Update Available

In today's episode, Mark and Katherine are joined by a frequently referenced individual on this podcast... "Coach Kevin". 

Kevin Baer brings decades of experience, wisdom and expertise to this conversation that covers a variety of topics including: 

• Being intentional with our attention. 
• Flashlight vs. Floodlight attention and why we need both 
• How to let go of the age timeline and be the best version of you from whatever age you are now.
• The downside and danger of not giving yourself credit for your success. 
• Playing the game of life "loosely" rather than by force. 
• How to set goals centered around "being" before we identify the proper actions to take.

For more on Kevin Baer, you can visit: www.baercoaching.com.

Book mentioned: Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day by Amishi P. Jha.

You might have heard of the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, but have you heard of "recasting" yourself? In this very special episode, Mark and Katherine are joined by Matt Gibson, who serves as the SVP of Client Experience at Tridiuum. 
 
 Matt shares his thoughts and process around a process called "recasting" and how he is applying this in his life right now through a challenging transition. 
 
 In this episode, you'll learn about... 

·       How we abandon past versions of ourselves out of fear. 

·       The power of taking a look at past versions of yourself in order to decide who you want to be moving forward. 

·       Integrating different versions of yourself into a wholly functioning present day version of self. 

·       How to do an assessment of the current "roles" and "characters" you are showing up as in real life, and how to be more intentional and kind to yourself in the process. 

In this episode, the following book was mentioned: 
 
 "Reinvent Yourself" by James Altucher 
 https://www.amazon.com/Reinvent-Yourself-James-Altucher/dp/1541137132

Mark and Katherine discuss the general malaise and note of uncertainty that 2021 seems to be ending on.

 Katherine shares her feelings around how difficult it is to plan for 2022, when the future is riddled with uncertainty and fear. They problem solve around how to regain the ability to dream and plan for a better, more creative future. 

They break this issue down from multiple angles and try to identify what can cure this "dream-fatigue":

• Burnout and "Technical Debt" (aka "Daily Grind Debt").
• Dreaming big as a muscle.
• Deliberately spending time outside your field. 
• Understanding and accepting your "Natural Style" and "Adaptive Style" and cultivating your life around those carefully. 
• What best gardening (and crop) practices have to do with creating a good life.  

In this episode, Mark and Katherine are joined by the Patriarch of the Redlus family - Howard Redlus (AKA "DR") - to discuss the uniquely challenging and trying year he had in 2021. 

DR shares how he was "put back into the game" after years of retirement, the incredible challenges and sleepless nights he had this entire past year and what helped him get through it all. 

This conversation covers a wide variety of tools and perspectives from DR, including: 

• The power of journaling for decades and how that can comfort you during hard times. 
• How challenging times can improve your spiritual life. 
• The danger in feeling like you need to be "up" all the time and how to be authentic instead. 
• How to nourish your mind when going through difficulty. 
• Cultivating a support system. 
• Belief in a higher power. 

Finally, they discuss whether or not Stoicism challenges feeling vibrant and grateful. 

This episode is as real as it gets helping to identify what's at the bottom of a chronic bad mood through real-time self-examination by Katherine and working through that together.  "Grouchy" is a thing we all face, and, no, it isn't the 8th Dwarf.

Mark leads a discussion on helping to identify what season of life you might be in and discusses some real world lessons that he has learned in helping him to refocus and begin to remove certain things from his plate.

We also explore the effect that hobbies can often have on our psyches when we're not in the right frame of mind.  We discuss how they can go from fun and mindspace-clearing to real work and not-so-fun chores, and some ideas on what to do when that happens.  It's okay - it happens to all of us.

Overall, this feels like a REAL conversation between the two of us; it will probably feel like REAL conversations that you've had with family and friends.  We hope that it helps in your own daily life reflections. Please enjoy.

Links from the show:

Reference/Quote Made in the Show re: Hobbies and Work:
"Anyone else stuck in this weird cycle where work is so exhausting that your hobbies feel like too much work so you don't do them then you go back to work upset that you didn't take time to do the things you like and rinse and repeat?" - IG

The High Performance Planner:
https://www.amazon.com/High-Performance-Planner-Red/dp/1401957323/ref=asc_df_1401957323/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312610812881&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=358369749566256862&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007336&hvtargid=pla-572170906023&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=61194519294&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312610812881&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=358369749566256862&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007336&hvtargid=pla-572170906023

University of Pennsylvania Self-Testing:
https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter
(There are many tests/surveys here; Katherine references the VIA survey down the page on character strengths, but many interesting tests to choose from)

This is a short, tactical and focused episode where we discuss the idea of "waiting for the other shoe to drop" and the general uneasiness we feel around "getting our hopes up" about future outcomes. 

We explore alternative ways of thinking, including the Stoic principle of "premeditatio malorum" (the premeditation of evils) and how to deliberately plan for both positive and negative outcomes. We also discuss how to use scenario planning as an alternative to "positive thinking".

Finally, we walk through a personal conversation we recently had regarding a creative project and how to approach obstacles by asking better quality questions. 

We hope you enjoy this shorter episode and can apply some of these tools in your own life.

This episode is all about the power of making small changes to generate big results and how to improve self-talk over time. We share stories about our struggles with improving our internal voice and mindset, as well as what to do when you "fall off the wagon" in working on improving yourself.   Hint: it doesn't include berating yourself!

We also discuss...

• Why we attribute success to hustle, stress and an around-the-clock working mentality - and why that is a logical fallacy.
• Why we're all addicted to beating ourselves up - and why it's useless.
• The power in creating space in your day to calm down and get focused.
• The danger in having a hero or "messiah" complex. 

Resources mentioned: 

1. Mel Robbins & The High-Five Habit: Take Control of Your Life with One Simple Habit
2. Mel Robbins on The Rich Roll Podcast. 
3. The Diamond Cutter & Karmic Management 

This conversation is devoted to exploring Mark's recent retreat in Sedona and his breakthrough in meditation. We chat through the benefits of taking time for a spiritual life, whether it's a weekend, or simply 5 minutes per day. 

We also discuss:

• The power of creating space within your day.
• The difference between being effective vs. busy. 
• "Reacting" vs. "Intention" in our lives.
• Why we shouldn't be expected to be "on" all the time.
• The danger of sensory overload and how to get ahead of it.
• The art of "puttering" and how it can help your brain.

In this episode, we discuss key moments in our lives where we pushed away what we wanted. Looking back, we found that when we paused, eased up, and created space - things improved. Was this just a coincidence? 

We also chat through the difference between chasing "outcomes" and the trappings of success vs. being engaged in the process of life. 

We share our own stories of not feeling supported and dismissing opportunities before we even try. 

We also walk through a process to identify whether we are in a scarcity or abundant mindset and how to reset our energy and embrace possibilities. 

In this inaugural episode, Mark & Katherine introduce each other and discuss why they named this podcast "Update Available" and what you can expect from the podcast. They also cover topics such as... 

• Why Self-Development doesn't always need to be a dramatic effort. 
• The quality of our questions in determining our results. 
• The power of journaling - no matter how you do it.
• Archetypes and how they inform how we behave.

About this podcast: This is the beginning of a first time collaboration between father and daughter duo, Mark and Katherine Redlus. Simply put, this podcast is about their curiosity and hunger to find a way to walk through daily life with more meaning, purpose, calm and joy. They enjoy diving in regularly on topics ranging from cutting through the noise of self-development and "hustle culture" to spirituality and creativity. They hope this podcast will encourage and inspire others to have more reflective conversations with their friends, family and colleagues.