The Difficulty: Creativity, Meaning & the Hard Work of a Life

On this episode, we discuss why we use the term "mountain" when discussing the idea of the "in between" the first and second mountain.

The first mountain is the mountain of individual freedom: it is the mountain of autonomy and action, of personal happiness and independence. The second mountain, on the other hand, is the mountain of commitment: it is the mountain of moral joy and meaning, the mountain of giving and interdependence.

The goals on that first mountain are the normal goals that our culture endorses, to be a success, to be well thought of, to get invited into the right social circles, and to experience personal happiness. It’s all the normal stuff: nice home, nice family, nice vacations, good food, good friends, and so on.

No matter how you succeed on the first mountain, you come to the valley, or what is called "the middle passage." From there, you don't necessarily begin the second mountain journey, but you are offered that opportunity.

You don't climb the second mountain the way you climb the first mountain. You conquer your first mountain. You identify the summit and you claw your way toward it. You are conquered by your second mountain.

David Brooks explores the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Our personal fulfillment depends on how well we choose and execute these commitments. Brooks looks at a range of people who have lived joyous, committed lives, and who have embraced the necessity of dependence. He gathers their wisdom on how to choose a partner, how to pick a vocation, how to live out a philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one overriding purpose.

Time Stamps:

The provisional personality in midlife. 1:37

James hollis, a life of meaning.

The provisional personality in a provisional life.

The disillusionment of midlife mortality. 3:41

The disillusionment that happens in the 40s and 50s.

Why mountains are used as an archetypal symbol.

Culture’s expectations of success. 7:05

The first mountain, climbing the first mountain.

The two grinning gremlins of life. 8:44

James hollis, fear and lethargy are the enemies of life.

Valley story.

The valley is not a fun place to be. 12:54

The fear of annihilation.

Finding ways to break out of yourself and into community. 16:39

The role of the coach. 19:27

Letting go of what you think you are. 21:40

The second mountain is sweeter than the first mountain.

Find out more about Big Self School

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

As a seasoned marketing executive, Teresa has helped many organizations navigate transitions and transformations and achieve lofty goals such as being acquired, exponentially increasing shareholder value, or transforming from a traditional organization to a digital one.

Today, as Chief Liminist, strategic advisor, and executive coach, Teresa helps people and organizations master the “art of the pivot,” embrace change, and achieve audacious goals.

Chad decided to reach out after learning about her organization's name, The Liminist. Richard Rohr shares a wonderful idea about how liminal space transforms us when we are attentive to the presence of God in times of change. He writes:

"The Latin word limen means 'threshold.' Liminal space is an inner state and sometimes an outer situation where we can begin to think and act in new ways. It is where we are betwixt and between, in transition, having left one room or stage of life but not yet entered the next. We usually enter liminal space when our former way of being is challenged or changed—perhaps when we lose a job or a loved one, during illness, at the birth of a child, or a major relocation. It is a graced time, but often does not feel “graced” in any way. In such space, we are not certain or in control."

We have a lively conversation about bringing transformational coaching to leaders and organizations in order to improve the bottom line, results.

Time Stamps:

The difference between self and little self.

Richard rohr, liminal space.

The liminal space is where we are most teachable. 5:07

The liminal space is where people are most teachable.

Transitioning from founder to leadership team lead. 10:41

Transformational vs transactional. 18:53

Transactional vs transformational coaching, emotional intelligence and understanding.

The enneagram and the 360.

How to develop a functional leadership team. 27:51

Building a culture of trust and transparency. 32:54

Building a culture of trust is important.

80% of golf players are men.

The future of work-life balance.

What do you think about a four day work week? 37:17

The four-day work week movement.

Diverse needs of different generations and learning styles.

Women learning golf, prioritization and fear.

The importance of being open to what we need to learn. 44:10

Find Teresa Caro to learn more about her and her organization:

The Liminist

https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresacaro/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/liminist/

Find out more about Big Self...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

Sajad Vahedi is a relationship coach. We met him through our Big Self community, and recognized he has a message worth sharing. He uses the Schema Therapy framework to help clients break the toxic relationship cycle and build healthy and fulfilling relationships by becoming their authentic selves.

He believes every person has a unique gift, and if we are our truest selves, we live an authentic life, and the world becomes a rich and beautiful place with everyone serving the world by manifesting their uniqueness.

His mission is to help others become their genuine selves and find beauty in it.

Time Stamps:

What does living in your big self mean to you? 2:05

Discover who you are. 4:04

Discover who you are first, then work on improving and changing.

Getting a PhD in economics and moving to Arizona.

Relationship with his partner.

The end of the journey. 9:15

Schema therapy and an integrative approach.

Understanding emotionally understanding the problem. 11:23

How does relationship coaching work? 13:25

How relationship coaching works.

The limits of cbt cognitive behavioral therapy.

People are patterns animals. 17:27

How she became a relationship coach. 19:28

Discovering his passion for psychology. 20:55

The transformation from reading psychology to studying psychology.

The importance of passion in life.

Integrating the whole dimensions of yourself. 25:47

Show Notes:

Find Sajad Vahedi at his site here

Or join his Facebook group here

Find out more about Big Self School

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life purpose–and we do this work with individuals and couples. Reach out to us if you’d like to book a discovery call and learn more about our coaching packages.

Book a discovery call here

Want to learn more about the role stress plays in your life, and discover your blueprint for how to handle it based on your Enneagram type and subtype? 

Order a...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

Chalmers Brothers is a best-selling author, certified personal / executive coach, consultant, seminar leader and speaker. 36-year career focused on leadership development, workplace culture, productivity and accountability, teamwork and clarity in communication, emotional intelligence, trust- and relationship-building.

His books, Language and the Pursuit of Happiness and Language and the Pursuit of Leadership Excellence have been adopted by the leadership/coaching programs at places such as, Georgetown University, George Mason University, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Newfield Network (U.S., Europe, Asia), NASA/Goddard Space Center, and many others.

Time Stamps:

What does it mean to be an authentic leader? 0:00

The importance of being authentic in a changing world.

How to get feedback on your work. 8:19

Getting the feedback to break through the fear.

Leadership has gone from command and control to inspire and enroll. 12:50

We’re always at choice. 17:21

The benefits of taking responsibility for one's own self-awareness.

The good and bad news.

What is polarity thinking and why is it important? 23:26

Emotional Intelligence and Culture. 27:56

The two dimensions of organizational performance, execution and culture.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

What do you think about the five day work week? 33:47

The four day work week vs the 40 hour work week.

Generative actions leaders need to take to get results. 38:44

Creating a space for innovation.

Language is an action, not just talk.

Organizations are human beings coordinating action.

Show Notes:

Find his 2014 TedTalk here

Find his book here: Language and the Pursuit of Leadership Excellence

Find out more about Big Self School

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life purpose–and we do this work with individuals and couples. Reach out to us if you’d like to book a discovery call and learn more about our coaching packages.

Book a discovery call here

Want to learn more about the role stress plays in your life, and discover your blueprint for how to handle it based on your Enneagram type and...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

Some of us want to achieve inner peace and harmony. We're tired of the stresses we constantly feel. And while it is true, when you heal, when you do the inner work to achieve the outer results of different behaviors and renewed relationships, you do cut down on the drama.

But much like exercise requires us to constantly challenge our physical bodies, so too is there a need for ongoing inner conflict or tension. It's the need for opposing forces for us to achieve our higher, bigger self.

The Law of Three is referred to by Gurdjieff as “the second fundamental cosmic law." According to this law every phenomenon consists of three separate forces, which are Active, Passive and Reconciling or Neutral. This law applies to everything in the universe including organic life on earth. On whatever scale, from molecular to cosmic in whatever world, results from the combination of three opposing forces – the positive (affirming), the negative (denying), and the neutralizing (reconciling) force.

And this idea is also put forth from philosophers from a variety of ages, some attribute the concept of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis to Hegel, some to Kant. That doesn’t matter. What we’re putting forth here is the idea that there will always be tension in your growth work. 

So, intrapersonally there is tension, there will be tension, and the good news is there does in fact NEED to be tension.

Time Stamps:

The problem with repetitive conflict. 1:32

People see patterns of repetitive conflict and dramas.

The tension between self-compassion and self-confrontation.

Self confrontation. 3:12

Self-confrontation is necessary in the coaching process.

The law of three.

The law of three. 4:45

A shock point, a reconciling force.

Burnout and the third force. 6:34

We get stuck in our own s**t. 7:51

The one-sided echo chamber of beliefs.

The importance of reconciliation and synthesis.

Being open to the tension you're feeling. 9:00

How do you break the script? 10:38

Find out more about Big Self School

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life purpose–and we do this work with individuals and couples. Reach out to us if you’d like to book a discovery call and learn more about our coaching packages.

Book a discovery call here

Want to learn more about the role stress plays in your life, and discover your blueprint for how to handle it based on your Enneagram type and subtype? 

Order a copy of Chad’s

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

In 2012, Mandar Apte influenced Shell’s CEO to start Shell’s GameChanger social innovation program, which would invest in innovative solutions to sustainability challenges (SDG’s) and create both social impact and business returns. Through the portfolio of investments that he made through this impact investment fund, Mandar showcased how global brands, like Shell, can and must play a greater role (beyond just philanthropy) to enable and scale social impact.

While at Shell, in 2012, Mandar also won the League of Intrapreneurs award for his efforts to design and facilitate an innovation learning program to over 2000 colleagues at Shell using meditation techniques.

For nearly two decades, Mandar has volunteered his time for the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association for Human Values to teach leadership development programs using meditation techniques to thousands of people across the world. Mandar is the Founder & Executive Director of Cities4Peace – a not-for-profit consultancy that actively promotes peace in cities worldwide. The flagship program was held in Los Angeles, where so far over 250 community members including LAPD officers, former gang members and victims/survivors of violence have been trained by Mandar as Ambassadors of Peace. Similar programs are now being offered in many other cities and communities worldwide.

Time Stamps:

3:59--Mandar shares his vision of what Big Self means to him

7:10--Mandar reads Dr. MLK Jr.'s autobiography and finds a deep source of inspiration from learning about his trip in 1959 to India

13:02--Mandar's background at Shell as a Petroleum engineer

21:35--Chad makes an observation that Mandar broke out of his golden handcuffs and stepped into his Big Self when he decided to become a change agent for peace

29:42--How breathing is directly related to your experience of a particular emotion, and thus how breath work is a huge source of healing for people imprisoned in their negative emotions

39:35--We have to hold the space for conversations and free ourselves from judgment

48:27--How putting ourselves amongst diverse groups of people helps us to generate innovative ideas and actions

Show Notes:

The movie: From India with Love

www.cities4peace.org

www.mandarapte.net

https://www.amazon.com/India-Love-Scarlett-Lewis/dp/B082VNSNVW

Be The Change - a module on peace education;  https://cities4peace.mykajabi.com/offers/khFs9v4P

https://cities4peace.mykajabi.com/offers/khFs9v4P

Use our wellwisher code: BTC100

Find out more about Big Self School

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life purpose–and we do this work with individuals and couples....

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

Sharon K. Ball is a licensed professional counselor–mental health service provider, national board-certified counselor, and an accredited Enneagram teacher through the International Enneagram Association.

Because of her background, Sharon has provided trauma-response counseling for victims of mass shootings and hurricanes. She’s been called upon to provide crisis-intervention services during national and international disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Haiti earthquake. As the founder of the 9Paths Center for Wellbeing, a clinical counseling center located in the Nashville region, Sharon provides informed trauma care to individuals, couples, and families. 

I think you’ll find a lot of depth and insight in our unscripted conversation today. 

I think what Sharon Ball is helping us to understand is that you can take your failure as an opportunity to open up, become more vulnerable, more open to learning and humbly starting again. Sometimes, if we’re honest with ourselves, we don’t allow ourselves to get to these points of openness and honesty until we face a crisis of one kind or another. And, you know, so long as we do end up getting there, learning the power of reinventing ourselves, and the joy that comes with it, we should cut ourselves a little slack. 

Time Stamps:

3:51--Sharon shares her idea of what it means to be living in your Big Self

9:58--Sharon's story of going through a complicated, highly visible divorce

13:12--People who work through trauma still have a resilience and a pursuit of something better, and how Sharon sees the world through a trauma lens and a hopeful one

19:27--Putting the pieces back after trauma to pursue the bigger, fuller self

25:10--Integrating the Enneagram with trauma work

30:37--We're in this together, and you are not broken

Show Notes:

Find out more about 9 Paths here

Reclaiming You: Using the Enneagram to Move from Trauma to Resilience

More about Big Self School

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life purpose–and we do this work with individuals and couples. Reach out to us if you’d like to book a discovery call and learn more about our coaching packages.

Book a discovery call here

Want to learn more about the role stress plays in your life, and discover your blueprint for how to handle it based on your Enneagram type and subtype? 

Order a copy of Chad’s book Shock Point or order an ebook here.

Leave us a review and

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

Creativity is not a nice to have - it’s a must have - now, during this 4th industrial revolution - and for the future of work. Natalie is the creativity whisperer to the C-Suite. Her dynamic, accessible and engaging approach has changed lives and impacted executives and leaders across Fortune 500 companies, cultural institutions, and countless individuals.

Creativity is the source of all innovation, but how can we cultivate it? Natalie Nixon defines creativity as our ability to toggle between wonder & rigor to solve problems and produce novel value. She draws on her background in business and the arts to show how we can unlock our innate creativity to produce breakthrough products and services.

We have a wonderful conversation discussing the effectiveness of creativity across industries, its place in our culture, and what we can do to generate some more of it.

Time Stamps:

3:42--Natalie's response to her idea of what Big Self means to her

8:00--We say we value creativity as high level thinking but we still put it in its place and don't let it in to business contexts

11:11--The illustration from Laura Linney's acting experience

13:09--Natalie's story of getting an opportunity for a very different kind of educational experience at an early age in Philadelphia

20:37--Create the conditions for creativity in the workplace

30:40--Changing the way we intentionally create space for creativity using the Motor framework

Show Notes:

Article: Your “invisible work” is key to your most productive self

Find Natalie at Figure 8 Thinking here

Her book, The Creativity Leap

Find out more about Big Self School

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life purpose–and we do this work with individuals and couples. Reach out to us if you’d like to book a discovery call and learn more about our coaching packages.

Book a discovery call here

Want to learn more about the role stress plays in your life, and discover your blueprint for how to handle it based on your Enneagram type and subtype? 

Order a copy of Chad’s book Shock Point or order an ebook here.

Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes or

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

If you only had one thing to tell your younger self, what would it be? On today's micro episode, Chad and Shelley discuss their one thing. It's been on their mind this month as they've been having powerful coaching and podcast conversations, as well as challenging ones with their kids and touring college campuses.

Time Stamps:

The relationship is about aspiring to live in your big self. 1:42

What we wish we’d known when we were younger. 2:56

Enduring struggle doesn’t make you more important. 4:18

• Bringing up the child into the universe.
• The belief that hard work is more important than easy work.
• The BSU work study story.

Go to your strengths. 7:28

What I wish I’d known about college. 8:11

• The world is bigger and there is more opportunity.
• Big self school.

Find out more about Big Self School

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life purpose–and we do this work with individuals and couples. Reach out to us if you’d like to book a discovery call and learn more about our coaching packages.

Book a discovery call here

Want to learn more about the role stress plays in your life, and discover your blueprint for how to handle it based on your Enneagram type and subtype? 

Order a copy of Chad’s book Shock Point or order an ebook here.

Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes or Subscribe on Spotify

Find us at bigselfschool.com

Join us on LinkedIn

Scott Simon is a happiness entrepreneur and founder of the Scare Your Soul courage movement and the author of the book Scare Your Soul: 7 Powerful Principles to Harness Fear and Lead Your Most Courageous Life.  He is dedicated to creating, curating, and leading opportunities for people around the world to be happier, empowered and courageous in their own lives. Scott founded the movement in 2015, organically growing it from one Facebook post to a global movement with volunteer ambassadors worldwide. He has presented to groups around the world, appeared widely on TV and podcasts, given a TEDx Talk, and led retreats and mindfulness meditations in person and online. In his coaching practice, Scott works with individuals seeking dramatic change in their lives, with a focus on helping divorcing men find their passion and courage through their major life transition.

In his new book, Simon reflects on his childhood spent running from fear--and his adulthood spent chasing it--and inspires readers to take small, boundary-pushing actions to expand comfort zones, harness their fears, and lead a confident and audacious life. He examines the idea of what it means to truly live--not by overcoming our fears, but by embracing them.

By combining research on positive psychology with engaging writing prompts, real-world challenges, and first-person stories of Scare Your Soul participants and ambassadors, Simon challenges readers to confront limiting beliefs and live a more meaningful and connected life. When we each individually lead that life, Simon argues, more great ideas happen, more social justices arise, more healthy relationships are fostered and innovation thrives. In a very real sense, we change ourselves and we, together, can change the world.

Time Stamps:

3:33--How to get to the big self.

8:59--The power of the small things.

14:25--The concept of courage practice.

19:59--How to define happiness.

23:42--Procrastination and how to overcome it.

27:40--How to reframe procrastinating into excitement?

31:58--Acting together makes us more courageous.

35:22--The intersection of courage and flow.

Show Notes:

http://www.tedxcle.com/scott-simon/

https://scareyoursoul.com/scott-simon/

More about Big Self School:

We still offer our flagship burnout coaching package. We also offer packages for those seeking clarity and reconnecting to their life purpose–and we do this work with individuals and couples. Reach out to us if you’d like to book a discovery call and learn more about our coaching packages.

Book a discovery call here

Want to learn more about the role stress plays in your life, and discover your blueprint for how to handle it based on your Enneagram type and subtype? 

Order a copy of Chad’s book Shock Point or order an

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com