How would your life be different if you gave yourself permission to be great? Today’s guest not only asks that question but also explores the narratives, stories, and memes around us that impact our lives. K-Rahn Vallatine is an author, curriculum developer, and executive director of Live Above The Hype. In this conversation, we explore greatness and self-sabotage in the pursuit of our vision. We also talk about shattering narratives with forward movement, surrounding yourself with people who support your creative process, reaching people for who they are and not saving or fixing them, and his process of writing books. Finally, if you produce a lot of ideas and projects, K-Rahn shares a way to think about seasons of creation.

• Inner Sun Consulting

Over the weekend, I did something I usually don’t or even set out to do: I helped a friend film a wedding. Since it was a behind-the-scenes, documentary-style project, I said yes because I love to be a casual observer and documenter of life. We captured all the usual events surrounding a wedding, but it was during the reception that today’s monologue found its roots. The reception was on the Portland Spirit, a popular ship for sightseeing and events along the Willamette River. As I captured footage of people enjoying the party with appropriate levels of emotion, I heard a commotion on the other side of the ship. I walked toward the noise, missing whatever happened, but the people at the table attempted to recreate their excitement for my benefit. I would return to this group throughout the evening because they were fun. When I mentioned it, the response was simple: “It’s because this is the singles table.” They were the outcasts of the wedding; they knew it and were having a blast anyway.

1. Do the work that makes sense to you.

• Midjourney prompt for episode art: creative outcasts –ar 16:9 –stylize 1000 –v 5.2

When my wife and I got a pug last year, the algorithm inundated us with pug accounts, including Grumble Farm out of Canada. We loved seeing the pugs but also enjoyed learning more about the unbelievable beauty of British Columbia and getting to know Brandy and Jesse. Today’s guest is Brandy Chalmers, one of the two humans behind Grumble Farm. She’s here to talk about her journey as a content creator and how she shows up as her authentic self. In this conversation, we talk about her curiosity around a million things, the dehumanizing and fragmentizing nature of niching, the struggle with how much to share, the art of asking for what you want and need, and the mindset shift that occurred when she moved from the city to the country. Throughout, Brandy shares stories that illustrate a total commitment to living life.

• Grumble Farm

When I interview people who have written a book, the typical response to my closing question—”What book, podcast, or resource is currently blowing your mind?”—is a form of: “I’m not reading or listening to anything right now. I don’t want to be influenced by someone else’s work.” I’ve always been intrigued by the notion that you could produce original work without external influence. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere without access to modern technology, the opportunity for influence is all around us in two ways: style and substance. Style is surface-level, the way things look; substance is much deeper. It’s the creator’s message, philosophy, beliefs, and intention. Instead of fearing influence, how can we provide attribution to style and substance and continue creating the work that matters to us?

1. Influence is often subconscious; label it when you notice it.

• Getting Work To Work on Substack

It’s been a few years since I’ve thought about teams, but today’s guest opened the floodgates while simultaneously dismantling biases and explaining past negative experiences. Paul Crosby is one of the founders and the CEO of The Uncommon League, a training company that teaches people in unexpected ways to think, work, and learn differently. He’s also an author who has written several books on topics ranging from business analysis to positive conflict. In this conversation, Paul shares his curiosity about teams and how they work through friction, conflict, and collaboration. He also talks about The Uncommon League, how the name came about, and why they don’t settle for boring. We also touch on the importance of failure in growing in your life and work, how doubt is a natural component of the human experience, and the process he uses to write his books.

• The Uncommon League

There’s something special about people who make decisions that go against the grain of societal expectations. Whether we make those decisions out of necessity, frustration, depression, or some other motivation is less important than the willingness to embark on a new journey. Today’s episode is inspired by a quote from an excellent book by Patrick Bringley, All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me. In the book, Bringley documents the loss of his brother to cancer, how he quit a dream job, and became a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for ten years. It’s worth your time to help you examine your life, look beyond what is obvious, and find what is hidden.

1. Pause “big deal” thinking.

• All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley

I believe that people come across your path when you need to learn from them. Today’s guest brings her tools and life story to Getting Work To Work to help those stuck and looking to create extraordinary lives. Maria Kellis is a leadership coach and teacher who is endlessly curious about the possibilities available to each of us. In this conversation, she dives into the four steps of what she calls “The Empower Game”: 1) Intention, 2) Clearing, 3) Gratitude, and 4) Trust in order to receive. Maria also shares her lessons in the power of gratitude while recovering from a broken back, body, and spirit. Not to mention how she discovered patience through discipline, her approach to routines that aren’t boring, systems of creativity and the power of teams, and scarcity versus abundance. Open your mind to the extraordinary life you want to create and listen in as Maria shares a lifetime of wisdom.

• Maria Kellis

I had plans for a different monologue today, but my 3 AM creative brain had an idea it couldn’t drop. I woke up from a dream feeling ready to mourn the losses of the past three years. It’s not easy to admit, but I’ve been not so secretly punishing myself for how I responded to the pandemic. It was ugly, fraught with fear, trying to make sense of the internal and manage the external. I took care of those around me, but I stumbled deeper into debt, wrestled with depression, ate food to numb the pain, and gained weight. I knew what I was doing, and while my reactions were nothing short of vicious, I couldn’t stop. Fortunately, I heard a different story playing in my mind as I stared at the ceiling, wondering why I couldn’t fall back asleep.

1. When you wake up in the middle of the night, pay attention to the thoughts and ideas that bubble up.

• Chris Martin Writes on Substack

Do you know your life’s destiny? Are you actively doing the things you were born to do or wishing you could one day? Today’s guest took his obsession with film and his need to diversify his services and fell into the rabbit hole of something unexpected. Steve Berry is the artist and photographer behind Robot Wig, what he calls “the Miniverse,” a place for miniature pop culture creations. In this conversation, we obviously talk about movies and his journey to the Miniverse. But we also explore how he sees art in everyday objects, how he taught himself lighting by making mistakes instead of watching tutorials, creative patience (or lack thereof), and the challenges of turning his passion into a viable business. If you are a creative entrepreneur looking for a new way to see your business, this is the conversation for you.

• Robot Wig

I just got back from my first real vacation in six years. While there were plenty of late-night existential wrestling matches—”I don’t know who I am on vacation anymore”—my mind was churring and whirring away underneath the surface. As I listened to the conversations around me, watched the truth emerge through body language, and paid attention to my feelings, I heard it clearly: “Go! Get it!” If you have a vision for your life and are afraid to take the first step of leaving the infinite labyrinth of modern society’s expectations of you, then the message for you is this: It’s not easy; it’s going to be the most challenging work you’ll ever do, but go! Bring your vision to life. It’s worth it for you and the others you’ll bring along on your journey.

1. Use your vision as a guide for action and progress.

• Midjourney prompt for episode art: escaping the infinite labyrinth of stairs in the the style of escher cinematic lighting dizzy –v 5.2 –stylize 500 –ar 16:9