Good Life Project

After years of launching, building and selling technology ventures, Brad Smith was at a crossroads. Starting almost accidentally, he parlayed a self-taught expertise in computers and then design into a series of ventures that kept him busily creating. But when the company that bought his last venture was sold, destroying his ability to run the business the way he wanted, he realized it was time to exit.

He took a wild contrarian leap away from technology and joined the team at The Great Discontent to help take their soulful online magazine and grow it into what is quickly becoming a stunningly beautiful "artisanal" print magazine. Some would view this move as nuts. I mean, print is dead, right?

In this week's episode, we explore his sometimes crazy journey, his entry into entrepreneurship and his journey through various startups, mergers, burnout, pulling the kill switch, self-care, time off, the timing of opportunities, making something extraordinary to help people, and returning to the roots of what inspired you in the first place.

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It was a moment that nearly brought me to tears...

As an entrepreneur, a writer, a creator, a big part of why I do what I do is simply the hardwired need to create. I do the thing I "can't not do."

The process of creation breathes me.

Being able to write, to build, to produce, these things all light me up. But there's another part of the equation. It's the part about how the things you create land in the world. How other people experience them.

It's part about whether they matter not only to you, but to those who might, in some small way, engage with what you make. To those who might just be left changed, or at least moved in a meaningful way.

Often times, you never get to see this part.

But, every once in a while, you stumble onto them. This week's Good Life Project Riff is about one of those moments. It happened through pure serendipity. It involved a guy named Steve and a venture he called Exit Plan B. The image in this post created by him.

Neither of us knew what was really happening or how we'd truly affected each other until we'd been working together for months.

Until the moment everything came full circle. And it left us both jaw-dropped.

Enjoy the story!

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In January 2013, Susan Cain published a book that would spark a global conversation and change the world. Her stunning, international bestseller, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, gave voice to nearly a third of the human race, those who'd often walked through life believing that their quiet nature, their love of smaller groups, individual conversations and solitude was something "to be fixed." Something that would hold them back in life, keep them from the good jobs and from rising to embrace their potential.

Quiet was shock to the system. It validated this often-maligned social orientation with a fierce attention to science and revealed the stunning creative and social power of introverts. Cain let the quieter set, of which I am a member, know we're okay, better than okay, we are blessed. She also pulled back the curtain on how society and the corporate world build structure and culture that supports and rewards extroversion, while downplaying the value of introverts and stifling their ability to do the often game-changing work needed most.

This week's conversation with Susan features not only what her book and ideas have done to the lives of millions, but also what the book has done to and for her. How it's changed her, thrust this previously introverted, solitude-loving writer onto the global stage and how she has found a new normal in her role as a leader and a public introvert.

Follow Susan: Website | Twitter

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One the fastest ways to accelerate your growth, personal or professional, is to seek out and ask for guidance from mentors. People who've been where you're looking to go and are open to sharing their stumbles, wins and wisdom.

But, there's something that often happens when a mentor gives feedback that does not validate or, even worse, straight-up shoots down what you want to do. You fight the feedback, and often, the mentor.

When I'm in the playing the role of mentor and this happens, it's not unusual for me to ask a mentee who is refusing to open to a new possibility or give up a position or decision that's being proven increasingly wrong...

"how's that working out for you?"

Why this refusal to open to the input of those we seek to guide us is pretty interesting. Because you were looking for the wrong thing. You wanted validation, but the mentor's job is to speak truth, at least their truth.

Because, when you're trying to create something great...

You don’t need validation, you need truth.

We talk about this phenomenon and what to do when it happens in this week's short and sweet Good Life Riff.

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Want a job at Google, a gorgeous hideaway on Airbnb, a spot on the Stanford faculty, a romantic partner or even a kidney?

Good news, bad news. You have a say, but so do they.

It's all part of a phenomenon called "matching markets."

Markets are what make businesses possible. But not all markets operate on the exchange of cash for goods. In fact, some of the most important markets go so far as to outlaw cash. In other markets, like romance, many societies just find cash morally repugnant. And, no matter how much you may want something, there's another person who'll have a say in whether you get it.

When you understand these often complex and hidden markets, the nuanced rules and games that get played, you end up in a better place to both get what you need from them and give more effectively to those you seek to serve.

That's what we're talking about in this week's conversation with Nobel Prize-winning economist, Stanford professor and author of the fascinating new book, Who Gets What - and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design, Al Roth.

This discussion pulls back the curtain on why we are willing to do so much, for one thing, person or opportunity and yet so little for another and how that is redefining our options, how they are presented, and how much control we really have over any of it.

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You want to be a better writer, write and study the craft of writing. Want to be a better maker, make more stuff and study the art of making. Want to be a better entrepreneur, build more businesses and study the process of birthing businesses.

But, don't stop there. The really big leap, the thing that launches you from really good to world-shaking, is not skill. Transcendent output happens when you go beyond craft and do the work to become a better person.

Because WHO you are flows into and through your work as much as HOW SKILLED you've become.

This is what we're talking about in today's Good Life Project Riff.

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Tamsen Fadal is an award-winning broadcast journalist and television anchor on the evening news in New York City.

She's worked incredibly hard to get where she is, traveling the world, entering war-zones and extreme settings, giving a voice to the voiceless and a serving as a trusted guide through times of extreme tragedy, disaster and misfortune.

While she'd become comfortable being the face and voice of the news, though, she never thought she'd actually be the news. But, that's exactly what happened, and not in a good way, when her relationship with her husband and business partner in a match-making side-business fell apart.

The news hit the papers and she was faced with not only navigating the extraordinary pain of a crumbling love, but the surreal task of doing it all under the microscope of the media, while also being the media. The tabloids and the internet were not kind. She was, after all, a very public person and someone positioned as an expert in finding love. And, now she was struggling.

She would've loved to just pull back, to work things through in private and recover. But, it was her job to show up and put on the face of calm confidence on television.

She found herself living two lives. Cool, upbeat, friendly newscaster by day and the falling apart human by night.

In this week's conversation, we dive into Tamsen's life in journalism, the moments that have forever changed her and how the media is evolving. And we talk about her relationship, surviving what should be private in the most public way and then rediscovering her sense of identity and healing. She shared much of this journey, as well, in her new book, The New Single.

This conversation is not just about transitioning from a marriage, it's about how to move through shattering challenges in life.

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You wake up one day with pain in your lower back. Happens to the best of us.

Popular wisdom says, “oh, you’ve got lower back pain, you need to strengthen your abs to support your back and it’ll go away.” Or you need to strengthen this or that or the other muscle, your problem is weakness.

A similar thing tends to happen across all parts of life. You've got a problem, it must be caused by some weakness somewhere. Easy fix, find the weak link, strengthen it and build around it.

Problem is, there's often something much deeper going on. A level of misalignment and dysfunction that's causing the pain. In your body, and yes, even in your life. And when you try to strengthen into that more fundamental dysfunction, very often you end up making the pain even worse. It actually deepens the dysfunction.

So, what do you do instead? That's what this week's short and sweet Good Life Project Riff is all about.

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What if you could instantly trace your connection through an online family tree to nearly anyone on the planet?

Put another way, what if every person alive was your cousin?

Enter A.J. Jacobs, the master experimenter and mega-NYT best-selling author known for running crazy, year-long experiments on himself.

In the past A.J. has spent a year living every rule in the Bible (in NYC), tried nearly every health and fitness tip ever offered in an attempt be the healthiest person on the planet, and even read the entire encyclopedia. Each adventure became a book, and together, they became a fascinating life.

In our conversation, today, A.J. outlines his newest, boldest experiment, and this time, he's making it about you. Jacobs is on a quest to build the biggest family tree in history, then invite everyone on it to the largest family reunion . . . ever.

In fact, every person on the planet is invited to his Global Family Reunion on June 6th in NY. And, since we're all his "fave" cousins, A.J. has graciously set up a special link where you can register for 25% off.

In this week's episode, we talk about what inspired A.J. to run yearlong experiments with his life, then turn them into books. We explore how showing we're all related is really about a much bigger mission to cultivate tolerance and understanding. And we also dive into the creative process, the writing life, habits, the downside and upside of choice, fear of rejection, faith, atheism and so much more.

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How often have you told yourself, "I'm not good enough, old enough, accomplished enough, credentialed enough, or any other 'enough' to get paid real money or get the gig I want more than anyone else?"

Newsflash, there's a good chance you're right.

It may well be true that there ARE indeed plenty of other people and organizations who are better at what you do than you are. But, there's also a dirty little secret in the world of business and success.

Very often the job, opportunity, gig does not go to the most qualified person. You can still get the plum position, sweet job and serious paycheck if you understand why.

In today's Good Life Riff, we're busting the old "I'm not good enough" myth and revealing what matters, oftentimes even more than qualifications.

So, stop beating yourself up for being "along the road to higher value." And start understanding what people really want and what you need to give them to create the opportunities you most desire.

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