Shayla King’s Performance and Happiness Lab is a real room — and in this episode, she finally pulls back the curtain on what Month 1 actually looks like inside it. What if there was a room where high-achieving women could finally tell the truth? Where a new mom admits she’s been running a doom loop at midnight about everything she’s failing. Where a director says out loud — for the first time — that she’s not sure she can handle the promotion she’s been fighting for, because she’s already drowning.
That room exists. It’s called the Performance and Happiness Lab. And in this week’s episode of The 5% Club, Shayla King stopped giving you the highlight reel and started giving you the real thing — a behind-the-scenes look at exactly what happens inside Month 1.
If you’ve ever wondered what executive coaching actually looks like in practice — not the polished testimonials, not the sales page — this is it. Four weeks. Four subjects. And dozens of moments that will make you recognize yourself in every single story.
What You’ll Learn
- How the Cognitive Model (thoughts → feelings → actions → results) explains why you’re stuck — and how to change it
- Why executive essentialism is the real productivity hack no one is talking about
- The one question that broke open a client’s fear of networking — and led directly to a VP job offer
- Why your physical energy is career strategy, not a wellness bonus
- What “protecting the asset” actually means when you’re the asset
How the Cognitive Model Explains Why High Performers Stay Stuck
Week one of the PH Lab starts with the Model — a five-step framework originally developed by Brooke Castillo at the Life Coach School. Your circumstances are neutral. Your thoughts about those circumstances create your feelings. Your feelings drive your actions. Your actions create your results.
Simple. Infinite application.
One of Shayla’s clients came in that first week with what looked like a performance problem. Her team was building something brand new, and her boss kept saying the work wasn’t landing. Demoralizing, disorienting — easy to spiral on. When they ran the model, the real issue surfaced: she was waiting to feel confident before taking action. And in brand-new territory, that confidence was never coming.
The shift Shayla gave her? Trade confidence for curiosity. Instead of I need to know what I’m doing, try I have a plan. I’m comfortable experimenting. This is a fun puzzle to figure out. That reframe changed everything — because you can operate in ambiguity when you’re curious. You can’t when you’re white-knuckling certainty that doesn’t exist yet.
The key takeaway from week one: just because your brain has a thought doesn’t mean it’s true. And just because it’s true doesn’t mean it’s helpful. You get to decide what you think. And that decision changes everything downstream.
Why Executive Essentialism Is Not About Saying No — It’s About Saying a Full Yes
Warren Buffett said it: the difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.
Week two of the PH Lab covers executive essentialism — and Shayla makes no apologies for calling it one of her favorite subjects on the planet. The premise is simple: stop trying to do everything better. Start doing fewer things that actually matter.
She illustrates it with a story about herself. She used to be chronically late to flights — not because she didn’t care, but because she’d packed her life so full that one red light, one bag check, one slow driver would send her into a cortisol spiral. She thought she was being efficient. She was actually designing a life with zero margin for life to be lifing.
Sound familiar?
The non-essentialist life assumes everything will go right. No traffic. No emergencies. No unexpected anything. And when reality shows up — which it always does — the whole system collapses.
The practical move Shayla gives listeners at the end of this segment: cut one thing that doesn’t belong. Add 15 minutes of buffer. Then put one thing on your calendar that you actually want to be there. Not productive. Just pleasurable. For you.
Does Executive Networking Actually Work? One Client’s VP Job Offer Says Yes
Most women come into the networking week of the PH Lab with some version of ick. Too fake. Too draining. I built this on my own. I shouldn’t need help.
Shayla worked with Dr. Wendy Crossman — brilliant, accomplished, the kind of woman whose résumé speaks for itself. When Shayla told her it was time to start intentional coffee chats, Wendy’s response was immediate: I just don’t know if anyone would want to meet with me.
So Shayla asked her one question.
If someone reached out to you and asked for a coffee chat, would you meet with them?
Without hesitating: Absolutely.
And there it was. The thought no one will want to meet with me wasn’t based on evidence. It was based on fear. Once Wendy saw it, she couldn’t unsee it. She started reaching out. She built her network with intention. And the week she left her company, she received a VP of Supply Chain offer — directly from that network.
She didn’t stumble into it. She built it on purpose.
The lesson: it doesn’t matter how good you are if the right people don’t know you exist. Networking isn’t schmoozing. It’s deciding what you want your relationships to look like and going to build them.
Why Your Physical Energy Is Career Strategy, Not a Wellness Extra
Week four opens with a physical demonstration. Shayla asks everyone to show her what tired looks like — shoulders in, head down, collapsed. Then she asks them to raise their sternum two millimeters.
Two millimeters. That’s it. And the entire energy in the room shifts.
Tony Robbins taught her that one, and she never forgot it: your body is not separate from your performance. It is your performance.
One of her clients came into this session running on empty — new house, endless projects, a work email she’d been avoiding. She said out loud: I think everybody at work would be happy if I just left today. When Shayla coached through it with her, the list of things that actually needed to happen that day came down to one: reply to a counteroffer. Fifteen minutes, maybe. After that? A nap. Then sleep. Sleep came up twice, and they both laughed — but Shayla heard it. The body was asking for exactly what it needed.
The client said taking the afternoon off felt like a privilege she didn’t deserve. Her hourly employees couldn’t do that, so neither could she. Shayla’s response cut right to it: Who gets called in the middle of the night when something goes wrong? Her. Exactly. Take the perk. Leave the guilt. This is not selfishness — it’s protecting the asset.
And there’s a business case too: leaders do not promote someone they already think is exhausted. Your physical energy is directly connected to the pay increase and the promotion you’re working toward.
Key Takeaways
- The Model is a language. Every time you don’t like where you’re headed, you can diagnose it — thought, feeling, action, result. And you can change it at the source.
- Essentialism isn’t laziness. It’s strategy. The most successful people say no to almost everything so they can say a full yes to what actually moves the needle.
- Networking is a skill, not a personality type. The thought no one will want to meet with me is fear, not fact. Build the relationships on purpose — the results follow.
- You are the asset. Your sleep, your movement, your recovery — these aren’t extras. They are your operating system. Protect them accordingly.
- These four topics aren’t separate. Mindset, essentialism, relationships, energy — they’re four angles of the same truth: you are capable of more, and the right work changes everything.
FAQ
What is the Performance and Happiness Lab by Shayla King? The Performance and Happiness Lab (PH Lab) is a group coaching program for high-achieving corporate women who want to reach the executive level without burning out or sacrificing their lives to get there. Month one covers four core areas: the cognitive model, executive essentialism, executive networking, and physical energy.
What is executive essentialism and how does it help corporate women? Executive essentialism is the practice of saying no to almost everything so you can say a full yes to the priorities that actually matter. For high-performing women who are already stretched thin, it shifts the goal from doing more to doing the right things — which is how top leaders actually operate.
How does mindset coaching help women get promoted? Mindset coaching helps women identify the specific thoughts that are driving their current results — and change them. For example, waiting to feel “confident” before taking action in new territory actually stalls progress; shifting to curiosity allows forward movement even in ambiguity. That kind of internal shift directly affects how women show up, make decisions, and get recognized.
Does networking really lead to promotions and job offers? Yes — and the PH Lab has a direct example. A client named Dr. Wendy Crossman built her network intentionally using the lab’s framework and received a VP of Supply Chain job offer the week she left her company, sourced entirely from that network. The work was deliberate, not lucky.
Why does physical energy matter for career advancement? Leaders don’t promote people they already perceive as maxed out. Your physical energy signals capacity — and executives are watching. Beyond the career case, the PH Lab’s position is that you only have one body and one life; protecting your energy is what makes it possible to perform at work and show up fully everywhere else.
Ready to stop waiting and start building the career and life you actually want? The Performance and Happiness Lab fall cohort early enrollment opens in May. Get on the waitlist at shaylaking.com/phlab.
About Shayla King
Shayla King is a performance and happiness coach for corporate female leaders who are done choosing between the career and the life. With real executive experience and a coaching philosophy built on mindset, strategy, and practical action, she helps women get the promotion, the pay increase, and a life they actually love — without burning out to get there.
She is the host of The 5% Club podcast, where she pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to rise in corporate America as a woman — and what becomes possible when you stop proving and start positioning.
Shayla works with women inside the Performance and Happiness Lab, her signature group coaching program designed to take high-achieving corporate women from stuck in middle management to promoted to the executive level.
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