As I’ve been sharing the past few weeks, I have been doing a ton of self-reflection and this episode has been inspired my journey to find balance in who I am and who people say I am. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I’m going to share some insights gained from an interview I read with Werner Herzog and seven ways you can embrace your authenticity and bring all you are into your work and life.

Chris DeMars is a UI developer, Google Developer Expert, international speaker, community builder, and podcaster. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, Chris and I talk about the early years of web development, how he approaches learning in a fast-moving tech world, how he has built community through speaking and sharing what he knows, and his love for horror.

As an avid fan of HBO, I was recently reading an article about some changes the company will be making due to the recent merger of AT&T and Time Warner. Essentially it came down to devising strategies on how to increase time spent watching HBO. That got me thinking: How can I compete with giant companies who are literally paying millions of dollars to get my viewership? Is my company compelling enough? Are my dreams bold enough to keep me from being swayed to spend more time watching other people’s content? In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I’m going to share a few ways that you can guard your time and attention from outside forces.

Nick Laparra is a consultant, coach, speaker, humanitarian, and host of one of my favorite podcasts, Let’s Give A Damn. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, Nick shares a glimpse into his world and all of the projects he is working on and how he views work through three filters: giving a damn, radical generosity, and living a truly meaningful life.

This week I have been spending some time writing about and sharing a new service offering with a few friends. It’s something I have wanted to do for two years and I never felt ready. I was always waiting for something. More education, more influence, more money, some internal thermometer like in a Thanksgiving turkey that would pop up letting me know I’m ready. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I’m going to share a few ways that you can identify the things you are waiting for or dreams to chase after and how you can get started today.

Meredith Koch is a film director out of Los Angeles, CA who brings a disposition for non-linear storytelling and sees beauty in all of the details. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about doing your best work with whatever resources you have, her first learning experience in filmmaking, social media and getting inspired by competition, the power of dreams, and the need for more diversity in front of and behind the camera.

I’m no stranger to burnout having gone through the intense highs and lows of burning out and recovering at least twice in my career. Recently, I made some changes and returned to Chris Martin Studios full-time and over coffee my dad asked me an important question: “What are you going to do differently this time?” In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I’m going to answer that question and share some of the ways I’m moving beyond burnout and approaching what I hope to be a sustainable life and business.

Jason Lengstorf is a developer, designer, speaker, and friendly bear emoji at Gatsby, a company whose mission is “to make building websites fun” and create tools that increase the performance of the web. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about how he found his voice, the power of stories to highlight experiences and emphasize context, moving from screwing up publicly to embracing public feedback, and his big idea of pushing the world forward by improving web performance in the developing world.

As long as I have been in business, I have struggled with the tension between being a generalist or a specialist. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about this as I read The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns. Right out of the gate, he says that specialization is the key to demanding higher fees. So, the question I return to and attempt to answer in this episode is: How do you approach specialization as a creative professional?

Ryan Carson is the founder and CEO of Treehouse, a company whose mission is to bring “affordable technology education to people everywhere in order to help them achieve their dreams and change the world.” In this episode of Getting Work To Work, Ryan shares about his entrepreneurship journey, how the model of trades and apprenticeships is found within the hiring practices of Treehouse, how he is working with his team to change diversity and inclusion in tech by doing something about it, and the future of education.