January Jumpstart | On Belonging

One the fastest ways to accelerate your growth, personal or professional, is to seek out and ask for guidance from mentors. People who've been where you're looking to go and are open to sharing their stumbles, wins and wisdom.But, there's something that often happens when a mentor gives feedback that does not validate or, even worse, straight-up shoots down what you want to do. You fight the feedback, and often, the mentor.When I'm in the playing the role of mentor and this happens, it's not unusual for me to ask a mentee who is refusing to open to a new possibility or give up a position or decision that's being proven increasingly wrong..."how's that working out for you?"Why this refusal to open to the input of those we seek to guide us is pretty interesting. Because you were looking for the wrong thing. You wanted validation, but the mentor's job is to speak truth, at least their truth.Because, when you're trying to create something great...You don’t need validation, you need truth.We talk about this phenomenon and what to do when it happens in this week's short and sweet Good Life Riff.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

18 Juni 20154min

Want a job at Google, a gorgeous hideaway on Airbnb, a spot on the Stanford faculty, a romantic partner or even a kidney?Good news, bad news. You have a say, but so do they.It's all part of a phenomenon called "matching markets."Markets are what make businesses possible. But not all markets operate on the exchange of cash for goods. In fact, some of the most important markets go so far as to outlaw cash. In other markets, like romance, many societies just find cash morally repugnant. And, no matter how much you may want something, there's another person who'll have a say in whether you get it.When you understand these often complex and hidden markets, the nuanced rules and games that get played, you end up in a better place to both get what you need from them and give more effectively to those you seek to serve.That's what we're talking about in this week's conversation with Nobel Prize-winning economist, Stanford professor and author of the fascinating new book, Who Gets What - and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design, Al Roth.This discussion pulls back the curtain on why we are willing to do so much, for one thing, person or opportunity and yet so little for another and how that is redefining our options, how they are presented, and how much control we really have over any of it.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

16 Juni 20151h 3min

You want to be a better writer, write and study the craft of writing. Want to be a better maker, make more stuff and study the art of making. Want to be a better entrepreneur, build more businesses and study the process of birthing businesses.But, don't stop there. The really big leap, the thing that launches you from really good to world-shaking, is not skill. Transcendent output happens when you go beyond craft and do the work to become a better person.Because WHO you are flows into and through your work as much as HOW SKILLED you've become.This is what we're talking about in today's Good Life Project Riff.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 Juni 20155min

Tamsen Fadal is an award-winning broadcast journalist and television anchor on the evening news in New York City.She's worked incredibly hard to get where she is, traveling the world, entering war-zones and extreme settings, giving a voice to the voiceless and a serving as a trusted guide through times of extreme tragedy, disaster and misfortune.While she'd become comfortable being the face and voice of the news, though, she never thought she'd actually be the news. But, that's exactly what happened, and not in a good way, when her relationship with her husband and business partner in a match-making side-business fell apart.The news hit the papers and she was faced with not only navigating the extraordinary pain of a crumbling love, but the surreal task of doing it all under the microscope of the media, while also being the media. The tabloids and the internet were not kind. She was, after all, a very public person and someone positioned as an expert in finding love. And, now she was struggling.She would've loved to just pull back, to work things through in private and recover. But, it was her job to show up and put on the face of calm confidence on television.She found herself living two lives. Cool, upbeat, friendly newscaster by day and the falling apart human by night.In this week's conversation, we dive into Tamsen's life in journalism, the moments that have forever changed her and how the media is evolving. And we talk about her relationship, surviving what should be private in the most public way and then rediscovering her sense of identity and healing. She shared much of this journey, as well, in her new book, The New Single.This conversation is not just about transitioning from a marriage, it's about how to move through shattering challenges in life.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9 Juni 201555min

You wake up one day with pain in your lower back. Happens to the best of us.Popular wisdom says, “oh, you’ve got lower back pain, you need to strengthen your abs to support your back and it’ll go away.” Or you need to strengthen this or that or the other muscle, your problem is weakness.A similar thing tends to happen across all parts of life. You've got a problem, it must be caused by some weakness somewhere. Easy fix, find the weak link, strengthen it and build around it.Problem is, there's often something much deeper going on. A level of misalignment and dysfunction that's causing the pain. In your body, and yes, even in your life. And when you try to strengthen into that more fundamental dysfunction, very often you end up making the pain even worse. It actually deepens the dysfunction.So, what do you do instead? That's what this week's short and sweet Good Life Project Riff is all about.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 Juni 201510min

What if you could instantly trace your connection through an online family tree to nearly anyone on the planet?Put another way, what if every person alive was your cousin?Enter A.J. Jacobs, the master experimenter and mega-NYT best-selling author known for running crazy, year-long experiments on himself.In the past A.J. has spent a year living every rule in the Bible (in NYC), tried nearly every health and fitness tip ever offered in an attempt be the healthiest person on the planet, and even read the entire encyclopedia. Each adventure became a book, and together, they became a fascinating life.In our conversation, today, A.J. outlines his newest, boldest experiment, and this time, he's making it about you. Jacobs is on a quest to build the biggest family tree in history, then invite everyone on it to the largest family reunion . . . ever.In fact, every person on the planet is invited to his Global Family Reunion on June 6th in NY. And, since we're all his "fave" cousins, A.J. has graciously set up a special link where you can register for 25% off.In this week's episode, we talk about what inspired A.J. to run yearlong experiments with his life, then turn them into books. We explore how showing we're all related is really about a much bigger mission to cultivate tolerance and understanding. And we also dive into the creative process, the writing life, habits, the downside and upside of choice, fear of rejection, faith, atheism and so much more.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2 Juni 201557min

How often have you told yourself, "I'm not good enough, old enough, accomplished enough, credentialed enough, or any other 'enough' to get paid real money or get the gig I want more than anyone else?"Newsflash, there's a good chance you're right.It may well be true that there ARE indeed plenty of other people and organizations who are better at what you do than you are. But, there's also a dirty little secret in the world of business and success.Very often the job, opportunity, gig does not go to the most qualified person. You can still get the plum position, sweet job and serious paycheck if you understand why.In today's Good Life Riff, we're busting the old "I'm not good enough" myth and revealing what matters, oftentimes even more than qualifications.So, stop beating yourself up for being "along the road to higher value." And start understanding what people really want and what you need to give them to create the opportunities you most desire.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 Maj 20153min

You can lose almost any part of your body, except one, and still be you.What is that one exception? Your brain.Because...The brain is the seat of your memory and your identity.Which is why brain injuries can be so devastating. And taking care of your brain is so incredibly important to a life well-lived.Question is, how do you do that?Turns out, there's a lot of "neuro-myths" floating around today. We love to spout all sorts of supposed facts about the brain. Things like, "the average person only uses 10% of their brain." Or, "you can completely rewire your brain through meditation." And, "exercise is like Miracle Grow for the brain."To find out what's fact and what is fantasy, I sat down with today's guest, Dr. Wendy Suzuki.Wendy is an award-winning neuroscientist and NYU professor. She runs an acclaimed research lab, teaches classes, and is the author of the new book, Happy Brain Happy Life. She is obsessed with how our brains either fuel or hold back our best lives.But as she explains in our conversation, her dogged quest to become a leading researcher and professor came with a cost. She gave up nearly every other part of her life. A few years back, she awakened to her reality and set in motion a series of radical changes in a renewed quest to reclaim her life.In this week's conversation, we explore her personal journey, do a bunch of myth-busting and discover how best to optimize our brains for life.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

25 Maj 20151h 3min