Dave Mochel
- Helping Others Focus Energy and Attention to Make a Positive Difference
- Overcoming Adversity & Resilience Keynote Speaker
Dave Mochel Speaker Biography
An internationally recognized speaker, teacher, coach, and author, Dave Mochel provides perspectives and practices to help us thrive in the midst of anxiety, stress, challenge, and uncertainty.
Did you know that the pursuit of happiness often makes us miserable and that the acceptance of discomfort dramatically improves the quality of our lives? Drawing upon neuroscience, psychology, enduring wisdom, and his own experience – including two bouts of leukemia – Dave uses humor, storytelling and scientific research to provoke, engage and educate audiences on how to live and work peacefully and powerfully right now.
For more than thirty years Dave has been studying and teaching the principles and practices for living, working, and leading peacefully and powerfully. After a twenty-year career teaching neuroscience, human development, mindfulness, and leadership, he founded Applied Attention Coaching and Consulting. He works with executives, athletes, educators, parents, and students to help them focus their attention and energy where it will make the greatest positive difference.
A two-time cancer survivor, Dave has served as a lecturer at Stanford’s School of Health and Human Performance and is the author of Good Life Practice: A Quick Start Guide to Mindful Self-Regulation. Dave has degrees in biology and geology from Williams College, a Master’s in Humanistic and Multicultural Education from SUNY New Paltz, and he has completed a clinical internship in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
His clients have included Bank of America, Marsh and Mclennan, The Federal Reserve Bank, Subaru, Cottage Health, and The University of Wisconsin.
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Speech Topics
Whole and Hearty: How To Be Healthy, Focused, Confident & Kind in the Midst of Challenge & Uncertainty
When we stop compulsively pursuing happiness, we can tap into our capacity to thrive in any circumstance. Many of us believe that the secret to a good life is getting circumstances “just right.” This belief leads us to be less resilient and more stressed and anxious when challenge inevitably arises. The evidence from scientific research and lasting wisdom shows that we thrive most when we accept what is outside our control and work purposefully with what is within our control. We can cultivate our capacity to thrive with simple daily practices that foster health, confidence, and connection.
Learning Objectives:
1. Practices for healthy posture and breathing, awareness and acceptance
2. Practices for self-evaluation and behavioral alignment with values and goals
3. Practices for cultivating confidence, gratitude and compassion
Helpful Rather Than Right: How to Be An Inclusive Leader That Gets Results
Description: There is tremendous pressure on leaders to solve problems – to have the answer. Many well-intentioned leaders fall into the trap of designing solutions for others without creating the buy-in that will allow the solution to succeed. We can leverage the value of including others and find the courage to be transparent and decisive in the face of skepticism and resistance. We will look at principles and practices for creating engagement and supporting well-being on your team.
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognizing the “well-intentioned black box”
2. Getting input and inviting dissent on the front end
3. Communicating difficult decisions effectively
No Escape: The Myths, Marketing & Practice of Mindfulness
Despite the many promises and myths in the popular media, mindfulness is not an escape from discomfort such as stress and anxiety – it is a skillful encounter with the full range of human experience. We will look at what the research actually tells us and how this simple practice can be integrated into our busy lives to enhance the quality of our experience and relationships.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the actual intent and benefits of mindfulness practice
2. Simple ways to start a personal practice
3. Strategies for being more focused and grounded throughout the day
Tell Me More: Using Resistance and Disagreement to Build Culture
Description: Our focus on happiness at the workplace can lead us to see resistance as an obstacle. However, healthy and productive cultures actually depend on our ability to work with disagreement gracefully and effectively. Developing awareness and acceptance of our internal reactions allows us to approach resistance and conflict skillfully.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understanding of the neurobiology of resistance to change
2. Practice for awareness and acceptance of discomfort
3. Simple tools disarm resistance and build connections
Let me See if I get This: Communication that Builds Healthy Culture
Culture is shaped by the conversations we are having and the conversations we are not having. The desire to avoid potentially uncomfortable interactions is completely normal. And, this choice has a significant impact on the culture of your team or organization. Having these conversations gracefully and assertively can be a game changer for a relationship, for performance, and for a strong sense of community.
Learning Objectives:
1. Listening for understanding of values
2. The elements of an effective conversation
3. Practices that build the courage and compassion to have difficult conversations
Boosting Performance by Being Well
When it comes to performance, a future vision matters. However, research indicates that practicing well-being in the present matters more. An all too common heartbreak is working incredibly hard to accomplish something only to realize the toll it has taken on our health and relationships – without delivering the lasting satisfaction we believed it would. A simple truth of being human is that who you are practicing being right now is who you will be when you reach your goal. We can approach life and work in a way that allows us to thrive and connect with others in the present as we work (even more) effectively toward our mission. Participants will come away with specific practices to integrate into daily life for greater health, connection, focus, and confidence.
