A Kick Ass Year

Written by Leigh Martinuzzi - Originally published on the January the 9th 2015

Resolutions, ha, what resolutions?

Each year January the first is often a monumental day for many of us. A year of change. A year of growth and amazing things to come. A game changer. New Year resolutions are created. Decisions have been made. Now, we've got to execute the plan, follow through and keep the promise we've made to ourselves. Accountability!

I am not a guru of setting resolutions and sticking to them. I've failed many times. I am not an expert change make, although I believe that with a growth mindset I wish to think I enjoy embracing change. And I believe we all can not only embrace change but make it happen.

Change is difficult. It may take many attempts to see the results. Staring something new and then never seeing the completion sucks! Perseverance and patience will win. Good things will come to those that move forward with good intent. Hold onto your dreams and desires. Here are sixteen rules for making change sweet.

Do It Scared!

In this episode I chat with Ruth Soukup about her new book, Do It Scared. With equal parts inspiration and tough love, Do it Scared combines practical, easy-to-implement strategies for overcoming fear and resistance in your life, along with the motivation and encouragement to actually start making real changes that lead to big results. I hope you enjoy!

Guest Bio

New York Times bestselling author Ruth Soukup is dedicated to helping women overcome fear and create a life they love. Through her blog, Living Well Spending Less, which reaches more than 1 million women each month, she encourages her readers to follow their dreams and reach their goals. She is also the founder of the Living Well Planner® and Elite Blog Academy®, as well as the author of five bestselling books. Her practical advice has been featured in numerous publications and news programs, including Women’s Day, Redbook, Family Circle and Fox News. Ruth's Do It Scared® podcast launched on April 30, 2018, and her next book, Do It Scared®: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Obstacles, and Create a Life You Love (Harper Collins) will be available in May 2019.

Eat Their Lunch by Anthony Iannarino

Written and narrated by Leigh Martinuzzi

Anthony Iannarino is a bestselling author and internationally recognized speaker on sales, success, personal development, leadership, and entrepreneurship. In his latest book, Eat Their Lunch, Anthony shares ideas, strategies and practical methods on how we can win customers away from our competition. In a continuation from his previous work with the likes of The Only Sales Guide Anthony appreciates the nature of sales and that business growth is less about cheap tricks of tactics and more about relationship smarts.

Please enjoy my review of Eat Their Lunch.

Motivational Mash-Up with Leigh Martinuzzi

In this episode, I share a series of my live motivational rants - My Motivational Mash-Up.

If you like it to connect with me on FaceBook or Instagram please do, and tune in sometime.

Peace, passion and purpose.

The Antidote

"Stop driving yourself crazy trying to do something impossible." Oliver Burkeman

In this interview, I speak with Oliver Burkeman. We chat about journaling, why negative thinking may be the antidote for happiness and how productivity and the strategies most often talked about may actually be counter-purposeful.

Oliver is a journalist who has been writing with a broad fascination across multiple facets however the one he found most intriguing was human psychology. We actually begin this conversation talking about his method of writing. Oliver is not a pessimist however, aligned with Stoic thought, he feels we sometimes need to embrace the negative to move positively forward towards greater happiness. As it is often the continual efforts to avoid negative that leads to more suffering, anxiety and unease. Interesting perspectives that will leave you thinking.

This was a fun chat. I hope you enjoy it too.

Guest Bio

Oliver Burkeman is an author and journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. His most recent book is The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, which explores the upsides of uncertainty, failure and imperfection. He writes a popular weekly column in The Guardian on social psychology, self-help culture, productivity and the science of happiness; and is currently writing a book exploring alternative ways of thinking about time management, busyness and distraction. He has spoken widely at conferences, events and festivals in the US, UK, Australia, South Korea and elsewhere. His work has also appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

Written and narrated by Leigh Martinuzzi

Good for time management, procrastination, productivity and getting shit done.

In this book ‘Eat That Frog’, Brian Tracy looks at 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and getting more done in less time. I have talked about procrastination before and why we need to embrace this action of self-defeat. At the end of the day, the things we procrastinate over are usually the things we most desire or must do in efforts to reach our goals.

The key principle Brian shares is to 'eat that frog' before anything else.

I hope you enjoy!

The Matrix is an operating system controlled by machines. The machines are in full power. They manipulate how we humans feel by tapping into the way we perceive the world. This is carried out by the stimulation of our senses that send signals to the brain that depict our reality. In this state, we have a disillusioned sense of tranquillity, happiness and security. We believe whatever we want to believe. A feeling that we are in control.

At the same time, we are blissfully ignorant. It is this ignorance, combined with a disregard to the truth and a lack of ownership in seeking the truth, that we create the suffering that exists in our lives.

Read more...

The Social Leap

Bill von Hippel is the author of The Social Leap a book that explores how significant life challenges throughout our evolution has shaped some of the most fundamental aspects of our being. Using the evolutionary science of our past Bill shares a new perspective on human psychology. For example, moving from the rainforests to the plans of the Savanna forced us to cooperate and this alone has had a major cascading effect on many of our human advances.

An inspiring conversation that left me wondering, what will be our next social leap and are we already in it. Enjoy the show.

Guest Bio

William von Hippel grew up in Alaska, got his B.A. at Yale and his PhD at the University of Michigan, and then taught for a dozen years at Ohio State University before finding his way to Australia, where he is a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland. He has published more than a hundred articles and chapters, and his research has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The Economist, the BBC, Le Monde, El Mundo, Der Spiegel, and The Australian. He lives with his wife and two children in Brisbane, Australia.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

Written and narrated by Leigh Martinuzzi

Yuval Noah Harari’s latest book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, takes us on a thought-provoking journey and behind the enemy lines of the most pressing and challenging issues that face humanity today. His previous New York Times bestselling books, Sapiens and Homo Deus explored both the past and the future. This book tackles the present modern-day global issues and while tapping into the ideas visited in his previous books Yuval brings new conversation and innovative thoughts to help us understand where we are now and how this can bring clarity to an uncertain future.

The book is broken into five parts that form Yuval’s perspective on areas that represent key challenges and urgent problems of the 21st century. In typical Yuval style, grace and clarity he wisely untangles issues within the political, technological, existential, social and cultural landscapes. The overriding notion is that in a world full of noise and uncertainty, and where data is king, clarity at the end of the day is mighty powerful. I believe the 21 lessons will assist any reader to achieve greater clarity to the complexities of modern-day life.

Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” Theodore Roosevelt

Comparison; the act or process of comparing which usually has one examining the similarities or dissimilarities of two or more things or people.

In this statement, I believe Roosevelt is suggesting that it is the comparing of oneself to another that is the true thief of joy, not the comparison of things. Why does a consideration of our similarities or differences to another deplete our happiness?

I feel that the key issue here is that in comparison we focus our attention and energy on what others have, do or their state of being instead of focusing on our own. This weakens our personal progress and also neglects to give thanks to all that we have, do and are. Without this personal gratitude, we develop an attachment to cravings, always wanting to be, do and have more. And yet, we are unable to achieve this right now. Such an expectation of a created false reality will let us down when expectations are not met.

Comparing our lives to others will also limit the energy and focus towards our own self-improvement. We are better suited to giving attention to comparing ourselves. Are we becoming better than we were yesterday? The lack of growth in our personal lives leads to dissatisfaction and can manifest a heightened state of unease and suffering. Personal growth results in increased happiness.

The fact of the matter is, that without walking in the shoes of another how can our lives be truly comparable. And why should it matter? What matters is how we feel walking in our shoes and the advancement of that feeling is by putting our energy towards a comparison to how we are in life.