The Next Level

While seeking alternative educational models for my own children and learning some key insights from my wife, I came across the work or Pat Farenga and Growing Without Schooling. Patrick Farenga brings more than 34 years of fieldwork, advocacy, and personal experience (he and his wife unschooled their three daughters) to help parents and children learn in their own ways. Pat is a writer and education activist who addresses academic and general audiences about working with children, not on children, to help them learn. Farenga worked closely with one of the founders of the modern homeschooling movement, the late author and teacher John Holt, and published Growing Without Schooling magazine (GWS) from 1985 until it stopped in 2001. GWS was the nation’s first periodical about learning without going to school, started by Holt in 1977. In today's episode we are going into the educational system, and then unpack what the unschooling revolution is all about. We dive into topics like, how the educational system is long overdue for an upgrade, what is unschooling, the origins of unschooling and deschooling, growing Without Schooling, the conditions we have set up around how to learn and why it's not the most optimal, the true statistics of how many Americans actually have college degrees and what that really means, how education is actually part of the problem of our social structure, the truth about college debt, and so much more…

Fully Raw Kristina (Kristina Carillo Bucaram) is a pioneer in the local, organic food co-operative movement. The founder of the largest raw, organic produce co-operative in the U.S., she has been 100% raw for over 11 years. An exemplification of all that she wishes to create, she is a leading visionary in the raw movement, especially in Houston, TX. Kristina’s inspiration for being FullyRaw came after she was able to rid herself of Hyperglycemia at the age of 18 eating nothing but a low fat raw vegan diet consisting solely of fresh fruits and vegetables with few nuts and seeds. At the age of 20 before she graduated college, she started the non-profit organization called Rawfully Organic. This organic produce co-operative in Houston, Texas grew from 12 people in her living room to thousands of families in the greater Houston city limits. Besides being the chief goddess co-operator of Rawfully Organic, Kristina has made a living coaching and inspiring thousands of others to be FullyRaw for the past few years. She is the author of The Fully Raw Diet and also the creator of her latest company called FullyRaw Juice, LLC. We dive into topics like, Kristina's story of transformation, being Fully Raw for almost 12 years, going from being in and out of the hospital at 87 lbs to turning everything around with raw food, understanding the difference between refined sugar and fruit sugar, the problem and challenge with self-diagnosing, the birth of the Rawfully Organic Co-Op, a 52,000 member co-op, the largest in the country, the natural evolution of each of Kristina's 4 businesses, moving forward even when things are scary or uncertain, and so much more…

Sometimes, relationship can be tough no navigate. When you put two people in the same house, add kids, work, and the inherent challenges that come along with modern schedules, friction is bound to come up. I find myself often joking about how we aren't ever taught in school how to successfully navigate our own emotions and how to be successful in relationship. That leaves it up to us to learn by example from role models who have relationships we admire, or find that information through books, classes, blogs, and other media. My guest today has really helped me understand how relationship can take on many forms through her book Love Cycles: The Five Essential Stages of Wholehearted Love. Linda Carroll—MS, is a writer, psychotherapist and a love/life coach specializing in relationship issues of all kinds for both singles and couples, assisting people in their life transitions. If you are in relationship or have tried to navigate relationship and still find yourself scratching your head wondering how it all works, then you will love today's episode. Linda unpacks the 4 Love Cycles and we also talk about some of the most common marriage and relationship misconceptions and what to do instead. We dive into topics like how love is not merely an emotion but a daily action we practice, who to listen to and who not to listen to when it comes to love, understanding how love happens and how to make it sustainable, how love can come and go in a relationship and what to do about it, the 5 Essential Stages, the bio-chemistry of love and what actually happens to your brain when you fall in love, how falling in love can actually impair our good judgement, the number one fear for men and for women in relationship, how to find common ground in a any argument by understanding each others values, doing the regular actions of love even when you don't feel like doing it, the new standards of relationship, and so much more…

Personal Development's power couple, Preston Smiles and Alexi Panos, are world renowned innovators and pioneers in the Emergent Wisdom Movement. As founders of the groundbreaking Bridge Method (which includes their live workshops, and various online training programs), they have created a movement of transformation that has taken humanity by storm through their unique and passion-filled approach to sharing age-old wisdom. Using social media as a main source of connection and distribution of their lively educational videos, they've built an incredible tribe of loyal fans around the globe who aren't just inspired by their work, but are empowered by it. Preston came on the show back at episode 25 to talk about his first book Love Louder and if you are yet to check that one out, head over there after tuning into this one. It's packed full of wisdom as well. Today we dive into their new book NOW OR NEVER Your Epic Life in 5 Steps, which available for pre-order today and debuts on December 27, 2016. We dive into topics like, whatever you put into the universe, you will be tested on, what it means to really have a choice, how every day is a choice, how to make personal transformation FUN, how to change your mental, emotional, and physical state quickly, recognizing and working with conscious and unconscious agreements, some strategies for re-writing your stories in partnership, making conscious agreement for how you and your partner act around the opposite sex, where jealousy, mistrust, envy and other triggers actually come from, what to do when you take things personally, radical responsibility is the glue that holds relationships together, accepting what is, deciphering between action for the sake of action and inspired action, and so much more...

Christian Howes grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where he studied violin through the Suzuki method from the age of five, performed as a soloist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra at age 16, and later earned his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the Ohio State University. Since 2011, performer, educator and composer, Christian Howes was voted #1 in the Downbeat Critics Poll (“Rising Stars/Violin”), named among the top three jazz violinists in the JazzTimes critics poll, and nominated for Violinist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Association. Besides being a world class jazz violinist, Christian has a lot of insight into the creative process and has built a business around being a performer AND helping other artists create structure and develop the business side of their creative pursuits. If you are a creative and have had a challenge looking at what you do from the business side, you will get a lot from this episode! We dive into topics like, Christian's initial journey from being a classical violinist to training creativity, how we are born creative and conditioned otherwise at an early age, how to practice and develop creativity, giving yourself parameters to guide the creative framework, the importance of treating your creative business pursuit AS A business, how getting better at your craft doesn't always put you in line with success, falling into the trap of having to look a certain way as a professional, knowing when to say YES and when to say NO, how to set the right priorities, the power of accountability, being backed by a strong why, the 4 steps for creative business success, the importance of keeping things simple, how to examine your creative business logically, if you want the business, you have to ask for it, and more...

I met today's guest at The Summit of Greatness in Columbus Ohio just a few months ago. Chris Hawker is the Founder of Trident Design, LLC. He’s spent the last 20 years thinking up, designing, developing and selling iconic consumer products in a variety of industries. From one-of-a-kind cooking utensils to high tech innovations, Chris and his team have brought dozens of products to market. Gadget fans probably know Chris best by way of the massively popular PowerSquid and Onion Goggles. More recently, crowdfunding fans may recognize Chris from Trident Design’s record-setting fundraising campaigns. Chris is also a life coach, and the co-founder of Next Level Columbus, a leadership training center which runs intensive experiential emotional intelligence leadership workshops. Chris is a really interesting guy and has a rich history of being an entrepreneur and inventor. After I heard about his work with Next Level Trainings and the transformational work he does, I wanted to ask him how he brings together the inventors mind and personal change. AND... With a name like Next Level Trainings, we instantly had something in common. We dive into topics like, the beginnings of Chris's journey as an inventor and entrepreneur, being all in on whatever you are doing and how that leads to amazing places, learning from other people and being willing to ask questions, following your passion and sifting through the creative landscape, having a never quit mindset and when to admit defeat, how commitment crates far more rewards than it costs, the transformation Chris experienced through MITT and what eventually became Next Level Trainings, the difference between information and transformation, how we are shaped by emotional experiences early on in life, how repressed emotions find a way out, positive or negative, having the right environment to let go of old emotions, the key attributes common between being an entrepreneur and a life coach, what it takes to stick with your commitment to a goal or project, and so much more...

Corey's book, Naked Marriage goes through 13 marriage myths and the truth behind them. It's a great book and sheds some light on common marriage myths and how to see them from a new perspective, ultimately creating a marriage built on personal growth and true partnership. I really enjoyed diving into the book and it has opened some new doors for me on how to see marriage and relationship in a new, empowering light. In this episode we will unpack some of these myths and so much more. We dive into topics like, what is marriage really designed to do?, how marriage actually challenges us to be better people, the meaning of a naked marriage, being real in your relationship, the myth of My Spouse Completes Me, the importance of two complete people coming together, how My Spouse Completes Me shows up in conflict and arguments, learning to not react to certain anxieties and triggers, breaking down the myth of Happy Couples Do Everything Together, how our spouse is not supposed to care about everything we care about, unpacking the idea of emotional fusion and what Corey calls emotional Siamese Twins, the power of creating a life you choose with love, the difference between a successful and unsuccessful fight, and so much more...

If you have children, my guess is you have at some point questioned how much time they spend in front of a screen. I'm a parent myself and I find that even trying to limit my kids use of screens makes all kinds of other challenges. I discovered my guest today through a New York Times article, The Anti-Helicopter Parent’s Plea: Let Kids Play!, and I just loved what he created. There is a quote by Buckminster Fuller that comes to mind... “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” And Mike Lanza is doing this with Play by creating a better option for winning our children's attention. Mike Lanza is author of Playborhood: Turn Your Neighborhood Into a Place for Play. He also blogs at Playborhood.com . He's worked hard to create a very rich neighborhood play life for his three boys - ages 13, 10, and 8 - in Menlo Park, California. He's also discovered and written about dozens of neighborhoods throughout North America that are doing innovative things to make a vibrant life for kids. Prior to his writing career, Mike was a five-time software and Internet entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. He holds an MA in Education, an MBA, and an MA and BA in Economics, all from Stanford University. Today we talk about his book and so much more. We dive into topics like what started Mike in direction of writing Playborhood, why our kids have stopped playing outside, the many sources of competition for our kids attention, bringing the neighborhood back to life, making your neighborhood into a village, creating the "3rd place" in your neighborhood, the foundations of a social life, the importance of hanging a physical hangout for kids... not just digital, the key points for making your neighborhood hangout, the importance of free play and letting kids make up their own rules, what Mike has noticed is different in the development of his own children, and so much more...

For episode 50, I have friend Cameron Shayne back on the show. I had Cameron as the first episode. Cameron is the founder of the Mixed Movement Arts educational institution, Budokon University. We dive into topics like, letting the customer help shape the product, the evolution of the fitness and movement industry, the movement culture and how that has changed with social media, the pros and cons of movement and media, the nature of learning... monkey see monkey do, the distinction between education and entertainment, bringing the depth and meaning back into the movement culture, wisdom and information are not the same thing, how men and women define their values by what they see through media, the duty of martial arts to develop someones character, the science, art, and philosophy of movement culture, deciding what to post and share on social media, the invasive nature of gossip, how we are not designed to process the amount of media we consume on a daily basis, and so much more...

When I learned more about today's guest through his book Running Man, I was utterly amazed Charlie Engle is an author, ultramarathon runner, and just an all around inspiration. In his early years, Charlie fell into a crack and alcohol addiction that nearly destroyed his life. Now 24 years sober, Charlie is a runner who has accomplished some seriously impressive physical feats. He was one of three team members in the film Running the Sahara which was narrated by Matt Damon. In the film Charlie, along with Ray Zahab and Kevin Lin ran 50 miles a day for 111 days straight! Just imagine what that took even just mentally to stick with such harsh conditions. His book Running Man was about so much more than running. It taught me about life, about how to face challenges, and no matter what life presents us, we always have a choice in what meaning we attach to events. We dive into topics like the story behind Charlie's book Running Man, overcoming his drug and alcohol addiction, continuing to move forward and search for that new path, how to bring the mindset of running 100 miles into your life, what is an ultramarathon?, understanding addiction, how the addict is actually all the best parts of you when applied in the right places, the truth behind healthy addictions, the difference between an addict and a using addict, using running to tap into the good feelings, self-imposed suffering and the transformation that comes from it, Charlie's biggest shift in mindset from all his years of running, and so much more...