Ep 217 - Transforming Challenges into Success Through Peak Performance and AI with guest Dr. David Hooper

Are you ready to transform life's challenges into opportunities for success? In this episode, join host David Hall as he welcomes Dr. David Hooper, a passionate advocate for peak performance and mental health, who overcame significant obstacles like obesity and depression. Dr. Hooper shares his journey of personal transformation through mindset shifts and strategic applications of AI in business.

Listeners will discover the power of reframing challenges as opportunities, learn about the impact of AI on modern business operations, and understand how introverts can harness their deep thinking and empathy to excel. Key takeaways include the concept of work-life integration, the importance of rest and recovery, and how AI can enhance both personal and professional life.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in peak performance, mental health, and the evolving role of AI. Whether you're looking to optimize your mindset or curious about AI's business potential, tune in for insights and inspiration to help you thrive—and be strong.

Episode Link: QuietandStrong.com/217

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Dr. David Hooper is the founder of Lunarla AI, a consultancy helping real estate businesses to save time, slash costs, and scale profit with tailored AI solutions. David’s journey began after redundancy in 2017 led to depression and an 80-pound weight gain. Determined to reclaim his life, he turned to self-coaching, achieving a physical and mental transformation, ultimately becoming an ultramarathon runner and igniting his passion for coaching. With a PhD in coaching, David now combines academic expertise and personal resilience to empower organizations with AI tools and strategies that eliminate tech overwhelm, enabling them to focus on making a bigger impact. David is a proud mental health advocate, featured in publications such as the BBC and Men’s Health International.

David's Website: Lunarla.co.uk

Connect with David: LinkedIn | Instagram

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Contact the Host of the Quiet and Strong Podcast:

David Hall

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Transcript

Dr. David Hooper [00:00:00]:
And there's just so many businesses who are excited about artificial intelligence, but don't necessarily know the best way to use artificial intelligence in in what they're doing. And something that I always come back to is we've had some similar moments in history. So if we look back at history really quickly, when the tractor was built, it sent shock waves through the the industry. So people who worked on farms were anxious, worried, scared, overwhelmed about the fact that these big monster vehicles are gonna come on to our farmland, do our jobs, and they thought, what are we gonna do? We'll go you know, how are we gonna make money? How am I gonna feed my family? But now fast forward a couple of hundred years, we look out the window, see tractors, combine harvesters, all these different things, and go, oh, that's that's pretty normal.

David Hall [00:01:08]:
Hello, and welcome to episode two seventeen of the Quiet and Strong podcast, especially for introverts. I'm your host, David Hall, and the creator of quietandstrong.com. It's a weekly podcast dedicated to understanding the strengths and needs of introverts along with strategies for success. Introversion is not something to fix, but to be embraced. Normally, we will air each episode on a Monday. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite platform. Leave a review or a rating. That would mean a lot to me and also help other people find the show.

David Hall [00:01:38]:
Tell a friend about the podcast and help get the word out there. The introversion is a beautiful thing. Doctor David Hooper is the founder of Lunarla AI consultancy helping real estate businesses to save time, slash cost, and scale profit with tailored AI solutions. David's journey began after a redundancy in 02/2017, and it led to depression and a 80 pound weight gain. Determined to reclaim his life, he turned to self coaching, achieving a physical and mental transformation, ultimately becoming an ultra marathon runner and igniting his passion for coaching with a PhD in coaching. David now combines academic expertise and personal resilience to empower organizations with AI tools and strategies that eliminate tech overwhelm, enabling them to focus on making a bigger impact. David is a proud mental health advocate featured in publications such as the BBC and Men's Health International. Alright.

David Hall [00:02:42]:
Well, welcome to the podcast, doctor David Hooper. David, it's so great to have you on today.

Dr. David Hooper [00:02:47]:
Thank Thank you so much for having me. It's my my pleasure.

David Hall [00:02:50]:
Yeah. I heard you on your podcast and, you know, your incredible story of some challenges you overcame, also the fact that you came to embrace introversion. We're gonna get all into all of that today. So let's talk a little bit about your journey and tell us how you got to the work that you're doing now.

Dr. David Hooper [00:03:09]:
Yeah. So my background, I suppose, is a little bit unconventional to to a lot of peoples. So growing up, I was a high performer. I played elite sport. I was in football academy in The UK and thought that was going to be the way I went. You know, I was going to be a professional athlete. But as, you know, 95 plus percent of of kids find out, it is it isn't that way. And because I'd been in the the soccer system or football system as we call it in The UK, I fell into sports coaching.

Dr. David Hooper [00:03:46]:
So the early part of my career was coaching, sport in schools and in professional football clubs and things like that, and I really enjoyed that, but I I really enjoyed working with adults. So I did some coach education stuff, and that took me into lecturing at a university. So for the past kind of ten years, I've held different roles at a university. So that's included lecturing, it's included middle management, and it's kind of been including AI lead as well, which I'll I'll get on to. And while I was at university, I did my PhD in peak performance and coaching as well. And over the past six months, I've I've left that life and started a new business called Lunala AI, and it's all focused around helping SMEs and small businesses utilize AI in in what they do. So, professionally, that's a bit of background of of where I'm coming from.

David Hall [00:04:49]:
Yeah. And like I said, I I listened to you on your podcast, you know, just talking about some challenges that you Yeah. Got into. Did that lead to the PhD in peak performance coaching? Which is which came first?

Dr. David Hooper [00:05:04]:
Yeah. They overlapped. So I had a real challenge. I've had many challenges, actually, but the biggest, I suppose, happened in 2017. So my whole goal had been to become a lecturer at a university, and I was made redundant from that role in the July of twenty seventeen. And I was about halfway through my PhD at this point, but my whole purpose had been tied into getting my PhD and becoming a lecturer. My my dad had done that and wanted me to do it. He didn't get his PhD, so I've got a little tick on the box there, But he he was very much he wanted me to to to go down this route.

Dr. David Hooper [00:05:50]:
And I felt awful when I got made redundant, and it turned me upside down. It sent me into a spiral. And what happened was over the next six months, I put on 80 pounds of body fat. So I was literally locked in the house eating takeaways three, four, five times a week, bottles of wine every night. I didn't want to leave the house. And during that period, I was diagnosed with clinical depression as well and medicated. So within five or six months of me being in my dream role, having this great job, doing my PhD, my whole purpose was tied to this, I found myself officially morbidly obese, clinically depressed, redundant, and unable to leave the house. And it took until Christmas that year, so about six months later, my wife and I were at Christmas, my in laws, and I got given a a present from my my mother and father-in-law, and it was a t shirt.

Dr. David Hooper [00:07:09]:
And it was, I always get get it slightly wrong. It was an XXXL. It was a triple XL t shirt, and I held this t shirt up. And I looked at it, and I I just couldn't believe where I was or what I'd kind of become because that was the right size for me. And it was looking at that visual piece of clothing and quickly having a flashbacks and thought, you know, six months ago, I was wearing a small t shirt. You know, I was an athletic guy. That was my, you know, that was my whole thing, this elite peak performer. And I had a moment and I all I want to say this was my rock bottom moment.

Dr. David Hooper [00:07:53]:
However, about ten minutes later, after I said in my head, I'm never gonna wear this t shirt. You know, thank you very much. But in my head, I was thinking, I'm getting to work after Christmas. We were sitting around the Christmas table, and I was sitting opposite my father-in-law getting stuck in to some turkey and things. And my shirt that I was wearing was so tight. It was where the you could see the skin through my buttons because it was pulling apart so much. And I had to excuse myself from the Christmas table to go and put on the triple XL t shirt. And I put it on, and I just that that was the moment.

Dr. David Hooper [00:08:37]:
That was my rock bottom moment. So I had to I went back to the dinner table, left half of my meal, felt sick to my stomach, but it was a great moment as well because I knew that I'd felt something. Now the bit I'd left out of my story is because of the medication I was on, I was purely numb, numb to the world. I was and I didn't feel happiness. I didn't feel sadness. I was just in this low, low numbness for about six months. And then we got to January, and and I started to to get to work on myself. And the another key moment in my journey was the the January 2.

Dr. David Hooper [00:09:23]:
I was still unemployed. My wife had gone off to work. I'd got into my my running kit, and I said, I'm gonna go and run six miles. And for a morbidly obese guy, that was probably a little bit ambitious because thirty seconds later, I was bent over at the side of the road, almost vomiting and going, you know, this is gonna be an impossible task. And I know it was that far because I could still see the gate at my house, and I thought, you know what? I'm gonna just go home. This this is a nonstarter. I've I've got a real problem here. And I walked to my gate, and there was a moment where I held the handle to open it, but I knew if I went inside, I was gonna go and binge eat.

Dr. David Hooper [00:10:10]:
So what I did, I walked past the gate and managed to run walk about three miles that day. And I came home, felt incredible, and it was that little bit of action that really set the wheels in motion for for a lot that happened over the next six months. So over the next six months, I I lost the 80 pounds that I put on. I started to work on my mental health and my mindset and developed some mental toughness that was really needed and was I managed to get off my medication and was kind of signed off from my depression. And I also started my first business as well during that time, which was helping other people with mental health issues use exercise to to improve it. So it's been a whirlwind kind of journey, but, one that I look back on now and think that was a really key moment in my life.

David Hall [00:11:10]:
Yeah. So what was it that you did to change your mental health and your mindset?

Dr. David Hooper [00:11:15]:
A lot of it was around reframing. So one of the things I'm I'm really passionate about is looking at things from different perspectives. So I saw the three really big challenges in my life, which were the depression, the morbid obesity, and the redundancy as three opportunities. That was the first thing. So I saw my morbid obesity as the chance to resculpt my body and become the athlete that I knew I could be. I saw my redundancy as an opportunity to create a business that I've been putting off for years, and I saw my depression as an opportunity to go and really find what made me fulfilled and what made me happy. And just by those little tweaks, putting that new perspective on things really transformed how I how I saw the situation I was in. Suddenly, it was all you know, in six months, I could have all these these great things going for me, and that gave me, you know, a lot of energy.

Dr. David Hooper [00:12:28]:
But when it comes to mindset, I don't love the word hacks, but mindset hacks or techniques, things like journaling played a big part in in what I do, trying to bring it back to gratitude and what I'm grateful for. And I realized that I'd been focusing a lot of the wrong things, the gratification of hopefully getting a PhD, the gratification of getting a job that paid well. All of these things that I've been hanging my hat on from quite a young age, really they're insignificant compared to the love that my wife has for me. I've got a a dog, Luna, my German shepherd. I've got a cat called Arwen who are the real pillars of my life now. And I know that I could be dropped in a field with just those three and have the most incredible life. So it was just these little things, these changes that, yeah, completely transformed my my perspective in my life.

David Hall [00:13:28]:
Yeah. I love how you're talking about that you had challenges, but you turned them into opportunities. Because so often that's you know, we have challenges, but you gotta look for, okay. Where's where can this lead me?

Dr. David Hooper [00:13:40]:
Yeah. Definitely. I think that is is is so powerful. And there's some great reframing techniques that that I love. I love that that the one that I've mentioned around, you know, can you put a more positive spin on it? But another one I really like is the other person reframe. So the this is where we look at a problem or a challenge and think, what would somebody else do in that situation? So one of my one of the people I look up to was at the time was Dwayne The Rock Johnson, and I remember not wanting to work out and thinking, what would The Rock do here? What would Dwayne Johnson do? And and suddenly go, okay. Go to the gym. And having that, yeah, that little change of mindset is is sometimes all you need to take some big action.

David Hall [00:14:29]:
Yeah. What would The Rock do? I love that. I I heard he, actually travels with his gym travels with them, so he's always working out.

Dr. David Hooper [00:14:39]:
Yes. And one day, that's my aim. Yeah.

David Hall [00:14:41]:
Yeah. What are what are some other key elements of peak performance?

Dr. David Hooper [00:14:46]:
I think there's a there's a couple that I'm really, really interested in. I think the first one that I always like to underpin is is the joy element. So when you when you hear peak performance, it's very much work. You know, I've gotta go and work, and and that certainly is part of it. But for me, doing something you you love or feel passionate about is really important. And I've got a great I didn't create this, I can't take credit for it, but it was a nice formula where it's peak performance is hard work plus sacrifice times joy. So if you're working really hard on something, you're going to feel incredible. That comes with a bit of sacrifice, but if you're doing something and it makes you feel fulfilled, then then you know you're going to be really thriving.

Dr. David Hooper [00:15:37]:
And for me, when I think about what peak performance is, for for me personally, I always tie it back to my my thoughts, my words, and actions are all aligned in the form of productivity, efficiency, and the impact that I'm having as well. So I know that when I'm working with somebody and I'm having a really great impact on them and and helping them, you know, I feel feel incredible and feel really fulfilled. So that's how I kinda start to tie peak performance together.

David Hall [00:16:14]:
So you align everything with with the goals that you have.

Dr. David Hooper [00:16:19]:
Exactly. It's when everything aligns towards that big goal. And that can be, you know, mindset to nutrition, to the clarity you have to what's going on in in life, it all kind of is a bit of a domino effect. And I always try and wrap it together with a very simple term of just being the best version of yourself in in everything that you're doing. And just sit when you are with your family, that's where you need to be peak performing. When you're with your business, you need to be peak performing. When you're at work or studying, it all kinda ties together. And for me, that that's really important when we're looking at this.

Dr. David Hooper [00:17:01]:
They aren't separate things. It's actually all all really, really nice nicely tied together. And Tony Robbins has a great quote, and I hope I don't butcher it, but it it's something like, there's no oh, that's it. There's no such thing as work life balance, but there is a thing called work life integration. And what that means is if you're trying to have this work life balance of, you know, I've got family on one side and I've got work on the other and diet in the middle and all these different things, one thing is always going to be prioritized and it's it's going to be up and down. But if you can wrap everything together and integrate all elements of your life together then suddenly, you know, maybe you and your partner are are exercising together, if you're studying maybe you and your partner are in the library together, that that type of thing. So, yeah, when it comes to peak performance, it's it's all this big integration of of things that link together so you're being the best version of yourself.

David Hall [00:18:06]:
Yeah. Absolutely. And, yeah, sometimes you're gonna have different priorities with different things. You know, maybe you are going on vacation with your family, or maybe there's a big project that that you have to complete. And so it really is integration. I love how I love how you put that.

Dr. David Hooper [00:18:22]:
Yeah. And I think that is another really interesting point, David, where the word peak is a really important part of of the title because peak performers don't have to be at the top of their game a % of the time. It's just like an athlete. You know, we were talking about NFL before we we kinda came on air. They have a pre season. They have a break after the full season. We all need that time to come back down to rest and recover, and that's a huge part of it as well. And that I used to call what I did high performance, and that is where you are performing at a high level, and you don't have as bigger peaks and troughs.

Dr. David Hooper [00:19:11]:
But when I was doing doing my own podcast and diving into introversion, I actually think peak performance is better for us as introverts because certainly what I find I you know, after this podcast, for example, I'm trying to be the best version myself for you now, David, but as soon as we get off there, I'm gonna come back down, probably need a moment to recalibrate and to to get you know, to to recharge my social battery. So it's that up and down, but that for me is how you perform at at this kind of peak and high level.

David Hall [00:19:49]:
Yeah. And that's such an important piece of the puzzle. You know, no matter what our personality type is is what are your natural strengths and needs. I'm the same. And I say this often on this show is, like, David, I'm having a great time with you. I'm not being I don't feel drained by this conversation, but guess what? I have a hour after where I don't have any plans. You know? So I can relax if I need to and recharge and all that good stuff. How did you figure out you were an introvert?

Dr. David Hooper [00:20:20]:
It's the real I think that's a really interesting question because I I do have a moment. So my background is like I mentioned was was sport and very, very competitive. And I almost almost lived two lives in that socially, I'm very introverted. But when I'm in that competitive environment, I can be very extroverted, I'd say, or or well, not extroverted, but more confident, let's say. And something that I always remember when I was in year year six, so that's year that's 11 years old in The UK. And we were in class, and I vividly remember answering a question wrong and the whole class laughed at my answer. Can't remember exactly what I said now, but I I can remember that class, missus Dickinson's class in year year six in in Morbethaire Middle School, and from then, I don't think I answered another question in, you know, in a in a setting. I still struggle with that now.

Dr. David Hooper [00:21:33]:
And although that kinda crosses a line towards more social anxiety to to introversion necessarily, it's definitely it definitely in time. And I've always when my friends were going out partying, I would always look to head to the hills with my dog and walk solo and listen to some classical music and things. So I think it's it's always been there. And I think that there's but there's definitely been moments that have maybe shone a light on on it a little bit more.

David Hall [00:22:12]:
Yeah. And I mean, that's a big part of the show is understanding it so that you can be confident in whatever situation you're in. You know? And I personally I don't call anything extrovert. I just say introverts can be confident if they understand themselves and

Dr. David Hooper [00:22:29]:
Completely. Yeah.

David Hall [00:22:30]:
What they need. You know?

Dr. David Hooper [00:22:31]:
Yeah. Yeah. I know. I tried to catch myself, but it was outdoor. Yeah. I love it.

David Hall [00:22:40]:
And what's what is the strength that you feel like you have because you're an introvert?

Dr. David Hooper [00:22:45]:
Oh, that's a really, really challenging question. So something I'm maybe as an introvert, really, really self conscious about pushing pushing the things I'm good at. That's definitely, something I need to work on. I think for me, I'm I'm really good at the deep thinking and strategy and big picture stuff. So although I'm slower to if, let's say, a question's asked in a team meeting, I am slower to to answer in that moment. I need a day or two to really reflect on it. But the answer that I give will be 10 times more powerful because of that reflective time. And that's been really helpful when I've been was reflecting on the opportunity to start my own business.

Dr. David Hooper [00:23:36]:
So I didn't really want to do the AI lead role at the a university. I was kind of given it. And I initially thought, you know, this is a little bit out of my skill set. I feel like this might might not be the right fit. But then I took a moment to kind of reflect on the bigger picture, the landscape, where the world's going, and the opportunity for AI is is massive now and and so and moving forward. It's not going anywhere. And I was able to kind of bring myself round to go, okay. Well, if I'm thinking about the strategy here or my my even my plan for myself, in five years, I'm going to be in a really great position and feel really confident about this big thing that's that everybody's going to be talking about.

Dr. David Hooper [00:24:27]:
So it it's things like that that have stood me in good stead, that deep thinking, the strategizing. I also think I'm very empathetic and understanding. I I would definitely say that's one of my my big strengths when it comes to kind of interpersonal relations and things.

David Hall [00:24:44]:
Yeah. And the deep thinking, like, you like you said, you may not have an answer right on the spot, but if you give it time, you're gonna come up with something brilliant. And that's part of understanding introversion and being able to share with people, hey. Give me a moment, or let me call you tomorrow or or whatever it is. Let me let me give some that some thought because, you know, sometimes we're gonna think of right away. But often, you know, I think of back on some big decisions or big ideas, and they came with time. You know? And you have to let people know, I need some time for this.

Dr. David Hooper [00:25:21]:
I think that's that's a great point. And I think that having the confidence to say that is important. So the ability it's almost like the ability to say no. It's similar in that in in that meeting to have the ability to pause and say, I'll get back to you on that with a a much more impactful answer. That's a really great strength to have as long as you do get back to that that meeting, that group, that person with with the answer, and, you know, it becomes the norm. So, you know, quite often, I would sit it would look, you know, pretty quiet in meetings, but then the next day have a hard hitting paragraph that changed the perspective of the whole group. So I think being brave and having the ability to say that in a in a meeting is gonna stand other introverts in really good

David Hall [00:26:18]:
stead. Yeah. And you brought up a really good point is you have to build that reputation. And part of it, like you said, is the follow-up. You have to really follow-up so that, you know, in in a meeting, maybe you haven't said anything yet, but people wanna what what are you thinking, David? Because they know that your mind is is working. But it comes from building that reputation and sharing those great answers and doing the follow through, you know, and having those great answers. So it it does take some work to to build that so that people do respect you and understand your process.

Dr. David Hooper [00:26:54]:
Yeah. It does. It does. And I always I was I built that skill from quite quite a young younger age. So I started educating when I was 23, initially, as an associate lecturer and then a full time lecturer after that. And something that my my dad always reminded me of was you you only really need to be the next page ahead in the textbook. So you you you need to be just slightly ahead of of whoever you're working with. And he also said, if you get a question, don't just make something up.

Dr. David Hooper [00:27:38]:
Have the confidence to say, I'm not certain on that. Let me get back to you. And, you know, students it didn't happen too often, but it did happen where I I wouldn't know the answer. Maybe it was a technical question or or something out of

David Hall [00:27:51]:
the

Dr. David Hooper [00:27:51]:
ordinary, but I built up that skill from from a from a young age. And even now, when AI gets asked, you know, I've been fortunate enough to develop into an AI keynote speaker and deliver master classes and all these different things. AI is moving so quickly. It's it's a full time job just to keep up with what's going on. So more regularly, I'm being asked, you know, what's have you heard of this app or have you have you done this with AI or, you know, whatever. And I'm like, I have to go, oh, I haven't heard of that. What is it? I'll make a note of it. I'll go and do the thing, and then I'll I'll get back to that person.

Dr. David Hooper [00:28:32]:
And you're right. It just builds that reputation, one of knowledge of the area, but also as someone who does what they say they're going to do, which is a very quick and easy way to to build a great reputation.

David Hall [00:28:48]:
Yeah. So you you shared that you didn't really mean to get into AI, but it kinda happened and you again, you seized the opportunity. Tell us about the work you're doing with AI and helping businesses become more efficient and more profitable.

Dr. David Hooper [00:29:04]:
Yeah. So I had the opportunity to start my own business in rough well, middle middle of twenty twenty four, and the business is called Lunala AI. And I help businesses implement AI into their processes to save time, save money, and and make more money. And I got into that by initially spending some time as an AI lead at a university. So really enjoyed it. It linked really nicely to my high performance background because that was all about personally being high performing or peak performing and also business performing as well. And there's just so many businesses who are excited about artificial intelligence but don't necessarily know the best way to use artificial intelligence in in what they're doing. And something that I always come back to is we've had some similar moments in history.

Dr. David Hooper [00:30:08]:
So if we look back at history really quickly, when the tractor was built, it sent shock waves through the the industry. So people who worked on farms were anxious, worried, scared, overwhelmed about the fact that these big monster vehicles are gonna come on to our farmland, do our jobs, and they thought, what are we gonna do? We'll go you know, how are we gonna make money? How am I gonna feed my family? But now fast forward a couple of hundred years, we look out the window, see tractors, combine harvesters, all these different things, and go, oh, that's that's pretty normal. Fast forward again to the kind of mid nineteen eighties ish, and I remember my my dad came home with a big briefcase, and it it was a giant thing. And he put it on the table, and he was clearly quite in a bit of a mood. And my my mom said, oh, you know, what's what's in that box? And my dad opened the box, and it was a laptop, but it was absolutely ginormous, this thing. And it was one of the first laptops. And, basically, he said, you know, this is never gonna take off. I've got no interest in a computer.

Dr. David Hooper [00:31:29]:
What's wrong with calling people? But obviously now, laptops, iPads, phones, everywhere, but there was still that divide where people were in or out. Fast forward again to the mid two thousands, a guy called Mark in his dorm at university had a chat with a few people to create something called Facebook. And if we talk to businesses in the early two thousands and said, you're gonna run your business predominantly online. You're gonna do marketing online. You're gonna do networking online. You're gonna take payments online. All through social media, all through LinkedIn, they'd have probably said, no chance. I need a shop front.

Dr. David Hooper [00:32:14]:
I need people to come in. I need to talk to the customers. But now in twenty twenty five, there isn't a business in the world that isn't on LinkedIn, for example. And we're at that same position with AI. So, again, it's split the nation where some people are really interested in AI, others are a bit worried, a bit nervous, a bit overwhelmed by by AI. But in the future, in in five, ten, fifteen years, we'll be thinking about artificial intelligence like we think about LinkedIn now or like we think about Facebook or the the Internet or the computer or even the tractor a few a few hundred years ago. So, yeah, it's a it's a really cool time for innovation, and, yeah, I'm I'm excited for what Lunala can do for for the rest of the year.

David Hall [00:33:08]:
Yeah. I like the tractor comparison. That's a good one. So the people that are hesitant, what what what's their questions, or what's the myths around AI that you wanna bust?

Dr. David Hooper [00:33:22]:
Yeah. I think the the first thing is the the worry or the overwhelm. So I get a lot of how do I get started. And the easiest thing to kinda get started with is think about one thing you can do in your personal life. So take out business, take out work, and just bring it right back. So one thing I do a lot of of kind of the talks I give is, have you have you got a holiday coming about? I'll say, you know, have you got a holiday coming up? And a lot of people say, yes. I've got one in ten weeks or whatever. And I would just say, go on something like ChatGPT or Claude or a big LLM that's free and just ask it a few questions, a few diet tips.

Dr. David Hooper [00:34:15]:
You know, what can I eat to lose weight? What exercise can I do? Something really low barrier just to get some experience. So one of the things that I do find is there's so much fear and nervousness and overwhelm because we it's new. We haven't experienced it enough to feel comfortable yet. So it's all about breaking down those barriers. Pick one little thing, have a go at it, and then you can start to take that a bit bigger and start to think, okay. Maybe there's a work task I could use this for or maybe there's something I could develop or, you you know, you could go on a little course. So that's that's one of the big things, the the nerves and the overwhelm, and will AI take my job and all all of that type of of kind of rhetoric. And the the thing I always reply to those people, it isn't AI who's going to take your job, but it might be a human who knows how to use AI might take your job.

Dr. David Hooper [00:35:22]:
So it's always good to be proactive with with these things, and it may not come easy to you. It didn't come easy to me at all, and I spent hours struggling really, but I had that in the back of my mind, in five years, I'm going to be in a great place. And a lot a lot of the things that I'll be doing will be with AI as as everyone else will find as well. So it's yeah. The best time is to start is now when it comes to to AI even with just little steps.

David Hall [00:35:57]:
Yeah. Could you give us an example of a business problem you've helped somebody solve using AI?

Dr. David Hooper [00:36:04]:
Yeah. So the most exciting well, there's lots. There's there's a couple to pick from. Let me tell you about a really impact full one because, again, when I speak to some people, there is some pushback. AI is only negative. It's it's copying other people. It isn't your own work. You know, these types of things.

Dr. David Hooper [00:36:27]:
And one of the most impactful things I've ever done in my career, and that includes all of my own teaching, was I worked with an organization that provided post 16 support to immigrants, and what they needed was an a mechanism to provide support out of office hours. So what they found that organize what that organization found was that a lot of their their kind of clients were either night shift workers or kind of slept at different hours to this what the staff had available. So they needed a way to support those those students effectively outside of office hours. So what we did was we created something called an interactive avatar. And what an interactive avatar is, it's a an AI human. So it looks like a human, it talks like a human, but it's actually some artificial intelligence. And we created something called a knowledge base, which is where we give the AI all the answers to every question that it needs. And what that meant was those students who were night shift workers could get support for their assignments at 02:00 in the morning.

Dr. David Hooper [00:37:49]:
They could get interview help at 04:30 in the morning. They could get it in all these different times when tutors weren't available, and we also tweaked it so that they could receive that support in their own language as well. So it was incredibly fulfilling to be able to give this this kind of software to these students and say, you've now got twenty four hour support anytime you need it. Obviously, they could book in with humans as well if they needed to. But for these out of office kind of queries, they could get this this really, really great support. So that was yeah. It's something that is is one of my best moments in work for sure.

David Hall [00:38:35]:
Cool. Do you have any examples of just how you've helped how AI's helped just improve business processes?

Dr. David Hooper [00:38:43]:
Yeah. Of course. So a lot of the work I do is with SME, so so smaller businesses or solopreneurs. And a lot of it comes down to where can we save some time. So, again, going back to how we get started with AI, my advice would be to any solopreneur or or SME kind of, director. Think about one problem that your company has when it comes to time or or inefficient processes. Is this something where lots of people have have to do the work, or is there an opportunity there? So we have things like customer relations agents. So a lot of the work I do is developing AI agents that are essentially AI employees.

Dr. David Hooper [00:39:33]:
So what we want to do is use AI agents to provide companies with a chance for staff to to to do more. So I worked with a health and fitness company, a really big one, that had about 10 online personal trainers. And what those 10 online personal trainers spent their day doing was literally replying to queries. So it was literally, you know, how many calories should I eat today? And the pace the the the trainer would reply, how many squats should I do with my workout? And they would reply. So it's really low level stuff that these highly qualified trainers were were doing, and they will get no fulfillment out of that. So what we did was we created AI an AI agent that could do all 10 of their jobs at once. So it would answer those questions. But what it did, it released those 10 personal trainers to actually go out and work with the the the clients that wanted one on one support.

Dr. David Hooper [00:40:42]:
So they were able to develop their business offer and say, actually, we're not just an online business now. We have a higher tier we can can use. And these 10 personal trainers are now out in the open in the gyms, doing actual sessions, providing more tailored support at a higher level, having a bigger impact, being more fulfilled. So that was a really nice example of where this this can kind of kind of work. It can release you to go and do higher impact work, which is is great for everybody.

David Hall [00:41:15]:
Yeah. That sounds amazing. David, this has been a great conversation. We've covered your incredible story, peak performance, embracing introversion, how you got into AI, and it's it's great possibilities and uses. Yeah. Is there anything else you wanna add today?

Dr. David Hooper [00:41:32]:
No. I just thank you so much for your time, David. I've really enjoyed it. It's it's one of my passions. You know, I love introversion. I want to be a a spokesperson for introverts who think that their introversion will hold them back. And I always used to say a line in my own podcast, which was introversion isn't the thing that will hold you back. It's the thing that will make you unstoppable.

Dr. David Hooper [00:41:56]:
So, yeah, if anybody needs a little boost, definitely just reflect on that when, when you listen to this podcast.

David Hall [00:42:04]:
Yeah. Great. And, where can people find more about you and the work that you're doing?

Dr. David Hooper [00:42:10]:
Yeah. So I'm quite active on social media, Instagram and TikTok and LinkedIn. They're all the same handle, which is at doctor David Hooper. And I have a business website, which is lunala.co.uk, if anyone wants to find out a bit more about what I do with, with the AI stuff.

David Hall [00:42:29]:
Alright. Well, thanks again, David. This has been a wonderful conversation.

Dr. David Hooper [00:42:33]:
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

David Hall [00:42:36]:
Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate you. I hope you take the time to explore other episodes and learn from other amazing guests. Remember, if you're interested in getting to know yourself better, there is now a free Typefinder personality assessment on the Quiet and Strong website. This free assessment will give you a brief report, including the four letter Myers Briggs code. I'll add a link in the show notes. And I'd love to connect with you. Reach out at david@quietandstrong.com or check out the quietandstrong.com website, which includes blog posts and links to social media for Quiet and Strong and much more.

David Hall [00:43:12]:
Send me topics or guests you would like to see on the show. So many great things about being an introvert, and so we need those to be understood. Get to know your introverted strengths and needs, and be strong.