s s e s s .H o n e s t y f a l l s s e c o n d , a n d h u m i l i t y i s t h i r d .


T H E C A S E F O R T H E F I V E E S S E N T I A LE L E M E N T S A T H O M E

Half of all Americans feel they don’t have enough time to doeverything they want to do. Increasing demands have sucked time from our personal lives andleft us feeling depleted. We attempt to think of time as somethingwe can wrangle into submission, only to find it a losing battle. Thereality is that we don’t ‘have’ time. Einstein’s scientific discoveriesillustrated that time is its own dimension and a tricky one at that; heeven discovered that it warps. Rather than manage an illusive thinglike time, successful leaders manage their energy and focus withinthe time they have available.

O n v a r i o u s s u r v e y s , A m e r i c a n s r e p o r t f e e l i n g so f i s o l a t i o n , a l a c k o f p u r p o s e , e x t r e m ee x h a u s t i o n a n d p o o r h e a l t h .

Knowing these values are important is not enough. The message is:‘Don’t tell me what you believe in. Show me through yourconsistent actions and ways of communicating.’ Organizations that invest in areas represented within The FiveEssential Elements have been shown to experience better businessresults and have more engaged employees. To understand thepower of the Five Essentials Elements is to understand the mindsetvital to a personal and organizational culture that leads to individualand organizational success.

T h e U . S . r e c e n t l y r a n k e d 1 0 4 t h o u t o f 1 4 0c o u n t r i e s o n t h e H a p p y P l a n e t I n d e x , w h i c hr a t e s c o u n t r i e s b a s e d o n t h e w e l l - b e i n g o ft h e i r c i t i z e n s .

This needs to shift.

We need to place far more emphasis on what we are dedicating ourtime to rather than how much time we feel we have to spend onthings we don’t feel reflect our values. This is best accomplished bycreating ways to engage with others and by adopting patterns andpractices that enable us to feel our best. But instead, we aremaking our lives busier than ever and feeling more alone as a result.Rates of isolation and depression are on the rise.

O n a v e r a g e , A m e r i c a n ss p e n d a l m o s t 1 1 h o u r s i nf r o n t o f a s c r e e n e v e r yd a y , a n d o v e r 5 0 m i l l i o nA m e r i c a n s w a t c ha p p r o x i m a t e l y f o r t y - s e v e nh o u r s o f t e l e v i s i o n p e rw e e k . T h a t ' s m o r e t h a n af u l l - t i m e j o b !


Social isolation has become a national health crisis. This heightenedisolation and increased screen time is affecting not only our mentalhealth, but our physical health as well.

P e o p l e w h o a r e p h y s i c a l l y a c t i v e f o r s e v e nh o u r s a w e e k h a v e a 4 0 % d e c r e a s e d r i s k o fd y i n g e a r l y c o m p a r e d t o t h o s e w h o w o r k o u tl e s s t h a n t h i r t y m i n u t e s a w e e k .

A n o t h e r s t u d y f o u n d t h a t v i g o r o u s e x e r c i s e t h r e e t i m e s a w e e k w a s a t l e a s t a s e f f e c t i v e a sa n t i d e p r e s s a n t d r u g s i n r e d u c i n g s y m p t o m s o fd e p r e s s i o n .

Research has revealed that our mind and body are more connectedthan traditional knowledge would lead one to assume. The way inwhich you perceive any given situation feels like fact and manifestsin physical and psychological symptoms. As such, your perception isyour reality. It's therefore imperative to manage your perceptionscarefully. A growth mindset is integral to understanding theimportance of investing in yourself.

Psychologist Carol Dweck has identified two types of mindsets:fixed and growth. Those with a fixed mindset believe their traits andabilities are established and relatively stagnant. Those with agrowth mindset believe their basic abilities and intelligence can beintentionally developed throughout life in ways that add to thequantity and quality of their experiences.


Neurologist Marsel Mesulam’s research supports this as he hasshown that ‘Superagers’, those who consistently engage withchallenging tasks that require ambidextrous use of their mind, seealmost no cognitive decline with age. Additionally, those with amindset geared to thinking positively about growing older actuallylive longer. With the average American workweek consisting of at least fortyhours, our increased personal screen time has led to lessengagement and energy at home. So even while we spend most ofour time at work, it’s equally important to seek growth at home andin our personal lives. In order to see the results we want, we need todefine our principles and institute a process that gives us a way tomeasure progress towards our personal and professional goals. Indoing so, we create our own definition of a lifewell-lived andunleash our full potential.


The Five Essential Elements process was created to help you leadyour own version of a successful life at work and at home. Contraryto popular belief, your most valuable currency is not money or time–it is energy. Enhance your energy and you will have increased yourfocus, emotional equanimity, creativity, and ability to engage withpeople and causes you care about.

O u r m o s t v a l u a b l e c u r r e n c y i s n o t m o n e y o rt i m e – i t ’ s o u r e n e r g y .

T H E F I V E E S S E N T I A L E L E M E N T S P R O C E S S

U n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e b a s e l i n e i s w h e r e i t a l lb e g i n s .

We analyzed the research and synthesized our findings into 25carefully crafted questions that make up The Five EssentialElements and the Five to Thrive Quiz.

In the next step, we Evaluate by using a gap analysis to identifyspecific areas of focus. The Innovation step turns insights intoactionable steps that you can incorporate into daily life. In theActivation step, you observe the plan in action and make coursecorrections as needed. The final step, Engagement, is where youshow up in the world in the way that reflects your own brand ofleadership and your own version of a life well-lived.


E x e r c i s e & N u t r i t i o n

Leaders with the energy and focus to get things done consistentlymonitor their health, eat a diet that is right for them, exerciseregularly, and listen to their bodies.

T H E F I V E E S S E N T I A L E L E M E N T S D E F I N E D

R e s t & R e n e w a l

Grounded, resilient, emotionally consistent leaders get the sleepthey need and engage in rituals they find centering. They scheduletechnology-free time on a consistent basis and understand thatthey need to stop occasionally and disconnect from the busy-nessof life.

F o c u s & G r o w t h

Productive people don’t multitask because they understand it’sinefficient. Instead they bundle tasks and prioritize the mostdifficult and time-consuming activities. They make a point tostretch their minds and develop creative pursuits.

J o y & P a s s i o n

Balanced, successful leaders train themselves to find meaning andjoy in the small moments of life. They align their values with theiractions and try to make a difference in small and large ways. Whatthey find is that joy and passion act like viruses, happily transmittedto those around them.

T i m e & P l a c e

People with energy guard their time, know when to say “no” andwhen to jump in. They take breaks from their work approximatelyevery 90 minutes to stretch, walk around, and re-charge for the nextchallenge.


Passionate. Authentic. Committed. That’s how people describeAlexandra Morgan’s leadership of Family House, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that serves the families of children needing life-saving treatments at UCSF. It looked as though Alexandra had it all,but she knew better. Depleted. Short-fused. That’s how Alexandra felt. Approaching 60,Alexandra wasn’t thinking about retirement but didn't know howshe could continue while feeling so run down. Like so many of us with considerable responsibilities, she ran onfumes much of the time. When Alexandra and I started ourcoaching work together she was so depleted that she regularly hadto cancel appointments as she came down with one ailment oranother. She knew what was most important in her life: leading anorganization whose mission still brought tears to her eyes, having apersonal life complete with a loving relationship, a spiritual practice,feeling good about her body, singing—just to name a few. But theseall seemed outside the realm of possibility. There were simply not enough hours in the day to complete herwork and focus on the seemingly daunting, uphill climb of all theseother aspects of herself. By learning, understanding, and integratingThe Five Essential Elements, Alexandra made tough choices, andultimately progress. First, she shifted her mindset. Alexandra started to catch herselfwhen she felt guilty about investing in herself and learned tounderstand that the investment would pay off for others, includingthose in her workplace. Alexandra innovated ways to integrate what she learned in theassessment phase and turned those insights into actions. Shegradually made daily exercise a priority and now takes her team onwalks around the block for conversations rather than sitting behinda desk. She made changes to her eating, sought out a spiritualcommunity, the list goes on.

C A S E S T U D Y F O R T H E F I V E E S S E N T I A LE L E M E N T S P R O C E S S


Alexandra learned The Five Essential Elements process and inspiredothers at the same time. Fast forward and Alexandra feels healthierand more vital than ever, she is fully engaged in what she describesas her life’s work, and she recently married.

W H A T P E O P L E A R E S A Y I N G A B O U TT H E F I V E E S S E N T I A L E L E M E N T S

" I w a s s h o c k e d b y t h e n e w i n s i g h t s t h a t T h eF i v e t o T h r i v e Q u i z u n s u r f a c e d ! A s a ne x e c u t i v e c o a c h , I s e e m a n y a s s e s s m e n t s a n d Il o v e t h e s i m p l i c i t y , a c c e s s i b i l i t y a n da c t i o n a b l e i n s i g h t s t h i s a p p r o a c h o f f e r s . It h o u g h t I w a s t h r i v i n g , a n d t u r n s o u t I h a v er o o m t o r a i s e t h e b a r t o s u p e r c h a r g e m y m o j o !T h a n k y o u B a r b a r a f o r c r e a t i n g t o t h i s v a l u a b l et o o l ! "

Lisa Kavanaugh, Leadership Coach

" T h e F i v e t o T h r i v e Q u i z w a s a q u i c k a n di n t u i t i v e w a y t o a s s e s s h o w w e l l I ' m t h r i v i n ga c r o s s a b r o a d s p e c t r u m o f a r e a s a n d m a k ec o m m i t m e n t s t o m y s e l f a n d t h o s e w h o w i l lh o l d m e a c c o u n t a b l e t h a t w i l l r e s u l t i n ap o s i t i v e s h i f t i n m y l i f e . "

Eric Westberg, Nicoya Consulting

“ T h e F i v e E s s e n t i a l E l e m e n t s p r o c e s s h e l p e dm e s e t c l e a r , a c h i e v a b l e c o m m i t m e n t s f o rm y s e l f a n d m a k e s t h e p r o c e s s o f s u c c e e d i n ga n d s e l f - a c t u a l i z i n g s o m a n a g e a b l e a n d l e s sd a u n t i n g . ”

Jaye Chen, COO Intl. Institute for Education

“ T h e F i v e E s s e n t i a l E l e m e n t s p r o c e s s a n d T h eF i v e t o T h r i v e Q u i z w e r e a t e r r i f i c m e t h o d o fs e l f - e x a m i n a t i o n t h a t l e a d t o a c t i o n s t oi m p r o v e m y l i f e . ”

Joel Hausman, attendee The Modern Elder Academy


C I T E D W O R K S & F U R T H E R R E A D I N G

Bethune, Sophie and Panlener, Juanita. “APA Survey RaisesConcern about Health Impact of Stress on Children and Families.”American Psychological Association, 9 November 2010. Callahan, Meredith Whipple and Horwitch, Mark. “How LeadersInspire: Cracking the Code.” Bain & Company, 10 June 2016. “Guide to Managing Stress at Work.” Harvard Business Review, 14January 2014. McCarthy, Catherine and Schwartz, Tony. “Manage Your Energy, NotYour Time.” Harvard Business Review, October 2007. “Physical Activity and Heath.” Center for Disease Control andPrevention, 13 February 2018. “Purpose At Work: The Largest Global Study on the Role of Purposein the Workforce.” LinkedIn, 2016. Schwartz, Tony, et al. The Way We're Working Isn't Working: TheFour Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance. Free Press,2011. “State of the American Workplace.” Gallup, Inc., 2017.“The NielsenTotal Audience Report.” Nielsen, 2016.

Barbara Waxman is a nationally recognized Middlescence expert,executive and personal leadership coach, author, and speaker. In2005, as the only Master’s level gerontologist and internationallycertified coach in the US, she founded The Odyssey Group,providing executive and life coaching to adults, midlife and better.Barbara's proprietary coaching model, Entrepreneurship TurnedInward (ETI), and content including the 5 Essential Elements ,Five to Thrive Quiz and Five to Thrive Activation Guide create acoaching framework, strategy and the support needed to bestenable clients to find success on their terms. Barbara is the author of three books examining aging, including TheMiddlescence Manifesto: Igniting the Passion of Midlife and and iscontributing editor to How to Love Your Retirement: The Guide tothe Best of Your Life (Hundreds of Heads Books, 2010). Her work hasbeen featured on CBS This Morning, in Marin Magazine, AriannaHuffington's Thrive Global, Wharton Business School’s Work andLife podcast, and The Gap Year Podcast for Grown-Ups. A WexnerHeritage Foundation Fellow, Barbara holds Masters Degrees in bothAdministration and Gerontology, with certifications from theInternational Coach Federation and The Hudson Institute.


B A R B A R A W A X M A N M S , M P A , P C C

Middlescence Expert, Gerontologist, Executive & PersonalLeadership Coach, Author, Speaker

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Elements Essential...Essential Elements have been shown to experience better business results and have more engaged employees. To understand the power of the Five Essentials Elements