Life in the And: Recent Episodes

Erin Baker

AND. It’s one of the smallest words in the English language. And it’s one of the most powerful. It connects opposites, builds bridges, and brings ideas and people together. When individuals embrace AND, they are more authentic, creative, and free. When organizations and communities embrace AND, they are more innovative, inclusive, and loving. Life in the AND is a podcast about how we all can embrace AND create more authenticity, inclusion, and love in our lives, businesses, and the world. Dr. Erin Baker, a transformational coach, and social psychologist, shares some of the most powerful ANDs she embraces in her life, and has inspiring conversations with leaders, entrepreneurs, authors, and creatives to unearth their answer to the question, “What AND do YOU stand for?”

Goodbye Life in the AND, Hello Shift Starters

Let’s Start Some Shift!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Shift Starters with Erin Baker. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more Shift Starters, like you.

Join me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content, information, and to request your FREE 7 Questions for Tackling Fear workbook, visit our website.

I have been wanting to have Bex Taylor-Klaus on the podcast ever since I decided Life in the And was going to be a thing. Bex - the eldest child of previous guests Elaine and David Taylor-Klaus - is someone whom you may know from their role as Sin in CW’s Arrow, Audrey in MTV’s Scream, the voice of Pidge in Voltron: Legendary Defenders, or as the non-binary Deputy Brianna Bishop in Fox’s procedural drama, Deputy. An “Accidental AND,” Bex is a non-binary individual - an identity that we all need to talk more about in society.

In this episode, Bex and I explore what it means to be non-binary and what it looks like in Hollywood. We illustrate Bex’s experience with gender & identity as a child and how they discovered the non-binary identity. We elaborate on the non-binary identity’s characteristic as a spectrum and explain why it’s not about being “in the middle.” We emphasize the importance of letting people know that they are not alone and underscore the power of standing in your truth and speaking it.

“You are who you are. Who you are can change, and you can figure it out as you go along.” - Bex Taylor-Klaus

This week on Life in the AND:

Bex’s childhood experience and how they discovered the non-binary spectrum
Why Bex loves Dorothy from Wonderful Wizard of Oz
How Bex came out as non-binary for the first time during an argument
The power of knowing and speaking your truth
Pitching Deputy’s Breanna Bishop to Fox TV and why the show means so much to Bex
Transforming pain and heartache into art and content
Gatekeeping in the queer community
What the non-binary spectrum is and why it’s not about being “in the middle”
The superpower of non-binary humans
How we can become an AND with the pronouns we use and why it’s okay to let other people be confused
Our destiny to make a mark in the world
Why Bex likes to play characters that make people uncomfortable
The beauty of our human brains and the squiggly ANDpersand

Resources Mentioned:

Lessons from Being Complex AND Raising Complex Humans with Elaine Taylor-Klaus
We Need Our Heads AND Our Hearts with David Taylor-Klaus

Connect with Bex Taylor-Klaus:

Bex Taylor-Klaus on Instagram
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Facebook
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Twitter
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Tumblr

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website and join The Heart Leader Launchpad Facebook group.

Sean Smith is someone whom I call a teacher, mentor, and a friend. He is a Neuro-Transformational Coach and Founder of the MVP Success Systems, through which he helps passionate people become successful and authentic life coaches. He recently penned And, a poem about independence, our country, and the world. It is a poem that reflects not only his ability to hold honest and uncomfortable conversations but also his desire to bridge the country’s social, political, and racial divides. Sean is a man on a mission to heal the world - and a person I am glad to have in my life.

In this episode, Sean and I discuss what it would take to create AND in a world of “us” versus “them,” of “we” and “the others.” We explore what could happen to a country if its citizens lived a life in the AND as well as discuss how our sense of belonging informs our decisions and beliefs. We explore the story of a young white supremacist whom Sean met when he was a probation officer, explain how we go into survival mode when our validity is threatened, and contemplate on how white people, including myself, benefit from racism even when we are not consciously racists. We also explore how powerful humanity can become when they acknowledge the existence of both light and dark within them.

“If we can live a life in the AND, if we can look at our differences from a place of love and compassion, all our divides would be healed.” - Sean Smith

This week on Life in the AND:

A reading from Sean’s poem, And
How we are born in the And before we get “Or’d”
What it means for the country when its citizens live a life in the AND
Lessons from improv’s “Yes, And…” game and our tendency to look for what’s different rather than what the similarities are between us
Healing the world’s greatest political divides through empathy and compassion
The pain of being ostracized in the Black community and the need for belonging
How certain conversations and environments force us into survival mode
The story of a young white supremacist and how our mortal fear of abandonment pushes us into bad decisions
Acknowledging that a person can NOT be racist and receive the benefits of racism at the same time
Contemplating on how I have perpetuated racism, whether consciously or unconsciously, as a white person
How we can have compassion for a person and not enable their toxic behavior
The difference between controlling and suppressing an emotion
William the Werewolf and how anger can be a productive emotion
The importance of committing to personal values over validation from other people
The relationship between knowing, trusting the self, and their relevance in politics
The power of humanity when they’re at their AND

Related Content:

It’s Time to Replace “Reach Your Potential” With an AND

Connect with Sean Smith:

Sean Smith Website
Sean Smith on Facebook
Sean Smith on Twitter
Sean Smith on YouTube
Sean Smith on LinkedIn
Email: info@coachseansmith.com

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website and join The Heart Leader Launchpad Facebook group.

If you are the product of the five people you spend the most time with, then I am a product of Mahrukh Imtiaz. Mahrukh is part of my chosen family and, together with two others, we formed a group called Wednesday Wonders. By day, Mahrukh is the Project Manager for EY’s US Talent Specialist Team and a cricketer for the Canadian Women’s Cricket Team. But by night, she is a prolific content creator on TikTok. Mahrukh is dedicated to creating inspirational content that helps other people be the best version of themselves and the champions they want to be.

Mahrukh joins me today to describe the power of being a master and giving yourself permission to be a disaster. She shares what inspired her to start her journey as a content creator and explains why she chose to focus on TikTok over other social media platforms. She discusses what it means to NOT judge for your audience and highlights how she trains her brain to reframe anxiety into excitement. She also emphasizes the role of action in clarifying your life’s purpose and underscores the importance of sharing your story.

“Be a disaster AND a master at the same time. Having that mindset permits you to produce content without judging yourself.” - Mahrukh Imtiaz

This week on Life in the AND:

Taking control of your life and being open for what’s to come
Our tendency to expect results right away
Mahrukh’s TikTok journey and the importance of attention
What makes TikTok different from other social media platforms
The power of shifting your mindset towards allowing yourself to be imperfect
The impact of allowing yourself to become a master AND a disaster
How to be patient with the macro and hustle in the micro
My 90-day live journey and how you won’t know your message until you speak it
How imperfection can make you more relatable to people
The value of not judging for your audience
Training your brain to reframe anxiety into excitement and how they’re physiologically the same thing
The importance of sharing your perspective and story
How getting into action creates clarity and confidence in your life’s work
Beating worries over doing the wrong thing through having high intentions and low attachment to outcomes

Related Content:

I Control My Destiny AND So Does “The Universe”
What Would You Do if You Were Afraid? How to Be Fearful AND Fearless
What Becomes Possible When We have High Intention and Low Attachment to Our Goals

Connect with Mahrukh Imtiaz:

Mahrukh Imtiaz Website
Mahrukh Imtiaz on Facebook
Mahrukh Imtiaz on Instagram
Mahrukh Imtiaz on Twitter
Mahrukh Imtiaz on TikTok
Mahrukh Imtiaz on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website and join The Heart Leader Launchpad Facebook group.

Niiamah Ashong is a pioneer and outlier on a mission to create a world of true inclusion and empowerment. He is the founder and leader of the World of Joy Movement where he brings his vision of true inclusivity and diversity into life by helping leaders and organizations leverage their uniqueness and strength. Before embarking on leading this movement, Niiamah worked with AppNexus as a People Experience Consultant and a Senior Consultant for management services firm Deloitte Consulting. Today, Niiamah is a dear friend and kindred spirit who continues to inspire me on my mission.

Niiamah joins me today to discuss the Ands we need to create a world of true inclusion. He shares his vision of an inclusive world and explains how he was inspired to make this vision a reality. He explores the paradox of inclusion and exclusion and illustrates how we can become inclusive while maintaining our differences. He also emphasizes the role of outliers, trailblazers, and mavericks in a divisive and uncertain world, and explores the possibility of being fearful and still being authentic.

“True inclusion is about being celebrated and valued for the things that make you different.” - Niiamah Ashong

This week on Life in the AND:

What inclusion means for Niiamah and why it’s more about difference than sameness
Creating a world of true inclusion and what it looks like in 2045
How innovation comes when people who are different from each other work together
The “Yes And” game and why And is a skill set that could be honed
Where Niiamah’s mission of creating an inclusive world started and how he came to realize it
How inclusion and exclusion go hand in hand, and how we can create a space of diversity that accepts outliers and trailblazers
The characteristics that make trailblazers, outliers, and mavericks, and what makes them important in a world of uncertainty
Self-identifying as an outlier and how we are alone and belonging at the same time
The difference between belonging versus fitting-in
The costs of owning authenticity and uniqueness and why trailblazing isn’t safe
Handling both sides of fear and what it means to be fearful and fear less at the same time

Connect with Niiamah Ashong:

Niiamah Ashong
Trailblazer Tribe
Niiamah Ashong on YouTube
Niiamah Ashong on Instagram
Niiamah Ashong on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website.

Shelley Paxton is internationally recognized as The Burnout Fighter and Fire Re-igniter. She is the Chicago-based author of Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life, a book where she shares her journey from working in Corporate America as the CMO of Harley-Davidson to becoming the Chief Soul Officer of her life and career. Shelley has spent over 25 years in the corporate world as a highly regarded marketing and advertising executive with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Visa, McDonald’s, and AOL. Her work has been recognized and featured in multiple media publications including Thrive Global, Forbes, PBS, and CBS. Since taking her Soulbbatical in 2016 and launching her company, Shelley has been on a mission to liberate a billion souls by inspiring them to embrace their greatest truth, purpose, and possibility.

Shelley joins me today to share all of the “Ands” in her life and career. She discusses her ballsy move to liberate a billion souls by creating a title wave of change in people’s lives and organizations. She discusses the magic that can happen when you trust AND surrender to your soul’s process instead of the corporate process or the process of others. She discusses how you can trust, surrender, and follow your soul’s desires while working in the corporate environment and why the first step to reconnecting to your soul is to get reacquainted with yourself and your personal values. She also explains the difference between rebelling for something versus rebelling against something and why she believes, deep down, everyone has a rebel soul.

“You have to know where you’re heading, and you first have to know yourself because getting reconnected with your soul really is getting reconnected with your GPS system.” - Shelley Paxton

This week on Life in the AND:

Shelley’s big, audacious goal of liberating a billion souls - one soul at a time
How Shelley stays grounded in holding onto her big, overarching goal while liberating one individual soul at a time
The magic that happens when you trust AND surrender to your soul’s process
Bridging the gap between working in the corporate world while following your soul’s desires
Getting reacquainted with yourself and your values and why it’s the first step to reconnecting to your soul
Choosing to believe that crisis always comes as a gift to teach us a lesson
Why Shelley believes everyone has a rebel soul
How your ‘ands’ are the lego pieces of your life
Using fear as fuel to get to where you want to go
Why Shelley believes trusting and surrendering to your soul’s desires is the “And” everyone should stand for

Resources Mentioned:

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Connect with Shelley Paxton:

Soulbbatical
Rebel Souls Podcast
Book: Sabbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life
Shelley Paxton on LinkedIn
Shelley Paxton on Instagram
Soulbbatical on Facebook
Shelley Paxton on Twitter

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website.

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact

Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel's Guide to Finding Your Best Life

As 2020 draws to a close, and winter is upon us, I start my final episode of the year. Life in the AND is about to rebrAND and expAND. I’m non-binary and non-conventional, I want to bring more of me to the podcast and I’m committed to it not being run of the mill.

In this episode, I reflect on the journey this podcast has taken me on, and the clarity it has given me to move forward as I think about what 2021 holds. I explore what rebranding and expanding means for me, explain what it means to be committed and unattached. I also speak about some of the inspirational guests who have contributed to my podcast so far; Shelly Paxton, Sean Smith, Bex Taylor-Klaus and Niiamah Ashong.

“‘AND’ is this powerful, expansive word that creates possibility” – Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

A reflection on my podcast journey
Is winter a time to slow down or speed up?
Why it’s time to rebrand and expand
Being committed and unattached
The power of ‘AND’
Highlights from some of my favorite guests

Connect with my former guests who are in encore in December:

Bex Taylor-Klaus on Instagram
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Facebook
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Twitter
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Tumblr
Niiamah Ashong
Trailblazer Tribe
Niiamah Ashong on YouTube
Niiamah Ashong on Instagram
Niiamah Ashong on LinkedIn
Sean Smith Website
Sean Smith on Facebook
Sean Smith on Twitter
Sean Smith on YouTube
Sean Smith on LinkedIn
Email:info@coachseansmith.com
Soulbbatical
Rebel Souls Podcast
Book: Sabbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life
Shelley Paxton on LinkedIn
Shelley Paxton on Instagram
Soulbbatical on Facebook
Shelley Paxton on Twitter

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel's Guide to Finding Your Best Life

I have been wanting to have Bex Taylor-Klaus on the podcast ever since I decided Life in the And was going to be a thing. Bex - the eldest child of previous guests Elaine and David Taylor-Klaus - is someone whom you may know from their role as Sin in CW’s Arrow, Audrey in MTV’s Scream, the voice of Pidge in Voltron: Legendary Defenders, or as the non-binary Deputy Brianna Bishop in Fox’s procedural drama, Deputy. An “Accidental AND,” Bex is a non-binary individual - an identity that we all need to talk more about in society.

In this episode, Bex and I explore what it means to be non-binary and what it looks like in Hollywood. We illustrate Bex’s experience with gender & identity as a child and how they discovered the non-binary identity. We elaborate on the non-binary identity’s characteristic as a spectrum and explain why it’s not about being “in the middle.” We emphasize the importance of letting people know that they are not alone and underscore the power of standing in your truth and speaking it.

“You are who you are. Who you are can change, and you can figure it out as you go along.” - Bex Taylor-Klaus

This week on Life in the AND:

Bex’s childhood experience and how they discovered the non-binary spectrum
Why Bex loves Dorothy from Wonderful Wizard of Oz
How Bex came out as non-binary for the first time during an argument
The power of knowing and speaking your truth
Pitching Deputy’s Breanna Bishop to Fox TV and why the show means so much to Bex
Transforming pain and heartache into art and content
Gatekeeping in the queer community
What the non-binary spectrum is and why it’s not about being “in the middle”
The superpower of non-binary humans
How we can become an AND with the pronouns we use and why it’s okay to let other people be confused
Our destiny to make a mark in the world
Why Bex likes to play characters that make people uncomfortable
The beauty of our human brains and the squiggly ANDpersand

Resources Mentioned:

Lessons from Being Complex AND Raising Complex Humans with Elaine Taylor-Klaus
We Need Our Heads AND Our Hearts with David Taylor-Klaus

Connect with Bex Taylor-Klaus:

Bex Taylor-Klaus on Instagram
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Facebook
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Twitter
Bex Taylor-Klaus on Tumblr

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website.

David Taylor-Klaus is a brilliant linguist who greatly inspires me. Before founding DTK Coaching, David was CEO of Digital Positions, an internet strategy and web development organization he co-founded. Despite guiding executives to become aware of how values can impact growth, David realized that he wasn’t consciously living his life as an entrepreneur, business partner, father, and husband. This insight ultimately led David to found DTK Coaching, through which he reconnects entrepreneurs and senior executives with their families.

Today, David and I explore what it means to live and lead with the head and the heart. We discuss how money can distract us from the things that are important to us and how we can reconnect with our hearts by going deep with our values. David shares the story of how he discovered his life’s work and what it means to be a heart-centered leader. We also discuss what “bully values” are and emphasize the power of language to reflect and create how we think of the world.

“There’s knowing in one’s head and knowing in one’s heart. Connect with both, so you don’t enter a boxing ring with one arm tied behind your back” - David Taylor-Klaus

This week on Life in the AND:

Getting caught up in the human doing and away from human being
Woo-woo spiritual coaching and how David helps entrepreneurs reconnect with their families
The importance of reconnecting with the heart first and how our mind blocks our connection with the heart
David’s story, the undercurrent to his life’s work, and how he discovered that he needed to reconnect with his heart
The isolating power of entrepreneurship and what makes an empowered environment conducive to change
What it means to be a heart-centered leader
Money as an agreed-upon fiction and how it gets in the way of letting the heart drive impact
Time, community, family, spirituality, and other currencies that truly measure our success
How values can connect us to what truly matters
What aspirational, competing, and bully values are and how you can make values work for you
Value conflicts in our political divides and how recent events amplified our need to question what’s important
Words create worlds and how the power of AND creates possibility
The ability of language to let us see and create how we think
The impact of knowing in your heart and how it’s different from knowing in your head

Related Content:

In a World of Either/Or, How Do We Create an AND? With Sean Smith

Connect with David Taylor-Klaus:

DTK Coaching
David Taylor-Klaus on LinkedIn
David Taylor-Klaus on Facebook
David Taylor-Klaus on Twitter
David Taylor-Klaus on Pinterest
David Taylor-Klaus on Vimeo
BOOK: Mindset Mondays with DTK: 52 Ways to REWIRE Your Thinking and Transform Your Life by David Taylor-Klaus & Laurie Shiers

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Mindset Mondays with DTK: 52 Ways to REWIRE Your Thinking and Transform Your Life

Elaine Taylor-Klaus is a professional certified parenting coach, speaker, and author of The Essential Guide to Raising Complex Kids with ADHD, Anxiety, and More. For most of her life, Elaine struggled with attention and learning issues, and when she was diagnosed with ADHD at age 40, everything made sense to her. This realization later led her to earning a coaching certification, co-founding Impact Parents, and dedicating her life to helping parents raise complex children with ADHD, anxiety, and learning disabilities.

In this episode, Elaine and I discuss what it’s like to live a life with undiagnosed ADHD and reveal the three powerful words that could change your life. We explain how coaching can be an effective tool in managing ADHD despite its difference from therapy and why Elaine teaches parents coaching tools to help raise complex children. We also explore how the brain is an AND, and illustrate how taking care of our children starts with having compassion for ourselves.

“The notion that any of us have a singular experience is absurd. To be human is to always be in some complexity of navigating this and that.” - Elaine Taylor-Klaus

This week on Life in the AND:

A life with ADHD and how Elaine didn’t realize she had it until she was 40
The former stigmatizing name of ADHD and how girls were never diagnosed with it
What it was like for Elaine to live a life with undiagnosed ADHD
Three powerful words that could change your life
How coaching is a philosophy different from therapy and why it’s effective in managing chronic conditions
Radical acceptance and the foundation of coaching and its language
Why Elaine trains parents in fundamental coaching skills to empower complex children
Lawnmower parenting and the coach approach to life
The ripple effect of self-love and self-compassion
Using the “Up Until Now” mindset to live a more authentic life
Expanding Impact ADHD to Impact Parents
The paradox of control

Resources Mentioned:

Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life by Sari Solden, 2nd Edition
Nowhere to Hide: Why Kids with ADHD and LD Hate School and What We Can Do About It by Jerome Schultz

Related Content:

It’s Time to Replace “Reach Your Potential” with an AND
I Control My Destiny and So Does “The Universe”

Connect with Elaine Taylor-Klaus:

Impact Parents
Impact Parents on LinkedIn
Impact Parents on Instagram
Impact Parents on Facebook
Impact Parents on Twitter
Elaine Taylor-Klaus on LinkedIn
BOOK: The Essential Guide to Raising Complex Kids with ADHD, Anxiety, and More: What Parents & Teachers Really Need to Know to Empower Complicated Kids with Confidence and Calm

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Women with Attention Deficit Disorder 2nd (second) edition Text Only

Nowhere to Hide: Why Kids with ADHD and LD Hate School and What We Can Do About It

The Essential Guide to Raising Complex Kids with ADHD, Anxiety, and More: What Parents and Teachers Really Need to Know to Empower Complicated Kids with Confidence and Calm

I wouldn’t be a transformational coach if it weren’t for Caitlin Padgett. Caitlin, the founder of Redefining Sobriety and author of the Amazon bestseller Drink Less, Be More: How to Have a Great Night (and Life!) without Getting Wasted, is a certified coach who helps women change their lives by redefining their relationship with alcohol. She is also a retreat facilitator and is currently building a physical space in Mexico for digital entrepreneurs. Caitlin is one of my most favorite people, and it was from meeting her, hiring her, and attending her retreats that I was inspired to go to where I am today.

In this episode, Caitlin and I explore how we can redefine sobriety and our relationship with alcohol. We discuss how she developed her approach to healing herself and how it became the catalyst for Redefining Sobriety. We underscore the importance of knowing the good and the bad in drinking alcohol and why understanding both matters. We also illustrate how alcohol is often used to serve a need and explain how meeting those needs in other ways can let us enjoy alcohol for its positive elements.

“When we give ourselves permission for what we need and learn how we can meet those needs through other ways, then we stop needing alcohol to do the job for us.” - Caitlin Padgett

This week on Life in the AND:

Caitlin’s personal journey with alcohol and drugs
How Caitlin found her approach to healing in the AND
Different people having different relationships with alcohol
Helping people redefine their relationship with alcohol by helping them find their ANDs
The importance of understanding the bad and the good when it comes to our relationship with alcohol
Why redefining your relationship with alcohol means redefining your relationship with yourself
How the social conditioning of women to forgo their desires influences their relationship with drinking
How Caitlin takes care of herself to avoid turning to alcohol for its negative, numbing qualities
Being in the AND by loving yourself
The power of trusting in your intuition and why the AND space can feel risky and uncertain for many people

Related Content:

We Are All Walking Contradictions with Hayden Lee

Connect with Caitlin Padgett:

Redefining Sobriety
Caitlin Padgett on Twitter
Caitlin Padgett on Facebook
Caitlin Padgett on Instagram
BOOK: Drink Less, Be More: How to Have a Great Night (and Life!) without Getting Wasted

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Drink Less Be More: How to have a great night (and life!) without getting wasted

If you are the product of the five people you spend the most time with, then I am a product of Mahrukh Imtiaz. Mahrukh is part of my chosen family and, together with two others, we formed a group called Wednesday Wonders. By day, Mahrukh is the Project Manager for EY’s US Talent Specialist Team and a cricketer for the Canadian Women’s Cricket Team. But by night, she is a prolific content creator on TikTok. Mahrukh is dedicated to creating inspirational content that helps other people be the best version of themselves and the champions they want to be.

Mahrukh joins me today to describe the power of being a master and giving yourself permission to be a disaster. She shares what inspired her to start her journey as a content creator and explains why she chose to focus on TikTok over other social media platforms. She discusses what it means to NOT judge for your audience and highlights how she trains her brain to reframe anxiety into excitement. She also emphasizes the role of action in clarifying your life’s purpose and underscores the importance of sharing your story.

“Be a disaster AND a master at the same time. Having that mindset permits you to produce content without judging yourself.” - Mahrukh Imtiaz

This week on Life in the AND:

Taking control of your life and being open for what’s to come
Our tendency to expect results right away
Mahrukh’s TikTok journey and the importance of attention
What makes TikTok different from other social media platforms
The power of shifting your mindset towards allowing yourself to be imperfect
The impact of allowing yourself to become a master AND a disaster
How to be patient with the macro and hustle in the micro
My 90-day live journey and how you won’t know your message until you speak it
How imperfection can make you more relatable to people
The value of not judging for your audience
Training your brain to reframe anxiety into excitement and how they’re physiologically the same thing
The importance of sharing your perspective and story
How getting into action creates clarity and confidence in your life’s work
Beating worries over doing the wrong thing through having high intentions and low attachment to outcomes

Related Content:

I Control My Destiny AND So Does “The Universe”
What Would You Do if You Were Afraid? How to Be Fearful AND Fearless
What Becomes Possible When We have High Intention and Low Attachment to Our Goals

Connect with Mahrukh Imtiaz:

Mahrukh Imtiaz Website
Mahrukh Imtiaz on Facebook
Mahrukh Imtiaz on Instagram
Mahrukh Imtiaz on Twitter
Mahrukh Imtiaz on TikTok
Mahrukh Imtiaz on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Sean Smith has been a teacher, mentor, and friend. He is a Neuro-Transformational Coach and Founder of the MVP Success Systems, through which he helps passionate people become successful and authentic life coaches. He recently penned And, a poem about independence, our country, and the world. It is a poem that reflects not only his ability to hold honest and uncomfortable conversations but also his desire to bridge the country’s social, political, and racial divides. Sean is a man on a mission to heal the world - and a person I am glad to have in my life.

In this episode, Sean and I discuss what it would take to create AND in a world of “us” versus “them,” of “we” and “the others.” We explore what could happen to a country if its citizens lived a life in the AND as well as discuss how our sense of belonging informs our decisions and beliefs. We explore the story of a young white supremacist whom Sean met when he was a probation officer, explain how we go into survival mode when our validity is threatened, and contemplate on how white people, including myself, benefit from racism even when we are not consciously racists. We also explore how powerful humanity can become when they acknowledge the existence of both light and dark within them.

“If we can live a life in the AND, if we can look at our differences from a place of love and compassion, all our divides would be healed.” - Sean Smith

This week on Life in the AND:

A reading from Sean’s poem, And
How we are born in the And before we get “Or’d”
What it means for the country when its citizens live a life in the AND
Lessons from improv’s “Yes, And…” game and our tendency to look for what’s different rather than what the similarities are between us
Healing the world’s greatest political divides through empathy and compassion
The pain of being ostracized in the Black community and the need for belonging
How certain conversations and environments force us into survival mode
The story of a young white supremacist and how our mortal fear of abandonment pushes us into bad decisions
Acknowledging that a person can NOT be racist and receive the benefits of racism at the same time
Contemplating on how I have perpetuated racism, whether consciously or unconsciously, as a white person
How we can have compassion for a person and not enable their toxic behavior
The difference between controlling and suppressing an emotion
William the Werewolf and how anger can be a productive emotion
The importance of committing to personal values over validation from other people
The relationship between knowing, trusting the self, and their relevance in politics
The power of humanity when they’re at their AND

Related Content:

It’s Time to Replace “Reach Your Potential” With an AND

Connect with Sean Smith:

Sean Smith Website
Sean Smith on Facebook
Sean Smith on Twitter
Sean Smith on YouTube
Sean Smith on LinkedIn
Email: info@coachseansmith.com

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Seth Samuels is dedicated to healing some of our political divides. He has worked in the world of political data in the past eight years, starting when he left his PhD program to join former President Barack Obama’s Analytics Cave for the United States Presidential Elections in 2012. Frustrated at partisan politics—yet still devoted to bridging society’s rifts—Seth began working on his project, The Good World: a memoir, manifesto, and model on how we can create a more just and kind world.

In this episode, Seth and I discuss his vision of a good world and describe the richness and beauty that already exist in it. We explore systemic racism and define the responsibility of white people in combating racial injustice. We elaborate on the collective trauma the world is currently experiencing and describe how generations can pass unhealed trauma to the next. We also underscore the importance of being open to the world’s surprises and emphasize the power of looking at the good and the bad of the world.

“The good and the bad of the world are both important to see. If we are to get to the good world, we need to see, process, and hold both of them.” - Seth Samuels

This week on Life in the AND:

The characteristics that make a good world
How much good already exists in the world and how we can make it better
Food as an experience that shapes our world while we grow up
Cultural diversity & richness and how language is a form of innovation
The importance of lowering our expectations
What it means to be open to the world’s surprises
Systemic racism and the fear of speaking up
What white people should do when they have offended people of color
Cheese, trauma, and the power of recognizing collective trauma
How trauma can be passed down through generations
Healing trauma through hobbies & physical action

Related Content:

The ANDs We Need for True Inclusion with Niiamah Ashong
There Are Barriers AND There Are Tunnels with Dante Clemons

Connect with Seth Samuels:

Seth Samuels on Twitter
Seth Samuels on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Dante Clemons immediately inspired me when we met a few months ago. She’s a senior product manager at startup and is the founder of three businesses. Before product management, she studied architecture and served as a visiting Associate Professor at the Pratt Institute. The common denominator that underscores her wide range of experiences - from product management, design, and architectural planning - is her capacity for creative problem-solving. After not landing several jobs with notable companies due to “insufficient experience,” Dante created a job-hunting strategy that later led her to found a consultancy business: KICKINTHADOOR, a career services platform for job seekers in pursuit of fulfilling careers.

In this episode, Dante and I discuss what it means to trust in yourself and how we can weave joy into our careers by living more intentionally. We explore how we can bring curiosity in to move through adversity and overcome our fears. We describe how personal value comes from being self-reliant and being able to ask for help from other people. We examine the difficulties of being a woman of color in America and reveal what Oprah Winfrey taught Dante about authenticity. We also explain why there are curved roads in the U.S. and discuss how we can use the power of AND to realize what’s possible for us.

“The curve might look like a detour, but it keeps you awake. It keeps you alive. Lean into those curves and see where it goes.” - Dante Clemons

This week on Life in the AND:

Helping people unlock the career paths they want and Dante’s passion project
Using curiosity to move through roadblocks
Playing with possibilities and how journaling empowers Dante
The Queen of Pivot and the power of iterations
Letting go of control and opening up to the possibilities of the universe
Understanding how to live life and cultivating trust in yourself
The F.I.T.F.O. philosophy and how messing up means having opportunities to strengthen your resiliency muscles
Dante’s vision of being the next Oprah AND not being the next Oprah
Being forced into conformity to get a job and how Oprah’s authenticity inspired Dante
Approaching the idea of authenticity and how cultural diversity can encourage empathy
Encouraging others that anything is possible despite life’s real barriers
Trust, faith, and the power of intuition

Related Content:

I Control My Destiny AND So Does “The Universe”
What Would You Do if You Were Afraid? How to Be Fearful AND Fearless

Connect with Dante Clemons:

Nola Dante
KICKINTHADOOR
KICKINTHADOOR on Facebook
KICKINTHADOOR on Instagram
KICKINTHADOOR on Twitter
KICKINTHADOOR on YouTube
KICKINTHADOOR on Spotify
KICKINTHADOOR on Pinterest
Dante Clemons on Instagram

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

So far in our Life in the And journey, we’ve explored the ANDs in our minds and lives. We’ve discussed how we can use the paradoxes that reside within us to transcend uncertainty and doubt. But what if we also use ANDs not just as individuals but as communities, societies, and nations? As time goes by, it becomes more apparent how we live in a world divided by political ideologies, creed, and class. Can AND be powerful enough to bridge opposing beliefs and ideas?

In this episode, I explore how an improv game can help us bridge the contradictions within ourselves and the divides in our society. I explore how the “Yes, And…” game can develop our deep listening skills and foster creativity, connection, and cooperation. I explain why our conversations regarding social issues become heated and illustrate how we tend to blame rather than build. I also discuss what’s possible when we surrender our need to always be right and speak from a place of love and understanding.

“The ‘inclusive, loving world’ piece requires us to explore the ANDs between us.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

Our increasingly divided world and the need to explore the ANDs between us
Dante Clemons and the barriers she faces as a black woman
Bridging political divides with Seth Samuels
What keeps us healing our deepest divides in the world
The ‘Yes, And...’ improv game, how it can help us bridge divides and differences, and how to play it
How playing the ‘Yes, And’ game can help us develop emotional intelligence and creativity
Why our conversations become heated and triggering
Building bridges brick by brick and surrendering our need to be 100% right

Related Content:

Creating Magic Through Fully Being in your ANDs with Matt Chavlovich
We Are All Walking Contradictions with Hayden Lee
What Becomes Possible When We Have High Intention and Low Attachment to Our Goals

Resources Mentioned:

Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses “No, But” Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration - Lessons from the Second City by Kelly Leonard

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses "No, But" Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration--Lessons from The Second City

When I created Life in the And, there’s one person I’ve always wanted to have on the show. She’s Christina Berkley - an international coach, transformational experience curator, and co-founder of the NEXUS Futurism Lab. She is passionate about exploring edges, whether it’s in technology, frontiers, going to space, or even the edges within ourselves. Christina works with leaders on missions to better humanity, guiding them in exploring and unlocking their edges, their genius, and the impact they can have in the world.

Christina joins me today to share her Edge-Walker Manifesto and the experience that inspired her to create it. She shares her ideas on identity and fluidity and reveals how we create false dichotomies with our identities. She illustrates what toxic humility is and how we can effectively communicate our ANDs. She also discusses how we can experience enlightenment through our bodies and explains how we can learn to surrender.

“We can tell ourselves that the shift isn’t dangerous. When it stops being dangerous to change, then we can intentionally seek out lifestyles we’re not used to.” - Christina Berkley

This week on Life in the AND:

A reading of The Edge-Walker Manifesto
Being fluid with your identity and the dangers of clinging to youth
The false dichotomies people cling to and how we can expand the archetypes within us
Our concept of being “good” people and how avoiding our selfish parts can do more damage
Asking for what you want while being a team player and communicating your ANDs
Jacob’s Ladder and experiencing enlightenment through our primal nature
Cultivating surrender and why aiming for hyper control is a losing game

Related Content:

Leadership from the Middle: Bridging Your Culture AND Corporate Culture with Kanchan Prinsloo
I Control My Destiny AND So Does “The Universe”
What Would You Do if You Were Afraid? How to Be Fearful AND Fearless
What Becomes Possible When We Have High Intention and Low Attachment to Our Goals

Resources Mentioned:

The Edge-Walker Manifesto

Connect with Cristina Berkley:

Coaches Light the Grid
Edge-Walker Basecamp
Christina Berkley Website
Christina Berkley on Facebook
Christina Berkley on Instagram
Christina Berkley on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Sarah Kettles is a high-level UX Research Leader and entrepreneur. She is currently the Senior Director of Research at The Zebra, was previously at AirBnb, and was a founding member of Facebook’s Research Operations. In addition to her career bio, she’s an avid triathlete, backpacker, and founder of OutPass Trekking, a company that provides transformational wilderness experiences for growth-seekers. Sarah is a person who fills gaps with spectacular grace and, through OutPass Trekking, guides people through receiving insights through nature.

Sarah joins me today to discuss nature’s power in enhancing our ability to zoom out, understand the whole world and our place in it, and zoom in, introspect, and push back our fears. She shares some of her most profound experiences exploring the wilderness and explains why the outdoors is one of the best places to cultivate trust in ourselves. She also describes how nature can be leveraged in a coaching experience and highlights how fear can sometimes point us to the things we need to do.

“The wilderness is a special place that we’re all born out of. Being in nature offers an opportunity to expand and focus your awareness.” - Sarah Kettles

This week on Life in the AND:

How Sarah discovered that she could turn her love of the wilderness, the outdoors, and backpacking into a business
What makes nature so powerful
The ability to connect with yourself and with nature
Cultivating self-trust through our connection with the wilderness
The epic experience that led Sarah to her passion for backpacking
What makes being out in the wilderness a transformative experience
Expanding awareness and narrowing your focus through experiencing nature
One of Sarah’s most memorable moments on a hiking trail
The FITFO Philosophy and how fear can sometimes mean go
Redirecting your focus and working through mental blocks when you feel like you’re ‘so done’

Related Content:

What Becomes Possible When We Have High Intention and Low Attachment to Our Goals
Leaders Can Have It All: What’s Possible When You Expand Your Vision AND Narrow Your Focus with Tony Martignetti
What Would You Do if You Were Afraid? How to Be Fearful AND Fearless

Connect with Sarah Kettles:

OutPass Trekking Website
OutPass Trekking on Instagram
OutPass Trekking on Facebook
Sarah Kettles on LinkedIn
Email: sarah@outpasstrekking.co

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website and join The Heart Leader Launchpad Facebook group.

Hayden Lee is a walking bundle of “Ands.” He’s one of the quirkiest, most energetic people I’ve met. He’s someone who lights up a room with his dancing - and at the same time, he’s a high-achieving professional who passionately fights for the dreams of his clients. Hayden is a Master Certified Coach who specializes in, teaches, and facilitates the Enneagram, as well as the neuroscience of coaching. A living embodiment of what it means to embrace weirdness, Hayden is someone who inspired my question: “What AND do you stand for?”

Hayden joins me today to explore what’s possible when we embrace the contradictions and paradoxes within us. He discusses how he uses the Enneagram to help people realize their polarities and live within them without rejecting a part of themselves. He explains how we can bring improv’s “Yes, and…” game into our lives and illustrates our tendency to pigeonhole ourselves into specific personality characteristics. He also describes And as a powerful reframing tool and shares an exercise he uses to help clients accept their contradictions.

“We are all walking contradictions. Polarity and paradoxes reside within us. We’re these opposing forces happening and swirling all at the same time.” - Hayden Lee

This week on Life in the AND:

What it means to live in paradox and why we habituate towards certain ways of being
Meryl Streep’s superpower of accessing many personalities and characters
Teaching other people to access different sides of their personality and why life is a box of 64 crayons
How the Enneagram can help people broaden their range
How Hayden uses his And to increase his power as a coach
The need of coaching clients for heart or heat and why intuition is a coach’s best friend
Helping CEOs and leaders tap their intuition to lead their teams
The cost of not being authentic and the fear of being yourself
What helps Hayden to be a bold and courageous entrepreneur
The beauty of cultivating high intention towards a goal and non-attachment to results
Bringing the first rule of improv to coaching and life and why entrepreneurship should be fun
An exercise in paradox and And as an ultimate reframing tool

Related Content:

The ANDs We Need for True Inclusion with Niiamah Ashong
Leaders Can Have It All: What’s Possible When You Expand Your Vision AND Narrow Your Focus with Tony Martignetti

Connect with Hayden Lee:

Hayden Lee Website
Hayden Lee on Facebook
Hayden Lee on Twitter
Hayden Lee on Instagram
Hayden Lee on YouTube
Hayden Lee on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Everybody has that voice in their head telling them that they’re not smart enough or not capable enough. It’s the inner critic telling you that you will never achieve anything good, so it’s better to just stay in comfortable, safe places. Since our experience with the inner critic is typically negative, the first thing we often want to do is to drown it out. But the inner critic brings with it an opportunity for an And to flourish: let it talk and let it quiet down.

In this episode, I explore the role our inner critics play in our lives and how they can help us go to the places where we can grow. I share my experiences with my own inner critic and consider the sources of the inner voices in our heads that discourage us. I discuss some of the questions you can ask yourself to get to know your inner critic better and the steps you can take to manage fear. I also explain why you shouldn’t totally eradicate your inner critic or your imposter syndrome and discuss how you can use them as a compass towards growth and development.

“Whenever our inner critic gets loud, it means we’re moving meaningful things to us and the things that can help us grow.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

Where our inner critic and impostor syndrome come from
How the inner critic is trying to protect us from negative emotions
Why I believe you shouldn’t completely eradicate your inner critic or your impostor syndrome
Using your inner critic as a compass to a place of growth and development
Recognizing the other side of fear and moving beyond our inner critic
Externalizing our focus to overcome the inner critic
Finding the deeper voice of purpose and meaning
Questions that can help evaluate the fears the inner critic is protecting you from
The reason you need to understand the source of your inner critic

Related Content:

What Would You Do if You Were Afraid? How to be Fearful AND Fearless

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website and join The Heart Leader Launchpad Facebook group.

Matt Chavlovich is a speaker, advisor, and coach who supports athletes and artists in creating impact. Matt is the Founder of The Chavlovich Group, the Principal owner of Today I Begin, and a former professional soccer player. Driven by his purpose of helping individuals and organizations master what truly matters to them, Matt created Today I Begin, through which he works with people to help them get to where they aspire to be.

In this episode, Matt and I explore the innate magic and potential within us and his mission of fostering that in people. We discuss the role of rest in growth and development and illustrate how we all have limitless possibilities. We dive into the fear high-achievers have around taking days off and the fear of not having enough time to make an impact in the world. We also discuss how everything is possible, even in things that are contradictory, and how by showing your ANDs, you can create opportunity and authentic leadership.

“Everybody has magic inside of them. They just need the right people around to pull it out.” - Matt Chavlovich

This week on Life in the AND:

How muscles grow and why rest days should be part of athletic training
The importance of giving ourselves permission to recover
The secrets of human performance and how we all have limitless potential
The value of learning from more experienced people
How Matt helps athletes tap into their potential
What fuels Matt’s desire to help people succeed
The beginnings of Matt’s passion for helping children find families and homes
Heart leadership and why Matt focuses on helping younger adults
How Matt stays focused on his goals despite everyday life
The fear of regret and how it helped Matt transition from the corporate world to answer life’s calling
Dancing with your demons and how the willingness to share vulnerabilities forge deeper connections
Showing your humanity and what it means to be a strong leader

Related Content:

The ANDs We Need for True Inclusion with Niiamah Ashong

Connect with Matt Chavlovich:

Today I Begin
Matt Chavlovich on Instagram
Matt Chavlovich on YouTube
Matt Chavlovich on LinkedIn
Email: expand@todayibegin.com

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Mike Harris is a coach and personal advisor who helps high-level executives, entrepreneurs, and athletes create mastery in their world beyond conventional success. Living a life of many Ands,

Mike has a background in finance and, prior to becoming the personal advisor he is today, played poker and billiards. Mike - a master in complex pattern recognition - is adept at identifying people’s strengths and confluences and is an excellent source of insight and wisdom.

Today, Mike and I explore how discomfort is easy and how we can push through challenging times. We discuss our future-thinking muscles and how difficult moments last shorter than how we expect them to. We elaborate on the FITFO philosophy, what it is and how we can apply it in our lives, and discuss how we can plant ourselves in the present and make contingency plans for the future. We also consider the value of having high intentions and practicing nonattachment to our goals and underscore the dangers of the hedonic treadmill.

“Take it a step further than thinking about how it can be easy. Acknowledge its inherent ease if we’re not in a rush - it doesn’t have to fit some mold that we think it’s going to be.” - Mike Harris

This week on Life in the AND:

How Mike became a professional poker player and where he learned to gamble
The inherent ease in things and how our mind perceives difficulties and challenges
Reconciling the need to create contingency plans and to stay in the present moment
Our fear of future outcomes and the importance of nonattachment to goals
Trusting your instincts and the ways of being in a poker game
Why having your body language seen is both terrifying and relieving
The FITFO philosophy
The relationship between relief and discomfort and how we always avoid any forms of discomfort in our lives
The instinct of hubris and when not to trust your intuition
Staying and being still in moments of discomfort
The meaning of affective forecasting and what the hedonic treadmill is
Resilience resourcefulness and pursuing the probability of success

Related Content:

What Becomes Possible When We Have High Intention and Low Attachment to Our Goals

Connect with Mike Harris:

Mike Harris Website

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

“You can reach your potential.” What do you feel when you read those words? Language is a sophisticated tool humanity has developed over the ages. There are many social psychologists out there who study how language can reflect our thoughts, feelings, identity, and even our educational attainment. Language is so powerful: not only does it reflect our character, but the subtle meaning behind the words we use can also make or break us. The language we use can help us create and change how we see the world.

That’s exactly why the word And is so powerful.

Today, I explore the power of language and how it can create and change our identities. I discuss the psychology behind the words that we use and how subtle changes in the use of words can change a person’s motivations. I share the reason I am fascinated with the word “and,” and illustrate how that word creates realms that feel impossible. I also reveal how the phrase “reach your potential” can negatively impact us and how we can reframe it with an AND.

“You are enough AND you can be more. The universe is whole and is ever-expanding. You are a universe that’s ever-expanding, too.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

The incredible psychology behind the words we use and how language reveals who we are
How the subtle shifts in language can change our motivation and identity
The word And can change our thinking - and create it
Why the phrase “reach your potential” can be subtly problematic
Striving for enoughness and external validation from our peers and accolades
Looking at our limitless potential with an AND

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Laurie Shiers is a Creative Development Coach with a nerdy passion for the creative process and all its nuances. Laurie, a creative catalyst, made a literal Creative Block, a collection of cards that help people get unstuck and enter a new creative headspace. Taking this step further in inspiring people into new ways of creative thinking, Laurie co-authored the forthcoming book, Mindset Mondays: 52 Ways to REWIRE Your Thinking and Transform Your Life, which will be available September 01, 2020.

Laurie joins me today to explore the ANDs she discovered in the creative process. She explains why she created the Creative Block and the importance of letting ourselves feel feelings and what happens when we don’t. She discusses why emotional tension and the state of flow are both essential in the creative process. She also shares how she inspires herself to be creative and breaks down the five phases of the creative process.

“Creativity opens the door to emotional freedom. And the way to emotional freedom is by expanding your creative range and developing creative confidence.” - Laurie Shiers

This week on Life in the AND:

Pulling a card from Laurie’s Creative Block and how it can help your creativity get unstuck
The value of throwing a tantrum and what happens when we avoid feeling emotions
Emotions as catalysts to the creative process and the five phases of the creative process
How we get the big aha! moments of creativity while doing low-grade physical activity
Why the creative block and the state of flow go hand-in-hand in the creative process
Giving our minds the time to marinate and incubate ideas
How we lose creativity as children and using the growth mindset to foster creativity in younger people
How the narrow definitions of creativity prevent us from finding our creative genius
Why Laurie created the Creative Block
Why childhood is one of the biggest wellsprings of creativity
Creating in the absence of inspiration and when the mood strikes
Writing a book for Laurie’s 12-year-old self
Creativity as a door to emotional freedom and emotional freedom as a door to creativity

Connect with Laurie Shiers:

Brainchild Coaching
Creative Block
Laurie Shiers
Laurie Shiers on LinkedIn
Book: Mindset Mondays: 52 Ways to REWIRE Your Thinking and Transform Your Life by David Taylor-Klaus and Laurie Shiers
Email: LaurieShiers@mac.com

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Niiamah Ashong is a pioneer and outlier on a mission to create a world of true inclusion and empowerment. He is the founder and leader of the World of Joy Movement where he brings his vision of true inclusivity and diversity into life by helping leaders and organizations leverage their uniqueness and strength. Before embarking on leading this movement, Niiamah worked with AppNexus as a People Experience Consultant and a Senior Consultant for management services firm Deloitte Consulting. Today, Niiamah is a dear friend and kindred spirit who continues to inspire me on my mission.

Niiamah joins me today to discuss the Ands we need to create a world of true inclusion. He shares his vision of an inclusive world and explains how he was inspired to make this vision a reality. He explores the paradox of inclusion and exclusion and illustrates how we can become inclusive while maintaining our differences. He also emphasizes the role of outliers, trailblazers, and mavericks in a divisive and uncertain world, and explores the possibility of being fearful and still being authentic.

“True inclusion is about being celebrated and valued for the things that make you different.” - Niiamah Ashong

This week on Life in the AND:

What inclusion means for Niiamah and why it’s more about difference than sameness
Creating a world of true inclusion and what it looks like in 2045
How innovation comes when people who are different from each other work together
The “Yes And” game and why And is a skill set that could be honed
Where Niiamah’s mission of creating an inclusive world started and how he came to realize it
How inclusion and exclusion go hand in hand, and how we can create a space of diversity that accepts outliers and trailblazers
The characteristics that make trailblazers, outliers, and mavericks, and what makes them important in a world of uncertainty
Self-identifying as an outlier and how we are alone and belonging at the same time
The difference between belonging versus fitting-in
The costs of owning authenticity and uniqueness and why trailblazing isn’t safe
Handling both sides of fear and what it means to be fearful and fearless at the same time

Connect with Niiamah Ashong:

Niiamah Ashong
Trailblazer Tribe
Niiamah Ashong on YouTube
Niiamah Ashong on Instagram
Niiamah Ashong on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Tony Martignetti is an entrepreneur and Inspired Purpose Coach who is passionate about elevating leaders and equipping them with the tools to navigate life’s challenges. His recently-launched podcast, Virtual Campfire, and upcoming book Climbing the Right Mountain: A Journey of Transformation, demonstrate this passion by sharing stories and ideas about people finding their purpose. Before becoming a coach, Tony was a finance and strategy professional who worked with the world’s leading bio and life science companies. As the mentor, Tony works with leaders to help them become unstoppable in the world.

Tony joins me today to explore what’s possible when you transcend your limitations and live your Life in the And. He reveals the most common limiting beliefs that hinder people from realizing their fullest potential and describes how success happens in small steps. He defines what it means to lead from a people-first mindset rather than a profit-first mindset and describes the possibility of creating innovation and impact the world. He also discusses people’s tendencies to become reporters as opposed to the authors of their lives and defines what it means to live a life of purpose.

“Be innovative, create something amazing, and do it in a way that celebrates humanity. Leaders can make an impact at work, and they can impact humanity.” - Tony Martignetti

This week on Life in the AND:

Connecting with a ‘people-first’ mission and what it means to have an “inspired purpose.”
Why Tony is inspired to help leaders overcome their limits and step into possibility
The most common belief that limits people from living a life of inspired purpose
Playing big and acting small and the necessity of taking the first step
The element of patience and learning the lessons of the present moment
The right and responsibility to stand for something and why environmental activist Greta Thunberg inspires Tony
Tony’s vision for leaders of the future
What it means to expand your vision and narrow your focus
Living life on autopilot and the value of working people who you can trust
The importance of interconnection and the power of the individual to make change
Changing the language we use to empower ourselves and other people
Tales of transformation and the emotional journeys people go through on Tony’s podcast, Virtual Campfire

Connect with Tony Martignetti:

Inspired Purpose Coaching
The Virtual Campfire Podcast
Tony Martignetti on Facebook
Tony Martignetti on Twitter
Tony Martignetti on Instagram
Tony Martignetti on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

What does it mean to have high intentions but low attachment to achieving our goals? Is it even possible, or is it an unattainable oxymoron? I believe you can have high intentions for your goals AND maintain low attachment to their outcomes. To me, it means to take action toward achieving your goals without beating yourself up or dwelling on your mistakes and failures if you miss the mark.

Today, I discuss what can become possible when we have high intentions and low attachment to our goals. I explain how this seemingly unachievable concept is one of the most profound ways to transform your life and business. I share why I believe the act of setting goals and creating action steps for achieving those goals is one of the worst things we can do as leaders and entrepreneurs and what I believe we should do instead. I also explain how more doors of opportunity seem to open when you’re less attached to the outcome of your goals and how it allows you to embrace change, failure, and curiosity as you move forward.

“It’s not about ‘I don’t care.’ You can care, you can want that goal, you can have that outcome. You can also release all of the emotional attachment to it actually coming true.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

What it means to have high intentions and low attachment to our goals
Why I believe the idea of setting a goal and creating action steps to achieve that goal is one of the worst things we can do as entrepreneurs and leaders
How to reduce your feelings of attachment toward achieving your goal without losing your motivation to continue working toward it
The negative impact associated with being focused on the outcome of your goals
The benefits of having low attachment to specific outcomes

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Comparison is such a natural human experience that asking you to avoid it like the plague can be a lot like asking you to build a billion-dollar organization overnight. It’s pretty impossible. But many coaches and consultants will tell you to avoid ‘comparisonitis’ - the habit of comparing yourself, your skills, and your success to others. And while comparisonitis can be a thief of joy… it doesn’t have to be.

In fact, comparison, at its core, is not really good or bad.

It’s an ‘and.’

Today, I explain why comparison is a thief of joy AND a source of it. I explain why we feel the need to compare ourselves to others and why it’s actually a normal part of humanity. I discuss the two types of comparison and the benefits and disadvantages of each type. I explain the difference between malicious envy and benign envy and how we can use our envious feelings as a tool for personal growth and joy. I also explain how to reduce the harmful comparisons in your life while leveraging the truly beneficial ones that will help you experience more gratitude, celebration, and joy while expanding your personal and professional growth.

“If you can get rid of the ‘I’m not good enough,’ or the ‘I’m incapable,’ or the ‘there’s something wrong with me,’ then you can stay in a space of feeling that inspiration, that motivation to propel you forward and that gratitude and celebration for where you are.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

Understanding that comparing yourself to others is a natural human experience
Why trying to avoid comparisonitis can often backfire
The two types of comparison and the pros and cons of each type
The difference between malicious envy and benign envy
Being aware of when you’re comparing yourself to others
Identifying what your heart needs that your ego is trying to achieve for you
Determining whether the comparison is truly important and reasonable
Identifying what you’re making the comparisons mean about you

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Shelley Paxton is internationally recognized as The Burnout Fighter and Fire Re-igniter. She is the Chicago-based author of Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life, a book where she shares her journey from working in Corporate America as the CMO of Harley-Davidson to becoming the Chief Soul Officer of her life and career.

Shelley has spent over 25 years in the corporate world as a highly regarded marketing and advertising executive with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Visa, McDonald’s, and AOL. Her work has been recognized and featured in multiple media publications including Thrive Global, Forbes, PBS, and CBS. Since taking her Soulbbatical in 2016 and launching her company, Shelley has been on a mission to liberate a billion souls by inspiring them to embrace their greatest truth, purpose, and possibility.

Shelley joins me today to share all of the “Ands” in her life and career. She discusses her ballsy move to liberate a billion souls by creating a title wave of change in people’s lives and organizations. She discusses the magic that can happen when you trust AND surrender to your soul’s process instead of the corporate process or the process of others. She discusses how you can trust, surrender, and follow your soul’s desires while working in the corporate environment and why the first step to reconnecting to your soul is to get reacquainted with yourself and your personal values. She also explains the difference between rebelling for something versus rebelling against something and why she believes, deep down, everyone has a rebel soul.

“You have to know where you’re heading, and you first have to know yourself because getting reconnected with your soul really is getting reconnected with your GPS system.” - Shelley Paxton

This week on Life in the AND:

Shelley’s big, audacious goal of liberating a billion souls - one soul at a time
How Shelley stays grounded in holding onto her big, overarching goal while liberating one individual soul at a time
The magic that happens when you trust AND surrender to your soul’s process
Bridging the gap between working in the corporate world while following your soul’s desires
Getting reacquainted with yourself and your values and why it’s the first step to reconnecting to your soul
Choosing to believe that crisis always comes as a gift to teach us a lesson
Why Shelley believes everyone has a rebel soul
How your ‘ands’ are the lego pieces of your life
Using fear as fuel to get to where you want to go
Why Shelley believes trusting and surrendering to your soul’s desires is the “And” everyone should stand for

Resources Mentioned:

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Connect with Shelley Paxton:

Soulbbatical
Rebel Souls Podcast
Book: Sabbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life
Shelley Paxton on LinkedIn
Shelley Paxton on Instagram
Soulbbatical on Facebook
Shelley Paxton on Twitter

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact

Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel's Guide to Finding Your Best Life

Does “The Universe” control your destiny...or do you? That is a question pondering the minds of many people from all walks of life. I don’t know about you, but if I sat on my laurels and chose to let "The Universe" take the reigns over my life and business - nothing would happen. However, If I took complete and total responsibility and accountability over my destiny - I also know that leaves me fully accountable for all of my failures. It means I would probably beat myself up over things that I truly had no control over.

So how do you walk the fine line between gaining control of your life and letting things be? How do you balance controlling your destiny and letting “The Universe" do the heavy lifting?

In today’s episode, I discuss how you can control your own destiny while still trusting that “The Universe” will provide. I discuss the impact of leaning too heavily on "The Universe" to fulfill your destiny and explain the Locus of Control concept in psychology. I discuss how taking too much control and accountability over your life can lead to negative effects, like stress and anxiety. I also share strategies to help you strike a balance between trusting in "The Universe" to provide what you need to succeed while also taking control of your destiny.

“The Universe IS the wave. We don’t know where The Universe is going - but we DO have control of how we surf it.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

The Locus of Control concept and the impact of having a high internal Locus of Control
The difference between people with high Internal Locus of Control versus high External Locus of Control
The pros and cons of Internal and External Locus’ of Control
Finding a balance between letting "The Universe" control your destiny while taking control of your life and business trajectory
Balancing high intentions with low attachments to the final outcomes
Getting clear on what you’re truly responsible for
Why frequently trying to prepare for the worst is a mistake many high-performing leaders make

Resources Mentioned:

The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection by Michael A. Singer

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

The Surrender Experiment: My Journey Into Life's Perfection

Kanchan Prinsloo is the founder of KAPri Consulting Inc., an executive coaching and leadership development company based in Toronto, Canada, specifically for women of color in leadership roles. Kanchan is a trusted advisor, executive coach, and consultant to diverse C-Suite Executives, senior managers, and high-performance leaders. Specialized in coaching and facilitating events on topics related to diversity and inclusion, team development, communication, and executive presence, Kanchan has worked with local and global organizations, including Marriott International, Bell, and Manulife. She holds a Master’s degree in Leadership, a Certificate of Executive Coaching, and accreditation with the International Coaching Federation.

Kanchan joins me today to share her journey of Life in the And, and becoming a leader of diversity and inclusion. She explains how she helps organizations and leaders bridge the gap between individual culture and corporate culture and how she helps women of color own their power. She explains what it means to ‘bring your whole self to work,’ what it looks like, and why it is often challenging to live up to this mantra. She also explains her concept of “Leading from the Middle” and why the primary “and” she stands for is to maintain fluidity instead of rigidity.

“It’s very easy to want to adapt to what’s expected of you - to the point where we lose who we are because adapting is going to get us to where we think we want to be.” - Kanchan Prinsloo

This week on Life in the AND:

Kanchan’s journey to becoming a leader of diversity and inclusion
How she helps organizations bridge the gap between corporate culture and individual culture
Why it’s critical for leaders to be crystal clear about who they are
How organizations can tap into the diverse experiences of their employees to cultivate and enrich their company culture
What it means to ‘bring your whole self to work’
What Kanchan believes is still missing from corporate training on diversity and inclusion
Kanchan’s concept of Leading from the Middle
Identifying when to say ‘no’
Why Kanchan believes staying in the flow of life is the most important “and” in her life

Connect with Kanchan Prinsloo:

KAPri Consulting Inc.
KAPri Consulting Inc. on LinkedIn
Kanchan Prinsloo on LinkedIn

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Wouldn’t life be so easy if we didn’t have feelings? If we could just collect data and be analytical without silly things like feelings and emotions getting in our way. But feelings and emotions are critical for our mental health. They serve as natural reactions to the events that are happening around us. They help us cope with injustices and wrongdoings and help us make decisions based on our beliefs, morals, and authenticity. But the longer we suppress our feelings and emotions, the more likely we’ll experience adverse effects on our physical and mental health like stress, anxiety, depression, weight gain, and chronic pain. So, how do we balance our desire to face life analytically without losing sight of our emotions?

It’s an ‘and.’

Today, I discuss how life is like a dataset and why we shouldn’t lose sight of our emotions and feelings when evaluating all of the data life tends to provide. I share the negative impact that suppressing your feelings and emotions can have on your physical and mental health. I discuss the challenges we face with striking a balance between being analytical and feeling our emotions. I also share strategies for finding a healthy balance between your emotions and the analytical data in our businesses and lives.

“Though data don’t have feelings - humans do.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

The negative impact of treating everything you do as a dataset
Why your feelings and emotions are important for your physical and mental
Finding a healthy balance between feeling your emotions and remaining analytical

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Hassan Hodges’s journey into living in the And originally began as a young biracial boy growing up as an American while attending a British school in Liberia. Like many, his childhood experiences helped shape his views of privilege, power, and oppression as well as how Americans can tackle social injustices, racism, and inequality. Hassan is also an entrepreneur and professional photographer. In addition to his social activism efforts and running his photography business, Hassan is also in the process of launching a mindfulness app as well as writing two memoirs.

Hassan joins me today to share what it’s like to be a biracial boy growing up as an American in Liberia. He explains how he perceives race, privilege, and oppression differently, despite growing up in a racially diverse culture. He shares the challenges he experienced with trying to understand his racial identity after moving from Liberia to the United States and why ‘color blindness’ regarding race is destructive and ineffective. He describes why he believes racism in America is a systematic issue instead of an individual problem and what he believes we can do to end racism. Hassan also shares the story of how his daughter was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), his own diagnosis with Adjustment Disorder, and how these diagnoses inspired him to build a mindfulness app.

“To fight racism, we need to identify it as a system problem, not as an individual problem.” - Hassan Hodges

This week on Life in the AND:

Hassan’s experiences as a biracial boy growing up as an American in Liberia
How Hassan sees the world differently, despite growing up in a racially diverse culture
Hassan’s struggles with understanding his racial identity when transitioning from Liberian culture to American culture
The difference between racism and colorism and the oppression he has seen within black communities
Why ‘color blindness’ about race is ineffective and destructive
Why Hassan believes racism is a systematic problem, not an individual problem
What Hassan believes we can do to fight racism
Hassan’s daughter’s diagnosis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and why he decided to develop a mindfulness app
How Hassan pulls out the ‘ands’ in the people he photographs
The ‘ands’ Hassan believes everyone can benefit from

Resources Mentioned:

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Connect with Hassan Hodges:

Hassan Hodges Photography
Hassan Hodges on LinkedIn
Hassan Hodges Photography on Instagram
Hassan Hodges Photography on Facebook
Hassan Hodges on Twitter

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website.

Born a Crime

Fear is so uncomfortable and unpleasant that we often try to get rid of it. It often stands in our way of the things we want most in our personal and professional lives. In fact, we often idolized people who we perceive as fearless. For many entrepreneurs, becoming a fearless leader is often a goal we strive to achieve, but getting rid of our fear and learning to become fearless is a catastrophic mistake. Instead, we need to use our fear as a tool to motivate us to step out of our comfort zone and take action on our big goals and dreams.

Today, I share why I believe being fearless is a crushing mistake for many entrepreneurs and leaders, and why I believe you can be fearful AND fearless. I share how I perceive fear as a “red light” and a “green light,” depending on the circumstances and situation. I share the strategies I use to face my fears - head-on - while taking massive action toward achieving my goals, my dreams, and my mission in life and business. I also discuss the similarities between fear and courage and the importance of taking baby steps when striving to conquer a big fear.

“Being bold, being courageous, being risky requires being afraid.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

Common fears everyone experiences that can hinder our success in life, love, and business
Why I believe that striving to be fearless is a critical mistake
The benefits of using your fear to your advantage
The “Red Light, Green Light” concept regarding fear
Strategies to become fearful and fearless - at the same time
Getting to the root cause of your fears
Leveraging your fear of not moving forward to overcome your fear of moving forward
Taking baby steps to face and conquer big fears
The similarities between fear and courage

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Robin Eaton is a shaman and coach for the soul, helping people listen to their soul and give their soul a voice. She is the founder of Soul Touched by Robin, an intuitive teacher, and a transformative healer. Through her coaching programs, Sedona Retreats, and live events, Robin helps her clients get in touch with their soul, align with their intuition, cultivate their inner power, and rediscover their spark of aliveness in the and. Robin holds multiple certificates as a Master Coach and Reiki Master Teacher. Before beginning her journey in entrepreneurship, Robin built a thriving career as a federal officer, supporting people as they were released from prison. Feeling disconnected and miserable, she started her journey in the And.

Robin joins me today to discuss the ands your aliveness depends on, the ‘ands’ she stands for, and why ‘and’ is important to her. She shares why she believes you can be grounded in spirituality while remaining grounded in reality and how to make the connection between the two without losing your credibility. She explains the value of rediscovering your intuition and the importance of searching for answers from within yourself. She also discusses the impact of staying disconnected from your soul, constantly trying to live up to other people’s expectations, and how she rediscovered her aliveness by reconnecting to her soul.

“And is the creation of our dreams.” - Robin Eaton

This week on Life in the AND:

Why Robin views the word ‘and’ as a connector and an important part of the healing process
The most powerful ‘ands’ in Robin’s life
Being grounded in reality as well as spirituality
Using your intuition to discover the connection between your reality and your spirituality
The value of relearning how to ‘get quiet’ and search for answers from within
What creates our disconnection with ‘the and’
Why true connection starts with connecting with yourself, knowing yourself, and being willing to be authentic
The importance of embracing fear and how it serves as a motivator to move forward
The fear that pushes Robin to keep moving forward
The impact of remaining disconnected from your authentic self and trying to live up to other people’s rules and expectations
How Robin rediscovered her aliveness by reconnecting to her soul

Connect with Robin Eaton:

Soul Touched by Robin
Email: soultouchedbyrobin@gmail.com
Email: robin@soultouchedbyrobin.com
Soul Touched by Robin on Instagram
Soul Touched by Robin on Facebook

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Welcome to our very first episode of the Life in the And Podcast. I’m your host, Erin Baker, founder of Erin M Baker Coaching and Consulting where I help high-performance leaders, visionaries, and entrepreneurs launch their next act in their careers and make an impact in the world around them. I’m an entrepreneur, coach, and writer with an extensive background in leading user research and design teams at corporate companies, including Facebook and Microsoft.

That is… until I found my ‘And.’

In today’s episode, I share a little about who I am, why I decided to launch the Life in the And Podcast, and what you can expect from each episode. I discuss what the word ‘and’ means to me and how it inspires creativity, innovation, exploration, and inclusivity. I share how embracing the ‘ands’ in our lives allows us to fully embrace our most authentic selves. I also share how you can explore the ‘ands’ within yourself as well as those around you.

So… what ‘and’ do you stand for?

This week on Life in the AND:

“Ands allow us to play with paradox - the idea that seemingly contradictory things can be true at the same time.” - Erin Baker

Why ‘and’ is one of the most powerful words in the English language
What the word ‘and’ means to me and how it inspires creativity, inclusivity, and love
How ‘and’ allow us to play with and find common ground between paradoxes
How embracing the ‘ands’ in your life enables you to fully embrace your authentic self
Embracing the ‘and’ of gender identity and inclusiveness
Exploring the ‘ands’ within yourself as well as the people around you

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website.