Leading Human

For many of us, the inner voice is generally loving and encouraging, maybe not enthusiastic, but in your corner, calmly evaluating. In fact, a good internal dialog should function more like a reasonable judge. Or like Lester Bangs tells his young protege William Miller in Almost Famous: “I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.”In other words, sometimes you need a good truth-telling even if it’s not what you want to hear.With that said, there is a reason we universally struggle with self-talk. Struggle implies conflict. And conflict with the self is what we call inner conflict. But the problem is twofold. Not only is it hard to do something about the way our inner critic talks to us, but a great deal of the time we’re not even aware we’re doing it.Why? Because it’s our default state. We’re used to the way we talk to ourselves. We’d almost never talk to our friends or family the way we sometimes may talk to ourselves. So why do we do it?Because our Inner Critic is fueled by the simultaneous belief that we are better than others and that we are less than others; both feelings are energized by harshness and contempt. Feeling that we’re not enough–especially at work—is painful.the consequences of not being aware of or tuning into what our Inner Critic is telling us can hurt us and hold us back in many of the most important areas of our lives. Time Stamps:4:39--The inflating and deflating of the Inner Critic7:15--The story of the two wolves inside us all11:11--Anne Lamott quote of being militantly on your own side14:42--Walking through a little thought exercise18:52--Shelley names her Inner Critic and gives it a persona25:38--There is a balancing we have to do, not just expect to completely get rid of the Inner Critic32:22--Take on the persona of the Inner Teacher34:27--The simple ABCDE frameworkShow Notes and Links:Brendon Burchard says that successful people use positive self-talk frequently.Pete Walker suggests memorizing your list of positive attributes and repeating them to yourself whenever you have an Inner Critic attack. Positive self-talk is part of the emotional healing process.Studies show that people who practice “self-compassion” are happier, more optimistic and less anxious and depressed.Follow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.Subscribe on Spotify

Everybody procrastinates, but not everyone is a procrastinator. And contrary to popular belief, procrastinating has little to do with laziness. It’s far more complicated than simply being a matter of time management. Chronic procrastination doesn’t discriminate based on gender, race or age; we’re all susceptible.So, to provide a brief definition. Procrastination is the voluntary, unnecessary delay of an important task, despite knowing you’ll be worse off for doing so.And then here’s why it can actually be a pretty serious issue for a lot of people. Procrastination slows your goals and dreams way down. It can create stress and feelings of frustration. It can make time management useless. This often appears at work with day-to-day projects and tasks. Fortunately, it’s possible to learn how to overcome procrastination once we know why people procrastinate.Research has done a lot to help us understand procrastination psychology and why we continuously engage in this annoying behavior. We are going to take a look at the top reasons here, but first, let’s talk a little about our emotions and active vs. passive procrastination.Which type of procrastinator are you?Time Stamps:4:20--The positive procrastinator5:20--The other two types are passive procrastinators12:43--Getting to the four big reasons we all procrastinate20:00--Being "good enough"30:47--SAW FIRE is the name of our framework for overcoming procrastinatingFollow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.Subscribe on Spotify

The futurist Alvin Toffler famously said, “The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”&nbsp;In their book Language and the Pursuit of Leadership Excellence, Chalmers Brothers and Vinay Kumar describe sixteen “enemies of learning.” They adopted them as first described by Julio Olalla, the noted coach, writer and teacher, and founder of The Newfield Network.These enemies include attitudes, assessments, and mindsets that, when firmly rooted, make learning or growth difficult.The traditional message that virtually everyone has been bombarded with since we were conscious enough to watch TV, listen to the radio or read advertisements, regardless of the field is that you the consumer are reinforced with the idea that if you have, you will do, and then be. HAVING leads to DOING leads to BEING.LEARNING = DOING (the thing even while you’re not good at it)LEARNING = Time + Practice (we get better by doing it again and again, cause and effect)You can also ratchet up the intensity and systematize it to the next level and add to your practice a rigor.&nbsp;All of which is to say learning about something is not the same as learning to DOOne of the more interesting things about the current difficult economic environment has been watching how different business leaders have reacted to it. Those who have done the best to secure their companies’ interests, protect their market positions, and retain their best people, have in my experience been those who immediately went into learning mode.&nbsp;Whether they look at the changes as an opportunity to learn new strategies for success, or simply to learn how to survive in the new environment, they have opened themselves and their organizations to learning. In doing so, they have discovered new possibilities for themselves and their companies.&nbsp;Time Stamps:2:16--The illiterate of the future are not those who can't read or write. But those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.4:22--Advertising is based on one thing11:31--Principle number one12:37--Deliberate practice15:59--Where are you being led in your life to be experiencing learning outside your comfort zone?16:46--Number one, our inability to admit that we don't know.20:09--The antidote21:54--Number two, confusing information with real knowing.23:31--The antidote24:13--A lack of priority for learning (never have time)25:50--The antidote26:22--Lack of trust30:00--The antidote32:07--Ignoring the emotional dimension of learning35:00--Ignoring the body as a dimension of learning39:00--The final enemy of learning on today's list, constantly having big opinions and assessmentsShow Notes and Links:Language and the Pursuit of Leadership Excellence by Chalmers Brothers and Vinay KumarThe Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der KolkFollow up with us and check out our <a...

The idea of this episode came out of a recent media sensation from a study done in Florida, and it showed some gentle shifts in the personalities of the 7,000 people it studied.&nbsp;The headlines are all over the place.&nbsp;(Links provided in our show notes and links.)On today’s episode we break down the latest findings, if they even matter for our understanding of personality, and why we want you to get a little clearer on what all this chatter is about when it comes to our personalities.First of all, let's define our terms: What do we mean by personality? What does the media mean? And also, besides the media attention and the fact that we do work on understanding our personalities, how is this a relevant topic for the Big Self Podcast?&nbsp;Time Stamps:2:41--Why is this topic relevant?5:52--The importance of social skills as researched for the past 100 years10:10--We need help in understanding ourselves14:45--The idea of falling asleep to ourselves21:15--Why researchers narrow it down to five criteria only21:50--The Five mainstays of personality research27:07--At higher levels of awareness people start to look alike?Show notes and links:https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/28/health/personality-change-covid-wellness/index.htmlhttps://www.themarginalian.org/2012/03/02/character-personality/?fbclid=IwAR32i3sOmxn5Nylttzrs0qAfxjyRzBJpxYYQILGkCs1NID7-4o3wvQl455Yhttps://www.livescience.com/personality-age-change.htmlhttps://psychcentral.com/health/personality-development#personality-disordershttps://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/podcasts/episode-30https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/people-unexplained/202202/will-your-personality-change-in-the-next-6-yearsThe Benefits of Not Being a Jerk to Yourself (Dan Harris Ted Talk)Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple iTunesFollow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.

We have put “play” as one of our Big Self pillars from the very beginning, but I don’t think we’ve done a single episode on it. We do talk about creativity and gratitude. But that’s not quite the same thing.For one thing, it’s hard to really define what we even mean by play.In fact it’s so elusive to really define for adults, even after I had decided we definitely need to do an episode on play, I started wondering if this is really something our audience needs or wants. We’re talking about serious stuff on this podcast, stuff that is going to help people in their pain, in their crisis’. And then we realized, that experience is the very process we undergo for YEARS as we transition into adulthood.Important for us or not, play can feel silly, certainly unproductive, and time consuming.&nbsp;And that’s precisely the point. On today’s episode we are going to do the impossible: we are going to seriously persuade you to PLAY.This better be fun.Time Stamps:3:04--Let me ask you a question about play6:28--Great questions, but how are defining play?10:59--There's a lot of variability in the definition of play13:12--There are "four different styles of play"21:30--In which Shelley geeks out on the parasympathetic nervous system29:24--Quote by Jean Piaget33:32--3 suggestions for playShow Notes and Links:American Journal of PlayPlay by Stuart Brown, MDWell Played: The Ultimate Guide to Awakening Your Family’s Playful Spirit by Meredith SinclairNational Institute for PlayA list of research on playStuart Brown’s TED talk on playScott Eberle’s blog “Play in Mind”Play definitionStudy: “A new structural model for the study of adult playfulness: Assessment and exploration of an understudied individual differences variable”Study: The Playful Advantage: How Playfulness Enhances Coping with StressStudy: The well-being of playful adults: Adult playfulness, subjective well-being, physical well-being, and the pursuit of enjoyable activitiesSubscribe on Apple iTunes<a...

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor."&nbsp; –ThoreauSome of us are dabblers, some of us are obsessives, and some of us are hackers. Which one are you?They’re basically just different approaches many people take to learning. The dabbler loves when things are new. Just loves the shiny new object and everything about starting something. The obsessive is focused on getting results as fast as possible. The hacker gets good enough at something and is fine where she or he is.Don’t really like any of the options? Is there a better way?We probably all can recognize ourselves in a combination of these learning styles. And yes there is a problem with them all: we never get on the road to mastery with them. They aren’t the stuff of lifelong learning.&nbsp;Let's get on the path of a master.&nbsp;Certainly when we are patient and stick with our learning day in and day out, we are definitely more on the path. But with all of that said, many of us begin to experience change and then we hit the plateau. That long period of time where we’re sticking with it, pushing hard, staying strong…and nothing happens.Or we begin to experience change and then we run into resistance.AND we might begin to think this shiny new object or all this efforting isn’t worth it and we criticize ourselves for even trying. We even begin to use language which reveals our negative thinking and the stories we tell ourselves, and we think we’re “just being real” and give up.How part of what’s going on when we regress or retract is about the body's response to stress. Change? Homeostasis is first to be understood. Then, you can be prepared to meet it and learn the long path toward deep mastery.Time Stamps: 3:18--Changing anything can be difficult5:14--The link between change and stress is novelty9:13--Homeostasis defined15:38--Top five ideas for how you can achieve sustainable change16:43--Number one may be the most important, understanding how it works19:39--As you adapt the resistance gets easier to deal with26:05--When you're negotiating with your resistance27:55--You can do it alone, but a support system is recommended30:22--Follow a regular practice32:52--Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning34:49--Shelley's "Why"Show Notes:Steven Pressfield on anything having to do with ResistanceMastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George LeonardHomo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture&nbsp; by Johan HuizingaAfter the Ecstasy, the Laundry by Jack KornfieldFollow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.<a...

To say our culture prizes the “outer” (whether it’s outer work or the apparent “outer reality”) is an understatement.And by contrast, you hear a lot of leaders and coaches and people who have learned through trial and tribulation that you have to do the “inner work” first.&nbsp;But what is inner work, and how is it different from what we do at work every day?Many people already have commendable achievements in the ‘outer work’ aspect of their life. By this, I mean growing in their careers, managing a business, or having meaningful relationships. But ‘outer work’ is a small part of who we are as people.&nbsp;As a society, we’re fixated on outer work. We count the number of followers we have on social media or use the money in our life or the degrees that we have ALL as representative of who we are.&nbsp;These elements have little to do with our inner worlds. In fact, we may not even know what our inner world looks like at all. Maybe it’s barren and empty. Maybe it’s cluttered and full of infinite distractions.&nbsp;So, for all the power and depth and breadth of the inner work, why do we tend to avoid it? Why does it not seem to have a seat at the table in many corporations and organizations?We share our definitions of what "inner work" means, and discuss the dimensions it entails for our cognition, the language that we use, our emotions, and our bodies.Time Stamps:1:46--What we're discussing today3:32--We tend to overemphasize the results (the outer)6:55--Messy to try and come up with how you measure inner work, but one way is to measure it by the way it leads to outer results11:20--Three inner work definitions. Which one is the best? You decide.12:38--Chad's personal experience and definition with what he calls spiritual13:44--Shelley's similar experiences18:18--The incredible insights that listening to your language brings22:50--What's that about? a good operating question26:10--Emotional and mental work are similar30:55--The body center33:46--The body is the portalFollow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.Subscribe on Spotify

When I first started thinking about how powerful sadness is an entry point–as a huge territory–for growth, I immediately was like, “this would never make a podcast.”I can see it now: People clicking on the headline wanting to learn more about how they too can be sad. Doesn’t have quite the marketing hook of “how to be happier by thinking positively.”But in a way, that’s just the point. Sadness is the very inversion of happiness. We’ve been inundated by “happiness” and the power of positive thinking for at least 70 years, and I feel like last decade in the 2010s we saw a real resurgence of it (whatever that was about, it seems like it was related to the explosion of neuroscience research).&nbsp;And for some happiness researchers, like Jennifer Moss, who we had on the podcast last season, she began to turn her attention to asking questions about “what is keeping us from this elusive happiness” and she began looking into the burnout culture and the toxicity in the workplace.&nbsp;Plenty of stress happens there!And really all kinds of emotions, right?&nbsp;But the point I’m trying to make here is that as I began to explore this space, I began to see a HUGE territory for us to explore with sadness.&nbsp;The kind of sadness we’re talking about today is not about grief or depression. Those are different territories. No matter what, of course, you don’t want to get stuck anywhere. We are not talking about “staying” in sadness. We ARE talking about letting it in.That’s right. We are talking about the places in your life, whatever your personality structure may be, where sadness is knocking. Time Stamps:2:30--Sadness isn't something that we need to manufacture4:21--What is your relationship to sadness? Shelley asks Chad10:55--What other happiness studies showed (and how it's not so simple)13:07--The Wheel of Emotions18:55--Do you think of sadness as a negative emotion? Chad asks Shelley24:16--Sadness is an important emotion that helps everyone in numerous ways27:14--Sadness plus shame equals depression31:03--Shame has this tendency to keep us stuck38:20--Sadness connects to awareness in general42:00--Typically emotions last for 15 to 30 seconds (unless you feed it a story)44:30--We would love to hear how this lands this episode lands for peopleShow Notes and Links:Greater Good on Four Ways Sadness May be Good for YouPsychology Today on Why Its Good to Feel SadHarper Bazaar on Why Its Good for You to Be SadFollow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.Subscribe on Spotify

Habits will make or break us. Habits will deliver results one way or the other. Our focus doesn’t just come from getting out our calendars and setting proper weekly and daily goals. It doesn’t emerge from understanding&nbsp;the 80/20 rule.It comes from the application of principles that elude us because they come from within. What comes from within is less measurable, and often less clear at first. For that matter, it’s scary going within. There are reasons we’ve pushed things into our unconscious. The key here is the application.Because our habits are the actions we repeat again and again and again, they reveal our character.&nbsp;You find it in all the ancient greats. Ask Seneca. Consult Marcus Aurelius. Reason through, in this case, Aristotle’s ethics. You could say you can know who you are through your habits because habits also reveal another aspect of ourselves, they reveal our values.On this week's episode, Chad connects the inner to the outer when it comes to living out your values. What is the Habit Paradox? How do you turn your thoughts and values into sustained action?Time Stamps:0:31--The idea of applying practical wisdom, to form enduring change3:22--Contrary to popular belief, willpower is in the body AND mind, but requires energy and isn't enough alone to form a habit6:30--Our habits and what they reveal10:31--The way the habit paradox develops16:28--Why do you know what to do but don't do it?21:13--Why Aristotle would have called you practically wise if you are able to live out what you value23:11--Unpacking Aristotle's statement about how the person who has mastered their emotions will ever go back or slip into Akrashia27:09--Naming the "When"29:43--Finally answering the "Why"Show Notes and Links:Aristotle's EthicsThe Science of WillpowerFollow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.Subscribe on Spotify

Today’s episode is focused on visualization and specifically we put on our critical thinking hats and consider how it plays into the Law of Attraction. This law can be easily misunderstood. So, we are going to explore what it really means, how it can be harnessed and why it truly is powerful when applied with discipline, and also what it is NOT.&nbsp;What we focus on, we attract. The Law Of Attraction goes way beyond just 'visualizing' or 'vision boarding' our dreams. What we're ultimately doing is feeling and tuning into our vision of how we want things to be. We discuss not only how you conduct visualization, but also how you must do so with discipline, the same way anyone trains any other part of their body.This episode is chock full of fascinating nuggets about the brain, supported by science and evidence-based research, AND with specific takeaways that you can take with you wherever you happen to be listening.Time Stamps:1:10--The law of attraction, what it is and how it's had some twisted iterations over the years7:13--The question for our audience today8:50--When Shelley first started getting intentional about visualizing in 201014:09--One of the enemies of learning: daring to dream17:17--Setting the intention25:19--Matthew Ricard, the molecular biologist who became a Buddhist monk28:43--How you've got to train your brain32:36--Visualization connects to RAS (Reticular Activating System)37:40--Not like magic, it takes energizing your life in a certain direction45:30--Start with small things and then go to bigFollow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.Subscribe on Spotify

If you’re like a lot of people, you don’t really care about the health effects of drinking, and frankly you probably don’t care to know. But the fact is that most of us have been drinking more than we want to for a long time.&nbsp;And a lot of the time when we do this it also fills us with guilt, maybe even shame. Or to bring this full circle, maybe you really don’t think about it and don’t want to think about it.&nbsp;But if you’re honest, really honest, like we chose to get honest with ourselves finally–you probably don’t feel entirely in control of your ability to choose whether or not you actually drink.&nbsp;We are not here to evangelize. But we are here to share a couple of things. First, as coaches, we fully recognize that we have to be doing the very work that we are coaching others in. If we are helping others free themselves from mindless habits and envisioning the life they want, we have to have done the work ourselves. Perhaps even more importantly for you, we want you to see–to have the insight or recognition–that you are in control of you. You can shift your thinking and experience transformation unlike what you ever thought might be possible.&nbsp;It doesn’t matter what your friends will say or think. It doesn’t matter what your spouse will say or think. It does matter what you believe and what you think. And this topic, like any other, is about beliefs, both conscious and unconscious. It is about the power of these beliefs and how they shape our thinking, and therefore our actions.&nbsp;The aim of this episode is NOT to offer you tips. Tips are a dime a dozen whether they’re good ones or bad. What is more difficult to come by are workable ways to apply tips, to replace one behavior pattern with another. When you learn how to change a habit, it is usually not too hard to decide which ones to change.&nbsp;Let’s dive in!Time Stamps:2:30--Maybe you're just a little curious about evaluating your relationship to alcohol.6:14--We want you to have the recognition that you have the control over your thinking and what you want to do, and this is about shifting your thinking, not tips.9:50--How alcohol dependency became like a slow burn, just this habit that formed over time.15:24--When the shift happened for Shelley early on this year.21:40--How you can self-assess where you are right now and thinking of the desire behind the habit, or is it the habit behind the desire?24:01--Chad tells his story of his relationship with alcohol.29:10--Chad's approach is a little different than Shelley's.29:48--Quote by Dostoevsky about habits in the second half of life.32:15--How the habit may start first.37:31--If you want to start taking it to the next level and other ideas.40:20--The final takeaway. Show note links for further inquiry:This Naked MindNew genetic study confirms that alcohol is a direct cause of cancerA ‘factory reset’ for the brain cures anxiety, drinking behaviorWhat sudden insights look like inside the brainFollow up with us and check out our Burnout Coaching Package here.<a...

Shelley shares her story of burning out and what she's done with it five years on.Chad asks questions based on what he's hearing and thinking about from her story. Shelley discusses how she began to take radical responsibility for herself and her "self" alone and how this led to the tipping point of recovery. We learn about how Social Twos have their own special sauce when it comes to control, and how pride takes hold of the ego. Time Stamps:1:09--How the story has evolved3:40--Back in 2014, I started a venture backed technology company8:05--How Shelley refused to admit defeat for months even after the team was gone10:20--Working 80-hour weeks13:54--On control and the need for humility24:06--How Shelley had to get out of the frying pan27:00--After stabilizing, the next step is analyzing28:37--The final step is visualizing34:04--"We're either broken open, or we willfully shed."35:05--Why Shelley can be grateful for her burnout now (five years later)39:46--Expectations lead to a lot of our unhappiness44:41--When the system doesn't work (and we don't work in the system)49:00--The idea of radical responsibility and how it led to a turning point53:06--Shelley's final reflection questionWe're so glad to have you here for our second episode of Season 4!Subscribe on Spotify

We've got a few questions on the subject of failure. Do you really learn from failure? What does it mean to actually fail at something? How big or how small does the failure have to be? Do you really learn more when you have a losing season instead of a winning one? Where did the “fail fast” mentality come from, and does it mean the same thing today?&nbsp;Everyone’s paths are different, but many of us start out with early indications about what we should be for the rest of our lives. We begin to believe that the only way for the arch of lives to be considered a success is to make sure those first mountain life decisions turn out to be the fulfillment of those early dreams. What happens when those plans don’t turn out the way you thought they would? What does it mean to fail at something that seems so big?&nbsp;The truth is everyone fails. Everyone experiences setbacks both personal and professional. It IS of course what you do with the failure. But the truth is also that failure is a lot more complicated than the “fail fast” mantra would have you believe. First of all, failure sucks. Failure is messy. Of the four noble truths of Buddhism, the first is that life IS suffering. And the second noble truth? That the avoidance of suffering causes more suffering. We avoid failure in the same way we avoid suffering.&nbsp;So what happens when you identify, accept, and even embrace failure? And what are the failure(s) you truly do want to avoid? We figure it all out on Chad's big failure story on this week's first edition of Season 4 of the Big Self Podcast!Time Stamps:3:19--How David Brooks' The Second Mountain has a lot do with what we're talking about6:33--The second mountain is when you you shed the ego enough to break open8:32--What does it actually mean to fail at something because none of us want to fail?11:37--Even about the age of 10, I was always interested in being a writer13:30--Your first mountain. So you just turned 50 crossed the threshold.19:39--What do you now see that you've learned from the failure?20:25--Congratulations on the failure24:51--Failure Lesson #127:16--Failure Lesson #231:05--Failure Lesson #331:56--Failure Lesson #435:57--Failure Lesson #538:47--Failure Lesson #641:27--Failure Lesson #743:30--Failure Lesson #8Show Notes:The Second Mountain by David BrooksFalling Upwards by Richard RohrFinding Meaning in the Second Half of Life by James HollisMy Losing Season by Patrick ConroyEgo Is the Enemy by Ryan HolidayTiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Life and Love from Dear Sugar by Cheryl StrayedBorn a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Noah BaumbachLive Your Truth by Kamal RavikantCourage: The Joy of Living Dangerously by OshoThinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel KahnemanSubscribe on Spotify

Burnout has become one of the most talked about workplace and life topics, and its impact is far-reaching. But too much of the conversation is focused on the problem vs. what we can actually do to break free from burnout.In her new game-changing, self-illustrated book, THE AWESOME HUMAN PROJECT: Break Free from Daily Burnout, Struggle Less, and Thrive More in Work and Life Nataly makes a compelling case that while challenges in life are constant, struggle is optional. She offers us proven science-backed and engaging methods to help us break through the cycle of “daily burnout,” as she defines it -- methods which have already transformed over a million people and counting. Nataly’s book is intensely personal and written as a response to her own journey as a refugee who viewed struggle as a way of life. After achieving tremendous success in the corporate and startup worlds, Nataly suffered a debilitating burnout, which taught her a powerful lesson: You can’t give what you don’t have.We are delighted to have Nataly on for our 100th episode and our final guest for the first quarter of 2022. Find Nataly here, or at happier.com.Time Stamps:3:09--Why Nataly and her parents fled the former Soviet Union in 19898:20--How Nataly went through a debilitating burnout10:40--Nataly's experience with startups and struggling, and the difference of challenge15:12--Getting emotionally fit, and how Nataly found her way18:20--How Nataly realized she wasn't just her brain (and learned to talk back)22:40--The five ways to keep emotionally fit (in a nutshell)29:00--For people who are moving into burnout in a pretty deep way right now34:00--Normalizing self-care as a priority at work38:45--You don't need to burnout to learn, but you probably need an interruption41:41--Playing it forward and asking, "How do you want to experience your life?"45:15--What Nataly hopes you'll takeaway from her bookSubscribe on Spotify.

Today we speak with entrepreneur and investor, Ted Alling. Ted is a leader in Chattanooga who uses his entrepreneurial achievements to create opportunities for others.He is the co-founder and former CEO of a $500-million startup, Access America, which merged with UPS subsidiary Coyote Logistics.That initial success allowed Ted and his fellow Access America founders to create Lamp Post Group, a venture capital firm and tech-focused incubator located right here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Lamp Post is responsible for developing and incubating literally dozens of startups. From there, he co-founded Dynamo in 2016, a venture-capital fund with a focus in logistics technology. And then in 2018, he and his wife Kelly, helped to found the Chattanooga Preparatory School, an all-boys charter school.&nbsp;Chattanooga Prep is designed to provide unique and impactful educational opportunities for the young men in the city’s urban communities, and it opened to its inaugural class of sixth graders in August 2018 and now has over 300 young men.It’s been a wild ride throughout the past two decades, and Ted has not only succeeded himself, but has an ability to bring others along with him. He has also done a lot of personal development and learned a lot, sometimes the hard way, about himself, others, and best practices when it comes to building companies and culture. That is why we wanted to speak with him on the Big Self Podcast.Time Stamps:4:00--Ted's love of the Enneagram6:24--The biggest hack for all our listeners on the Enneagram10:20--The progressive realization of a worthy ideal (what success is)18:00--How some companies are living out their values now more than in the recent past27:43--When Ted and Kelly met David Robinson in researching for their prep school30:57--How Chattanooga Prep selects the 70 students they enroll each year34:40--How they create the "Disney World Experience" for the kids right off the bat37:43--When Ted first discovered the power (and addictive nature) of the Blackberry40:33--How Ted recognizes how some have huge advantages over othersSubscribe on Spotify.

Leading teams and organizations to greatness has never been more challenging than it is right now. But there is opportunity amidst the chaos.We are now in an era of post-traumatic growth. An Egon Zehnder study reports that 80% of CEOs strongly agreed they needed to transform themselves as well as their organizations—up from 26% prior to the pandemic.Employees want to grow. Leaders want to help their people and their companies grow—and recognize that the only way to do that is to grow themselves. The challenge lies in knowing how to stop walking in circles, and move forward.In her new book SMART GROWTH: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company (Harvard Business Review Press; January 11, 2022) Whitney Johnson, CEO of Disruption Advisors, and one of the top ten business thinkers in the world as named by Thinkers50, provides a set of tools to get smart about growth.Whitney Johnson is CEO of the tech-enabled development company Disruption Advisors, an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private company in America and was recently named #8 on the Thinkers50 list for 2021, made up of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world. She is an award-winning author, a regular keynote speaker and she and Shelley really hit it off on this week's episode.Time Stamps:3:50--Working on a new framework of personal disruption led to the S Curve concept9:55--Whitney's turning point moment of realizing she is going to have to disrupt herself11:45--What's interesting about different kinds of fears16:31--We're all operating at different levels of fears and awareness19:38--Whenever you start something new you are at the base of the S25:00--The many different ways you can apply the S curve to your life31:06--The six stages of growth that correspond to the S curve39:00--That place where your identity is shifting44:20--You want to race before you've spent time in the collector phase47:40--How 2022 is the Great Aspiration rather than the Great ResignationShow notes links:&nbsp;https://whitneyjohnson.com/Be one of the first three listeners to leave us a review on on Apple iTunes and receive your free copy of Whitney's brand new hardcover: Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Anne Scottlin is on a mission around the world to help people from business executives to creatives to startup employees who wear a lot of hats to find their joy. What does joy mean? What does it mean to possess it and carry it around with you wherever you go? Tune in to find out. Plus, how Anne practices her own methods in her life. Also, what happened when Anne mind-mapped her life and connected the dots from Medieval literature to acting to altruism around the world supporting oppressed women.Thanks for tuning in to this week's Big Self Podcast. Show notes links:&nbsp;Find Anne’s newly released book, Live For Joy, here.&nbsp;Grab a one-week journal to foster and create your own joy awareness at https://www.annescottlin.com/joyjournal.Time Stamps:3:40--The difference between joy and happiness6:00--Wishful thinking and how to overcome it, and how Anne's early experiences led to her life journey of finding joy and then wanting to share it with others11:40--The relationship of the PERMA model17:25--What Anne advises when people want to make a career transition24:25--The conflict that creating such deep individualism often brings33:46--We tend to remember where we fell short40:00--The Big Self TakeawayLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Long before the pandemic gripped the world and blurred the lines between home and work, we had become a nation suffering high levels of burnout. It is one of the most discussed, and far-reaching problems in the workplace today. And that is why we are covering it from a wide variety of perspectives on our podcast here at the top of the year from top business professionals and trained coaches, researchers, and leaders.In BEATING BURNOUT AT WORK: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience, founder of the Stress and Resilience Institute Paula Davis provides a new framework to help organizations prevent employee burnout via a holistic approach.Her research-driven and actionable book is the first to explore a comprehensive approach for building the resilience of teams of all sizes. Her framework works with organizations ranging from Harvard Law School to Walgreens, and is aimed at reshaping the organizational policies, decision-making, and political, social, and economic issues that contribute to workplace stress.Time Stamps:4:44--A big part of what people are getting wrong about burnout8:42--We can't just keep approaching the systemic issue of burnout through the individual, which is what lead to the idea of working with teams first and foremost12:06--Interesting research that you can be highly engaged and burned out14:15--Psychological safety as a foundational element20:16--Start with the Resilient Teams Inventory25:10--Detecting your icebergs29:23--The core values and powerful themes that come up for leaders that they're not always conscious of32:40--We don't listen to understand; different kinds of listening35:58--Suck it up and drive on and do it the way I did it42:00--The importance of coaching44:03--The Big Self TakeawayLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

We’ve been covering burnout from our inception at the top of 2020. We've suffered from it in different ways and at different times in our lives. Now we help organizations and leaders deal with it, and we had no idea how acute it would become and how the screws would tighten with the circumstances and chaos of the pandemic.&nbsp;And who better to bring on the show to discuss her own unique strategies and experiences than Jennifer Moss? In her compelling new book, Moss argues our current strategies are getting it all wrong – that self-care won’t cure burnout and organizations need to entirely rethink their approach to wellness. Leveraging her latest research and evidence-based solutions, her recent book, The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It, will help leaders and individuals prevent burnout for healthier, happier, and more productive workplaces.We tend to think of burnout as a problem we can solve with self-care: more yoga, better breathing techniques, and more resilience. But evidence is mounting that applying personal, Band-Aid solutions to an epic and rapidly evolving workplace phenomenon isn't even close to enough.&nbsp;Moss’s book is eye-opening, paradigm-shifting, and offers a practical guide, laying bare the real causes of burnout and how organizations can stop the chronic stress cycle that an alarming number of workers suffer through.&nbsp;Self-care is important, but it's not a cure-all for burnout. Be sure and stay tuned to the end for our Big Self Takeaway!Time Stamps:4:31--The root causes of burnout6:28--The World Health Organization definition of burnout8:05--When your leaders are passionate about their work and they become less aware of the model they're setting9:30--Feeling external pressure in high growth organizations12:10--Industries we're seeing a lot of burnout in14:08--Overwork is responsible for 2.8 million deaths last year18:38--Research on video conferencing fatigue23:52--How Jennifer used to look down on burnout before she went through it26:30--Seeing an accumulation of small traumas leading to grief31:30--The Big Self TakeawayLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

“People change all the time,” write Peter Bregman and Howie Jacobson in their new book, You CAN Change Other People. “They make big changes like starting businesses, getting married, moving, or getting a new job. And they make smaller changes like eating healthier, waking up earlier, or listening better. But people change when they choose to change. If they feel like you’re trying to make them change? Forget it.”How do we help others make changes they actually want and need to make? Well, drawing on decades of experience helping leaders, employees, and others to change, Bregman and Jacobson offers a straightforward, proven, and repeatable four-step process for helping people make meaningful changes, and we get a taste of that in our conversation today.&nbsp;We are always on the lookout for those books that offer us depth, give us specific takeaways and challenges, and also inspire us. Oh, and do all this without shaming us to do better or else we suck. And today’s guests have executed on a book full of ideas that does just that.Be sure and stay tuned to the end for our Big Self Takeaway!Time Stamps: 2:10--So how did you all come to think of this and research this for the book?7:00--Ally is the first step to shift from critic to ally9:05--The first step in the process actually does begin with yourself when you step in as a supporter15:30--What to do if you've asked for permission give feedback and they (on rare occasions) say, "No."21:48--How do you handle working with shame with individuals27:58--The people I most want to be in conversation with33:27--Is there anything good in a person's "bad" behavior?41:15--Develop a plan for people to track themselves49:25--The Big Self TakeawayLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

It’s that time of year! Time for reflection. Time for slowing down and chilling out after all the social functions. And time to recharge those batteries. We are taking inventory to pat ourselves on the back for our accomplishments, to get real about the small and possibly big ways we can improve our coming year.We break it down into five pragmatic and powerful ways to move forward in self-awareness, in confidence, in optimism, and to make those annual goals using the SMARTER method, and breaking them down into small, manageable steps. Time Stamps:2:47--This is more like a life audit and not like some kind of PIP3:49--The guiding question10:27--As much as what you stop doing as by what you do do15:00--As yourself what you're avoiding and why19:32--Looking at those moments where you came alive21:06--Annual goals should be SMARTER26:49--Start thinking in micro steps toward the big goals32:05--Our final word for the yearLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Sebastian Matthews experienced a life-changing event that was almost life-ending. Besides the broken bones, part of his growth process for him and his family was dealing with the trauma.&nbsp;He tells us that sometimes PTSD doesn’t even set in until a couple of years after the event. He also tells us that we don’t all have to go through such an intense trauma to experience things like burnout, anxiety, and disconnection from yourself and others.&nbsp;He believes in the creative life, in soft boundaries between work and play, but definitely adheres to some clear and consistent routines.&nbsp;He also believes in connection. He began that process first by writing about the experience with his book, Beginner’s Guide to a Head-On Collision. More recently, his award-winning Beyond Repair: Living in a Fractured State documents his experience in reconnecting with the culture, community, and country he found himself immersed in.&nbsp;He reminds us that we need to start with ourselves, but after the healing begins, there comes a time to quit the navel-gazing and get out there and re-connect with the world.While getting out of the house and meeting up with old friends in different places is one way, the deeper connection is to connect with your community. Sebastian reminds us of ways to do so in reasonable, realistic ways. One lesson he’s learned through the past decade of struggle is that “the only way out is through.” But the second, no less important one, is that when you give back to others, you reap unexpected rewards. This is the way to growth, healing, and beating the sense of disconnection so many of us find ourselves in here at the end of 2021.Time Stamps:2:43--Shelley says she sees burnout as a continuum3:36--Sebastian describes his struggle with stress and how it may relate to burnout7:09--Sebastian sees a definitive turning point in his life from his car accident10:35--What was the impetus behind Sebastian's decision to move forward?14:34--You don't have to go through a massive traumatic event to learn to cope and move forward24:58--How can you serve and give back without necessarily being a frontline activist?27:29--Multitasking gets a bad rap31:32--Sebastian reads a section from his book called "Invisible"Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

The idea behind the name Big Self is a paradox. We encourage people to do the inner work before they take big leaps, so they know their ladder is leaning on the right wall in the first place, and that they're motivated for the right reasons. Or if they come to us in burnout or crisis, we still begin with inner work, which usually begins with self-awareness training, and personality "hacking."&nbsp;When it comes to the self we want to diffuse the ego so that when we lean into our ambitions and aspirations we do so with authenticity, healthy boundaries, integration, and sustainable purpose.We work with businesses to help them improve their communication and culture. That is why we do have an audience that talks about personality types in order to shortcut the inner growth. We've indexed hard on that this past year.&nbsp;More recently we're hitting on topics like burnout, healthy work culture, shorter workweeks, boundaries, and topics related to the outward manifestation of real change.&nbsp;What we’re talking about today:How the idea for the name came about. The Buddhist idea of the Big Self.&nbsp;How it came to mean aim high but also manage your ego and how you engage with the world.How we focused on burnout at first.How we have come into the Enneagram as a tool for personal growth and developmentHow we are for leaders in the professional world, but we also are getting ready to make offerings for parents and couplesTime Stamps:2:49--Shelley quotes Thomas Merton's "ladder leaning on the wrong wall" verbatim without reading4:50--Who we are is how we lead7:45--We have discussed burnout from the beginning and have several experts in forthcoming episodes9:34--The idea of Big Self as a name13:27--The different ways you can use the Enneagram 17:05--Parts of ourselves that we own and disown23:05--Three stages of reactivity27:27--The brilliance of the Enneagram30:00--You can use it for spiritual purposes, but if you're uncomfortable with that, you don't have to use it that wayLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

On this week’s episode we speak with Joe Sanok. In 2012 Joe launched Practice of the Practice to blog about what he was learning about business, marketing, and private practice. Since then, his income has gone up over 2,000%. In the beginning, he was making around $1000 per month. In 2015, he grossed over $200k. By 2019, he had sold his private practice.&nbsp;Joe is a keynote and TEDx speaker, business consultant, and podcaster. He has the #1 podcast for counselors, The Practice of the Practice Podcast, which btw is a great podcast for entrepreneurs and solopreneurs as well.&nbsp;Joe is also the author of five books and has been named a top Therapist Resource for his podcast, blogging, and consultant services.His approach incorporates story, humor, research, and practical application.The pandemic has forced conversations about meaningful change at work, and shown us that we can live differently. A remarkable positive consequence of this worldwide lockdown is the experiment it inherently created by everyone abruptly and continuously working from home and making our own schedules.&nbsp;The last year has proven to even the skeptics, that work can be done differently. Will the change be permanent? Or will we, as usual, return to what we know? We’ve been asking this question on several recent episodes. Will we allow the Industrialist mindset to continue to define our week or will we reinvent ourselves and our time?&nbsp;Joe has just released a new book on this very subject, THURSDAY IS THE NEW FRIDAY is essential reading for anyone in search of both peace and fulfillment. In 2021, that’s very nearly all of us. This book is inspiring and instructive and we are thrilled to have Joe join us for today’s episode.Learn more about Joe here:https://joesanok.com/media/https://www.practiceofthepractice.comTime Stamps:3:42--The big shift that we're moving away from self-help type of books7:04--In looking back Joe always got the most done during 4 days and the most important stuff always naturally rises to the surface9:15--The difference between hard and soft boundaries11:39--Boundaries are the actions we take to protect our values15:32--What the Sprint Type is and how it's a helpful measurement for determining how we might work best with our values and boundaries24:40--Setting expectations and boundaries at home is essential27:40--The Industrialist mindset and how things have remained the same since 192633:36--We're an Enneagram 3 culture41:00--How teams can work together to establish boundaries together while also maintaining their revenue and productivity44:50--There are always going to be people who are against this thinking, but let's aim for the middle48:59--The Big Self TakeawayLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Personality Hacker is an organization designed to help people leverage their own mental processes to optimize whatever can be optimized: productivity, communication, job satisfaction, and most importantly – your overall happiness. When we get these needs met we stop being so myopic through the lens of our own experience, and start seeing a bigger picture.Today’s episode gives you some high-level overview of the Myers-Briggs as a system from Antonia Dodge and Joel Mark Witt. We also nerd out a little. In the end, we think you’ll learn something about how this all works and the powerful potential value it holds when you use it as a tool for growth. The entry point isn’t the important thing, it’s how you apply it to become the best version of you.Listen to the end when we give you the Big Self Takeaway.Time Stamps:5:30--The way we approach Myers-Briggs is not your mom's Myers-Briggs6:57--The point of origin of Myers-Briggs is actually Carl Jung (from Psychological Types)8:40--It has something that can applied12:24--There's a lot of one-sidedness to our personalities15:48--This system works well to identify a problem in our personalities, especially when things aren't working well19:40--We have a tendency to over-attach to our type, especially at first20:20--Most people aren't coming to the system with so much depth, they want practical applications31:40--The people sitting in the car when it comes to the functions of your personality36:00--Personality systems create a map for us to leverage 36:34--Is the goal integration?40:41--Trust and working with businesses43:10--The challenge in talking about the difference between Sensing and Intuition55:05--The Big Self TakeawayFind Joel Mark Witt and Antonia Dodge at:https://personalityhacker.comhttps://personalityhacker.com/ph-podcast/And check out their book here: Personality Hacker: Harness the Power of Your Personality Type to Transform Your Work, Relationships, and LifeLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Today we speak with a boots-on-the-ground guy. Remmington Curtis is a fan of the podcast and reached out to see if he could join us on the show. We love to hear from our listeners, and we love hearing from not only thought leaders, influencers, and authors, but also the coaches doing the work themselves.A person some might say had the dream job. He spent the first 10 years of his career on Wall Street, researching companies as an equity analyst initially, and later a client relationship manager and ultimately a wealth advisor. But the summer of 2012, he pivoted. He left Wall Street to go and run a small healthcare company, as their CIO for about six years before pivoting, again, to advocate on behalf of the private sector, as the business liaison director at the US Department of Commerce. You could say it’s been quite a journey, as now, some 9 years since he left his Wall Street job, he’s settled into a role helping leaders be better, more effective versions of themselves, and helping them be the leader they wish they had had when they were coming up in their career.Also, introducing our new segment, The Big Self Takeaway, at the end of each guest episode.Time Stamps:1:56--Remmington had the dream job3:50--How he was unhappy and unsettled in his Wall Street job5:34--What it was like shifting to an operations role8:00--Specific techniques he uses with clients and their current challenges11:28--Managing your energy15:09--Leaders who believe expressing your emotions is a sign of weakness21:43--Permissibility versus possibility32:02--The Big Self TakeawayLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

This week we speak with Barbara Dalle Pezze. Barbara is a speaker, author and seminar leader with two decades of experience living and working in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Canada, and the U.S. Barbara works to inspire others, especially entrepreneurs and leaders, to reconnect with their purpose. She does through helping them make mindset shifts and breakthroughs, which in turn helps their teams and organizations effectively create large scale changes. Barbara is a member of the Leadership Development Faculty for the Aisa Pacific Region at a top global financial institution, and visiting professor at FSU, Beedie School of Business (Vancouver, Canada), where she teaches Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the MBA program. She has also recently published an inspirational memoir, The Unexpected Gift.&nbsp;Today she speaks with us about her journey through a sudden and traumatic divorce. It's about how she picked up the pieces and turned her life around in a foreign country, piece by piece.Time Stamps:3:39--Always something exceeding our reality7:40--The seven steps begins with owning your story10:30--Radical friends13:13--Clarity of mind15:00--Barbara is a doctor of Philosophy in Ontology16:40--The idea of "reality testing"17:37--Listening to the body21:40--Partnering with mentors25:20--The idea of finding mentors in books27:00--Forwarding the future35:40--Leadership begins with being a leader to yourself39:00--How do you work with leaders who are hesitant to admit to their blind spotsLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

What is the Great Resignation?&nbsp;What's causing it? What are companies doing about it? And what's our final takeaway?The Great Resignation is a term first used by Anthony Klotz, a psychologist and associate professor of management at Texas A&amp;M University, during an interview with Business Insider. It describes a profound shift in the way Americans are viewing their relationship to work over the past four months.&nbsp;For four months in a row, a record number of Americans are quitting their jobs. In July, the last month for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics published data, 3.98 million workers quit; that's slightly lower than the record-smashing 3.99 million quits in April.So what about it from an individual and collective level?Time Stamps:2:23--The Great Resignation is a thing5:29--Burnout a contributing factor6:45--Still "missing quits" in the system9:08--A high-level tech employee who is disgruntled13:28--Are we seeing companies do anything to address the situation?18:12--People are the most complex and least understood asset23:49--People are adults25:29--Will we just go back?Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Today we speak with Justin Sainton, Elle Worsham, and Erin Maslowski. Enneagram 7s don't like constraints. They tend to want it all, and they have a lot of the tools for getting it. They're head types with the ability to solve a lot of problems through their own structures and spreadsheets. At the same time, they're upbeat and positive. They have loads of interests and plenty of energy.What could go wrong?Sometimes that can be a little complicated. One of the answers our panelists discuss is that trying to blind yourself to pain doesn't always work because life doesn't accommodate your avoidance. It still keeps coming. Also, sometimes being a Seven can be like a "river without banks." You need constraints and boundaries to stay contained and focused.As we conclude our first series of Enneagram panelists spanning the spectrum, Sevens discuss the joys and sorrows of being a Seven. Each of them is doing a lot of growth with their wings and arrows, passions and virtues. Each has their own way of engaging with the world. Today they give us a glimpse of that inner reality, and in vulnerability and discernment, show us a way forward.Time Stamps:1:38--Justin introduces himself3:23--Elle introduces herself6:30--Erin introduces herself9:38--Elle discusses the differences between how she communicates as a head type and her heart type partner12:24--Justin discusses how surprised he sometimes is by his analytical side because he is also constantly wanting to have fun, especially in the eyes of others14:28--Erin agrees with the other panelists but as a counter type (social 7), she also discusses the fear side of being in the thinking side of her own center of intelligence34:14--Elle talks about getting real through the virtue of Sobriety35:58--Justin says that as a 7 he can be like a river without banks37:06--The ego of the 7 is so blinded from pain40:00--How the panelists lean into their six and eight wings consciously and unconsciously45:47--How the arrow work helps in growth53:54--Coming back to mindful practicesThe Big Self Leadership Accelerator is open! We launch October 4, and we've saved a space for you. For details go to: bigselfschool.com/bslaReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

The Enneagram is so much more than a typology. It is so much more than a static symbol. In fact, the Enneagram is a living, breathing, dynamic process-driven system to self-observation and self-understanding. It helps you to understand yourself ("Know Thyself") at deeper level much faster than you ever could without it. It helps you to understand others.In today's episode, Shelley and Chad cover five proven approaches to going beyond just knowing your number. Knowing your number is a start, but then what about it? We discuss the concept and approach to (1) self-observation and why it's mission critical to begin here. Then, we hit on (2) centers of intelligence, (3) wings, (4) arrows, and (5) the passions and virtues as ways to integrate your understanding. Today's episode helps direct to patterns of conscious growth and to escape from your habitual and ingrained personality patterns that keep you stuck.Time Stamps:2:15--The growth paths we're going to cover today3:30--Self-observation is key to everything we teach4:20--And you can't know yourself until you see yourself5:00--We are machines8:04--Definition of Self-Observation14:38--Centers of Intelligence discused21:14--Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one's being, but by integrating the contraries23:03--The moment everyone's been waiting for: wings28:34--The arrows can direct you in terms of big moves in your growth33:49--We also need to be filling up our knowledge bank, as well as what we're learning about ourselves34:18--Discussing the passions and the virtuesThe Big Self Leadership Accelerator is open! We launch October 4, and we've saved a space for you. For details go to: bigselfschool.com/bslaReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Today we speak with Suzy Anthony, Marta Gillilan, and Roger Coles.We discuss what it's like getting into the heads of Sixes. Sixes are sometimes named the Loyalist, and sometimes the Skeptical Troubleshooter. Their archetype centers on a person who seeks security and certainty, but ironically often doesn't find it. Of all the personality types, Sixes are the most loyal to their friends and their beliefs and ideas. At the same time, it's easy to break trust with them if you don't pass their sniff test. And they do find themselves testing others even when they don't always consciously realize it.They tend to look at all scenarios in order to locate potential problems. They ask lots of questions, and look for weak points. Sixes are always aware of their anxieties and are looking for ways to construct security supports. In today's episode we have three Sixes--one for each subtype (we think). These Sixes are vulnerable and open about what it's like to be them, and the work they've done on themselves to work on their growth paths. We discuss all this and much more on this week's Enneagram Six episode.Time Stamps::52--Suzy introduces herself2:20--Marta introduces herself5:30--Roger introduces herself8:12--Talking the head type center of intelligence and the voices in their heads19:42--How they test their reactions24:42--Struggling to trust31:53--Struggling with fear34:09--Marta opens up about her experience in dealing with cancer with both her parents and with her husband39:40--Sixes are great truth-tellers, and how do they step into their courage46:58--Shelley confuses Hamlet for Frodo55:12--Shelley asks each Six to discuss one thing they're working onThe Big Self Leadership Accelerator is open! We launch October 4, and we've saved a space for you. For details go to: bigselfschool.com/bslaReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Today we speak with Richie Daigle and Chris Schoolcraft, two Fives who have done a lot of work to under their personalities and how they show up in the world.We discuss what it's like being a headtype as our center of intelligence, and how they hold on to their knowledge and skills and share it only when they feel completely ready.Fives highly value working independently. They're more comfortable with data and facts than with people and emotions. They also tend to see the work they do through the lens of information that needs to be mastered in order to get the job done. Fives sincerely enjoy learning and you can count them to provide a high level of expertise and authoritative information when given the time to prepare. They also make for good listeners and you can count on them to stay focused on their tasks.We discuss all this and much more on this week's Enneagram Five episode.Time Stamps:1:16--Richie Daigle introduces himself3:35--Chris Schoolcraft introduces himself5:52--Richie discusses what it was like being in his head as a semi-professional baseball player8:05--Chris talks about being disconnected from his heart and body (as a head type)16:25--Richie says he feels like Fives need a certain sense of control20:50--It's like being out on a frozen pond and not being sure the ice can hold28:59--Having had people encroach on their boundaries, Fives can sense from a long way away if someone is being nosy34:02--Shelley asks the panelists about the passion of Avarice38:42--The idea of being prepared is really important42:45--Chris discusses how he may avoid things by generating a defense of indifference47:55--Chris has tried to trust more and think less when it comes to his growth path51:33--Richie talks about getting stuck within feedback loopsThe Big Self Leadership Accelerator is open! We launch October 4, and we've saved a space for you. For details go to: bigselfschool.com/bslaReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Today we speak with Shay and Amanda, along with our very own Chad. We all know how special Fours are, and how much they fear being anything but ordinary. But it's not every day we get to hear the perspectives from two self-preservation subtypes and one relational (one-to-one) subtype at the same time. We discuss what it's like being a heart type as our center of intelligence, how the subtypes really opened up our self-understanding, and the concept of envy. Fours are constantly feeling what they're missing both consciously and unconsciously. Fours highly value authenticity. They are also image focused, but not in a self-absorbed way as some may think. The lens is turned in on themselves a great deal. They have superpowers with empathy, but sometimes when they turn the introjection upon themselves, they can become moody or melancholic, even angry, as they take on the feelings and impressions from others. We discuss all this and much more on this week's Enneagram Four episode.Time Stamps:1:54--Shay Bocks introduces herself4:05--Amanda introduces herself7:36--Chad discusses how he knew pretty much right away that he was a Four, but it was discovering the subtype that really helped11:00--Amanda talks about how it is as a heart type being married to a body type17:20--Amanda agrees with Shay about the image focus of the fours and how it manifests22:50--Amanda picks up on what Chad said about the way he had become angry among his peers when he wasn't being recognized for his value and contribution. She discusses how you just want to feel like there's a place for you in the world.27:10--Shay helps us understand the concept of introjection by beginning with the more commonly understood idea of projection36:18--The masochism comes in for the Fours when they take on the emotions of everyone else and with no clear outlet45:47--Chad discusses a growth path that he is currently on46:46--Shay starts with her growth path and Amanda follows (they encourage everyone to check out the CPEnneagram with Beatrice Chestnut and Uranio Paes)49:10--Shay talks about her meditation of a burning bushThe Big Self Leadership Accelerator is open! We launch October 4, and we've saved a space for you. For details go to: bigselfschool.com/bslaReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Today we’re answering some of your fantastic questions, and it is making for a great show.&nbsp;Could you give us more background on the history of the Enneagram?&nbsp;We give credit to a 20th-century pioneer of the Traditional Enneagram, Oscar Ichazo. We also briefly touch on the influences and how it reached the west.Interesting sidenote: According to Gurdjieff’s student JG Bennett, the Enneagram was developed in the 15th century by mathematicians in the Sarmoun mystery school to express principles symbolized by the newly discovered decimal point. The Enneagram as a symbol represents aspects of mathematical laws — law of three, law of seven, law of one.Could you tell us a little more about what the sub-types are about?&nbsp;Among other things, we discuss the three basic instincts, why they tend to be overlooked in North American teaching of the Enneagram, and how the combination of your type and instinct comprise what we call the sub-type.What is the value or point of the Enneagram besides recognizing your type?We love this question because it’s something we all consciously or unconsciously wonder about as we begin to learn more about ourselves in really any format, any personality typology. In fact, the more we learned about the Enneagram from its many teachers, and the more we understood about ourselves and others as we are in personality, the more we realized that learning our type was just the beginning. It alone is not the point.&nbsp;We are machines, and we live our lives on autopilot. Whether it’s our habits and patterns, our negative emotion traps, our inability to see ourselves clearly, identification, we live our lives unconsciously. We are asleep to ourselves. Also, it:Moves you out of your machinery, wakes you up (use only if you're into self-development work) can actually be detrimental to identify type and leave it there, double down on your patterns, shameHelps you grow efficiently and shows you your personalized path for growing&nbsp;Identifies blind spots that you can’t seeTime Stamps:3:25--Who Oscar Ichazo is5:40--George Gurdjieff gets a lot of credit for bringing the Enneagram to the West, and why9:39--To see where the Enneagram is now and give Claudio Narajano credit for his contributions14:23--The sub-type piece of the conversation is often left out in the U.S.20:19--Why did Chad believe certain sub-types were associated with being introverted or extroverted28:28--Shelley really wants people to start understanding their sub-types as a piece of their self-understanding32:14--We are asleep to ourselves36:50--Why could it be dangerous to only use the Enneagram as a typing system and stop there38:03--What Gurdjieff said you will get from becoming one of his students40:17--The Enneagram reveals things you didn't even know were self-sabotaging youReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Our two Enneagram 3 panelists this week have done a great deal of work on themselves. While Jim Gum certainly has done a tremendous amount of work over his 30 years of working with the Enneagram, Steph Barron Hall's six years or so has brought her a long way as well. If you are ready to learn your Enneagram type and what to do with it, we have a giveaway for you! We’re offering a free Enneagram typing package to a lucky someone who gives us a review on iTunes or Spotify.&nbsp;These typing packages are valued at $375, and include an interview, a proprietary test, and one follow up coaching session. So you heard it here: if you go to iTunes or Spotify and search for The Big Self Podcast and leave us a review, you can enter into a giveaway to get a free Enneagram typing package.After you leave us a review, go to BigSelfSchool.com/enneagramgiveaway and fill out the form so you can be entered to win.Time Stamps:1:25--Jim Gum introduces himself3:42--Steph Barron Hall introduces herself7:41--30 years ago, Jim discusses the intense emotional conflict he was experiencing before he learned about the Enneagram12:30--Steph discusses the validation she felt that 3s are potentially the most emotional type of all18:55--Steph agrees with Jim's point about feeling fragile, and goes on to explain her experience as an Instagrammer33:55--Jim discusses how he has grown out of always having to do something even on his time off40:41--Jim discusses the Thomas Merton prayer that he's memorizing, and also the concept of deceit and how that plays into our lives (and specific to 3s)53:35--Steph discusses the importance of self-compassion for her inner growth62:30--How 3s are so misunderstoodReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Shelley is super excited to introduce you today to her brother and sisters of the Enneagram type Two. These are her people. If you are ready to learn your Enneagram type and what to do with it, we have a giveaway for you! We’re offering a free Enneagram typing package to a lucky someone who gives us a review on iTunes or spotify.&nbsp;These typing packages are valued at $375, and include an interview, a proprietary test, and one follow up coaching session. So you heard it here: if you go to iTunes or Spotify and search for The Big Self Podcast and leave us a review, you can enter into a giveaway to get a free Enneagram typing package.After you leave us a review, go to BigSelfSchool.com/enneagramgiveaway and fill out the form so you can be entered to win.Time Stamps:0:50--Carolyn Swora introduces herself2:34--Ashton Whitmoyer-Ober introduces herself4:56--Jonathon Bow introduces himself7:15--What it means to be a heart type14:27--The definable characteristics of a Two25:23--Core fear that Twos are not really lovable35:28--The passion of pride in the Two43:10--Talking about the growth points of the Two57:10--Jonathan talks about the importance of boundaries60:00--Carolyn brings up the idea of slowing down and listeningReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Type 1s are known as Reformers or Perfectionists. They're also body types, and when it comes to relating to others they can house a lot of energy inside themselves, often in the form of anger. In this episode's discussion, we meet Angie Liski, Kristi Rider, and Randa Hinton. We learn a little more about what makes these types tick, especially when it comes to dealing with anger and the inner critic.*The sound quality on this episode is sub-standard, and we apologize for the issues which have been addressed in all other panelist interviews in this series.Time Stamps:2:00--Kristi Rider introduces herself3:50--Angie Lisky introduces herself6:05--Randa Hinton introduces herself8:16--How Randa carries "the weight of the world" in herself and how learning about how 1s are body types have helped her understand and transcend being a body type9:59--How Angie channels her anger and how it works in the body11:45--How for Kristi being a body type means knowing things quickly13:41--How does being a 1 translate into their work and leadership19:50--How do 1s deal with their inner critic32:05--A brief discussion of the varieties of subtypes in 1s37:08--The virtue of SerenityReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Shelley speaks with two leaders who recognize the 9 within themselves. These two leaders, Suzanna Cooper and Lesley Scarce, have been working on their personal inner growth through the lens of the Enneagram for years now. They offer their deep insights into what it means to function as a body type, how they work with anger, and how they do or don't "self-forget." What does it mean for leaders when they're willing to do the self-development work themselves? Does it really benefit everyone? Is it possible to be vulnerable as a leader with your team? How does it impact their personal relationships as well as their professional?We bring new levels of awareness and personal growth to you through the multi-faceted lens of the Enneagram. We bring you experts and leaders from all the stratification of personality types and human experiences.Time Stamps:2:24--Suzanna introduces herself3:35--Lesley Scarce introduces herself6:37--Shelley asks the panelists what it's like to be a body type10:42--Shelley asks the panelists how aware they are of when the process of body awareness is happening18:49--Shelley asks the panelists if they'd be willing to talk about their anger22:40--The 9s adaptive strategy is to fall asleep to themselves32:27--The passion of the 9s is the "sloth," also described as self-forgetting40:00--When we do the inner work on ourselves, it builds trust with the team45:55--When we do the work everyone around us benefits. Shelley asks the panelists what they've experienced as leaders when they've done the self work of personal inner growthReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

The Big Self Podcast is set to challenge you with everything you know about the Enneagram. Or at least everything you think you know about yourself through the Enneagram as a system for your whole self. On this week's episode we feature three 8s, and whether you think of them as Challengers or not, see what the spectrum of their sub-types reveals. Enneagram 8s are a gut (body) type, and they lead us off on our series of the depth and breadth of the Enneagram. Next week, we represent the 9s. Thanks for tuning in and joining us on our self-development journey. The journey never ends, and there's plenty of work in front of you right now. Learn with us, and we'll see you on the other side.Time Stamps:1:51--Jared Byas introduces himself 3:15--Stacey Ruff introduces herself5:52--Jessica Dickson introduces herself15:30--Discussing the "gut" (or body) type of reaction26:40--How 8s deal with conflict40:40--How 8s are dealing with that inner wounded child43:11--How being tough and strong does not always serve you well51:47--The decision to stop with perfectionism55:45--How 8s work with their passion of lust, and their virtue of innocence66:46--How arrrows are quite importantReady to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Shelley and Chad aren't going to ask anyone else to do what they aren't willing to do themselves. In this episode, Chad puts Shelley on the hot seat. He grills her on what it means to be a 2 with a subtype of self-preservation. She defaults to pride when it comes to her relationships, and a growth path for her revolves around humility. Just how vulnerable will Shelley allow herself to be? As a 2, she is good at listening to others and letting them open up, but part of the unconscious strategy is to avoid having to reveal much about herself. Can Chad crack the Shelley code and get her to cry at least once? Tune in to find out all this and more on this second week of Enneagram hot seats featuring Big Self Co-Founders, Chad and Shelley Prevost. Next week, we dive into our panels discussing their types, what makes them ticks, what are their motivations, how do they function in work settings, where are their weaknesses and virtues.Time Stamps:2:50--What does Shelley think about the rising popularity of the Enneagram?6:34--Heart types15:01--The passion of pride, and how 2s have to work on this21:20--How Shelley defaults in acute stress29:01--How Shelley works with her arrows point at her 4 and 835:00--How Shelley sometimes has to name her emotions36:35--How Shelley began to get traction with the Enneagram as a tool for growth when she gave herself to the system of the Enneagram Ready to unlock your potential? Check out our Enneagram Guide at bigselfschool.com/enneagram.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Shelley and Chad aren't going to ask anyone else to do what they aren't willing to do themselves. In this episode, Shelley puts Chad on the hot seat. What has the Enneagram taught him about himself? What insights has it led to for personal growth? Where is he aware he still has work to do? What's so special about an Enneagram 4 (sexual subtype) anyway? Will Chad crack under the pressure? All this and more on today's special Enneagram deep dive.Time Stamps:3:35-How fours need to think they're special9:37-Overview of the heart, head, and body types11:40-How sadness shows up for fours13:08-How learning the subtypes really helped in understanding exactly who Chad was17:40-How authenticity feels for a four22:40-The issue of inferiority versus superiority26:17-Dealing with the humility of failure45:50-The growth path as Chad currently sees it54:13-The arrows in growth and stress for a fourLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

This week we speak with Dan Cumberland, the CEO of UpsideBuilders and Host of The Meaning Movement to talk about how we can get more out of a career change. Dan is on a mission to 'shake people awake' when it comes to their careers and what they want to do with their lives. There is a common misconception that your career is where your purpose is found when in fact, what you do for work is simply an opportunity to flex the muscles of what makes you happy, what fulfills you.&nbsp;Time Stamps:4:00: Dan realized that the youth ministry wasn't for him7:49: What are the voices that are misguiding12:03: What is your working definition of calling19:11: So how does that fit into your framework and how you think about callings29:50: I don't think failure is necessary, but I but it's, there's usually that inciting incident and to use that language again, that's like something that pushes us over the edge.36:57: I am extremely relational and emotionalLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Gregg Levoy writes that we must be willing to get shaken up, “to submit ourselves to the dark blossoming of chaos” in order to continue growing. People tend to search for answers about their purpose more when they’re confronted by a problem, or when there is something uncomfortable in their life. Levoy has written from a multifaceted lens about calling. "Listen from down below if you want to hear from above," says Levoy. On this week's episode in the Callings series, Levoy shares his wisdom on everything from how to invoke your call, to whether a call is a right or a privilege, to how to listen, and even the consequences of following your call or NOT following.Time Stamps:2:15: How do you invoke a call?7:05: Gregg's definition of callings12:15: The wonderful Jewish proverb about listening from below to hear from above18:40: Is it a privilege to pursue one's call in the first place?21:15: Most people know it when they're in alignment with themselves26:30: An example of someone who just stuck with it34:27: On maybe not meditating some times44:22: On managing paradox betterFind Gregg and his book, Callings, at his site here.If you’re interested in callings go to Big Self School.com/corevalues and download the free activity we’ve created for you to get clear on your core values. It’s fun. It takes 15 minutes, and we believe core values are a critical component of your callings work.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Many people never discern their callings. On this week's Big Self Podcast we discuss what people misunderstand or resist about understanding and interpreting their calling (or sense of purpose and fulfillment in life). We touch on whether or not you have one True Call (with a capital C), whether or not your calling is really your vocation, as well as what it means to trust your intuition and embrace your shadow side. This bonus episode was originally a LIVE episode on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We are happy to bring it to you as a follow-up to an earlier episode where we discuss your five (count 'em, five) callings.Knowing what you value is a critical first step in discerning your callings because it’s an indispensable part of knowing who you are. Your values tether you to your authentic self and they illuminate the way you should go.&nbsp;Download the Core Values workbook for free to get started.Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Jerry Colonna is a professional coach, known for his unique teachings on entrepreneurship and business psychology. He is a co-founder and CEO of the executive coaching and leadership development company, Reboot and is the host of the Reboot Podcast if you’re looking for another great podcast. Among other things, he teaches leaders to embrace extreme challenges (as opposed to avoidance) and take time to discover the 'self' through introspection.&nbsp;His book Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up is a must-read.In this episode, you get a clear picture of how Jerry coaches, his concept of radical inquiry, and he offers his insights into how to do more while maintaining the practice of remaining your authentic self.Time Stamps:1:15: Shelley says, "I think I'm gonna cry" while welcoming Jerry to the show4:45: Shelley asks Jerry to share about his own crucible moment12:53: Jerry brings the conversation back to "calling"15:15: Shelley asks Jerry if it took failure in order to come to the learning point moment20:32: Jerry discusses listening to the inner voice and even gives it a name25:35: Chad asks Jerry a complicated series of questions on calling and listening to the inner voice, and Jerry attempts to tie it altogether33:35: Shelley talks about having a "death grip" on what she thought she was supposed to do35:00: Failure is not necessary, the question is how you respond to life eventsLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Shelley and Chad kick off Season 2 with a series on "callings." In this week's episode, the co-hosts tee off the subject with their own working definition of what calling is and then dive into their own five-part framework for how to discern and build your callings.Let us hear your calling stories. What are the most inspiring stories of people who have clearly found their callings?&nbsp;In what ways would you say you have found your calling already? How do you know who you are already?&nbsp;In what ways would you say you are still looking for your calling?If you’re interested in callings go to Big Self School.com/corevalues and download the free activity we’ve created for you to get clear on your core values. It’s fun. It takes 15 minutes, and we believe core values are a critical component of your callings work.Time Stamps:4:14: Your callings are the experiences you co-create with something bigger than yourself.6:45: The five ways you are called, starting with you are called to grow12:53: You are called to connect16:20: You are called to contribute21:36: You are called to play26:17: You are called to create27:57: Entering a flow stateLeave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Although Tara Well calls herself a “mirror-gazing expert,” what this really means is that she helps people find a way back into themselves. She does that by teaching self-compassion through Mirror Meditation.After many years of disregarding her feelings, Tara found that something as simple as looking into the mirror can help with self-awareness and emotional regulation. Now, she shares her method with others — and it seems to be working miracles.But those miracles are well-backed by science. Tara is an associate psychology professor at Barnard College of Columbia University, where she teaches the theoretical base for her mirror work. On top of that, she writes a column for Psychology Today called The Clarity.Time Stamp:2:41 Tara explains Mirror Meditation&nbsp;5:47 Tara shares the challenges that people face with Mirror Meditation&nbsp;10:49 Self awareness and body awareness as part of Mirror Meditation&nbsp;13:09 The first shift Tara sees in her clients once they start Mirror Meditation&nbsp;15:35&nbsp; Finding your true self under the layer of self criticism&nbsp;17:45 The power of self talk and techniques to manage your inner critic&nbsp;19:22 The technique of video journaling&nbsp;26:53 Video journaling and its impact on image management&nbsp;31:36 The mirror and narcissism&nbsp;38:10 Tara shares how people react when she tells them that she is a Mirror Gazing Expert&nbsp;39:36 Shelley shares a quote from Joseph Campbell&nbsp;41:51 Tara shares about her book and where you can find her Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Jordan believes that personal development is a never-ending process of imagining who you want to be, interpreting why you want to be that person, creating a plan to get there, and then implementing that plan in the most enjoyable and fulfilling way possible.He helps guide people to think differently and make daring changes in their lives. Jordan is trailblazing in the personal development field by using creative storytelling to allow people to gather their own insights from the characters he creates and the stories he shares.He’s a former startup founder, restaurant manager, and soccer goalie. A solopreneur, podcast host, and 2x TEDx speaker, he is also the #1 bestselling author of Getting COMFY: Your Morning Guide to Daily Happiness and The Journey to Cloud Nine.Freebie from Jordan: 61 of the Best Personal Development Books Summarized in One Sentence.Time Stamps:2:20 Jordan shares about his soccer journey and the experience of close but no cigar9:27 How that same theme carried over into his experience when trying to get a consulting job&nbsp;11:46 Jordan shares what these experiences revealed to him about life&nbsp;13:34 How this experience led him to where he is today&nbsp;18:06 The conversation shifts to the topic of luck&nbsp;21:17 Jordan shares his life motto22:33 Shelley shares a story that speaks to the power of reframing and rethinking about challenges in life26.22 Three ways to redirect when things aren’t working out&nbsp;28:54 Shelley talks more deeply about failure and ego30:36 Jordan explains why he is more open to failure at this point in his life&nbsp;32:29 Jordan shares about his morning routine and explains the C.O.M.F.Y acronym&nbsp;&nbsp;38:59 His No News Challenge41:32 Where to find Jordan Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Emily is a master certified coach who specializes in executive leadership and career coaching. She has seventeen years of corporate human resources experience; practical experience from more than 2,500 hours of coaching; and a deep understanding of the human mind, spirit, and potential.&nbsp;Chad: Her clients range from seasoned executives to emerging leaders, to career changers who utilize her support to close the gap between where they are and where they want to be. Emily’s ontological approach allows individuals to clarify their goals, shift beliefs and habits, take risks, execute brilliance, and make quantum leaps rather than incremental improvements.&nbsp;Check her out here, or go straight to her book, The New Golden Rule.Time Stamps:1:48 Emily shares about the new golden rule&nbsp;3:53 Emily talks about the bumpy road that got her to discover the new golden rule&nbsp;9:18 Emily shares how her real transformation happened when she learned to ask for support&nbsp;11:46 The new golden rule as a unisex message and how men struggle with this as well&nbsp;14:55 How to know what you really need17:52 Emily explains why it’s so important to retrain the people in our lives&nbsp;19:29 Emily shares her fundamental belief that there are two sides of self&nbsp;23:22 How to find the confidence to clarify your needs, communicate them and maintain them24:42 We discuss fear of failure&nbsp;26:24 Shifting to a growth mindset and committing to the work over looking for a quick fix&nbsp;27:40 The importance of community&nbsp;30:56 Emily talks about the importance of self awareness&nbsp;33:27 Emily shares about her book: The New Golden Rule&nbsp;35:21 Emily shares the practice and routines that work for her&nbsp;38:21 Where to find Emily&nbsp; Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

Kevin M. Johnson’s work is on the recovery of the space outside of ego, so our work in Big Self School swims in the same waters. Kevin is a teacher, retreat director, and co-host of the podcast Encountering Silence. Having spent years achieving a number of advanced degrees, speaking at large academic conferences, and even presenting at prestigious schools like Yale and Harvard Universities, he discovered he needed to walk a bit outside the halls of the Academy to explore deeper.Although he continues to teach at the university level, he now jokingly refers to himself as “a recovering academic” who teaches online and in various settings outside the university that often crosses boundaries into spaces that are not currently on our cultural maps.Kevin is looking to recover a space for holistic wellness and wisdom. Somewhere in the intersection of spirituality, psychology, wellness, self-help, and philosophy. A space that does not fit in easily on our current cultural maps.&nbsp;Find out more about Kevin at his website and at his podcast, Encountering Silence.Time Stamps:2:15 Kevin explains why he refers to himself as a recovering academic&nbsp;6:15 Kevin talks about the mental map and the difference between how we think about things today versus the past&nbsp;12:06 We discuss Seneca and Stoicism&nbsp;14:23 The philosophy conversation continues17:36 Kevin shares the essential parts of what it means to be human and how it has been left out of our cultural map&nbsp;21:06 Kevin talks about silence and why it is so essential&nbsp;22:41 Kevin leads us through an exercise&nbsp;26:01 Silence and our inner critic&nbsp;28:23 Kevin answers the question ‘what makes us ready for silence?’&nbsp;34:48 We discuss the intimacy of silence with ourselves and others&nbsp;37:43 What silence actually allows us to see&nbsp;41:34 Kevin shares two simple things you can do to help you feel more connected&nbsp;45:20 Shelley shares a Parker Palmer quote that she loves&nbsp;47:37 Where to find Kevin&nbsp;Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.Subscribe on Spotify.Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.