My Instruction Manual

This week I’m sharing two chapters from my book 18 Steps to Own Your Life. These steps are all about planning. I’m going to tell you about what I call the three Ps of planning: Prioritizing, Programming and Pivoting. This is the formula that helps me to plan my days for success. My hope is that they can help you too.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Purchase 18 Steps to Own Your Life HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Jeff Grace, host of the self-obsessed podcast, talks about how self-help organizations become cults. 

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Jeff Grace is a Hollywood actor, director, and writer. He's also the creator and host of the self-obsessed podcast.

In this conversation, Keith and Jeff discuss:

• Great self help books with terrible titles
• Jeff's experience with Landmark
• What makes self-help movements like cults?
• Jeff shares some practical email tips 
  
  • Jeff mentions Mailstrom / Chuck and Sane Inbox

1. What are the habits you maintain every day to stay happy and healthy?

• Makes bed every morning
• Daily task last with gratitude, goals
• Exercise every day
• Writes for first 2-3 hours / day

 2. What personal development book do you recommend?

• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

3. Favorite personal mantra / inspirational quote 

• You can fail at what you don't want to do, so you might as well take a chance on what you love

4. What's your one guilty pleasure?

• Watching Apple Computer YouTube Video 

5. When your time comes, how do you want to be remembered? 

• As a kind and caring person

• Website: JeffGrace.com
• Instagram: @JeffGrace
• Twitter: @JeffGrace
• Podcast: Self-Obsessed

One of the questions I’ve been thinking about lately is where God fits in self help. Do those who believe in God find the self-improvement journey easier? In this episode, I’m excited to welcome back Jenny Blake. She recently enrolled in Divinity School.  My own undergraduate degree was in world religions, so I'm excited to have this conversation with Jenny about God, spirituality, and self help.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Jenny Blake is author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One.

In this conversation, Keith and Jenny discuss:

• Jenny's pivot into Union Theological Seminary
• How Jenny made the decision to step away from school
• How Jenny realized atheism wasn't for her
• Keith shares his experience growing up in Catholicism
• What does it mean to be agnostic?
• The dogmatism of atheist
• The golden rule
• Do we need religion or spirituality of faith to grow?

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead by Tosha Silver
• Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto by Lesley Hazleton
• Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives by Brian L. Weiss
• How to Be, Do, or Have Anything: A Practical Guide to Creative Empowerment by Lawurence G Boldt
• Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao by Wayne W. Dyer
• Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian by Paul F. Knitter
• Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
• God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Mirabai Starr
• Byron Katie

Morra Aarons-Mele, author of Hiding in the Bathroom, explains why people suffering from anxiety might make better leaders. And host Keith McArthur speaks with nutrition contributor Michelle Jaelin about gut health.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Morra is author of Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert's Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You'd Rather Stay Home). She lives in Boston and runs Women Online, a social media communications firm.

In this conversation, Keith and Morra discuss:

• Why this decade may be remembered as the anxious teens
• How the 2016 election, scarcity, and technology are leading to increased anxiety
• How anxiety can make you a better leader
• Are introverts more likely to be anxious?
• Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos as poster woman of entrepreneurship porn.
• Morra references The Dropout podcast. (Since I interviewed Morra I've listened to the podcast and I highly recommend it, but I couldn't get through the HBO documentary about Elizabeth Holmes)

1. If you had to pick one music album as the soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

• Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band

2. What's one personal development myth you want to dispel?

• That you'll ever get to a point where you're not working through some major stuff

3. Name one unusual or surprising gadget you couldn't live without.

• Immersion blender

4. What does a "bad day" look like to you and what are the steps you take to turn it around?  

• When she wakes up and feels like there's concrete in her body. Feels sad and low and like she can't move her body. Exercise helps her to make it through the day.

5. What is your biggest goal or wildest dream?

• To triple revenues of her company over the next few years, and to do a podcast with real leaders who will talk about mental health and anxiety.

• Hidinginthebathroom.com
• Twitter:  @morraam

Michelle Jaelin is both a trained artist and a Registered Dietitian who is known as The NutritionArtist. She appears regularly as in newspapers, magazines and on television as an expert in healthy eating.

In this conversation, Keith and Michelle discuss:

• How gut health impacts emotional and physical health
• What to eat to promote gut health
• Where to find Michelle:
  • Twitter: @nutritionartist 
  • Instagram: /nutritionartist
  • Facebook: /nutritionartistRD

On this episode of the My Instruction Manual podcast, I speak with Lara Casanova about grieving. Lara lost her own father in 2016, and she's the author of Grief, Grace and Gratitude. I also speak with personal trainer Kathleen Trotter about why measuring, monitoring and tracking are critical to fitness success.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Lara Casanova is author of Grief, Grace and Gratitude. She lost her father in 2016. Lara is the author of several books including 2018's Grief, Grace and Gratitude: Transforming Through Your Grief Journey. She lives in Australia.

In this conversation, Keith and Lara discuss:

• What Lara learned from the death of her father
• Lara's five stages of the grief
  • Becoming aware
  • Taking responsibility
  • Feeling the feelings & being present with them
  • Forgiving ourselves and any others
  • Accepting where our life is at
• Being "pink" as meaning being healthy
• The importance of being grateful for what our loved ones leave behind when they die
• How death can be a catalyst for us to live our own life better

1. What are the habits you maintain every day to stay happy and healthy?

• Mindful Eating
• Practicing yoga
• Spending time in nature
• Drinking lots of water
• Getting lots of sleep
• Doing something every day that connects with heart

 2. What personal development book do you recommend?

• In the Meantime. Finding Yourself in the Love You Want by Iyanla Vanzant

3. Favorite personal mantra / inspirational quote

• Love, truth and purpose

4. What's your one guilty pleasure?

• Chips and chocolate

5. When your time comes, how do you want to be remembered?

• To have had a big heart and have been a role model and inspiration for others

• Website: lifeinthepink.com.au
• Facebook: inthepink

Kathleen Trotter is author of Your Fittest Future Self: Making Choices Today for a Happier, Healthier, Fitter Future You.

In this conversation, Keith and Kathleen discuss:

• Food journaling is proven to lead to weight loss
• The importance of journaling about feelings for fitness success 
• Electronic vs. paper journals
• Where to find Kathleen
  • KatheenTrotter.com
  • Instagram: KathleenTrotterFitness
  • Twitter: KTrotterFitness
  • Facebook: KathleenTrotter

How do we stop kids from losing their innate ability to be mindful? Why do scientists keep changing their minds about whether or not eggs are good for us? And why is this podcast becoming bigger than Game of Thrones? All that and more in this episode.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Click here to get a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life on audiobook through a free trial of Audible.

Joelle Anderson is a therapist specializing in mindfulness meditation and creator and host of the Kernel of Wisdom YouTube channel.

In this conversation, Keith and Joelle discuss:

• Teaching kids about mindfulness as soon as they're old enough to start recognizing their emotions
• The four-seven-eight relaxation breath
• Why little kids are more naturally mindful
• Joelle mentions resources available at MindUp.org
• Where to find Joelle
  • • Kernelofwisdom.com
    • YouTube.com/KernelofWisdom1

Michelle Jaelin is both a trained artist and a Registered Dietitian who is known as The NutritionArtist. She appears regularly as in newspapers, magazines and on television as an expert in healthy eating.

In this conversation, Keith and Michelle discuss:

• The latest study on eggs and health
• Why we shouldn't overreact to a single study
• Where to find Michelle:
  • Twitter: @nutritionartist 
  • Instagram: /nutritionartist
  • Facebook: /nutritionartistRD

Over the course of a year, Michael Levitt lost his health, his job, his house and his car. Along the way, he found answers about how to live his life better. He joins us this week to talk about his book 369 Days: How to Survive a Year of Worst Case Scenarios.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Michael is author of 369 Days: How to Survive a Year of Worst Case Scenarios and he hosts the Breakfast Leadership podcast.

In this conversation, Keith and Michael discuss:

• How Michael got everything he wanted by age 40 --- and it was slowly killing him
• Michael's heart attack
• Michael loses his job and car
• Why losing his house made Michael feel fully at peace
• Why Michael feels like he need to lose everything in order to win
• How the right morning routine sets up your day for success

1. What are the habits you maintain every day to stay happy and healthy?

• Get a good night of restful sleep, exercise frequently, eat foods rich in nutrients + triage his calendar

 2. What personal development book do you recommend?

• Sometimes You Win. Sometimes You Learn by John C. Maxwell

3. Favorite personal mantra / inspirational quote

• "A pessimist is an optimist with experience." --- Chuck Daily

4. What's your one guilty pleasure?

• The Monte Cristo sandwich from Branigan's Irish Pub

5. When your time comes, how do you want to be remembered? 

• As somebody that survived a lot of lousy situations and came out of it better and made the world better by sharing those experiences.

• Website: BreakfastLeadership.com
• Podcast: Breakfast Leadership

Melissa Monte entered her own personal prison when she was sexually assaulted at a party at 15 years of age. She masked the pain with drinking, drugs, bad relationships, and an eating disorder.

She didn’t know how to break free.

But incredibly, the path for Melissa to escape her demons came when was stuck for a week in a physical jail.

Melissa is the creator and host of the excellent Mind Love podcast.

She joins us in this episode of the My Instruction Manual podcast to outline the steps she took to escape from the prisons of her life. This episode also features our nutrition contributor Michelle Jaelin who takes us through her own personal instruction manual for life.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Melissa Monte is creator and host of the Mind Love podcast.

In this conversation, Keith and Melissa discuss:

• How Melissa's life went from sunshine to darkness at 15 years
• What Melissa learned about herself during the eight days she spent in jail
• How asking herself questions helped Melissa to turn her life around
• The importance of feeling our feelings
• Becoming a more positive person by surrounding yourself with positive people

1. What are the habits you maintain every day to stay happy and healthy? 

• Her morning routine, which includes meditation, movement, singing and writing in her gratitude journal

 2. What personal development book do you recommend?

• I Am The Wordby Paul Selig

3. Favorite personal mantra / inspirational quote 

• "If you're not consciously creating, you are consciously deteriorating." - Melissa Monte

4. What's your one guilty pleasure?

• The Bachelor

5. When your time comes, how do you want to be remembered? 

• As someone who helps people realize their power

• Website + Podcast: Mindlove.com

Michelle Jaelin is both a trained artist and a Registered Dietitian who is known as The NutritionArtist. She appears regularly as in newspapers, magazines and on television as an expert in healthy eating.

1. If you had to pick one music album as the soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

• An eclectic mixtape with songs in multiple languages, because of her interest in different cultures.

2. What's one personal development myth you want to dispel?

• That you can make everything better with positive thinking alone

3. Name one unusual or surprising gadget you couldn't live without.

• Her alarm clock, which slowly lights up and slowly gets louder

4. What does a "bad day" look like to you and what are the steps you take to turn it around?  

• A day where nothing goes right. She turns her day around by making her goals as small as possible.

5. What is your biggest goal or wildest dream?

• Grow her business to the point where she can hire someone to work for her full time.

• Where to find Michelle:
  • Twitter: @nutritionartist 
  • Instagram: /nutritionartist
  • Facebook: /nutritionartistRD

Two years ago, my kidneys were failing.

Luckily for me, I have two amazing sisters who were both ready and willing to donate a kidney to me.

My sister Fiona was the first to go through the extensive testing process, but she wasn’t a good match. Next, my sister Stephanie get tested and doctors gave the thumb up.

I am so grateful that Fiona and Stephanie were both willing to do this for me.

This episode is all about sisters, and I dedicate it to them.

Our featured guest is Daisy Buchanan. She joins us to talk about her latest book The Sisterhood: A Love Letter to the Women Who Have Shaped Me.

Daisy is a UK-based author, journalist and TV personality.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Daisy Buchanan is a UK-based author, podcaster, and journalist. Her latest book is The Sisterhood: A Love Letter to the Women Who Have Shaped Me. On her You're Booked podcast, Daisy asks authors about the books on their shelves. She first appeared on My Instruciton Manual in Episode 16, where she discussed her book How To Be a Grown Up.

In this conversation, Keith and Daisy discuss:

• How sisterhood relationships aren't always with biological sisters
• What it was like to grow up in a house with six daughters and no brothers and how her father dealt with it
• How Keith and Daisy were both raised by feminist fathers
• Why Miss Piggy was Daisy's role model when she was growing up
• Gender in advertising
• Famous sister families: The Bennets from Pride and Prejudice vs. the Kardashians
• Whether Bridget Jones was the inspiration for the Millennial obsession with adulting

1. If you had to pick one music album as the soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

• Plastic Letters by Blondie

2. What's one personal development myth you want to dispel?

• The idea that quitters never win and winners never quit

3. Name one unusual or surprising gadget you couldn't live without.

• Her bed of nails, which mimics acupuncture

4. What does a "bad day" look like to you and what are the steps you take to turn it around?  

• When she beats herself up for not being productive enough
  • Daisy mentions Yoga with Adrienne

5. What is your biggest goal or wildest dream?

• To finish her first novel by the end of the year

• Instagram: @thedaisybee
• Twitter: @notrollergirl

Laura Vanderkam, author of Off the Clock, talks about her new fable/novel Juliet's School of Possibilities. And host Keith McArthur puts fitness contributor Kathleen Trotter on the hot seat with a series of rapid-fire questions.

Feedback / Connect:

• Subscribe to My Instruction Manual on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else great podcast are found
• Visit MyInstructionManual.com for shownotes, more great content and to sign up the email newsletter
• Email: [email protected]
• Keith on Twitter: @KeithMcArthur
• Join our Facebook page and our Self-Help Book Club on Facebook
• Find us on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
• Download a free copy of 18 Steps to Own Your Life by clicking HERE
• Purchase Winning Resolutions HERE

Laura is author of several productivity and time management books. Her most recent book is Juliet's School of Possibilities. Her TED Talk on how to gain control of your free time (embedded below) has been viewed more than 10-million times. Laura is also the co-host of the Best of Both Worlds podcast.

Laura first appeared in episode 44.

In this conversation, Keith and Laura discuss:

• Why Laura chose to write a fiction book about productivity
• The importance of "forest time"
• The novel's main lesson: "Expectations are infinite. Time is Finite. We are always choosing. Choose well.
• How to deal with infinite expectations
• The folly of inbox zero
• Every moment is a choice
• Laura's podcast "Best of Both Worlds."

1. If you had to pick one music album as the soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

• Indigo Girls Greatest Hits

2. What's one personal development myth you want to dispel?

• That getting to "inbox zero" is a worthwhile goal

3. Name one unusual or surprising gadget you couldn't live without.

• Her plug-in griddle for pancakes and grilled cheese sandwiches

4. What does a "bad day" look like to you and what are the steps you take to turn it around?  

• A day when there's frustrations with things out of your control like a plane delay.

5. What is your biggest goal or wildest dream?

• To keep writing fiction and non-fiction

• Website: lauravanderkam.com

Kathleen Trotter is author of Finding Your Fit: A Compassionate Trainer's Guide to Making Fitness a Lifelong Habit

In this conversation, Keith and Kathleen discuss:

• Why Kathleen packs bell peppers in her purse
• Why the #fitness hashtag makes Kathleen wants to follow someone
• The best places in the world to run
• Where to find Kathleen
  • KatheenTrotter.com
  • Instagram: KathleenTrotterFitness
  • Twitter: KTrotterFitness
  • Facebook: KathleenTrotter