Good Life Project

What if we didn't have to wait for tragedy in order to be kind?

What if there was no WAY to kindness, but rather, kindness WAS the way? That's what we're talking about in today's GLP Riff, inspired by an awakening during a Broadway show about a powerful true-life story from the town of Gander, Newfoundland.

And, be sure to tune in for today's Good Life Science Update, too.

We're diving into some new research that shows something just a tiny bit terrifying about how even having a silent smartphone in the room with you might affect your ability to think and perform at the top of your game. For those who want to go deeper, here's a link to the research cited.

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Guest: Julie Piatt aka SriMati is a plant-based chef, meditation guide, yoga teacher, musician, and author of This Cheese is Nuts!: Delicious Vegan Cheese at Home.

Story: In the midst of a successful career as a designer and business owner, Julie and her husband made radical changes in career. While this set in motion a powerful new path for both, it also led them into a financial collapse that took nearly 7 years to emerge from, all which navigating both their own individual evolutions and parenting four kids.

This challenging time, or as Julie calls it “The Sacred Moment,” has not only defined she as a person but also allowed her to become the highest version of her true self and informed her journey as a teacher, creator, life-partner and parent.

Big idea(s): Times in our lives that are filled with struggle and pain that bring us to our knees are Sacred Moments that strip us of anything false, show our true nature, and forge us into our highest selves

You’d never guess: How receiving her spiritual name, SriMati, has impacted Julie’s journey of discovering her life purpose.

Current passion project: Facilitating intimate retreats of yoga, meditation, exploration, and transformation and building a community of like-minded people around the globe. And developing a line of in-store cheese.

Want more? Listen in on Jonathan's 2015 conversation with Julie: Fueling Vibrant Health the Plantpower Way and you can watch the video of Jonathan's 2013 conversation with Rich Roll: How One Man Kicked Addiction, Dropped 50 Pounds And Became Ultra-Fit.

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We're excited to premiere a new segment on today's episode. Along with our weekly Riffs, we'll be bringing you a new weekly Good Life Science Update™ where we share interesting research on a specific topic designed to help you live a better life.

And, we'll also be bringing in other fun segments and maybe even a few new voices. So, stay tuned!

Today's riff topic.

When does it makes sense to go all-in on a new career, business or idea and "burn the ships" so you have to succeed, OR do it on the side and take the "safer" and less-disruptive approach? Hint - anyone who tells you to do one or the other without asking a critical question first...is very likely wrong!

Today's Good Life Science Update.

We all know that fruits and veggies can make us healthier, improve energy and reduce risk of disease. But, did you know that they also may make you more curious, creative, upbeat and cultivate a deeper sense of purpose? Some very interesting research suggests that veggies just might be power tools in ways we never imagined! And, we're breaking it down for you in today's GL Science Update.

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Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://www.goodlifeproject.com/sparketypes/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

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Guest: When Agapi Stassinopoulos walks into a room, you know you're in the presence of love. Her name, in fact, translates to "love." She is a sought-after speaker, teacher and a best-selling author of multiple books, the latest being Wake Up to the Joy of You: 52 Meditations and Practices for a Calmer, Happier Life.

Story: Training at the Royal Academy of London, Agapi wanted to build a career in performing arts. But it seems the universe conspired to create a different path. Struggling to find her way on the stage and screen, she changed direction and instead pursued a Masters in psychology, seeking to inspire and elevate people not by taking on the persona of other characters, but by taking the stage as herself and sharing her own, very personal stories, ideas and wisdom.

Big idea(s): If you’re stuck and you can’t seem to break out of it, help someone else get what they need and you’ll automatically be empowered.

You’d never guess: How spontaneously performing Joan of Arc to a stranger on a NYC bus kick-started her career.

Current passion project: Speaking and facilitating workshops around the world on changing the way people work, helping them reclaim their lives and move from merely surviving to thriving.

Please enjoy this guided meditation, titled, Let Love In, from Chapter 13 of Wake Up to the Joy of You.

Rockstar sponsors:

Get paid online, on-time with Freshbooks! Today's show is supported by FreshBooks, cloud accounting software that makes it insanely easy for freelancers and professionals to get paid online, track expenses and do more of what you love. Get your 1-month free trial, no credit card required, at FreshBooks.com/goodlife (enter The Good Life Project in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section).

Today's show is supported Camp GLP. Come spend 3 1/2 days with "your people," make amazing friendships, drop the facade, reignite your vitality and learn powerful strategies and breakthrough business ideas. Learn more now.

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We tend to think that once we get to a certain place in life, everything just gets all dreamy. And, that makes us sometimes hold those who we look to as teachers and leaders to a different standard. But, what if we're all just in it together? What if life happens, humanity and all of its stumbles and struggles, highs and lows, grace and grind, no matter how far we get into a path of discovery? Nobody gets to opt out of the human condition.

What if leading and living a good life wasn't about learning and practicing our way out of the realities of day-to-day existence, but rather owning the fact that, no matter what may come our way, the essential ingredients for a meaningful existence are here, in front of us, in each moment? Even the hard ones. What if a good life is not a place at which we arrive, but a lens through which we see and create our world?

That's what we're talking about in today's GLP Riff. And, as part of that discussion, we offer a question to ask that just might guide better decisions as we tell the story of our lives.

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Guest: Robert Thurman is one of the world's foremost Buddhist scholars, a long-time friend of the Dalai Lama, the father of actress Uma Thurman, and a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism and related cultures.

He is an eloquent advocate of the relevance of Eastern ideas to our daily lives. In doing so, he has become a leading voice of the value of reason, peace, and compassion. Thurman was named one of TIME magazine’s 25 most influential Americans and has been profiled by The New York Times Magazine and People magazine. He is the author of many books, and played a central role in the new graphic biography, Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet.

Story: After losing an eye in an accident at a young age, Thurman was suddenly confronted with impermanence and death. Shortly after, he embarked on a life-changing journey and exploration of Tibetan Buddhism and culture, building a close relationship with the Dalai Lama, and becoming a prominent Buddhist teacher and scholar.

Big idea(s): A lot of spirituality is skewed into an idea of escaping from relationship and transcending into some vastness. What if that vastness existed already in the life you were already living, but you just didn't see it?

Every relative thing is empty of any non-relative element.

By knowing reality, you transcend the idea that you’re more special than others, and their heartbeat becomes as important to you as your own.

You’d never guess: 

Why Bob abandoned his education in the spring of his senior year of high school.

Current passion project:

A graphic novel biography of Dalai Lama – story of one man taking on an empire, calling for truth, peace, and justice for his Tibetan people.

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Ever have something really important to say to someone? Something you know will help? Some bit of wisdom or advice that can make a big difference. Could be at work, at home, in your personal life.

So, what's the best way to "get your point across?" How do you share your idea in a way where the person you most want to get it...gets it? Then, acts on it. Instead of rejecting it out of hand.

Turns out, framing your wisdom in the form of a well-told story, rather than a point or moral or bit of advice, demand, order or imperative, can work wonders. It can bypass all the automatic defenses that lead us to reject being "told what to do."

That's what today's Good Life Project Riff is all about.

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Camp GLP - Register by June 28, 2017 and lock in your $100 discount. After that registration returns to full-price. And, more important, we don't have a lot of spots left, so there is a decent chance we will sell soon and have no spots left at any price. So, come grab your spot now!

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Happiness. It's what so many of us yearn for. We think it's the center of a good life. And, even though, we're often told otherwise, we believe happiness can be bought, a least a certain amount of happiness.

So, what is the truth? What does the research show? Can money buy you happiness? Can it buy you a good life?

The answer, it turns out, may surprise you. Today's audio deep-dive is all about happiness, money and life well-lived. And, rather than talking in generalities, we're heading straight into the rich body of research that shows us the truth. We're vaulting past all the happiness and self-help platitudes, the things we wish were truth, and diving into the actual science of happiness, money and the good life.

And, you might want to hold onto your seat, because some illusions are about to be shattered. We're doing a bunch of myth-busting and proverb-smashing.

Money, it turns out, may well matter more than you think when it comes to happiness, and in ways you didn't realize. Moving beyond money, happiness and good life myth-busting, we then give you specific advice on how to "use" money to make your life happier, more meaningful and just straight-up better.

And, we explore the question you REALLY wanna know,"how much money do you really need to be happy and fulfilled?"

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• Get paid online, on-time with Freshbooks! Today's show is supported by FreshBooks, cloud accounting software that makes it insanely easy for freelancers and professionals to get paid online, track expenses and do more of what you love. Get your 1-month free trial, no credit card required, at FreshBooks.com/goodlife (enter The Good Life Project in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section).

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Guest: Max Levi Frieder is the Co-founder and Co-executive director of the international community-based public art organization Artolution.

His projects have taken him from Israel and Palestine to the Jordanian-Syrian border, Turkey, India, New Zealand, Australia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Mexico, Canada and throughout the United States.

Story: Max has traveled the world facilitating public, collaborative art-projects, working with refugees, hospitals and patients, survivors of abuse and addiction counseling. Through art, trauma relief, reconciliation and conflict resolution, his work focuses on cultivating public engagement through creative facilitation and inspired participation.

Big idea: Art can be not only a form of expression but an act of connection, celebration and healing.

Current passion project: Artolution

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Chris Cornell's soaring vocals served as the soundtrack to a moment in my life. The whole Seattle grunge scene came alive at a time when I yearned for a sound that felt more raw and real.

Fronting the bands Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple of the Dog, Cornell's voice connected on the most visceral level. So, when the news landed of his suicide last week, it hit me, as it did so many others. In part, because of the loss of such a talent. But, in a much larger part because of the loss of someone who seemed to have so much to live for. So many songs still to sing, a family man and artist.

Just a few months earlier, he took the stage at the Beacon Theatre in NYC to sing a duet with his daughter, a few blocks from where I live. It was a beautiful moment. There are conflicting reports about what might've led to him take his life, but truth is, that's not what this conversation is really about.

This is about something bigger. The darkness that so many seem to struggle with. Good people. Smart people. Gifted people. Loving people. Kind people. Big-hearted people. Maybe it's just my lens, but it seems to touch down with alarming frequency, too, in the lives of those devoted creating an unending stream of somethings from nothing. Artists, performers, entrepreneurs and other creators. I've seen so much suffering ride along with a life fueled by the yearning to create.

While much multi-disciplinary work is being done to help, anxiety, depression and other conditions remain an ever-present weight for millions. That, alone, is so hard. Then, layer on top of it a certain stigma that seems never to go away, a fear of being judged, rejected, cast-out that compounds the problem by making it harder to share what you're living with. It's easy to see how hard it might feel to reach out for help.

I don't profess to know the darkness that happens in anyone's head that might lead them to choose death over life. I don't know the blend of circumstance, struggle, substance or more that would push any one person to that point. But I do know, it's time to remove the stigma around mental health challenges. To create a culture that says, "no matter what you may be feeling, you are human, you are worthy, you are valued. It's okay to reach out to someone you know, someone you love, or someone anonymous who is qualified to help you and will not judge, but rather listen and help."

That's the bigger point of today's Riff. To say, if something's weighing you down, get help. There is no shame. If anyone listening or reading is in that place of struggle, reach out to someone who knows you and can help you. And, if you don't have someone, here are two numbers to call that can help.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

US Suicide Hotline 1-800-784-2433

With love & gratitude,

Jonathan

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Guest: Sheryl O’Loughlin, the former CEO of Clif Bar, Co-founder of Plum Organics and author of Killing It: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart. Sheryl is currently CEO of REBBL super-herb beverages.

Story: A rising star in the marketing world, Sheryl left a career in a mega-corp to join them fledgling CLIF Bar. She eventually rose to CEO, introducing the Luna Bar, before leaving to found her own company, Plum Organics.

While that business took off, the demands of the job, along with the collapse of a family business led to relentless stress that opened the door to a devastating eating disorder. After an "intervention" from friends and a long road back, she stepped back in to head up mission-driven beverage company, REBBL, but now with a different lens on work and life.

Big idea(s): It's not enough to build a business or brand, you also need to find a way to honor your health and relationships along the way.

Current passion projects: Her new book, Killing It: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart, enjoying life in Santa Rosa, CA and loving my 16 and 13-year-old sons and wonderful husband of 20 years.

Rockstar sponsors:

• Oganifi - Great-tasting organic superfood green juice powder that you just add to water and get all your greens in on the go! Get 20% off - use the code "goodlife" at check out at organifi.com

• Today's show is supported Camp GLP. Come spend 3 1/2 days with "your people," make amazing friendships, drop the facade, reignite your vitality and learn powerful strategies and breakthrough business ideas. Learn more now.

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Short answer: chill out.

Slightly longer answer: Change the way you measure success, and run experiments.

For the next handful of years or, who knows, maybe even the next decade, use a different metric. Instead of money, power, prestige, rank, relative wealth or any of those things, elevate self-discovery as your primary measure of success. Because if you don't do it now, you'll find yourself yearning to do it 20-30 years down the road and wondering if it's too late.

That's what today's Good Life Project Riff is all about. In today's short and sweet jam, we offer three critical self-discovery questions, ones to ask yourself and use to guide what you say yes or no to. Ones that may take a lot of experimentation and a solid chunk of time to answer, but once answered will set up the entire rest of your life to "succeed" on a profoundly different and far more meaningful level.

Now, on to the three questions...

JF

P.S. Mistakes are OK.

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• Today's show is supported Camp GLP. Come spend 3 1/2 days with "your people," make amazing friendships, drop the facade, reignite your vitality and learn powerful strategies and breakthrough business ideas. Learn more now.

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Guest: Andrew Forsthoefel is a writer, radio producer, public speaker, and author of Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time

Story: At 23, Andrew walked out the back door of his home in Pennsylvania, with a backpack and a sign that read “Walking to Listen.” Some 4,000 miles and countless conversations later, he found himself on the West Coast. More important, he found so many stories of grace and struggle, beauty and humanity.

Big idea(s): When you see everyone as your equal and your teacher, the world becomes an astonishing place.

You'd never guess: How a simple act of kindness from a random trucker left him weeping along the highway.

Current passion project: Facilitating workshops on walking and listening as practices in personal transformation, interconnection, and conflict resolution.

Rockstar sponsors:

• Bombas socks - Ridiculously yummy and when you buy a pair, they give a pair to someone in need. Get 20%-off your first order when you enter the code GOODLIFE at checkout. Go to BOMBAS.COM/GOODLIFE.

• Oganifi - Great-tasting organic superfood green juice powder that you just add to water and get all your greens in on the go! Get 20% off - use the code "goodlife" at check out at organifi.com

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What if you could get really good at almost anything in only 20 hours?

Sounds like an impossible promise, but it's not. Accelerated learning hacker and author of The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything... Fast!, Josh Kaufman, says anyone can do it.

In today's special expanded Riff, Josh busts myths about what it takes to learn new things quickly. He then reveals a 5-step protocol to get good at anything in only 20 hours. Along the way you'll accelerate your learning by deconstructing complex skills, learning what to practice and when (and what to ignore), and figure out how to remove barriers to deliberate practice.

In a world where perpetual learning is the norm, the ability to rapidly learn new things is mission-critical. This will help get you started!

Rockstar sponsors:

• Get paid online, on-time with Freshbooks! Today's show is supported by FreshBooks, cloud accounting software that makes it insanely easy for freelancers and professionals to get paid online, track expenses and do more of what you love. Get your 1-month free trial, no credit card required, at FreshBooks.com/goodlife (enter The Good Life Project in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section).

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Guest: Jen Sincero, #1 NY Times bestselling author of You are a Badass and You are a Badass at Making Money.

Story: From playing in a band and living in a garage in Venice Beach, CA to building a career as an internationally acclaimed and massively successful writer on her own terms.

Big idea(s): Stepping into your true identity changes everything. Money is not the enemy, it is a conduit for expression and impact.

You'd never guess: What it took to sell her first book, You Are a Badass, which has now sold a bajillion copies and been on the NYT list for a long time. And, what the name of her first band had in common with how she now views money.

Current passion project: Her new book, You are a Badass at Making Money.

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Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://www.goodlifeproject.com/sparketypes/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

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What if being a follower and not a leader was the perfect place for you to be?

We've heard so much about how we all need to lead, to found, to build, to create. From relationships to careers to business to health to life.

Being a follower is, in some way, considered being "less than." Something that those who won't or can't lead surrender to.

But, being a follower, at the right time, for the right reason, actually is a position of immense growth and power.

Sometimes, being led is the fastest path to leading. The real art lies in knowing when to step out of the shadow and into the spotlight.

That's what today's Good Life Project Riff is all about.

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Today's show is supported Camp GLP. Come spend 3 1/2 days with "your people," make amazing friendships, drop the facade, reignite your vitality and learn powerful strategies and breakthrough business ideas. Learn more now.

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How do you know if you're addicted to your phone? Or maybe your favorite game, app, text, snapchat, Instagram, Facebook or online shopping?

Is it even possible to be truly addicted to these things? You know, like on the level of drugs? Or are we all just being a bit too alarmist?

Where is the line between a healthy obsession that adds to your life and an addiction to tech that can own and potentially destroy you?

Today's guest, NYU professor, Adam Alter, gives us a massive reality check. He breaks down the different between passions, obsessions and straight-up addictions, splits apart chemical and behavioral addictions and shows how technology is being specifically designed to get and keep us hooked.

Alter also offers some powerful tools to better understand when technology is owning us, rather than the other way around, then show how to reclaim the power in the relationship.

His new book, Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, is a powerful look at how we interact with technology and how it is being designed to create relentless behavioral addiction that can become nearly impossible to break.

For more on Adam's "back story," be sure to check out our 2013 conversation on how hidden influences control your life.

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Get paid online, on-time with Freshbooks! Today's show is supported by FreshBooks, cloud accounting software that makes it insanely easy for freelancers and professionals to get paid online, track expenses and do more of what you love. Get your 1-month free trial, no credit card required, at FreshBooks.com/goodlife (enter The Good Life Project in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section). 

Get your greens in on the go! Nutrition is massively important for everything from energy and focus to disease-prevention and pain-reduction. Plants are critically important. Problem is, it's really hard to get enough daily green to make a difference, especially when you're on the road. So, we turn to ORGANIFI, it's an organic superfood green juice powder that you just add to water and get your greens on the go! Super-convenient, tastes great and as a Good Life Project listener, you can try out Organifi Green juice for 20% off - using code "goodlife" at check out at organifi.com

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Fifty years ago, in 1967, some 100,000 hippies came together in Haight-Ashbury for the famed Summer of Love. They gathered to celebrate an ethos of love, generosity the pursuit of meaning and expanded consciousness.

While psychedelics were a not infrequent part of the culture, the bigger pursuit took the form of a counterculture revolution. It was about changing the dynamics of power, expression and connection. About casting off oppressive norms and rediscovering "freedom."

That same exploration, those same questions, are alive and well some 50 years later. Today's short riff is a bit of a "spoken word" piece on the idea that, when it comes to the quest for freedom, what's old is new again.

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Today's show is supported by FreshBooks, cloud accounting software that makes it insanely easy for freelancers and professionals to get paid online, track expenses and do more of what you love. Get your 1-month free trial, no credit card required, at FreshBooks.com/goodlife (enter The Good Life Project in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section). 

Good Life Project is also supported by Camp GLP. $200 Early Bird Discount expires April 30th! Come spend 3 1/2 days with "your people," make amazing friendships, drop the facade, reignite your vitality and learn powerful strategies and breakthrough business ideas. Learn more now.

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The earliest signs of Terry Wahls' condition began to surface in med-school. An electric shock of unknown original seemed to randomly radiate across her face. But it would be many more years, deep into her practice as a physician, before additional symptoms would lead to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Within three years, she found herself largely confined to a tilt-recline wheelchair and was told that her condition had progressed quickly. Function, once lost, she learned, would never come back. Being a doctor, she accepted this and began treatment, the only goal to try to slow the progression. Medication seemed to be failing her. But, in the background, she began to research related conditions and started to focus on the then maverick offshoot known as functional medicine.

What happened over the next few years defied what the entire medical profession thought possible. Developing her own food-based protocol, she was able to not only stop the progression, but regain strength and function. And, along with that, came hope, energy and a sense of mission. In the intervening years, Wahls has now brought her ideas to the world through a viral TED talk, books, trainings, research and is now conducting clinical trials to bring her protocol to more people living with MS, as well as other neurodegenerative conditions.

In this powerful conversation, we explore her journey, the decline in health and ability and acceptance that reversal or recovery was not possible. We dive into the detailed steps and research that uncovered a radically different approach and the deeply emotional moment hope returned and she realized there was a different way. We also talk about how hard it is to bring radical eyes to a very established profession, the difference between hope and false hope and how her experience has shaped the lives of her family as well.

Terry's entire approach is detailed in her book, The Wahls Protocol and her new recipe book, The Wahls Protocol Cooking for Life.

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Today's show is supported by FreshBooks, cloud accounting software that makes it insanely easy for freelancers and professionals to get paid online, track expenses and do more of what you love. Get your 1-month free trial, no credit card required, at FreshBooks.com/goodlife (enter The Good Life Project in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section). 

Good Life Project is also supported by Camp GLP. $200 Early Bird Discount expires April 30th! Come spend 3 1/2 days with "your people," make amazing friendships, drop the facade, reignite your vitality and learn powerful strategies and breakthrough business ideas. Learn more now.

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Today, we're answering a powerful question from a listener who writes:

"...how do you find a sense of place and home, when we live in an increasingly mobile world? This is a topic often discussed among people in the development community who move often. We all struggle with our sense of "home" and what that means. I also wonder if it is also a wider issue for entrepreneurs who do not need to necessarily be in "one place" to work. It has come up among your guests from time to time. I know this is of particular interest to my friends and colleagues- who all practice various forms "personal grounding" for want of a better word - whether that be meditation or other rituals."

In this week's Riff, we explore a few key elements to finding and creating that sense of home, no matter where you are in the world. Hint: it's as much about people as it is about place.

If you have questions you'd like answered in a future GLP Riff, be sure to let us know on facebook, instagram or twitter.

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Come spend 3 1/2 days with "your people," make amazing friendships, drop the facade, reignite your vitality and learn powerful strategies and breakthrough business ideas. Learn more now!

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Danielle LaPorte is soul-personified.

I've known her for nearly a decade, and in that time, while so much has changed, one thing has remained consistent. Her fierce devotion to truth, to love, to kindness and the creation of beauty.

Over that same time, she's left a trail of both massive successes and a few equally-notable misses. What I love about D is, she wouldn't have it any other way. Because it's that path, all of it, the spiritual nature of evolution and entrepreneurship, creation and destruction that's led her to this place in her life. Being deeply-present and utterly lit-up.

Along the way, LaPorte has become an invited member of Oprah’s inaugural Super Soul 100, authored and produced The Fire Starters Sessions, The Desire Map, a stunning series of planner planners, a top 10 iTunes app, and an international workshop program with licensed facilitators in 15 countries and a rapidly-growing company.

Her new book, White Hot Truth is now available for pre-sale and it lives up to its name. LaPorte wanted to write this book 7 years ago. We dive into why it didn't happen, why that's a really good thing and so much more in today's provocative and unfiltered conversation. Woven throughout, thoughts on devotion, truth, preaching, permission, kindness, joy, parenting, gurus and ease. Listen the first time for fun, then a second time with a pen in hand. This is Danielle teaching from the heart. Get the White Hot Truth audio book for free when you order a print copy HERE.

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Today's show is supported by Bombas socks. They're ridiculously yummy and when you buy a pair, they give a pair to someone in need. Grab your first order today and get 20%-off when you enter the code GOODLIFE at checkout. Go to BOMBAS.COM/GOODLIFE.

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Heard any of these?

You have to take care of yourself, before you can take care of others.

In an emergency, put your oxygen mask on first, or else you won't be in position to help those who rely on you to be okay.

The purest form of service to others is when it comes form a place of complete selflessness.

Yup, we've all heard them. I'n fact, I've uttered every single one.

Truth is, the distinction between self-care and other-care, indulgent and generous, selfish and selfless, well, it's not quite so clean. Nor is the motivation for the behavior associated with any. Why? Because of a little quirk of human physiology.

And, that's what we're talking about in today's Good Life Project Riff.

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Get your 1-month free trial, with no credit card required, go to FreshBooks.com/goodlife. And be sure to enter The Good Life Project in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.  

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To be amazing at any one thing, do you have to abandon everything and everyone else along the way? Or, is there a better way?

That's the question that has obsessed with week's guest, Dan Lerner, for his entire adult life.

The son of world-class classical musicians and an accomplished cellist himself at an early age, he was exposed to a world of devotion and mastery. He saw people in this community who'd figured out how to build a living around what they loved, become masters of their craft and also live rich, joyous, connected and full lives outside their careers. And, he assumed that's just "the way it was."

TUntil he took a job as an agent representing many of the best musicians in the world, and learned the cold, hard truth. For so many, the quest to be the best came not with fulfillment, but with abandonment of relationships, health, self-care and any semblance of humanity. He believed there had to be a different way.

This led Dan on a quest away from agenting and found him studying with legendary professors in the world of performance and positive psychology. He eventually pursued a Masters degree in positive psychology, became a strengths-based performance coach working with elite performing artists, athletes and executives and found himself teaching at NYU and University of Pennsylvania.

He now co-teaches the most popular elective class at New York University, “The Science of Happiness,” and his new book, “U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life), is a compelling deep-dive into how to not just excel in academics or work, but how to do it in a way that also let's you live a great life along the way.

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Today's show is sponsored by Bombas socks. Why do we love them? It's not just because they're ridiculously yummy, or that they spent years re-engineering socks to create all sorts of crazy-cool features, like mid-arch support and special heel tabs that protect the backs of your ankles. It's also because when you buy a sock, they give a pair of socks to homeless shelters. Grab your first order today and get 20%-off. Go to BOMBAS.COM/GOODLIFE.

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How do you continue to grow, to honor the call of your "true self," when you're far enough into life that you've got responsibilities and people looking to you for some semblance of stability? When you don't want to rock that boat?

Put another way...

How do you do what you love when you don't want to blow up your life?

This was the question asked by one of our listening community, a married parent in his thirties who wants to align his career with his ability to evolve and do work that aligns with his true self, but not at the expense of mass disruption to his family.

In today's Good Life Project, we look at a few strategies that just might help you find work lights you up through a process of self-awareness and "conflict resolution."

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Camp GLP: Summer Camp for Creative Souls, Entrepreneurs & Change-Makers! Join us for 3 ½ mind-bending days that will change everything. The ultimate blend of deep-learning, epic stories, friends-for-life, juicy adventures and ideas, strategies and tools for accelerated personal and business growth! Camp GLP is, more than anything else, about finding your people. Letting your guard down and, maybe for the first time in years (maybe ever), just being you. And knowing that’s enough. Learn more now!

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Dani Shapiro is the New York Times bestselling author of five novels and four memoirs, including her latest, Hourglass: Time, Memory, Money.

A recent guest on Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday, she's taught writing at Columbia, NYU, The New School and Wesleyan University. Dani is also the co-founder of the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy and a contributing editor at Condé Nast Traveler.

Her new memoir, Hourglass, is a fiercely honest meditation on Dani's nearly 20 year marriage. In today's episode, we explore what it's like to build a life, a family and a career when both parents are creative professionals. We also dive into writing about a relationships that you plan to stay in, sharing deeply intimate awakenings, stumbles, fears and experiences along the way and piecing together the puzzle of your life in words.

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Today's guest, Vanessa Van Edwards , is a behavioral investigator and founder of human behavior research lab, the Science of People.

She's also known as a human lie-detector, master of influence and someone who has spent her adult life decoding human interaction, influence, social and power dynamics, charisma, likability and more.

As a geeky, modern-day Dale Carnegie, Vanessa Van Edwards' innovative work has been featured on NPR, Business Week and CNN. And, her book, CAPTIVATE: The Science of Succeeding with People, is a literal roadmap to decode and, to a certain extent, influence human interaction.

We wanted to learn all about these things, the ideas, the ethics and application. But even more, we wanted to know what unfolded in Van Edward's life that led her to become so obsessed with the study of what makes us tick. Because, it turns out, Vanessa wasn't always the social savant in the room. In fact, in her earlier life, she pretty much ran from interaction.

So, what happened? The answer, and the stories that emerged, took us by surprise, and also revealed why this pursuit is so close to her heart.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Body Map of Emotions

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Camp GLP: Summer Camp for Creative Souls, Entrepreneurs & Change-Makers! Join us for 3 ½ mind-bending days that will change everything. The ultimate blend of deep-learning, epic stories, friends-for-life, juicy adventures and ideas, strategies and tools for accelerated personal and business growth! Camp GLP is, more than anything else, about finding your people. Letting your guard down and, maybe for the first time in years (maybe ever), just being you. And knowing that’s enough. Lean more now!

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Suicide or psychedelics?

Those were the options this week's guest, Ayelet Waldman, found herself facing.

A married mother of four and novelist living in Berkeley, Waldman struggled with bipolar, anxiety and depression her entire life. According to her, mental illness ran wide and deep in her family. Over the years, she'd found a pharmaceutical regime that made life tolerable, until peri-menopause destroyed her ability to time her medication and things spiraled rapidly out of control.

Waldman found herself increasingly mired in suicidal ideation. Nothing seemed to be working any more. Then, she heard about decades old research on psychedelics and a non-trippy therapeutic approach called microdosing.

Through a series of events, Ayelet found herself in possession of a vial of pure LSD and, seeing few others options, decided to try following a 30-day psychedelic microdosing protocol shared in James Fadiman's The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide.

Those 30-day changed everything. Within hours, the gray numbness began to lift. Life got more vivid, connected, stable and alive. Waldman wrote about her psychedelic microdosing journey, its affects, her fears and concerns, along with the politics, history, mythology and truths, how microdosing affected her work, mindset, relationship with her husband and kids and more in her latest book, A Really Good Day.

Head's up. This is a raw, unfiltered and provocative conversation. The bigger questions, issues and potential applications extend far beyond Waldman's immediate circumstances and life. This episode is neither an endorsement, nor an indictment of her choices or the use of psychedelics, but rather an exploration of deeply-challenging, yet critical issues from mental health to parenting and drug policy to science-fiction vs. fact. 

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Michelle Gielan, national CBS News anchor turned positive psychology researcher, is the Founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research.

She is partnered with Arianna Huffington to study how transformative stories fuel success and is an Executive Producer of “The Happiness Advantage” Special on PBS and a featured professor in Oprah’s Happiness course.

Michelle is also the best-selling author of Broadcasting Happiness.

In today's episode, we dive into her journey from "coder kid" to TV anchor to positive-psychology researcher and change-maker. We explore the deeper psychology behind media, rational optimism, how the stories we hear, see and tell affect us and how we relate to each other both at work and in life.

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Born in Ghana, West Africa,Kute Blackson was the child of a Japanese mother and a Ghanaian father who was a legendary faith leader with some 300 churches across Ghana and a massive following in the U.K.

By his early teens, Kute was being groomed to rise up in his father’s church, but that would all change when Blackson rejected the path his father laid out for him and chose his own instead.

Estranged from both his father and his community, and feeling called to blaze his own path, Kute headed to the United States where he’d struggle on nearly every level and finally come to a place where his true hero’s journey would begin.

That process of stripping away, hitting rock-bottom and eventually mounting his own search led Kute to rediscover his path to freedom, and rebuild his life and living, becoming a respected voice in spirituality and consciousness on his own terms, in his own way. His story and philosophy are detailed in his recent book, You. Are. The. One. 

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You know that little button on Facebook you click to "like" something? Well, as one of the early employees at Facebook, today's guest, Leah Pearlman, came up with that idea.

Actually, its original incarnation was the "awesome button," but what's more interesting is why she created it. And, what was going on in her life that led her to want it, both for herself and the millions of others flooding the platform.

Turns out, Leah was leading a double life. Publicly, she was a fiercely smart, driven technologist as the hottest startup in Silicon Valley. But, privately, she battled near-debilitating perfectionism that led to a decade of bulimia. On any given day, she'd move between helping to build a revolutionary company, and purging in the women's room.

Until, one day, tragic news about her father, and the way she caught herself dealing with it, led everything to fall apart. She was forced to bring her dark side into the light and find a way through. And, from that emerged something she never saw coming.

Having been a devout "art-atheist" her whole life, drawing became her salvation. She began to share her simple illustrations and they touched a nerve. Thousands of people began to share them. That led her down an entirely different path in her career and life. Many of her Dharma Comics have now been published in a book entitled Drawn Together, as an offering to help others find wisdom, hope and transformation in simple moments.

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A pioneer in functional and integrative medicine, Dr. Frank Lipman is the founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City and the author of many New York Times-bestselling books, including 10 Reasons You Feel Old and Get Fat, The New Health Rules. and Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again.

Born into an activist family in then apartheid South Africa, he was taught to always question norms and authority. This ethos followed him into his initial training as a doctor in South Africa. In his early work in a Soweto hospital, he was exposed to non-traditional healers who were able to accomplish what a more traditional approach to medicine struggled with.

He then emigrated to the United States in 1984, where he worked in the South Bronx, becoming Chief Medical Resident at Lincoln Hospital at the height of the crack epidemic. There, again, Lipman, began to see the limitations of traditional medicine in treating addiction, and embraced complimentary modalities. He deepened his study of nutrition, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, functional medicine, biofeedback, meditation, and yoga and began to form a more integrated approach to the practice of medicine and wellbeing.

Frank eventually founded the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in 1992, combining cutting-edge nutritional science with age-old healing techniques from the East. In a quest to bring this unique approach to the masses, he then founded BE WELL, based on the belief that everyone should have a fundamental right to be healthy.

Frank lives according to the philosophy of Ubuntu, a Xhosa word that serves as the spiritual foundation of African societies and articulates a basic understanding, caring, respect, and compassion for others. In his words, “what makes us human is the humanity we show each other.”

Be sure to subscribe to our weekly Good Life Updates and listen on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode!

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Today’s episode is sponsored by Camp GLP, the ultimate summer-camp for entrepreneurs, makers and world-shakers!

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When Tiffany Dufu left for summer camp as a teen, both parents dropped her off. Only one picked her up.

She’d soon discover her parents had split while she’d been gone. Not long after, her mom’s boyfriend moved in and began to behave in ways Dufu, a self-described preacher’s daughter, had never been exposed to. When this stranger in her home became violent she left to live with her father and began to rebuild her life.

But it wasn’t until years later, when returning from maternity leave to assume her role as Chief Leadership Officer of Levo, that she found herself in crisis-mode, and began to ask deeper questions.

While Dufu had spent years as a strong advocate for women in leadership positions at the highest levels of industry and government, she’d never examined the far more personal roles she and her husband had “defaulted” to in everyday life. She’d never realized how it was stifling her life and stopping her from truly stepping into her potential.

Things had to change. How she navigated this challenging moment, recreated her relationship with her husband and opened space to thrive in life is a major focus of today’s conversation, along with the moments and stories that led to the wisdom in her new book, drop the ball.

Be sure to subscribe to our weekly Good Life Updates and listen on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode!

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Today’s guest, Dr. Aviva Romm, has been referred to as “the face of natural medicine in the 21st century by Prevention Magazine.”

She’s a Yale-trained, board-certified physician with a specialty in women’s health and obstetrics; a midwife and herbalist, and a founding member of the Yale Integrative Medicine Program’s Advisory Board.

Dr. Romm practices medicine in New York City and is a nationally sought speaker, author, and consultant. She is also one of the nation’s leaders in botanical medicine and is the author of 7 books on natural medicine.

In this week’s episode, we begin with her service-mission to Haiti after the earthquake, then find our way back to explore the key ideas from her groundbreaking new book, The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution. Aviva describes a pervasive yet often undiagnosed condition—Survival Overdrive Syndrome (SOS)—which leads to the feeling of being in perpetual survival mode, overcome by everything from fatigue, overwhelm and brain-fog to pain, disease and even death, when left unaddressed.

We also explore how so many of us push beyond what our physiological and psychological systems are adapted to be able to handle healthfully, all in the name of a success that ends up leaving us gutted and exhausted. Critically, she offers ways to identify the symptoms of SOS that can so quickly drain our Vitality Buckets and make our good life feel perpetually beyond reach.

And, we talk about the key steps to take to advocate for ourselves, find the right answers and people to help us, and also begin to walk the road back to health ourselves through a series of simple, yet proven lifestyle interventions. Her full recovery protocol is offered in an immensely “doable,” practical and powerful 4-week program in her book.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Dr. Aviva’s 2014 Good Life Project video episode: Medicine 3.0: What Got Us Here Ain’t Gonna Get Us There

Be sure to subscribe to our weekly Good Life Updates and listen on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode!

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Today’s episode is sponsored by Camp GLP, the ultimate summer-camp for entrepreneurs, makers and world-shakers!

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Tim Ferriss is a man on a mission, driven to deconstruct mastery and excellence, then share what he’s learned.

It began with his own relentless experimentation and documentation, which yielded #1 New York Times bestsellers The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Chef.

In more recent years, though, this yearning has led him to sit down with hundreds of elite-performers, from a vast array of domains, on a quest to reveal what made them them. What were the experiences, moments, stories, awakenings and methods that shaped them? What are the replicable elements, the unique traits and the ideas that are transferable to others.

These conversations are shared weekly on Tim’s award-winning podcast, The Tim Ferris Show. And, the essential ideas have now been “condensed” into a remarkable 700+ page tome entitled Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. 

All of this made us curious about a particular question…what made Tim Tim? Where does his lens on the world, on expertise, and on life come from? When did focus on process arise? And, what’s been shaping his own evolution and seeming shift toward more existential question of late? That’s where we go in this week’s deep dive episode.

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Today’s guest, Dave Evans, is a lecturer at the famed Stanford d.School a theological scholar and management consultant. He is also a man on a mission to explore what it means to spend time designing your life.

As an early team-member at Apple, he led product marketing for the mouse and introduced laser printing to the masses.

He then joined gaming behemoth, Electronic Arts, as employee #2, before leaving to help start-up teams, corporate executives, non-profit leaders, and countless young adults build amazing ventures.

Along the way, he realized they were all asking the same question. “What should I do with my life?” Helping people get traction on that question finally took develop a groundbreaking course that applies design thinking to life, where he introduced the concept designing your life to students at Berkeley and then Stanford.

His latest book, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-lived, Joyful Life, walks you through the entire, step-by-step process.

Subscribe to email updates and listen on iTunes!

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