1,000 Espressos: Recent Episodes
LJ Nieulant / C. Jane Taylor
Any coffee lover will tell you that coffee, especially espresso, is a culinary experience. It is also a social experience. Ever since Ethiopians discovered the delightful effects of coffee thousands of years ago, people the world over have been gathering around the energizing beverage to share ideas and change the world. In this podcast, coach LJ Nieulant and writer Jane Taylor will continue this long-standing tradition of creating community around the cup. Espresso is the past participle of an Italian word esprimere which means ‘to express.’ In weekly conversations with entrepreneurs of all stripes, we will explore monthly themes that impact our businesses and our lives. Whether your drink is an espresso, a Cappuccino, a latté, a cortado, or even a decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
The subject of our conversations this month is Joy. Joy is uniquely singular. C.S. Lewis saw a clear distinction between joy, pleasure, and happiness: (this is from Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life.) "I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again... I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is."
Our guest, teacher, writer, and compassionate activist, Julia Melloni, might disagree. She suggests that being present for other people is a way of giving and receiving joy.
In our conversation, we discuss the relationship between self-worth, nurturing, gratitude, laughter, patience, and joy.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
Are you aware of your own creativity? Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. We start our wrap up our conversation on creativity with a few quotes:
“Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing.
If you have ideas but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.” —Linda Naiman of Creativity at Work
“Creativity is our ability to tap into our ‘inner’ pool of resources – knowledge, insight, information, inspiration and all the fragments populating our minds – that we’ve accumulated over the years just by being present and alive and awake to the world and to combine them in extraordinary new ways.” —Maria Popova, Brainpickings
“Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness: ecstasy.” —Rollo May, The Courage to Create.
Our topic this month is creativity. Our guest, Rick Rose is a creativity powerhouse who is a writer and producer of special projects at Discover Mediaworks, an award-winning communications & media production company in Wisconsin.
Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. Today we explore being open to the divine spark (Rick suggests that when we are not open to creativity, we spit in the face of our higher power), the human obligation to be creative (LJ tells us that we are put on this earth to use our talents), and how creativity plays into life and work every day—especially when hiring new talent. “When assembling a team, hire those who are smarter and more creative than you are.”
Rick asks, “What is the commonality of creativity? Is all creativity story-based?”
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
The topic of our conversations in June is Creativity. Jane and LJ open it up with a definition— “Creativity encompasses the ability to discover new and original ideas, connections, and solutions to problems. It’s a part of our drive as humans—fostering resilience, sparking joy, and providing opportunities for self-actualization”— and an examination of creativity in our daily lives. Life requires regular acts of ingenuity, in other words, we as humans are creative every single day.
A recent article in Psychology Today suggests that “Creativity can be acquired and honed at any age or experience level… Innovation is not some divine gift; it’s actually the skilled application of knowledge in new and exciting ways. It requires changing up your normal routine, stepping outside of typical comfort zones, and paying attention to the present moment.”
This conversation explores ways to become more aware and thus amplify of your own creativity.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
In this episode Jane and LJ wrap up a month of conversations about New Beginnings. They’ve had some great guests: Gerette Buglion talked about starting over after escaping a cult, Mark Boudreau gave us a Buddhist perspective on starting over every day, Markey Read described how the pandemic gave her more time to reflect on the new ways she wants to run her business and her life.
Starting over is part of the human experience. Letting go of who you are now in order to move forward is a vulnerable act, but when we approach a new beginning with courage and vulnerability, even if it is not a great success, the effort alone is worth it because this is where the essence of happiness resides, and new beginnings start.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
This month the topic of our conversations is New Beginnings. Starting over is an inevitable part of the human experience. Throughout our lives, we are called to start anew, sometimes in small ways, sometimes in big ways, sometimes by choice, and sometimes out of necessity.
Sometimes starting over becomes necessary because of a crisis or maybe a pandemic. Other times we start over from a place of happy discovery. Sometimes we plan and strategize, and other times we take giant leaps of faith.
In all cases: new beginnings are inevitable part of life. Their outcomes depend upon our mindset.
Our guest, Markey Read, leadership development and professional development coach, finds the pandemic has given her the opportunity to find some unexpected new beginnings. “I find myself shifting away from what I thought I should be doing to what I want to be doing…The pandemic has given many of us time to reflect on what we want out of our businesses,” she says and predicts that “The time is ripe for people to claim the space that’s true for them.”
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
The topic of our conversations this month is New Beginnings. Our guest Mark Boudreau co-owns Guide Construction Solutions, a small design-build construction company, with his son Liam. Mark is a certified passive house consultant who has been practicing Buddhism for 25 years.
We explore the phrase 'The Fresh Start Effect' (terrifying to some) and discuss the role failure has in launching new beginnings. A new study referenced recently in Psychology Today suggests that Fresh Starts are most effective when a person experiences failure before the restart. For our guest, new beginnings are based on honesty, humility, and sometimes failure which he describes as the life’s pressure relief valve” on the path to success. “It’s a safety valve so that the system can balance,” he says.
The new beginnings we find between the swinging trapeze bars of life may be where we are most alive. According to Mark, “In that moment is the essence, the seed of happiness.”
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
This month the topic on #1000Espressos is New Beginnings. As a cult survivor, our guest Gerette Buglion, cult awareness educator and author of An Everyday Cult (to be published May 23!) is intimately familiar with them.
New beginnings imply change. Heraclitus famously said that “The Only Constant in Life Is Change.” But Neuroscience suggests that the human brain favors the familiar instead (even when cults are involved). Studies show that when we change the brain’s aversion to change through exposure to new situations, the more confident we become.
Let us explore.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
In this wrap up conversation on Growth, LJ interviews Jane on her awareness of her own growth. “What growth means to me is letting go of preconceived notions,” she says. The preconceived notion she must let go of is her dislike of psychological jargon such as the word 'growth mindset' which became popular about ten years ago after the publication of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by psychologist Carol Dweck of Stanford University.
“Research links the growth mindset with many benefits, including: greater comfort with taking personal risks and striving for more stretching goals; higher motivation; enhanced brain development across wider ranges of tasks; lower stress, anxiety and depression; better work relationships; and higher performance levels.”
Perhaps the entrance of psychological jargon into the vernacular is a sign of cultural growth?
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
The subject of our conversation is growth. Deliberate, thought-out growth enriches the soul, and yet things like a pandemic can cause people to grow in ways they have never foreseen. This conversation on growth with our guest Mary Catherine Jones of Voice Over Vermont raises many questions!
Here are a few to whet your appetite:
- Does Growth happen without a goal?
- Does Growth happen without risk?
- Is perfectionism hindering your own growth?
- What is the shadow side of growth?
- Is mastery at the other end of growth?
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
Our theme this month is growth; our guest today is David Rose, founder of Rose Computer Technology Services. Like all of our topics, growth means something different to each of us. A Google search on the word growth produces 1,560,000,000 results. Top among these results are economic growth, fixed versus growth mindset, and investment growth.
There has been a shift in business during the pandemic from generalization to greater specificity. Business growth has become dependent upon companies and organizations becoming extremely good at what they do best in order to stay competitive in the marketplace. For our guest, cyber security is the foundation of business growth.
A positive mindset—especially during the pandemic—is also essential to business growth. Knowing when to grow the business in order to prepare for an anticipated post-pandemic economic boom depends on the amount of risk you’re willing to take which depends on your mindset. Our guest keeps his positive with golf and Qi Gong but also by trusting the people he hires to “do their thing.” For him, with more growth and more success come greater opportunities f to give back.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
The theme of our conversations this month is Growth; our guest today is Jon Kuypers, Director at the Greater Burlington YMCA Camp Abnaki. For him, curiosity and cognitive flexibility are essential aspects of personal growth to which he attributes his own ability to help others. The seasonality of Camp gives Jon the opportunity to start fresh each year. “It’s a chance to grow the positivizes and a chance to reset… I have to be a different camp director now than I was when I started eighteen years ago.”
The structured freedom camp provides is an invaluable environment for kids to make decisions, learn to compromise, think for themselves, manage their time, and communicate—essentially preparing them for the challenges and opportunities of college, career, and ‘adult’ life.
An important aspect of personal growth for him is acting as a role model by acknowledging past mistakes and also acknowledging the great fortune he has to learn from his staff and new group of campers he welcomes each year.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
The theme of our conversations this month is Growth. This introductory conversation brings up some interesting questions such as ‘Is growth the right goal for your business?’ and ‘Is economic growth the primary goal in business today or is there something possibly more sustainable going on?’ and ‘How do we find a less burdening business approach with respect to people and the planet?’
The conversation also comes around to personal growth, which ultimately comes back to our recurring theme of self-awareness. During this conversation recorded on April first, a blizzard was blowing through Vermont; LJ pointed out that in the face of such a challenge, nature keeps going just as we must do during the challenges presented by the global pandemic. LJ ties it all up with a bow when he says, “At the other end of growth is abundancy.”
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
Today we wrap up our conversations on the topic of Faith. Faith of course means something different to each of us, but it is fair safe to say that faith in the most general sense is a willingness to believe that something might be true, and then acting on that belief.
Here’s an interesting concept from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “By living our faith, we will find evidence that strengthens our belief. Faith is not thinking that what you believe is a fact, quite the opposite. Faith is a choice to believe in something with no concern for proof.”
“Faith is about looking forward. It carries with it a certain optimism.” With that optimism, faith also creates new neural pathways in the brain that make way for intentional positive change...
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
In this episode, we speak with Meg Smith—director of the Vermont Women's Fund (https://vermontwomensfund.org/) supporting the advancement, self-sufficiency, and economic and social equality of Vermont women and girls—on the subject of Faith.
According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review 'Entrepreneurs Feel Closer to God Than the Rest of Us Do.' Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the study found that entrepreneurs pray more and attend church or temple more often than their counterparts in the business world – you have to have faith in yourself in order to start a business.
Here’s a quote from the article: “There’s a confidence that can come from your religious beliefs. And maybe the individualism and autonomy associated with entrepreneurship are reflected in the idea of a more personal, direct relationship with God.”
Faith means different things to different people. For agnostic listeners such as myself, faith need not have a religious context. We can think of faith in ourselves, our ideas, faith in our communities, in democracy…
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
In this episode of 1,000 Espressos, our conversation on faith with guest writing coach Paula Diaco takes some interesting turns. Questions of confidence and worthiness are answered by virtue of faith—whether in oneself, a higher power, or in business processes. The leap of faith that is often necessary to make positive change is usually made only after emotional depths are plumbed. Some of the best business decisions are not always practical but founded on faith.
The concept of mindset (and the mental fitness and practice required to change the way you think) is very closely related to faith. “It is when we are up against it,” (life’s difficult circumstances) that faith and a mindset based on the possibility that things can be different, that we often make our most significant progress. Our guest admits that opening oneself up to such possibility is incredibly difficult.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
This is our first in a series of conversations on faith. Whether your faith is in God, the universe, or flying spaghetti monsters, having faith gives us a boost. A recent article in Inc. Magazine contends that faith in something bigger than yourself can engender success in a business startup. It makes you feel as if you are not alone, it helps you dream big, it inspires creativity and a sense of purpose. It strikes me the faith is the bread and wine of entrepreneurialism – you have to have faith in yourself in order to start a business.
In our talk this week, LJ explains that faith for him presents itself as a feeling of connectedness. He also has great faith in the outcomes of his coaching practice. Whether or not the “Ah-ha” moment happens he is confident that his approach will produce positive outcomes. This is based on his natural positivity and his faith in the self-preserving aspect of human nature.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
Our wrap up on Connection starts with culinary humor and ends with self-realization.
We often define ourselves through our connection with others; some have said that we are our best selves only in connection with others. In this conversation, Jane suggests that connection to self is foundational to the possibility of connection with others.
We discuss artists Suleika Jaouad and Frida Kahlo finding their creativity in isolation and the possibility that people in isolation are sometimes better able to find connection to their own creative ability, to their dharma, or their true calling. We also discuss the juxtaposition of our need for connection to one another with our need for self-realization.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
This month our topic is connection. Social connection is the key to mental health; it can also be essential to a business’s vibrancy. One of the most important and effective coping strategies that we all have (in life and in business) is the utilizing our social network. COVID-19 tosses a monkey wrench into our normal networking strategies but gives us an opportunity to get creative.
Today we’ll explore what connection means and how to find it in our new connection paradigm. Our guest Mollie Lannen, president of CW Print + Design, depends upon connection to do her best work. According to her we may initially establish networking connections in order to grow our business and ultimately find, as many of us have during the pandemic, that those connections help us survive.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
The topic of conversation this month on 1,000 Espressos is Connection. Humans are wired for it. Social connection is essential to our well-being. It can lower anxiety and depression, help us regulate our emotions, lead to higher self-esteem and empathy, and actually improve our immune systems. Little exchanges like the ones we have at the coffee shop or even socially distanced on the sidewalk actually nurture our sense of self and make us feel like we’re part of a community.
Though the pandemic is a shared experience all of us can relate to, some of our favorite modes of connection are changing. In our conversation this week with Katey Gordon Foster, we discuss finding the silver lining in this new connection paradigm.
Whether your drink is an espresso, a Cappuccino, a latté, a cortado, or even a decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
The subject of 1,000 Espressos this month is Connection. Relationship is powerful, but in our pandemic era we don’t always have the leisure, ability, or space to nurture relationship – be it with a friend, colleague, or a client – to its full power. Instead, we have to start by planting healthy seeds of connection. This is something we can do at a distance. We can share ideas, praise the strengths of our colleagues, and find common ground even when we are not in the same room.
But connection can be fragile. Connection needs an instigator, a host, or a mutual understanding. This month in our conversations with colleagues we will explore the power of connection. We start with LJ.
Whether your drink is an espresso, a Cappuccino, a latté, a cortado, or even a decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
Our topic for January was Vision. Conversations revolved around the importance of Vision in achieving personal and organizational goals, which got us wondering about the bigger picture—in terms of community and society.
Often the work of futurists is considered as something related to financial markets, but Future Studies - sometimes called futures research or futurology - is a much bigger field. Google describes it as “the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will live and work in the future.”
The construction of Notre Dame Cathedral is a good example of futurology. It took almost 200 years to complete. In other words, people initially dedicate to the project knew they would not see its end. The project demanded a kind of foresight an instance of “generational thinking” that seems to have been lost.
Martin Luther King Jr. expressed that kind of generational thinking when he said, “You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Whether your drink is an espresso, a Cappuccino, a latté, a cortado, or even a decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
This month our topic is Vision. Our guest this week is Steve Schleupner, a certified divorce coach who works mainly with men through divorce and onto recovery. “Habits have to work within the concentric circle of vision,” suggests our guest. “Vision without actionable, supportive habits is simply hope,” possibly without realization.
In our conversation this week, we discuss ways of knowing your vision is the “right” one for your life and how to go about making your vision a practice that becomes part of your daily reality.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
This month our topic is Vision. Our guest this week is Rick Blount, vice president of development and social responsibility at the Greater Burlington YMCA who gives his views on vision (puns intended) from the perspective of an athlete and a professional fundraiser. He adds that too much emphasis on vision can lead to magical thinking; just enough can bring satisfaction and fulfillment.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
This month our topic is Vision. January is a great time to look ahead and Vision is the art of looking ahead; it’s a way of thinking about the future with imagination, hope, and wisdom. In business we use vision and mission statements to set goals and make decisions and plan our course moving forward. The day-to-day stuff, the small steps, might vary but it is vision that keeps us on track.
Margaret Heffernan has some great insights regarding Vision and looking ahead in her new book, Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future. Here are a few we find particularly compelling:
Vision “provides questions that lead you in the direction you choose.”
“You cannot know the future until you make it.”
“Accepting that the future is unknowable is where action begins.”
We also quote Thaddeus Stegall, Residential College Director at NYU Abu Dhabi, who said “Vision creates humility by requiring patients.”
How do you find, hone, and keep your vision for the future?
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
Our topic this month is reflection. The end of the year is the perfect time to look back on the year we’ve just lived. Reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amidst the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations, and create meaning. The meaning we unveil in reflection becomes learning, which can then inform future thoughts and actions. According to C. G. Jung, “Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
What is missing from your life? Reflection brings the possibility of asking better questions for a more positive future. Our guest Amanda Everse describes 2020 as "a year of letting go of shoulds."
Join us. Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup.
In our conversation with Erik Kolomaznik of CK Financial Services we discuss the power of reflection to spark better questions about the future. Even when circumstances demand that we innovate when once we relied upon tradition, reflection helps us control the things we can control.
Reflection helps us get above task management to view the bigger picture. Reflection gives insight into better course corrections. And it is in reflection that we can more clearly see ourselves in others.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
Our topic this month is reflection. Winter is the perfect season for it.
This week, LJ and Jane explore the components of reflective thought and the power of thoughtful reflection to shine light on your reality and bring clarity to areas for potential intentional change.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
In the warp up of our month-long conversation on gratitude, LJ and Jane discuss the difficulty of finding gratitude during difficult times. Small actionable steps are the path to agency. By using your intelligence to choose where you expend your emotional energy—following positive or negative approaches to being—you can create the circumstances under which gratitude can flourish.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
In our continuing discussion of gratitude, LJ and Jane talk with social media manager and mindset coach Megan Flanagan of 609 Media about how her practice of gratitude affects her daily life and her work online and with her clients.
Like mindset, gratitude is a muscle that needs regular exercise...we explore ways to work it out.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
In this episode, LJ and Jane introduce this month's topic of gratitude and the influence it has on outcomes in our work and our lives.
We explore the relationship between gratitude and awareness and talk about rituals we can practice in order to instill more of both in life every day.
Whether your drink is espresso, Cappuccino, latté, cortado, or even decaf, pour yourself a cup and join us.
In this episode, our wrap up on this month’s topic of fear, LJ interviews Jane on how fear has had an impact on her work and her life.
We explore the relationship between fear and courage and talk about times when we need to be fearless.
Whether your drink is an espresso, a Cappuccino, a latté, a cortado, or even a decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
In this episode, our final on this month’s topic of fear, we talk with coach Mary McClements about how fear informs her experiences with rock climbing, parenting, coaching, and victim advocacy. She suggests that moving through fear is like exercising a muscle; we get stronger with practice.
We explore the three Ps necessary when moving through fear: pause, perspective, and possibility. We must pause to increase awareness and gain perspective of our fear so that we are better able to explore the possibilities fear might be blocking.
Whether your drink is an espresso, a Cappuccino, a latté, a cortado, or even a decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
Espresso is the past participle of the Italian word, esprimere which means ‘to express.’
This week we talk about the impact of fear in the workplace and in our lives. Our special guest is Tom Stuessy of Saw-Dog Coffee Roasters in South Burlington, Vermont. (https://www.sawdogcoffee.com/)
Whether your drink is an espresso, a Cappuccino, a latté, a cortado, or even a decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.
Welcome to 1,000 Espressos. For centuries people the world over have been gathering around the coffee cup to share ideas and change the world. In conversations with entrepreneurs coach LJ Nieulant and writer Jane Taylor will continue this long-standing tradition. Or topic this month is Fear. We'll talk about Fear's influence on our work and our lives.
Whether your drink is an espresso, a Cappuccino, a latté, a cortado, or even a decaf, pour yourself a double shot and join us.