Mastering Midlife Podcast

Isabelle Tierney, M.A., LMFT, is a licensed therapist, stress management specialist, transformational teacher, and coach. She is the CEO of Choice Point, a company dedicated to providing tools and services that help people reduce stress in their lives and choose wellbeing. Under Choice Point, Isabelle created the "Feel Good Life" and "Stress Reset" methodologies to equip her clients with stress management tools for home and work. Her flagship course, The Feel Good Life Foundational Course, empowers people to choose a life with less stress and more ease, joy, and inspiration. Isabelle holds two master's degrees: she completed her M.A. in Child Development at Tufts University and received her M.A. in International Relations and Communication from Boston University. Isabelle also graduated with a certificate in Brennan Healing Science from the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and is now an energy healer.

Isabelle joins me today to share her "Feel Good Scale" and discuss a framework that can help people manage stress and live a life of ease and inspiration. She discusses the "Feel Good Scale's" red, yellow, and green zones and explains how they can help us identify our stress triggers. She describes the physiological, emotional, and mental signs that show we're in the red zone. She also highlights the value of slowing down to open our lives to inspiration and underscores her three-step action plan that can move us to a life of peace, joy, and wellbeing.

"When we slow down—when we choose to surrender, to listen, to allow, or to receive—something greater than our rational thinking can show up and guide us to create astounding businesses that are peaceful, effortless, and inspired." - Isabelle Tierney

Today on Mastering Midlife:

• How to use Isabelle's "Feel Good Scale" to get to a place of relaxation and wellness
• The red, green, and yellow zones of the "Feel Good Scale" and what they mean
• Complacency, the yellow zone, and getting ourselves to a better life
• Why Isabelle cares about helping others reduce the stress in their lives
• Experiencing adrenal fatigue and choosing the green zone every day
• How taking deep breaths can impact us and reconnect us with ourselves
• Slowing down and welcoming inspiration into our lives
• The reason the best ideas come to us in the shower
• How to move from the red zone of stress response to the green zone of relaxation and wellbeing
• Physiological, emotional, and mental feedbacks that indicate you're in the red zone
• The core beliefs of the red zone and how they hold us back
• What "feel-good" habits are and how they're different from "false-good" habits
• Dealing with our humanity and learning to welcome anger, fear, and frustration
• How fear can help fuel us and give us life force
• Experiencing grief and allowing the energy of "difficult" emotions to move through us

Connect with Isabelle Tierney:

• The Feel Good Life
• The Feel Good Breakthrough Challenge
• Our Feel Good Life on Facebook
• Isabelle Tierney on LinkedIn
• Isabelle Tierney on Instagram
• Isabelle Tierney on YouTube

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

​Helen is an Executive Coach, based in New York and New Jersey. She is the Author of the forthcoming book, "The Unwritten Rules of Women's Leadership."

Her clients are high potential women, CEOs and senior leaders around the world and she helps them to design their careers and deliver powerful results. She understands firsthand, "The loneliness of leadership" and she tells the truth to those who often struggle to find anyone that will. ​She helps leaders with career planning, career purpose, authentic leadership, stakeholder ​management and cross-cultural issues. Prior to being an executive coach, I was a VP and Global business leader for GlaxoSmithKline where I led the $1bn Respiratory Health business in Consumer Healthcare and the Rx to OTC switch of Flonase Allergy Relief. My career has spanned 6 countries and I have lived and worked in Canada, UK, Cyprus, Dubai, Malaysia and the USA.

After 50 episodes with dozens of incredible guests, we decided to answer a bunch of listener questions. In this episode, Helen Appleby opens with a viscerally pointed question,"When did life ask the most of you?" From there it is a deep conversation about Midlife. We talk about success, pressure, joy, relationship and why this time of life is so potent with opportunity and adventure.

"Even if you are at the top of the corporate ladder, with fat pockets, and a fast car, you still need to listen to the whisper." – Mark J. Silverman

Today on Mastering Midlife:

• When did life ask the most of Mark?
• Why Mastering Midlife.
• No matter how successful you are, you still need to listen to your heart.
• We can do both, be successful and be fulfilled.
• With women its "adrenal fatigue," with men, "we blow %$# up.
• What drives us to success in our 20s and 30s, is often unsustainable in our 40s and 50s.

Get FREE Access to the Only 10's Course

Are you struggling with knowing what, when, and how to focus your efforts to get things done? As a long-time sufferer of severe ADD, I understand the struggle - and that's why I created the Only 10's system. This system has helped me and thousands of others clear the clutter and focus their energy on getting the right things done.

The Only 10's free online course is based on my proven system to help you focus your attention and maintain momentum around your day-to-day life.

Sign up for the Only 10's free course today!

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

Devin McDermott is a porn recovery coach and author of the e-book, Cheap Dopamine. Devin was once a porn user and dopamine addict himself. Despite having massive ambitions to become successful, Devin found himself struggling to get his desired results. He soon discovered how porn and supernormal stimuli held him back and made it his number one goal to cut porn and reclaim his life. After freeing himself from the chains of dopamine addiction, Devin wrote Cheap Dopamine to guide others to greater focus, drive, and self-confidence in a distracting world.

Devin joins me today to discuss the neuroscience of porn. He describes his life before he quit porn and explains how a chronic health condition led him to be addicted to porn and video games. He defines what "cheap dopamine" is and how it makes the brain desensitized and unmotivated. He also underscores the role of mindful awareness in quitting porn and highlights how our environment can impact our relationship with addictive substances.

"Porn is typically a means to run away from negative emotions. Do the basics that lead to a good life, so you don't feel the need to escape." - Devin McDermott

Today on Mastering Midlife:

• What life was like for Devin before he quit porn and video games
• What made Devin decide to quit porn for good
• Why we don't do the things we know are good for our wellbeing
• The impact of porn's normalization
• The neurochemistry of porn and the mechanics of dopamine
• What supernormal stimuli are and how they keep us distracted and unmotivated
• Simple steps toward becoming more focused
• How to stop viewing porn and reclaim your life
• How managing emotions effectively can help people quit porn and recover from dopamine addiction
• The power of meditation and journaling
• The importance of connecting to nature, people, and values
• The rat park experiment and how the environment around us affects our attention and motivation
• The economy of attention and how billion-dollar companies try to keep us distracted

Resources Mentioned:

• Your Brain on Porn
• Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction by Gary Wilson
• Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari

Connect with Devin McDermott:

• Book: Cheap Dopamine: Breaking the Chains
• Devin McDermott on Twitter

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

A few months after my 50th birthday, I was standing on a platform, 50 feet in the air, sweating and breathing fast, clinging to the pole for dear life.

This episode explores my experience facing my fear of heights on a zipline to the uncertainty and risks of Midlife.

"The scariest part of sky diving, is standing in the door of the plane." – Will Smith

Are you a busy, overwhelmed business leader?

Through my work as an author and executive coach, I've discovered the 10 lies we all tell ourselves that keep us away from true productivity and creativity.

If constant firefighting is part of your daily grind, I have a free gift for you. My "10 Uncomfortable Truths" about overwhelm, from "Only 10s, Confront Your To-Do List – Transform Your Life."

Go to www.markjsilverman.com, click on the red banner and receive your 10 videos (one minute, one per day) as well as the first chapter of the book.

While you are there, check out some of the other ways I may be able to help you on the journey.

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

Deborah Lansdowne is the Co-Founder and Principal of A Pinch of Time, LLC, a concierge and lifestyle management services company dedicated to helping busy executives. With over 39 years of experience in executive management, sales, and marketing, Deb positions A Pinch of Time as an innovative, full-service lifestyle management company by providing her leadership, marketing, and business development skills. Deborah was also the Founder, President, and CEO of an IT company that received Verizon's Supplier Excellence Award Before co-founding A Pinch of Time in 2015. A highly-regarded business leader and entrepreneur, Deb received the Siemens International Recognition Award twice and was featured on the cover of Black Enterprise Magazine.

Deb joins me today to discuss the process of building a business from the ground up. She shares her professional journey working as an African-American woman in an industry dominated by white men. She discusses how having a mentor helped her succeed in her career and business and explains why she decided to help her daughter found A Pinch of Time. She also highlights the importance of market research and branding and shares her advice for people who want to venture into entrepreneurship.

"Put your infrastructures in place, understand your financials, and understand what your pain tolerance is because it's going to take some level of your own personal resources to do this." - Deb Lansdowne

Today on Mastering Midlife:

• How Deb co-founded A Pinch of Time with her daughter after retiring from the IT industry
• Why Deb decided to retire and why it was an easy decision to make
• What gave her the confidence to work in an industry dominated by white males
• Taking the responsibility of changing workplace dynamics
• The value of mentorship and how Deb coached her daughter into being an entrepreneur and business owner
• The challenges Deb and her daughter faced when they started A Pinch of Time
• The importance of market research and how to execute it
• Creating a personal brand and assessing your competition
• Why trust is an essential foundation of A Pinch of Time
• Deb's advice for people who want to start their own business
• How she sets up boundaries and ensures that her time for her family and herself is protected
• The personal and financial investments required in starting a business
• The value of outsourcing tasks, staying in your zone of genius, and why Deb doesn't work on Fridays

Connect with Deb Lansdowne:

• A Pinch of Time
• A Pinch of Time on LinkedIn
• A Pinch of Time on Facebook
• A Pinch of Time on Twitter
• Deb Lansdowne on LinkedIn

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

Brian Roberts is the CEO Advisor and CEO Peer Group Leader at Vistage, a company that provides private advisory boards for business owners, senior executives, and CEOs. He is also what they call a Vistage Chair, a highly regarded and trusted representative of the company's established ways of executive coaching and group facilitation. Brian regularly works with executives and their teams, transforming them from being good leaders to great leaders.

Brian joins me today to discuss the benefits of being part of a peer group and why peer pressure can be a positive force. He explains the importance of recognizing how your words as a leader can have a positive or negative impact on your team. He shares some of the lessons he's learned from being a peer-group leader as well as some interesting stories from his clients. Brian also describes why reading a book a second time can have a different impact on your life.

"From the moment you head to the office, you have to start thinking and acting like a leader." - Brian Roberts

Today on Mastering Midlife:

• The problems he saw that made him start Vistage.
• What he loves about working with a peer group.
• The amount of time you need to commit to a peer group.
• Interesting stories he picked up during some of his meetings.
• The good side of falling for peer pressure.
• Different needs by different leaders in a peer group.
• The lessons he's learned from speaking with CEOs and other industry leaders.
• The gravity of what a leader says and how staff might interpret them.
• How to use humility and be vulnerable as a leader.
• Why you should try reading books a second time.

Brian Robert's Words of Wisdom:

• Leaders always have to assume everyone is looking at them.
• Leadership is not something you do or have; it's a state of being.

Resources:

• Book: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Connect with Brian Roberts:

• Vistage
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (703) 405-1733

Get FREE Access to the Only 10's Course

Are you struggling with knowing what, when, and how to focus your efforts to get things done? As a long-time sufferer of severe ADD, I understand the struggle - and that's why I created the Only 10's system. This system has helped me and thousands of others clear the clutter and focus their energy on getting the right things done.

The Only 10's free online course is based on my proven system to help you focus your attention and maintain momentum around your day-to-day life.

Sign up for the Only 10's free course today!

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

Pat Hedley is an investor, advisor, and the Founder and CEO of The Path Ahead, where she identifies and invests in high-growth companies. She is also the author of the book, Meet 100 People, where she shares her insights on proactively meeting people. Drawing from the lessons she learned from the thousands of people she has met and interacted with over her career, Pat helps people cultivate their network by providing practical advice and actionable insight. Pat regularly speaks to college students, alumni groups, and corporations and has given a TEDx Talk at Dartmouth College in 2018.

Pat joins me today to discuss the life-changing impact networking can have. She explains the biggest fears that deter people from networking and shares her advice on how introverts can go out and meet new people. She reveals why she wrote her book and the advice she wishes she had received early in her career. She also highlights why it's important to be gracious with everyone we meet in our career and underscores the value of connecting on a human level in the time of COVID-19.

"People fear networking because they fear they have nothing to give. But if you listen well and think about the people you interact with, you can find ways to be helpful to them." - Pat Hedley

Today on Mastering Midlife:

• Why Pat wrote her book and why she cares about people meeting each other
• Becoming a journalist of life and the tremendous learning opportunities we get whenever we meet new people
• The importance of connecting on a human level and how to network virtually in the era of COVID-19
• The value of creating a personal brand, regardless of profession or career
• Overcoming the biggest fears and challenges people face when networking
• Networking 101 for introverts and shy people
• The power of listening well and the role of researching the person you're meeting
• What "blank sheet of paper" opportunities are and the advantages of networking with people outside your organization
• Saying and receiving the gracious "no"
• How to reach out and reconnect with your network from the past
• Treasure hunting for wisdom and the fastest ways to grow your network

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi
• Meet 100 People | Pat Hedley on TEDxDartmouth

Related Content:

• Becoming a Better Leader Through Feedback with Meredith Bell

Connect with Pat Hedley:

• Meet 100 People
• Book: Meet 100 People: A How-To Guide to the Career and Life Edge Everyone's Missing
• Meet 100 People on Instagram
• Meet 100 People on Facebook
• Meet 100 People on Twitter
• The Path Ahead on LinkedIn
• Pat Hedley on LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

This episode is inspired by Sadhguru's incredible book, "Inner Engineering."

We spend most of our time, imagining a future that hasn't happened or ruminating over a past, that we don't even remember accurately.

Most of our stress comes from the catastrophes we make up or reliving a painful event, that happened once, over and over again.

"The trick to getting some peace, is to understand, when we are obsessing about the past or future…. Get present." – Mark J. Silverman

Are you a busy, overwhelmed business leader?

Through my work as an author and executive coach, I've discovered the 10 lies we all tell ourselves that keep us away from true productivity and creativity.

If constant firefighting is part of your daily grind, I have a free gift for you. My "10 Uncomfortable Truths" about overwhelm, from "Only 10s, Confront Your To-Do List – Transform Your Life."

Go to www.markjsilverman.com, click on the red banner and receive your 10 videos (one minute, one per day) as well as the first chapter of the book.

While you are there, check out some of the other ways I may be able to help you on the journey.

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

Mike Harris is an adventurer, performance mastery coach, and host of the In This Moment podcast. Prior to becoming a coach, Mike was a high-stakes professional poker player, champion pool player, and corporate finance leader. Each of these experiences have allowed him to study the intersection of risk, resilience, peak performance, and spirituality—shaping how he supports top executives, founders, professional athletes, and performing artists to be at their highest level of performance.

His first book, Radical Freedom, will be released in 2022.

Mike joins me today to share the life lessons he learned from playing professional poker. He discusses how experiencing mastery himself inspired him to help others build their own mastery. He describes the nature of risk, pain, and self-judgment as well as the essence of risk and resilience in poker. He also discusses what it means to "die before going to battle" and underscores how wanting to be the best in anything we do sets us up with a powerful commitment to take risks.

"Don't play like you have to win every hand; play like you have to play every single hand the best way you possibly can. Give it that attention—that kind of energy." - Mike Harris

Today on Mastering Midlife:

• Mike's background and why he cares about helping others build mastery
• Human motivation and how Mike became a professional poker player
• The relationship between risk and resilience
• Learning not to live and die by each hand in poker
• "Dying before going to battle" and the essence of resilience in poker
• The importance of planning for failure and resilience in the face of failure
• The keys to freedom and what it means to be resilient
• Working with people to give you the support you need
• Reframing your goals for more impact, flexibility, and efficacy

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown
• Book: Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown

Connect with Mike Harris:

• Mike Harris Website
• Mike Harris on LinkedIn
• Mike Harris on Instagram
• Mike Harris on Facebook

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.

I hear too often, "I will be/feel good when X happens."

We think something outside ourselves is going to change our experience. And it may, for a moment.

I think that is ass backwards.

In this episode, we discuss a better way.

"How do we need to be, in order to do what we need to do, to have what we say we want." – Mark J. Silverman

Are you a busy, overwhelmed business leader?

Through my work as an author and executive coach, I've discovered the 10 lies we all tell ourselves that keep us away from true productivity and creativity.

If constant firefighting is part of your daily grind, I have a free gift for you. My "10 Uncomfortable Truths" about overwhelm, from "Only 10s, Confront Your To-Do List – Transform Your Life."

Go to www.markjsilverman.com, click on the red banner and receive your 10 videos (one minute, one per day) as well as the first chapter of the book.

While you are there, check out some of the other ways I may be able to help you on the journey.

Mastering Midlife...Together!

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Mastering Midlife Podcast: How to Thrive When the World Asks the Most of You with Mark Silverman. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.

Be sure to visit our website and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and don't forget to share your favorite episodes on social media.