Good Life Project

Ashley C. Ford (http://www.ashleycford.net/) is a writer, media producer and host, living in Brooklyn by way of Indiana. She currently hosts PROFILE by BuzzFeed News, and is the former host of Brooklyn-based news & culture TV show, 112BK. Ford has written for The Guardian, ELLE, BuzzFeed, OUT Magazine, Slate, Teen Vogue, New York Magazine, Lenny Letter, INTO and she's working on her memoir, along with a collection of interviews (B-Side Chats) with her husband, Kelly Stacy. She has been named among Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 in Media (2017), Brooklyn Magazine's Brooklyn 100 (2016), and Time Out New York's New Yorkers of The Year (2017). And, like all humans, her journey has been anything but linear. In today's conversation, we explore the powerful and, at times, painful awakenings that led her to this joyfully real, confident, compassionate and supported season of work, love and life.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Chester has been a filmmaker and director for the last 25 years, telling stories that re-connect us with our humanity and help us see the same in others. During that same time, his wife Molly, was busy changing lives as a private chef and teacher in LA, with a focus on natural foods, biodiversity and sustainability. Years into their careers, they took a radical left turn, moving out of the city, buying a piece of land that’d been deemed largely unfarmable and transforming it, over a period of years and sometimes gutting challenges and loss, into Apricot Lane Farms (https://www.apricotlanefarms.com/). It's not just a biodynamic, regenerative and organic farm, but a stunning example of what is possible when you hold onto a vision to rehabilitate a small slice of nature, while surrendering to how the adventure tells you it needs to unfold. The story of Molly and John’s journey is captured in a moving new documentary called The Biggest Little Farm (https://www.biggestlittlefarmmovie.com/).-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robin Arzón (https://www.robinarzon.com/) knew she wanted to be a lawyer since she was 10 years old, went to NYU, the Villanova Law and landed a job at a top firm in New York where she practiced for 7 years. But, along the way, a series of events would profound change her path. While still an undergrad she found herself being held at gunpoint in the middle of a standoff with police. That moment shook her and she found herself, much to her surprise turning to running as a way to both process the trauma and reclaim her power.What began as a two-mile jog to school after a largely sedentary life, turned into a deep passion for movement, running, especially at night in the city with a sort of fitness-counterculture group of friends, taking on marathons and ultramarathons. This passion would eventually lead her out of the law, into the world of fitness, media, teaching, activism and to writing a New York Times bestselling book, Shut Up And Run (https://amzn.to/2X8g7Bk) about her philosophy of movement and life. Her passion for running also expanded to fitness, indoor cycling and business, where she found a home as Vice President of Fitness Programming and Head Instructor at Peloton, and brand ambassador for some of the world’s top fitness brands.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1999, Marcus Buckingham burst onto the scene talking about these things called strengths and how to harness them in his mega-bestseller, First, Break All the Rules, followed in 2001 by Now, Discover Your Strengths. Helping people flourish in work and life became a lifelong obsession, leading to an acclaimed and deeply-rewarding career researching and developing strengths-based tools and insights, first at Gallup, and then launching his own consulting firm, The Marcus Buckingham Company (https://www.marcusbuckingham.com/). Marcus now leads People + Performance research at the ADP Research Institute and remains CEO of his consulting company. And, his latest book, Nine Lies About Work (https://amzn.to/2WJhLsO), takes an in-depth look at some of the biggest lies that pervade our workplaces, the biggest mistakes we make in building our own careers and leading others, and the deeper truths or antidotes that’ll put us back onto the right track. Be prepared to be surprised and awakened.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elizabeth Gilbert (https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/) is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love, as well as several other internationally bestselling books. Her new novel City of Girls (https://amzn.to/2QgYIAC) is a fast-paced, pleasure-drenched tale of the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Since her last appearance on the podcast some four years ago, Gilbert's life has been turned upside-down and back again. She has navigated profound awakening, love, loss, transition, reclamation and, along the way, continues the practice of finding her way back into the light. We explore all of this, in detail, in today's deeply honest and powerful conversation.------------- Check out our offerings & partners: My New Book SparkedMy New Podcast SPARKED. 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Manson (https://markmanson.net/) is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which has reached #1 in thirteen countries, sold millions of copies. His new book, Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope (https://amzn.to/2JW2MFM), has also become an instant #1 bestseller. In it, he expands his irreverent, yet compelling and deeply-thoughtful exploration to the state of society, the sometimes disastrous quirks of the human psyche, and the role of hope in the way we approach the bigger issues in life. Mark also runs one of the largest personal growth websites in the world, and his writing is often described as "self-help for people who hate self-help." In a past podcast conversation (https://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/mark-manson/), we explore Manson's "origin story" and love of philosophy and writing, including his choice of profanity in his writing voice (hint: it has nothing to do with linguistic laziness). Today, we dive deep into the powerful ideas and provocations in his new book about the state of the world and our role in the exploration of hope.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Palmer (http://amandapalmer.net/) is a singer, songwriter, playwright, pianist, author, director, blogger and ukulele enthusiast who simultaneously embraces and explodes traditional frameworks of music, theatre, and art. Starting in music as one half of the Boston punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, Palmer's solo album Theatre Is Evil became the top-funded music project on Kickstarter, her 2013 TED talk grew into a New York Times best-selling memoir called The Art of Asking (https://amzn.to/2KejMGD) and she's gathered more than 15,000 patrons who fund her work on Patreon. Her new album, There Will Be No Intermission (https://amzn.to/2WiFtwR), is a no-holds-barred, evocative masterwork that speaks to the full sweep of human experience. And, to cap off our final Music in May offering, Amanda plays uke and sings in the studio, so be sure to stay through the end.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Love. What makes it work? And, keep working for life? That's where we're headed in today's conversation with legendary co-founders of the Gottman Institute a/k/a the "Love Lab," Julie and John Gottman. Drawing upon Julie's decades of clinical observations and John's 40 years of breakthrough research with thousands of couples, they've developed stunning insights into what makes relationships work and last.Julie and John lead The Art and Science of Love and many other workshops in Seattle and Julie has also co-designed the national clinical training program in Gottman Method Couples Therapy. Between them, they've written a number of bestselling books on love and relationships, the latest of which, Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for Lifetime of Love, integrates their decades of collaboration into a prescription for couples to make eight dates that will bring them together and keep their relationship vibrant.Check out our offerings & partners: Join My New Writing Project: Awake at the WheelVisit Our Sponsor Page For Great Resources & Discount Codes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hailed by Rolling Stone as “a genre unto herself,” Brooklyn-based composer and guitar phenom (http://www.kakiking.com/), Kaki King, has released 9 albums, performed on every continent, presented at the Kennedy Center, MoMA, LACMA and The Met and created music for film and TV. In 2015 Kaki launched "The Neck is a Bridge to the Body," a groundbreaking multi-media performance integrating guitar and projected imagery synced to the music. What's even more incredible, Kaki King never intended for music to be her career. Her early years were spent playing in bands as a drummer, just for fun. And, her "big break" came in a way she never saw coming, or even tried to make happen. And, as with all of our Music in May episodes, be sure to stay until the end to hear Kaki perform live in-studio.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexia Vernon (https://alexiavernon.com/) is a transformational speaking and women’s leadership expert, coach and author who shows entrepreneurs, business leaders and change-makers how to develop the mindset and behaviors needed to walk into any room, or onto any stage, and speak with "moxie" - so they can radically (and positively) impact their audiences, businesses and communities. Now, branded a “Moxie Maven” by President Obama’s White House Office of Public Engagement, Vernon is the founder of The Spotlight Speaker Accelerator and Spotlight Speakers Collective and the author of Step Into Your Moxie, (https://amzn.to/2GbwPqz) a rally cry to amplify your voice, visibility and influence the world. -------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Continuing with our special Music in May Thursday episodes, my guest today is Toronto-raised former elementary-school teacher turned MC, spoken-word artist, poet, and international bestselling author, Humble the Poet (http://humblethepoet.com/). In today's conversation, we explore not only Humble the Poet's journey from teaching to music, rap, video and spoken word, but also how his experience as the child of immigrants, being raised in the Sikh tradition and, in his words, not seeing anyone else in the music world who looked like him, shaped his lens on possibility, his stories and voice and values.In addition to his music, Humble also has a great new book out that distills 101 short and sweet insights for better living called UNLEARN (https://amzn.to/2Ytpb0B). And as with all of our Music in May episodes, Humble shares a musical offering at the end, this time in the form of a spoken word piece, so you want to be sure stick around for the whole conversation.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve heard the name of my guest today, Stedman Graham, there’s a good chance it’s been offered in the same sentence with his long-time partner in life, Oprah Winfrey. What’s not as often told is Stedman’s own, deeply-compelling personal journey. His path from small-town kid to pursuing a degree in education while simultaneously serving in the Army, playing basketball in the European leagues, then returning home to enter the world of business and giving back along the way. Stedman eventually founded and now serves as chairman and CEO of S. Graham & Associates, (https://www.stedmangraham.com/) a management and marketing consulting firm. He's also written 11 books, including two New York Times best-sellers, and his most recent, Identity Leadership (https://amzn.to/2JE1sH0)Over the last two decades, Stedman Graham has become a noted expert in education and leadership development. He is fascinated by the exploration of identity, how we discover, validate then build our lives around our most essential selves, contribute to the world and become leaders from a place of deep personal alignment. In today’s conversation, we explore Stedman’s remarkable journey, his personal evolution and awakening and why he believes, with all his heart, that we need leaders more than ever, and why leadership is very much an inside game.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Born in Memphis, spending summer months with his great aunt and uncle in a small west Texas town, while being raised in Washington, DC, Clarence Greenwood aka Citizen Cope (https://citizencope.com/welcome) grew up influenced by the production techniques of George Martin, Dr. Dre and Willie Mitchell while listening to everything from Willie Nelson, to John Lennon, Bob Marley, Outkast and A TribeCalled Quest.Cope has since built a decades-long career in the music industry on trusting his gut and following his muse, putting out albums under major labels, writing songs that've been recorded by the likes of Carlos Santana, Sheryl Crow and others and eventually, taking back control to publish under his own label. And if his new album, ‘Heroin And Helicopters,’ is any indication, his instincts are sharper now than ever before.We explore this powerful journey in today's conversation. And, as with all of our special episodes this month, we end this deep-conversation with a moving, in-studio acoustic performance from his new album. Citizen Cope is on tour right now, so be sure to check out his latest album and maybe even see him at a show near you (https://citizencope.com/tour).-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Moving from New York to Los Angeles, LaRayia Gaston (https://www.linkedin.com/in/larayia/) was struck by the extreme poverty she saw in a part of the city known as skid row, and how close it was to extreme wealth. Raised to always lead with love and be of service, she could not turn away. While simultaneously launching and building her own design and branding agency, she founded Lunch On Me (LOM) (https://www.lunchonme.org/). The organization now redistributes organic food that would otherwise be discarded to people living on skid row six days a week, reaching 10,000 people a month.The story of this community, along with Gaston's time both helping, then living on skid row for 43 days, is the subject of a forthcoming documentary called 43 Days. You can learn more and help contribute to its production here (https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/43days).-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jimmie Vaughan started playing blues guitar when he was a kid and now, more than 5 decades later, he just never stopped. Growing up in Dallas in the 50 and 60s, Jimmie and his little brother, Stevie Ray used to spend their time listening to music and figuring out how to play it on guitar.By the time Jimmie was about 15, he’d already been getting paid to play in a band 6 nights a week and decided to strike out on his own, eventually landing in Austin, where he’d end up playing with legends like BB King, Eric Clapton and nearly every other blues legend, and eventually earn his own place a legendary blues player.Along the way, his brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan would join him in Austin, carving his own iconic status in the world of blues. Tragically, Stevie lost his life in a helicopter crash, leaving Jimmie in what he calls his dark years, trying to carry on with music and life. He eventually emerged and has been a guiding light in the world of Blues for more than 50 years now. His new album, BABY, PLEASE COME HOME (https://www.jimmievaughan.com/), is a rolling and righteous celebration of everything the blues can be.And, as with all of our very special music episodes this month, at the end, Jimmie plays a bit of guitar for us. This one was really special for me, because Jimmie didn’t have his guitar with him in the studio, but he gave me the great honor of playing the acoustic guitar I’d built with my own hands almost a year-to-the-day earlier. Jimmie is currently touring (https://www.jimmievaughan.com/jimmie-vaughan-tour-dates), so be sure to catch him on the road!-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim Kwik (http://kwikbrain.com/) is the founder of Kwik Learning, host of the top-ranked Kwik Brain podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kwik-brain-with-jim-kwik/id1208024744), and a globally-acclaimed expert in speed-reading, memory improvement, brain performance, and accelerated learning.This is pretty surprising, given that a brain injury left him learning-challenged and labeled the 'boy with the broken brain' as a child. He has since dedicated his life to helping others learn and live their brightest self through courses, keynotes, consulting and media.In today's conversation, we dive into his powerful journey of discovery and, in the latter half, Jim shares key ideas designed to help us all learn better and live bigger.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thrust into the world of presidential politics in her twenties, Laura Gassner Otting (https://lauragassnerotting.com/) found herself working in the White House, before a series of events led her to launch her own firm, and grew it into a powerhouse in the non-profit search world, then eventually sell the company to focus on her next act. Having worked at the highest levels of power and potential, she learned a ton about what truly makes people feel what she calls “limitless.” Her awakenings are distilled into a great new book, appropriately entitled, Limitless, which builds upon something she calls consonance. In this episode, we explore her remarkable journey. -------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing up between New York City’s South Bronx and Queens in the 1970s, Rosanna Durruthy's (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmdurruthy/) family and home were often the place where everyone gathered, people from all walks of life had a place at the table. Now, the Head of Global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at LinkedIn, Durruthy works to bring all voices to the table and empower people with a sense of value, inclusion, equality and belonging. This conversation isn't just about work, though, it's about the power of being open, finding your own voice and power, valuing others and creating a sense of welcoming, compassion and understanding in our lives in the name of making it a richer place to be being a catalyst for change.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist (http://www.lorigottlieb.com/) and New York Times bestselling author who writes the weekly “Dear Therapist” advice column for The Atlantic.She has written hundreds of articles related to psychology and culture, many of which have become viral sensations all over the world. A contributing editor for the Atlantic, she also writes for The New York Times Magazine, and appears as a frequent expert on relationships, parenting, and hot-button mental health topics in media such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Dr. Phil, CNN, and NPR. Her latest book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, (https://amzn.to/2Tj5UMZ) and this week's conversation is a revealing look at the inner thoughts, struggles and revelations of a therapist who finds herself on the "needing help" side of the conversation, and all the unexpected things this shift in dynamics brings up.--------------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the outside looking in, Leon Logothetis (https://leonlogothetis.com/about/) had everything. But, from the inside looking out, he was dying a little bit more every day, fiercely lonely and falling apart.So, he made a radical decision that led to several trips traveling across America without cash, sustaining himself only on the kindness of others and giving back along the way.This journey into the heart of kindness became a film and the basis of a book and then The Kindness Diaries (https://leonlogothetis.com/netflix/) series, which can now be seen on Netflix. And, Leon has a new book out called Go Be Kind, (https://amzn.to/2Oc5h6x) that is more of a daily journal of fun and easy ways to be kind.-------------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abby Wambach’s (http://abbywambach.com/) name is synonymous with soccer. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA World Cup Champion, and the highest all-time goal scorer ever, she is an icon. But, that's not the whole story. Not by a long shot.Her new book, Wolfpack, (https://amzn.to/2F6gxNx) and the movement and company she’s launched along with it, is a reclamation. It's a call to agency and community.We explore this powerful journey, along with many of the deeper motivations, struggles, moments of awakening, defining stories and so much more in today’s powerful conversation.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the age of seven, Shobha Rao (https://shobharaowrites.com/about/) moved from India to the United States and found herself in a world of wonder and discovery that's never left her.In fact, as we'd discover in today's conversation, she is so committed to presence and wonder, her cellphone has no internet, nor does she ever use her camera. And, when she teaches students, she invites them to have their heart's broken by leaving their phones at the door.Obsessed with books, Rao eventually became a writer, won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction, and her story “Kavitha and Mustafa” was chosen by T.C. Boyle for inclusion in Best American Short Stories 2015. Her latest book, Girls Burn Brighter (https://amzn.to/2VFe0S1), is a heartbreaking and eye-opening exploration of friendship, sisterhood, patriarchy and the boxes society often seeks to put people in.Rao is currently the 2018 Grace Paley Teaching Fellow at The New School in New York City.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seane Corn (http://www.seanecorn.com/) is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher known for her impassioned activism, unique self-expression, and inspirational style of teaching.Featured in magazines, TV, radio, and Oprah.com, Seane now utilizes her fierce commitment to action and her massive platform to bring awareness to global humanitarian issues. Since 2007, she has been training leaders of activism through her co-founded organization Off the Mat, Into the World®. Seane has spent time in the US, India, Cambodia, Haiti, and Africa working with communities in need- teaching yoga, providing support for child labor and educating people about HIV/AIDS prevention.Her forthcoming book, Revolution of the Soul (https://amzn.to/2UA2LZP), will be published in September 2019. And, this week, we're diving deep into her personal journey, early-childhood trauma and struggle with OCD, awakening to her own sense of power and agency, discovering yoga and a global community of teachers, practitioners and heart-led activists and so much more.-------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Laura Peña (http://www.laurapena.com/about) discovered a love of design, animation, filmmaking, storytelling and technology that led her to New York City to study. Her fierce commitment to her craft created a fast name in the space, led her work with many of the top brands in the world, and eventually found her own creative design lab, JelloMonsters.But, an experience back in the Dominican Republic set in motion a different quest that would lead her to put nearly every other part of her life on hiatus. She wanted to find a way to give voice to teenage girls. To share their stories, their hopes, dreams, fears, struggles and triumphs in a real and empowering way. She wanted them to choose what mattered, to be in charge of the way they would be seen and heard and accepted.With that, the video docuseries, She Is The Universe (http://www.sheistheuniverse.org/) was born, along with a platform designed to amplify the voices girls from around the world. For the past year, Peña has been traveling the globe, on a mission to capture and share the stories of 111 teenage girls of all shapes, sizes, colors, languages, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds. Her ultimate goal is to not only offer their unfiltered stories, the way they choose to tell it, but also create a place for them to see themselves in others and find a sense of community, mentorship and possibility.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today, James Victore, has been described as part Darth Vader, part Yoda, prolific storyteller, designer, provocateur, artist, activist and teacher. James Victore is the designer and creative thought leader whom people look to find clarity and purpose in their life and work.James is widely known for his timely wisdom and impassioned views about design and its place in the world. At the helm of his independently run design studio, James is always working to make work that is sexy, strong and memorable, that takes a strong position and often toes the line between sacred and the profane.And, the world has taken notice. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (and he shares a pretty funny story about that in our conversation), is in the permanent collections of the Louvre and the Library of Congress and his client list includes industry-leaders like Adobe, Starbucks, Aveda and many foundations on a mission to create change in the world. James taught at the School of Visual Arts in NYC for over 20 years. His new book, “Feck Perfuction“ (https://amzn.to/2EksGze) is sort of his manifesto on living a creative, full-contact and alive life.----------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing up outside Newark, NJ, the daughter of a first-generation mom from the Dominican Republic and a dad who grew up going back and forth between Harlem and the Deep South, Judge Victoria Pratt (https://judgevictoriapratt.com/) found herself in the role of translator, advocate and champion at a very young age. That deep desire to serve at the sweet-spot between justice and humanity never left her.Rising up through government and educational institutions, she eventually became a judge, but not your ordinary judge. For her, it was all about serving the broader humanity and needs of both those who appeared in her courtroom, as well as those who were affected in the community. Judge Pratt gained acclaim as a champion for criminal justice reform in her Newark courtroom, worked with jurisdictions across the US, and as far as Dubai, Ukraine, Mexico and England. Her TED Talk, How Judges Can Show Respect, went viral.Now a leading voice in criminal justice reform through her consulting firm Pratt Lucien Consultants, Judge Pratt speaks to corporate and organizational leaders about restoring respect to their processes. At the heart of it all is a call-to-action to elevate the humanity and dignity of all people and focus more on restoration and rehabilitation than punishment.In today's conversation, we explore Judge Pratt's early childhood, the experiences and moments that shaped her, as well as the powerful moments and exercises that transformed her courtroom into a place not only of justice but of reclamation and an awakening to potential and responsibility.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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.photo credit: Tinnetta Bell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott Barry Kaufman (http://scottbarrykaufman.com/) has a Ph.D. from Yale, and an M. Phil from Cambridge and now teaches at Barnard. Not bad for a kid who was labeled as lesser-than, put into special-education and told he didn't have the intelligence to achieve anything significant.It took a single moment in 9th-grade, where a teacher took note of his innate curiosity and abilities and prompted him to reclaim control over his education and life, for everything to change.Now an acclaimed psychologist, researcher and professor, Scott embraces a humanistic, integrative approach that takes into account a wide range of human variation– from learning disabilities to intellectual and creative giftedness to introversion to narcissism to twice exceptionality– to help all kinds of minds live a creative, fulfilling, and meaningful life.Scott writes the weekly Beautiful Minds column for Scientific American, hosts The Psychology Podcast (https://scottbarrykaufman.com/podcast/), and his books (https://scottbarrykaufman.com/books/) include Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined, Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind and, as editor, Twice Exceptional: Supporting and Educating Bright and Creative Students with Learning Difficulties and The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence.And, lately, he’s been taking a seriously deep dive into self-actualization and transcendence, getting rare access to Maslow published and private writing that fueled his own research on the key elements what it takes to step more fully into the experience of life.We explore all of this in today’s wide-ranging conversation.--------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aleksandra Scepanovic was born into a nation soon to be at war.Growing up in then Yugoslavia, she found herself entering adulthood in the middle of the Bosnian war. While she lived in the relative safety of Belgrade (at least in the early part of the war), she left to head into the heat of the war zone, on a quest to discover not just the highly-filtered stories being reported by a state-controlled media, but the truth on-the-ground.Scepanovic joined local media efforts, became a reporter, then editor and analyst, where she spent years documenting and sharing what happened as her country divided itself, became decimated from violence, leaving so many lives destroyed and entire areas riddled with broken “Swiss cheese-like” buildings. The experience left her not only longing for truth, justice and peace, but also with a belief in architecture as a symbol of perseverance and the human need to rebuild and move on.Aleksandra eventually made her way to New York, where she discovered a love of design and pursued a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. That program awakened her inner eye for detail, and also invigorated her passion for architecture and interiors. Blending the experience of seeing a brutal war destroy so many homes with her renewed passion to help people find and create beautiful homes, she co-founded Ideal Properties Group (https://ipg.nyc/), which has now grown into a leading residential real estate firm in New York's Brooklyn neighborhoods.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At 38, Suzy Batiz (https://suzybatiz.com/) was depressed and struggling through her second bankruptcy. A handful of years later, she'd built a $400-million company around bathroom odor, with zero-debt.But, the journey was anything but traditional. Standing in the eye of the storm, Suzy experienced what she calls "the surprising luxury of losing everything." She'd lived through poverty, sexual and domestic abuse, depression, multiple bankruptcies and a suicide attempt. Seeking deeper answers, she decided to try something completely different. She turned to a therapeutic ceremony with plant-based medicine, Ayahuasca in particular, as a path to processing and letting go of her past and awakening her sense of possibility and freedom.While not fun, in fact, she describes the early ceremonies as largely horrific, Suzy began to experience shifts, lightness and freedom she'd been seeking for years. Along the way, a deceptively-simple idea for a new venture dropped. Surprisingly, it was about blending her love of essential oils with entrepreneurship and a simple, near-universal need. This led to the creation of the Poo~Pourri (https://www.poopourri.com/) bathroom spray, along with a massively-viral ad campaign and a company that she's now grown into a behemoth with no debt and complete control.As we sat down to record this conversation, Suzy was in the process of shifting gears, devoting a portion of her energies toward the launch of a new conscious, plant-based cleaning products venture called Supernatural (https://supernatural.com/). And, along with that, she's become deeply-focused on teaching entrepreneurs the feminine approach to business—how to tune into intuition, turn on your body intelligence and dive into creative energy to achieve a naturally abundant flow state she calls resonance.--------------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if there was a pill that would give you instant access to your greatest potential every time you needed it most?What if that pill was free, had zero side-effects and worked in nearly every domain of life. Especially the ones where so many struggle, from public-speaking and socializing to high-stakes decision-making, sports and nearly any other endeavor where being at your best mattered? And, what if you had an endless supply in your pocket, 24-7, for the rest of your life?According to this week's guest, founder and elite-performance advisor, Todd Herman, there is. But, it's not a pill. It's something you do, a peak performance power-tool he's taught his clients for decades, from Olympic and pro athletes to CEOs, founders and performers. It's what he calls the "Alter Ego Effect," and it's all about tapping the power of secret-identifies, creating and stepping into them to change not only the way your brains works, but also the way your body performs in an instant.Todd shares the entire Alter Ego methodology, along with the science behind it and a wide-array of case-studies in his new book, The Alter Ego Effect (https://amzn.to/2RECL1n). In this week's conversation, we explore what shuts so many of us down when we most need to be at our best, how Todd came to understand and then develop the power of alter egos, and how we can tap their power in work, play and life.For a deeper-dive into Todd's "origin story," check out our 2016 conversation (https://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/todd-herman/)----------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At 18 years old, Maggie Doyne, decided to take a gap year that turned into her life’s work.Traveling to India and then Nepal, she felt called to make a difference in Nepali children’s lives. So, she took her life’s savings, then $5,000, moved to Nepal, bought property there and co-founded the BlinkNow foundation (https://blinknow.org/pages/our-history) along with a Nepali friend, Top Bahadur Malla. Their vision, to provide kids with a safe home, medical care, an education and love, so they will grow up to be adults with a social conscience and the skills to continue the mission of ending the cycles of poverty and violence in the world.Working hand-in-hand with Top, and a team that is 90% Nepali, they built a children’s home, where Maggie and a team of caregivers, cooks, “aunties and uncles” take care of their family of more than 50 kids. They then built a school, staffed by an all-Nepali faculty that serves more than 350 kids, along with a health clinic and women’s center for the Kopila Valley area in Nepal. Maggie received the 2015 CNN Hero Award and her work has been recognized by the Dalai Lama for her work.In today’s conversation, we explore Maggie’s decision to take a gap year that turned into a life she never imagined living, what drew her to Nepal and the moment that awakened her to a deeper calling. We also explore the challenges along the way, the importance of working in close collaboration with the community. We also talk about a moment of profound loss that incapacitated her for months, how that experience changed her and shifted the direction of her life.It’s also important to note that, while this conversation is largely about Maggie’s personal story, and the life and contributions she’s made in Nepal, Maggie is also very clear that, from the beginning, everything has always been a collaborative effort, working hand-in-hand with her Nepali co-founder and their local team on the ground playing a huge role in every aspect of what’s been built.---------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Garrard Conley is the author of the New York Times Best Selling memoir Boy Erased (https://amzn.to/2CioQ7k), now also a major motion picture (http://www.focusfeatures.com/boy-erased).Growing up in a small town, immersed in a faith-based community, Conley survived conversion therapy before becoming a writer, activist and speaker (http://garrardconley.com/). He lectures at schools and venues across the country on radical compassion, writing through trauma, and growing up gay in the complicated South. He works with other activists to help end conversion therapy in the United States and abroad. He is also a returned Peace Corps volunteer, having served in Ukraine as an ESL instructor and HIV/AIDS educator.Conley's writing can be found in The New York Times, TIME, VICE, CNN, BuzzFeed, Them, Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Huffington Post, among other places, and he is currently at work on a novel about queer 18th century lives.In today's conversation, we explore Garrard's personal journey, his career as a writer and advocate, and how it feels having your story told in a major motion picture featuring Nicole Kidman, Lucas Hedges and Russell Crowe.-------------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Samin Nosrat is writer, teacher, and chef (http://ciaosamin.com/).Her New York Times bestselling book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (https://amzn.to/2BsSc2x), received the James Beard award for Best General Cookbook and was named Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Samin's recent Netflix series of the same name (https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/) is a stunning exploration of food, culture, travel and life.Called “the next Julia Child” by NPR’s All Things Considered, Samin has been cooking professionally since 2000, when she first stumbled into the kitchen at Chez Panisse restaurant. An EAT columnist for The New York Times Magazine, Samin lives, cooks, reads, and gardens in Berkeley, California.In today's conversation, we explore her journey, growing up the child of first-generation immigrant parents in southern California and feeling like the outsider. We dive into her lifelong love of writing and books, her experience with anxiety and depression and work to be present and joyful in her life. And, we track her "strange left turn" into the world of food and, now, with the massive success of her book and Netflix series, how she's navigating the pace, exposure and opportunities coming her way.-------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Success is not just about knowing what to do. It's about doing it.Information, plans and goals will not get you where you want to go. Nor will willpower. Success is about something bigger.To succeed at anything worth doing, you must make key shifts in your environment, mindset and community that "turn on" the actions needed for game-changing results.I call this "Success Scaffolding." It applies to everything, from weight loss to business, and relationships to careers.In today's episode, instead of our traditional guest conversation, I'm sharing and in-depth walk-through of my "8P Success Scaffolding™" framework.Every element, every step, nothing held back. Why? Because it is that time of year when millions commit to big, new, deeply-meaningful goals, only to walk away or fail by the time we hit February. Not because we don't want it badly enough. Not because we're not smart enough. But, because we do not have our Success Scaffolding in place.This is my New Year's offering. I shared it for the first time in 2017, but have continued to research and develop it since then. And, this year, you'll discover a new, greatly expanded version. It is about helping you make this year different, bridging the gap between hope and reality.You can find the 1-page worksheet HERE.Check out our offerings & partners: My New Book SparkedMy 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Ferris has been on a mission (http://tim.blog/podcast/) to deconstruct excellence his entire adult life. 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, this yearning has led him to sit down with hundreds of elite-performers and share the conversations on his award-winning podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tim-ferriss-show/id863897795?mt=2). Tim and I recorded a Good Life Project conversation back in 2016 which you can listen to here (http://www.goodlifeproject.com/tim-ferriss/).Today, we go in a very different direction. After the loss a number of close friends and mentors and passing the 40-year mark, Tim found himself in a contemplative and emotional space. In this week's conversation, we drop into the deep end of the pool quickly. When we sat down, he'd recently returned from an intensive 10-day silent meditation retreat. While gone, he lost yet another close friend. He was, in his own words, in an incredibly "porous" place, leading more from the heart than the head, which is a bit of a major turnaround for him.We spent time deconstructing Tim's 10-day silent meditation experience, his struggles and awakenings and contrasted it with his earlier psychedelic experiences. We also talked about his experience with death, his decision to append audio of his most recently departed friend, Terry Laughlin, which was recorded by Terry's daughters in the hospital during his final days of life to the end of Tim's recent podcast interview with Terry (https://tim.blog/2017/10/29/terry-laughlin/).We explore why he "threw out" the TED talk he'd prepared minutes before stepping onto the stage and, instead, talk about something deeply painful and personal from the heart. And, we explored Tim's awakening to a "softer" set of metrics to measure a life well-lived and his evolving definition of what it truly means to live a good life.I'm so excited to share this final "Best Of" episode of 2018, as a powerful prompt to explore ways to be more intentional and proactive in the year that awaits us.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November 2009, Bronnie Ware (http://bronnieware.com/) published a short essay entitled Regrets of the Dying (http://bronnieware.com/regrets-of-the-dying/) It revealed the top 5 regrets people had shared with her in the final days of their lives, when she worked in palliative care.That short essay went massively viral, leading to an international bestselling book, The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying (https://goo.gl/eWJr2t) along with a frenzy of attention, travel and the start of a new career as a writer.But, what about Bronnie? Who was this Australian artist turned banker turned palliative care-worker? What led her to do such soulful work, in a field so many others could never imagine embracing? What were the deeper drivers, hidden passions, big dreams and, also, profound and dark struggles? What happened to her after the global phenomenon took hold, shaking her existence in a powerful way, both for the better and for the worse? And, what is she up to now?I asked Ware these questions and more when she came to the Good Life Project studios in NYC during a monthlong trip from Australia. The conversation got very real and deeply truthful. She was incredibly generous with both her inner thoughts and beautiful lens on life.I'm so excited to share this timeless "Best Of" episode with you now, as we reflect on the year that is winding down and explore how we want to create the year to come.--------------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the surface, Casey Gerald (http://www.caseygerald.com/), was living the dream.Growing up in Oak Cliff, Texas, he broke from the binds of an addicted, imprisoned dad and mentally-ill mom to become a star athlete, scholar, then a student at Yale, where he majored in political science and played varsity football.Heading next to Harvard Business School, while pursuing his MBA, he co-founded a foundation, MBAs Across America, that landed him on MSNBC, at TED and SXSW, on the cover of Fast Company, and in The New York Times, Financial Times, and The Guardian, among others.But, when you scratch the surface, things weren't as they seemed. As he shared in this week's conversation, everyone wants to make you into a nugget, a simplified soundbite. Gerald was anything but. Struggling with everything from his sexuality and faith, to his fierce desire to carve his own unique path, to live his own life, Casey, decided to walk away from it all, begin to write, and follow a path of self-discovery and revelation. His journey is laid bare in a stirring new memoir, There Will Be No Miracles Here (https://amzn.to/2QHjyvE)-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever wonder if it’s possible to build a flourishing career and global brand, without going to college?Growing up in San Diego and Tampa, Rebecca Minkoff (http://www.rebeccaminkoff.com/) learned at a young age, if she wanted something, she’d have to work for it, or make it herself. That work ethic led her to begin making her own clothes in her early teens, then designing and creating costumes for theater in high-school.Desperate to leave Tampa behind as soon as she could, but not feeling college, she headed to New York at 18 years old and began to work in the world of fashion and design, learning everything from design to all aspects of business. She began making her own designs and, working tirelessly, created a single t-shirt that would seed the launch of a business that would grow to produce an iconic line of handbags, apparel, accessories, footwear, jewelry and build a global brand.And, more recently, she’s headed into entirely new territory with the launch of her own podcast, Superwomen (https://www.rebeccaminkoff.com/pages/superwomen) which celebrates the multidimensionality of women, from CEOs to chefs, entrepreneurs to instructors who shape culture, change the world, and lift each other up along the way.We talk about all of this and much more in today’s Good Life Project episode.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Nepo (http://marknepo.com/) has been immersed in a path of spiritual inquiry for more than forty years. He is the author of twenty books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening and his newest book, More Together Than Alone (https://amzn.to/2AFBGgm).His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. In 2014, Mark traveled the country with Oprah Winfrey on her sold-out The Life You Want Tour and has appeared several times on her Super Soul Sunday program.In this conversation we catch up with Mark (he's been a guest twice before) and dive into his decades-long inquiry around how we are wired to live in community, what happens when the bonds that connect us fail and how to rediscover community at a time when we seem more divided than ever.Want more of Mark Nepo? You can listen here to our 2015 conversation (https://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/mark-nepo/) and our 2016 conversation (https://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/mark-nepo-2/).---------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jennifer Marshall's (https://www.jennifermarshall.me/) life was going exactly as planned. Then, she turned 26 and everything changed.Marshall found herself unable to control her thoughts, spinning and struggling with reality. She was hospitalized and sent home to take some time and get some sleep. But, it would take yet a second hospitalization shortly after to reveal the fact that this was not about being overtired. It was about mental illness and how it would redefine Marshall's world in a profound way, from that moment forward.She was soon after diagnosed with bipolar. It was a lot for her and her family to take in, but instead of burying the conversation, she embraced it and even began to share her experiences publicly, first anonymously, then under her own name at Jennifermarshall.me (http://jennifermarshall.me/), and then widely on the front page of The Washington Post, Oprah Magazine, national TV and from the TEDx stage.Realizing the power of sharing her story, she co-founded and is now Executive Director of This Is My Brave, Inc., (http://thisismybrave.org/) a global storytelling initiative for people to share their stories of overcoming mental illness through creative expression at live events around the world, and online.We explore this powerful journey, along with how she and her husband explored the decision to become parents, build a family and work to remove the stigma from mental illness in this week's episode.--------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seth Godin is the author of 18 books that have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 35 languages. He’s also the founder of the altMBA and The Marketing Seminar, online workshops that have transformed the work of thousands of people.He writes about (https://www.sethgodin.com/) the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. You might be familiar with his books Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip and Purple Cow. His latest book is This Is Marketing (https://amzn.to/2JzNkMD).In addition to his writing and speaking, Seth has founded several companies, including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. His blog is one of the most popular in the world and in 2018, he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame.Beyond all of this, Seth is just a straight up good human with wise things to share about everything from education, work, meaning and craft to chocolate, creativity, curiosity and so much more. In this wide-ranging conversation, we touch on all of this and more.In addition to this week's podcast, we filmed an episode of Good Life Project TV with Seth as a few years back, which you can check out here (http://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/the-best-of-seth-godin/)QUICK CORRECTION: Early in the conversation, Seth mentioned that John Scharffenberger had passed away. It was actually his former business partner, Dr. Robert Steinberg, who is no longer with us. In the speed and joy of the conversation, Seth conjoined them and neither of us picked it up until after the final edit. Apologies for any confusion. We appreciate your kind understanding.--------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Farnoosh Torabi (http://www.farnoosh.tv/) has been fascinated by how people relate to money, including herself, for as long as she can remember.Her first book, You’re So Money, was a nationally acclaimed tell-all for people searching for financial independence. That led to regular appearances on the Today Show and Good Morning America, writing for magazines like Glamour, Marie Claire and O Magazine, features on the reality series Bank of Mom and Dad, TLC’s REAL SIMPLE. REAL LIFE and a personal finance series, Financially Fit on Yahoo! Torabi’s award-winning podcast, So Money, (https://goo.gl/dbj3hQ) made its debut in January 2015. Along the way, she got married, became a mom and also found herself the primary breadwinner in her family. That made her curious about what happens when women in relationships earn more than men. This question became not only a very personal one, as it affected her relationship with her husband and friends, but it also became the focus of her last book, When She Makes More (https://amzn.to/2pNxGEg).In today's conversation, we explore all of this, along with her early interests and pursuits, the impact of growing up in a family where her parents were first-generation immigrants and so much more.--------------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does a kid obsessed with making it in music end up becoming an internationally renowned, best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and...and yes, musician? That's what we explore in today's wide-ranging conversation with Mitch Albom (https://www.mitchalbom.com/).Albom is the author of numerous #1 New York Times bestsellers. Tuesdays with Morrie, which spent four straight years atop the New York Times list, is now the bestselling memoir of all time. Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, For One More Day and Have a Little Faith have been made into award-winning television movies. His books have collectively sold nearly 40-million copies worldwide. Albom's latest book is The Next Person You Meet in Heaven (https://amzn.to/2po61tC).  Along the way, Mitch has followed his curiosity into journalism, sports-radio broadcasting, and continues to perform as a member of a band with a crew of other well-known authors. He founded nine charities in Detroit, including the first ever 24-hour medical clinic for homeless children in America, operates an orphanage in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, which he visits monthly and lives with his wife, Janine, in suburban Detroit.-------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Question for you...“How do you figure out what kind of work will fill you with a sense of purpose and meaning, let you fully express yourself, your gifts, passions and skills, and drop you into that transcendent state of flow where you just know, deep down, you’re doing the work you were put on the planet to do?”Here’s what I’ve come to believe…We’re all born with a certain “imprint” for work that makes us come alive. Work that lets us wake up in the morning and know, deep down, we’re doing what we’re here to do. Work that sets us ablaze with purpose and, fully-expressed in a healthy way, becomes a mainline to meaning, a pathway to that transcendent state of flow, and a gateway to connection and joy. Put another way, work that “sparks” us.You may find thousands of satisfying outward expressions of this deeper imprint. I believe this is much of what people talk about when they use the word passion, and why any one person can have many equally satisfying outlets for this deeper driver.But, much to my amazement, every time I’d keep drilling down in search of the deeper root, the essence, the DNA-level “source-code,” I come back not to millions of unique answers, but to the same, remarkably simple set of 10 core imprints or archetypes for meaning and work.I call these Sparketypes™ (http://sparketype.com/). The archetypes for work that sparks you.This is not a “woowoo” thing. It’s actually incredibly practical, easily-validated through your own experience, and all about application in the real world. It’s about giving you tools to reveal, then live into a deep sense of purpose, potential and possibility.And today, I’ve recorded a very special hour-long podcast that takes you deep into the world of the Sparketypes, introduces you to all 10 of them, explains how each becomes expressed in your life, and how we can tap this wisdom to cultivate purpose, meaning, joy and, ultimately, freedom and flow.And, there’s one other thing. THIS. IS. REALLY. BIG.Many of you will get a “sense” of your Sparketype simply from what I share about each on the podcast. But, you don’t have to settle for that.Over the last year, we’ve been working fiercely behind the scenes to develop, test and optimize a proprietary Sparketype Assessment™ that will reveal your Sparketype (actually two of them) in a matter of minutes.The Sparketype Assessment™ is now available for YOU to take! (http://sparketype.com/)It is 100% free. It takes about 7-10 minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. And, it also just might change your life.So, listen to the podcast. Take the Sparketype Assessment.Then, share the podcast, your personal Sparketype and the Sparketype Assessment with anyone you know who needs a little help figuring out the work they’re here to do.-------------------------Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rebel hospitality entrepreneur (http://www.chipconley.com/) and New York Times bestselling author, Chip Conley, founded and grew Joie de Vivre into the second largest boutique hotel brand in America.Twenty-four years in, he sold the company, leaving him to figure out what to do with the rest of his life, and the wisdom he'd accumulated. He was approached by the founders of Airbnb to help transform the company into the world’s leading hospitality brand as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy and now Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership.Along the way, he's immersed himself in global festival culture, launched the Modern Elder Academy (https://chipconley.com/modern-elder-academy) and written five books, including his new book, WISDOM@WORK: The Making of a Modern Elder (https://chipconley.com/wisdom-at-work). In today's conversation, we dive deep into this journey.------------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zainab Salbi (http://zainabsalbi.com/) is a humanitarian, author, and global change-maker. At the age of 23, Salbi founded Women for Women International, a grassroots humanitarian and development organization dedicated to serving women survivors of wars by offering support, tools, and access to life-changing skills to move from crisis and poverty to stability and economic self-sufficiency.Under her leadership as the organization’s CEO (1993-2011), the organization grew from helping 30 women upon its inception to more than 400,000 women in 8 conflict areas. It also distributed more than $100 million in direct aid and micro credit loans that impacted more than 1.7 million family members.But, the whole time, she was living with a huge, dark secret. In her new book, Freedom is an Inside Job, (https://amzn.to/2pnnPou) she shares how owning our darkness along with out light is the unlock key for self-healing and global transformation. And, in today's conversation she shares how this realization awakened her to the need to own her own dark family secret in order to heal herself and serve at a higher level.-----------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.Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Social anxiety. #ugh! It's that constant voice of judgment and inadequacy that leaves you terrified of being "found out," and stops you from sharing the real you. Guess what? You're not alone.DR. ELLEN HENDRIKSEN (http://ellenhendriksen.com/)is a clinical psychologist who helps millions calm their social anxiety and be their authentic selves. How? Through her award-winning podcast, Savvy Psychologist (https://goo.gl/uKh7U7), in the clinic at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD). And, now through her groundbreaking book, HOW TO BE YOURSELF (https://amzn.to/2OqLUJ7).Hendriksen earned her Ph.D. at UCLA and completed her training at Harvard Medical School. Her scientifically-based, zero-judgment approach has been featured in New York Magazine, The Observer, The Verge, Vice, Vox, Psychology Today, Scientific American, Susan Cain's Quiet Revolution, and many other media outlets. SavvyToday, we dive into her personal journey with social anxiety, how an aspiring architect found her way into psychology and specialized in social anxiety and how to identify and work through this incredibly common, yet often disabling experience.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott Harrison was living a life that was as close to pure hedonism as you could come. He was on top of the world, getting paid to party and living utterly (and destructively) in the moment...in the worst wayEventually, falling apart physically and emotionally, Harrison found himself wondering, "what is the exact opposite of the life I'm now living?" And, then, remarkably, he set about living that alternative path. Paying to serve on a floating hospital ship off the coast of Liberia, he reconnected with a deeper mission to help others, with water as his focus.Scott then founded and is the CEO of charity: water, (https://www.charitywater.org/thirst) one of the fast-growing non-profits in history, that has mobilized over one million donors around the world to fund over 28,000 water projects in 26 countries that will serve more than 8.2 million people. This journey is detailed in his powerful new book, THIRST: A Story of Redemption, Compassion and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World (https://amzn.to/2poKHUH).In today's conversation, we dive deep into his personal journey, and also his current vision for both charity: water and the world of philanthropy in general.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By the age of 25, Michael Ventura had founded and built one of the "hottest" shops in the interactive design world. From the outside-looking-in, he was flying high. But, from the inside looking out, he was riddled with stress and falling apart.His body eventually gave in, leaving him with three ruptured discs and the prospect of fusion surgery and arthritic pain for the rest of his life. At the same time, the economy crashed, decimating his business.He saw this as a wake-up call, both personal and professional. Ventura began to explore an alternative path to healing that led him not only back to full recovery without surgery, but on his path to becoming a practitioner of eastern and indigenous medicine, working through his private practice, Corvus Medicine as a healer.At the same time, he rallied the tiny group of remaining employees to redefine what their company was about and stand in a place of radical honesty and vulnerability with their clients. Relaunching in 2009, as Sub Rosa (http://wearesubrosa.com/), they've grown into an award-winning, strategy and design practice with a focus on what they called Applied Empathy (http://appliedempathy.com/), which also happens to be the name of Ventura's latest book (https://amzn.to/2PQb0iy)-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Radha Agrawal (http://radhaagrawal.com/) is the co-Founder, CEO and Chief Community Architect of Daybreaker (http://daybreaker.com/), the early morning, sober dance celebration. This global gathering happens in 25 cities and more than a dozen college campuses, with a global community of more than 500,000 people. Agrawal is also a successful serial social-entrepreneur, author, DJ, inventor, investor and gifted experience-designer named by MTV as “one of 8 women who will change the world.”But, none of this would have happened had she stuck to her original plan to build a career as a New York City investment banker. In today’s conversation, we dive deep into her journey and explore critical moments of awakening and change, along with ideas from her new book BELONG: Find Your People, Create Community & Live A More Connected Life (https://amzn.to/2NyYJxj). We also explore answers to the question, "how do I find my people?" and "How do I create large and meaningful communities in the real world?"-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.