Systematic Leader

MJ Gordon interviewed me about gratitude. It’s one of my favorite subjects. The science behind gratitude shows how powerful a gratitude practice can be when practiced regularly. 

One of my favorite parts of the show was how MJ was able to synthesize some of my ramblings and help show the practical benefits of a gratitude practice. It’s why I enjoy interviewing other people. There is something special about two people trying to help each other create great content together.

1:25 - How the focus on gratitude changed my life.

2:41 - How the third try at keeping a gratitude journal finally stuck.

4:30 - The importance of taking a moment to enjoy the situation.

6:50 - Making a good choice versus a reactive choice.

8:40 - Why being positive is not about ignoring your feelings.

13:58 - Balance between self-care and being productive.

14:40 - Four levels of gratitude.

16:30 - Looking for positive options.

19:15 - Gratitude stacking.

21:50 - Improving your mindset through the SOAR technique.

23:39 - How I deal with my inner bully.

25:21 - What do you do if you are having a hard time.

27:41 - What can you do to set yourself up for the next day?

29:55 - How gratitude helps you take action when you are feeling fatigued.

32:01 - Digging deep into gratitude helps you expand your mindset.

33:55 - How lucky we are to be in the bodies that we have.

37:15 - The duty to show up.

37:50 - My evening routine with my family.

41:25 - Applying gratitude inside my meditation practice.

One of my favorite parts of the Dig to Fly Show is interviewing people near and dear to my heart. Mike Vardy falls in this category. He has been teaching productivity for over ten years and he’s taught me a lot about my mindset around productivity. It’s why I had to have him on.

I love how he talks about how our minds work when we are trying to get goals accomplished. In this episode you’ll see where you can make improvements to your productivity, so you can stay sane and reach your goals.

Here is the interview breakdown:

1:02 - What Mike is grateful for.

1:58 - What he was like as a child.

4:12 - How can you maximize your time?

5:04 - How does someone find a way to process their thoughts and emotions.

6:12 - Getting better at being in the present moment.

8:55 - The importance of watching other people who you admire to learn from them.

10:03 - Why he crushed a can of soda and put it on his shelf.

11:25 - The key to building a new habit.

14:59 - The importance of building up consistency.

20:17 - Understanding how our minds work.

20:35 - Why reflection is one of the most important aspects of improving your productivity.

21:58 - Understanding the stories that thread through our days.

23:20 - Noticing how we project our values on others.

24:45 - Gaining perspective through reflection.

25:08 - Why an evening routine is more important than a morning routine.

28:25 - Gratitude comes out in each journal entry.

32:28 - How we are wired to see the negative.

34:58 - Why we need to stay in touch with our email list.

37:59 - How to make your “to do” list based on your energy levels.

You can learn more about Mike Vardy from his website. I would suggest joining his email list because he sends out great productivity tips on a regular basis. You can also check out his gift guide to see what unique holiday gifts you can get a friend or family member.

And as always if you have any questions or want to submit a guest that you think would be amazing for my show just reach out and I’ll do my best to get them on.

One of my favorite parts about doing a Dig to Fly session is the “Aha” that comes at the end. It’s this moment that helps us feel how lucky we are to work through our struggles. Our struggles are opportunities if we can cultivate a growth mindset. This was no different for Michelle. She was stuck on how she was dealing with our restricted lifestyles due to Covid-19. It was in this restriction that caused her a lot of pain. We dug into her struggle and she came away with some really great insights.

I’m sharing this session because I want you to see the power of the Dig to Fly Method. It helps to have someone ask you the questions. When you first start doing the Dig to Fly Method it helps to talk to someone when you are thinking through the questions. After you practice a few times then it gets easier to do with yourself.

I created this method to help people go deeper and find a broader perspective that helps them turn their struggle into stepping stones. It’s these little steps that help us get to the “aha” moment. I do the Dig to Fly on myself through the week if I’m struggling with an issue and always on Sunday mornings just to help me process my week and let go of any anxiety or stress that I’m holding inside of myself.

You can listen to the full Dig to Fly session with Michelle below.

If you are interested in having your biggest struggle you want to work with me. I will teach you how to do the Dig to Fly Method on yourself. You’ll be able to figure out why you are struggling and turn this struggle into a stepping stone. The best part is you will save time and money. You’ll be able to work through your own struggles and see the opportunities where you didn’t see them before.

It’s important to make time to dig into your thoughts and emotions. When you go through the questions and dig into your thoughts and feelings that’s where the good stuff is. The only way you can learn and grow is to challenge yourself to get a better understanding of where these thoughts are coming from. Once you understand that your struggles are all a mental construct that’s when you can see them as opportunities. You deserve to feel great that the Dig to Fly Method will help you reach your goals.

Steven Shapiro is a master at breaking down the problem and figuring out the best way to solve it. My favorite part of this interview was how Steven dug into how we think and solve problems. He gives tools that you can use to bust your assumptions so you can find the best solution to a problem. 

Here are some of the highlights from our interview:

0:35 - Steven Shapiro’s gratitude list.

1:49 - How has the pandemic helped him.

2:04 - Feeling the anxiety of the pandemic.

3:45 - Dealing with a low response from a live audience.

5:02 - How a speaker can perceive the wrong thing from a live audience.

7:00 - How we perceive ourselves and others view us.

9:19 - The importance of doing something special for your client after the event is over. 

10:35 - Digging into his processes.

11:01 - The importance of simplifying a complex problem.

11:45 - How the pandemic is changing how we work.

13:02 - Having fun with nerding out.

14:50 - Starting his business after being at Accenture Consulting.

16:30 - The first step to finding a solution is to not focus on finding a solution.

17:25 - Why we need to challenge our assumption.

19:02 - Past success is a predictor of future failure because we have blinders on.

19:50 - How we become more aware of the blinders that we create for ourselves.

22:07 - Sometimes the best solutions come outside of your industry.

24:30 - Figuring out how to apply these creative problem solutioning at work.

27:05 - Understanding what business you are in.

30:02 - Why curiosity is so important to avoiding mistakes.

33:11 - Understanding the fear within the culture of a business.

34:58 - NOW (Need, Opportunity, Will) model.

37:48 - How to check your ego at the door.

41:04 - How to combine strengths with other people at work.

42:21 - The importance of pausing before you take action.

You can learn more about Steven Shapiro from his website. I would suggest picking up his book, Invisible Solutions, to help you be a better problem solver.

And as always if you have any questions or want to submit a guest that you think would be amazing for my show just reach out and I’ll do my best to get them on.

Britt Andreatta was amazing on the Dig to Fly podcast. She is super smart and explains how she has overcome her trauma from when she was a kid to how she changes her daily habits. One of my favorite parts of this interview is when she explains how Oprah and Brene Brown changed her life.

This is an important interview because we not only talk about dealing with trauma, but also how to change our habits and how important a reward is to our success. 

1:01 - Her list of things she is grateful for.

2:19 - Awakenings that are occurring because of Covid-19.

2:58 - What she does to stay mentally healthy while working.

3:30 - She used to set too many goals and what she did to use her attention more clearly.

4:17 - What is a mindfulness practice?

5:38 - Enjoying just being.

6:21 - We’ve forgotten how to daydream.

7:16 - Importance of giving kids the time to daydream.

8:20 - Making time to stop and be amazed at life.

8:45 - Finding that state of flow.

9:15 - What was she like as a kid?

10:22 - Any place can be home.

11:15 - How she used her tough upbringing to grow stronger.

13:18 - The accident of her career.

14:05 - The best parts and shadow sides of ourselves.

15:50 - How much pain men are holding.

18:02 - Why we need honest conversations.

20:19 - My inner bully “Arnold”

21:04 - Cast of characters or Board of Directors in our head.

23:24 - Connecting with your higher self voice.

24:04 - Crippling panic attacks.

26:39 - Releasing old trauma - EMDR

29:16 - Background chatter that reduces our ability to connect to other people.

31:09 - Everything we do is a neural pathway. 

31:31 - We can change anything inside of ourselves. 

32:10 - You can teach people happiness. 

33:45 - We worry about other people judging us.

37:40 - Committing to change through repetition.

38:54 - Understanding your “why” when forming a habit.

39:30 - Why you should give yourself a reward when you make time to practice your new habit.

42:35 - Understanding how and when to reward yourself for your hard work.

44:15 - Annual reflective experience that I go through at the end of the year. (Here is Britt’s blog post that describes her process: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-awesome-questions-launch-next-decade-britt-andreatta-phd/)

You can learn more about Britt Andreatta from her website. I would suggest picking up her amazing book Wired to Grow 2.0. 

And as always if you have any questions or want to submit a guest that you think would be amazing for my show just reach out and I’ll do my best to get them on.

Tony Teegarden was a lot of fun to have on the Dig to Fly Podcast because we dug into difficult topics and there is a lot for you to learn as you grow. It’s important that we plant little seeds of opportunity that encourages us to dig a little deeper and try to grow parts of ourselves that feel uncomfortable.

I look forward to hearing what you think about this episode, so if you have any feedback please let me know. Now go enjoy this powerful episode.

0:33 - What Tony is grateful for.

2:20 - Has come a long way from a difficult upbringing.

2:57 - Child abuse.

3:49 - Spiritual death metal band.

5:56 - There is always enough to let loose in the world.

7:41 - What lens of which do I wish to see my world through?

7:56 - “Having the memory without the emotion,” Dr. Joe Dispenza.

8:52 - We all have our ideals.

9:11 - What identity do you see in yourself.

9:41 - Surrendering and forgiving his parents.

9:57 - Not identifying as a victim.

10:35 - Choosing the meaning of the memory.

10:50 - “Don’t hold people on a pedestal or a pit. Just hold them in your heart,” John DeMartini.

11:30 - How do you pull out the emotion and not allow it to push you around?

12:55 - Doing drugs to bury the pain.

13:23 - Self abandonment.

13:45 - Communicating with your inner child.

14:54 - Loving yourself is a practice.

15:12 - “Whatever you can’t be with won’t let you be,” Debbie Ford Shadow.

15:55 - We’ve all had trauma. Shocks to the system.

17:20 - The difference between guilt and shame.

18:01 - Finding the value.

19:15 - Choosing love.

19:34 - Easier to get someone to love me than for me to love myself.

19:52 - Living an inside out world is so much better than living an outside in world.

21:10 - Breaking through our ego.

22:45 - Awareness is the greatest agent of change.

23:58 - Planting seeds within ourselves.

24:45 - I don’t see things as good or bad.

25:35 - As a seven year old and someone shoved a gun in my mouth and my teeth were broken out. It was not my fault.

27:24 - Thoughts are the agent of change.

27:50 - The spark of realizing that I wanted to live life differently.

29:01 - Do you have an evening routine?

30:25 - Filtering out the news because it can be so toxic.

33:58 - It’s important to talk about our pain.

35:45 - The less resistance that I look for the easier it becomes to move through them.

36:20 - How to deal with someone when you trigger their anger.

38:10 - The less I try to be strong and the more I hold them in my heart I find life to be easier.

38:44 - Surrendering verses being courageous.

40:44 - Seeing how calm my mind was when I was late to a meeting was amazing.

42:05 - Becoming more aware of my emotions.

44:10 - Do my best work in the morning.

45:45 - I’m not always trying to accomplish. I’m more about experiencing.

45:59 - How do you become more aware of your thoughts and emotions?

46:25 - The importance of journaling.

47:18 - What assumptions am I making in my life?

47:39 - Busting assumptions in your marketing open up new revenue streams.

49:01 - Taking massive ownership of your life.

50:07 - Questioning your assumptions.

Check out Tony Teegarden where he helps small business owners with their marketing. You can check out his Facebook account as well to learn more about him as a person.

If you have any questions or know someone you think I should interview please message me and let me know.

If you enjoyed this episode take a moment to subscribe. The player above has a subscribe button and you can pick the podcast service that you use.

Michaela Johnson interviewed me for her podcast “Be You Find Happy” and I had a blast. It’s why I wanted to share it with you. I was able to do the Dig to Fly Method and she loved it. The best part was her reaction. You’ll have to have a listen.

0:33 - Science of gratitude.

2:55 - How to use gratitude to help you stop procrastinating.

4:10 - It’s ok to sit on your coach and not do your dishes.

7:01 - Accepting and appreciating negative emotions.

8:40 - Importance of meditation, journaling and conversations.

10:10 - How is talking to a therapist about a difficult problem different from talking with a friend.

12:45 - Shifting your perspective around a difficult issue.

13:54 - Appreciating the small things.

15:07 - Being grateful for the options we do have.

16:00 - How to deal with complainers.

17:01 - What is the Dig to Fly Method.

18:20 - Going through the Dig to Fly Method.

20:11 - How bad is this struggle?

22:05 - What are Michaela’s expectations of her difficult friend?

24:08 - It’s not until we are truly uncomfortable that we’ll solve the problem.

24:40 - Being mindful of her authentic self.

25:00 - Michaela’s reaction to the Dig to Fly Method.

26:40 - Going through a rebrand.

27:30 - How each question builds on the next one.

28:29 - Connecting with people in a positive way.

30:03 - Understanding why she should let go of a limiting friendship.

31:15 - Aligning with our deep feelings.

32:10 - You can’t show up with revenge.

33:27 - “Fortitude” by Dan Crenshaw

34:40 - Doing things that matter to you.

I hope you enjoy the show and jotted down some notes along the way. If you have any feedback please feel free to message me and let me know. Also if you know of a guest that I should have on my show just let me know.

If you have any questions or want to learn more you can subscribe to my show in iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

If you enjoy the episode I would really appreciate a review. The more reviews I get the more people I can help.

Phil Gerbyshak is an amazing person with a huge heart. He is a VP of sales training. In this interview he gives great tips on improving your ability to sell. You might not think of yourself as a sales person, but we all have to sell ourselves to our co-workers, friends and even our family.

My favorite aspect of this interview is how Phil breaks down his thought process around how we can build upon our current habits and continue to grow even when we are uncomfortable. When we are uncomfortable this is where the growth really happens.

0:41 - Three things that Phil is grateful for.

1:45 - Micro-gratitude.

3:45 - Who he is and how he got into sales training and public speaking.

6:34 - How do you get excited about something like cold calling when it doesn’t come naturally to someone.

7:25 - Building rapport with people.

8:10 - The importance of doing research before taking action.

10:10 - Open the right to a deeper conversation.

10:45 - How to overcome the issue of someone “just looking”.

11:55 - Stop talking yourself out of taking on a hard project.

13:01 - How to be happy and successful in other parts of your life.

16:15 - How to muster energy when you need it.

26:40 - Connecting with your why.

30:12 - Building confidence.

35:05 - 5 P’s.

37:40 - It’s all about the choices we make.

38:54 - Dealing with the pain of traveling.

40:50 - Travel system that helps him stay healthy.

41:41 - Importance of a good night’s sleep.

42:58 - Advice you can apply to your life that will help you grow.

I hope you enjoy the show and jotted down some notes along the way. If you have any feedback please feel free to message me at ([email protected]) and let me know. Also if you know of a guest that I should have on my show just let me know.

Marsha Shandur of Yes Yes Marsha deep dives into how her inner beasts treats her with such disdain and how she deals with it. This was a fun interview and I felt a kinship of someone that has done deep work that has helped her fly higher.

One of my favorite aspects of this interview is Marsha’s willingness to open up and talk about her inner demons and how they affect her life. It’s important that we are honest with what is going on in our lives, the good and the bad, so we can learn and help each other.

1:01 - Three things that Marsha is grateful for.

3:11 - Deepening your mindset practice.

5:10 - Tetris Effect.

8:02 - The flipside of acceptance.

11:30 - Unconscious bias.

13:10 - Where was she born.

13:49 - What was she like as a kid.

16:18 - What we think is cool in high school and what we think is cool as adults.

19:45 - Our inner dialogue.

21:59 - What do we do to quiet our inner beast.

26:20 - Bringing empathy to our inner beasts.

31:10 - Understanding how our beliefs determine our feelings.

34:02 - When we notice the little choices that we are making we can build self awareness.

37:25 - A mindset practice makes it easier to bounce back from a difficult situation.

38:15 - Micro-habits.

39:34 - Why does she have trouble celebrating the good things in her life.

44:58 - The importance of a quality ritual around an evening routine.

46:20 - Evening journal prompts that helps her with her mindset.

48:50 - Recourse from yesyesmarsha.com/gratefulmind.

49:54 - Notice what your inner beasts is saying to you.

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I hope you enjoy the show and jotted down some notes along the way. If you have any feedback please feel free to message me ([email protected]) and let me know. Also if you know of a guest that I should have on my show just let me know.

Mitch Joel of Six Pixels of Separation is an entrepreneur, podcaster and author. He got on my radar after listening to a number of his podcasts episodes. He is known for giving amazing talks that help people understand where commerce is heading and how to navigate their businesses through it.

My favorite aspect of this interview is that Mitch doesn’t agree with a lot of my ideas and the direction that I try to take the interview in. I think you’ll enjoy the back and forth that goes on in this wonderful 40 minute interview.

Highlights:

1:02 - Three things that Mitch is grateful for.

2:20 - Why he does a lot of self critical thinking.

4:15 - How would he feel if his drive to achieve would go away.

5:07 - Where he finds his motivation.

6:48 - How does he figure out the pace at which he does things.

7:45 - How does he pace himself and still keep moving forward.

9:15 - How does he take time to pause and appreciate.

11:10 - Feeling comfortable in your own skin.

14:25 - Dealing with failure.

17:29 - Ingest and act on information.

19:22 - His mindset around working on a goal.

20:58 - The best part about building a business.

24:16 - Different levels of thinking.

27:29 - Bringing awareness to the choices that you make.

28:35 - Making the shift to getting back to the way you want to live.

29:05 - The practice of being good enough to reach your goal.

30:06 - How to find support yourself when you are feeling down.

31:30 - Why most people don’t work on their mindset.

33:00 - How did he deal with self-judgement.

37:12 - What is one thing that people can do over the next seven days to improve their lives.

I hope you enjoy the show and jotted down some notes along the way. If you have any feedback please feel free to message me and let me know. Also if you know of a guest that I should have on my show just let me know.