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Ep. 5 — Why Gen Z Brings Parents to Job Interviews: The Workforce Crisis
•Roger Hall•Episode 5
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Ever wonder why Gen Z job seekers are showing up with their parents at interviews? We break down what’s really going on—from confidence gaps to generational shifts—and how it impacts today’s workplace dynamics.
Stress is another beast facing business owners and employees. We dive into why burnout is at an all-time high and share straightforward ways to cut stress, from reshaping daily habits to leveraging sleep, nutrition, and exercise.
This episode isn’t about quick fixes or sugar-coated advice. It’s about real talk on surviving—and thriving—in the modern workforce.
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Second Thoughts with Dr. Roger Hall! If you enjoyed today's insights, don't forget to subscribe for more content on leadership, productivity, and personal growth. Share this episode with friends, colleagues, or anyone who could benefit from these powerful strategies.
🎧 Listen & Subscribe: Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms. 🌐 Connect with Dr. Hall: Visit drrogerhall.com for resources and more. 📧 Have a question? Submit it for a chance to be featured in a future episode!
Thought Monitoring and Cognitive Reframing Techniques
Speaker 1:
Let me summarize quickly how to eliminate stress from your life. Eliminate your problem habits, but identify the things that are making you.
Speaker 2:
More stressed out. That may be hard to do.
Speaker 1:
Eliminate problem situations. Find the situations you get.
Speaker 2:
Yourself in over and over again that creates strain in your life.
Speaker 1:
And then the last is eliminate problem people. And this is this is not the mafioso sort of eliminate problem people. This is get them out of your life. The I think the.
Speaker 2:
More.
Speaker 1:
Important part is the offense. What are the habits that you need to.
Speaker 2:
Start in order to make yourself healthy? Here's what happens under stress.
Speaker 1:
The thing that helps us manage that stress.
Speaker 2:
Is our brain. And our brain is a biological organ.
Speaker 1:
And as such, it uses fuel.
Speaker 2:
So our.
Speaker 1:
Brain, which occupies between 2 and 5.
Speaker 2:
Percent of our body.
Speaker 1:
Mass, uses between 20 and 20.
Speaker 2:
5% of the nutrition in our food. When you burn up the energy that fuels your brain.
Speaker 1:
You get exhausted. So you need to start the offensive habits to.
Speaker 2:
To recharge your brain.
Speaker 3:
There was a recent study that showed 1 in 5 recent college graduates brought their parents to a job interview. Why do you think that is? Is it a lack of confidence, sense of professionalism, that these kids are lacking, or is there something else to it? And do you think it's unique to this particular generation? As Gen Z comes up out of college and into the workforce.
Speaker 1:
I will answer your last question first. Yes, it is unique to this generation. And the millennials that Gen Z and the millennials, this is brand new. What is the cause? People come to me all the time and say, I just can't, I can't I don't know how to.
Speaker 2:
Interact with.
Speaker 1:
The millennials. I don't know how to interact with Gen Z, blah, blah. And they they whine and complain about them. And my answer is.
Speaker 2:
It's your fault.
Speaker 1:
And to me, this is a.
Speaker 2:
Failure in parenting from my generation.
Speaker 1:
Now you know it. You know when when.
Speaker 2:
I was raising.
Speaker 1:
Kids, there was this overwhelming sense.
Speaker 2:
Of fear in.
Speaker 1:
Parents that they were, you know, there were there were.
Speaker 2:
Predators everywhere.
Speaker 1:
And you had to have barbed wire.
Speaker 2:
Around your yard.
Speaker 1:
So it gives the.
Speaker 2:
Impression that there were children being.
Speaker 1:
Abducted. And so we need.
Speaker 2:
To protect our.
Speaker 1:
Kids and, you know, we've got to change playgrounds so that so that kids.
Speaker 2:
Don't ever get hurt. And as a result, every kid from that generation.
Speaker 1:
Got bubble.
Speaker 2:
Wrapped by their helicopter parents.
Speaker 1:
I don't blame the kids. Do they lack professionalism? Yes, because Mom and Dad have been.
Speaker 2:
Taking care of.
Speaker 1:
Everything. Do they lack confidence? Yes, because Mom and Dad never let them fail.
Speaker 2:
Everybody gets a prize.
Speaker 1:
That's not the kid's fault. I don't blame kids in the millennial and the, Gen Z.
Speaker 2:
Generations.
Speaker 1:
For.
Speaker 2:
The way their parents raised.
Speaker 1:
Them.
Speaker 3:
Honestly, I almost see this as a selfish cycle. Because if you're raised to think that everything is dangerous, then how are you going to raise your own kids? And so do you see this? Do you see this problem getting worse, especially with our workforce?
Speaker 1:
Well, I do. I do. I used to have this belief that, okay, the parents are screwing up on parenting. But once they get to work, they're going.
Speaker 2:
To realize meritocracy, adversity.
Speaker 1:
You know, you.
Speaker 2:
Can't turn in.
Speaker 1:
Lousy work and expect to get a good grade, even though your teacher gave you, you know, a gold.
Speaker 2:
Star for the color of pen.
Speaker 1:
You used as opposed to the.
Speaker 2:
Content of your writing.
Speaker 3:
So according to the March Freedom Economy Index, which is something Red balloon puts out every month, the challenges of the past few years have really taken their toll on small business owners. 1 in 4 respondents now are saying that they're a ten out of ten on exhaustion levels. While another 35% say they're an eight or a nine, which is insane. How can business owners and business professionals handle this external stress so that they can still thrive under pressure and make their business thrive as a result?
Speaker 1:
What you're talking about are.
Speaker 2:
The external stressors.
Speaker 1:
Or the external strains on an individual. And if you.
Speaker 2:
Look at stress management, there are.
Speaker 1:
Two halves. There's the defense and the offense. And the defense is this stuff that they usually teach you in stress management. You know, go to your happy place and take a cleansing breath. And you know, all that stuff. Let me summarize quickly how to eliminate stress from your life. Eliminate your problem habits. We all have problem habits, but identify the things that are,
Speaker 2:
Making you more stressed out. That may be hard to do.
Speaker 1:
Eliminate problem situations, which is find the situations you get yourself in.
Speaker 2:
Over and over again.
Speaker 1:
That creates.
Speaker 2:
Strain in your.
Speaker 1:
Life. And then the last is eliminate problem people. And this is, this is not the mafioso sort of eliminate problem people. This is get them out of your life. That's the defense. The I think the more important part is the offense, which is what are the habits that you need to.
Speaker 2:
Start in order to make.
Speaker 1:
Yourself healthy? Here's what happens under stress. The thing that helps us manage that stress is our brain.
Speaker 2:
And our brain is a biological organ.
Speaker 1:
And as such, it uses fuel.
Speaker 2:
So our brain, which.
Speaker 1:
Occupies between 2 and 5.
Speaker 2:
Percent of our body.
Speaker 1:
Mass, uses between 20 and 20.
Speaker 2:
5%.
Speaker 1:
Of.
Speaker 2:
The nutrition in our food.
Speaker 1:
When you burn up.
Speaker 2:
The energy that fuels your.
Speaker 1:
Brain, you get exhausted. So you need to start that offensive habits.
Speaker 2:
To to recharge your brain.
Speaker 1:
I have a book called Staying Happy Being.
Speaker 2:
Productive.
Speaker 1:
The Big Ten Things Successful People Do. It outlines the ten areas of life that are on the offense side. But if I was to name a few just to start out with, number one would be sleep. When you sleep, your brain is.
Speaker 2:
Repairing.
Speaker 1:
And growing. That's the.
Speaker 2:
Purpose.
Speaker 1:
Of sleep. And it's getting rid of all the ick that builds up.
Speaker 2:
In your brain overnight.
Speaker 1:
Every night, your brain contracts and expands in the.
Speaker 2:
Cerebrospinal.
Speaker 1:
Fluid and flushes out all the ick that gets.
Speaker 2:
Built up in your brain.
Speaker 1:
All day. So it's growing. It's repairing and it's flushing out the ick.
Speaker 2:
So the first thing.
Speaker 1:
I tell people to do is get good sleep. You can't manage.
Speaker 2:
Stress.
Speaker 1:
Unless you're getting good sleep.
Speaker 2:
And your mother was right.
Speaker 1:
You need eight.
Speaker 2:
Hours of.
Speaker 1:
Sleep a night, and that's for adults. The second.
Speaker 2:
Is nutrition.
Speaker 1:
The standard.
Speaker 2:
American.
Speaker 1:
Diet. The the.
Speaker 2:
Abbreviation.
Speaker 1:
For that is the sad diet. If you eat like most Americans, you will be sad because it's funny. Where did those.
Speaker 2:
Neurotransmitters come from?
Speaker 1:
Where do those.
Speaker 2:
Neurotransmitters come from that run your brain? Norepinephrine.
Speaker 1:
Which is the body's, amphetamine, Gaba, which is the body's, benzodiazepines. Serotonin, which is the feel good thing. And we have these little chemical factories that put them together and turn them into these neurotransmitters. If you're eating food that doesn't provide the base for.
Speaker 2:
All these neurotransmitters to run your brain.
Speaker 1:
You're going to feel lousy. And so you need to study nutrition.
Speaker 2:
Lots of great resources out there.
Speaker 1:
I'm not you know, I I'm I'm not selling vitamins, but go.
Speaker 2:
Research it.
Speaker 1:
And the last is, if you want.
Speaker 2:
To manage stress.
Speaker 1:
Is exercise. The the.
Speaker 2:
The research is.
Speaker 1:
Abundant. That exercise has the same effect size as.
Speaker 2:
Antidepressants for mild to moderate depression.
Speaker 1:
If you feel lousy and and again, I'm not saying get off your medications.
Speaker 2:
Talk to your.
Speaker 1:
Physician about that. I'm not giving you medical advice. I'm just telling you what the.
Speaker 2:
Research.
Speaker 1:
Says.
Speaker 2:
And the research says that regular exercise.
Speaker 1:
Which is.
Speaker 2:
Free.
Speaker 1:
Which has no negative side effects. Maybe you sprained your ankle. Has the same effect size.
Speaker 2:
Over large numbers of people.
Speaker 1:
I'm not making individual.
Speaker 2:
Prescriptions.
Speaker 1:
Here, as does end to end, as do antidepressants. So if you want to manage.
Speaker 2:
Your stress.
Speaker 1:
Get good sleep, eat better food, and get out and move that that that's that's the easy part. Yeah. I have I have an assignment that I give almost all of my, all of my clients to do. This is called the thought.
Speaker 2:
Monitoring.
Speaker 1:
Exercise. And at the end of the week, you will have on your okay, $47 pad of paper. You will have the content of 70 observations seven days times, ten times a day, 70 observations of what you were thinking about. Here's the equipment you need.
Speaker 2:
The first is.
Speaker 1:
A pen or a pencil, depending on your preference. A little pad of.
Speaker 2:
Paper, which you can get for 90.
Speaker 1:
$0.09 at the office.
Speaker 2:
Supply store. It's super, super.
Speaker 1:
Technical and the last.
Speaker 3:
Anything for $0.99. You.
Speaker 1:
Well, that's for you. Yeah. Okay, so you'll take out a loan at the bank.
Speaker 2:
In order to get a pad of paper?
Speaker 1:
Perfect. So you take your phone and you go into the, the the clock.
Speaker 2:
Feature, the alarm feature.
Speaker 1:
And you set an alarm.
Speaker 2:
For every hour.
Speaker 1:
On the hour from seven in the morning to five at night. If you get up later.
Speaker 2:
Eight and morning.
Speaker 1:
Six at night, nine in the morning to seven at night, doesn't matter. But ten times a day on the.
Speaker 2:
Hour.
Speaker 1:
You set the alarm. When the alarm goes off. You get out your pad of.
Speaker 2:
Paper and.
Speaker 1:
Your pen, and you write down what was the thought that was on the top of your mind. This is the.
Speaker 2:
First.
Speaker 1:
Phase. This is called the thought monitoring exercise. And at the end of the week, you will have on your okay, $47 pad of paper. You will have the content of 70 observations seven days times, ten times a day, 70 observations of what you were thinking about. Now, this is not a journal. You know, I felt misunderstood by my parents when I was 12. It's none of that. It's at the moment the alarm goes off. What were you thinking about? And what I have found is that they, the content of people's thoughts, lump around thoughts that lead to three basic emotions. One of them is anger. And it's like, oh.
Speaker 2:
I'm really pissed off at this person. I'm really frustrated or irritated.
Speaker 1:
And you see a lot of that kind of language. The second is anxiety language. Oh, I'm so stressed out. You know, I'm in such a hurry. I got so much to do.
Speaker 2:
And the third.
Speaker 1:
Is, the guilt.
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Embarrassment.
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Shame. Oh, I wish I would have done this or, you know, I feel I feel so bad, I should have done something else. And so I see those.
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Patterns an.
Speaker 1:
Awful lot. One of those.
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Three patterns.
Speaker 1:
Of thoughts that lead to those three families of emotions. So I have people.
Speaker 2:
Go through.
Speaker 1:
And see what are the thoughts that lead to those negative emotions. So that's that's.
Speaker 2:
The first part is you start to get a pattern in and observing.
Speaker 1:
Your.
Speaker 2:
Particular predilection to a certain type.
Speaker 1:
Of thinking.
Speaker 2:
The more.
Speaker 1:
Important outcome of this stage is it trains people to start looking at their.
Speaker 2:
Pattern of thinking.
Speaker 1:
After a week 70 observations.
Speaker 2:
You're going to get pretty good.
Speaker 1:
At looking.
Speaker 2:
At your pattern of.
Speaker 1:
Thinking.
Speaker 2:
So that's the first stage.
Speaker 1:
The second stage is thoughts stopping. This happens the next week and thereafter, which is when one of those thoughts comes down your stream of consciousness. You tell yourself, oh, there it is again. I'm not going to I'm not. I'm going to feel lousy if I keep thinking that thought.
Speaker 2:
It's important to realize.
Speaker 1:
That the thought predicts the emotion. So if you can.
Speaker 2:
Capture your.
Speaker 1:
Thought, you can change that negative emotion.
Speaker 3:
Interesting.
Speaker 1:
So you start to capture these thoughts like, oh, that's no good. I don't want to think that again. Like, you know, I'll.
Speaker 2:
Never be.
Speaker 1:
Successful or this.
Speaker 2:
Person.
Speaker 1:
Is always late or why don't people pay me on time? They're all idiots. You know, all of those things, whatever they are. Does that thought lead to an emotion that makes you feel better? And then the last is probably the stage where you might need some help, which is.
Speaker 2:
Thought replacement. And thought replacement is.
Speaker 1:
Replacing that thought that leads you to an.
Speaker 2:
Unproductive.
Speaker 1:
Emotion, or an unpleasant.
Speaker 2:
Emotion, or an unproductive behavior, and replacing.
Speaker 1:
It with a true thought.
Speaker 2:
That is more productive.
Speaker 1:
So when people say, well, you've got to think positively, you know, it's not that you think about rainbows, unicorns and puppies and kitties. It has to be accurate and better. And if you.
Speaker 2:
Train yourself.
Speaker 1:
To think accurately and.
Speaker 2:
Better, then the emotions will be better. Your behavior will be better.
Speaker 1:
Your life will be better. And that's that's the technique I use. So thought, thought monitoring, thought stopping and thought replacement. And you may need to invite a trusted.
Speaker 2:
Friend, a trusted advisor, a pastor, a religious, director that you.
Speaker 1:
Have, trusted counselor. Your, you know, your coach.
