Alexi Panos & Preston Smiles: Your Epic Life in Five Steps
In this episode of Art of Authenticity I had a thoughtful conversation with Alexi Panos and Preston Smiles, the founders of The Bridge Method and authors of the upcoming book, Now or Never.As founders of the groundbreaking Bridge Method (which includes their live workshops, and various online training programs), they have created a movement of transformation that has taken humanity by storm through their unique and passion-filled approach to sharing age old wisdom.Using social media as a main source of connection and distribution of their lively educational videos, they’ve built an incredible tribe of loyal fans around the globe who aren’t just inspired by their work, but are empowered by it.
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Again, thank you so much for your support! Please
if you haven’t already!
Show Notes
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The idea behind their book, Now or Never [02:50]
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The first step to an epic life [04:45]
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Your "condition tendencies" [07:40]
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Letting go of right and wrong [08:40]
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How everyone has a backpack [10:02]
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Why compassion is the core [13:42]
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Why it's so interesting to peel back on your identity and see what you find [16:45]
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How Alexi and Preston's backstories led to the emergent wisdom movement [21:20]
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How they keep themselves from making inauthentic choices [31:40]
More About Alexi and Preston
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Their upcoming book, Now or Never
Episode Resources
Contribution and Cultivating Your Talents
Today we're going to talk about cultivating your talents, learning how to love what is unique about you, recognizing it, and trying to cultivate that specific skill and give it out to the world. Most of us look around at what other people are doing and wish that we were cultivating their talents, living their life.How do you learn to love what you do and give it out to the world so that they can get the value of what is special and unique about you?Thanks for ListeningAgain, thank you so much for your support! Please subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already!Episode Resources
Matt Aaron: Money, Pressure, and Passion
In this episode of Art of Authenticity I had a thoughtful conversation with Matt Aaron, the cofounder of Andes Fruits and creator of the Food Startups Podcast. Matt Aaron is a food entrepreneur, cofounding Andes Fruits in Colombia. They ship exotic Colombian fruits to the United States. He's also the creator of the Food Startups Podcast, a show dedicated to demystifying the confusing food business.But he wanted to talk about something else today - money, pressure, and passion. More importantly, how do you balance these three forces in your life in a way that's truly authentic to you? It's not easy, and Matt's not claiming to have all of the answers, but he certainly has some interesting insight that I think you'll enjoy.
Thanks for Listening
Again, thank you so much for your support! Please
if you haven’t already!
Show Notes
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Matt's background and what inspired him to become an entrepreneur [2:20]
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The background on his podcast, The Food Startups Podcast [5:50]
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How the reception has been to his podcast [08:17]
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Why he wanted to talk about money, pressure, and passion [09:45]
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Dispelling myths about passion [12:40]
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How to balance money vs. passion [15:01]
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Balancing the pressure of business with life [18:02]
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The power of journaling and digital detoxes [23:33]
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Balancing your current business success with your future goals [25:10]
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How Matt defines authenticity [28:30]
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His big turning point moments [30:02]
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The last time he was almost inauthentic and caught himself [32:18]
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Matt's daily practices [35:24]
More About Matt
Episode Resources
Henna Inam: Wired for Authenticity
In this episode of Art of Authenticity I had a thoughtful conversation with Henna Inam, a sought-after leadership speaker and the author of Wired for Authenticity.Henna Inam is a sought after speaker, successful author, and CEO of Transformational Leadership Inc. Her unique workshops, tools, and online community help managers create innovative, engaged teams that drive measurable results.Henna and her global partner team work with Fortune 500 companies to deliver executive coaching, leadership development, and team workshops. Clients include Coca-Cola, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, CNN, and Bank of America. Prior to starting her company, Henna worked for 20 years at Procter & Gamble and Novartis. She has lived or worked across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Thanks for Listening
Again, thank you so much for your support! Please
if you haven’t already!
Show Notes
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Henna's background [03:15]
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How she transitioned from her corporate life into coaching [04:45]
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Why she chose the word authenticity [10:40]
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Why authenticity is not about being rigid [15:05]
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Why staying curious matters [17:20]
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Why the physical body is a cue to authenticity [19:29]
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Why you must discover the values that are important to you [27:45]
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What someone who is just starting out can do to be more authentic [31:35]
More About Henna
Episode Resources
How to Break Through to Your Truth
Today, I’m responding to an email I received from Liana, I hope I didn’t butcher the name too much, Liana. She wrote in and said she was a fan of the show — thank you so much — and that she was wondering if I would share my experience in helping and guiding others to shape their authentic life. “What is it been like for you and what is challenging and rewarding?”I love this question because really at the heart of this question is a much deeper conversation about what gets in our way when we are thinking about what we want, when our life isn’t exactly where we want it to be often, our life as you know from all the people I interviewed on the podcast, it’s really more of a journey and as much as you find something that makes you happy six months from now, six years from now, you may wake up and realize you need to make some more changes.So my clients often come to me in that place. They don’t know what’s off or they recognize that they want to change their career but they can’t figure out why it’s so difficult to answer a simplequestion of what they want, what they want to see different, where they want to go, what’s the next steps? Getting real of themselves, determining what’s going on, it somehow gets all muddled and they get stuck, right? We start to feel stuck.Thanks for ListeningAgain, thank you so much for your support! Please subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already!Episode Resources
Marie Wiese: Mastering Old School Marketing in a Digital Era
In this episode of Art of Authenticity I had a thoughtful conversation with Marie Wiese, the CEO of Marketing Copilot and author of You Can't Be Everywhere.Marie is a long-time marketing professional who has a unique view on marketing, both offline and online. She helps companies build digital marketing engines that drive leads and sales.This conversation with Marie was eye-opening for me. Having just jumped into the online game about a year ago, I know as well as anyone else how overwhelming it can be to try to make sense of all of the channels, strategies, and tactics.She's able to shine a light on marketing a business online in a way that actually makes sense, because at her company Marketing Copilot she practices what she calls "evidence-based marketing." That means she uses actual data to come to conclusions about marketing. If you're someone who is struggling to make sense of how to approach your marketing, this episode is a must-listen for you.
Thanks for Listening
Again, thank you so much for your support! Please
if you haven’t already!
Show Notes
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A brief history of Marie's career in marketing and communications [02:55]
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What she thinks the #1 misconception about online marketing is [05:00]
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How to combat overwhelm when starting to market online [06:28]
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How to track your progress to make sure you're on the right track [08:35]
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How to get into the details and make your marketing more effective [11:4o]
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A story about chinese restaurants and marketing [13:30]
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What the point of resistance is for most people [16:02]
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The details behind Content Copilot method [20:15]
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How far a customer is through the buying process before you even speak to them [24:40]
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What an authentic life means to Marie [30:10]
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How she remade her life [36:50]
More About Marie
Episode Resources
The Value of Daily Celebration
Today I wanted to share a story with you. I got onto a coaching call with a client last week and I was talking to her about a situation and I literally said to her, “I feel like everybody can relate and everybody would benefit from this conversation we’re having.”So I’m going to do my best to re-enact exactly what went down between the two of us. It went something like this: she called me up, she told me,:
“I was working on a project for the last two and a half years and I got to the end of the project and I noticed that the celebration that I was hoping for, that feeling that I was after, that sense of accomplishment, that jump for joy crack open champagne sense that I think we all buy into exists at the end of a very, very, very long process it didn’t happen.”
Now she and I have talked about this many times. We had talked about the importance of celebrating the small wins, and by that I mean every time you check off something from your list, you take a moment just to appreciate and enjoy that fact that you’ve finished yet another thing. Every accomplishment in and of itself becomes an exciting moment. Not champagne popping excitement, but truly genuinely a positive moment so that you are not waiting to celebrate your life until the end of a three-four year project or when you have a child or when there’s a wedding or some major event in your life.Thanks for ListeningAgain, thank you so much for your support! Please subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already!Episode Resources
Jason Shen
In this episode of Art of Authenticity I had a thoughtful conversation with Jason Shen, a product manager at Etsy and partner of Ship Your Side Project.He is also the creator of the Asian American Man Study, which has been cited by NBC’s Asian America and The Atlantic. He served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow under President Obama and co-founded a Y Combinator startup called Ridejoy, which built a nationwide city-to-city ridesharing network.Jason’s writing has appeared in Fast Company, Quartz, and Lifehacker, he has been quoted in The New York Times, National Journal, Outside Magazine, as well as NPR’s Marketplace, and he has been a speaker at Google, Work-Bench, Auburn University, and FailCon.
Thanks for Listening
Again, thank you so much for your support! Please
if you haven’t already!
Show Notes
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A brief history of Jason's story in gymnastics [03:20]
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How to notice a diminishing return on your effort [08:00]
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His injuries and surgeries from gymnastics [10:10]
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How his dedication to gymnastics flowed into other projects [16:50]
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How there is no "make it" point in life [18:04]
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The beginning of RideJoy [19:39]
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How to know when to push through and when to move on [21:40]
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How he transitioned to the Presidential Innovation Fellowship [28:20]
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Why it's important to go with your gut [30:40]
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How entrepreneurs are simply people who don't like BS [32:20]
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The story behind the Aztec pushup world record [34:04]
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The story behind Ship Your Side Project [38:20]
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The psychology of personal change course he created [40:45]
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What an authentic life means to him [43:28]
More About Jason
Episode Resources
Mathias Jakobsen
In this episode of Art of Authenticity I had a thoughtful conversation with Mathias Jakobsen, the founder of Think Clearly and an executive coach.
Mathias is an executive coach, but he also used to do digital work for The New York Times, Bloomberg, Google, Coca-Cola; all sorts of companies, and working with startup CEO’s and corporate executives. He also has a platform called Think Clearly, but what he really wanted to get across was less about where you worked and what you were doing, and much more about the mindset behind it. He’s really interested in the idea of how flexible peoplecan be, and how they can change, and be and do anything they want. His work really reflects it.He is super interesting and fascinating. I loved chatting with him. I think you’re going to learn a lot about answering these dreaded questions of, “What do I want? How do I get there? How do I tackle the purpose question and the finance question? What does that look like in real life?” The goal of this show is to really unpack the idea that having passion is great, having financial success is great, but how do you combine the two, and how do you define that for yourself?
Thanks for ListeningAgain, thank you so much for your support! Please subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already!Show Notes
- Less about where you worked and what you were doing and more about the mindset behind it. [1:20]
- Is purpose driven in how he lives his [3:19]
- Why am I here? Why have I chosen to come into this space-time reality? What is it that I am supposed to be doing in this lifetime? [3:41]
- Helping people find out how flexible they are and how much they can change if they want to change. [5:22]
- Mathias Jakobsen founded his first company when he was 15. [7:14]
- He was driven by the act of fun and building. [9:53]
- His purpose was revisited when he moved 3,500 miles to New York and realized he wasn't making any money. [11:54]
- He stepped back and asked himself what it was that he actually wanted. [13:13]
- Knowing what your vision is and taking small steps and you may have to shift some things that you are doing to make it work for you. [19:16]
- Public speaking [30:15]
- How to find a niche [40:05]
More About Mathias
Episode Resources
Imperfection Can Be Perfect
I thought I would talk to you about something that's really on my mind today. I'm sitting here in Chicago at my desk. It's kind of a dreary, cloudy day and it's about 55 degrees outside. We're transitioning into winter, which in Chicago can be so brutal.When I woke up this morning, I knew I had a few recordings that I was going to do for the podcast, and I just wasn't feeling it. Do you ever have those days? You just don't know why. You feel like you slept enough, you had enough water, etc. I did a nice yoga practice yesterday and I just don't feel on my game. I don't feel like I'm in the zone.I spent my day thinking about ways I could bring up my energy and focus. I tried to figure out how to get myself into a better state. As Tony Robbins would say, "peak state," so I could get onto this podcast and record an amazing riff, the best information I could possibly give to you guys.But it just wasn't happening. My son is off of school today for parent/teacher conferences, so I took him to a local taco place and we had some lunch. Usually, spending a little time with him just gets me into the greatest mood and I thought, "Okay, as soon as I get that done, maybe I'll have another cup of coffee and I'll be in a better state and then I'll be able to get my work done."This little story illustrates how we spend so much of our time trying to figure out ways to get the world around us to make us feel better. If we could do that, we could be in a perfect state and things will go well and we'll be on our game.I just don't think that's how it works. That's why I wanted to record this episode, because today I'm just not feeling it. I'm just not feeling it, and if I sat here and I waited for perfection, if I waited for the moment when the stars aligned and my mind felt completely in some kind of incredible flow state, I don't know if I would ever have recorded this podcast. I don't know when I would record a podcast.Truthfully, I think I'd have about 10% of the work I have done in my life complete.It's so rare to feel that amazing flow state, that perfect "everything around me, I'm comfortable, I have my cup of coffee, I have my favorite clothes on, I got the perfect amount of sleep, I'm in the best mood, I exercised" state of mind. Because life is really imperfect, and so what? Why do we have to wait for perfection? Why do we have to feel on our game to feel as if the work we're doing is worthy and it's okay and acceptable to put out into the world? What if things were just imperfect? Just good enough sometimes?Over and over and over I hear my clients use this one as an excuse, "As soon as I get this financial situation into a better place then I will. As soon as I feel a little better about myself, then I will. As soon as my relationship's in a better place, then I will."But the annoying part about life is that as soon as one thing gets into the state you want it to be in, another thing is not quite ideal. So I'm coming to you today from my desk on a cloudy day, feeling a little low, a little off. But truth be told, this has happened many times and I've recorded so many episodes, and I've written so many blogs, and I've written my book, and I built my company, talked to employees, from an imperfect place.So I wanted to share that with you in the hopes that maybe today you're sitting there and you're not quite feeling it? Maybe you're waiting for something in your life to get to the next level? Maybe you just wished that one thing would come together before you would take action? And maybe this would encourage you to consider letting go of that need to have something in a better place and just step forward and do the best work you can do, and accept that it's probably good enough.Thank you so much for tuning in this week to the Art of Authenticity. I appreciate each and every one of you for coming and listening to these shows. If you have any questions, anything on your mind, anything you want to talk about, as always, send me a note: [email protected].Thanks for ListeningAgain, thank you so much for your support! Please subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already!Episode Resources