Systematic Leader

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Ugh, priorities. That sounds boring." But hear me out. 

Priorities can actually be pretty exciting when you think about it. They're like a flight plan for your life! 

At the end of the day, you get to time travel for a few minutes. 

You land your plane, put out your time travel spaceship (AKA your reflection device, journal, recorder, etc.), and see what could be improved for your next flight tomorrow.

And who doesn't love a good flight plan?

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” Warren Buffett

So, what exactly are priorities? 

Simply put, they're the things that matter most to you. 

They're the things that you want to focus your time and energy on. And let's face it, we all have a lot of things vying for our time and attention these days. 

Work, family, friends, hobbies, Netflix binges... the list goes on and on. So, it's important to figure out what your priorities are and make sure you're spending your time on the things that truly matter to you.

In this interview, you’ll learn about reframing the problem so you find the best solution. Bruce Ballengee is the founder of Pariveda Solutions. One of my favorite parts of this interview is his story about how he and his wife were arguing in the car. The interesting part is how his wife reframed the situation to help his children see how arguing can be done well.

Highlights from the interview:

• Why Bruce thought he wasn’t smart enough to follow in his Mom or Dad’s career path.
• How to break a problem down to better understand it.
• Making the complex simple.
• He shares a great story that explains how he helped a shipping company look at an issue from a new angle.
• Reframing the problem by reframing the problem.
• Learning about yourself so you are more emotionally intelligent.
• Courageously curious.
• Practicing curiosity.
• How to stop looking at yourself as the expert, so you see things from a fresh perspective.
• Beginners mind.
• Story about how he was arguing with his wife and how his wife framed it for their kids, so they see fighting can be done in a healthy way.
• Why he tells his employees that he is the most imperfect employee.
• Help employees create space to share how they are feeling.
• How he handles his inner voice.
• Understanding other people’s internal view of themselves.
• Helping people become more aware of themselves.
• Creating courageous space for employees.
• Cultivating our lens on a difficult situation.
• Why we need to give ourselves grace when we mess up.
• Letting poeple make the decision on their own.

You can learn more about Bruce over at Pariveda Solutions. You can also connect with him over at LinkedIn as well.

And as always, if you have any questions or want to submit a guest for the podcast that you think would be amazing, just reach out to me on the Dig to Fly website, and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

In this interview, you’ll learn about how to get to the core of an issue. Brent Schmidt is a consultant that helps companies solve the real jobs in a business that make a big impact. I love the story he shares about how his two girls help keep him grounded.

Highlights from the interview:

• Brent’s origin story.
• How he became highly attuned to other people’s emotions.
• Becoming the seeker in his career.
• Understanding how his superpower has helped him in his career.
• Understanding your milestones and how they impacted your career.
• Why we make choices because we want to be valuable.
• How he uses his decision-making process.
• Understanding your internal checks when collaborating with others.
• The importance of developing internal awareness.
• Why he uses two different journals.
• Redirecting your energy in a more positive way.
• Understanding where our focus is through our work.
• Solving the right problem.
• Using the Jobs to be Done process to make sure we are solving the right problem.
• Building good habits as we try to build our company culture.
• Center yourself when you are feeling burned out.
• Noticing bad behaviors increase when we worked really hard on a project.
• Why he joined a Men’s group to help him grow in other areas of his life.
• Why it’s important to stop your mind from racing.
• Building good habits to keep us on track.
• Using inner focusing to help shift how we view stress.

You can learn more about Brent Schmidt over at Strategic Fuel. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn.

And as always, if you have any questions or want to submit a guest for the podcast that you think would be amazing, just reach out to me on the Dig to Fly website, and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

In this interview, you’ll learn about how you can improve your leadership skills through a simple process that Sara uses. Sara Nay is the COO of Duct Tape Marketing. I loved the story that she shared about raising a young child and how it led her to get more help at work.

Highlights from the interview:

• Why we should follow our natural interest.
• The power of curiosity is how she stays on top of everything new that is happening in the marketing industry.
• Developing good decision-making habits.
• Understanding the why behind the question instead of jumping in with an answer.
• Working with our inner voice, so we become more encouraging.
• Creating a reflection routine to learn from mistakes.
• Systems help people understand how to do the task well.
• Setting a foundation for developing good system habits.
• How she keeps on track of her and her team’s goals.
• Asking yourself good questions to help encourage team collaboration.
• Noticing when you aren’t building the team culture and how to get back on track.
• Making time to notice the things that you do well.
• Why she scores herself to track her progress as a leader.
• Finding opportunities to slow down and course correct.
• How she gives her employees 100% of her attention when they meet.
• How to tap into the subconscious mind to be a better leader.
• Finding the right time to check in with your teammates.
• How to build rapport with your team.
• Taking care of yourself is so important to doing great work.
• Favorite book and toy as a kid.

You can learn more about Sara Nay over at Duct Tape Marketing. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn.

And as always, if you have any questions or want to submit a guest for the podcast that you think would be amazing, just reach out to me on the Dig to Fly website, and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

The true value of digging deep is understanding yourself just a little better. 

You become more comfortable in your own skin, which allows you to make better decisions.

I want you to have a fun and structured way to dig into your mindset and better understand yourself so that you can make decisions that align with your values. 

You can have a life filled with less anxiety and more energy because you focus on the things that matter to you. 

You might be afraid of digging deep because there is a lot of pain there, but it does get easier. 

If you see a therapist, counselor or attend a group, these are all good routines and important to your success. You should continue to do them, but I suggest you also work to understand the lens through which you make decisions. 

You can begin to uncover your beliefs and see how they support or hurt your ability to take advantage of the opportunities in your life. This is how you’ll get the most value out of your time.

I created the Decision-Maker Personality Assessment to help you see how you view decisions. 

I noticed that there are five main decision-making personality types. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses. 

Gaining a better awareness of how you make decisions will help you get better results in your career.

In this interview, you’ll learn about deep work and how it helps us accomplish amazing work. Catherine Morgan is an author, coach, and consultant that helps people reduce stress and grow their careers. One of my favorite parts of the interview was how she deals with procrastination and uses it to her advantage.

Highlights from the interview:

• Catherine’s three stages to her career.
• She discovered her superpower by seeing what people came to her for in her career.
• Understanding your genius zone.
• Understanding employee engagement or lack of it.
• Why communication about our why is so important in companies.
• Taking control of your career.
• Look for your skill gaps and how to close them.
• How to work on your mindset so you take action on an uncomfortable project.
• Why your mind is like a golden retriever.
• How meditation helps her relationships.
• How to turn an arduous task into something better so you aren’t cranky.
• How our inner voice holds us back from doing the important task that should be done.
• Why procrastination happens.
• Being kinder to ourselves helps in these key areas.
• What task she does when she is avoiding doing a difficult task.
• How to use deliberate procrastination to help us solve a problem.
• Making procrastination a part of your creative process.
• Her secret to getting stuff done during her work day.
• Building good habits that support your deep work.
• How London Writers Hour works.
• Why we need to talk to people who are ahead of us in our career.
• How to notice when you feel burnout coming on, so you can make adjustments.
• Asking for help when we need it.
• Favorite book, podcast and favorite toy as a kid

You can learn more about Catherine over at her website Point A to Point B Transitions. You can also connect with her

And as always, if you have any questions or want to submit a guest for the podcast that you think would be amazing, just reach out to me on the Dig to Fly website, and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

In this interview, you’ll learn about how you can reframe a situation so you can see the difficult situation as an opportunity instead of a burden. Jennifer Louden is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, and speaker. One of my favorite parts of this interview is asking ourselves better questions so we are happier and also more productive.

Highlights from the interview:

• The story of how Jen processed her friend’s passing from cancer.
• How her friend passed away.
• How she learned from her father’s death.
• Showing up in the world from a place of love.
• Reframing a difficult project so we are excited instead of burdened by it.
• Getting out of auto-pilot mode.
• Asking ourselves better questions so we are happier and more productive.
• How not to get swept away by our emotions.
• Accepting a situation with more humor and lightness.
• Using pain as a chance to grow.
• The deep learning that comes out of reflecting on a difficult situation.
• Working through your negative inner dialogue.
• Understanding our connection to what we really want.
• The difference between willpower and waypower.
• How why and desire are two different things.
• Giving ourselves permission to accept our desires.
• We need help being seen in our desires.
• Why we don’t know what we want.
• Our identity is so wrapped up in our construct of life.
• How she dealt with an Oprah experience that didn’t meet her expectations.
• How a failed memoir changed how she looks at life.

You can learn more about Jen Louden over at Jennifer Louden’s website. You can also connect with Jen on LinkedIn and check out her book Why Bother (Amazon Link). 

And as always, if you have any questions or want to submit a guest for the podcast that you think would be amazing, just reach out to me on the Dig to Fly website, and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

In this interview, you’ll learn about how to make small improvements in your job role so you are happier and get better results. Chris Brogan is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, and consultant. One of my favorite parts of this interview is how he makes proactive decisions, so he gets the best out of himself and the people he works with.

Highlights from the interview:

• The story of how Chris smashed his new bike into the side of the house.
• Why he likes the serenity prayer.
• Why we should not just accept our current job role.
• How to make improvements to your job role.
• How to plant mental seeds to help us improve our outlook if we are in a difficult situation.
• Why time is so valuable and how it’s still underappreciated.
• The importance of having difficult conversations.
• Why self-awareness helps you improve your inner dialogue.
• How Steven Covey wrote the 7 Habits book.
• Radical ownership changes how you grow your career.
• How to influence meetings to make them more productive.
• Avoiding reactionary decisions.
• Creating frameworks to help you make proactive decisions.
• How does Chris set-up his days so they are productive and he’s also happy.
• The importance of getting a good night’s sleep.
• Why he waits 90 minutes after he wakes up to drink coffee.
• Why we are so tough on ourselves.
• Building a more supportive inner voice that supports your good work.
• How the practice of meditation helps you process your thoughts and emotions.
• Calibrating your thoughts so you make proactive decisions.

You can learn more about Chris Brogan over at his website. You can also check out his YouTube channel and LinkedIn profile.

And as always, if you have any questions or want to submit a guest for the podcast that you think would be amazing, just reach out to me on the Dig to Fly website, and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Do you struggle to make progress on an important goal? Try the Daily Dig for 5 minutes a day for 30 days, and I’ll change how you develop habits forever.

When my clients first come to me, they usually have janky reflection routines to help them grow healthier, wealthier, happier, etc. We all have goals, but most don’t have a daily system that helps them reach those goals.

It’s why most of us give up on our New Year's resolutions so quickly.

I had a friend whose New Year's resolution was to exercise every day. That resolution lasted two days. 

It’s hard to make changes in our lives. We are so used to doing things the way we’ve always done them. 

Understanding our beliefs is the best way to improve our careers or any aspect of our lives. We have to believe that we are meant to exercise daily. If we believe that exercising every morning will make us happier and healthier then we’ll do it. The problem is that most of the time we don’t really believe the new routine will make us happier and healthier. 

Well…we logically know it, but we don’t believe it. We lack conviction. We don’t feel like it’s worth the effort to make a change. So we wake up on that third day and we ask ourselves, “Do I feel like exercising today?” 

The answer is, “Nope,” which means we hit the snooze alarm and we miss our chance to continue our streak and build the habit. 

The dialogue goes something like this:

“Do I feel like exercising today?”

“Nope. I’m tired. I have a big day today. If I exercise, then my energy will fade this afternoon. I should probably get more sleep.”

These bad questions are often the culprit of us not making lasting changes in our lives. We end up putting our focus on the immediate desire for more rest instead of helping our future selves become happier and healthier.

In this interview, you’ll learn about tuning into your inner voice so you can make career choices that align with your head, heart, and gut. One of my favorite parts of this interview was when he gave examples of how people found new opportunities that fit their vision for their careers.

Highlights from the interview:

• How Rubin heard his inner voice telling him to quit his corporate job.
• Why he made a radical decision to quit his job when he was the breadwinner of his family.
• How to tune into our inner voice.
• What we do with the information that the inner voice tells us is just as important as listening.
• Why change can be very scary.
• Reframing change so we take action.
• The importance of creating a career blueprint.
• The three criteria that need to be met in your career to be happy.
• Understanding what you really want out of your career.
• How to bypass your disempowering beliefs.
• How to know if you are stuck in a disempowering belief.
• Noticing your patterns by numbering them in your journal.
• Example of how someone asked for a 75% raise and what he did when he didn’t get it.
• Exploring different ideas that help you improve your career.
• Most impactful book, favorite podcast, tip to get support in your career, and favorite toy as a kid.

You can learn more about Misha Rubin over at The Career Leap. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn.

And as always, if you have any questions or want to submit a guest for the podcast that you think would be amazing, just reach out to me on the Dig to Fly website, and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!