#392 Unlock entrepreneurial success and skilfully navigate the pressures of leadership with ancient Qigong wisdom, with Craig Cooke.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
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Please note that while an effort is made to provide an accurate transcription, errors and omissions may be present. No part of this transcription can be referenced or reproduced without permission.
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Craig Cooke  0:00  
When I learned how to break cement and red bricks and so forth, part of it was conditioning the hands and feet to be in shape enough to take the shock, right of the material itself. But the other half is in the mind, you know, having total faith in yourself that you can do it. You have to have that faith in yourself. And then second is where you focus on where you can't focus on the brick, you have to focus past it. On the other side of it.

Agi Keramidas  0:29  
You are listening to personal development mastery, the podcast that empowers you with a simple and consistent actions to take that will help you create a life of purpose and fulfilment. I'm your host Agi Keramidas and this is episode 392. If you want to strengthen both your entrepreneurial and personal development journey, then today's episode is for you. By listening today, you will discover how the ancient practice of Qigong can help you manage stress and maintain emotional and physical balance amidst the demands of entrepreneurship. You will also learn to use the Chinese Five Elements theory as a model and a framework for entrepreneurship and personal development. Before we dive in, if you enjoy listening to the podcast and appreciate what we're doing here, this simple quick favour I'm asking you is to click the subscribe button. Now let's get started. 

Agi Keramidas  1:42  
Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Craig Cooke. Craig, you are a seasoned entrepreneur, Best Selling Author and practitioner of Chinese medical Qigong. You have a remarkable journey spanning from founding a digital marketing agency in the 90s. To executive leadership and brand development, your book business kung fu blends martial arts philosophy with business acumen offering a unique perspective on entrepreneurship. Beyond business, you delve into the realm of energy healing, selling how Qigong transformed your health and mindset, or meet the challenges of running your company. Craig, welcome to the show. It's such a pleasure to speak with you today. Thank

Craig Cooke  2:34  
you, how are you? Thank you so much for that great introduction. I really liked how you articulated everything there in a concise manner too. But yeah, really well done. Thank you. My

Agi Keramidas  2:45  
pleasure. It's a it means a lot to hear that. I'm very much looking forward, Craig to this conversation. Because, you know, in many people's minds, the entrepreneurship and spiritual elements are not necessarily part of the same conversation. And so that's my intention for today to combine them and learn from your unique approach and journey. Before we go there, I would like to start this conversation with asking you to give us some elements of your journey. So perhaps you're a key defining moment. So take us back to when you started or you got inspired to start learning Chinese medical Qigong and what was happening there with your business? They take us back there and so when understand.

Craig Cooke  3:50  
Sure, okay, because that was definitely a key defining moment in my life. So to around 2014. Mike started my company in 1996. So had been at it there for what is that? 18 years or so? In 2014? Somewhere around there, right? My math might be off a little bit. But at the time in 2014, we were experiencing rapid growth, we were on the what's called the Inc 5000 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. I think that was probably our third year in a row that we were on the list, we are actually had made the list five years in a row. So we are like right in the middle of this rapid growth phase. And with that, a couple of things. One, there is just an enormous amount of stress and pressure from managing your staff your team. Meeting client demands dealing with vendors juggling family life, all these responsibilities and obligations. Do Day after day compound over time and create, you know, stress and, and at the time, I just felt emotionally and mentally out of balance just off centred. And my health wasn't the greatest either like a couple of years prior. So I need to get healthier, because physically healthier because when I started my company at age 25, I was in great health 10 years later, it was on the other side of the spectrum. And that has a cause and effect also. So all these things kind of added up, you know, poor health, stress, pressure obligations to where I just wasn't really centred and balanced. And a friend of mine, and a friend of mine, referred me to a gentleman who knew Chinese medical Qigong. So I looked up his website. And so wow, that's interesting. Because I was familiar with Chi Gong from my martial art days in more martial Qigong, and some health and wellness aspects. So I said, Well, let me go, see if he's the real deal. I'm intrigued. So I went and had an amazing session with him. He was definitely the real deal. And I decided to go back and I went to see him once a month for about six months is His name is Ross Anderson. They're great, great gentlemen. And after six months, I just found myself much more centred and balanced, just feeling more like my my old self, in a sense. And at that time, he asked, Would you like to learn how to do this, how to be a practitioner? And I said, Absolutely, because I was just so intrigued, and it helped me so much. I just wanted to keep going. So that was like that key defining moment of that initial meeting Ross in that session, and then six months later, making the decision to actually take a much deeper dive in and learn. And it really helped me over the years to mitigate stress and all those pressures and, and to be Tane that balance, because all those stresses and pressures don't go away. They life has a funny way of throwing sucker punches at you and punching you in the gut and kicking you in the face these things right? And it doesn't stop. But with a practice, like Qigong, you're just better equipped to manage through it.

Agi Keramidas  7:37  
Thank you. So for someone listening now that is not familiar with the Chinese medical Qigong, how would you describe so what does it involve? Sure.

Craig Cooke  7:49  
So there's three primary branches of Qigong. Traditionally, there's martial Qigong, medical, Qigong, and spirit spiritual Qi Gong. So they're all pretty similar. There's just different functions and purposes for various exercises. But if you want to summarise Qigong is the integration of the mind, body and breath. And if we actually take a further step back, Qi Gong literally means energy skill, or lifeforce energy skill. Chi, is what the Chinese referred to as energy or lifeforce energy. And Gong is skill. So it's really the skill of working with lifeforce energy. And you do that by integrating the mind, body and breath. And that is done through various exercises that look similar to Tai Chi, a lot of people see what Tai Chi looks like. So it's similar to that without necessarily the martial applications to it. And they're much more simple movements for the most part. And then there's also meditation as well that comes into play just static meditation, but that can be laying down sitting or standing. Actually, I

Agi Keramidas  9:04  
get it. That's great. You said to the skill of working with lifeforce energy, which I understand I like the way you describe the integration of body, mind and breath. So I will leave the techniques and the practice aside for a moment that will bring it back. So how did you implement what you learned there in your business? How is I'm trying to figure out how that would, you know, be implemented. So we're saying the operation of what you're doing? Sure.

Craig Cooke  9:40  
So for myself personally, as I mentioned, it helped me mitigate the stress and pressures which had benefits and operating the business just more clarity of mind. Being calmer and interactions with people because I did find myself getting more triggered as One could say were just less patients and you know, a temper can rise. And that just through the practice that helped mitigate all that, and again, keeping more centred and balanced personally. Now, with others, I actually taught my management team how to meditate. Because they, they started noticing put it that way, they started noticing that I was being more calmer. And then I would say, oh, yeah, well, I was because I started this thing called Qigong and and then sometimes I'd bring it, you know, I'd have a lot of one on one meetings with each of the management team members. And sometimes I bring it up when I noticed that they had anxiety, for example, you know, people have they go through a cycle of all types of different emotions. And I might bring up, you know, why don't you try some, some meditation, I do this practice called Qi Gong, and it's really great, etc. So there just be some conversations. But eventually, I actually did teach my management team, how to meditate took them through some Qigong meditations, which they really appreciated. And I also did a little bit also, with once a quarter, we had meat, the entire company to have like a quarterly update meeting. And there was no at least once or a couple of times where I took everyone through a meditation as well, because we were just talking about health and wellness and how that's important to help with performance. Because it does it just it just helps with performance. So there was those group settings, but a lot of one on one conversations actually with with people and giving them some guidance in that manner.

Agi Keramidas  11:47  
If you enjoy this episode, can you think of one person that would find it useful and share it with them, I'd really appreciate it, it helps the show grow. And you will also be adding value to people you care about. Thank you. And now let's get back to the episode. You mentioned earlier that there are three elements of parts to the Chinese key going to you said this the physical part of the martial arts, which the movements of the body in other words, so you also mentioned the medical and the spiritual, if I if I'm correct. So there are two questions that come to mind here. The first one was the physical bit because you are you have a background in martial arts since a teenager. So I suppose that was one of the catalysts that drew you to the to liking and evolving yourself in the practice. Is that something that is, let's say a necessary part for this this path? Or was it your path? Yeah, it's a great, I'm asking, because you mentioned the word meditation quite a few times. So I'm trying to think, How can meditation for many people, the idea that comes to mind, is someone sitting down with their eyes closed? Certainly not doing movements? So guide me through that?

Craig Cooke  13:20  
Sure, sure. So for your first question, it's not necessary to to go down the martial path with Qigong so I could focus on the spiritual or the medical health, like health and wellness, so forth. But it is all connected. They're all interrelated. Absolutely. So with martial arts, I was just my path that was my first exposure to it. And it's really more what's the function, the purpose of the application of Chi Gong in that setting, it's to direct energy. So in a martial context, there could be more power generated during combat, right. So but that's not necessary to go down the Qigong path at all to turn it depends on what someone's looking for. For the medical path, there's aspects of the martial that does actually help because it's about developing further vibration inside the body. And certain aspects of the martial Qigong does help accentuate and develop that further. The second part of your question with the meditation, yes. There's a couple aspects. So when someone's doing Qigong exercises, even the ones with the movement, you you tend to get into a meditative state in a sense, right? Yeah, even though your body's moving your eyes could be opened or they could be closed also, and movements are slow and you just and that's the integration of the mind, body and breath, the more you settle down, and allow yourself to get into a state as relaxed as we have carried so much tension inside ourselves, and being able to relax, and not only the body, but the mind. And then as you're breathing and doing these Slow, simple movements, and that's what helps to a lot of the movements are very simple. So you get into a nice meditative state, not as deep as if you're totally still, but you do get into a meditative state. And then when the Qigong meditations that are, let's call them static, still, there's different ways to go about it, where you're either lying down, or you're sitting or you're standing. And when you're standing, for example, there's all kinds of different poses where the, the hands could be like you're embracing someone, or going to a tree, it's that kind of posture there, or the hands giving down. And there's, there's all these different postures that one can have. And so there is a fiscal aspect, because you have to hold that and, and if you're sitting there after 30 minutes, just in holding a posture, it could, your your mind has to overcome that pain threshold, in a sense, but you also have to relax is the more you relax and let your structure as long as you have proper structure. You're not having to eat the utilise your muscles as much actually. And you can get into a really deep meditative state and that that meditation or those types of meditation with those different postures serve a very specific purpose, as opposed to maybe a meditation that you're sitting and you're really concentrating on working with certain aspects of your energetic anatomy. It's just like we have a physical anatomy, we also have an energetic anatomy.

Agi Keramidas  17:07  
And I wanted to ask also, add a little bit on that the medical aspect of it, you you said that you had some health, physical, you were off balanced, you said emotionally, mentally, but also physically, you were not at your best. So can you share an example of a physical issue that was improved or healed with your practice?

Craig Cooke  17:37  
Sure. So a couple of things that me because the health journey is been a it's been a journey. It's wasn't like a one and done thing, right? Yeah. Because I, where I found myself like, 10 years later, after starting my company, I was overweight, not like a lot, but definitely overweight, like, too much weight, sitting up sitting all the time, because you're doing digital marketing work, sitting at a desk, running the company out, sitting and that's just awful for your body, right. And 2016 So just a couple of years after I started Qigong, I did get a blood panel done. And it had been the first time I had been to the doctor and like, probably 10 years or so. And I was diagnosed with diabetes actually. And that was like, wow, that's, that's really a big deal. And then there's all these other things that are were issues like inflammation, high cholesterol, and all these other various factors. There's a whole bunch of issues I had in my doctor at the time, she did say because she was familiar with Qigong as a natural path doctor. And she did tell me that my numbers would have been a lot worse if I hadn't been practising Qigong, you know, from her knowledge and experience. But the the overcoming diabetes, which I have now reversed completely 100% is multifaceted, where it's not just one thing that takes care of it, it's a number of things. So Qigong is essential because it helps mitigate the stress because stress is bad for diabetes. Also other aspects of what it does for the body, in and of itself is is good, but also proper diet, nutrition, sleep, hydration, well activity, walking, and also even strength training. And, and I did actually get back into martial arts as of a few years ago, too. So all these things combined have helped me overcome that. So that's an example Ball. There's all kinds of different conditions she got and could be useful for, especially like, like chronic conditions.

Agi Keramidas  20:08  
Sure, thank you for this answer. And you know, the topic of health is, we could direct the whole conversation there, because there are so many things to discuss. But, you know, with so little time together, I will steer the conversation. And I would like actually to talk about your book and the principles that you share, and then show your book, business Kung Fu, where you merge martial arts philosophy with business principles. So can you tell me first of all, what inspired you to write this?

Craig Cooke  20:43  
Well, my first passion in life was books. Actually, as soon as I could read, I always had a book in my face, I always constantly reading. And when I was a teenager, probably around 17, or 18, or so I just had this desire that one day, I would like to write a book. I didn't know on what but I would. And because I love books so much. And then come to 2011 2011, I decided, you know, it's time I started that book. I've been in my business journey and having success and so forth. And I came up with the idea of just writing the book about my journey of how I incorporated my lessons and principles for martial arts into running the company. So aspects of mindset, discipline, perseverance, even certain models, because like the system I learned was a complete fighting system. So I didn't want the company that depend on just one service offering or one thing just create create, we created an integrated system of various components working in conjunction with each other to bring solutions to the table. So that was highly influenced by what I learned in Chinese kung fu. So that's the concept. And there's some other aspects of of very specific examples that are contained in the Book of applying those learnings into a business context.

Agi Keramidas  22:19  
Talking about these supply needs actually would be what I would like to ask you next. So share some key lessons or insights coming from your books or or someone listening now an entrepreneur can apply to what they do. So

Craig Cooke  22:37  
there's a model I have in there, it's in the first chapter. And people could actually download the first chapter for free on my website, if they want to learn more about this, but it's a model I call the five elements of entrepreneurship. And this five element model is, is actually modelled after Chinese five element theory, which five element theory spans across the Chinese culture, from martial arts, to medical, to spiritual to music, to food, it's just an ancient model of balancing the different elements which are in the Chinese culture, fire, earth, water, and metal and wood. And there's all these various properties, and it's all about having a balance. So borrowing off that model, from my personal experience, and, and through observing others. Through my personal experience, I identified five elements of entrepreneurship, which are passion, that passion leads to discipline, discipline leads to expertise, expertise leads to confidence, and confidence leads to faith. So I talked about how that's a cycle. And it's, there's what's called a generative cycle, or creative cycle, that you build the capacity of those elements and fill that capacity. And then that, but they can also reverse you can diminish, yeah, if your mindset gets challenged, and you go the wrong direction, you can be going into the destructive cycle where all these elements, the capacity that you've built and fulfilled, are now getting diminished. And then there's interrelationships between the elements that can have positive or negative impacts. So for example, confidence, and there could be an excess or deficient condition of that element. Let's talk about an excess condition. If there's someone has an excess condition of confidence, what does that manifest as it normally manifests as arrogance? That arrogance really doesn't serve you well, confidence serves you well. But when you have an excess and it becomes arrogance, it can create a variety of issues, for example, it has that impact on the earlier element of discipline. Because one could think that they're so great, because they're arrogant, and they're so full of themselves, that they don't need to continue working on themselves or evolve, because they just have this arrogance that they're perfect. You know, they're great. Why? Why do I, if I have that mindset, why why do I need to bother with this stuff anymore? I'm just all that. Right. So that's an example. So it's all about balancing these elements, building and developing that those elements and then maintaining a balance in life Noxus out of balance, like we've been discussing. So it's, it's also like, how quickly can you get back to balance and maintain that balance? And you will get knocked out again? But then how quickly can you come back? So that's like, one of the principles that I speak about.

Agi Keramidas  26:04  
Thank you, for the principle. Is there any simple practice that the listener can apply just as a first step after this conversation?

Craig Cooke  26:14  
Yeah. So you know, my, there's, there's there's, and building those different elements, there's a variety of aspects, practices, so it kind of depends on where you're at. He had the you, are you passionate about something? Right? Well, if you're not, you really need to start exploring life further be introspective. Start thinking, like, What is my purpose, which I know, you talked about a lot, right purpose, so that that'd be really just sitting down and, and meditating would be great. With that, to declare the mind settle down. Depending on upon if you're experienced with meditation, that you can be open to receive information that inspires you, that kind of comes to you during that meditative state. But then, also just getting down on a piece of paper and writing down what what brings you joy? What, what activities bring you joy? And what can you do to implement more of that in your life? And and bring that into some sort of profession? And what purpose candy, what value can you create for others and have a purpose. So that's, that's the first element. But then with discipline, the on that next element, some practical is just again, there's a mindset. You got to show up, you know, having the right mindset show up every day. And it sounds kind of simple, but it's, it's a lot easier said than done for people. And just you got to show up, show up every day. But then once you show up every day, it's like, okay, well, let's take my mindset to the next level, I need to be productive. Okay, so now you have the Battle of showing up, down, well, I need to be actively producing, producing something, rather than just showing up and doing nothing, right. And then, which sounds simple, but again, people have challenges with this, then the third layer of discipline is really being effective. So once you show up, and you're producing, whatever you're producing needs to have value, you need to create value for someone else. So someone needs to really get their mindset wrapped around that and and practice it. And I would say, any sort of exercise routine helps with discipline, because you need to engage your body. That's what I like about Qigong it's really engages all aspects of the being, you know, the Chinese referred to the three bodies, the physical body, the energy body and the spirit body. And and when you engage your whole being, you can participate in life much more effectively. So there's a couple of things I also talked about, like problem solving, and using the analogy of breaking materials, like a break. And that's one thing I'd work with my employees on and give them that example. That mindset because when people get focused on problems, and they get so stuck on the problem, they they get so spun out and stressed out and they can't solve the problem because they're just so fixated on the problem itself. I would tell them about the analogy of breaking a brick is you have to focus on where you want to be. So in when I learned how to break cement and red bricks and so forth. Part of it was conditioning In the hands and feet, to be able to be in shape enough to take the shock, right of the material itself. But the other half is in the mind, you know, having total faith in yourself that you can do it super important, you have to have that faith in yourself. And then second is where you focus on where you can't focus on the brick, you have to focus past it on the other side of it, so that when you have full faith and confidence in yourself, I'd say faith actually, because like those five elements, confidence leads to faith. That's like confidence on steroids, but in a positive way, that that faith helps you get through that brick and with the focus on the other side, your hand just goes right through it. So the same thing with problem solving, as long as you can focus on where you want to be. And you have that faith in yourself that you will get there and you get it done. Maybe not at that moment. But when you walk away and come back, yeah, then then the problem seems to not be so challenging. And the solution is present themselves. It's just interesting how it works. But that's just another example of what I talked about in the book.

Agi Keramidas  31:20  
Thank you for emphasising what you've learned to show up every day. Yes, it is simple, but it's not easy. And, you know, one should not underestimate how that simple but not easy act of showing up every day builds a momentum that compounds. So thank you for sharing that. I found that very useful the way that you describe it. I will I Craig, I have two questions that I always ask my guests at the end of the conversation before I do share with the listener how they can connect with you find out more? What do you direct them? Sure.

Craig Cooke  32:08  
The two primary places are my website, which is c squared pro.io. That's the letter C. And there's a forum on there people can fill out and I actively monitor that. So I always receive that information. Again, people can download the first chapter of my book for free on my website as well. And then on LinkedIn, I'm very easily found on LinkedIn just by user profiles, Craig Cook, and that's cooked with an E at the end. And the book is available on Amazon. in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle format. And if people purchase the book, please leave a review reviews are awesome and help. Yeah. I know. Yeah.

Agi Keramidas  32:58  
That's great. Thank you, Greg, a. And let me ask you my my last quick questions then. And the first one is What does personal development mean to you?

Craig Cooke  33:09  
That's a great question. Yeah, personal development to me, is a continuous journey. And where are you find yourself getting better every day in every way possible.

Agi Keramidas  33:30  
And the hypothetical question, if you could go back in time and meet your 17 year old self, what's one piece of advice you would give him?

Craig Cooke  33:39  
Mm hmm, that's good. My 17 year old so this is I'm assuming kind of prior to my discovery, martial arts. I probably say start learning kung fu. But But, but I probably actually say, Don't let yourself be distracted by the various pleasures in life, right? I mean, we have to enjoy life and have pleasures. But when there's too much a pursuit of that, you could get distracted so easily. So I just I would tell my 17 year old self, don't let yourself be distracted. Have fun, but don't get distracted. stay on path.

Agi Keramidas  34:28  
Craig, I want to thank you very much for this conversation. I believe it was very useful and there were some practical elements there for for us to take on. I want to wish you all the very best with what you do and continue doing it. I will leave it to you with your parting words for today.

Craig Cooke  34:51  
Thank you. Well, thank you again for having me here and and to your audience. Thank you for taking the time to listen, I appreciate all of you and And I always recommend people if they haven't explored aspects of of martial arts or Qigong to go explore that, especially with Qigong. It's great for all different age groups. And it could really be a game changer for you and your life and just in your overall health and wellness and mental and emotional states and I just highly advocate. Go explore and check it out.

Agi Keramidas  35:36  
And before I end today's episode, if you enjoy this podcast, can you think of one person that would find it useful and share it with them? I'd really appreciate it. It helps the show grow, and you also add value to people you care about. Thank you. And until next time, stand out don't fit in!