In the high-stakes world of event planning and professional speaking, wellness often takes a backseat to deadlines, client demands, and career ambitions. But what if the key to extraordinary professional success lies in prioritizing your own well-being?
We spoke with Adrien Cotton, a transformational wellness coach who has made it her mission to help professionals not just survive, but thrive in today’s demanding landscape. With a unique background spanning from the halls of Congress to cutting-edge wellness coaching, Adrien offers insights that challenge traditional notions of productivity and success.
After being one of the youngest communications directors in Congress, what inspired your transition to wellness coaching?
I realized while I was having the time of my life, I was surrounded by others who weren’t caring for their health. In fact, I’d lost my motivation to maintain my wellness due to exhausting hours.
Your Wellness Wheel framework goes beyond typical health advice. Can you explain how sleep, stress resilience, and calendar management are connected?
When we don’t get our sleep, our stress resilience suffers as does our inclination to build our calendar around wellness.
When we don’t make time for our core value of wellness, we lose sleep and our stress resilience takes a back seat.
All of the spokes of my wheel are interconnected – when one is on its path, the others follow suit.
You emphasize the “neuroscience of habits.” What’s one small change that consistently creates transformative results for your clients?
We tend to take on more than our brain can handle. This leads to frustration and frankly failure.
Creating small stackable and repeatable habits works.
The top habit our members create is setting a regular bedtime routine. You can’t go wrong. Our brains rely on it. Our sleep, stress, exercise, food choices and sense of filling our time with wellness snacks will also follow that path. Yet, when we don’t set ourselves up for the top hack of sleep experts—an iron-clad bedtime routine—we also lose our sleep and the other spokes of the wellness wheel suffer.
What stress management tips would you offer for event professionals and speakers who work under tight deadlines and high-pressure situations?
Event professionals, and certainly speakers, are hard pressed for time. The stress of building unforgettable and successful events can be daunting. Learning the beauty and the knack for proper breathing can turn a stressful day into one filled with promise and accomplishment. In all of our corporate and member workshops, we start with a short minute of breathing guiding our audience on how to do it without feeling silly,
What wellness strategies do you recommend for maintaining energy during long event days, for both event professionals and event attendees?
I hear you. Those events are so exciting. The build up and the time and energy that go into each small detail can be overwhelming.
I actually implore event planners and professionals to take their sleep and exercise on the road with them. Make it a habit to create excellent hotel room bedtime hygiene and not-only don’t skimp on the workout; make it more challenging. This can help with jet lag, travel frustration and the often unavoidable occasion of limited food choices.
How can event professionals balance demands of their job and/or clients with their own wellbeing?
When we don’t tend to our own self care and wellness, it is impossible to serve others. In our professional lives, we will exude confidence, energy and resilience when we “show up” as our whole self, which means we tend to all 5 spokes of the wellness wheel.
What are your recommendations for recovery after intense event seasons?
As much as possible, prevent exhaustion by making sleep and exercise a priority during the event. When this is impossible due to uncontrollable circumstances, make sleep a top priority and keep to your consistent bedtime schedule.
Can you share tips for event planners to incorporate wellness elements into their events?
Absolutely! I love to teach conference participants how to breath, how to move throughout the day and make up for that missed exercise session, how to navigate the conference lunchtime menu and last but not least how to slow down as much as possible – everything; the pace with which we talk, walk and think.
What are some creative ways that event venues can integrate wellness principles into their spaces?
Yes, there are many yet I’d say make the space available to fresh air with ample water breaks and pathways so walking is easy. Creating small areas where participants can get away for quick walk or tuck away for a short break would be helpful.
Make water available and attractive for all to consume.
Keep the air moving with fans.
—
As event professionals and speakers continue to navigate increasingly demanding professional environments, Adrien Cotton is reimagining wellness as an interconnected system of habits, mindsets, and strategies. She empowers professionals to show up as their most authentic, energized selves. The message is clear: your well-being isn’t a luxury, it’s the foundation for your greatest professional potential.
