Success 2.0

Do you go to bed before everyone else, or are you person that stays up late? Maybe you stay up late, just to wake up early. You could probably guess that the large portion of Americans at any given moment could use some sleep.

Like a several hours more... According to practically every study on sleep behavior, you are absolutely right!

Americans continue to hinder their potential, thinking they just need to try harder. That by putting off sleep to hours awake, we are going to get so much more done. Well, on this episode CJ challenges the whole 'sleep is for the weak' thing and shares some tricks he uses to get great sleep most every night.

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(Download Episode Here) (Subscribe in iTunes Here) (Connect with CJ on Linkedin)

Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at[email protected]!

Connect with CJ on Twitter at @cjmccoach and on LinkedIn.

Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider leaving your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

On This Week's Episode, We Discuss: Risks of Bad Sleeping Habits & How to Overcome Them

• Why CJ gets an abnormally large amount of sleep, compared to his peers (and has for as long as he can remember).
• The health repercussions of poor sleep .
• How sleep deprivation is costing the economy over $400B in lost productivity & healthcare expenses.
• Strategies for improving varying degrees of sleep limiting behaviors
• Creating feedback loops that ensures getting a great night of sleep, every night.

Please Scroll down for Full Show Notes and Featured Resources!

The Two Rule Foundation is on a mission to helps inspire professionals to live gratefully and commit more of their resources to help those in need. The foundation can help you determine who you should give your money to and how.

Looking to get more out of all your hard work? Enroll in ThriveMap University, an online video program for professionals. 100% of proceeds are donated to the Two Rule Foundation.

More About This Show

According to the Center for Disease Control, ⅓ Americans is not getting enough sleep.

A, false, but way too common notion we have is that if we steal an hour from our sleep, we can apply that to work, and then we will be able to get everything we wanted to do in the day done -- if you're a go-getter maybe you're getting ahead of schedule (but that's rarely the case).

And this may have served us back when we were farming or working in a plant with little regulations. However, the act of work in our modern economy rewards those that can maximize productivity.

Less Sleep = Less Productivity

The old tortoise & the hare story, maybe it doesn't apply when it comes to day-to-day productivity. So this whole "If I sleep less, I can get more done" lie we tell ourselves is what perpetuates our disengagement.

The Rand Corporation recently released a study that concluded sleep deprivation is costing the U.S. economy some $411B+ every year for attributing directly to employee disengagement and healthcare costs.

Do you find yourself becoming irritable or grumpy throughout the day? It could be poor nutrition, or you maybe you just need some more sleep.

Health Risks Associated with Poor Sleep

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Weight gain/obesity
• Impaired immunity
• Increase risk of death

How would you describe your sleep quality?

What time do you go to bed? On average we spend about ⅓ of our day sleeping. If you're a really go getter that may be more like ¼, but regardless we spend a very significant amount of time on our backs (unless you're an astronaut).

You don't have to try very hard to see that the the outcome of the other 60-70% of our waking hours, it's smart to get the best mattress you can afford.

Strategies to Improve Quality of Sleep

• Stick to a sleep schedule, even on the weekends!
• Relaxing nightly rituals. Something to calm you down before you go to bed.
• If you have trouble sleeping avoid naps
• Exercise, get up and move for at least 30 mins
• Avoid blue light from TVs,
• Your bedroom's primarily focus is to sleep. Make sure you are
• Avoid alcohol, caffeine, heavy meals
• Read
• If needed, talk to a sleep professional
• Do not resort to medication unless everything else fails.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• 5 Hour Energy
• Center For Disease Control
• Mattresses by Mail
  • Leesa
  • Helix Sleep
  • Tuft and Needle
  • Nectar
  • Casper

CJ (@cjmccoach) is back to share some truth and prep us for true success on The Success 2.0 Podcast. If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly episodes, drop us a line at [email protected]. Now, let's dive in!

"We're having our self-esteem built, molded, tweaked by what we see on social media..." - CJ McClanahan

On This Week's Episode, We Discuss: Tips to Reduce Stress From Bad Smartphone Usage Habits

• Don't keep your phone on your person at all times
• Turn off notifications. Silence your phone, (not even vibe mode), and get rid of the blinking indicator light.* (some exceptions)
• Remove social media apps from your home screen. Force yourself to have hunt for them if you want to use them.
• Limit your smartphone time usage - time...using apps
• Replace old habits with something else, such as reading, meditation or mindfulness exercises
• Don't check your phone within the first 30 minutes of waking up. Use an old-school alarm clock if you need help waking up in the morning.
• Set after work and leisure time limits. Set expectations with your colleagues and/or employees that you respect your free time and theirs.
• Share your frustration with someone close to you, and enlist an accountability buddy if needed.

Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at [email protected]!

Connect with CJ on Twitter at @cjmccoach and on LinkedIn.

Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider leaving your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

(Download Episode Here) (Subscribe in iTunes Here) (Connect with CJ on Linkedin)

Have you been looking for a better way to give to charitable causes without feeling like you're money is going to fund another overpaid executive? Check out how different giving is over at the Two Rule Foundation.

ThriveMap University is for overachieving professionals who are 100% COMMITTED growing their careers while increasing their tolerance to stress. Learn how to get more fulfillment out of life while continuing to do amazing things in business and the community.

Resources from This Episode:

Smartphone Compulsion Test by Dr. David Greenfield

Scientists Study Nomophobia—Fear of Being without a Mobile Phone via Scientific American

Social Media Is 'Ripping Apart' Society - Ex-Facebook Executive Chamath Palihapitiya on CNBC

How Facebook Was Designed to Exploit the Vulnerability of the Human Mind - Sean Parker, Chamath Palihapitiya

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous - Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Moment App - iOS app that limits time usage on distracting apps and social media

How to Use Timeboxing via Mindtools

What Is An Appropriate Response Time To Email? via FastCompany

Waiting For a Reply? Study Explains The Psychology Behind Email Response Time via Forbes

Why Every Organization Needs A Standard Response Time Policy via Forbes

Lara MacGregor (@HopeScarvesInc) is a metastatic breast cancer patient and the founder of Hope Scarves, an international non-profit organization based in Louisville, Kentucky which collects scarves from women who have faced breast cancer to give to women undergoing cancer treatment. Since 2014, Hope Scarves has sent over 10,000 scarves to women in 16 countries.

"Facing a cancer diagnosis throws in your face just how fragile and precious life really is" - Lara MacGregor

What We Discuss with Lara MacGregor:

• What it felt like being diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer while expecting her second child.
• The hopelessness and disbelief of undergoing chemotherapy and feeling her unborn child respond to the treatment.
• The relief she had when her son was born full-term and healthy.
• How a woman she had never met, named Kelly, gave her the idea to found an international non-profit organization that's impacted more than 8,000 women worldwide.
• What it takes to find joy after surviving breast cancer to years later be diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
• How to create meaningfulness by cutting negative energy out of your life in whatever form it takes.

Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider leaving your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

(Download Episode Here) (Subscribe in iTunes Here) (Connect with CJ)

(Hope Scarves Video from Hope Scarves on Vimeo.)

Please Scroll down for Full Show Notes and Featured Resources!

Hope Scarves is raising capital for metastatic breast cancer research. Help raise $450,000 in 2018 for the Metastatic Breast Cancer Research Fund by visiting the website here.

The Two Rule Foundation is on a mission to helps inspire professionals to live gratefully and commit more of their resources to help those in need. The foundation can help you determine who you should give your money to and how.

Looking to get more out of all your hard work? Enroll in ThriveMap University, an online video program for professionals. 100% of proceeds are donated to the Two Rule Foundation.

More About This Show

In 2007, Lara McGregor was 30 years old and expecting her second child.

In a routine trimester check-up with her OB/GYN, she mentioned something she had experienced some bloody discharge from her breast.

As all mothers would tell us, the female body goes through some extreme changes during the course of pregnancy, that would otherwise be cause for concern -- she had thought nothing of it.

On the other hand, her doctor did not, and Lara was sent in for a biopsy the very same day.

48 hours later she received a call... it was breast cancer.

At seven months pregnant, in seemingly picture perfect health and at the top of her career, this was not the news she was expecting.

She would soon learn that her cancer was estrogen-receptor-positive, and her pregnancy was directly fueling its growth. Within days, she would undergo her first round of chemotherapy treatment…

In this episode, Lara describes her story of facing breast cancer, achieving remission, then being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer only a couple years later, and how she has found her purpose again by living every day with intention.

THANKS, Lara McGregor!

If you enjoyed this session with Lara MacGregor, let her know by clicking on the link below and sending her a quick shout out on Twitter:

Click here to thank Lara MacGregor on Twitter!

Click here to let CJ know about your number one takeaway from this episode!

And if you want us to answer your questions on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at [email protected].

Resources from This Episode:

• Hope Scarves website

• Lara MacGregor on Facebook

• Lara MacGregor on Instagram

• Lara MacGregor on Twitter

• Donate scarves to women facing cancer

• Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance

• Metastatic Breast Cancer Project

• Hormone Receptor Status - BreastCancer.Org

• Types of Breast Cancer - WebMD

CJ (@CoachCJ) shares a deep look at what it takes for true entrepreneurs to make the jump from doing something that they hate, to pursuing their passions in their careers.

What We Discuss in This Episode:

• How CJ became an executive coach
• The obsession with finding your passion
• What to do if you want to own a business
• The Pros and Cons to owning a business
• The difference between being a sales-focused versus operations-focused

Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps. Consider leaving your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

(Download Episode Here) (Subscribe in iTunes Here) (Find CJ Here)

Have you felt like you can or should be doing something else with your career? Are you looking for a change or to simply get something more out of your work? The majority of people, if not every single person in the western world, questions their career decision at some point. On some level we want to know to what we have been called to do with our careers, with our lives, and when that calling is to be an entrepreneur, being in a corporate role will never cut it.

Please Scroll down for Full Show Notes and Featured Resources!

Want to lead a more generous life, but not convinced your charitable contribution is actually going to good use? To find out how to make generosity a calibrated, daily thing go to TwoRule.org!

More About This Episode

If you've been listening to our show, you know that it's gone through several iterations over the past three years.

The show was born from a desire to help professionals and entrepreneurs get the most out of themselves, and has taught us more about following our passions, compassion, and the possibility of starting over than we ever thought we'd learn.

If you want to learn more about starting your own business, we highly recommend checking out our very first episode (ever!) about the topic (that's episode 1).

Resources from This Episode:

• What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles
• Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath
• Success 2.0 #001 - Do You Have What It Takes To Start A Business?

Dr. Stephen Post (@StephenGPost) shares a glimpse into how he came to co-found New York-based The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. We'll discuss why love is something people all over the globe treasure and desire.

"When the security and well-being of another is as real and meaningful to you as your own- you love that person" - Dr. Stephen Post

What We Discuss in This Deep Dive:

• Contrary to common beliefs, research has shown that children are born generous with a natural empathy.
• The concept of love is difficult for a lot of people to get their hands around. We should be using an every day description with universal examples.
• Being a loving person does not mean you do not look after your own needs. Loving yourself is paramount.
• The great religions and traditions teach cultivating their "true self," learning how to respect others.
• Companies that are generous with their employees see increases to their bottom line. Cultivating workplaces that value compassion and generosity is good for business.

Longtime friend, best-selling author and researcher at Stony Brook University, Dr. Stephen Post joins us for this deep dive on The Success 2.0 Podcast to explain how we can embrace unadulterated love and what we can learn from different cultures. Let's face it — the benefits of loving and being loved far exceed the costs. Listen, learn, and enjoy!

Please Scroll down for Full Show Notes and Featured Resources!

Want to lead a more generous life, but not convinced your charitable contribution is actually going to good use? To find out how to make generosity a calibrated, daily thing go to TwoRule.org!

More About This Show

While hosting a weeklong conference with more than 800 people from over 40 countries, Dr. Post was approached by Jill Neimark, a writer from Discover magazine, about doing a piece on him and his work.

He was so impressed with her work that he enlisted her to help him refine his book in a way where his ideas would jump off the page. Shortly after, Why Good Things Happen to Good People hit shelves all over the globe...

"People that give at reasonable levels, given who they are psychologically and physically, they flourish." says Dr. Post. "96% of people that say volunteering makes them feel good"

THANKS, DR. STEPHEN POST!

If you enjoyed this deep dive with Dr. Stephen Post, let him know by clicking on the link below and sending him a quick shout out at Twitter:

Click here to thank Dr. Stephen Post on Twitter!

Click here to let CJ know about your number one takeaway from this episode!

Resources from This Episode:

• Why Good Things Happen to Good People by Dr. Stephen Post & Jill Neimark
• The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love

When you look back to when you were 25, could you have guessed you'd be making as much money, or be as wealthy, as you are today?

Back then, you'd probably have thought someone making as much as you is rich!… But are you? Do you feel rich?

If you stopped working today, would you be able to retire and do anything you want? No? Why is that? Why are high-earners still no happier than when they were just making a modest living?

As John D. Rockefeller is quoted say, when asked when is enough, enough?, he said, "Just one dollar more…"

John D. Rockefeller… One of the richest guys in American history. The guy who's name is on buildings from New York to San Francisco…. "Just one dollar more".

I don't know about you but that doesn't exactly scream "happy" or "content" to me. To clarify, I don't use the words "content" or "contentment" to signify complacency. Quite the contrary! I'm a capitalist. In my upper 40s, I get giddy at the thought of how big of an impact I can have in the lives of others.

This begs the question… "How much is enough?" At what stage does our emotional well-being plateau?

According to a 2010 nation-wide survey, lead by Nobel Peace Prize recipients Daniel Kahneman & Angus Deaton out of Princeton University of more than 450,000 responses to a Gallup poll on health & well-being - the magic number is approximately $75,000 per year.

There's a correlation between income and emotional well-being, but this stops around $75k.

This means, you feel better when you go from $40K to $50K, and $60K to $70K, but once you hit that $75K mark, it's basically a wash. Everything after $75,000 per year is diminishing returns.

Why is that? 75 racks doesn't seem really seem like all that much to me. And more than likely, you surpassed that mark years ago.

Ask yourself, is your life really all that much better now than back then? Do you feel richer?

When 70% of lottery winners go broke within 5 years of hitting the jackpot, can we really say that the lack of money was their problem?

Sure, money goes a lot further in Des Moines, Iowa or Indianapolis than in New York or California, so this number is just an average, but the fact of the of matter is that at some point, money does not provide any more value to us emotionally.

So, should we go back to making $75,000 a year? Hell no! But, that also doesn't mean we should just go buy more stuff.

3 Steps To Increasing Emotional Well-Being Beyond The Money

1. Know your number. How much do you really need? Do you have kids? Are you college planning? Do you desire more culture and to travel? Get clear on who you want to be, and that will determine what you need.
2. Get crystal clear on what success means to you. If success is measured on a balance sheet, life is going to be pretty unrewarding.
3. Reevaluate your social circles. As Jim Rohn said, "you are the average of you 5 closest friends." If you are surrounded by money-hungry animals, but you desire to help underprivileged children learn about art, you might want to make some new friends…

Resources

• High-income Improves Life Evaluation, But Not Emotional Well-being?
• How Much Money is Really Enough?
• How Much Should You Have in a 529 Plan By Age?
• How Winning the Lottery Affects Happiness, According to Psychology Research

Matt Bays is a singer, songwriter, philanthropist, blogger, life coach and the author of Finding God In The Ruins: How God Redeems Pain.

Struggling with addiction in his twenties, and trauma from sexual, physical and emotional abuse as a child, Matt found himself in questioning his most basic understanding of his place in the world and his existence.

At 23, Matt, seeking meaning, found himself in the arms of a welcoming church and by 25, he entered into ministry, applying his musical talents through worship. More than 20 years later, Matt has a fiery passion for helping people pick up the pieces out of their brokenness and create their own story.

"It's out of our wounds- the core ache within us, that we find our calling" - Dan Allender

In this episode:

• How Matt defined 'success' as young adult (3:22)
• How life's challenges forced him to rethink what success is (5:10)
• Why writing has become a method of processing his thoughts and emotions (7:19)
• Why it took him nearly a decade to write his first book (7:51)
• Matt's understanding of redemption (12:10)
• How Matt helps people feel less broken (18:39)
• Matt's ambitions for his future (22:25)
• How Matt exorcises negative personalities (26:34)
• How you can receive a free copy of Matt's latest book (27:27)

Drawing upon his past experiences, hardships and circumstance, Matt wrote Finding God in the Ruins out of frustration with his circumstances- he was tired of letting God of the hook, saying "well, He is God and I'm not" was no longer an excuse.

Instead, he started down a journey of figuring out what he thought about faith, and God and his place in the world. In his late 20's Matt began reconciling his past with his present, digging deep to understand how is experiences had affected his thinking.

If you aren't familiar with Matt, you're missing out. Matt is an author, speaker, songwriter and the founder of the non-profit Finding God in the Ruins, based out of Indianapolis, Indiana.

If you're interested in receiving a free copy for Matt's latest book "Finding God In The Ruins", we are giving away 5 copies of his book. All you have to do is send an email to [email protected].

What's 1 thing you'd like to to improve in your personal or professional life? Chances are you've always wanted to improve your work-life balance.

If the first image that popped into your mind was of struggling to hold two objects opposite at level, chances are the condition of your workload is overpowering your life.

Studies have shown that the inability to disengage from work is our number one stressor. In this episode we jump into the concept of keeping work and personal life separate so we can understand how is really the whole 'work-life balance' thing actually works.

Resources

9 Different Definitions On The Meaning Of Work-Life Balance

Are You Taking the Time Off That You Need?

Rethinking Work-Life Balance

It's Time To Kill The Fantasy That Is Work-Life Balance

How to Let Go at the End of the Workday

How to Forget About Work When You're Not Working

On this episode of Success 2.0, we're taking a deeper look at how us overachievers can focus more on what's important to us by applying the Pareto Principle, aka 'The 80/20 Rule'.

For those who aren't familiar, the 80/20 Rule is an observation, originally coined in the 19th century by an Italian engineer by the name of Vilfredo Pareto. Where the 80/20 Rule was originally observed through lens of wealth distribution at the time, it has since been expanded into various areas, from economics and math, to social psychology, sales and personal development.

In this episode, we'll be learning how we can apply this principle to our personal and professional lives to get to the root of what drives us toward our new definition of success.

What We Cover In This Episode

• How to identify the 20% of activities that provide the progress towards our goals
• Why it's important to be objective with ourselves
• How to implement systems that ensure our focus on the most valuable activities, clients, products and services

It was the fall of 2006, and I'd just completed a handful of books about Goal Setting. Of course, I knew how important this was already... yeah, I'd done it in my professional career.

I'd certainly had done it, in the starting of my franchise, a business coaching franchise I had bought many years ago. But at this time, it had settled into me the importance in a way that it had never done before.

In this episode, we explore the topics of

• Why measuring New Year's Resolutions on a 'Pass/Fail' scale will almost always result in failure.
• What makes Goals different from Resolutions.
• How writing Goals down geometrically increases the likelihood of achieving them.
• Why we think writing down Goals will limit us, and why in practice this is absolutely false.
• Why we counterintuitively get immediate gratification by intentionally choosing delayed gratification.
• Why Setting Goals is the single-most important thing you can do to improve your professional & personal state.
• How multi-tasking is a recipe for overwhelm and complete shutdown.

If you haven't set any goals, by the end of the year, you will have made very little progress on a ton of different projects. There is lots of stuff happening, but the question is

"Is the RIGHT stuff happening?"

Unless you like waking up every day and changing your mind every 15 minutes and working 70 hours a week and not making real, meaningful progress towards what's important to you...

Unless you like spinning all the time, you have to get clear on what's important to you.