The DNA of Leadership With Len May (Part 2)

Burnout isn’t the end of the road it’s a powerful call to action. In The DNA of Leadership With Len May (Part 2), Len May, CEO of EndoDNA, shares his transformative journey from exhaustion to empowerment. Discover how burnout can be a catalyst for growth, offering a unique opportunity to reclaim your energy, focus, and sense of purpose.

This episode dives into practical strategies for leaders and high achievers, including the power of celebrating wins, Tony Robbins’ “chunking” method for managing tasks, and the role of physical activity in maintaining momentum. Len also explores the concept of flow state, inspired by Stephen Kotler, and how activities like hiking can spark creativity and clarity.

Through actionable insights, Len reveals how vibrational energy, self-awareness, and visualization practices can help you reset, reimagine, and lead with purpose. Whether you’re facing burnout or looking to amplify your leadership impact, this episode is your guide to resilience, brilliance, and legacy-driven success.

Tune in and transform your leadership journey today!

Chapters

• 0:01 Strategies for Leadership and Energy Alignment
• 14:52 From Burnout to Brilliance

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to part two of Arise from the Ashes. This is season five. I think it's episode three or four, can't really remember. Anyway, we're here with Len May, and in the first part of this we rediscovered Len's story of burnout. Bear in mind, he's been interviewed with me before. He's an amazing guest, and that's why I asked him for him back. Real leaders haven't just recovered from burnout, but they've actually found their brilliance, and it's about finding your brilliance in burnout, because burnout isn't a sign of weakness, it's a call to rise to join a movement. So if you haven't yet subscribed, please join this movement and share it with a friend. Maybe you'll change their lives. Please join this movement and share it with a friend. Maybe you'll change their lives. What three strategies, then, or what three game-changing strategies, do you have to help implement to manage ceos or highly developed people today? What's your top three when people come to you?

Speaker 2: 1:03

So for me, I have AD attention deficit disorder. I can't stand that classification. I don't have the hyperactive, I'm not hyper and it's not a disorder, it's a superpower. So one of the things that I actually talk to people about is this idea of overwhelm. So one of the things that we do is we make these lists of to-do lists and we focus on the things that we don't complete on our list.

Speaker 2: 1:33

So reframing actually focusing on the things that you completed instead of focusing on things that you didn't complete I think that's a big game changer. Make your list, don't write a hundred different things. Keep it to maybe seven different items and if there are different categories once again I'm going to mention Tony Robbins he calls it chunking so if it's something that can fit a category, then put it into that category and celebrate your wins. Make sure that you pat yourself on the back, give yourself a hug and always be able to give yourself a reward. So I'll give you an example of that, because it's extremely important to be able to do physical activity, physical exercise, and the hardest thing for people to do that is to get to the gym, take action. So once you're there, you're already there. So if you can connect yourself from the reward of going to the gym. For me, I love the sauna to me, so I, instead of going to the gym, I would just go to the sauna. But what I'm doing is I am getting my car. It's cold. Well, I live in LA, it's not that cold, so I'm not going to say it's cold. It's fairly unpleasant as it is usually beautiful. But you get in the car, you drive to the gym, you're going to reward yourself at the end with a sauna and it's just that motion of getting going and doing physical exercise is extremely important.

Speaker 2: 3:05

And then the third part of that is you already mentioned, baz, about flow, and I did a class with Stephen Kotler on flow state, and I think it's extremely important for all executives anybody who's listening to that to find their own flow state. It can be in your work, it can be outside of your work, but what your flow state is, it's all your neurochemicals firing at their optimal levels. An example of that is a basketball player that can't miss. The basket, looks like a swimming pool. You're just shooting from anywhere and you're not thinking so. From trying to find out what your flow state is, it's one of the best resets. First of all, it's a download of information. So for me it's hiking and I discovered that it could be other things. But that is my optimal flow state and it's what I do when I'm not thinking, where information just downloads. It resets my mental state, it resets my physical state, it gives me physical exercise. But also I found this If I'm listening to something, where I'm not listening to anything, I'm in nature, all this information downloads. So I got to a point where, as I'm done my hike, I pull out my phone and my notes and I record and when I go back I'm like these are some wonderful ideas. I didn't think about the solution. The solution came to me when I wasn't thinking, but I was in my flow state, taking action.

Speaker 2: 4:41

You were mentioning at the end of the first part of the episode about when you're stuck and you're burnt out. What do you do? Just do is what I would recommend. Do the most uncomfortable thing, just do it. As Nike says, take action. That's the first thing. The second thing is give yourself some love and compassion. We're very hard on ourselves and I am extremely hard on myself. I'm lucky to have people around me that are always like telling me you're this, you're that giving me positive reinforcement? But if you're not, you may not be believing that stuff, no matter what people say. So every once in a while, give yourself a hug. You deserve it. Give yourself the love, because once you do that, you're going to be able to give that to other people as well. And don't judge yourself too harshly. And the third one is find your flow state and do more of that. Do more of the fires up all those neurochemicals, and I think that those are the things I would suggest.

Speaker 1: 5:40

I love that advice and that's great advice because what you've just given there is a roadmap if you like to reset, but not just once, but you can use it every single day and once you could be coming to that habit, it becomes the habit, becomes the lifestyle. So, going to the gym, rewarding yourself with sauna, in your case it's awesome, it's great advice for somebody goes. It's five o'clock, I've got to get up, I've got to go to the gym, but don't think about the gym, think about the reward afterwards. So that's great advice. I want to touch now on energy and spirituality, because it's a very sometimes controversial subject, but actually it's not. Energy is quantum physics and it's all around us what creates the universe. Leadership isn't just about tasks. It's about having a vision, building a legacy. How does it connect to something greater, with your family and values or spiritual beliefs? How do they help you sustain your not just your life, but your clients lives and energy?

Speaker 2: 6:45

I'm a big believer in energy and I really look within myself if things aren't, if things are misaligned.

Speaker 2: 6:55

So, you know, most people read the Secret, for instance, and I'm not a big proponent of the Secret, but there was one thing in there that really resonated with me and I've taken into my lifestyle practice over and over, and this is the idea of frequency and that idea of vibrating at a higher frequency and understanding if things are happening to me.

Speaker 2: 7:23

I drove into a pothole, somebody scratched my car, I dropped my groceries all these different things are happening to you. Maybe you have to look within yourself of where you are, so taking a moment to be able to raise your own frequency, vibrational frequency that may attract the same high level frequency vibrations back to you and you're vibrating at a low frequency and you catch yourself and you're constantly talking negative about yourself, about other people doing these different things. You'll keep attracting that thing to yourself as well. So being able, whatever your spiritual, religious, whatever your practice is, being able to do whatever you can to rise your vibrational frequency. I think that is a method of being dependent on yourself to make those changes where you can actually also affect other people that are around you and the other part of that is be aware of the negative naysayers in your life. I think I don't remember who. The person said that you're the culmination of the five people that are closest to you in your life.

Speaker 2: 8:38

Jim Rohn yeah, so, which is amazing and so true. So, being self-aware of the people that are around you, who's vibrating at your frequency, who's not? And maybe it's compartmentalizing. I'm not saying cut everybody out of your life, which you may not have an option to do, but that could be an option. This is your friend who maybe is negative, but maybe you play golf with them or something. So this is your golfing buddy. You don't have to do anything with them. Then just go out and play golf and they're not going to be that big part of your life.

Speaker 2: 9:14

So be really self-aware and I think that's one of the hardest thing to do to be able to be self-aware, understand where you're contributing to and make those changes. And I'm very big on visualization and that's part of that spiritual practice, not just having vision boards, and a lot of people have these vision boards and they create them. It's going to be the first of the year. Oh yeah, I'm going to take all these magazines, I'm going to go and I'm going to, but are you actually engaging with that? Are you doing anything with any of that stuff?

Speaker 2: 9:48

And be able to have mantras and speak to yourself in a way that you would want others to speak to you as well, and one of the things I always talk about is, if somebody's having this conversation, this negative conversation with themselves, would you have this conversation with your best friend? Would you have with your mom? Would you speak to your child in that way and why would you treat yourself in that way? And why would you treat yourself in that way? So, connecting to the greater good, being able to reinforce through a practice of changing vibrational energy, whatever that looks like to you. I do transcendental meditation as well, so TM helps center me, but my ADD even that is extremely difficult for me to do. So being able to catch yourself in the moment and then changing, shifting that energy, I think that's a very important thing.

Speaker 1: 10:45

That's key there, where you're looking at being self-aware and also going within yourself to go okay, this is what maybe is going on. Who needs to be in my life, who doesn't need to be in my life? This is what maybe is going on who needs to be in my life, who doesn't need to be in my life, and also, what does my life look like without them? Can I adjust in my whole lifestyle to go? I don't need to be codependent on you. Let's shift gigs, and that's brilliant advice. I have a final question before we go and before we go, I want you to just give people an overview of what you do and where to come and find you if they're interested in seeing what you do, and maybe book an appointment with you just to have a conversation.

Speaker 2: 11:27

Yeah, and I appreciate it. Our website company website is endodnacom. That's where you can get the genetic testing and all those other things. Lenmaylenmaycom. That's where you can get the genetic testing and all those other things. I also have a one-on-one coaching. If somebody wants to look at their own personalized health and wellness and want to engage with me, that's lenmay L-E-N-M-A-Y lenmaycoachingcom. I also have a podcast. It's called Everything is Personal. You can find it anywhere. You get podcasts, talks to people that I'm interested in talking to, so hopefully some of them will resonate with you as well. I have a book that's called Making Cannabis Personal, because one of the first thing that we did in our company is create a test for the endocannabinoid system so people can have a more personalized experience with their phytocannabinoid use. And yeah, I'm on all social channels Len May, I think Len May DNA. On Instagram. For the most part, I'm Len May L-E-N-M-A-Y, so I'm pretty responsive as well.

Speaker 1: 12:28

Thank you for that, len. I appreciate it and please go and check him out. Don't be shy. Go and say hello and say we heard you on the podcast. It'd be great, great. One last question before we part ways today, and I really want to thank you for your time and energy, because what you do is quite remarkable. If you could have one bold action to transform your life or someone's life, your life today, and come from burnout into brilliance, what would you, you commit to If you could do it all over again? Go back to the 25-year-old-ish plus fat May and go, what can I commit to stop me going through all the challenges I've been through?

Speaker 2: 13:12

Patience. So somebody just asked me this question when I was at the Longevity Conference on the spot and they said what would you tell your 20-some-year-old self and I think that it may be partially ADD, maybe just my personality I'm always running. I'm doing so many different things. I don't want everything now. It's this instantaneous gratification kind of thing. I want it. It's just it can't happen quickly enough. And if I would go back I'm in my 50s.

Speaker 2: 13:45

If I go back in a 25 or so years, if I can tell myself this journey is a very long marathon. It's going to happen If you keep doing. Every single day you put a little brick down, next day you put another brick down and this marathon is going to go and every day just do that one brick. At the end at some point you're going to build yourself a kick-ass house. But if you are running all the time, that is the first indication of burnout. You're not going to get your instantaneous gratification and even if you do, you're not going to know what to do with it when it comes that quickly. This is a long marathon. So working on patience that is the first thing I would tell myself is just be patient, it's all going to work itself out the way it's supposed to at the whatever end may be, but at the end that'll that's all going to work out I love that advice and I wish you'd speak into me about 20 years ago, because I've been in a different place now.

Speaker 1: 14:52

Then, thank you very much for your time, your energy and your love, as always. You're amazing. I really and truly appreciate you and for everybody you serve. From my listeners, thank you very much. Please share this message. You will inspire someone to change their life. Remember burnout isn't just about stealing your energy. It's stealing your brilliance and your purpose, your legacy, your leadership is too important to let burnout win. Subscribe and change someone's life today. Join a movement not just for burnout to brilliance, but to purpose and generational impact. Your rise will always start today. Thank you very much, my friends, and until next time. I'll see you very soon.