The Small Moves Podcast

“The new slavery is consumerism.”

-Bryant H. McGill

In this episode of the show, Jason discusses his path toward anti-consumerism, and the hard choices that need to be made along the way to make this lifestyle stick. It’s not easy and he goes into detail about how you need to change some of your thinking in order to make it work.

He also explains the tactics needed to go this way in a measured way so to not leave yourself feeling helpless and abandoned by the other people in your life. This is a HUGE part of this shift that many people don’t factor in that can absolutely torpedo your hopes for change.

“That has now become our target… To convince the world to plant one trillion trees. Doing so would consume 25% of the global carbon emissions.”

-Felix Finkbeiner

In today’s show, the most recent edition of the A.A.Y.P. (Annoyingly Amazing Young People) Series, Jason chats with Felix Finkbeiner, Founder of Plant For The Planet, a youth-led international organization tasked with the goal of planting one trillion (yes, TRILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!) new trees throughout specific hotspot areas around the globe.  The organization began with a school project with he was 9 years old. He’s now 20 years old, attending university, and actively managing the organization which has, to date, planted 15,206,634,235 trees as of the airing of this show. For those who are numerically deficient… YES, that’s over 15 billions trees planted so far! I’ll assume many people reading this were slightly less effective at implementing your 9 year old dreams as Felix has been.

Jason makes a point to play devil’s advocate and drill into many of the activities and practices of Plant For The Planet, and Felix shows tremendous thoughtfulness in having planned things out to the most minute detail. This organization is SHOCKINGLY efficient and effective.

Organizations mentioned by Felix in the show they are partnering with on large projects:

–World Wildlife Federation

–World Conservation Society

–Bird Life International

 

First of all, I’m very sorry that I did not release this episode on Friday, as promised. The Herzberger Family took delivery of our full-time “RV house” (as the 3 year old calls it!) and have been running around mad trying to get everything done. This delay caused me to rethink what I was going to talk to you about today and change to how to fit in ways to get fit in our busy lives.

In today’s show, I talk about a thought process to getting in better shape using the time and financial assets available. Sometimes we hold up certain forms of fitness on a pedestal, and consciously or unconsciously write off ANY form of fitness if we can’t achieve what’s on the pedestal. The day I dismissed this thought process was the day I started the longest, and most consistent workout routine of my life, post high school sports.

Today’s show features Jason chatting with Courtney Amburg, a fitness and nutrition coach from New Jersey. She coaches clients in the comfort of their home as well as around the world through her online coaching programs and systems. She is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach with NSCA, a Level 1 Training For Warriors Coach, a USA Weightlifting Coach, and a Precision Nutrition Certified Nutrition Coach.

They chat about how an individualized approach to fitness trumps any “out-of-the-box” system that you will come across because those systems rarely hit the mark for a giant share of people. Courtney delves into several scenarios for the types of individual plans she’s used with great success with her clients. Meanwhile, Jason makes a point to point out some of the clear absurdities in the fitness and nutrition industries. Courtney does a great job showing ways to avoid these downsides and to use the resources available to find the best route for you.

You can follow Courtney on Facebook or Instagram.

First off… Sorry for the small rant today! In this episode, I talk about lots of “top-of-mind” stuff, focused on the hobbies I and many people have played with in the past, and what the inevitable result has been of these failed hobbies.  We also chat about a better way to filter the hobbies we have now and the ones that we’re interested in trying in the future. No judgement of which are better or worse, just a different way of choosing things that will cut down on the sunk cost of trying different stuff out.

Personal aside, for those that have been following along in my families saga of decluttering/downsizing/etc… WE BOUGHT OUR RV!!!  I’ll be moved in by mid-April! I’m terrified/exhilarated! I’d appreciate a little reassurance, if you got a minute.  Go to the community page and leave me a bit of moral support!

“The more delicate conversations require more delicate spaces and more time.”

-Julia Pappas

In today’s show, Jason chats with Julia Pappas, a psychologist with a national certification as a school psychologist. Julia holds a Masters’ Degree and a Certificate in Advanced Graduate Studies, and is a self-professed neuroscience geek with particular expertise in learning and cognition. She has over 15 years of experience working with parents, children, educators, and administrators.

Jason and Julia talk about the current and previous generations normal standards of parenting, and how they have not served children well. Common practicing are helpful for some but not nearly all children. They discuss strategies to help learn how our children’s’ natural creativity and learning habits works so we can adapt our approach to make things markedly easier for us as parents.

Julia is the host of the Minimum Viable Parenting Podcast, a topic and show VERY near and dear to Jason’s heart. Definitely give it a listen!

“Real, true, open, honest communication is what makes for the best of relationships”

In today’s episode, Jason talks about how and why nearly boundless open communication is critical to making good relationships (business and personal) work.  No expert by any stretch, but he and his wife make a point to have literally no bounds for their communication and discusses the fruits of that policy.

Honest communication is the seed to all long-term functional relationships. Now finish reading, and go chat with somebody about something you haven’t talk about before. (Maybe tell your friend to throw away those jeans or burn that tie! They’ll thank you later.)

“People can bring time, money, or resources to the table. And you have to think about what can I bring.” – Elizabeth Faircloth

In this episode of the show, Jason invites Elizabeth Randazzese Faircloth of the Derosa Group, along with her husband, Matt. They are commercial and residential real estate investors and run the business as a married couple… not an easy thing for many families to do without hangups!

Liz explains the benefits and pitfalls of having a husband/wife team and how to set the proper boundaries in order to keep things running smoothly at home and at the office. She also dives into the ways that new investors or soon-to-be investors can get started as a valuable member of another, larger, team.

Liz and her team can be found here. She has also just recently released her own podcast called The Real Estate InvestHER Podcast, with her co-host, Andresa Guidelli. They are just starting out, so give them some love! They really know their stuff! The goal of their show is to create a community to inspire and support women who invest in Real Estate to live a financially free and balanced life.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the show! I appreciate you.

$100 Question: The book The 10x Factor by Grant Cardone

“If you’re thinking about picking up a side hustle, find one you wouldn’t mind doing full-time… Otherwise, you’ll end up giving up because you hate it, long before it’s had time to bare fruit.”

In today’s show, talking about finding new ways to punch up your income streams, I talk about an approach to finding a side hustle that fits with what you actually like doing. Otherwise, you’ll end up hating it for one reason or another, get bored, and give up.

I discuss how what started as a small time, temporary side gig ended up being a large and primary source of income for me for the last seven years and what I’m working on right now on a trial basis to help punch up my own income with a new side hustle(s) that I’m working on.

Bottomline… Find a way to make extra money. Don’t hate how you do this. Maybe it will stick around long enough to sustain you down the road!

“You can have it all! You’re going to have to want it, you’re going to have to work for it and, you’re going to have to let stuff go.”

– Alyssia Essig

Jason chats with Alyssia Essig, a top real estate industry coach for the Tom Ferry Company, sitting President of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors, well-established manager in her industry, and lead agent of a high-producing Realtor team for Berkshire Hathaway Realty… so, you know, classic underachiever!

Jason and Alyssia talk about how she made her way through her many seasons of life, how they met in the industry back in 2002, and the common threads she sees in self-driven professionals that she encounters in her coaching business… plus her fondness for Brene Brown, one of the most viewed TED Talks of all time.

$100 Question: Book summary service, Blinkist, that helps her consume non-fiction books at a very high frequency, while leaving her actual book reading time to reading novels, one of her favorite things to do.  Bonus thing… DRINK WATER!