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Andy Workman understands the way the mind works.  As a clinical hypnotherapist, he uses proven mindset management techniques to help his clients with a range of personal and professional issues.  His book, ‘Cavemen and Polar Bears’, weaves together his professional expertise, academic research, and real-life examples to demonstrate how we can use these same techniques to handle anything life throws at us.

As an ex-policeman, highland piper, triathlon runner, author, and motivational business speaker (as well as the day job of hypnotherapist), his outlook has always been to seize any opportunity.  He practices what he preaches, and is proof that the right mindset can help us in any area of our lives – from overcoming procrastination to running half marathons!

At the Today’s PA Conference held on 16th-17th August in London, Andy will be introducing us to our brains, showing us why we think the way we do (and why we sometimes get it wrong), and how we can harness the power of the mindset to achieve our goals.

Speaking to Andy, we first asked him about his background in the police force – and how he took the leap from that to becoming a clinical hypnotherapist.

“It doesn’t seem too much of a leap because it’s still working with people.  I was with the police for 32 years, three with the RAF and the remainder with the civil force, rising to the rank of Inspector.  But really, from about the age of six, I wanted to be a vet.  That lasted till the age of 14 and a meeting with my Careers Master – who basically told me it was never going to happen! 

But couple of years before that, we’d had a sudden family bereavement.  When I was 12, my Grandfather was killed in a car accident, and that had a major impact on my life.  Even at that young age, I decided that if there was a way to stop anyone else suffering as my family had as a result of that accident then I would do it.  Having been told that I couldn’t be a vet, it seemed the logical step to become a policeman, and more than that, a traffic policeman. 

I realised, though, that having joined the RAF at 17, I could retire at 48!  There would be ample opportunity to have a second career if I wanted it.  I knew I didn’t want to do police work for the rest of my life but didn’t have a clue what I was going to do.  

As it happened, a few years before this, my brother had been to see a hypnotherapist to lose weight, and he’d had amazing success with it.  I thought this hypnotherapist could help me with my promotion exams so went along for a session.  Afterwards, over a cup of tea, the guy said to me, “you know, you could do this.  All I do is talk to people and give advice. You can do that. After years in the police force, who better?”  

Now, losing my Grandfather so suddenly taught me one important lesson: you never know what’s going to happen next, so whatever you want to do, just go and do it.    

I’ve done so many things in my life as a result of that outlook.   One day, I said to my wife, “I’m going to learn the highland bagpipes!”  I had to really apply myself to it, put in the hours and hours and hours of practice, but as a result spent 10 years as a semi-professional piper.  Because of that, I’ve twice had the honour of playing the ‘Piper’s Lament’ at the Menin Gate Ceremony in Ypres. 

So when I arrived home and said to my wife, “I’m going to be a hypnotherapist!”, she said, “well, you’d better get on with it, hadn’t you?”   

It was a tough few years, fitting in all the studying and course work around 12 hour shifts.  If I was on duty during the day, I studied in the evenings, and vice versa.  But it meant that when I retired in 2014, I was already a qualified hypnotherapist.  One door had closed and another one was already open.”  

You describe yourself as a mindset specialist.  Could you explain that a little more?  And why is mindset management important for someone in a PA role?

“I say I’m a mindset specialist because the moment you mention you’re a hypnotherapist, everyone thinks of that TV stereotype.  The last thing I’m going to do is make anyone look stupid or do anything ridiculous by using a trigger.  And some people don’t want hypnotherapy.  They don’t want therapy at all.  All they want is to change their mindset.  

Manging your mindset is incredibly important for PAs and EAs, and anyone working in that type of support role.  It can be extremely stressful.  Not only do you have own priorities and deadlines – but those of your boss as well.  (Times that by however many bosses you have!)  On any given day, there will be one problem that you need to manage, another one that you’re still dealing with from yesterday, and a third you can see heading your way tomorrow.  To be able to work effectively, you need to handle that stress and pressure without becoming completely overwhelmed.  You need to look after yourself before you can look after anyone else.  That’s where mindset management comes in. 

Your brain is very similar to a computer.  A computer will only ever do what you program it to do.  At a subconscious level, your brain works in the same way.  If you tell the computer in your head that everything is too stressful, too demanding, you feel you’re sinking, you can’t cope, at any moment you feel you’re going to go bang – then that’s exactly what will happen.  The computer knows no different.  It does what you tell it.  

There’s a system in your brain called the reticular activating system which works by finding all the evidence it can to back up your core belief.  If you wake up in the morning and think it’s going to be a dreadful day, it will be.  If you get out of bed and the first thing that happens is you stub your toe … well, isn’t that just confirmation that the whole day is going to be absolutely terrible? 

If you wake up and tell your brain that everything is going to be fine, then you’ll have a good day.  That’s precisely the way it works.  It’s not being delusional or wearing rose-tinted glasses.  It’s about you deciding how you’re going to view your day.  

When someone asks you if you’d like a cup of coffee, you might think, “I haven’t got time to drink it”.  Or you might think, “that’s kind of you, yes, please”.  It depends on how your brain approaches the question as to what sort of response you’re going to get to it.  

A major part of my job is helping businesses reduce their absenteeism and sickness rates.  My talk to those audiences revolves around keeping mentally buoyant.  Mental health is a big topic at the moment, and we’re actually approaching it much more positively, but it’s something we all need to be aware of.  If we don’t use our minds properly, we will end up with problems; it’s as simple as that.  Every one of us has one tool in common: our brain – and there’s no user manual.  We aren’t taught how to use our brains correctly.  But if we don’t, we can easily end up suffering.  The brain is a power tool, and just like any other power tool, if you use it incorrectly, you can hurt yourself.  

Before I retired, I worked for a while in a department where things were very negative, where we had a huge problem with absenteeism.  It was around 10% so we were losing perhaps 60 people a day from a department of 600.  Having already qualified as a hypnotherapist, I asked the Chief Superintendent if I could help.  He said, “do whatever you can.”  The result was a short presentation called ‘Cavemen and Polar Bears’ which I delivered 18 times to small groups in the department.  After the last of the presentations, we noticed the sickness level had dropped by 66%, meaning we were only losing 20 a day instead of 60.  It’s all about keeping your mind buoyant and becoming more mentally resilient. 

Your mindset is an amazing tool.  The right mindset can help you achieve anything.  A few years ago, I decided to run the Bath Half Marathon to raise money for a particular charity.  I set myself a time of two hours.  Then a month before the big day, I damaged my Achilles tendon.  I was still determined to take part, against all advice, and I still lined up at the start.  To begin with, it was all going perfectly, I was running well and enjoying the atmosphere. But five miles in, my Achilles tendon went again.  So there I am, limping to a halt in absolute agony when someone ran past shouting, “come on, me old mate, keep going.”  And I thought, “old?  OLD?”  I drew on all my hypnotherapy knowledge and experience, and thought “ok, everything’s fine, I’ll get there, I’m going to do this.”  I crossed the finish line in 1 hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds, 20 seconds under the two hours.  But within five minutes of finishing, my brain had stopped saying “everything’s fine”, and boy, did I know it! 

As I said, your mindset is incredibly powerful, even helping to override pain – although that isn’t always wise!”

When you were in the police force, how important were the PAs within the departments?

“I’m lucky to have worked in departments where PAs have played a major role.  PAs were very much the continuity.  In the public sector – as well as in the private sector, I’m sure – we rely hugely on the talent and experience, as well as the goodwill of our PAs. 

In the police service, a head of department can be told on a Friday that as of Monday morning they’ll be in charge of a completely different team.  They may not know anything about the new team, the skills and knowledge or even the meetings lined up by their predecessor. There may be a diary entry saying Andy Workman is coming in at 3pm, but the new person has no idea on Day 1 why Andy Workman is coming in.  Is it a complaint?  An idea?  A project?  The only person who knows is the PA.  And the only way that department is going to function properly is for the PA to know what he or she is doing and to understand how the department works. 

There was a Chief Constable who, when he came to see you, would always talk to the PA first. He would ask “that is David over there, isn’t it? Could you remind me of his wife’s name? Sandra, is it?  And what about his kids … ?” Then he would walk into the office and say, “hello, David, how’s Sandra? And how are the twins, Bill and Ben?”  But if the PA didn’t know the answers, then the Chief Constable didn’t look nearly as clever!”

Do you have many clients seeking help with business-related issues?

“Yes, many of my clients have a wide range of work-related issues.  One of the most common is impostor syndrome.  It’s something we can all relate to, thinking “I don’t know what I’m doing here, and any day now they’re going to find out!” That feeling of having been promoted one step above anything you feel you can do.  It’s how most of us feel at some point.  Think of it the other way: if we knew everything about what we were doing at every moment of the day, how boring would that be? 

Procrastination is another common issue.  Not just putting things off, but that feeling of being completely overwhelmed, saying to yourself, “how am I ever going to do this?  Where do I start?  I don’t know where to start and I don’t know how to sort out this problem so I just can’t think about it.” 

There are other work issues such as self-confidence, being able to engage in meetings, fear of speaking up and being ridiculed for saying the wrong thing.  I remember a woman who came to see me to deal with her fear of speaking in public.  She had just been promoted and in her new role, she would have to make a lot of presentations.  She had an absolute phobia of standing up and speaking in public, to the point of feeling sick and faint just thinking about it.   We did quite of lot of work, helping her manage her mindset to deal with this fear.  She was due to give a presentation a few days later so it was quite an anxious time for her.   A week or so later, I received an email saying, “I can’t believe it!  I did it.  I smashed it!  All the feedback is fantastic, and I actually enjoyed it!”  She said there were moments, even during the presentation itself, when she thought, “this has got to be a dream, I don’t do this.”  And she’s still doing well.  Every so often, I’ll get an email from her saying “I’ve just been promoted again and I now have to present to the CEO group – and I’m not even thinking twice about it”.  As I said, the right mindset can help you achieve anything. 

I said earlier that it wasn’t such a big leap from policeman to hypnotherapist, and it isn’t.  I’m still helping people – just wearing a different uniform.”

Thank you very much for talking to us today, Andy.  ‘Cavemen & Polar Bears’ promises to be fascinating and inspiring. We look forward to seeing you at the conference.

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Andy will be speaking at the Today’s PA Conference on 17th August 2018.