The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Chris Mckinlay’s disparate career path has led to working as a Chinese- English translator, playing team blackjack, and eventually a math PHD program at UCLA. The perfect real world scenario to test the the knowledge gained from his math PHD was OkCupid. And using math to hack OkCupid eventually led to meeting the love of his life. 

• A look at an unconventional college experience in China
• Why intentional discomfort is instrumental to growth 
• How to deal with the feeling that you don’t fit in 
• The realities of survival in other parts of the world
• Learning to reorient your life in order to find meaning
• Life as a professional blackjack player
• Using a painful experience as a powerful opportunity for growth
• Learning to see connections and patterns in your work 
• The myths that technology will drastically improve your life
• Balancing the qualitative and quantitative elements of dating 
• Hilarious online dating anecdotes and things to avoid 
• How Chris’ appearance on Wired led to other opportunities

Resources Mentioned

How a Math Genius Hacked OkCupid to Find Love

Chris Mcinklay has a PhD in Mathematics from UCLA. 

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Meg Worden is a memoir writer and health coach with a scandalous past that led her through the federal prison system for selling ecstasy. In this episode she returns to the show to discuss the process of how we reintegrate after a significant emotional experience. 

• Telling the hard truth and finding peace within our stories 
• Finding the seeker that lies within yourself 
• The common tendency to turn to things that numb or mute pain
• How trauma allows us to tap into the depth of human understanding
• Learning integrating the hard truth of your story into a conversation 
• Cultivating the ability to translate sensory input to create your art
• Why taking good care of your body is essential to creativity 
• The deep and irrevocable connection between mind and body
• A look at the power of deep intention and curiosity 
• The myth that we reach a place where stop suffering
• A look at the process and challenges of coming out of prison 
• The two bubbles that occur after a significant emotional experience
• Giving yourself space between a powerful emotional experience and life after
• Why we must turn our life from a grief story to a love story

Meg Worden is a dynamic writer, speaker and coach talking to entrepreneurs and influencers all over the world about overcoming stigma, shame, and shifting people’s perceptions of justice, forgiveness — of self and others, redemption, tenacity, and, generally, why humans shouldn’t be defined by transgressions; rather, they should be defined by the grace with which they overcome adversity. 

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Hillary Rubin’s difficult childhood resulted in an incredible work ethic in which she started creating demand for herself at a very early age. Her need to survive gave her what she referred to as a PHD in street smarts. 

• Learning to let go of the imprints that hold us back
• Saving yourself through forms of self expression 
• Focusing on the individual and connecting with people
• A look at a career path that involved lots of running away
• Why we must learn to forgive our past in order to heal
• Plotting the experiences of your life on a timeline to see patterns
• Looking at the language patterns that dictate your life
• The difference between releasing and letting go
• Not getting caught in the trap of the self help high
• Why you must take responsibility for your life 
• Giving yourself space for failure and success 
• Taking ownership and learning to call yourself out 
• Creating a persona an image that could come back to hurt you
• Core questions that determine whether or not you’re ego driven
• Differentiating between reinvention and evolution 
• Looking at your body of work for the clues that reveal your work
• Seeing every part of your life as progress 

Hillary Rubin, spiritual life and career coach, creator of Breakthrough to Coaching Experience and The Art of Becoming a Coach training program, helps women around the world create lasting change to live a more soul-fulfilling life. She’s been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Yoga Journal and The Daily Worth.com and was named one of the top 25 Women Entrepreneurs to Love in 2012 and one of the top 50 Entrepreneurs to follow in 2013 on Twitter by SheOwnsIt.com.  

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Joe Loya’s life trajectory of rising up and moving forward took a radically different turn after losing his mother at an an early age, and stabbing his father in the neck at the age of 16. This was beginning of of a life of crime, and 14 month bank robbing spree in which he robbed 30 banks. In this amazing chat about his life, we discuss the amazing power of innovating with your story. 

• The loss of a parent at a very young age 
• Growing up with an abusive father
• How stabbing his father unleashed Joe’s anger
• The power of a story that continually changed
• How being robbed caused Joe to ratchet up his game
• The murder of an ex cellmate that changed Joe’s life
• Achieving balance without acting against your consciousness
• How writing starts to reveal the patterns of our lives 
• Why you must start to own your story 
• How Joe became a talking head for crime 
•  The pain of victims that led Joe to working with female writers
• Why your story is a fluid thing that you can own
• How we deal with grief and why it’s a part of life 
• Why holding onto grief can be insidious 
• How being trained to look for meaning helped Joe transform 
• A look at what happens in the mind when you rob a bank 
• Why your story is a fluid thing that can change 
• Learning to laugh at the things you take seriously
• Our cultural misperceptions of the people who are prison 

Joe Loya is an essayist and playwright, as well as a contributing editor with the Pacific News Service. His essays have appeared in several national newspapers and magazines, including the San Francisco Examiner, the Los Angeles Times, and El Andar magazine.

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In this Unmistakable Creative Classic, we speak with happiness researcher Shawn Achor about scientifically proven advice for become happier. His work in positive psychology has resulted in discoveries of incredibly simple and effective happiness advice. 

• A look at Shawn’s early work in religion and spirituality
• Why positive brains lead to better outcomes
• The opportunity to choose between multiple careers
• Why you don’t have the meditate for 7 years to be happy
• Divorcing yourself from your genetic makeup
• How to make changes to your habits by tapping into past success
• Making a mindset shift to separate happiness from your environment
• Why we study and learn from positive outliers
• Going to back to places when you had less than now but were happy
• Why genetics and environment don’t indicate our potential
• How People Experience Post Traumatic Growth
• Learning how to become more optimistic and productive
• Ideas for spying yourself towards your goal
• Scientifically proven tips for becoming happier
• Why small changes have the greatest impact on our lives
• How to rock your to do list 
• Putting the concept of activation energy to work
• Why vision boards usually don’t work for people

Shawn Achor is the author of Before Happiness and The Happiness Advantage. He is also a positive psychology researcher, speaker and founder of GoodThink, Inc. 

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In 2006 Ari Meisel was diagnosed with Crohns disease. Through a combination of yoga, nutrition, natural supplements and rigorous exercise he was able to fight back the symptoms of Crohn’s until he was finally able to suspend my medication. He leveraged self tracking and self exploration to develop an awareness the led breakthroughs in human performance. 

• Starting as an Entrepreneur at the age of 15
• Why you must learn how to do every job in your business
• How Ari used self tracking and self experimentation to cure Crohns
• What we can teach our kids about entrepreneurship and creativity
• The difference between starting a company and owning your own job
• How the Montessori school system has resulted in top business executives
• Lessons from world of building and construction that apply to business 
• Why you must always be a sponge of knowledge
• How being “head down” does not make for a better offering to the world
• Dealing with an illness that has no cure and the mindset required
• The role that chronic inflammation plays in everybody’s life 
• Why you must learn to check in with yourself
• How taking care of your body transforms the results of your business
• Why we tend to reward good behavior with something bad
• The external brain and how we can leverage it to be more productive
• How conquering email can lead to significant gains in efficiency
• Creating The Manual of You to optimize your day to day workflow

Ari Meisel turned a hobby of productivity into a popular framework and consulting service for optimizing, automating and outsourcing of of life’s tasks. Less Doing, More Living continues to grow in popularity and has become a platform for general efficiency consulting to businesses, entrepreneurs and everyone else who could use a little more time in their life

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A visit to his local bookstore, and his frustration with quality of the men's magazines on the bookshelf frustrated Brett Mckay.  In an effort to change the conversation around what it means to be a man, he was inspired to start The Art of Manliness which has become  wildly successful web site with a focus on helping men be better husbands, better fathers, and better men.

• The motivation behind starting the Art of Manliness
• Why Brett looked to men like his grandfather for inspiration
• Developing the awareness to recognize opportunities
• The power of writing your ideas down 
• A look at a very stringent creative and editorial process
• The thorough research process behind Art of Manliness
• Why Brett takes a workman approach to the craft of writing
• A look at the history and evolution of masculinity
• Why our definition of manliness is self centered 
• The negative media narrative around manliness 
• A look at how Friday Night Lights creates a positive role model for men
• Finding a balance between confidence and humility 
• The importance of recognizing men when they're at their best
• A Look at the Classical idea of Manliness and potential byproducts
• Challenges of success and growth 
• Why Brett tends to be incredibly protective of his readers 
• The reason Brett has resisted the temptation to grow into other areas
• The moral code that Brett abides by on a regular basis 
• Why depth is a critical aspect to becoming unmistakable 

The Art of Manliness is authored by husband and wife team, Brett and Kate McKay. It features articles on helping men be better husbands, better fathers, and better men

A visit to his local bookstore, and his frustration with quality of the men's magazines on the bookshelf frustrated Brett Mckay.  In an effort to change the conversation around what it means to be a man, he was inspired to start The Art of Manliness which has become  wildly successful web site with a focus on helping men be better husbands, better fathers, and better men.

• The motivation behind starting the Art of Manliness
• Why Brett looked to men like his grandfather for inspiration
• Developing the awareness to recognize opportunities
• The power of writing your ideas down 
• A look at a very stringent creative and editorial process
• The thorough research process behind Art of Manliness
• Why Brett takes a workman approach to the craft of writing
• A look at the history and evolution of masculinity
• Why our definition of manliness is self centered 
• The negative media narrative around manliness 
• A look at how Friday Night Lights creates a positive role model for men
• Finding a balance between confidence and humility 
• The importance of recognizing men when they're at their best
• A Look at the Classical idea of Manliness and potential byproducts
• Challenges of success and growth 
• Why Brett tends to be incredibly protective of his readers 
• The reason Brett has resisted the temptation to grow into other areas
• The moral code that Brett abides by on a regular basis 
• Why depth is a critical aspect to becoming unmistakable 

The Art of Manliness is authored by husband and wife team, Brett and Kate...

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• Srini’s original motivation for creating the Instigator Experience
• How being in the zone completely changes performance 
• Why we have to learn to let go of the people who lead us
• The illusion of dependency that is created by our leaders 
• Why you have to show fully and own whatever whatever you’re doing
• How planning The Instigator Experience was like a big wave 
• The internal changes that have occurred as a byproduct of Greg
• A look at the how we deal with other people ’s opinions of us
• The role that gratitude plays in changes of life
• Why you never stop bridging the gap between you and your goal
• A moment that made me clearly see a future that I’m driven towards
• How the closing speech of the event impacted Srini personally

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Mike Hrostoski is making the world a better place one man at a time. In this revealing chat about, grief, loss, and growth he talks me about how our relationships can become one of our greatest engines for personal growth. Here are some of the highlights from our chat: 

• Learning to look at your past through the lens of compassion
• The dichotomy of tragedy and enlightenment in one event
• How death can be one of your greatest teachers
• Giving yourself space between tragedy and the rest of your life
• How men become lonelier as they become more successful 
• Why mean are programmed not to ask for help 
• The power of making it up as you go along
•  What happens when you start living a lie
• How love starts to change all of your painful stories 
• Finding a catalyst to make changes in your life 
• Why it’s important face your pain head first 
• Transcending the perceptions of mens’ work 
• An interesting look at the power of deep connections 

Mike Hrostoski, The Men’s Coach, helps high performing men master their relationships with their women and their work. And he’s on a mission to make the world a better place one man at a time.

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Ali Shanti was living a life that looked successful on the outside, with a million dollar business, and the accolades we all dream of. But making every decision based on money, and accumulating more of it became a prison of her own making. Through a radical identity shift, she escaped that prison. Here are the highlights: 

• Building a successful 6 Figure Business 
• The danger of making every decision on money
• The myth that a certain amount of money will free you
• Why Alexis gave up everything in her life
• Finding the the truth of who you really are 
• Running 2 businesses with two names
• The power of showing up with no answers 
• Becoming a victim of the trappings success
• Signs that you’re not on the right path 
• Finding a way to get into real truth about money
• The 4 levels of which you can use money to be happy
• How living in your bare minimum completely changes people
• Finding a powerful motivation for why you make money
• How to dissociate yourself from your money number
• A look at incredibly unusual business structure 
• Why entertainment is crucial to our culture 
• The power of having quirks in your brand
• Changing the imprint of your life 
• Learning to find the gift in your difficult experiences
• Stepping into alignment with your role in the ecosystem

Ali Shanti is a business priestess, truh telling lawyer, evolutionary strategist, and catalyst. 

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