Systematic Leader

In this interview with Jake Thompson of Compete Everyday you are going to learn about dealing with fear and how to use it to your advantage. His expertise as a coach, speaker, entrepreneur and an author is an inspiration to a lot of people.

Highlights from the interview:

• How his nine-year-old self would look at his current career.
• Using our imagination to improve our careers/business.
• What he does when he notices a dip in his creativity.
• How he dealt with an embarrassing situation during high school.
• The importance of eating healthy.
• Bringing your fear to light so you don’t hide from it.
• What he fears and how he uses his fear to stay focused on what matters.
• How to use our failures as a growth opportunity.
• Staying true to your purpose.
• Understanding what you are trying to accomplish.
• Focusing on the little things are what turn into big improvements.
• Improving his systems within his business.
• Pivoting his role within the company to focus on his strengths.
• How he learned from Tim Ferriss to ask questions to help dig into the fear.
• Reframing the fear of public speaking.
• Building inner-awareness to help process your thoughts and emotions.
• Asking yourself really good questions.
• The importance of reflection to help improve your decision making process.
• The importance of writing things down when we are trying to an improve an aspect of our lives.
• How he cultivates gratitude in his life.
• Tapping into our kid-like part of ourselves.
• How he dealt with getting hit in the face with a baseball when he was in first grade.
• Most impactful book, podcast, toy as a kid and essential tool to help you grow.

You can learn more about Jake over at Jake A Thompson website. 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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

In this interview with John Eades you’ll learn about great leadership. He teaches leaders how to lean into their strengths and improve their soft skill weaknesses because it helps a leader thrive and grow their culture.

Highlights from the interview:

• Being an authentic person and leader.
• Show up and do what we say we can do.
• Peeling away the armor to be a better leader.
• Why we care about what others think.
• We lean on caring about what we can control. Being relentlessly focused on what we can control.
• Showing up with great empathy.
• Why we must work on our inner voice to help us become more kind and compassionate.
• If we are fragile inside then it’s going to rip us apart.
• How he processed his thoughts and emotions after he stepped off the stage after he bombed in front of the audience.
• Using the growth mindset to improve as a speaker.
• How he views his inner voice as a connection to God.
• How science has shown that we need to struggle to thrive in our lives.
• The simple idea that challenges will change us.
• The faith that he has helps him stay focused on what is important.
• How being smaller has helped him succeed in life.
• The power of taking notes.
• Figuring out how to review your notes to improve how you remember and implement the ideas that come to you.
• The importance of observation.
• Choosing how to act upon our emotions.
• Leaning into strength based skills.
• Learning to improve the soft skills that are weak for us.
• Why vision is the most underutilized leadership skill.
• Finding your deeper purpose besides serving yourself.
• What he is working on to become a better dad.
• How his spiritual practice helps him stay centered.
• What John’s most impactful book, podcast and essential tool that he uses to stay focused on what truly matters.

You can learn more about John over at LearnLoft and John Eades 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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Joe Casabona is an entrepreneur who struggled during the pandemic. You’ll learn about how he figured out a way forward with therapy and help from his wife. One of my favorite parts of this interview is how he uses a journal to grow his self-awareness. 

Highlights from the interview:

• How he built his patience from helping his mom with her computer issues.
• How he developed his empathy.
• What his routine is around building self-awareness has helped him grow as a father and build his business.
• Being the person that isn’t surprised that someone hasn’t seen an amazing movie.
• How he describes his inner voice.
• Being a better parent though working with your emotions.
• Growing up in the 80’s and how parenting has changed.
• How his daughter helped him when he was having an anxiety attack.
• Why he sought therapy to help him with his relationship with his kids.
• How the culture of boys is different from 30 years ago.
• Pulling away the layers and seeing that we are all messed up.
• Building our empathy to help build better relationships.
• Struggles during the pandemic.
• How others perceive us is not how we perceive ourselves.
• The importance of self awareness in life.
• How he reduced his propensity to make snap judgements about others.
• Debunking our biases and how it helps us in our careers.
• Why negative stories are more fun, but we need to break this habit.
• Why parenting can feel like a total nightmare.
• Why he is so curious about things in his life.
• The importance of building something the “right way”, from his values.
• How he uses his journal to help him grow.
• How his journal helps him keep his life in proper perspective.
• How gratitude plays a big part in his life.
• We often forget the hard things, but it’s important to remember these things to help remind us of how good we have it now.
• How a gratitude
• Most impactful book, podcast and tool that he uses to stay focused.

You can learn more about Joe over at Casabona.org. You can also subscribe and listen to his “How I Built It” podcast. If you want to 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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

In this interview with Robin Shear you’ll learn about how to cultivate a little more joy in your life. Robin is a Joy Coach who helps people tap into their inner joy. One of my favorite parts of this interview is when she asks me what brings me joy. She was surprised by my answer.

Highlights from the interview:

• Why she struggles with sharing negative things with friends and family.
• When she realized that she wasn’t being honest on social media.
• Why she ended up in the emergency room when on a ski trip with her family.
• What brings me joy?
• I surprise Robin with my answer to what joy feels like to me.
• Getting the meaning out of connections.
• Why we need to cultivate joy.
• Joy is about awareness.
• Research studies behind how joy affects the body.
• More joy lowers the rate of heart disease.
• Why she went on a silent retreat in her own home.
• The importance of slowing down to help heal.
• Giving yourself a little hiatus every now and again to help recharge her battery.
• How she deals with her failures.
• Dealing with burnout because she pushed herself in her business too hard.
• Why she did a small live event during the pandemic.
• Listening to her inner voice and letting it help guide her.
• Why gratitude helps people start peeling away their inner armor.
• Understanding how you feel in the moment and put a “feel good” score on it.
• Asking yourself questions like, “When was the last time I connected with my child?”
• The importance of celebrating the small things.
• Why she used her best China and served grilled cheese on these fancy dishes because she wanted to celebrate a flower popping out of the ground after a long cold winter.
• Robin’s most impactful book, podcast, speaker, and joyful moment in your life.

You can learn more about Robin over at Joy to the Coaching World. You can also connect with Robin over at 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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Jeffrey Shaw is an author and entrepreneur. In this interview you’ll learn about how he became honest with himself by looking through the eyes of others. We dig into understanding how we can use other people to help us grow.

Highlights from the interview:

• The importance of believing that you are worthy.
• How a moment when Jeffrey was 3 years old that changed how he viewed his life.
• What does it mean to live a hell of a journey?
• How much time do we give ourselves to really quiet down and listen?
• The importance of walking to help clear his head.
• How he uses his morning practice to go inward.
• He uses mantras to help keep him grounded.
• Blending science and art.
• How he reverses his thoughts and feelings when he feels like everything is going wrong.
• He created a journal to rewire how he thought about himself.
• Why he was drawn to write in his journal during the morning.
• What key point the movie “The Secret” left out.
• You have control over what you see.
• What if you only saw joy in your life?
• How to open to the truth.
• How he put the puzzle pieces together to understand who he really was.
• We grow farther when we see what other people see in us.
• Pay close attention to what we see in our students, co-workers, family members etc. so you can help them unlock new parts of themselves.
• What Jeffrey sees in me as an interviewer.
• Dealing with shyness as a kid.
• Putting yourself at the front of the line.
• Favorite book, podcast, speaker, movie and essential tool to stay focused on the important work.

You can learn more about Jeffrey over at JeffreyShaw.com. You can check out his books, Self Employed Life and Lingo on Amazon. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn to learn more about him.

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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Teresa Mckee is a CEO and podcaster with an amazing curiosity. You are going to love how she explored different strengths based on people’s feedback to shift her career to one that she loved. I loved how she explores different phases, which helped her 

Highlights from the interview:

• How she noticed her strengths coming out in different ways.
• How she dealt with a horrible feel of public speaking.
• She deepened her knowledge on spiritual psychology and tapping techniques.
• Why she stopped doing one type of work pivoted her career.
• How she followed her curiosity in her career.
• How she merged strengths to help her stand out in your career and business.
• Why she interned for a radio station at an older age to help build her resume.
• Understanding how our personality types help us maintain good energy during our projects.
• Applying day job lessons to a side hustle.
• What word she uses instead of failure.
• What she did when her whole presentation blew up in front of a large crowd.
• What her process is when she is feeling overwhelmed.
• The power of laughter to help recover from a difficult situation.
• Spiritual space to help you stop taking yourself seriously.
• Just allowing the Universe/God/whatever you believe in energy flow through you.
• How we craft the stories in our heads.
• Shifting our mindset to help us focus on the positive.
• The practice of working with your mindset to quiet the negative voices in your head.
• How we can recognize false fears and not let them sweep us into a bad mental space.
• The benefit of not being able to finish a book during the pandemic.
• Respond to a difficult issue instead of just reacting.
• Her favorite book, podcast, speaker, favorite toy as a kid, and tool that she uses to stay focused on her essential tasks.

You can learn more about Teresa over at Work2Live Well. You can also check out her podcast, Mindful Moment, and 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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Gayle Lantz is an entrepreneur that started the company Work Matters. In this interview you’ll learn about how she left a great job and became an entrepreneur. She also shares how she struggled with burnout and how it lead to an amazing career change.

Highlights from the interview:

• What Gayle was like as a nine-year-old and how it helped form her identity.
• When she realized that she needed to make a change in her career.
• What she did to research her next career change.
• Digging into understanding what you really want.
• How she figured out how to develop a business that fit her personality.
• Going through burnout and what she did to overcome it.
• How she recharges her internal battery.
• How she has learned to reframe failures so she learns from the situation instead of ignore it.
• Doing purposeful work and why it’s so important.
• How she navigates her weakness of staying organized.
• Why we need to accentuate our strengths instead of improving our weaknesses.
• How she utilizes her strength of helping people see things differently.
• Building awareness to understand where to get support.
• Developing confidence to grow her career.
• Viewing a projects as an experiments
• Surrounding yourself with other people who can help you make good decisions.
• Removing the negative noise that holds you back.
• Gayle’s favorite book, podcast, speaker, toy as a kid and essential tool that she uses to focus on her essential work.

You can learn more about Gayle over at her website Work Matters. You can also connect with over at LinkedIn to learn more about 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 on Dig to Fly and I’ll do my best to get them on. If you love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Ryan Miller is an author and coach. He helps people who want to break free from the prison of success. In this interview you’ll learn about how he doesn’t try to impress others because he doesn’t base his value in what others think of him.

Highlights from the interview:

• Why he started his own business.
• How he learned from a sales manager that was able to get the best out of his staff.
• What was it like to be in the middle of the Las Vegas mass shooting and how it changed the trajectory of his life.
• How he used a traumatic experience to learn and grow from it.
• Why he lives every single day to be the best possible man that he can be every single day.
• What he fears and how he deals with it.
• How we view our obstacles and how to dig deeper when we need it the most.
• How to ask for help that will get you the help you need.
• How to get clear on how to ask for help.
• We haven’t been taught how to ask for referrals.
• Why we are afraid of doing things that can help us.
• Our egos and past stories hold us back.
• Why we are so afraid of rejection.
• How his faith has helped him deal with rejection.
• How kids ground us in the present moment.
• Kids have this ability to show us the value of love.
• The value of having an assistant help you with day to day tasks.
• Investing back in yourself to help you reach your goals.
• Why he focuses on helping men break free.
• The “do one more” thing mindset holds you back from enjoying life.
• What does having a life of freedom really mean.
• How Ryan peels away his armor to be his authentic self.
• Ryan’s favorite book, podcast, toy as a kid, and tool that he uses to stay focused on work.

You can learn more about Ryan over at his Website Ryan James Miller. You can also connect with him over at LinkedIn to learn more about him.

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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Susan Charles is a professor of psychological science and nursing science at University of Southern California Irvine. Her research examines emotional processes across the adult life span. In this interview you’ll learn why older people enjoy life more as they age and how you can apply ideas to bring more joy to your life today.

Highlights from the interview:

• How Susan got into studying aging at University of Southern California.
• The importance of sticking with the research to discover insights.
• How to deal with an aging brain.
• The key to how older people handle tough situations.
• What younger people can learn from older adults about letting go of worries and frustrations.
• Building your self awareness to help you deal with the struggles in life.
• The power of keeping a gratitude journal to help your mindset.
• Why younger people are more likely to suffer from stress.
• Dealing with failure.
• How the successes will balance out the failures.
• You can play your heart out and lose, that’s ok.
• Building your resiliency is important at any age.
• Growth mindset and how to use it in your life.
• How our internal wiring affects the decisions that we make.
• People who tackle goals are happier.
• How to see what is holding you back from reaching your goals.
• Anxiety is common. 20% of people are experiencing it in their lives.
• Why researchers are neurotic.
• Surround yourself with people who have different strengths than you to build in powerful support.
• The importance of men sharing their feelings with their friends.
• The biggest difference between unhappy and happy couples.
• Her favorite book, podcast, speaker and tool that she uses to stay focused on her important work.

You can learn more about Susan over at the University of Southern California. You can also learn more about her research about aging here. 

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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Joshua Becker is a best-selling author and community leader who teaches people to implement a minimalist lifestyle, so they can focus on the essential things in life. In this interview you’ll learn about how he made the leap to be a full-time writer and what made it possible for him to succeed.

Highlights from the interview:

• How his nine-year-old self would view his present life.
• He talked about being a twin and his competitive nature with his brother.
• How he went from being a pastor to becoming a full-time writer.
• Why he started writing.
• Why his community took off.
• His motive with starting his business was for a larger purpose.
• How he made the leap to being a full-time writer.
• How distractions hold us back from doing work we love.
• What he put into place to help him sustain his ability to build a business.
• The importance of safety nets when making the leap to be a full-time writer.
• Minimalism helped him reduce his costs so he could make the leap.
• The emotional toll of leaving his present job to be a writer.
• Why you shouldn’t force your next career move.
• The Importance of giving your all with where you are at so you sleep better at night.
• What advice he gives to people when they ask how to become a full-time writer.
• The mentality you should try to bring to your business to be successful.
• How he views the value of money.
• How he views the spiritual connection with his purpose.
• How does he describe the voice in his head.
• His favorite book, podcast and essential tool he uses to stay focused.

You can learn about Joshua over at his website Becoming Minimalist. You can also connect with him and his community on his Becoming Minimalist Facebook Page.

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 love the interview please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!