The Mango Effect Podcast

22. Have you ever had a meltdown? Maybe a series of meltdowns? Where you feel like you just cannot keep going as-is because the cost is too high? You may be ready to "put your cup down." Your health may be suffering. Your relationships might feel a bit rocky. Your finances might be taking a hit. Navigating any type of growth period is precarious at best, and most of us don't make it through without some bumps along the way. 

In today's episode, let's discuss how to put the cup down, get through challenging growth periods, and discover which triggers may be derailing our mindset hurling us into a negative loop. There IS a better way. 

In this episode, we discuss: 

• The importance of learning our triggers 
• Magic of taking breaks throughout the day (simple, but effective) 
• Internal vs External processing, and how to use this technique 
• Running your energy via meditation or grounding exercises Learning to laugh at yourself when you make mistakes 
• Mastering our own unique growth periods 

Interested in connecting to discuss this topic? Follow us on Instagram or TikTok @mangoeffectpodcast and shoot us a DM with your thoughts!

20. Have you ever hopped on a call or hung out with a friend or colleague, only to be the recipient of a massive "dump" of criticism? The person on the other end might not have intentionally tried to critique you (or maybe they couched it in constructive feedback), but it still has an emotional impact. 

In today's episode, let's discuss how to address our outer critics, set better boundaries around conversations, and set clear intentions around the conversations we want to (and don't want to ) have with various people in our professional and personal lives. 

In this episode, we discuss: 

• Why we are never obligated to pay attention to critics 
• Tuning into our gut and intuition throughout conversations 
• When reframing is not healthy and actually hurtful 
• Setting better boundaries around calls and energy levels 
• Protecting our physical and emotional energy levels 
• What to do with unsolicited advice when it happens 

Interested in connecting to discuss this topic? Follow us on Instagram or TikTok @mangoeffectpodcast and shoot us a DM with your thoughts!

19. What is the lesson here? That's a question I ask myself EVERY time I go through a challenging situation, once the smoke clears. When I'm too distraught, upset, or exhausted to recognize the lesson in something, it's a sign I pushed too far. At that moment, I give myself space, but I look for the lesson as soon as my brain comes back online. 

All too often, we look up to leaders and those "successful people" who talk about pushing through situations and doing the hard thing, but if we just follow that recipe every time, we'll end up quitting, broken or unhealthy. 

I believe there's a better way to achieve that balance, especially as a driven entrepreneur, professional or person on a mission to self-actualize. 

In this episode, we discuss: 

• How you can recognize the lesson in everything 
• Ways to improve on your last "experiment" 
• Using your challenges or setbacks 
• Why success stereotypes often sugarcoat the negatives 
• Expressing all sides of ourselves 
• Evolving as humans, better business owners and professionals 
• When pushing through something is NOT the answer 

Interested in connecting to discuss this topic? Follow us on Instagram or TikTok @mangoeffectpodcast and shoot us a DM with your thoughts!

18. Is anyone else a chronic goal setter or project starter? Setting goals is the easy part, but achieving them can be the tricky part. 

In today's episode, let's discuss how to address perfectionism, setting goals that we can actually achieve by right-sizing, assess whether a goal is working for us (or not), and exactly what it takes to get back into alignment when your goals get off track. 

Approaching short-term and long-term goals from the perspective of mindfulness and intention, rather than just jumping headfirst into the unknown, will serve us better in the long run. Let's get real about setting good goals and actually enjoying the process of reaching them! 

In this episode, we discuss: 

• How to deal with burnout and overwhelm 
• Pros and cons of setting goals you feel like you "have to" do versus wanting to do them 
• Running smart experiments to test out different types of goals 
• Navigating business growth when you have a ton of opportunities 
• Taking the "perfection" out of goal setting and goal achievement 

Interested in connecting to discuss this topic? Follow us on Instagram or TikTok @mangoeffectpodcast and shoot us a DM with your thoughts!

17. How many of us dream about a lifestyle that we WISH we could have in the here and now, but we have no idea how to get there? Many of us try the "going cold turkey" approach or doing something drastic, but it doesn't always produce lasting results.

Very few people wake up one day having never run a mile in their life with a revelation that they want to be a marathoner and then jump right into a seasoned marathon training program...and keep it going for a lifetime. It's all about baby steps and mini-experiments that lead to long-term change. 

To change your lifestyle, you start by running ONE experiment in the category you want to change. It's not about drastic change but about figuring out a variable that could improve the flow of your day. A perfect day starts with ONE experiment. 

In this episode, we discuss: 

• What it means to run an experiment 
• How to design a simple experiment to test your hypothesis 
• A variety of experiments we can run in our lifestyle categories 
• When to change up an experiment 
• Why there's no such thing as falling off the bandwagon 
• Setting up your experiment "the mango way" 

...and more!

16. Have you ever worked through a serious illness or recovered from an injury that left you questioning yourself and your capabilities? When you can no longer trust your body to deliver for you, what do you do then? 

Before I caught COVID in August 2020 and then dealt with the aftermath of long COVID, I had no idea what it was like to struggle with a chronic illness that held me back from what I wanted to achieve in life, work, and relationships. Learning to deal with health challenges (or support a loved one through them) requires us to question our assumptions, come up with creative solutions, and figure out new ways of "being" to thrive amidst unpredictability. 

In today's episode, we discuss: 

• What it's actually like to discover & experience long COVID 
• Resources for aiding recovery from COVID 
• Avoiding burnout and overcommitting ourselves 
• Being in integrity to keep and honor your word when your health is unpredictable 
• Protocols for pacing - spoons per day, wellness days, and open communication 
• The importance of downtime when your body needs it 

...and more!

15. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Answering this question with the intention to act on the answer and led me to relocate from the cornfields of Indiana to the North Shore of Oahu. But why? 

In this episode, we discuss what it's like to move to Hawaii and how I found "my stopping place" after almost a decade of moving all over the mainland US. Environment is the foundational ingredient to creating your lifestyle by design recipe. When you get the location right, everything else naturally falls into place. Too many people overlook location because they assume moving is outside the question for them, but is it really? 

In today's episode, we discuss: 

• How to ask the right questions before moving 
• Choosing an environment that works for you and your family 
• Creating a moving game plan (and what to do if it doesn't work out!) 
• Pros and cons of living on Oahu 
• Getting through the first year on an island 
• Some fun tidbits about all the different areas on Oahu 

...and more!

14. What's the dreadlock journey? It's not just having radical hair, but more about going through an inner transformation just as powerful as the loc'ing process itself.

Why do we let society tell us what we should or should not do with our hair? This is our lifestyle and our choice to do with our hair as we want. Our hair can be an element of self-expression, and it's such a beautiful way to express ourselves as unique individuals.

Dreadlocks are not just for "pot-smoking hippies," contrary to popular belief. There's a story and a journey behind every head of loc'ed hair.

In today's episode, we discuss:

• Deciding to get dreadlocks
• What the loc'ing process is actually like
• The different stages of dreadlocks
• How spirituality is intertwined throughout my process
• Surfing, dreadlocks and salt water
• Misconceptions around cultural appropriation
• Giving ourselves permission to express ourselves

...and more!

Interested in connecting to discuss this topic? Follow us on Instagram @mangoeffectpodcast and shoot us a DM with your thoughts!

13. How do we create a lifestyle where every activity is a flow trigger that leads to the next? Creating our lifestyle by design does not happen by accident where we just wake up one day and figure out exactly how to create it. Instead, it starts with figuring out the general idea of the lifestyle we want, then testing and trying out various things to see if they are a fit (or not.) 

If we want an amazing lifestyle, we must pay attention to how you live each day AND how those days map back to your overarching lifestyle goals. When something doesn't fit, you've got to figure out a better way to get it done that does align, ditch it altogether, or find another option. 

In today's episode, we discuss: 

• Creating a day that's filled with flow triggers 
• Making tough decisions when we have conflicting priorities 
• Avoiding burnout and overcommitting ourselves 
• Planning a summer schedule to allow for more lifestyle time 
• Acting in integrity to keep and honor your word 
• The importance of downtime when you're a high achiever ...and more!

12. Who else likes to hear about "a day in the life" of someone else? If you're anything like me, you've probably been prone to search up daily routines of successful people or best morning rituals and productivity routines for night owls. 

In this episode, let's talk about how we can structure our "ideal day" as a microcosm for our lifestyle by design. When we hear how other people structure their days, we can easily pick ONE thing to experiment with inside our routines or get a new perspective on how to approach the day based on our unique rhythms. 

In this episode, we discuss: 

• Adjusting our routines based on time zones and commitments 
• Working with our biology (not fighting it) to determine what to do when 
• Morning rituals that set us up for an awesome day 
• Sleep and wake times that improve happiness and flow 
• Creating a perfect day by mix-and-matching activities we enjoy 
• Winding down the evening with creativity and relaxation ...and more!