Good Life Project

"Rather than making perfection the goal, make improvement the goal."

If your work environment and culture empty you out, it will make it near impossible to live a good life. Along the way, it'll make the business you're working for grind to a halt. And, if you happen to own that business, then you end up in a personal and professional world of hurt.

So, what makes for a great work culture and environment?

We point to companies like Google as a shining example of incredible performance based on a creative culture, a beautiful campus and innovative and engaging projects with plenty of time to do crazy things.

But, what's really going on there? Turns out there's science behind it.

Today's guest, Ron Friedman, is a genius in this realm. He has spent years of his career researching, coaching, and writing about the actual levers that aid in creating the best places to work.

In our conversation, he breaks down the academic studies into layman's terms, cites fascinating examples from real companies who are changing the norm, and shares nuggets from his new book The Best Place to Work. We even talk about video games and how we should structure work progression like them.

No matter if you're an entrepreneur, working in a large company, or preparing to enter the workforce, this episode is so important to understand what is changing in our work methods and what still needs to change.

Some questions I ask:

• Is having meetings outside scientifically supported as being more productive?
• How do you deal with managers who are the problem with the company culture?
• Is it possible to grassroots a cultural change in a company from the bottom up?
• What have you seen around the culture of failure?
• What surprised you the most about what benefits work in your research for this book?

Follow Ron:

Website | Twitter

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• My New Book Sparked
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This episode is a Good Life Project "Riff."

What's that? A short, punchy riff on one particular topic that matters to a life well lived. Generally no more than 5 to 10 minutes.

As always, these won't replace our weekly in-depth conversations, but if you like them, we may produce more and add them in as supplements to the weekly conversations. So let us know if you want more over on Facebook or Twitter.

This week's Good Life Riff is entitled - The Killer App is You. It's about the mistake we've all made when we try to make a mad grab at success by doing the wrong things and relying on delusion and illusion.

Here's a quick excerpt:

The best of the best, the people who are now and will in the future eat you for lunch, build themselves, through fierce effort and expert guidance, into unstoppable human engines of intelligence, creativity, intuition, compassion, service, expression and heart. Then, they build a culture that empowers the people they bring into their endeavors to do the same.

They exalt self-knowledge, personal growth and meaningful expression as the heartbeat of success.

And they are hyper-aware that they, on an individual level, are both the keys to the castle and the sand in the machine. Equally capable of fueling acceleration and impact or delusion and collapse.

"If you really want to invest in something, invest in you."

If you'd like to read the entire essay, the story was originally told on Jonathan's blog.

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"Nothing about them without them."

Sometimes you hear stories about the horrors of what people go through in other parts of the world and it just seems hopeless.

Who are you to help change traditions and practices that have existed for centuries?

And why would people listen to you as an outsider?

These questions and challenges have not deterred today's guest from making an incredibly important impact in places like Africa and India.

Jane Mosbacher Morris spent years working in the US Department of State, the McCain Institute, and with organizations around the world learning about the actual issues that surround practices like early childhood marriage and violence against women. And then she made an important discovery.

No matter how much you give aid to a woman who is a survivor of these kinds of trauma, you can't give her freedom without helping her become economically independent.

Jane founded a company to do just that last year, To The Market, and in our moving conversation, she explains how it helps women survivors gain income and freedom.

We talk about her experiences meeting women and girls in the red light districts of India, her work with the UN, and her vision for what this company can become.

This is a powerful and raw conversation that will inspire and educate you about what you can do to share what you have where it matters most.

Some questions I ask:

• What is a woman's life actually like in the parts of the world you are working in?
• How do you bridge the gap between the rules on the books and the deep-rooted beliefs of the culture?
• How do you tell the stories of these survivors while still honoring their humanity?
• What's your greatest hope for the survivors?

Links we mention:

• UN Women
• To the Market
• McCain Institute
• Toms

Follow Jane:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Check out our offerings & partners: 

• My New Book Sparked
• My New Podcast SPARKED
• Visit Our Sponsor Page For a Complete List of Vanity URLs & Discount Codes.

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"Your activity needs to flow from your identity."

It seems that A LOT of people struggle with the question, "What should I do with my life?"

So I was really interested to have a conversation with today's guest, Jeff Goins, because that very question is at the heart of his new book, The Art of Work.

Interestingly, he ended up re-writing entire book after realizing he had sanitized his own story of becoming a writer, and needed to find and share a deeper set of truths.

In this conversation, we also talk about the idea of polymaths - multi-talented people - and what a "portfolio life" is.

If you've ever wondered what your calling is (and if you have one), you'll find this episode with Jeff Goins very interesting.

Some questions I ask:

• How do you define vocation?
• Is there just one purpose for each of us to accomplish in life?
• What is a "portfolio life"?
• Can you master multiple talents? Or just practice them?
• What do you think about leaving a legacy?

Follow Jeff:

Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Check out our offerings & partners: 

• My New Book Sparked
• My New Podcast SPARKED
• Visit Our Sponsor Page For a Complete List of Vanity URLs & Discount Codes.

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Over the next few months, we'll be testing a few different show and segment ideas. Not to replace our current weekly in-depth interviews, but to potentially add to them.

Yes, you heard right. There just might be more GLP to engage with on a regular basis, real soon.

And, today's our first experiment, with a new show format we're calling 9Things™.

What is it? A three-person roundtable, where each person shows up with three topics to jam on. And, the thing is, nobody knows what the other person's topics will be until they hit the conversation.

My guests for the premier episode of the 9Things format are two good friends, Gabra Zackman and Erin Moon.

As you can imagine, this leads to moments that range from seriously funny to seriously soulful and, well, seriously not-safe-for-work (headphones might be advised for this one, toward the later parts).

We absolutely want your feedback on this new format and episode, so please share your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me @jonathanfields.

As I mentioned, it's not going to replace out weekly conversations, we're just playing with potential additional show formats to add into the mix.

Covered in this episode:

• Bronies: adult men My Little Pony lovers - Freaky or soulful?
• Depression: is it okay to own it, and what's the opposite?
• Maniacal taskmasters: do you need one to become the best in the world?
• Negotiating with terror: where do human rights begin and end?
• Vision-boarding: silly myth or scientific tool?
• Paying for faith: will people give more if they don't have to give at all?
• Online dating: full frontal pics, where's the line
• True love, twice found: is it possible to have two loves of a lifetime?
• Manly beards: because, c'mon, hipsters are people too!

Links we mention:

• Rethinking Positive Thinking
• Misfit
• Beard Institute

Follow Gabra and Erin:

Gabra Zackman

Erin Moon

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Everything you've been told about building and breaking habits may well be wrong. Or, at the very least, missing a critical middle step.

In this week's episode, we bust myths and share how to do it right (hint, there are 4 different approaches and if you choose wrong, you will fail).

Creating good habits is one of the master keys for living a good life. But, it's hard. Really hard. And, it turns out, the reason it's so hard may not be your fault. It may, in fact, be that you've been given misinformation.

According to mega NYT bestselling author of The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin, in her new book, Better Than Before, there's been a missing piece in the habit puzzle, and she's got the answer.

In this fast-paced, incredibly-revealing conversation, Rubin lays bare they myth of the one-method-for-all-people approach to habits. To create or change a habit, she offers, you first need to understand which of four key personality types you are. Then, tailor your approach to your specific personality needs.

We dive into each type, how to figure which you are and how that changes the way you'll need to build or change your habits. By the end of this episode, you will definitely be interested in knowing which you are, so I've linked the online personality typing tool she's created below to figure out yours.

Some questions I ask:

• What are your thoughts on how The Happiness Project has evolved into a brand?
• Is the audience that loves The Happiness Project who you thought it would be?
• What's the difference between a behavior and a habit and why does it matter to turn one into the other?
• What is the role of forming habits in living a good life?

Links we mention:

• Better Than Before
• The Happiness Project
• Take the Habits Quiz

Follow Gretchen:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

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• My New Book Sparked
• My New Podcast SPARKED
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As busy, productive humans living in the 21st century, one of our most common responses to the question "How are you?" is "Fine. Busy."

Especially if you're a New Yorker.

And it's true. We are.

But have you stopped to think about what you fill your time with that makes it slip through your fingers so quickly?

Today's guest, journalist and author, Laura Vanderkam, analyzed peoples' time diaries recorded over 1001 days and came up with some startling discoveries. You may not be nearly as "at the will of life's demands" as you think you are.

In our conversation, we start out exploring the truths of the writer's life, then dive right into the truth about time, how to really harness it, how we lie to ourselves about sleep and so much more. In, the end, we find more hope than anything else.

How we spend our time, it turns out, is not a matter of fate, it's a matter of choice.

Some questions I ask:

• When did you decide that being a writer was your thing?
• Are you okay with not having much time to write for yourself anymore?
• Do you believe no one is a natural at writing?
• What surprised you from your time diary studies?
• Can you have it all?

Links we mention:

• How to Make Work Feel More Like Summer Camp
• The Artist's Way - morning pages
• Fast Company
• IRSA
• Gretchen Reynolds - HIIT
• Pareto Principle
• JoAnne Wilson
• I Know How She Does It - out June 9th

Follow Laura:

Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn

"The reality is rosier than the glasses."

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"Someone who is stressed out needs mental health as much as someone who has bipolar disorder."

There are few subjects as delicate as mental disorders and the best way to treat them.

I'm guessing most of us tend to avoid the topic in general, we're pretty ignorant about what is involved.

Until it affects us or someone we're close to it.

That's why I was so interested in learning from today's guest.

Ross Szabo is living proof that living with a mental disorder, in his case bipolar, does not have to define or isolate you.

Through extreme mood swings, substance-abuse, denial, secrecy and erratic, sometimes harmful behavior and thoughts (as well as see his brother go through the same), Ross eventually found his way back to a dynamic peace with bipolar, and devoted his life to becoming a national advocate for better mental health education.

His story is powerful and raw and he shares an honest look into what it's like to "feel the tentacles" of your disorder creeping up on you.

We discuss his process of working through self-hatred as an adult after years of coping through alcohol abuse. He shares his viewpoint on the terminology we use around mental illness and we talk about the alarming trend in schools to cut programs like physical education and art (which are key in supporting mental health for kids).

Fundamentally, Ross is about hope and education, building and sharing his curriculum with thousands of schools through his Human Power Project and speaking on the topic globally.

Some questions I ask:

• Do you remember your first manic episode?
• What's the connection between anxiety and bipolar disorder?
• How did you get into the Peace Corps since you were exposing yourself to change, loss, and lack of sleep?
• What is it like to feel the tentacles of the disorder coming at you?
• How do you publicize a brand about mental disorders?

Links we mention:

• The Human Power Project
• Joseph Campbell
• Behind Happy Faces
• Scott Harrison

Follow Ross:

Website | Twitter

"I was a functional mess-up."

Check out our offerings & partners: 

• My New Book Sparked
• My New Podcast SPARKED
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Do you remember being a kid and loving to draw? But at some point early on you learned that your art wasn't good enough? So you stopped.

What if you had learned a different story? That your art WAS good, that your ideas WERE valid, that your perspective WAS valued?

Today's guest is a master of cultivating and allowing for creativity in the art world. Children's animated films to be exact.

Ed Catmull is the founder of Pixar, the world-renowned animation studio that has transformed the film world by creating the standard for computer graphics.

In his recent book, Creativity Inc., Ed discusses how creativity is cultivated, what is required, and his own journey from studying physics in college to founding Pixar (which he still heads today).

Our conversation goes down many fascinating avenues, including the misconceptions we have about what art teaches us, the connection between artistic thinking and entrepreneurship, and his long-standing friendship with giants like George Lucas and Steve Jobs.

He explains what it was like to be on the frontier of computer science in the 70s and how he has learned to navigate the fear of failure.

At the core of Ed's genius though, is what makes a good story, and throughout the interview he shares his wisdom on this topic.

Get excited for a dive into the brilliant mind of the artist and visionary Ed Catmull.

Some questions I ask:

• What made you talk yourself out of studying animation in college?
• How did you evolve from working in physics to technology?
• How important do you think it was for you to have an end goal of what you wanted to create?
• Who was the Steve Jobs you knew and how was he different than the general public's viewpoint?

Follow Ed:

Twitter | Website

"The creative act is acting and responding in the face of change."

Check out our offerings & partners: 

• My New Book Sparked
• My New Podcast SPARKED
• Visit Our Sponsor Page For a Complete List of Vanity URLs & Discount Codes.

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"PTSD is less of a brain event than an existential event."

We've all heard of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but we may not realize that we probably all know someone who suffers from it.

While it is typically associated with war and soldiers coming home after combat, trauma is a big part of civilian life.

Today's guest has a fascinating perspective on this as he served for four years on active Marine duty, in the most peaceful of times, but then voluntarily went into war zones as a war reporter after his service.

What he learned from his own experiences with PTSD, as well as his subsequent digging into the research and experiences around it, resulted in his new book, The Evil Hours.

In our conversation, we cover all facets of trauma, David's experiences, and the underlying psychology behind the behaviors we are seeing more of in this country.

He explains the fantasy soldiers create in their minds about coming home (and how difficult it is to reconcile reality with that once they are back), why Americans especially struggle with PTSD, and the idea of coming home as a Joseph Campbell-esque heroic journey that many never finish.

One of the most helpful points he makes, which each of us can apply, is the idea that you have to re-invent yourself after trauma, and creating community around that new identity is essential.

Whether you've experienced trauma yourself or are close to someone who has, David Morris shares a powerful story to better understand what trauma can teach us about ourselves.

Contact David and learn more about his work

Website

"What you arrive with in the war is as important as what happens to you."

Check out our offerings & partners: 

• My New Book Sparked
• My New Podcast SPARKED
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"People who are not listened to need those who are listened to to fight like hell for them."

How many times have you heard an inspiring story of incredible service and heart and then thought, "How does that even get started?"

Probably a lot.

Because the truth is, most of us would love to create an impactful, service-oriented mission in our lives, but we're overwhelmed with the sheer logistics, let alone cost.

Danielle Butin was no different, except that she didn't let those obstacles deter her.

After decades of a highly successful career in occupational therapy and geriatric care, she found herself at a personal and professional crisis.

So she took a trip to Tanzania.

And what she experienced there left a mark so deep on her heart, she couldn't ignore it. Even though she tried.

In this conversation, we get to hear the raw, unfiltered truth about how Danielle had to do the work of "undoing" her professional habits and mindset in order to get her non-profit, Afya Foundation, going.

She opens up about the toll it took on her family, how she found funding and supplies, and how to be direct in communicating what you need to happen (even across the world with a translator).

She peels back the covers on how people react to you when you park a semi-truck full of medical supplies in front of your house, when you dumpster dive in the city, and when you stand up to corrupt systems.

Danielle's story is so full of vision and passion, it will have you changing your entire perspective on what's possible when your heart calls you to do something you've never done before.

It's my honor and delight to introduce you to the extraordinary heart and mind of Danielle Butin.

Some questions I ask:

• How old were you when you started to notice your love of elderly people?
• Why would a corporation not preserve a model that is successful both financially and functionally?
• How do you cover the financial needs of a growing non-profit?

Links we mention:

Afya Foundation

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Partners in Health

Pencils of Promise

Follow Afya Foundation:

Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

"It was about creating a new reality and listening to other people and not just what I knew."

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Chris Kresser is a leading voice in functional and integrative medicine and a New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Cure.

He maintains a wildly popular, research-driven website and a clinical practice in Berkeley, CA that has been largely closed to new clients for the last 3 years, because he just can't handle the demand.

He's also a bit of a raging introvert, a total science nerd, research fanatic and a humble guy. Chris loves to go deep down the science rabbit hole. And he loves to be with, and make a real difference in the lives of the people he serves.

Funny thing is, none of this was ever supposed to happen...

CChris' entire career was triggered by an intractable illness caught in a small surfing village in Indonesia, during what was supposed to be a year-long surf safari.

That led to a 10 year, brutal health odyssey, where he traveled the world to seek the help of more than 30 different doctors, tried every one-size-fits-all approach to diet, a mountain of meds, amassed what he now calls his supplement graveyard, all in vain. Until, finally, he decided to take matters into his own hands, start to listen to his own body, do his own research and learn to heal himself.

As he began to make progress, he decided to return to school to train in the field that has now become his vocation.

This week's episode takes us deeper into Chris' journey, his recovery and how it became his vocation. We also talk about his book and how, oddly enough, it may have been misnamed and have less to do with paleo than the title implies. And we talk about some incredibly exciting developments in the next wave of medicine.

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It's sooo wonderful to be back from our holiday season hiatus!

And, do I have a powerhouse conversation to share with you today...

By the time she got out of high-school, Terri Cole described her liver as being "pickled" by mass amounts of black-out inducing alcohol.

But it would be a few more years until a brief conversation at an AA meeting would send her reeling, and become the catalyst for her to stop drinking and start down a radically different path.

Sober and focused, she'd soon build a career as a super-agent and confidant to the world's biggest super-models, but the nature of the business and the potential it had to destroy her clients led her to take a giant step further.

She went back to school to become a therapist, then returned to the very same celebs whose careers she'd been making, to help them understand how to better embrace a more balanced, sane and holistic approach to a career all too often defined by excess and extremes.

Over the last 20 years, she's built a powerhouse practice and reputation not just in the celebrity community, but as a respected and deeply intuitive therapist with game-changing and provocative insights on love and personal relationships.

Join us as we trace her remarkable and raw journey. This is a conversation where you'll want to have a pen and paper handy, especially in the later parts of the conversation when Terri begins dropping insights and strategies that just might save or deepen your most precious relationships. You may also want to check out Terri's guided meditations to help get your own practice started.

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I'm rarely stunned. But this was one of those times...

Lewis Howes is a radiant, towering hulk of a human being. Driven, energized, magnetic and successful. I've known Lewis for a number of years now and consider him a good friend.

When he came to me earlier this year to share a dark, incredibly-painful secret from his childhood, I was floored. Did not see it coming. He'd been living with the pain and deep trauma of sexual abuse for decades. At the hands of another man, though he was just a boy.

When he told me, a few months after, that he wanted to "go public" in an effort to help others who'd been through the same thing, I was hesitant.

I didn't know how people might take it, or mis-attribute any unfounded motivations. But he was determined to make it happen and asking me to help guide the conversation. I knew how important it would be to create a "safe container," so I said yes.

The conversation that unfolded was incredibly raw, real, vulnerable and powerful on so many levels. He recently shared it with his community, and now I'm sharing it with you.

Please feel free to share this heartfelt conversation with anyone you think might find support or connection. Please also visit Lewis website and original post, where you can share your thoughts with him directly.

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This week’s episode is a replay of a powerful conversation I had with famed author and grounded theory researcher Brene Brown.

Brene and I met a few years back while speaking at a conference together. We clicked immediately, grabbed lunch and laughed a lot. I asked her to come share a bit of her journey with our community. The conversation that unfolded left me changed.

Brene’s fascination with what she calls wholehearted living eventually led her to explore how we dance with shame and vulnerability. She wrote about this in her blockbuster book, Daring Greatly. I asked her to join me on Good Life Project in October 2012 and the conversation that unfolded moved us both to tears as various points. Brene was so beautifully real, raw, candid and wise.

A few gems -

"Being courageous is more important to me, as a value, than succeeding."

"I have no intake at all of any feedback or criticism from anyone who's not in the arena."

We also talked about gratitude and the power of honoring the smallest moments, that’s when things got emotional. And that’s led me to decide to re-share her gorgeous spirit and words with you during this week of thanks and gratitude. Enjoy!

Check out our offerings & partners: 

• My New Book Sparked
• My New Podcast SPARKED: We’re looking for special guest “wisdom-seekers” to share the moment you’re in, then pose questions to Jonathan and the Sparked Braintrust to be answered, “on air.” To submit your “moment & question” for consideration to be on the show go to sparketype.com/submit. 
• Visit Our Sponsor Page For Great Resources & Discount Codes

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We spend a lot of time thinking about the legacy we're building. What is the thing that threads everything you've done together? What is the mark you're leaving on the world, both in the career or work you do and the way you live your life?

These are big questions. And they're what we're exploring in this week's episode with Jocelyn Glei.

From the time she was a kid, Jocelyn had been drawn to writing, publishing and entrepreneurship. In high school, she launched her first "zine," printed on copiers at her dad's office. Her interest in language deepened through college, and upon graduating she moved through a series of ventures that kept putting her in charge of bigger and bigger editorial teams and budgets. Then, in 2009, Glei hooked with Behance founder, Scott Belsky, to head up now legendary creative mega-site and the annual conference for creative pros, 99U.

Along the way, she's also curated a powerful three-book series, the latest of which, Make Your Mark, releases this week, boasting extraordinary essays from creative legends like John Maeda, Warby Parker co-founder and CEO, Neil Blumenthal, SY founder, Keith Yamashita, Sugru inventor, Jane ni Dhulchaointigh and many others.

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Fueling your body for optimal health, performance and vitality is an important part of living a good life. Question is, how?

I don’t know about you, but it’s more than a bit maddening trying to keep up with the latest nutrition advice.

High-fat, low-fat, paleo, vegan, gluten-free, grass-fed donuts, who knows what’s next. Despite the onslaught, though, one ingredient seems to be emerging as a a potential nutritional black hole across nearly all the pundits, regardless of the approach. It's something that’s claimed to be more addictive than drugs, devastating to health and perfectly legal. In fact, according to today's guest, the average person eats about their body weight in this ingredient every year.

So, who is that guest and what are we talking about?

Leading voice in nutrition, wellness and weight loss, and bestselling author of The Virgin Diet and her newest book, The Sugar Impact Diet, JJ Virgin.

That potential nutritional sinkhole she's talking about is a little thing called sugar, in all its forms, even the ones that don't sound like sugar. I thought I'd heard all the arguments, but JJ opened my eyes in a big way.

You'll learn a ton from this conversation. But, as with all of our conversations here, this one's not entirely about sugar.

You'll also learn about JJ's personal journey. In fact, the episode starts in a very different, very personal place. A hospital ICU, where two years ago, JJ's 16 year old son lay with doctors telling her to just "let him go."

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There’s this myth about being a grown-up, especially, being a parent, that it’s a time where the play ends and the serious work begins. That laughter and surprise and curiosity and spontaneity, very often the things that got you where you are, need to cede to more responsible behavior.

But, what if the exact opposite was true?

What if the real secret to a life well lived, was to never let them go. Better yet, to build your waking hours around them? That's what we’re talking about on today’s episode

My guest today is Tina Roth Eisenberg. Over the last 9 years, she’s founded:

• Swiss-Miss.com: A design-turned-lifestyle blog
• CreativeMornings: A breakfast conference for creative pros now hosted in more than 100 countries every month
• Tattly: An artist-driven temporary tattoo company
• Studiomates: A flourishing co-working space in Brooklyn, and
• TeuxDeux: A task-management app

All while raising a family and even documenting her son's epic 2-year old meltdowns at ItsHardBeingTwo.com. And it all seems to come from a place of deep service and play, a desire to connect with people and help them connect with each other.

By the end of this conversation, you'll be looking at business and life differently, and very likely searching the internet for confetti!

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There’s this legend about the sole creator.

That person who goes into their creative cave, cloistered in solitude for days, months or even years, only to emerge with a work of genius. Exploding into the zeitgeist and changing everything.

But what if that was story was just a myth? What if the whole of idea sole genius was really a fantasy, obscuring the truth that almost nothing truly profound was created in a vacuum? That’s what we’re talking about on today’s episode

My guest today is bestselling author and essayist, Joshua Wolf Shenk. He recently published a provocative new book called The Powers of Two that explores both the myth of the sole creative and the complex and often legendary power of creative partnerships. Along the way, we also dive into Shenk’s own creative process, what it’s like to live the writer’s life and spend nearly 5 years working on a single book.

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There a certain inertia that often takes hold of our lives when we hit a certain age.

One that says “you know that dream, it’s just not that realistic, so why don’t you just buckle down and do the adult thing?” It’s the voice of the inner critic, sometimes bundled with a whole lot of outer critics.

Together, they keep you from playing big. From refusing the call to do something that might leave you exposed. How you handle those voices, that’s what we’re talking about on today’s episode.

My guest today is womens’ leadership expert and author of Playing Big, Tara Sophia Mohr. Fresh out of Yale and on her way to becoming Shakespeare scholar and womens’ activist, she took an unexpected turn. Mohr headed to Stanford to get her MBA, where she confronted both the reality of the largely "male-born" and sense of disempowered voice.

Emerging into the world of business, she kept seeing more of the same all around her. Powerful, strong women not stepping into that power and strength. And she wanted to do something about it. This became her calling. We dive into her remarkable journey in this week's conversation. You can learn a lot more about her process in her new book, Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message

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When you hear the phrase “coming out,” what do you think about?

For most people, it’s telling the world you’re gay. Truth is, we’ve all got closets. Deep thoughts, experiences, beliefs, often so painful they lay buried under piles of emotional laundry in the dark corner of our closets.

Thing is, holding these things back is a source of pain. You can push it away, deny it, but it’s always there. Until one day, the pain of keeping it hidden exceeds the pain of letting it out. And, so you do. That moment is hard. Really hard. And there's no comparing your hard to someone else.

Ash Beckham knows this. She's lived it. And now, she's talking about it.

When Ash stepped onto the stage at TEDx Boulder last year, her intention was simple. Share her story. Talk about closets and comparisons. And how they can unlock or destroy our lives. Twelve minutes later, the audience rose to applaud and Ash thought that was that. Until a few weeks later when the video was posted and exploded online. Seems she’d touched a nerve. That talk is now one of the most watched TED talks of all time. And it’s thrust Ash into a global spotlight.

Now, we're talking to her in this week's episode of Good Life Project.

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Ever wonder why everything that happened during your teens has stayed with you for so long? And, for many, continues to control you to this day?

In today's episode of Good Life Project, I'm sharing a fascinating conversation with acclaimed professor and adolescence expert, Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D..

We're talking about what new brain research is showing us about the "care and feeding" of the adolescent brain, and what parents, schools and society can do about it.

We'll also explore why, years after adolescence, it seems to keep such a tight grip on how we interact with the world.

Adolescence, also know as “the oy vey years” is not a time most families look forward to. But what if almost everything you thought about those angsty teen years was wrong? What if the rules we laid down as parents, teachers and people who supposedly “knew better” were actually doing more harm than good?

Well, it turns out, that just might be the case. New research on the adolescent brain seems be turning everything we thought we knew about the care and handling of young adults on its head. And, it’s also exposing something else. Something that juuuuust might terrify a parent or two.

Adolescence is now twice as long as it used to be, starting at around 10, and continuing to almost 25 years old. Which is really important, because until it ends, you’re impulsive hedonistic desires are on overdrive, but the part of your brain that stops you from doing stupid things hasn’t really developed enough to keep you safe.

So, how do you handle that? How do you create a world that lets kids take the risks needed to rock adulthood without destroying their futures, and maybe themselves along the way?

And how do you take a part of life most families look at as a battle to be survived and turn it into something to be exalted and enjoyed?

That’s what we’re talking about on today’s episode with my guest, Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D. He’s one of the world's leading experts on adolescence, a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Temple University, the author of more than 350 articles and essays on development during the teenage years, and the author or editor of 17 books including his new one, The Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence. In other words, when it comes to angsty adolescents, Larry knows his stuff.

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So, I’ve got something different for you today. It’s a bonus episode that features a 90-minute audiobook version of something I published last week called The Art of Revolution.

It’s about an idea. Actually, something that started as my own personal geek-fest. I was trying to figure out if you could tap the power of movements and revolutions to build a career or business or body-of-work. What I discovered, well, let’s just say, it surprised even me.

What does this have to do with living a good life? Well, potentially, a lot.

Because if you can earn your living by surrounding yourself with people who are fiercely committed to building something together, fueled by shared values and aspirations, something astonishing happens. You light up. And contributing to the world in a way that lights you up, that’s a pretty important part of a life well lived.

But, enough of the set-up. Here’s the audiobook. The Art of Revolution.

As always, you can listen below or, probably a better option for this (since it's 90-minutes) is to head over to iTunes, subscribe and download it to your phone, then take it on the go.

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Sometimes you can do everything right in life. Give to others, live with compassion, love with every fiber of your being and fill your days with work you love. By all rights, the universe should be rallying to support you. And, most days it does.

But then, one day, it seems to abandon you. It pushes you off a cliff and, instead of flying, it clips your wings and pulls the net out from under you. It thrusts you into chaos, devastating loss. Darkness so deep, you wake up every day wondering whether to move ahead or end it all.

How we handle those places, how we rediscover life in moments of deep darkness, that’s what this week’s episode is about.

Our story begins with an old friend, Erin Moon. Erin and I first met about 10 years ago, when she wandered into my yoga studio in Hell’s Kitchen. Back then, she was a working actor looking for free yoga. All I really remember was, her smile made everyone smile. She was also in love. Living her dream. It’d last a while longer. Then, in a moment, everything would change…

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10 years ago, Chris Guillebeau mounted a quest to do the impossible, to visit every country in the world.

Along the way, he’s been hassled, deported, detained, harassed and threatened. But, far more often, he’s been welcomed and embraced, discovered the brilliance of a deeply connected world, built a global community of unconventional adventurers and, maybe more importantly, he experienced how an intensely challenging, years long quest changes you in ways he likely never saw coming.

Turning 35, Guillebeau completed that quest in April 2014 and writes about this astonishing journey in his new book, The Happiness of Pursuit.

In today’s conversation, we explore this remarkable person and journey. We dive into what led him to mount a quest to do what only a handful of people in the history of the planet have done. We explore the how his experiences earlier in life shaped him and how his decade long quest changed him in ways he never saw coming.

This episode is also the first in our shift to our new audio podcast-driven media format. We'll continue to post a video version over on youtube with a static image for a while, but please be sure to subscribe below and listen and subscribe on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode.

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Big surprise and a huge announcement about the future of the project.

First, the surprise. Today's guest is ME!

You guys have been asking for two and a half years. So, I finally invited a good friend to turn the mic on me and explore this incredible journey of both life and GLP TV. We go deep into a number of topics I've never spoken about and share amazing moments, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes of the project.

Now, what about the major announcement?

You may notice in the image above, I'm wearing headphones and speaking into a radio-style microphone. Hmmmm, we've never done that before. What gives?

Well, the big announcement is that the video part of the project is going on hiatus. We'll still air episodes on youtube as audio-only, but the next phase of the project is all about audio. This is actually a giant win for you. It's going to allow us to have conversations with a wider range of people, more often and with a level of depth and intimacy that'd hard to create when you've got a full crew and cameras rolling.

I explain this evolution and what's driving it a lot more in the final 20 minutes of this week's episode. And if you're thinking about producing a podcast or web-series, be sure to tune in to that part of the conversation.

And, if you want to keep jamming with me every week, I STRONGLY recommend that you head on over to iTunes and subscribe to the podcast today. We've got an extraordinarily moving episode coming up next week that you absolutely won't want to miss.

With gratitude,

Jonathan

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The odd thing about success. It often breeds failure.

An interesting thing happens when you start with nothing, work like crazy, take big creative risks that pay off and then end up on top of the world. You discover that the fall from the top of the world hurts a whole lot more than the fall from the street-corner. And you don't want to take that fall.

You had nothing to lose in the beginning, but now you do. So, you stop doing the very thing that got you where you are. You operate from a place of loss-avoidance and negative-creativity.

This is what we're talking about on today's GLP Jam Session.

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Jesse Kornbluth is a force. Engaging, smart and deeply-invested in exploring life, ideas, people and art. Not just the art you hang on the wall, but the art of living. Full contact. Totally engaged. Life.

If you ask him what he does, he may tell you he founded HeadButler.com. But that's really just a label that makes starting a conversation easier.

In truth, he devours existence, curates conversations, experiences and media, filters them through the lens of his intellect and emotion, then shares them with the world. The form his creative output takes spans nearly every medium and has landed him on nearly every media channel over a career defined by ruthless honestly, relentless service and pursuit of something bigger than "just" a paycheck.

In this wide-ranging, provocative conversation, Jesse and I dive into his fascinating life (I was about to use the word "journey," but in the episode, you'll see why I may never use that word again, lol). We explore creativity, greatness, community, scaling, fascination, writing and so much more.

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A few years back, sitting down with Brene Brown, I asked what living a good life meant to her. Her answer was that it was about acknowledging and exalting the little moments that so many of us steamroll over in the mad rush to get to the bigger moments.

I know what she means. I've experienced so many small moments of grace that have added up to bigger moments of awakening.

One happened a number of years back. It took only seconds but left a huge imprint on me. And the way I look at others.

I share that story in today's short and sweet episode of our August Summer Jam Sessions series. Enjoy

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Every long-term creative endeavor requires you to cycle into "The Thrash."

That window where everything you thought you knew gets thrown into the wind, everything certain becomes uncertain and the way you contribute to your art, business, career and life are all up for grabs.

It's not about floundering or wallowing, it's about owning the fact that you've been going sideways for a while and it's time to step into that space that sets you up for the next big evolutionary step. Even if it scares the daylights out of you.

The other side of The Thrash is possibility, growth and power. But, all too often, you can't see that until you're through it.

How you handle this cyclic creative rite of passage determines whether you get to the next level, what it looks like and how much ease you experience along the way.

That's what we're talking about in the third episode in our August Summer Jam Series.

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So, we're having a bit of fun in August, calling it the "GLP Summer Jam."

Instead of our longer interviews this month, we're doing a full month of short and sweet visual essay jam sessions. It's a great way to get you thinking about bigger questions as you shift your energy down a bit, slow down and take some time to explore the bigger ideas that'll let you set up the second half of the year with a sense of greater purpose and alignment.

Plus this 2 to 5-minute format is perfect for viewing on vacation or on the go!

First up is a visual essay version of something I wrote a while back entitled "Less Show, More Soul." It'll take you on a quick journey to the Mexican Riviera and a big lesson I learned in a very public way. One that I still explore on a regular basis. It's about coming from a place of integrity and service, rather than posturing and theater.

Big takeaway...

An audience stays as long as you perform. A community stays as long as you serve.

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What if the person you were looking for, the one with all the answers, the one who could help you feel better and give you direction was...you?

We spend so much of life looking for someone to give us permission to live. To tell us what the right path is or verify that we're on it. Someone to give us permission to be ourselves and take action aligned with our essence.

We just want someone to tell us it's all going to be okay. A teacher. A guru.

Teachers, guides, mentors, they've all got value, but what about you?

That's what we're talking about in today's GLP Jam Session.

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You may recognize the last name of today's guest.

Yes, Eve Branson is the mom of legendary entrepreneur, Virgin founder and adventurer, Richard Branson. But she's also very much a force of nature in her own right. In fact, it's easy to see where Richard got his legendary sense of possibility and adventure from.

Eve is a multi-time entrepreneur, former ballet dancer, military gliding instructor for the Women's Royal Naval Services or WRENS during World War II, flight-attendant, mom of three kids, philanthropist and founder of the Eve Branson Foundation and now author of a new book called Mum's the Word: The High-Flying Adventures of Eve Branson.

I recently had a chance to sit down with Eve to explore her remarkable journey. The conversation ranged from how both her and Richard turned dyslexia into a "different way" of working in the world and even an asset to how she became involved in improving the lives of women and children in Morocco. Common to nearly everything she's accomplished is an indomitable spirit and a lens that says anything is possible, no matter what anyone else says.

Enjoy the conversation!

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What if you weren't just a statistic?

What if you were a single human being, with unique genes, biology, chemistry and needs? And what if the "generic" approach to "fixing" what ailed you didn't work?

Over the last 10 years, there has been a groundswell around an idea known as biohacking. It's about rejecting the notion that your best possible state is exactly the same as everyone else's, owning the fact that you are one person with highly unique needs and optimizing everything from your health to your performance around what works best for you. Regardless of whether anyone else responds to something different.

Generic, broad-based, minimally-effective solutions are out. Running individual experiments that yield individual solutions and extraordinary outcomes is in.

Enter this week's guest, physician-biohacker and author of The Hormone Cure, Sara Gottfried. Watching her health, mindset, sex-drive and relationships spiral downhill, she sought the advice of other doctors, but became incredibly frustrated by the generic and ineffective "solutions" being proposed. So she decided to take things into her own hands. To start treating herself as an "n of 1" and hack her own system, with a deep focus on non-pharmaceutical ways to normalize and optimize her hormones.

That led not only to a profound change in Sara's health, weight, ability and life, but a dramatic shift in the way she practiced medicine and sought to serve others.

We go deep into this journey and explore the intersection between medicine, biohacking, hormones and life in this week's conversation.

Watch this week’s episode here, subscribe for our weekly updates below and be sure to listen and subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and you get to take each juicy conversation on the go.

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If the body is a whole, connected system, why does modern medicine so often treat it as a calamity of isolated causes, effects and symptoms?

A blend of hippie herbalist, science prodigy, bestselling author and Yale-trained physician , functional medicine doc, Aviva Romm, MD, sees medicine differently. She looks at each patient as a person, rather than a bundle of symptoms. A fully-integrated system where everything affects everything and the true remedies for pain, disease and unease often need to unfold as less of a tactical strike and more of a system-wide reset.

Romm is fast becoming a leading voice in a radically different approach to medicine. One that, by the way, is making tremendous strides in treating a growing list of "diseases" and symptoms that mainstream medicine and traditional drug-based therapies struggle mightily with.

In this weeks' episode, we dive deep into the frontier of medicine, covering everything from the microbiome (critters in your gut) to epigenetics and how the choices your grandparent's made affect everything from your risk of disease to your state of mind.

We also explore Aviva's fantastic person journey, growing up in New York, attending famed Bronx Science High, then heading into the worlds of herbs and midwivery before coming full-circle to train in and then become a leading voice in functional medicine.

Watch this week's episode here, and be sure to listen and subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and you get to take each juicy conversation on the go.

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