Corporate Graduation

“Employee” is an outdated concept. (Literally, a relic of the Industrial Age.) Learn how power is shifting from employer to employee, and how this completely changes your work and life options.

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

02:12 The old employment agreement

04:04 No one wants a job, they want a life

04:39 RIP employee, welcome Uncaged Pro

06:14 Keeping your job — on your terms

07:37 Stability of the 9-5 + Prosperity of entrepreneurship

09:48 Your 9-5 can just be a utility

10:07 Validate that you’re in a healthy workplace

10:53 Clarify the life you want

11:54 Define what “work” means to you

12:49 Shape your corporate role

14:11 Build your external brand & side hustle

16:38 Framework summary

17:01 Working for great companies? Alive. Employee? Dead.

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RESOURCES

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

Paige West went “national” in sharing her Quiet Quitting story on CNN, Good Morning America, and elsewhere. Here, we go behind the scenes on what fueled her decisions while also comparing and contrasting Millennial and Gen Z worldviews in the workplace. So good — enjoy!

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

03:51 Doing the “inner” work

08:05 Paige’s formative years

12:16 Friction when weighing professional paths

16:47 Indicators that corporate wasn’t a fit

19:03 Keeping life options open

21:47 Hitting a breaking point

23:38 Applying the Quiet Quitting strategy

26:34 Did anything bad happen?

29:40 Fake “pressures” at work

30:51 Millennial vs. Gen Z values at work

36:45 Power of vulnerability on the job

39:01 Benefits of the corporate journey

42:57 Rapid-fire questions

48:44 Identity is a choice, reinforced by tiny actions

51:24 Keys to uncaging yourself

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Inner work is meant to get your inner and outer worlds to align.

2. Externalizing your thoughts sharpens and clarifies your thinking.

3. Learn from PAST regrets, ANTICIPATE future regrets, use that information NOW.

4. Be careful when corporate systems have rigid growth models — hard to be authentic.

5. Irony of Quiet Quitting for Paige: her reputation improved at work.

6. Ruthlessly protecting your time and being selective at work is good for you and your company.

7. Gen Z grew up in an era of publishing your emotions, and that’s showing up in corporate environments now.

8. Invest (in yourself) before you’re ready — time and money.

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RESOURCES

Subscribe to Paige's YouTube channel

Follow Paige on Instagram

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

When you take extreme ownership of your career and life, magical things happen. Remember, you care more about your life and career than anyone else. Author and speaker Andy Storch joins us for a masterclass on listening to your inner voice and taking full ownership of your career and life.

📬 Get the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

02:35 Andy’s evolving definition of success

04:50 Dependency on external circumstances

08:10 Andy’s childhood & backstory

12:27 Entering the corporate world

16:29 Accelerators for self-transformation

20:08 Ownership mindset (being entrepreneurial)

21:27 Drifting

26:42 Modern view on professional development

31:18 “I don’t have time”

32:31 Personal brand = reputation

39:26 Andy’s cancer battle

45:05 It happened for me, not to me

49:40 Rapid fire questions

54:49 It’s on you: extreme ownership

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TAKEAWAYS

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RESOURCES

Own Your Career Own Your Life (Andy’s book)

Andy’s Site

Connect w/ Andy on LinkedIn

Owning Your Journey with Cancer (free guide)

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

You have gifts. But chances are, they're locked up inside of you. A 9-5 job only lets you unleash a fraction of those gifts. Dennis Geelen joins us to tell the story of The Accidental Solopreneur (his recent book). It's a fascinating look at unleashing your gifts and maximizing your potential.

Access the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

Cohort course: Uncaged Academy

Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

03:12 What Dennis misses about corporate

06:28 Re-thinking the scripted life

10:50 Investing in your highest-leverage asset

13:31 Dennis's entrepreneurial experiments

18:52 Going from non-fiction to fiction author

21:30 The Accidental Solopreneur

23:31 Emotions of the entrepreneurial rollercoaster

26:12 Importance of niching down

32:18 Advice for starting a career today

35:06 Closing Message

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TAKEAWAYS

1. "The amount of learning I had to do to get that company off the ground is more than I learned in my 20 years of corporate." — Dennis Geelen

2. In solopreneurship, you must first master the inner game to then win the outer game. 

3. Nearly high-performer in corporate should try entrepreneurship (on the side at least). If you don't, you'll likely regret it. 

4. Don't expect instant success. Embrace the journey — it's amazing if you allow it to be.

5. Make your main goal about helping others. Goodness will flow your way if you do that.

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RESOURCES

The Accidental Solopreneur (book)

Connect w/ Dennis on LinkedIn

Dennis's website

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

Paul Millerd, author of The Pathless Path, joins me to talk about "default path" addiction and what it's like to awaken. As former management consultants, we dig hard into this arena too. Enjoy!

Access the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

Cohort course: Uncaged Academy

Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

03:12 The Great Contemplation

06:21 How Paul's book affected Matt

08:25 The process of Awakening

09:51 Pre-awakening (most people trapped here)

15:58 Addiction to Default Paths

19:03 Value of an early-career foothold

21:56 "There's a pebble in my shoe"

23:51 Higher stakes if you're a parent

27:10 Understanding life tradeoffs

28:28 The Pathless Path

31:21 Uncertainty as a feature

33:10 Testing boundaries at work

38:31 The great work of your life

41:15 Minimal risk in betting on yourself

44:21 Thoughtful re-entry into corporate life

51:20 Rapid-fire

57:53 What's your "work" story?

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Great Resignation might actually be the Great Contemplation: a rejection of scripted life, healthier conversation about our identification as "workers," and a desire to take control of your life.  

2. Rule of thumb: most people you'll meet are asleep (80%), some are groggy (15%), and a few are truly awake (5%).

3. The Protestant Reformation triggered an "obsession" with work, which has taken global hold. 

4. Aim of life for people came to find work and then hold on tight to that path.

5. The Default Path feels addictive because the start is so thrilling. Eventually, we stop growing and become sleepy.

6. Instead of doing the work, you eventually find yourself doing performative work (pretending to be valuable).

7. Tough for parents to fake it at work while simultaneously encouraging your kids to blaze their own path.

8. We can't let sunk costs weigh us down. Your life season hugely impacts what you should say "yes" to next.

9. Not knowing what comes next might actually be a feature, not a bug.

10. "If there are clear boundaries [at work], there is also great freedom to adapt and imagine within those lines. These boundaries, however, should always be tested to see if they are actually still real. It takes conscious acts by individuals to test these edges." —David Whyte

11. Great work of your life: continually find the great work of your life (Stephen Cope).

12. Know yourself: deliver targeted value inside your 9-5; push yourself for exponential growth in the outside world. 

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RESOURCES

The Pathless Path (book)

Paul's newsletter, site, & podcast

Follow Paul on Twitter

Connect w/ Paul on LinkedIn 

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

"Quiet quitting" may same new and shocking, but it's an age-old concept. It's about setting your terms at work and prioritizing your desired lifestyle. In this episode, we cut through the noise and discuss practical scenarios for implementing this strategy.

Develop advanced-level "quiet quitting" skills in our cohort course: Uncaged Academy.

Access the newsletter: learn Uncaged Secrets

Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

02:14 Framing

02:29 What Quiet Quitting is

03:41 The argument for it

06:59 The argument against it

09:46 Real-world scenarios

16:10 Healthy person → healthy worker

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Quiet Quitting isn't about actually quitting or being lazy. We're not glamorizing mediocrity here.

2. At the core, it's about establishing boundaries at work, but you need a more comprehensive approach if you're going to create the life you want.

3. Not everyone wants to be an "elite athlete" at work, so we don't need to expect everyone to operate in an elite way. In contrast, choosing to be "average" at work can create capacity for spending time and energy on what excites you.

4. It generally makes sense to "go hard" early in your career to establish a foothold (resume, financial security, etc.). Once you're 10+ years in, you have much more leeway to back off and prioritize lifestyle.

5. Quiet Quitting (or whatever term you use) is another tool in your toolbox. Deploy it wisely as you methodically create more freedom in your life.

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RESOURCES

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

"No regrets." You've seen it tattooed on arms and in song lyrics. Enough — let's stop trying to suppress this natural human emotion. Instead, let's learn to harness it for our advantage in work and life. 

Apply the power of regret. See our cohort course: Uncaged Academy.

Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

02:15 Framing

02:36 How we view regret

04:47 Types of regret

09:33 A strategy for using regret

12:24 How Matt uses regret to his advantage

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Per the American Regret Study, 82% of adults experience regret — spanning a wide range of domains of life (family, career, education, finances, health, etc.).

2. Four types of regrets: Foundation, Boldness, Moral, and Connection.

3. Why regret matters: stability, growth, goodness, love.

4. Regret is a valuable emotion — it's telling you something. Learn to harness it.

5. Strategy for harnessing it: (1) Learn from PAST regrets, (2) anticipate FUTURE regrets, (3) apply that knowledge in the PRESENT.

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RESOURCES

Book: The Power of Regret (Daniel Pink)

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying (Bronnie Ware)

Go deep: try the Uncaged Secrets newsletter

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

Think back to those one-way college lectures or those on-demand courses you've taken. Did you really transform as a person? No.

That's why I'm proud to introduce Uncaged Academy to you. It's an immersive, cohort-style approach to learning that focuses on community (friends), accountability, and rapid transformation. With our first cohort in the books, I'm excited to discuss the future of this unique program with you.

Make corporate work for YOU. Apply for our cohort course: Uncaged Academy.

Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TAKEAWAYS

1. The Education Technology (EdTech) realm is rapidly changing the modern learning experience.

2. You no longer need to give years of your life (or extreme amounts of money) to improve your mindset, skillset, or career trajectory.

3. Uncaged Academy helps you (a) design your 9-5 experience in a way that (b) unlocks the life you really want.

4. While still in corporate, you can create more freedom: Financial, Time, Purpose, Relationships, Health.

5. This course is for high-performing mid-career professionals who feel "stuck" and want something more out of their lives.

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RESOURCES

Go deep: try the Uncaged Secrets newsletter

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

The universe is speaking: start your side hustle. Everyone's doing it, right? Actually, let's pause and rethink that.

Not everyone should ignite this "parallel path" outside of their corporate career. Listen to this episode to help you understand if side-hustling is right for you.

Make corporate work for YOU. Apply for our cohort course: Uncaged Academy.

Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Know the difference between "investments" and "side hustles."

2. Side-hustling requires you to adopt a business owner mindset.

3. Following your passion isn't what makes a side hustle effective.

4. You'd better make sure it gives you energy.

5. Shifts in the global economy make side-hustling a "high upside, low downside" bet if you play the long game.

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RESOURCES

Go deep: try the Uncaged Secrets newsletter

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

Look around and you'll see people chasing "in-demand" skills and credentials. It's like they're on a hamster wheel. But others seem calmer, in possession of enduring skills that always keep them ahead. This is the difference between Timely and Timeless skills. Which are you fixated on?

Make corporate work for YOU. Apply for our cohort course: Uncaged Academy.

Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Are you choosing to build skills that legitimately interest you? This matters if you want to maintain energy for decades.

2. Be clear on where the "crowd" is going. Go the opposite way.

3. Timely skills have a short shelf life (usually 2-4 years).

4. Timeless skills (e.g., psychology, persuasion, copywriting) endure no matter the time or context.

5. Build Timeless skills to ensure you're always ahead and relevant, even as our digital world rapidly changes.  

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RESOURCES

Connect w/ Matt on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter @MatthewRDoan

Check the show on YouTube

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