Systematic Leader

In this interview you’ll learn about how Mark Silver found harmony in his business. Mark is the founder of Heart of Business, where he teaches people about growing his business from their hearts. One of my favorite parts of this interview was when he talked about the four layers of reality and how it influences our decisions.

Highlights from the interview:

• How to not compromise your values.
• The tension of what we know is true and what society is telling us to do.
• The importance of making healthy choices in our careers.
• The continual process of learning from our stress.
• Being way more honest with yourself and others to reduce your stress.
• The promise we make to others.
• Why Karl is afraid to be himself.
• The layers of reality and how they influence our decisions.
• The awe inspiring aspects of our lives.
• Developing practices that help us bring difficult moments into perspective.
• Making adjustments in our careers.
• Checking in with ourselves to help remind us to make good decisions.
• The practice of remembrance.
• The importance of not wishing things were different.
• Understanding what got you to your present success and how to get to the next level.
• Finding healthy mental models to grow your career.
• How to slow down so you can speak clearly.
• Just being is ok. We often forget this because we get caught up in our emotions.
• Carrying important qualities that allow us to live a more full career.
• Finding ways to make our work more effective.
• Waking up when we feel hooked by a situation.
• Impactful book.

You can learn more about Mark over at Heart of Business. 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 on Dig to Fly 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 be more aware of your thoughts so you can make wise choices in your career/business. Ramon Ray is a speaker, entrepreneur and author who teaches people to stay in their zone of genius. One of my favorite parts of this interview is when Ramon talked about his practice of praying before he goes out on stage to speak to an audience and why it's important to him.

Highlights from the interview:

• Understanding the fears that hold you back.
• How we can move on after making a mistake.
• How we can improve how we talk to ourselves.
• Using the skill of putting things into perspective, so you don’t get too upset.
• Use Ramon’s mantra to help keep things in perspective.
• Noticing the patterns in our lives and using them to grow ourselves.
• How to surround ourselves with good people and content to grow our careers.
• How he takes notes on his life.
• Using your notes to help you grow in life.
• What he does to stay healthy and happy in his career.
• How to build habits that actually stick.
• Understanding how to build a habit based on your personality.
• How to bring your full self to a presentation.
• How he prays to get the most out of himself.
• The importance of learning from each other to grow your career.
• When you accept yourself other people are more willing to accept yourself.
• Don’t try to fit what other people are doing into your life if it doesn’t fit your lifestyle.
• The importance of focusing on one thing at a time.
• Most impactful book, podcast and tool in his business.

You can learn more about Ramon Ray over at his website. 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 on Dig to Fly 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 episode we’ll break down how to make a good decision, learn from bad ones and develop habits that support our future selves.

Many of us look back on our year with regret or complaint. We must avoid ruminating on the bad things and create a process that helps us take an honest look at our lives. It starts with the little decisions that we make everyday. We must look at our mistakes in a way that helps us grow from them instead of allowing our inner bully to wreck our confidence. We must also look at the thing we do well, so we do more of this good stuff for our future selves happiness and productivity.

If someone offered me a billion dollars, but in exchange I would only have 6 more months to live, I wouldn’t take it. 

I know this scenario sounds weird, but hear me out. 

We’ve won the lottery of life. We get to decide whether we have coffee, water, tea, or strawberry and banana smoothie in the morning. These choices are amazing. Then you get to experience the deliciousness of your choice.

We get to choose what we do every single day. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like a choice because we can feel trapped or on auto-pilot, but that’s the beauty of this game. When we choose to be present and appreciate our options, we are able to make wise decisions. Seeing how valuable each choice is helps us begin to make billion dollar decisions. 

Being able to give my family a billion dollars would probably do more harm than good, especially my boys. The benefit of having the presence of a father who can love them and teach them about life would far outweigh the benefit of a sum of money.

I’ve interviewed billionaires who aren’t happy. These unhappy billionaires are consumed by money, a desire to live forever, drugs, etc. They aren’t free. They are trapped by their desire for more.

We all want great lives, but we have to take risks to make this possible. You come from a long line of survivors, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. Most of our ancestors survived out of fear. They didn’t take big risks because they didn’t want to get eaten by a lion or fall into a tar pit.

It's time to spin this way of thinking. We can't make decisions out of fear if we want to fly free. We can’t make rash decisions. We must choose wisely. This requires us to develop a process that fits our personality, so we feel comfortable and confident making important decisions in our lives.

In this interview you’ll learn about how to make decisions that fit your personality and values. Tara McMullin is the author of What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting and entrepreneur. One of my favorite parts of this interview is learning how she encourages herself to build good habits.

Highlights from the interview:

• What would Tara’s nine-year-old self think of her today.
• How to stay true to yourself.
• Getting comfortable making her own decisions.
• Developing the ability to understand what is important.
• How to be aware of what matters to you.
• The importance of pattern recognition.
• Understanding pattern: What is going on? Why did it come up? How can I relate it this stimulus differently?
• How to stop judging others when they trigger anger within us.
• Our tools have a big effect on our happiness.
• How to make a list that your future self will thank you for.
• Having context is key before you start your tasks.
• How to use energy management to get the most out of your work.
• The technology we use can hold our productivity back.
• Navigating her weaknesses to help you stay on track with her important work.
• Acknowledging our limitations is important to functioning well.
• How she can get back to doing deeper work when she is going through a difficult time.
• How she practices the commitment to belongings.
• How she encourages good behavior so she can install new habits in her life.
• Seeing your decisions as a symphony instead of random choices.
• How she noticed that she was playing small in the game of life.
• Most impactful book in her career.

You can learn more about Tara over at his website Explore What Works. 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 on Dig to Fly 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 get back up when you stumble in business. Corbett Barr is a serial entrepreneur who has started and sold businesses and now he helps other entrepreneurs grow their businesses. One of my favorite parts of this interview is how Corbett shares his failures and how he gets back on track.

Highlights from the interview:

• Figuring out how to work through the struggle when you get knocked down.
• Cultivating a resilient mindset.
• Finding people who have failed, so you can learn from their mistakes.
• How to figure out if people want what you created.
• The core parts of making your business succeed.
• How do you cultivate a strong mindset.
• Why entrepreneurs should have a therapist.
• How to deal with the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur.
• How he processes his emotions, so he can grow from them.
• Understanding your patterns so you can manage them better.
• Noticing your blind spots and how to stay on course when you get knocked off track.
• Realizing your expectations, so you can navigate them.
• Why it’s important to have open communication with your spouse when building a business.
• The entrepreneur rule of five.
• Building your support network.
• Getting to know people face to face and how you can do this today.
• How a mastermind is so powerful.
• Finding people who can hold you accountable.
• Cultivating a group of true friends who are also building a business.
• Why we need a little struggle in our lives.
• The game of self honesty.
• Having difficult conversations is important in our careers.
• Trying different side hustles can teach you so much about yourself.
• Most impactful book and podcast.
• Favorite toy as a kid.
• Essential tool to stay focused on the important things.

You can learn more about Corbett over at his website Corbett Barr. You can connect with him on Twitter. 

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 on Dig to Fly 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 listening to your mind, body, and heart so you can reduce your stress and make better decisions. Dr. Ford Dyke teaches people about human performance optimization. One of my favorite parts of this interview is when Ford walks us through a relaxing breathing exercise.

Highlights from the interview:

• How he sees life differently from other people.
• Nature and nurture
• There is a dependence between nature and nurture.
• Why he feels like an alien at times.
• Leaving this world a little bit better than he found it.
• How he cultivates his energy and the frame of mind.
• What his nighttime routine is and how it helps him prepare his mind and body for the next day.
• How he wakes up his body in the morning.
• The microbiome reregulates in our gut every six hours.
• How he has built a mindfulness platform at Auburn university.
• The difference between the brain and the mind.
• Our minds are deciding how we perceive our lives.
• We must work on not limiting ourselves.
• Why we need to work on being more present with our breath.
• Digging into how we perceive our lives.
• Being aware of our thoughts as they come and go.
• When you slow down and listen to your mind, body, and heart.
• Being consistent with small breaks to charge.
• Applying 60 for 60 during your day.
• Understanding the patterns in our lives, so we can make better decisions.
• Writing about how we are feeling.
• Building awareness starts with logging how we are feeling.
• Logging other parts of our lives, so we can understand ourselves better.
• Most impactful book, podcast, speaker, and favorite toy as a kid

You can learn more about Ford over at his website Ford Dyke. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn and subscribe to his podcast - Preform.

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 on Dig to Fly 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 podcast I share the three levels of decision making that you should go through when you are making a complex career choice. I decided to talk directly to you, so you understand how to make better decisions that make a positive impact in your life.

• “Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.” Jerzy Gregorek
• We don’t account for our future selves.
• Story - I recently struggled to make a choice. I was asked to do a speaking gig for free. It was a good opportunity to get in front of hundreds of my ideal customers, but it would have taken me away from my family.
• The old me would have said yes to the opportunity. The present me tries to find the opportunity in the situation even when there doesn’t seem like one.
• I could have said “No” asked for money, but I decided to go a different route. I asked if I could deliver the talk virtually. They said yes. I was still able to reach this audience, but I didn’t have to fly to another city and be away from my family.
• We want easy choices. We want to say “yes” to please others.
• We often say no to opportunities because it’s not worth our time and effort.
• Understanding how your past influences you choices.
• The cell phone industry was disrupted by the iPhone. Cell phones were free, but then Apple said, Nope, we are going to start charging for them. Now we pay $1K for a new phone, which was unheard of 20 years ago.
• The same thing happened to Polaroid with digital cameras. They wanted to believe that the industry wasn’t changing.
• We must understand how we make decisions to disrupt how we make decisions. If we continue to make decisions the way we always have we will get similar results. If we want to make billion dollar decisions we must improve our decision framework, so we improve our habits and ultimately our ability to make quality choices.
• 3 levels to better decisions faster.
• It starts with your brain.
• Then we move on to the heart
• Then we make out decision after checking in with our gut.

Summary - It’s easy to make quality decisions when you have a framework that works for your personality. Next time you make a more complicated decision try the Head, Heart and Gut framework and see how it helps you make a better choice for your future self.

In this interview you’ll learn about how Khe Hy looks at his fears and how important it is to recognize these feelings, so you can make good decisions. Khe Hy is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker. He is the founder of Rad Reads. One of my favorite parts of this interview is how he breaks down his fears and using them for growth.

Highlights from the interview:

• Attending his first conference after Covid lockdown.
• How his parents, who came from Cambodia, has influenced his life.
• How he explores his past thoughts and emotions.
• His family wasn’t rich and why he went after a career that would help him be rich.
• He wanted to fix his situation.
• Why he powered through to be successful and how much damage it did to his life.
• Asking yourself tough questions to get to the heart of an issue you are having.
• Looking at the emotional side of his life.
• Why he has a hard time feeling his emotions.
• How other people perceive him.
• How tough he was on himself as a young adult.
• How he handles work when he feels tired.
• Beating himself up for mistakes and how he got over this bad habit.
• Making the mental shift to be kinder to himself.
• How he keeps mistakes into perspective so he doesn’t freak out.
• Letting the feeling sweep you away, so you can process it.
• Creating values as an organization.
• Documenting all unspoken norms, so the whole team understands the expectations.
• Why his goal to take care of his employees helps drives his company forward.
• Why he encourages his employees to speak up.
• His goals for his company. 
• How he views Patagonia’s choices and how it’s influenced how he views his company.
• Why he hired a philosophy coach to help him dig into himself.
• Rapid fire questions - most impactful book, podcast, favorite toy as a kid, and tool to help with focus.

You can learn more about Khe over at Rad Reads. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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 on Dig to Fly 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 be bad at things, so you can finish things. Christina Wallace is a Senior Harvard Lecturer and author. I found her story about how she started a clothing company that eventually failed and what she did to recover.

Highlights from the interview:

• How Christina cheated at the Presidential fitness test when she was young and what it taught her.
• How to get over the overachiever mindset.
• Why we avoid things that we are bad at and how it hurts our careers.
• The reason she shut down her first company.
• How she dealt with closing her company.
• She had 30 days to get a job. 
• What she did to get moving and find a new job.
• Resetting her mindset after failure.
• Why you should dig into your personality with your friends.
• What questions she asked her friends to dig into herself and find out what direction to take her career in.
• Building your career at your day job.
• Why employers need to let their employees flex on their sidegig and how it can help the company grow.
• Being full human beings in our professional lives.
• Why opening up about our lives helps create unique connections that help galvanize a team.
• The word gets out about your team when you allow people to be their full selves at work.
• Why stories show the values of the people that we work with.
• Show people who you are through stories instead of telling people who you are.
• Why asking for help is so important.
• Letting go of our ego when asking for help.
• The cost of not being vulnerable can be so much higher than we expect.
• Connecting around shared love or a shared purpose is so much more powerful than connecting around complaining.
• Looking back at your past to start to connect the career dots moving forward.
• Why she valued autonomy so much in her career.
• Most impactful book, favorite speaker, tool that helps her stay focused.

You can learn more about Christina over at her website Christian Wallace dot com. You can also follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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 on Dig to Fly 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!